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ALBANY -- New York's health commissioner says he expects the state trial of medical marijuana to be up and running within a year. Dr. Nirav Shah told lawmakers at a hearing Monday that the research is intended to examine the drug's effectiveness in patient treatment, for example with pain in stages of cancer. He says the goal is to provide evidence of value not only for New York but for the country. The Cuomo administration has proposed a limited initiative to authorize medical marijuana use by patients at 20 hospitals. Shah says many hospitals have shown interest, the health department plans to establish the trial within the limits of current law, and it will use marijuana provided by the federal government. Some legislators questioned the need for further study, saying patients are suffering now.
ANALYSIS/OPINION: Neil Gorsuch took the best shots, such as they were, of disheartened, dismayed and despondent Democrats this week, and nobody laid a glove on him. He was as fresh when it was over as when the slugging, such as it was, began. “So what have we learned?” asked The New York Times, which presumes to be the leader of the insurrection against the new presidency. “He’s probably going to be confirmed.” He’ll need 60 votes under the present rule, at least 8 more than the Republicans have readily available, and finding eight Democrats willing to defy Charles Schumer, the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, won’t be easy. Mr. Schumer dreams of Democratic goose eggs when the tally is posted, but the gang’s posting of trash and trivia against Judge Schumer looks petty and puny. Democratic senators can only cast their votes in opposition by holding their noses at the stench of their own shame. There might be a Democratic rogue or two. The hearings were devoid of sturm, drang and even squeaks. There was no drama, no surprises and nothing to suggest anything but a roll call of one kind or the other that will put Judge Gorsuch on the court, finally making it a full house of nine. The Democrats on the panel were talking not to each other and to the Republican senators, but to their constituents and donors, girding for the congressional elections next year when all the numbers and portents favor the Republicans. Fear and loathing in Congress has transformed these hearings on Supreme Court nominees from thoughtful and respectful exchanges about the law and judicial philosophy to partisan excesses of calumny and tedious professions of piety. The days of wine and roses have become days of whines and poses, and that’s the way it will be from now on. Judge Gorsuch sometimes came across as the prickly professor impatient with the students seated in the row before him. He invoked the cliches and bromides that pass for insights in Washington, where nobody wants an easy, reasoned exchange of conversation because everyone is afraid of how a remark might look on a front page or sound on the evening news. One senator, trying to provoke a sharp word or two about the man who nominated him to the court, asked Judge Gorsuch what he made of President Trump’s scorn of the integrity and honesty of federal judges, and the judge said it was “disheartening and demoralizing” to hear such criticism from anyone. Did that include Mr. Trump? “Anyone is anyone,” he replied, as if to tell his questioner to dig the wax out of his ears. The Democrats are obviously still smarting from how the Republicans denied Merrick Garland at least a hearing after he was nominated to the court by President Obama last year. The Republicans successfully sold the public on the idea that with an election at hand, and with everyone aware of the kind of judge a Republican or Democratic president would nominate, the election could be a public referendum on the direction of the Supreme Court. Republicans are obviously still smarting at the way they moved forward the nominations of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, and now watch Chuck Schumer and the Democrats showing no such respect and deference for Judge Gorsuch. “I think we have a moral high ground here,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican of North Carolina, “and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle should take note of.” The moral high ground is hard to define in Washington, and harder still to find, and it’s the last place someone looking for a senator would think to look. “It’s like looking for a virgin in a bordello,” a wise and perhaps unkind man once said of Capitol Hill. “You might find one, but it’s a barren place to look.” A little late drama, if there is any, will be at hand if Chuck Schumer can keep 41 of his 48 senators in support of the filibuster of the Gorsuch nomination he announced yesterday. Under the present rule 60 votes are required to break a filibuster. But if the Republicans can’t break it they can change the rules to break it with 51 votes. Democrats were once the masters of the filibuster, in which a senator can keep the floor if he keeps talking. It doesn’t matter what a senator says. Huey P. Long talked about recipes of Cajun cooking, and Strom Thurmond, already an old man, talked of Cicero and the Greeks. The betting here is that that won’t happen. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, will drop the nuclear bomb, the mushroom cloud will dissipate quickly, the clerk will call the roll, and Judge Gorsuch will become Justice Gorsuch. But it should be fun. • Wesley Pruden is editor in chief emeritus of The Times. Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
So Chris from HOMEBREWFINDS.COM agreed to be my first interviewee. I found his site a while ago, and find myself visiting quite often. I think it is cool to find out more about the “man behind the curtain”. How long have you been homebrewing? What got you into it? I started brewing in 2007. I had been interested in craft beer for a few years and watched a Modern Marvels on the subject of brewing. There was a segment in that show on homebrewing featuring Drew Beechum. It looked like something I wanted to try… so I did. I did a lot of research and decided on a Coopers setup. I thought that one purchase was all I’d ever need. 🙂 What was your biggest homebrewing mistake or let down? Why? My biggest mistake would have to be the time I dropped a full 6.5 gallon glass carboy down 2 or 3 steps. There’s nothing quite like a hours long brew day that results in – no beer, glass shards in your feet, loss of equipment and a massive mess that you have to clean up with bleeding feet. That incident prompted me to (mostly) stop using glass fermenters. That’s one of the reasons I like my Speidel Fermenter so much. I do still use glass fermenters, but only for aging sour beers. What are you most proud of with homebrewing? Why? It’s hard to pick a single thing. I love the hobby, it’s a big part of my life. How often do you brew? What was your most recent brew? What’s on deck? I try to brew once or twice per month, but don’t always get that done. I most recently brewed Great Fermentations Piney the Welder. What’s on deck is… Great Fermentations Piney the Welder. 🙂 I actually split a 5 gallon batch in half. I wanted to brew one batch with my regular tap water and brew the second half with RO (reverse osmosis) water from my recently reviewed RO system with mineral additions. I’m very interested to taste the difference between the two. What is the best tool/toy that you have? What prompted you to get it? I’ve got a lot of brewing gadgets, but if I had to say just one, I’d go with.. my whisk. It’s a crazy cheap upgrade and it makes every brew day better. The idea behind that was actually a reader request. Someone messaged me and said they would like a large whisk to use as a mash tun paddle. I found that puppy and the rest has been history. Often you talk about what homebrewers should get or put on their wishlist – what is on yours? My wishlist is (currently) pretty mundane. I want things like stainless sinks. Is it just you, or a group that brews together? It’s normally just me, but I do have some buddies that I occasionally brew with. What does your wife think of all this? My wife is a huge beer lover. She likes very hoppy beers and sours. She even occasionally helps out on a brew day. I know the time commitment to homebrewing and Homebrew Finds can get annoying to her, but overall, she’s very supportive. You have built a great site with finds for the homebrewer community. What prompted you to build it? As I grew as a brewer I found myself wanting additional gear and wanting to try new ingredients. Being a frugal sort of a person, I looked for deals. Eventually I thought… I’m finding some pretty good stuff here and it would be great to share with others. I tried to get one of the larger homebrewing websites to pick go with the idea but there weren’t interested. So, I gave it a try myself. How long per day do you do find yourself working on the site? I spend at least a few (sometimes several) hours per day running the website and doing homebrewing-related activities. Most of my free time goes towards the site. That includes every holiday. The site is a lot of work, but it is a lot of fun too. If I wasn’t deeply interested in homebrewing I would not do this. I saw that you have done some great how-to posts, where you walk people through your process of doing things. Do you only do them for things that you need, or does it also include cool things that you see and just want to try? It’s both. Mostly things that I am already doing, but also some things just to try. I’ve done a lot of tests that haven’t made it to Homebrew Finds. An example… growler all grain brewing…. using a vacuum insulated growler for a mash tun. That was not a good idea. You have some Youtube videos out there. Is that more for some quick homebrew related footage, or is it something you look forward to expanding in the future? I haven’t really concentrated on videos and at this point don’t plan on it. What I do have out there are really just smaller parts of reviews, like thermometer reaction times. Any projects in the works for the future? I have lots of things in the works! Hopefully some of them will be completed and see the light of day. 🙂 What skill do you not have now that you wish you did? I would like to be better at tasting and critically reviewing beer. Someday, I would love to take a tasting class. What do you find as your best place to go for information/resources? Books, experienced brewing friends and online sources like www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing. Well, there you have it! Thanks to Chris for a look into your brewing world! If you are looking to find some great deals on your homebrewing gear and ingredients, head on over to Homebrewfinds.com. If you find a great deal, share it with him to get the word out! Others will thank you too! You can also find Chris on: Google Plus – +Homebrewfinds Pinterest – pinterest.com/homebrewfinds If you are an experienced homebrewer, you do some unique things, or you are someone who made the jump to the next level, let me know! If you know someone who would fit this description, please contact me! I would love to include you or them in the future interviews!
STEPHENVILLE, Texas -- Day one of jury selection is underway in the murder trial surrounding the real "American Sniper," Chris Kyle. Iraq war veteran Eddie Ray Routh is charged with killing Kyle, the NAVY Seal upon whose life and book the Academy Award-nominated film is based. Out of 200 potential jurors summoned to the courthouse in Stephenville, Texas Thursday morning, only 84 arrived. And from that group, 15 people were sent home early because they either did not qualify to be on the jury or had a legitimate reason for being excused, CBS DFW reported. The process of selecting a jury is expected to last for several days, as 800 candidates walk through the doors of the Erath County Courthouse about 70 miles from Fort Worth. Eddie Ray Routh CBS DFW/Erath County Sheriff's Office Routh was in the courtroom on Thursday, clean cut and wearing a suit and glasses. He allegedly shot and killed Kyle, 38, and neighbor Chad Littlefield, 35, to death with a semi-automatic handgun on Feb. 2, 2013, at a gun range at the Rough Creek Lodge. "I don't know if there is ever a trial I want to sit on," excused juror Lucas Burch told the station. "It's interesting and something we follow in the news. I can't say I would want to be part of it." "I'd like to hear the whole story and see if he's innocent or not," added excused juror Mark Marett. The judge asked prospective jurors Thursday whether they have read Kyle's book, "American Sniper," or seen the movie that is playing in theaters now. Routh's attorneys wanted to delay the trial because of the film's release, and the fact that Monday was declared "Chris Kyle Day" in Texas. That last-minute plea to delay was denied. Once the jury has been selected, the panel will be under orders not to discuss the case. The trial is expected to last about two weeks. It could begin as early as Wednesday. If the jury finds Routh guilty of the murders, prosecutors will be asking for life without parole. Routh's team of lawyers plan to use an insanity defense. Routh, 27, has been described by family as a troubled veteran who was hospitalized for mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder. According to CBS affiliate KWTX, an arrest warrant affidavit says Routh told a relative that he "traded his soul for a new truck." Authorities said he was driving Kyle's pickup when he was arrested. Routh is charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of murder. His attorney, J. Warren St. John, has said Routh will plead not guilty by reason of insanity. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Routh's attorney, J. Warren St. John, has said that his client will plead not guilty by reason of insanity. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. The "American Sniper" film is nominated for six Academy awards and has engendered a firestorm of controversy in political and Hollywood circles since its release.
Berlin: RB Leipzig boss Ralph Rangnick has ruled out letting key midfielder Naby Keita join Liverpool during the January transfer window, six months earlier than planned. The Guinea international midfielder signed a deal in August to join Premier League giants Liverpool for the 2018/19 season after the Merseyside club triggered a release clause in his contract. The deal is reportedly worth €51.9 million and there had been speculation RB Leipzig could let Keita join Liverpool early, during the Bundesliga's winter break in January. However, Leipzig's director of sport Ralph Hasenhuettl has ruled out Keita leaving before the end of the season, because they need him in their bid to qualify for next season's Champions League. "Even if we should not reach the knockout stages of Champions League, it would make no sense to allow Naby to join Liverpool earlier," Rangnick, RB's director of sport, told the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper. "We want to qualify internationally (for the Champions League) from the Bundesliga again and we need Naby for that." Leipzig are currently second in the Bundesliga, four points behind Bayern Munich, and in contention to qualify for the next round of the Champions League. They are currently third in their group with two games left, needing to make up the two-point deficit on second-placed Porto in their final games away to bottom side Monaco and home against leaders Besiktas. Keita has had a difficult few weeks after being sent off three times in seven games for club and country. The 22-year-old hit the headlines for the wrong reasons at the weekend when it emerged he is accused of using a fake Guinean licence to twice try to obtain a German driving permit. He reportedly faces a fine of €415,000, based on his salary. "We, of course, stand by Naby," was all Rangnick would say on the legal issue. Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson said in an interview Thursday that he's convinced he'd poll as high as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton if he was allowed to debate — demonstrating to MSNBC's Kasie Hunt while speaking with his tongue sticking out that he'd win talking even like that. The exchange, recorded while Hunt and Johnson sat close to each other on a park bench, started out conventionally enough, with the Libertarian nominee telling Hunt that if he could just get on the debate stage, he could pull even and "it wouldn't have anything to do with my debate performance either." "It would just be that people would recognize that there's another choice and that there would be an examination of me and Bill Weld as to who we are and what we've done and based on that," he told Hunt. "I think I could stand up there for the whole debate and not say anything through the whole debate and emerge as the leader." And then he started talking with his tongue clenched out, between his teeth. "He really did that?" MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski exclaimed, after the interview clip was shown on the "Morning Joe" program. "That never happened to me in an interview before," Hunt replied. "Otherwise we had a very lengthy extended conversation." "No. No," Brzezinski said. "Okay. So why isn't Bill Weld at the top of the ticket? What happened there? Who made that up? What's going on? Why isn't there a third option?" Then she turned to former George W. Bush communications aide Nicolle Wallace, asking her if she would "feel weird" if a man sitting next to her stuck his tongue out and talked. "What I think about him is that if he stopped talking his numbers would go up," Wallace said. The video clip comes on the heels of Johnson's "what is Aleppo" slipup on the "Morning Joe" program, when he drew a blank when asked about the situation in the Syrian city.
High-resolution intaglio transfer printing For high-definition full-colour RGB QLED arrays, a novel QD integration process, known as the intaglio transfer printing, has been developed through which nanocrystal (NC) layers can be transfer-printed on various substrates regardless of the size, shape and arrangement of pixels. The procedure is illustrated in Fig. 1a. The QD layer coated on the donor substrate was quickly picked-up with a flat elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp (Fig. 1a, process (1)). The picked-up QD layer was lightly contacted on the intaglio trench (Fig. 1a, process (2)) with a pressure of <50 g cm−2 and slowly detached<1 mm s−1 (Fig. 1a, process (3)). Only the non-contacted part of QD layer remained on the stamp and was transfer-printed on the target substrate (Fig. 1a, process (4)). This transfer printing is facilitated by the differences in surface energy between PDMS stamp and the target substrates (19.8 mJ m−2 for the PDMS and >200 mJ m−2 for the glass, organic layers and oxide layers) on which the QD layer can be tightly bound. On the basis of the same principle, multiple transfer printings are also possible (Fig. 1a, processes (5) and (6)); the second QD layer is exquisitely integrated on the first layer without any morphological changes. The resulting photoluminescence (PL) image is shown in Fig. 1b. The optical microscope images (Fig. 1c) and fluorescence microscope images (insets) show magnified views of each colour pattern in Fig. 1b, which consists of tens of micron-sized pixels (triangle, hexagon and star patterns). High-resolution aligned RGB pixels, ranging from 441 p.p.i. (30 μm pixel size) to 2,460 p.p.i. (6 μm pixel size; magnified view in inset), can be created by the multiple printing processes described above (Fig. 1d), demonstrating that the novel method is applicable to ultra-high resolution full-colour QD displays. Figure 1: Intaglio transfer printing for high-resolution RGB QLEDs. (a) Schematic illustration of the intaglio transfer printing process. Inset images on the left of each frame show the side view. (b) The PL image of the RGB QD patterns via multiple aligned transfer printings. (c) Magnified views of selected regions of b. Each colour pattern consists of thousands of tens-of-microns-sized pixels (red: triangle (top), green: hexagon (middle) and blue: star (bottom)). Insets show further magnified PL images of pixels. (d) The PL images showing aligned RGB pixels whose resolution is between 441 p.p.i. (left) and 2,460 p.p.i. (right). Full size image As the pixel size decreases, the intaglio transfer printing technique becomes more important. We compare the results obtained from the intaglio transfer printing (current) and structured stamping (conventional) methods (Fig. 2a–e). See Fig. 1a (intaglio printing) and Supplementary Fig. 1 (structured stamping) for comparison of the processes. The red boxes and white areas represent the designed patterns and transferred QDs, respectively (Fig. 2a). The fraction of the non-transferred area in the structured stamping method increases at higher resolution (Fig. 2a,b; representative images and statistical data). On the contrary, the intaglio transfer printing process accomplishes the transfer yield of ∼100% (see more transfer printing results of array configurations with various resolutions in Supplementary Fig. 2). The same tendency is observed in different shapes (circular dots and spaced lines; Supplementary Figs 3 and 4), demonstrating ∼100% transfer yield regardless of the size or shape of the patterns. The discrepancies from the designed patterns are particularly dominant near the edges of dot (square and circle) patterns, rather than line-and-space patterns (Fig. 2b,c, Supplementary Figs 2–4). The importances of fine dot patterns are particularly highlighted in patterning complex RGB pixels in full-colour displays. Figure 2: Experimental and theoretical analysis of the intaglio transfer printing. (a) Pattern size scaling in the structured stamping (left) and intaglio transfer printing (right). QD transfer yields of the structured stamping dramatically decrease especially in high resolutions, while those of the intaglio printing approach ∼100% in all design rules. (b) Distribution of transfer printing yields at different pattern sizes (150, 75 and 45 μm). The transfer printing yield for the structured stamping dramatically decreases with the pattern size, while that of intaglio printing maintains ∼100%. Detailed results are shown in Supplementary Fig. 2. (c) Percentile proportion of the transferred QD line pattern area to the original pattern area. As the line width decreases from 100 to 10 μm, the structured stamping yield decreases, while intaglio printing maintains ∼100%. Detailed results are shown in Supplementary Fig. 4. (d,e) FEM simulations of the transferred area of the rectangular pattern (size: 150 × 150 μm) for the structured stamping (d) and intaglio printing (e). (f) PL image of a large-area QD dot array (7 × 7 cm) patterned by repeated aligned intaglio transfer printing on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrate. Full size image Theoretical analysis of the enhanced yields of high-resolution patterning in the intaglio transfer printing over the structured stamping was performed using the finite-element method (FEM). Supplementary Fig. 5a–d compares two methods by simulating the transfer printing of a square pixel (size: 150 × 150 μm). In the structured stamping method, the shape is determined by the pick-up process (process (1) and (2) of Supplementary Fig. 1). As the contacted structure stamp is rapidly retrieved, the delamination between the stamp and the QD layer is initiated from edges of the stamp structure and propagates into the centre of the stamp structure, which induces stresses and generates cracks in the QD layer (Supplementary Fig. 5e). Cracks of the QD layer, therefore, occur at the inside of designed pixel edges and result in a reduced pixel size (Fig. 2d). On the contrary, in the intaglio transfer printing method, the pixel shape is determined by the QD release process from the flat stamp to the intaglio trenches (process (2) and (3) of Fig. 1a). Cracks of the QD layer occur at sharp edges of intaglio trenches (Supplementary Fig. 5f). Therefore, the obtained pixel pattern precisely matches the original design (Fig. 2e). The QD/intaglio trench interfacial energy, which is much higher than the QD/stamp interfacial energy, further helps the high definition and yield. See Supplementary Methods for details of FEM simulations and related mechanical analysis. The intaglio printing process can be generalized to transfer various QD layers (Supplementary Fig. 6) regardless of QD materials (CuInSe and PbS) or sizes (2–18 nm). Furthermore, the current method is readily expanded over large areas by the repetitive aligned transfer printing, which is a critical technology for the mass production (Fig. 2f). Often, distances between pixels should be variable depending on pattern designs. The structured stamping method shows the sagging and leaning of structures in elastomeric stamps, thereby showing low yields, particularly with a large pattern spacing (Supplementary Fig. 7a,c). However, the intaglio stamping method does not exhibit these defects (Supplementary Fig. 7b,c). White LEDs fabricated by transfer printing of RGB QDs Our intaglio transfer printing technique can be utilized to create high-performance pixelated white QLEDs (PWQLEDs) on flexible substrates (Fig. 3a). Conventional white QLEDs have employed a mixture of several kinds of QDs and phosphors of different characteristic wavelengths45,46,47,48,49. However, these white QLEDs have been proven to be inefficient owing to the inevitable energy transfer between the different QDs/phosphors (for example, Förster energy transfer)50,51. In the mixed system, it is difficult to obtain balanced white light because the energy transfer occurs from B to G, R and from G to R. Therefore, it is desired to realize white emission by controlling the injected current of each RGB subpixel in the pixelated LED arrays, rather than by controlling RGB luminophore content in the mixed system. Figure 3: True-white light emission based on pixelated RGB QLEDs. (a) Optical images of the flexible white QLEDs under the bias. (b) Magnified view (PL image) of the RGB QD pixels of white QLEDs. (c) Energy band diagram of white QLEDs estimated by the ultraviolet photoelectron spectrometry. (d) EL spectra of PWQLEDs and each monochromatic (R, G and B) QLED. (e) CIE 1931 x–y chromaticity diagram showing the true-white colour (0.39, 0.38) of PWQLEDs. (f) Brightness versus voltage of PWQLEDs and MWQLEDs. PWQLEDs show the higher efficiency than MWQLEDs, particularly at the high brightness. (g) External quantum efficiency of PWQLEDs and MWQLEDs. (h) Electrical properties (J–V characteristics) at different bending angles. (i–k) Time-resolved PL spectra of aligned RGB (PWQLED), mixed (MWQLED), and monochromatic (R, G and B) QD layers. Full size image On the other hand, the current flexible PWQLEDs utilize aligned RGB fine pixels (Fig. 3b), whose colour can be tuned to be the true white with high efficiency. We unify QD materials using CdSe/ZnS alloyed QDs (Supplementary Fig. 8) to minimize variations in the RGB EL brightness and to prevent the inefficient blue EL of CdS-based QDs35,42. All the CdSe/ZnS alloyed QDs have the same type of ligand, oleic acid (Supplementary Fig. 9). Figure 3c shows the band diagram for PWQLEDs, which is estimated from the ultraviolet photoelectron spectra (Supplementary Fig. 10). Band alignments and efficient electron and hole injections are enabled by the careful selection and integration of inorganic/organic materials for each layer. The EL of PWQLEDs consists of three distinct peaks that match each monochromatic RGB EL (Fig. 3d). The EL location of PWQLEDs in Commission International de l'Éclairage coordinates is (0.39, 0.38) under 6 V bias, which indicates the emission of true-white light (Fig. 3e). The EL spectra at different applied voltages are presented on Supplementary Fig. 11. Furthermore, EL efficiencies are compared between PWQLEDs and mixed white QLEDs (MWQLEDs) in which the active layer is created by mixing RGB QDs in the solution phase (Supplementary Methods for fabrication details). The brightness of PWQLEDs is enhanced over MWQLEDs by ∼10 to ∼52% depending on the applied voltage (Fig. 3f), and the EQE of PWQLEDs is higher than that of MWQLEDs in entire operating voltage (Fig. 3g). In addition, flexible PWQLEDs present stable current density versus voltage (J–V) characteristics under various bending angles (Fig. 3h). For the better understanding of the enhanced performance of PWQLEDs, time-resolved PL measurements were conducted for QD layers employed in MWQLEDs and PWQLEDs (Fig. 3i–k; data at the blue, green and red wavelengths and a summarized plot, respectively). The time-resolved PL of each RGB QD layer was also measured for the comparison. In MWQLEDs, the carrier lifetime of blue and green QDs significantly decreases, while that of red QDs increases, which implies the energy transfer between QDs50,51. Because QDs with different band gaps are adjacent to each other in the close-packed (mixed) layer, they transfer energy to neighbouring QDs with lower energy band gaps instead of emitting photons. The energy transfer between QDs of the same colour is neglected for analysis. In PWQLEDs, on the contrary, the carrier lifetime of pixelated QD arrays does not change from that of individual RGB QDs. These results demonstrate that the geometrical separation of pixelated configurations effectively suppresses the energy transfer process, enabling highly efficient true-white emission. Electronic tattoos based on ultra-thin and wearable QLEDs The current QLED technologies are applied in electronic tattoo demonstrations (Fig. 4). Ultra-thin form factors (total thickness of ∼2.6 μm, including ∼300-nm-thick active and ∼1.1-μm-thick encapsulation layers; inset of Fig. 4a) enable various deformations and conformal integrations with soft, curvilinear epidermal tissues2,7. The detailed device structures and the magnified view of active layers (electron transport layer (ETL), QDs and hole transport layer) are shown in Fig. 4a,b, respectively. The ultra-thin encapsulation consists of a Parylene-C and epoxy bilayer. Electronic tattoos show outstanding device performances, such as a high brightness of 14,000 cd m−2 at a driving voltage of 7 V and EQE of 2.35% at 4.5 V bias (J–V–L characteristics, Fig. 4c). The electronic tattoo exhibits EQE above 1% in the range of 3.6–6.9 V applied voltages (current density: 3.4–1,132 mA cm−2) as shown in Supplementary Fig. 12a. To the best of our knowledge, the brightness is higher than the previously reported values of the wearable LEDs at the same driving voltage6,10,14,15. The high device performance at the low driving voltage, which can be obtained by commercial mobile batteries, is particularly beneficial to wearable device applications. The high EL performance remains stable after 1,000 cycles of uniaxial stretching (∼20% applied strain, Fig. 4d). For stretching tests, ∼20% prestrain, which is similar with the skin stretchability7, is applied to ultra-thin QLEDs to form a wavy structure9. Moreover, as shown in Supplementary Fig. 12b, the lifetime of electronic tattoo is about 41.7 h at 3 mA applied current (initial brightness=4,554 cd m−2), which corresponds to device lifetime of 12,815 h at 100 cd m−2 (lifetime × initial brightness1.5=constant)20. Furthermore, these ultra-thin QLEDs can be laminated on various curvilinear substrates, such as the crumpled Al foil, human skin, round glass, metal can and sharp edges of a slide glass (Fig. 4e–g, Supplementary Fig. 13a–d). Various deformations, such as bending, folding or crumpling, as well as moistures (water droplets) do not cause mechanical/electrical damages or any decrease in the EL performance (Fig. 4e–g, Supplementary Fig. 13e, Supplementary Movie 1). The current electronic tattoo platform can be extended to wearable PWQLEDs that are laminated on the human skin (Fig. 4h).
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For the very first time in its history, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is actually growing wings as it embarks this month on a never before space flight that would make history.The Indian space agency is all set to undertake the maiden launch of its very own indigenously version of a 'space shuttle', a fully made-in-India effort.Today, a sleek winged body almost the weight and size of a sports utility vehicle (SUV) is being given final touches at Sriharikota awaiting the final countdown.Yes, the big powers abandoned the idea of a winged reusable launch vehicle but India's frugal engineers believe the solution to reducing cost of launching satellites into orbit is to recycle the rocket or make it reusable. Scientists at Isro believe that they could reduce the cost of launching stuff into space by as much as 10 times if reusable technology succeeds, bringing it down to $2,000 per kg.Very soon and if all goes well possibly before the monsoon sets in, India's space port at Sriharikota on the coast of the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh will witness the launch of the indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD). This will be the first time Isro will launch a space craft, which actually has delta wings and after launch it will be glided back onto a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal.The RLV-TD is unlikely to be recovered from sea during this experiment as it is expected that the vehicle will disintegrate on impact with water since it is not designed to float. The purpose of the experiment is not to see it float but to glide and navigate from a velocity five times higher than the speed of sound onto a designated virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal some 500 km from the coast.Very similar in its looks to the American space shuttle, the RLV-TD being experimented is a scale model which is almost 6 times smaller than the final version.K Sivan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, says, "These are just the first baby steps towards the big Hanuman leap."The final version will take at least 10-15 years to get ready since designing a human rated reusable rocket is no kid stuff.The only countries that have attempted operational flights of a space shuttle are America, which flew its space shuttle 135 times and then retired it in 2011 and since then it lost its capacity to send astronauts in space on American made rockets. The Russians made only a single space shuttle and called it Buran it flew into space just once in 1989. After that the French and Japanese have made some experimental flights and from available literature it seems the Chinese have never attempted a space shuttle.India embarked on making its own version of the space shuttle by thinking about it more than 15 years ago, but work in earnest it seems started only five years ago when a dedicated team of engineers and scientists plunged into making RLV-TD a reality. The 6.5-m-long 'aeroplane'-like spacecraft will weigh 1.75 tons and will be hoisted into the atmosphere on a special rocket booster.The special booster or the first stage is powered using a solid fuel and it will hoist the RLV-TD experiment to about 70 km into the atmosphere from where the descent will begin. During the descent phase, which is essentially a glider like event, small thrusters will help the vehicle to be navigated on to the exact spot where it is supposed to land.Ships, satellites and radars will monitor its descent. The current experimental version has no undercarriage so it cannot be brought back onto land and India lacks a runway that is longer than 5 km in length to accommodate such a landing.Some private billionaires with very active support from Nasa have been trying to master vertical lift-off and vertical landing as part of trying to recycle rocket engines.SpaceX is a company owned by South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk which became big through the Internet economy and has been able to land its Falcon-9 rocket onto a sea-based platform.On the same lines the company Blue Origin owned by Jeff Bezos landed its New Shepard rocket on land in Texas. Bezos, another billionaire, made it big by building the Amazon online trading platform.In fact Nasa chief General Charles Bolden, when he was in New Delhi recently, said the competition has shifted to a fight among billionaires to reduce the cost of launching satellites into space.The making of the Indian space shuttle or RLV-TD has taken 5 years and the government has invested Rs 95 crore in the project. This flight will test the capability of the vehicle to survive a re-entry at speeds higher than that of sound so it is called a hyper sonic experiment (HEX).Later, in the next few flights the RLV will be subjected to a landing experiment and another return flight experiment. Once these are successful, Isro will then decide on what should be the final configuration of the Reusable Launch Vehicle.One key technology the scientists at VSSC had to develop was to make materials that can withstand the very very high temperatures that the exterior of the vehicle is faced with as it comes back into the dense atmosphere after its journey through near vacuum in space.The friction from the air turns the exterior like a red-hot iron plate. To be able to withstand these 5000-7000 degrees Celsius temperature the scientists have developed very lightweight heat resistant silica tiles that are plastered on the underbelly of the so-called Indian space plane.The nose cone takes the brunt of the high temperatures and is made up of a special carbon-carbon composite that can withstand high temperature. These special materials are necessary to protect the insides of the vehicle where the temperature should never go higher than 50 degrees Celsius.In fact, it is these heat resistant tiles and thermal coating that failed on the American Space Shuttle, Columbia that resulted in the death of Indian born American astronaut Kalpana Chawla's in 2003. Consequently, Isro has laid a lot of emphasis on the thermal management of the RLV.After the successful deployment of the swadeshi Global Positioning System through NAVIC or Navigation with Indian Constellation, Isro is again reaching for the stars.Technology development is tough and space fairing is certainly not for the faint hearted and the 600 scientists and engineers who have toiled hard in making the RLV-TD a reality will be watching with baited breath if their baby succeeds.Shyam Mohan, the project director from VSSC for this landmark experiment, says his team has spent sleepless nights in perfecting this new rocket but adds that space technologies are inherently risky.So will Isro succeed where other super powers have failed, Indians certainly hope for the best, as success has become a habit at Isro.May be sooner than later the RLV should be named the 'Kalamyaan' after India's legendary former President APJ Abdul Kalam, an aeronautics engineer par excellence who made top class rockets and dreamt big of India being propelled to become a developed country.For Isro, no dream is too big as it carefully forges ahead to have a fully 'swadeshi space shuttle'.
Press Release Comscore Releases November 2012 U.S. Search Engine Rankings RESTON, VA, December 12, 2012 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly Comscore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in November with 67 percent of search queries conducted. U.S. Explicit Core Search Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in November with 67 percent market share (up 0.1 percentage points), followed by Microsoft Sites with 16.2 percent (up 0.2 percentage points) and Yahoo! Sites with 12.1 percent. Ask Network accounted for 3 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.7 percent. Comscore Explicit Core Search Share Report* November 2012 vs. October 2012 Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations Source: Comscore qSearch Core Search Entity Explicit Core Search Share (%) Oct-12 Nov-12 Point Change Total Explicit Core Search 100.0% 100.0% N/A Google Sites 66.9% 67.0% 0.1 Microsoft Sites 16.0% 16.2% 0.2 Yahoo! Sites 12.2% 12.1% -0.1 Ask Network 3.2% 3.0% -0.2 AOL, Inc. 1.8% 1.7% -0.1 *“Explicit Core Search” excludes contextually driven searches that do not reflect specific user intent to interact with the search results. Nearly 17 billion explicit core searches were conducted in November, with Google Sites ranking first with 11.4 billion. Microsoft Sites ranked second with 2.7 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.1 billion, Ask Network with 506 million and AOL, Inc. with 297 million. Comscore Explicit Core Search Query Report November 2012 vs. October 2012 Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations Source: Comscore qSearch Core Search Entity Explicit Core Search Queries (MM) Oct-12 Nov-12 Percent Change Total Explicit Core Search 17,623 16,957 -4% Google Sites 11,787 11,359 -4% Microsoft Sites 2,819 2,741 -3% Yahoo! Sites 2,147 2,054 -4% Ask Network 560 506 -10% AOL, Inc. 309 297 -4% “Powered By” Reporting In November, 69.4 percent of searches carried organic search results from Google, while 25.4 percent of searches were powered by Bing (up 0.4 percentage points). About Comscore Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo. Contact: Adam Lella Comscore, Inc. +1 (312) 775-6474 press@comscore.com
Project Information: Interactive carbon footprint map from the CoolClimate Calculator. Find out how you compare to local averages and create a personalized climate action plan for you or your community. See info on recent Jones and Kammen paper and FAQ below. Average Annual Household Carbon Footprint by Zip Code Double click to zoom or drag map to any location. Hover for details. Average Household Carbon Footprint - Eastern United States Transportation Carbon Footprint - New York Metropolitan Area Data are from the following paper: Christopher M. Jones and Daniel M. Kammen, Spatial Distribution of U.S. Household Carbon Footprints Reveals Suburbanization Undermines Greenhouse Gas Benefits of Urban Population Density. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2013, dx.doi.org/10.1021/es4034364 For a free copy of the paper first create an ACS account and then click here to download the paper. For more information see our Frequently Asked Questions document. Abstract: Which municipalities and locations within the United States contribute the most to household greenhouse gas emissions, and what is the effect of population density and suburbanization on emissions? Using national household surveys, we developed econometric models of demand for energy, transportation, food, goods, and services that were used to derive average household carbon footprints (HCF) for U.S. zip codes, cities, counties, and metropolitan areas. We find consistently lower HCF in urban core cities (40 tCO2e) and higher carbon footprints in outlying suburbs (50 tCO2e), with a range from 25 to >80 tCO2e in the 50 largest metropolitan areas. Population density exhibits a weak but positive correlation with HCF until a density threshold is met, after which range, mean, and standard deviation of HCF decline. While population density contributes to relatively low HCF in the central cities of large metropolitan areas, the more extensive suburbanization in these regions contributes to an overall net increase in HCF compared to smaller metropolitan areas. Suburbs alone account for 50% of total U.S. HCF. Differences in the size, composition, and location of household carbon footprints suggest the need for tailoring of greenhouse gas mitigation efforts to different populations. Sponsoring organizations: Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory California Air Resources Board National Science Foundation Using the Map Data These maps are available for free for non-profit use, if cited properly. Required minimum citation includes the source name, map name, year published, and links back to project page (or displays url). Example: "Source: UC Berkeley CoolClimate Network, Average Annual Household Carbon Footprint (2013)." If you are interested in obtaining a spreadsheet with detailed model results, please review and complete the CoolClimate Data Request Form. Once projects are completed please fill out the CoolClimate Completed Projects Form.
Moussa Sissoko celebrates scoring Newcastle's second goal - the Frenchman's first of the season Newcastle claimed a first win under Rafael Benitez as they overcame Swansea to bolster their chances of Premier League survival. Jamaal Lascelles headed in from a corner to put Newcastle in front towards the end of an edgy first half. Ashley Williams and Jefferson Montero missed chances as the Swans dominated after the break, but Moussa Sissoko and Andros Townsend struck late goals. Newcastle are now three points adrift of safety, while Swansea drop to 15th. Relegation fight 'going down to the wire' Relive the action from St James' Park Hope for Newcastle Newcastle had found themselves in the unfamiliar position of cheering a Sunderland victory earlier in the day. Their rivals' win at fellow strugglers Norwich kept Newcastle within six points of safety going into this encounter, and Benitez's side seemed buoyed by that result. They started at a quick tempo and forced Swansea's Lukasz Fabianski into early saves from Vurnon Anita and Andros Townsend. The first half failed to ignite, however, as the tension of Newcastle's predicament made for an uneasy atmosphere at St James' Park. That was until Townsend's corner found Lascelles, who shrugged off Gylfi Sigurdsson's tug to head in via a deflection from Fabianski. There were some anxious moments for the home crowd as Swansea pressed in the second half, but Sissoko's low strike from another Townsend corner settled those nerves. Townsend himself added a final gloss to the scoreline - and took Newcastle's goal difference to within one of Norwich's - with a calm, low finish as time ticked down. Swans lacking purpose Having already amassed 40 points and all but secured a sixth successive season in the Premier League, Swansea had little to play for. Francesco Guidolin's men had won on their last three visits to St James' Park but lacked purpose and intensity on this occasion. Ecuadorian winger Montero, impressive in the preceding win over Chelsea, was erratic, while other usually influential players such as Sigurdsson struggled to impose themselves on the game. Lascelles' goal also exposed a vulnerability at set-pieces, which Guidolin had previously highlighted as a concern. Swansea improved in the second half but squandered their chances to equalise, with Williams powering a half-volley wide and Montero missing from close range. What happens next? Newcastle's 2015-16 run-in Tue 19 April Man City (H) Sat 23 April Liverpool (A) Sat 30 April Crystal Palace (H) Sat 7 May Aston Villa (A) Sun 15 May Tottenham (H) Newcastle have now narrowed the gap between themselves and Norwich in 17th place to three points. Benitez's side have a game in hand, albeit against Champions League semi-finalists Manchester City, at home on Tuesday. Encouragingly for Newcastle, three of their remaining five matches are at St James' Park with the penultimate fixture against already relegated Aston Villa. Man of the match - Jamaal Lascelles The centre-back (left) contributed to a dogged defensive display and scored Newcastle's crucial opening goal What they said Media playback is not supported on this device Newcastle 3-0 Swansea: Rafael Benitez pleased with Magpies' passion Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez: "I have to say congratulations to the players. They showed passion and commitment. Thank you to the fans. If we stick together then it's easier for us to approach the game and gives us the chance to win. "The players that started were really good. And the other players who came on helped the team. Today we saw what we expect from this team. We have to show the same in the other games." Media playback is not supported on this device Newcastle 3-0 Swansea: Bad day for the Swans - Francesco Guidolin Swansea head coach Francesco Guidolin: "I think Newcastle deserved to win. In the second half we had situations and possibilities to score. It's a bad day for us. We have to look ahead to the next match away to Leicester. "I know my job and I know football. We know that Newcastle play with fight, but we were ready for this game. These things can happen. After many important results this was not a good day." Stats you need to know Andros Townsend has already assisted as many Premier League goals for Newcastle (two) in eight appearances as he did for Tottenham in 50 appearances. Swansea lost an away Premier League game by three goals for the first time since December 2014, when they were beaten 4-1 at Liverpool. Newcastle kept only their second clean sheet in their last 18 Premier League games. The Swans failed to score in an away Premier League game for the first time in 2016. Rafael Benitez became the second Premier League manager to win on his birthday on two occasions, along with Arsene Wenger.
Sarah Tew/CNET Fitbit is prepping to launch some new products before the year comes to a close. During a conference call on Tuesday to discuss the company's second-quarter earnings, CEO James Park said "we have additional new products to come this year," MarketWatch reported on Wednesday. "Fitbit will have more new products for consumers to choose from for this year's holiday season than we've ever had before," Park added. Once considered niche products, fitness bands such as those created by Fitbit, Garmin and others have increased in popularity. They're not crammed with the array of features found in smartwatches but instead offer a simplicity and ease of use that have caught on with consumers. Exactly what Fitbit has in mind for this year is unclear. Prior to the conference call, Chief Financial Officer Bill Zerella told MarketWatch that the holiday offerings would be "upgrades of existing products, which actually will give us the strongest lineup of new and compelling devices." Fitbit further tried to clarify what's in store in a follow-up statement sent to MarketWatch: "Regardless of the language used to describe new products, the products that we are introducing later this year are not just software upgrades, but will have exciting new features and designs." That still leaves consumers guessing as to what products are due up. The company currently offers a healthy lineup of fitness trackers that includes the Surge, the Charge HR, the Flex, the Alta and the Blaze. Among these, the Blaze treads into smartwatch territory as it packs in such features as a color touch screen, a range of clock faces, calendar notifications and phone call and text alerts. The Alta and the Blaze are new products, having been introduced this year. Beyond launching any new products or upgrades to existing ones, the company is spending "substantial" research and development on every product it sells, Park said, according to the Verge. That means consumers can expect some type of refresh to all of its existing products. Fitbit did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.
Polls: Clinton, Trump tangled in N.C., Trump up in Ariz. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton (Photo: USA TODAY) Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are locked in a tight race in North Carolina. The two are just 2 points apart — a number that is within the margin of error — in a Monmouth University poll of likely voters released Wednesday. Clinton led Trump, 44%-42%, while 7% of those surveyed backing Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. The race was also tight on the Senate side. Republican incumbent Sen. Richard Burr was ahead of Democrat Deborah Ross by the same margin, 45%-43%. And for the governorship, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory is far behind Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper. The incumbent trails Cooper 52%-43%. Some of McCrory’s struggle could stem from the HB2 law that he signed. The HB2 law, also known as the “bathroom bill,” among other things requires users of public restrooms to use the bathroom of the gender they were born with. A majority of voters said they disapproved of the law, 55%-36%. The telephone poll was conducted Aug. 20-23 of 401 likely voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 points. A CNN/ORC poll released later Wednesday found similar results. Clinton was ahead of Trump among North Carolina registered voters by a single point, 44%-43%. Johnson had 11% support in the state. The CNN/ORC poll had Burr and Ross 3 points apart, 49%-46%, with the incumbent leading. And McCrory is still behind his challenger, though by a smaller margin (6 points). But there is good news for Trump in Arizona — a traditionally Republican state. He’s up 5 points over Clinton with registered voters, with 43% to Clinton’s 38%. Libertarian Gary Johnson had 12% support and Green Party candidate Jill Stein had 4%. And Sen. John McCain, who has struggled on how closely to align himself with Trump throughout the year, was doing just fine in his re-election bid. The incumbent Republican led Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick 52%-39%. And in his primary race against Kelli Ward, McCain was ahead 55%-29%. The CNN/ORC telephone poll included 912 registered voters in North Carolina and 842 registered voters in Arizona. It was conducted Aug. 18-23, and the margin of error in both states is plus or minus 3.5 points. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2bnxVyu
The prodigal rodeo is returning, though technically it never left. Three sources said Monday that the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association has decided against moving the Canadian Finals Rodeo to Saskatoon and will soon sign a deal to continue holding its championship event at Northlands Coliseum for at least 2017 and 2018. An announcement has been planned for Wednesday, pending final signatures. CPRA director Jonathan Kmita did not respond to a request for comment. Jeff Robson, a former association GM and now head of their negotiating committee, said Monday afternoon he could not comment on the state of CFR negotiations. Northlands spokesperson Lori Cote would not comment when reached Monday. To put it mildly, the CFR and the CPRA have been on a roller-coaster ride for several months. Now, after a summer of executive upheaval, the association is under competent new management, their crown jewel back where it belongs, for as long as the Coliseum is capable of holding it, at any rate. The new leadership’s insistence on maintaining a presence in Edmonton speaks to the event’s long, successful history here. It’s also a nod to securing a better future, because it keeps the CPRA in close proximity with officials of the Oilers Entertainment Group, who may decide that the CFR could augment the Rogers Place entertainment lineup. And yes, the OEG signed a five-year deal to hold big-money Professional Bull Riders events at Rogers Place, starting in 2017. Some other PBR events in the United States are held in conjunction with rodeos, so the two can coexist nicely. Though OEG was not consulted by CPRA or Northlands on this deal, the OEG was interested in moving the CFR into Rogers Place and presented a lucrative offer to the former CPRA regime, which rejected that bid on March 1. The CPRA then threw open the bidding to all interested parties, and it seemed likely this year’s CFR would signal the end of a terrific four-decade run in Edmonton. However, the CPRA’s request for proposal didn’t generate a single formal bid as Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg all took a pass, citing too much downside financial risk and not enough of a share in potential profits. That setback became a divisive issue for the CPRA board, so too the fact that some CPRA directors were unhappy they hadn’t been privy to the details of the OEG bid until after it had been rejected. A major management shakeup was looming. But first, on July 21, the CPRA and Saskatoon Tourism announced they had a memorandum of understanding to host the CFR in that Saskatchewan city for three years, starting in 2017. Though some sources called the announcement hasty, because there wasn’t a signed contract in place, it still looked like confirmation for Edmontonians that the CFR was riding off into the sunset. However, Saskatoon Tourism couldn’t get negotiations with the CPRA beyond that initial stage. As with most deals, finances were key, and two sources said the CPRA wasn’t happy with a deal that had them renting the venue, SaskTel Centre, rather than forging a partnership agreement with Saskatoon to share costs and upside. Saskatoon Tourism CEO Todd Brandt said he wasn’t exactly sure why the deal broke down. “I’m a little bit dumbfounded,” he said from Saskatoon on Monday. “We had a memorandum of understanding, but obviously without our knowledge, further discussions continued to happen behind the scenes. We were informed of this a few weeks ago I guess that they had decided to return to Edmonton, from our understanding.” The last word he got from the CPRA came from Robson about three weeks ago. He was clearly disappointed with the CPRA’s methods. “There’s a lot of time, effort and energy put into the whole bid process. You know, it’s somewhat unprecedented. I’m having trouble figuring out how to react to it because I’ve never run into this before.” He was dealing with an association in a constant state of flux and conflict. CPRA president Murry Milan resigned July 17. Nine days later, general manager Dan Eddy was terminated by a 6-5 vote of the board at an emergency meeting. The five dissenting board members immediately resigned in protest. The previous negotiating committee and an eight-member advisory council populated mostly by outside members was also disbanded. Into the breach stepped people such as Kmita and Robson, who wanted to see the association get back on its feet and conduct itself professionally. And they wanted what was best for the CFR. Though Saskatoon Tourism was trying to move forward with signed contracts, CPRA officials obviously turned their attention away from Saskatoon’s offer and back to getting a deal done with Northlands. “I think just the track record of success of that event in Edmonton has left a lot of the board members concerned about whether they should be moving or not,” said Brandt. “But we thought we put together a reasonable business plan. “The MOU was our agreement. It hadn’t really progressed past that. We were trying to get contracts negotiated and signed with no success, and I guess now it’s obvious why.” dbarnes@postmedia.com Twitter.com/jrnlbarnes
Nowadays, computers have so much memory that running out of RAM is rarely the cause for an "out of memory" error. Actually, let's try that again. For over a decade, hard drive have been so large (and cheap) that running out of swap space is rarely the cause for an "out of memory" error. In user-mode, the term memory refers to virtual memory, not physical RAM chips. The amount of physical RAM doesn't affect how much memory a user-mode application can allocate; it's all about commit and swap space.¹ But swap space is disk space, and that is in the hundreds of gigabytes for hard drives. (Significantly less for SSDs, but even in that case, it's far more than 4GB.) The limiting factor these days is address space. Each thread's stack takes a megabyte, and if you're creating a lot of threads, that can add up to a lot of address space consumed just for stacks. And then you have to include the address space for the DLLs you've loaded (which quickly adds up). And then there's the address space for all the memory you allocated. (Even if you don't end up using it, it still occupies address space until you free it.) Typically, when you get an ERROR_ OUT_ OF_ MEMORY error, the problem isn't physical memory or virtual memory. It's address space. This is one of the main benefits of moving to 64-bit computing. It's not that you actually are going to use or need all that memory. But it relieves pressure on the address space: The user-mode address space in 64-bit Windows is eight terabytes. When the day comes that eight terabytes is not enough, we at least won't have to redesign the application model to expand the address space. The current x86-64 hardware has support for address spaces of up to 256TB, and the theoretical address space for a 64-bit processor is sixteen exabytes. ¹ Of course, physical RAM is a factor if the application is explicitly allocating physical memory, but that's the exception rather than the rule.
Snow in Sunrise? Really? A South Florida group is pitching to develop a giant winter-themed entertainment complex — part of it chilled to about 31 degrees Fahrenheit — to offer skiing, snowboarding, sledding, snowmobiling, ice skating and other sports. Ski trails at least 2,700 feet long would feature moguls and ski lifts. Pelion Sunrise, led by tennis center owner Norman Canter, is proposing to build its winter wonderland in Sunrise near Sawgrass Mills mall. Canter led a group behind a failed effort to develop a similar indoor winter-sports park in North Miami two years ago. Executives for Pelion are scheduled to outline initial plans to a Sunrise environmental advisory board on Wednesday night. An economic impact study the company submitted to the city said the venture would be valued at more than $300 million and attract 2.5 million visits a year. Besides the winter park, the complex would include a conventional theme park with electric race carts, paintball and other activities. And there'd be a conference hotel with at least 275 rooms. But local officials are both skeptical that it might be a pipe dream — and hopeful that it will come true. "I don't even know if this thing is for real or not," said Commissioner Sheila Alu. "I'm not even paying attention to this until I know it's a viable project." Pelion estimates the completed project would employ 2,000 people. "How can you say no to that?" asked Commissioner Larry Sofield. "People have visions. And sometimes it seems crazy, but those visions can turn out great sometimes. I really hope it's not just another idea that's not possible." Pelion executives could not be reached for further details Monday. Chief Executive Canter, 71, of Pembroke Pines, was unavailable on the Jewish holiday, and President Michael Lawrence was traveling. In 2010, a different group led by Canter sought to build a winter park and won a $30 million bid for the 193-acre site of the unfinished Biscayne Landing project in North Miami. But it backed out before closing, citing problems with leases, debts and lawsuits on the troubled property, according to published reports. Some North Miami officials and residents had questioned whether the Solar Mountain project had the funding needed and criticized the development group's ties to Mayor Andre Pierre. In Sunrise, Pelion has a contract to buy land for its project between Sawgrass Mills mall and the newly renamed BB&T; Center, said city spokeswoman Christine Pfeffer. The company has not sought Sunrise tax money for the venture, but could qualify for incentives based on job creation and economic impact, said Lou Sandora, economic development director. Developers hope the project could open as early as November 2014. They estimate It could generate more than $7 million in taxes for the city and county starting the following year. "Sunrise continues to attract big dreams and big innovative projects," Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan said in an e-mail. "We will have to see if this is the type of innovative dream that can come to fruition, be a destination attraction, fit within the community and be successful." Conceptually, indoor winter-sports parks hold promise in the U.S. market. There are roughly 60 now open worldwide — with Ski Dubai in the desert of the United Arab Emirates perhaps the best known. But none yet operates in the United States, said hospitality consultant Linda C. Wilson of Key Advisors of Atlanta, who is familiar with plans for at least two indoor winter parks in Georgia alone. But the viability of the indoor ski resorts depends on many factors, including cost of land and electricity; pricing to customers, either for all-day passes or individual activities; plus competition from other venues. What's clear is the parks are expensive to run and attend — like most big theme parks, she said. "I think Florida has the most theme parks and competition, whereas in Georgia, there's little competition" for winter-sports amusement parks, said Wilson. Sunrise also is the proposed home for large casino-hotel project to be developed next to the BB&T; Center. Las Vegas casino group Boyd Gaming has joined with the Florida Panthers' parent company on the venture and is seeking approvals for the project from the Florida Legislature and other entities. Key to the plans are mass numbers of visitors to the sprawling Sawgrass Mills mall, which already boasts more than 350 stores and ranks as the country's largest for outlets and what industry experts call "value-retail." The mall's general manager, Luanne Lenberg, said a winter-sports park nearby could boost mall business. "We have seen the synergy between recreation and shopping at other projects and would welcome this new venture in Sunrise as a further enhancement to our appeal as a top destination," she said by email. Staff writer Cindy Kent and researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report. dhemlock@sunsentinel.com or 305-810-5009
Advertisement Photo: Larry Volk Jack Ward [above], curator of the online Transistor Museum, proffers a pile of unmarked half-size Raytheon germanium hearing-aid transistors, vintage mid- to late 1950s, that he bought on eBay for a few cents each. Is it possible to love a transistor? Certainly what Jack Ward feels for the Raytheon CK722, the first transistor sold to the general public, goes beyond casual affection. He’s collected thousands of early transistor specimens, including dozens of CK722s. His stately yellow Victorian home on a quiet, tree-lined street in Brookline, Mass., has a basement crammed with enough code oscillators, Geiger counters, radios, hand-wrought circuit boards, transistorized hearing aids, subminiature vacuum tubes, diodes, resistors, and capacitors to make any collector of vintage electronic gear drool. He’s written one book about the CK722 and has started another about early transistor history at RCA. When he’s not working as associate director of quality for the Bedford, Mass., facility of gene-chip maker Affymetrix Inc., he’s busy maintaining his virtual Transistor Museum on the Web and is widely acknowledged by fellow collectors as a techno-anthropologist par excellence. “My wife’s very supportive, and my younger two children think it’s fairly amusing, and probably not a bad way to have a mid-life crisis,” says Ward of his family’s reaction to his passionate pursuit of transistor history. Far from thinking that his dad’s a square, Ward’s oldest son, Nick, who is pursuing a B.A. in physics, is learning a lot from his old man. “Nick can’t believe how fast technology changes and that the people I talk to have changed the world,” adds Ward, who as curator of the online museum has shifted his focus from collecting early transistors to collecting oral histories from the engineers who sparked the Semiconductor Era. Photo: Jack Ward With this ad, Raytheon Co. introduced the CK722 and slightly better CK721 (less noise, higher gain) in 1953. For Ward and the CK722, it was love at first sight. The year was 1959: Fidel Castro had just taken Cuba, John F. Kennedy was campaigning for U.S. president, Buddy Holly was flying around on what would be his last tour, and Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor had both filed patent applications for something called an integrated circuit. Recalling himself as a boy of 10 marching into his local radio distributor and plunking down his allowance for his first transistor, Ward [ see photo] taps into the same wonder that gripped him when he laid eyes on the CK722, which Raytheon Co. (Lexington, Mass.) made available to hobbyists through RadioShack stores starting in March 1953. “They were probably only a couple bucks at the time, but just the excitement of actually owning one of these was intense. The package is quite spectacular, you know, the actual shape of the device and the color,” he says. “The blue ones, for instance, the iridescent blue color is just gorgeous.” With his new transistor, Ward built a radio, just a simple tuned circuit with a germanium diode to detect a signal and a CK722 as an audio amplifier. “I turned it on in my room at night after lights out, and listened to rock and roll or a baseball game,” he says wistfully. “For sheer excitement, I can’t think of a parallel with another thing in technology. I’m tempted to say the PC, but that doesn’t quite capture it. You see, it’s different than that.” Love potion No. 722 Ward wasn’t the only boy smitten. Tens of thousands of CK722s were sold between 1953 and the mid-1960s. The irresistible transistor cast a spell over even die-hard vacuum tube enthusiasts like Terry Hosking. By the ripe old age of 12, Hosking, now a senior application and design engineer with SB Electronics Inc. (Barre, Vt.), had concluded that vacuum tubes were the only way to go. “I told some of my relatives that I didn’t think that transistors were going to amount to much,” Hosking told me. “A few weeks later, I got a care package from them with a blue CK722 and a Sylvania 2N35 transistor and a couple books that showed how to hook them up. I was amazed to find that the transistor radio I built would pick up the local stations without an external antenna and ground like I had to use with the tube radio.” Transistors weren’t just sensitive devices, they were the mysterious oracles of a new age—“Just a little solid block of black plastic with three thin wires sticking out,” says Tom Lee, associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University. Lee started fooling around with transistors when he was only five. At that time, in the mid-1960s, RadioShack sold “blister packs” of five transistors for a dollar. “They were the only transistors a kid could easily obtain with saved-up pocket change,” he says. “The CK722 is the first recollection I have of that transistor type, indeed, of any transistor type at all. The things seemed magical.” And messy in a way tinkerers love. Junior engineers constructing projects out of transistors and circuit boards had to hone basic shop skills: measuring, cutting, drilling, and assembly. “Of course, the most important skill to master was soldering,” says Bob McGarrah, now staff system planning engineer at Central Illinois Light Co. (Peoria, Ill.). What madeleines were to Proust, solder is to McGarrah. “The unique smell of the hot flux still brings back happy memories,” he says, one of which is a of small audio amplifier that he discovered had an impedance high enough not to draw a dial tone when connected to a telephone line. A huge fan of the TV spy drama “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” young McGarrah used the amplifier to practice his surveillance skills by listening in on family members’ phone calls. Connecting on the Internet Like old high school chums who reunite on Classmates.com and realize that they shared a crush on the same girl way back when, Hosking, Lee, Ward, McGarrah, and dozens of others linked up on the online auction site eBay in the late 1990s and began swapping stories along with vintage transistors. “Old transistor collectors tend to be a small, close-knit bunch,” says McGarrah, who runs his own transistor history Web site. “The power of the Internet to bring together such a narrowly focused group of hobbyists is amazing.” Transistor Family Tree Photo: Jack Ward [From left] Raytheon subminiature vacuum tubes such as the CK549DX dominated the market for hearing-aid tubes throughout the 1940s. In 1948, the CK703 point-contact transistor went into production, but proved too unstable to unseat tubes. The more robust CK718 alloy junction transistor debuted in late 1952 and rapidly superseded tubes in hearing aids. CK718s that didn't have the noise and gain characteristics for hearing aids were relabeled CK721 or CK722, both introduced in 1953. The black CK722 was replaced by the blue metal style in 1955. The silver metal case followed in the late 1950s and sold through 1964. Finally, smaller, better-performing transistors like the half-size CK784 were introduced throughout the late 1950s. Ward concurs: “Without the Internet, none of this interaction would really be possible.” Inspired by the online communities he saw sprouting up around vacuum tubes, Ward decided to use the Internet to research the history of early transistor radios. He soon became more interested in radio components than the radios themselves, “in how these little devices were developed, and what a profound impact they had on society.” In 1999, Ward scratched an itch to write and took as his subject his first transistor. He began working on The Story of the CK722, and put up the http://www.ck722.com Web site. Here he posted the fruits of his research—pictures of the CK722 and other early Raytheon transistors, charting the 722 through its three case colors, silver, black, and that iridescent blue [see “Transistor Family Tree,”]. He also posted pictures of old ads, circuit schematics, packages, and devices people made with the CK722 that they sent him for his growing collection. Deep into his yearlong project, Ward attended the Cambridge-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) monthly hamfest, a flea market for the “geek to the max,” as he puts it. He made known to fellow collectors his eagerness to find out more about the origins of his favorite transistor. “Someone mentioned that they thought Raytheon had a historian,” Ward remembers. “So I called up Raytheon, and sure enough, there was one. A gentleman named Norman Krim.” Krim’s tale It turns out that 89-year-old Norm Krim is not only Raytheon’s archivist, he’s a living link to the roots of the electronics industry. He’s also the father of the CK722 [see photo]. Photo: Larry Volk Norman Krim, father of the CK722 that Jack Ward bought as a child, is now curator of the Raytheon archives. Here he sits at his kitchen table and plays with a CK722 radio made and presented to him by Ward. Late one chilly night this past October, as he and I sat in the kitchen of his Newton, Mass., home sipping green tea and munching on roasted almonds, Krim spun his story. Having been a student of Raytheon founder Vannevar Bush at MIT, Krim took a job with his mentor’s company as an engineer in the receiving tube division in 1935. By 1938, Krim had developed subminiature tubes for hearing aids. The expertise gained in that work earned six patents on the subminiature tubes found in the proximity fuses used in U.S. Army artillery and antiaircraft shells, credited by some historians with turning around the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944. After the war, under Krim’s steady hand, Raytheon’s receiving tube division dominated the market for hearing-aid tubes with a 90 percent share through the 1940s. As the industrial war machine was winding down, the semiconductor revolution was just revving up. At Raytheon’s archives in Lexington, the morning after our late night bull session, Krim showed me a letter. Dated 9 July 1948, it was addressed to Laurence K. Marshall, then president of Raytheon, inviting him to Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc. (Murray Hill, N.J.) to see a demonstration of “a new device called a Transistor,” specifically the point-contact transistor invented by Walter Brattain, John Bardeen, and William Shockley. Marshall was busy that day and tapped Krim to go in his place. What he saw shook him to his very core. “I was worried that my success had been with tubes, and this was threatening my job,” Krim recalls. “So what the hell was I going to do? I was going to get into transistors.” Krim’s crash program eventually led to the introduction of the world’s first commercially available transistor, the CK703 in 1948, less than six months after the Murray Hill demonstration. But the CK703 had some problems. The germanium point-contact transistor—actually two pointed wires, 125 µm in diameter and 25-50 µm apart, in contact with the signal-amplifying semiconductor—had to be handmade with watchmaker precision, which precluded cost-effective mass production. And they were none too robust. The slightest shock could ruin them, which made them useless for hearing aids and just about everything else. So Krim shifted gears and leveraged his division’s growing expertise in semiconductor technology to make germanium diodes, which had a ready market as signal detectors in TV sets. By 1950, Raytheon was cranking out 20 000 diodes a day and Krim was promoted to vice president of the receiving tube division, where the diodes were being made. Double jeopardy Meanwhile, as germanium diodes and subminiature tubes poured out of Raytheon’s plants, William Shockley was about to jolt the world again, this time with the junction transistor. Krim was fortunate enough to room with Shockley for over a week in the spring of 1951, while both were serving on a military procurement advisory board known as the Baker Committee. “Shockley would be proofreading a paper after dinner every night. He told me, ‘I’m going to publish an article in the Physical Review, and you should remember, pick up that article.’ When I got a copy of his article on junction transistors, that was it for me. The light bulb went on.” And Krim’s engineers swung into action. Their junction transistors were simple devices made of two indium dots (emitter and collector) alloyed to either side of a germanium chip. But the germanium wasn’t pure enough and the initial devices failed. Later in 1951, at a symposium conducted by Bell Labs, Krim’s team learned the value of zone refining: passing an RF coil over a quartz tube containing a large block of germanium crystal and melting portions of it in sequence. That got the impurities to migrate to the end of the ingot, which could then be lopped off, leaving a pure crystal behind. Knowing that quartz tubes were key to making germanium pure enough for junction transistors, the crafty Krim cornered the market on quartz tubing. “And I did one other thing,” he says with a sly smile. “There was a company in Missouri called Eagle-Picher, at the time the country’s biggest zinc refiner. They threw out germanium as a byproduct of zinc refining. So I bought it all up.” But as Raytheon prepared to introduce its germanium junction transistor, dubbed the CK718, yields stayed stubbornly low. Water vapor and other environmental contamination occurring during the manufacturing process were to blame. To get around the problem, Krim’s team used infant incubators as “clean boxes,” so technicians wearing rubber gloves could reach in and assemble transistors while minimizing exposure to ambient conditions. Yields went up, and by the end of 1952, Raytheon released 10 000 CK718s to its commercial customers, the hearing-aid manufacturers. Kids’ stuff Still, the manufacturing process wasn’t perfect, and Krim was stuck with a mound of noisy, low-gain CK718s that weren’t good enough for hearing aids. Faced with the prospect of destroying thousands of rejects, Krim, who a decade later as CEO of RadioShack would sell the electronic hobby retailer to leather craft store chain Tandy Corp. (Dallas), wondered: could what was scrap to a company be gold to a hobbyist? As a youth in the late 1920s, he had built a mechanical TV set. It included a radio receiver and a Bakelite disk drilled with 16 strategically placed holes to scan a Raytheon Kino neon lamp that projected the picture. Resourceful even then, he used his mother’s milkshake mixer to rotate the disk and obtain an image. “I thought, jeez, wouldn’t these rejects make a hell of a good thing? So when the guys wanted to break them up, I said, you can’t do that—they’re worth something,” recalls Krim. “I loved to build experimental stuff and I just wanted the kids to have these. And nobody had ever seen a transistor.” Not even editors of the major electronics publications at the time. So in February 1953, Krim invited the editors of all the major electronics magazines, including Electronics and the now defunct Radio and TV News, to his office for a demonstration of CK718 rejects that were relabeled CK722. “Their tongues were hanging out,” recollects Krim. From the pens of those amazed editors the word spread about what the ordinary hobbyist could do with a transistor. And kids across the United States started putting together radios and oscillators and speakerphones, a few of which are now enshrined in the Transistor Museum. Infatuation contagion After visiting the Raytheon archives, Norm and I drove over to Jack’s house to see the Transistor Museum collection [see photos, below]. It was the first visit for both of us, and I was curious to see how Norm would react to seeing bits of the history he helped create. Photos: Larry Volk [Counterclockwise, from lower left] Transistor Museum curator Jack Ward studies a one-transistor regenerative receiver built by fellow fan Terry Hosking. Next, the top two shelves display transistor radios of the 1950s and 1960s produced by Emerson, RCA, and Roland, along with perhaps the world's only Germanium Crystal Triode Evaluation box [with red and green knobs] for testing point-contact transistors. The curator's home in Brookline, Mass., is also home to the museum. In Ward's hands is a clone made by the Bulova Watch Co. of the first commercial transistor radio; the original, the Regency TR1, was developed by Regency and Texas Instrumentsfor the 1954 Christmas season. Finally, on top of another shelf are two large 1950s transistor radios: a black Raytheon T2500, which was one of the few commercial products to actually use the CK722 transistor, and a cream-colored Superex kit radio, which sits on an Arvin transistor radio. Our first stop was the kitchen table, where Jack presented each of us with a single-transistor CK722 radio kit he had made especially for this occasion. It featured a gleaming silver CK722, a Raytheon CK705 germanium diode, an ancient pair of magnetic headphones, a vintage comb-tuning capacitor, a variable inductor loopstick to fine-tune reception of a station, and, appropriately, two RadioShack AAA batteries. The delight on Norm’s face erased 80 years, and for a few minutes he was that same precocious boy who’d built his own crude TV. Norm hung on Jack’s every word as he showed us how he’d converted a double CD case into the kit’s rudimentary circuit board. I marveled at Jack’s ingenuity, but was frankly more interested in the components, the smooth twisting action of the comb tuning capacitor, the bright red of the CK705 diode, and, of course, the beguiling silver CK722, my first transistor. Then we followed Jack down to the basement to see where the virtual Transistor Museum makes its real home. We passed his son’s matte-black Alien computer setup and an Altair computer resplendent in all of its toggle-switched glory before entering the inner sanctum. Here in this meticulously arranged room, Jack had everything he needed to make the museum run, including his server, scanner, digital camera, and broadband connection. The room was lined with shelf after shelf of plastic containers, each packed with hundreds of diodes, ICs, transistors, and other devices that Jack had bought on eBay. Norm, it’s safe to say, was dumbstruck. The father of the CK722 was standing in the delivery room of the Semiconductor Era. For an hour, Jack dazzled us with objects and stories that put everything we saw in historical context, right down to the dozens of packages for different transistors and vacuum tubes he brought out. He discussed the nuances of different transistors, identified according to year and lot number, and how, precisely, they were stamped. He displayed handmade gadgets people had sent him for his collection, including a one-transistor radio on a wooden board made by Terry Hosking, which, with its beautifully hand-wound antenna coil, looks like something you might see in a SoHo art gallery [see photo]. Jack placed tiny chips of germanium in our hands, revealing the mystery at the heart of the junction transistor. And he told Norm what a marketing genius he was for maintaining the CK722’s brand identity for so long. As Raytheon got better at making transistors, they got smaller. While Norm could have housed the devices in a smaller package, that would have changed the look and the form factor of a familiar friend to hobbyists. So Norm potted the smaller transistors in the same size package and extended the CK722’s brand life. And while it might sound as if the hobbyist version of the Stockholm syndrome had set in, as I stood there listening to the stories flowing back and forth between Jack and Norm, one archivist to another, the warm fuzzies came on, my own love for the CK722 blossoming right there in Jack Ward’s basement. To Probe Further To visit Jack Ward’s Transistor Museum on the Web, see the site at http://www.transistormuseum.com. The original CK722 site is at http://www.ck722.com. For Bob’s Virtual Transistor Museum and History Web Site, go to http://users.arczip.com/rmcgarra1.
Dnipro Battalion soldier Serhiy Shvets, 39, will spend Independence Day the same way that he did last year — at the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine in the eastern Donbas. Shvets said Ukraine’s true independence will only come with battlefield victory. “The real Independence Day will come after our victory in the war,” Shvets told the Kyiv Post by phone, echoing an idea that President Petro Poroshenko told the U.S. Congress in March. “We don’t just fight for our territories,” Poroshenko told the American lawmakers. “Even though we have a centuries-old history and 23 years of independence, the real battle for independence takes place now.” About 7 percent of Ukrainian territory is under Russian occupation in an unprovoked war that the Kremlin started in late February 2014 with the military invasion of Crimea. Ukraine achieved independence through the collapse of the Moscow-led Soviet Union in 1991, not through rebellion and war, like many Western nations. But, 24 years later, the mostly peaceful dissolution of the communist empire proved to be too good to last. The outcome of this war could determine Ukraine’s destiny for decades to come. Yaroslav Hrytsak, a historian and Lviv Catholic University professor, agrees. “This is the war for Ukraine’s future,” Hrytsak says. “It is being decided now if Ukraine can change and take the path of sustainable development, or not. We know from history that often such choices are made amid a disturbance.” The war helped many Ukrainians first start to think seriously about the nation’s identity. That is what happened to Oleksiy Nikiforov, a Ukrainian soldier living in Kyiv. Even though he had been a Ukrainian marine in Crimea since 1995, the Russian-born Nikiforov didn’t identify as Ukrainian until March 2014, when Russia’s invasion of Crimea forced him to make a choice. He was one of the 64 soldiers out of a 300-member battalion that chose Ukraine over Russia and left the occupied peninsula. He has since been studying at a military academy in Kyiv. After his studies end in 2016, he plans to go to the front lines of the war in Donbas. Unlike Shvets, he’s looking forward to celebrating Aug. 24. He is set to march in the parade on Khreshchatyk Street. It will be the first real Independence Day celebration that he will witness. In Crimea, the day was a minor holiday with a small official ceremony, he said. Now the day is simply too important. “When we were sitting locked at the marine base, pressed with all the tension, we would listen only to Ukrainian music,” he recalls. “I don’t know why, but we switched to it at once.” He is looking forward to the parade and the moment when he and the other soldiers will respond to the greeting of “Glory to Ukraine,” with the shout “Glory to the Heroes.” Before Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Nikiforov thought the slogan was for Ukrainian nationalists, not him. Today it gives him goose bumps. Kyiv Post editor Olga Rudenko and staff writer Alyona Zhuk can be reached at rudenko@kyivpost.com and zhuk@kyivpost.com, respectively.
If you did not have the time or emotional strength to make it through the Vice Presidential debate between Governor Mike Pence and Senator Tim Kaine you should feel confident that no one blames you. Also, don’t worry I watched it for you and I think I have crafted a literary experience that will take through similar emotions in a shorter amount of time. Come with me on a quick journey through the awkward and at times confusing experience that was the Vice Presidential Debate. In order to illustrate this I have written a short story which both you and I are involved in. The Setting Imagine we are friends. We’re young, extremely attractive and dragged to a dinner party in a neighborhood far above my parents living wages but they said we had to go along. We arrive at a nice house but there are few other people our age there. Immediately when we enter the house there is an palpable strain, as if everyone knows something very tense that we do not, like something had happened before. This is where our story begins. The Beginning We enter the house with my parents. The owner of the house, Elaine, greets us cheerfully and takes our coats. Although she comes off very friendly and beautiful there is a nervous aura to her actions. We turn to each other with a look that says ‘shit is about to go down.’ We enter the kitchen on our path to the main party area but instead of following my parents we tell them we are going to check out the food situation and we will meet them out there. Here is where we find our spirit guide in this journey, my drunk aunt that tells it exactly like it is. We were right, some shit had gone down. DJ Cool Dad (Tim Kaine) and Papa (Mike Pence) are about to go head to head. The tension is so high because only a week ago, DJ Cool Dad slept with Papa’s wife and he won’t stop smiling about it. He arrived at the party on his high horse, feeling confident because his link to this woman has given him more power than he could have imagined. Everyone is attempting to navigating around the inevitable explosions. As the guests gather in the living room we are not sure what is going to happen but we have a moderate feeling it could be interesting. The Battle You and I finally enter living room area and find a seat where we can get a good look at DJ Cool Dad and Papa, as they have now sat at the same table. Elaine is in between them, seemingly ready to get a civil conversation started. We know that Elaine has not been the subject of any of their sexual escapades… yet. As the conversation gets started it seems rehearsed and polished, as if they knew the other was going to be there. However, as the answers get longer, the sassy retorts get less and less subtle. A couple jokes about Papa’s boss’s former job on a reality show, fun at first but we are both ready for someone to dig deeper. This is the only thing that is supposed to keep our attention at this party and we have yet to be impressed. The enjoyable part about Papa is although he is supposed to be on the receiving end of this beating he stayed very calm, actually setting the stage for DJ Cool Dad to come off as annoying and over-zealous. Now we are feeling irritated by the whole thing. Nothing too juicy is really surfacing, we heard a lot of this from my aunt in the kitchen over and over because she is drunk. The reality of the snide remarks and the facial expressions keep us interested. DJ Cool Dad has impeccable side eye and Papa’s calm demeanor let’s him stay unfazed even though the history of his situation has left him digging out of a hole. Maybe he is drunk? Maybe he doesn’t know all the information about what is going on? Or maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t actually care? As the argument gets heated and DJ Cool Dad gets more and more annoying we begin to get the feeling that although calm, Papa has been involved in some real questionable shit in his past. There are some very catty exchanges, they continually interrupt each other as they lay down the attacks on each other. It holds our attention because we are afraid of missing something epic but the meat of it all is stuff my drunk aunt has known for weeks. It’s getting annoying but there are a few moments where you, me and the other onlookers are like: The Aftermath To end the whole argument we finally get to hear what we think might be a pointed question to the two men involved. We are excited at the potential to hear how they feel about a topic sans references to outside influences. Elaine leans in and asks about their faith and what that means for the whole situation they are in. Cheating? Supporting war? Lying? No let’s get involved in the decisions that women should or should not be able to make. Then DJ Cool Dad comes in with a mic droppers and says “hey Papa, why don’t you trust women?” OOOOOOOOO. You and I back out like: The Summary Honestly, reading that story was way more fun than what actually happened. They talked a lot about the terrible things each of their running mates had done, very little about their backgrounds and what they might bring to the table and gave us an insight into whatever their annoying tendencies might be. Nobody really did anything. Tim Kaine proved capable and qualified enough to be a sidekick and Mike Pence proved to be supportive enough of Trump’s crazy all while bringing a very balancing temperament. The most interesting and intense part was the faith based talk about abortions. Tim Kaine said the very quotable “why don’t you trust women” and Mike Pence actually made sense when he said “if you are going to be pro-life you have to be pro-adoption.” Other than that nothing new really happened but you could get a fair idea of what we are getting attitude-wise from each Vice Presidential candidate. At the end of our story we sneak off with the bottle of champagne my aunt passed out next to and becomes best friends while hiding our slight buzz from my parents. The general tension of the party has already subsided and we forgot why we were interested in the first place. Moral of the story is Tim Kaine seems like a dad who is doing too much and Mike Pence seems like he would make all children call him Papa. Wanna see me high on stage watch this:
Vice President Joe Biden reflected on perhaps the greatest disappointment of the last Democrat to serve as America’s second-in-command, saying Tuesday that Al Gore deserved to make it to the White House. Biden and Gore were both attending a Washington, D.C. fundraiser for Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the Democratic nominee in the special U.S. Senate election playing out in Massachusetts. Markey, however, did not attend. The current vice president commented on the disputed 2000 presidential election, which saw Gore win the nationwide popular vote over George W. Bush. A controversial Supreme Court decision ultimately halted the recount in Florida, striking a huge blow to Gore’s chances. Biden praised Gore for accepting the court’s decision. “This man was elected president of the United States of America,” Biden said, according to a pool report. “No, no, no. He was elected president of the United States of America. But for the good of the nation, when the bad decision in my view was made, he did the right thing for the nation.”
I'm conflicted if a full beard and a shaved head is a good look? I just don't know... Jack Conte of the YouTube-famous band Pomplamoose caused a stir last week when he posted an account of his tour financials on Medium. "Being an independent artist is so difficult" was the thrust of his essay—true, no doubt—and tucked into the back half was a mention of an apparent way out: Patreon, a crowdfunding service that Conte cofounded last year. Conte's post, which details a tour on which his band lost $11,819 despite having grossed $135,983, was widely panned by fellow musicians : "What is evidenced is not how hard it is these days to be a touring band, but what happens when a band is bad at managing their own expectations," wrote Santos Montano of the metal band Old Man Gloom on Pitchfork. That is to say, if you're pulling six figures and still losing money, maybe trade the $17,589 spent on "Best Western level hotels" for a few nights spent in the van. But Conte does worse than making believe he's running a shoestring punk operation (His band was once heavily featured in a series of Hyundai commercials ). "At the end of the day," he writes before endorsing Patreon, "Pomplamoose is just fine": Our patrons give usper video through our Patreon page . We sell aboutof music per month through iTunes and Loudr. After all of our expenses (yes, making music videos professionally is expensive), Nataly and I each draw a salary of aboutper month from Pomplamoose. What's left gets reinvested in the band or saved so that we don't have to rack up $24,000 of credit card debt to book another tour. But Conte doesn't just make $6,326 per video from Patreon—he's the CEO of the company, as Andrew Choi points out. It says so right there in his Twitter bio, but nowhere in the actual Medium post. It's a cynical bit of sponsored content that isn't marked as such, less a call to financially support hardworking DIY musicians than it is to direct money to Jack Conte's company. Conte explains that he does not take a salary from the company . Salary or no, failing to disclose in your widely disseminated essay that you're the CEO of the company you're endorsing remains shady as hell. A previous version of this post referenced Patreon putting money in Jack Conte's pockets, but in a follow-up Medium post,
A woman covers her head with a city map as she walks Piazza del Popolo last June in central Rome. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images) It used to be the big debate in climate change circles. Whenever an extreme event occurred — like, say, Hurricane Katrina, or the deadly 2003 European heat wave — the question would immediately arise as to whether it was legitimate to in any way “link” it to climate change. Usually, some errant activist would draw the connection, and climate skeptics would pounce, denouncing the leap and questioning any causal attribution. Over time, though, scientists have clarified matters. They’ve explained that while global warming doesn’t “cause” any single event, it can make them more likely to occur, not unlike (in the helpful analogy) the loading of dice. Indeed, published papers have shown that a warming climate had indeed increased the odds of a number of individual extreme events, including the 2003 European heat wave, the 2010 Russian heat wave and the 2013 Australian summer heat. As we move further and further into a jarred climate, meanwhile, the research on attributing extreme events has also advanced. Thus, in a new study in Nature Climate Change, Erich Fischer and Reto Knutti, of the science-focused Swiss university ETH Zurich, perform an analysis not for any individual event but rather for all daily heat and precipitation extremes of a “moderate” magnitude occurring over land in our current climate. And they find, strikingly, that 18 percent of today’s moderate precipitation extremes, and 75 percent of moderate heat extremes, were made more likely to occur by global warming. “The approach here is reminiscent of medical studies, where it is not possible to attribute a single fatality from lung cancer to smoking,” note the authors. “Instead, a comparison of the lung-cancer-related mortality rate in smokers with the rate in non-smokers may allow attribution of the excess mortality to smoking.” It’s important to be clear what kind of hot extreme events are being referred to here. The analysis looked at the seemingly oxymoronic occurrence of “moderate extremes,” which means events that have a low but not extremely low probability of occurring. In this case, a “moderate” extreme was defined as an event that would only occur 1 out of 1,000 days in a climate that has not been tweaked by global warming. “We find that what used to be a one-in-1,000-days event or a one-in-three-years event becomes, for instance, a four-in-three-year or five-in-three-year event,” says lead study author Erich Fischer. Hence the 75 percent figure reported in the study. “This might seem a surprisingly high fraction but is consistent with our understanding of how an upward shift of the temperature distribution rapidly increases the chances of temperatures in the upper tail of the undisturbed distribution,” explains Peter Stott, a researcher at the U.K.’s Met Office Hadley Centre who himself documented the statistical link between the 2003 European heat wave and climate change, in an accompanying commentary on the paper. This does not mean that these extreme events are “caused” by climate change; rather, it means they were made more likely to occur in a statistical sense. (The difference is crucial in climate science circles.) And for even more rare events, the likelihood would be even higher, says Fischer. “A general tendency we see is, if we pick even higher thresholds, if you look at 1 in 10,000 days, 1-in-30-year events, which we can do at least for hot extremes, the increase becomes even bigger,” he says. The study was performed by running climate change models for a long period of time without any global warming, to create a kind of “counterfactual” scenario in which humans had not warmed the Earth. “We use long simulations of the world that would have been without any human influence,” says Fischer. Then researchers compared the occurrence of heat extremes in those models with heat extremes in models that included global warming caused by human activities. Future warming will shift the odds even further, the new study finds. “The probability of a hot extreme at 2C warming is almost double that at 1.5C and more than five times higher than for present-day,” the authors write. This statistic, they add, illuminates a sharp difference between trying to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees C — as many African nations, small island states, and other countries seek — and 2 degrees C, a target generally more supported by large industrialized countries, such as the U.S. and European nations. “This result has strong implications for the discussion of different mitigation targets in climate negotiations, where differences between targets are small in terms of global temperatures but large in terms of the probability of extremes,” note Fischer and Knutti. Indeed, it’s different enough that this paper may well be cited by supporters of a 1.5-degree limit in future international climate negotiations — for instance, in Paris at the end of this year. 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Nissan is committed to bringing its first round of autonomous vehicle technologies to market in 2020, and now it's got an official license to begin testing those systems in its home market of Japan. The Japanese government issued its first license plate for a vehicle equipped with advanced driver assist systems to the automaker, complete with "20-20" numerals to commemorate Nissan's goal of offering these features by the end of the decade. The specially equipped all-electric Leaf features six functions that make it eligible for the new license classification. Some features, like automatic lane centering and adaptive cruise control, are already available on the automaker's higher-end products, including throughout the Infiniti luxury line. But automatic exiting for freeways, automatic lane changes, the ability to overtake a slow or stopped vehicle and stop at red lights without driver involvement are all new systems the automaker will begin testing on Japan's roads. "This is an ordinary license plate for an extraordinary vehicle," Nissan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn said in the announcement. "Road testing of the underlying technologies is critical to maintaining our leadership position and we are grateful to the Government of Japan for its support."
The Iowa State Supreme Court on Friday temporarily halted part of a state law that banned most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The Republican-controlled state legislature passed the law in April, outlawing most abortions after 20 weeks and requiring a 72-hour waiting period before an abortion procedure could take place, including in instances of incest and rape. It grants exceptions if a mother’s life or health was at risk. The court’s emergency temporary injunction came two hours after the law was signed by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad. The legal challenge was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, which disputed the law’s three-day waiting period and a stipulation that women must make an additional clinical appointment before receiving an abortion. The challenge was denied by a lower court on Thursday before reaching the state Supreme Court a day later. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland chief executive officer Suzanna de Baca lauded the decision and noted that the law had created confusion and barriers for women seeking abortions. “We are pleased that the court granted the temporary injunction, ruling on the side of Iowa women who need access to, and have a constitutional right, to safe, legal abortion,” she said in a statement. A spokesperson for Branstad said court challenges to the law were expected. However, Republican state Sen. Mark Costello, who favored the law, said he expected it would be upheld. “It’s one of the reasons we went with this bill, which was somewhat more limited than what a lot of people wanted,” he said. “We felt it would be upheld.” Seventeen states ban abortion after 20 weeks, while five other states — Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah — require the 72-hour waiting period, except in cases of a medical emergency, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
8 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 9 * /* 2 * Copyright (C) 2006 The Android Open Source Project 3 4 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 5 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 6 * You may obtain a copy of the License at 7 10 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 11 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 12 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 13 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 14 * limitations under the License. 15 / "Activity" /* Standard activity result: operation canceled. / 0 /* Standard activity result: operation succeeded. / 1 /* Start of user-defined activity results. / 1 "android:fragments" "android:viewHierarchyState" "android:savedDialogIds" "android:savedDialogs" "android:dialog_" "android:dialog_args_" // set by the thread after the constructor and before onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) is called. /package/ /package/ /package/ /package/ /package/ /* true if the activity is going through a transient pause / /package/ /* true if the activity is being destroyed in order to recreate it with a new configuration / /package/ /package/ /package/ / package / /package/ /package/ /package/ /package/ /package/ 0 // protected by synchronized (this) "unused" /* Return the intent that started this activity. / @link #getIntent}. This holds a @link #onNewIntent}. 771 @param newIntent The new Intent object to return from getIntent 773 * @see #getIntent @see #onNewIntent /** 767 * Change the intent returned by {#getIntent}. This holds a 768 * reference to the given intent; it does not copy it. Often used in 769 * conjunction with {#onNewIntent}. 770 newIntent The new Intent object to return from getIntent 772 #getIntent 774 #onNewIntent 775 / /* Return the application that owns this activity. / /* Is this activity embedded inside of another activity? / /* Return the parent activity if this view is an embedded child. / /* Retrieve the window manager for showing custom windows. / @link android.view.Window} for the activity. Screen. 804 805 * @return Window The current window, or null if the activity is not /** 801 * Retrieve the current {android.view.Window} for the activity. 802 * This can be used to directly access parts of the Window API that 803 * are not available through Activity Window The current window, or null if the activity is not 806 * visual. 807 / /* 813 * Return the LoaderManager for this fragment, creating it if needed. 814 / @link android.view.Window#getCurrentFocus} on the 844 @return View The current View with focus or null. 846 * @see #getWindow @see android.view.Window#getCurrentFocus /** 841 * Calls {android.view.Window#getCurrentFocus} on the 842 * Window of this Activity to return the currently focused view. 843 View The current View with focus or null. 845 #getWindow 847 android.view.Window#getCurrentFocus 848 / @link #setContentView(int)} to inflate the @link #findViewById} to programmatically interact @link #managedQuery(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String)} to retrieve @link #finish} from within this function, in @link #onStart}, {@link #onResume}, @link #onPause}, etc) executing. 870 @param savedInstanceState If the activity is being re-initialized after @link #onSaveInstanceState}. <b><i>Note: Otherwise it is null.</i></b> 874 * @see #onStart @see #onSaveInstanceState @see #onRestoreInstanceState @see #onPostCreate /** 854 * Called when the activity is starting. This is where most initialization 855 * should go: calling {#setContentView(int)} to inflate the 856 * activity's UI, using {#findViewById} to programmatically interact 857 * with widgets in the UI, calling 858 * {#managedQuery(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String)} to retrieve 859 * cursors for data being displayed, etc. 860 861 * You can call {#finish} from within this function, in 862 * which case onDestroy() will be immediately called without any of the rest 863 * of the activity lifecycle ({#onStart}, {#onResume}, 864 * {#onPause}, etc) executing. 865 866 * Derived classes must call through to the super class's 867 * implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be 868 * thrown. 869 savedInstanceState If the activity is being re-initialized after 871 * previously being shut down then this Bundle contains the data it most 872 * recently supplied in {#onSaveInstanceState}. Note: Otherwise it is null. 873 #onStart 875 #onSaveInstanceState 876 #onRestoreInstanceState 877 #onPostCreate 878 / "onCreate " ": " @link ActivityThread} to restore the state of this activity. @link #onSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle)} and @link #restoreManagedDialogs(android.os.Bundle)}. 907 @param savedInstanceState contains the saved state /** 902 * The hook for {ActivityThread} to restore the state of this activity. 903 904 * Calls {#onSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle)} and 905 * {#restoreManagedDialogs(android.os.Bundle)}. 906 savedInstanceState contains the saved state 908 / @link #onStart} when the activity is @link #onCreate} @link #onSaveInstanceState}. @link #onStart} and @link #onPostCreate}. 927 @param savedInstanceState the data most recently supplied in {@link #onSaveInstanceState}. 929 * @see #onCreate @see #onPostCreate @see #onResume @see #onSaveInstanceState /** 915 * This method is called after {#onStart} when the activity is 916 * being re-initialized from a previously saved state, given here in 917 * savedInstanceState . Most implementations will simply use {#onCreate} 918 * to restore their state, but it is sometimes convenient to do it here 919 * after all of the initialization has been done or to allow subclasses to 920 * decide whether to use your default implementation. The default 921 * implementation of this method performs a restore of any view state that 922 * had previously been frozen by {#onSaveInstanceState}. 923 924 * This method is called between {#onStart} and 925 * {#onPostCreate}. 926 savedInstanceState the data most recently supplied in {#onSaveInstanceState}. 928 #onCreate 930 #onPostCreate 931 #onResume 932 #onSaveInstanceState 933 / 946 @param savedInstanceState The bundle to restore from. /** 944 * Restore the state of any saved managed dialogs. 945 savedInstanceState The bundle to restore from. 947 / 0 // Calling onRestoreInstanceState() below will invoke dispatchOnCreate // so tell createDialog() not to do it, otherwise we get an exception @link #onStart} @link #onRestoreInstanceState} have been called). Applications will 1002 @param savedInstanceState If the activity is being re-initialized after @link #onSaveInstanceState}. <b><i>Note: Otherwise it is null.</i></b> @see #onCreate /** 993 * Called when activity start-up is complete (after {#onStart} 994 * and {#onRestoreInstanceState} have been called). Applications will 995 * generally not implement this method; it is intended for system 996 * classes to do final initialization after application code has run. 997 998 * Derived classes must call through to the super class's 999 * implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be 1000 * thrown. 1001 savedInstanceState If the activity is being re-initialized after 1003 * previously being shut down then this Bundle contains the data it most 1004 * recently supplied in {#onSaveInstanceState}. Note: Otherwise it is null. 1005 #onCreate 1006 / @link #onCreate} — or after {@link #onRestart} when @link #onResume}. 1024 @see #onCreate @see #onStop @see #onResume /** 1016 * Called after {#onCreate} — or after {#onRestart} when 1017 * the activity had been stopped, but is now again being displayed to the 1018 * user. It will be followed by {#onResume}. 1019 1020 * Derived classes must call through to the super class's 1021 * implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be 1022 * thrown. 1023 #onCreate 1025 #onStop 1026 #onResume 1027 / "onStart " @link #onStop} when the current activity is being @link #onStart} and then {@link #onResume}. @link Cursor} objects (instead of @link #managedQuery(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String)}, @link #onStop}. 1061 @see #onStop @see #onStart @see #onResume /** 1046 * Called after {#onStop} when the current activity is being 1047 * re-displayed to the user (the user has navigated back to it). It will 1048 * be followed by {#onStart} and then {#onResume}. 1049 1050 * For activities that are using raw {Cursor} objects (instead of 1051 * creating them through 1052 * {#managedQuery(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String)}, 1053 * this is usually the place 1054 * where the cursor should be requeried (because you had deactivated it in 1055 * {#onStop}. 1056 1057 * Derived classes must call through to the super class's 1058 * implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be 1059 * thrown. 1060 #onStop 1062 #onStart 1063 #onResume 1064 / @link #onRestoreInstanceState}, {@link #onRestart}, or @link #onPause}, for your activity to start interacting with the user. @link #onWindowFocusChanged} to know for certain that your 1084 @see #onRestoreInstanceState @see #onRestart @see #onPostResume @see #onPause /** 1070 * Called after {#onRestoreInstanceState}, {#onRestart}, or 1071 * {#onPause}, for your activity to start interacting with the user. 1072 * This is a good place to begin animations, open exclusive-access devices 1073 * (such as the camera), etc. 1074 1075 * Keep in mind that onResume is not the best indicator that your activity 1076 * is visible to the user; a system window such as the keyguard may be in 1077 * front. Use {#onWindowFocusChanged} to know for certain that your 1078 * activity is visible to the user (for example, to resume a game). 1079 1080 * Derived classes must call through to the super class's 1081 * implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be 1082 * thrown. 1083 #onRestoreInstanceState 1085 #onRestart 1086 #onPostResume 1087 #onPause 1088 / "onResume " @link #onResume} has 1105 @see #onResume /** 1096 * Called when activity resume is complete (after {#onResume} has 1097 * been called). Applications will generally not implement this method; 1098 * it is intended for system classes to do final setup after application 1099 * resume code has run. 1100 1101 * Derived classes must call through to the super class's 1102 * implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be 1103 * thrown. 1104 #onResume 1106 / @link Intent#FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP} @link #startActivity}. In either case, when the @link #onResume} being called after this method. @link #getIntent} still returns the original Intent. You @link #setIntent} to update it to this new Intent. 1129 @param intent The new intent that was started for the activity. 1131 * @see #getIntent @see #setIntent @see #onResume /** 1115 * This is called for activities that set launchMode to "singleTop" in 1116 * their package, or if a client used the {Intent#FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP} 1117 * flag when calling {#startActivity}. In either case, when the 1118 * activity is re-launched while at the top of the activity stack instead 1119 * of a new instance of the activity being started, onNewIntent() will be 1120 * called on the existing instance with the Intent that was used to 1121 * re-launch it. 1122 1123 * An activity will always be paused before receiving a new intent, so 1124 * you can count on {#onResume} being called after this method. 1125 1126 * Note that {#getIntent} still returns the original Intent. You 1127 * can use {#setIntent} to update it to this new Intent. 1128 intent The new intent that was started for the activity. 1130 #getIntent 1132 #setIntent 1133 #onResume 1134 / @link ActivityThread} to save the state of this activity. @link #onSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle)} @link #saveManagedDialogs(android.os.Bundle)}. 1144 @param outState The bundle to save the state to. /** 1139 * The hook for {ActivityThread} to save the state of this activity. 1140 1141 * Calls {#onSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle)} 1142 * and {#saveManagedDialogs(android.os.Bundle)}. 1143 outState The bundle to save the state to. 1145 / "onSaveInstanceState " ": " @link #onCreate} or @link #onRestoreInstanceState} (the {@link Bundle} populated by this method @link #onCreate} or {@link #onRestoreInstanceState}. @link #onPause}, which is always called when an activity is being placed @link #onStop} which @link #onPause} and @link #onStop} is called and not this method is when a user navigates back @link #onSaveInstanceState} @link #onPause} is called and @link #onSaveInstanceState} is when activity B is launched in front of activity A: @link #onSaveInstanceState} on activity A if it isn't @link android.view.View#onSaveInstanceState()} on each @link #onRestoreInstanceState}). If you override this method to save additional @link #onStop}. There are @link #onPause}. 1191 @param outState Bundle in which to place your saved state. 1193 * @see #onCreate @see #onRestoreInstanceState @see #onPause /** 1153 * Called to retrieve per-instance state from an activity before being killed 1154 * so that the state can be restored in {#onCreate} or 1155 * {#onRestoreInstanceState} (the {Bundle} populated by this method 1156 * will be passed to both). 1157 1158 * This method is called before an activity may be killed so that when it 1159 * comes back some time in the future it can restore its state. For example, 1160 * if activity B is launched in front of activity A, and at some point activity 1161 * A is killed to reclaim resources, activity A will have a chance to save the 1162 * current state of its user interface via this method so that when the user 1163 * returns to activity A, the state of the user interface can be restored 1164 * via {#onCreate} or {#onRestoreInstanceState}. 1165 1166 * Do not confuse this method with activity lifecycle callbacks such as 1167 * {#onPause}, which is always called when an activity is being placed 1168 * in the background or on its way to destruction, or {#onStop} which 1169 * is called before destruction. One example of when {#onPause} and 1170 * {#onStop} is called and not this method is when a user navigates back 1171 * from activity B to activity A: there is no need to call {#onSaveInstanceState} 1172 * on B because that particular instance will never be restored, so the 1173 * system avoids calling it. An example when {#onPause} is called and 1174 * not {#onSaveInstanceState} is when activity B is launched in front of activity A: 1175 * the system may avoid calling {#onSaveInstanceState} on activity A if it isn't 1176 * killed during the lifetime of B since the state of the user interface of 1177 * A will stay intact. 1178 1179 * The default implementation takes care of most of the UI per-instance 1180 * state for you by calling {android.view.View#onSaveInstanceState()} on each 1181 * view in the hierarchy that has an id, and by saving the id of the currently 1182 * focused view (all of which is restored by the default implementation of 1183 * {#onRestoreInstanceState}). If you override this method to save additional 1184 * information not captured by each individual view, you will likely want to 1185 * call through to the default implementation, otherwise be prepared to save 1186 * all of the state of each view yourself. 1187 1188 * If called, this method will occur before {#onStop}. There are 1189 * no guarantees about whether it will occur before or after {#onPause}. 1190 outState Bundle in which to place your saved state. 1192 #onCreate 1194 #onRestoreInstanceState 1195 #onPause 1196 / 1209 @param outState place to store the saved state. /** 1207 * Save the state of any managed dialogs. 1208 outState place to store the saved state. 1210 / 0 // save each dialog's bundle, gather the ids 0 @link #onResume}. @link #onPause} returns, @link #onSaveInstanceState} is used to save @link #onStop} (after the next activity has been resumed and @link #onResume} without going through the stopped state. 1275 @see #onResume @see #onSaveInstanceState @see #onStop /** 1242 * Called as part of the activity lifecycle when an activity is going into 1243 * the background, but has not (yet) been killed. The counterpart to 1244 * {#onResume}. 1245 1246 * When activity B is launched in front of activity A, this callback will 1247 * be invoked on A. B will not be created until A's {#onPause} returns, 1248 * so be sure to not do anything lengthy here. 1249 1250 * This callback is mostly used for saving any persistent state the 1251 * activity is editing, to present a "edit in place" model to the user and 1252 * making sure nothing is lost if there are not enough resources to start 1253 * the new activity without first killing this one. This is also a good 1254 * place to do things like stop animations and other things that consume a 1255 * noticeable amount of CPU in order to make the switch to the next activity 1256 * as fast as possible, or to close resources that are exclusive access 1257 * such as the camera. 1258 1259 * In situations where the system needs more memory it may kill paused 1260 * processes to reclaim resources. Because of this, you should be sure 1261 * that all of your state is saved by the time you return from 1262 * this function. In general {#onSaveInstanceState} is used to save 1263 * per-instance state in the activity and this method is used to store 1264 * global persistent data (in content providers, files, etc.) 1265 1266 * After receiving this call you will usually receive a following call 1267 * to {#onStop} (after the next activity has been resumed and 1268 * displayed), however in some cases there will be a direct call back to 1269 * {#onResume} without going through the stopped state. 1270 1271 * Derived classes must call through to the super class's 1272 * implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be 1273 * thrown. 1274 #onResume 1276 #onSaveInstanceState 1277 #onStop 1278 / "onPause " @link #onUserLeaveHint} will be called, but @link #onUserLeaveHint} will not be called on @link #onPause} callback. @link #onUserInteraction} are intended to help 1298 @see #onUserInteraction() /** 1286 * Called as part of the activity lifecycle when an activity is about to go 1287 * into the background as the result of user choice. For example, when the 1288 * user presses the Home key, {#onUserLeaveHint} will be called, but 1289 * when an incoming phone call causes the in-call Activity to be automatically 1290 * brought to the foreground, {#onUserLeaveHint} will not be called on 1291 * the activity being interrupted. In cases when it is invoked, this method 1292 * is called right before the activity's {#onPause} callback. 1293 1294 * This callback and {#onUserInteraction} are intended to help 1295 * activities manage status bar notifications intelligently; specifically, 1296 * for helping activities determine the proper time to cancel a notfication. 1297 #onUserInteraction() 1299 / 1313 @param outBitmap The bitmap to contain the thumbnail. @param canvas Can be used to render into the bitmap. 1316 * @return Return true if you have drawn into the bitmap; otherwise after 1319 * @see #onCreateDescription @see #onSaveInstanceState @see #onPause /** 1304 * Generate a new thumbnail for this activity. This method is called before 1305 * pausing the activity, and should draw into outBitmap the 1306 * imagery for the desired thumbnail in the dimensions of that bitmap. It 1307 * can use the given canvas , which is configured to draw into the 1308 * bitmap, for rendering if desired. 1309 1310 * The default implementation returns fails and does not draw a thumbnail; 1311 * this will result in the platform creating its own thumbnail if needed. 1312 outBitmap The bitmap to contain the thumbnail. 1314 canvas Can be used to render into the bitmap. 1315 Return true if you have drawn into the bitmap; otherwise after 1317 * you return it will be filled with a default thumbnail. 1318 #onCreateDescription 1320 #onSaveInstanceState 1321 #onPause 1322 / 1337 @return A description of what the user is doing. It should be short and 1340 * @see #onCreateThumbnail @see #onSaveInstanceState @see #onPause /** 1328 * Generate a new description for this activity. This method is called 1329 * before pausing the activity and can, if desired, return some textual 1330 * description of its current state to be displayed to the user. 1331 1332 * The default implementation returns null, which will cause you to 1333 * inherit the description from the previous activity. If all activities 1334 * return null, generally the label of the top activity will be used as the 1335 * description. 1336 A description of what the user is doing. It should be short and 1338 * sweet (only a few words). 1339 #onCreateThumbnail 1341 #onSaveInstanceState 1342 #onPause 1343 / @link #onRestart}, {@link #onDestroy}, or nothing, @link #onPause} method is called. 1361 @see #onRestart @see #onResume @see #onSaveInstanceState @see #onDestroy /** 1349 * Called when you are no longer visible to the user. You will next 1350 * receive either {#onRestart}, {#onDestroy}, or nothing, 1351 * depending on later user activity. 1352 1353 * Note that this method may never be called, in low memory situations 1354 * where the system does not have enough memory to keep your activity's 1355 * process running after its {#onPause} method is called. 1356 1357 * Derived classes must call through to the super class's 1358 * implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be 1359 * thrown. 1360 #onRestart 1362 #onResume 1363 #onSaveInstanceState 1364 #onDestroy 1365 / "onStop " @link #finish} on it, or because the system is temporarily destroying @link #isFinishing} method. @link #onPause} or @link #onSaveInstanceState}, not here.</em> This method is usually implemented to 1396 @see #onPause @see #onStop @see #finish @see #isFinishing /** 1374 * Perform any final cleanup before an activity is destroyed. This can 1375 * happen either because the activity is finishing (someone called 1376 * {#finish} on it, or because the system is temporarily destroying 1377 * this instance of the activity to save space. You can distinguish 1378 * between these two scenarios with the {#isFinishing} method. 1379 1380 * Note: do not count on this method being called as a place for 1381 * saving data! For example, if an activity is editing data in a content 1382 * provider, those edits should be committed in either {#onPause} or 1383 * {#onSaveInstanceState}, not here. This method is usually implemented to 1384 * free resources like threads that are associated with an activity, so 1385 * that a destroyed activity does not leave such things around while the 1386 * rest of its application is still running. There are situations where 1387 * the system will simply kill the activity's hosting process without 1388 * calling this method (or any others) in it, so it should not be used to 1389 * do things that are intended to remain around after the process goes 1390 * away. 1391 1392 * Derived classes must call through to the super class's 1393 * implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be 1394 * thrown. 1395 #onPause 1397 #onStop 1398 #finish 1399 #isFinishing 1400 / "onDestroy " // dismiss any dialogs we are managing. 0 // close any cursors we are managing. 0 // Close any open search dialog @link android.R.attr#configChanges} attribute in your manifest. If 1451 @param newConfig The new device configuration. /** 1438 * Called by the system when the device configuration changes while your 1439 * activity is running. Note that this will only be called if 1440 * you have selected configurations you would like to handle with the 1441 * {android.R.attr#configChanges} attribute in your manifest. If 1442 * any configuration change occurs that is not selected to be reported 1443 * by that attribute, then instead of reporting it the system will stop 1444 * and restart the activity (to have it launched with the new 1445 * configuration). 1446 1447 * At the time that this function has been called, your Resources 1448 * object will have been updated to return resource values matching the 1449 * new configuration. 1450 newConfig The new device configuration. 1452 / "onConfigurationChanged " ": " // Pass the configuration changed event to the window // Do this last; the action bar will need to access // view changes from above. @link #onConfigurationChanged(Configuration)} method is 1481 @return Returns a bit field of the configuration parameters that are @link /** 1472 * If this activity is being destroyed because it can not handle a 1473 * configuration parameter being changed (and thus its 1474 * {#onConfigurationChanged(Configuration)} method is 1475 * not being called), then you can use this method to discover 1476 * the set of changes that have occurred while in the process of being 1477 * destroyed. Note that there is no guarantee that these will be 1478 * accurate (other changes could have happened at any time), so you should 1479 * only use this as an optimization hint. 1480 Returns a bit field of the configuration parameters that are 1482 * changing, as defined by the { android.content.res.Conf iguration} 1483 * class. 1484 / @link #onRetainNonConfigurationInstance()}. This will @link #onCreate} and @link #onStart} calls to the new instance, allowing you to extract @link #onSaveInstanceState(Bundle)} mechanism) even if this 1503 @return Returns the object previously returned by @link #onRetainNonConfigurationInstance()}. 1506 * @deprecated Use the new {@link Fragment} API @link Fragment#setRetainInstance(boolean)} instead; this is also /** 1490 * Retrieve the non-configuration instance data that was previously 1491 * returned by {#onRetainNonConfigurationInstance()}. This will 1492 * be available from the initial {#onCreate} and 1493 * {#onStart} calls to the new instance, allowing you to extract 1494 * any useful dynamic state from the previous instance. 1495 1496 * Note that the data you retrieve here should only be used 1497 * as an optimization for handling configuration changes. You should always 1498 * be able to handle getting a null pointer back, and an activity must 1499 * still be able to restore itself to its previous state (through the 1500 * normal {#onSaveInstanceState(Bundle)} mechanism) even if this 1501 * function returns null. 1502 Returns the object previously returned by 1504 * {#onRetainNonConfigurationInstance()}. 1505 Use the new {Fragment} API 1507 * {Fragment#setRetainInstance(boolean)} instead; this is also 1508 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 1509 / @link #getLastNonConfigurationInstance()} in the new activity @link android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} @link Fragment} with @link Fragment#setRetainInstance(boolean) @link #onStop} and @link #onDestroy}. @link #onDestroy()} is called. In particular, @link #getLastNonConfigurationInstance()} method of the following @link android.os.AsyncTask} you are guaranteed that its @link android.os.AsyncTask#onPostExecute}) will @link #onCreate(Bundle)}. (Note however that there is of course no such @link android.os.AsyncTask#doInBackground} since that is 1561 @return Return any Object holding the desired state to propagate to the 1564 * @deprecated Use the new {@link Fragment} API @link Fragment#setRetainInstance(boolean)} instead; this is also /** 1517 * Called by the system, as part of destroying an 1518 * activity due to a configuration change, when it is known that a new 1519 * instance will immediately be created for the new configuration. You 1520 * can return any object you like here, including the activity instance 1521 * itself, which can later be retrieved by calling 1522 * {#getLastNonConfigurationInstance()} in the new activity 1523 * instance. 1524 1525 * If you are targeting {android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} 1526 * or later, consider instead using a {Fragment} with 1527 * {Fragment#setRetainInstance(boolean) 1528 * Fragment.setRetainInstance(boolean}. 1529 1530 * This function is called purely as an optimization, and you must 1531 * not rely on it being called. When it is called, a number of guarantees 1532 * will be made to help optimize configuration switching: 1533 * 1534 * The function will be called between {#onStop} and 1535 * {#onDestroy}. 1536 * A new instance of the activity will always be immediately 1537 * created after this one's {#onDestroy()} is called. In particular, 1538 * no messages will be dispatched during this time (when the returned 1539 * object does not have an activity to be associated with). 1540 * be immediately 1537 * created after this one's {#onDestroy()} is called. In particular, 1538 * messages will be dispatched during this time (when the returned 1539 * object does not have an activity to be associated with). 1540 * The object you return here will always be available from 1541 * the {#getLastNonConfigurationInstance()} method of the following 1542 * activity instance as described there. 1543 * 1544 1545 * These guarantees are designed so that an activity can use this API 1546 * to propagate extensive state from the old to new activity instance, from 1547 * loaded bitmaps, to network connections, to evenly actively running 1548 * threads. Note that you should not propagate any data that 1549 * may change based on the configuration, including any data loaded from 1550 * resources such as strings, layouts, or drawables. 1551 1552 * The guarantee of no message handling during the switch to the next 1553 * activity simplifies use with active objects. For example if your retained 1554 * state is an {android.os.AsyncTask} you are guaranteed that its 1555 * call back functions (like {android.os.AsyncTask#onPostExecute}) will 1556 * not be called from the call here until you execute the next instance's 1557 * {#onCreate(Bundle)}. (Note however that there is of course no such 1558 * guarantee for {android.os.AsyncTask#doInBackground} since that is 1559 * running in a separate thread.) 1560 Return any Object holding the desired state to propagate to the 1562 * next activity instance. 1563 Use the new {Fragment} API 1565 * {Fragment#setRetainInstance(boolean)} instead; this is also 1566 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 1567 / @link #onRetainNonConfigurationChildInstances()}. This will @link #onCreate} and @link #onStart} calls to the new instance, allowing you to extract @link #onSaveInstanceState(Bundle)} mechanism) even if this 1586 @return Returns the object previously returned by @link #onRetainNonConfigurationChildInstances()} /** 1573 * Retrieve the non-configuration instance data that was previously 1574 * returned by {#onRetainNonConfigurationChildInstances()}. This will 1575 * be available from the initial {#onCreate} and 1576 * {#onStart} calls to the new instance, allowing you to extract 1577 * any useful dynamic state from the previous instance. 1578 1579 * Note that the data you retrieve here should only be used 1580 * as an optimization for handling configuration changes. You should always 1581 * be able to handle getting a null pointer back, and an activity must 1582 * still be able to restore itself to its previous state (through the 1583 * normal {#onSaveInstanceState(Bundle)} mechanism) even if this 1584 * function returns null. 1585 Returns the object previously returned by 1587 * {#onRetainNonConfigurationChildInstances()} 1588 / @link #onRetainNonConfigurationInstance()} except that @link #onRetainNonConfigurationInstance()}. The default implementation returns null. /* 1595 * This method is similar to {#onRetainNonConfigurationInstance()} except that 1596 * it should return either a mapping from child activity id strings to arbitrary objects, 1597 * or null. This method is intended to be used by Activity framework subclasses that control a 1598 * set of child activities, such as ActivityGroup. The same guarantees and restrictions apply 1599 * as for {#onRetainNonConfigurationInstance()}. The default implementation returns null. 1600 / // prune out any loader managers that were already stopped and so // have nothing useful to retain. 0 "onLowMemory " "onTrimMemory " ": " /* 1652 * Return the FragmentManager for interacting with fragments associated 1653 * with this activity. 1654 / //Log.v(TAG, "invalidateFragmentIndex: index=" + index); @link Fragment#onAttach Fragment.onAttach()} @link Fragment#onCreate Fragment.onCreate()}. /* 1671 * Called when a Fragment is being attached to this activity, immediately 1672 * after the call to its {Fragment#onAttach Fragment.onAttach()} 1673 * method and before {Fragment#onCreate Fragment.onCreate()}. 1674 / @link ContentResolver#query(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String)} @link Cursor} to call @link #startManagingCursor} so that the activity will manage its @link android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} @link LoaderManager} instead, available @link #getLoaderManager()}.</em> @link Cursor#close()} on a cursor obtained using @link #stopManagingCursor} on a cursor from a managed query, the system <em>will @link Cursor#close()}.</p> 1695 @param uri The URI of the content provider to query. @param projection List of columns to return. @param selection SQL WHERE clause. @param sortOrder SQL ORDER BY clause. 1700 * @return The Cursor that was returned by query(). 1702 * @see ContentResolver#query(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String) @see #startManagingCursor @hide 1705 * 1706 * @deprecated Use {@link CursorLoader} instead. /** 1679 * Wrapper around 1680 * {ContentResolver#query(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String)} 1681 * that gives the resulting {Cursor} to call 1682 * {#startManagingCursor} so that the activity will manage its 1683 * lifecycle for you. 1684 1685 * If you are targeting {android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} 1686 * or later, consider instead using {LoaderManager} instead, available 1687 * via {#getLoaderManager()}. 1688 1689 * Warning: Do not call {Cursor#close()} on a cursor obtained using 1690 * this method, because the activity will do that for you at the appropriate time. However, if 1691 * you call {#stopManagingCursor} on a cursor from a managed query, the system will 1692 * not automatically close the cursor and, in that case, you must call 1693 * {Cursor#close()}. 1694 uri The URI of the content provider to query. 1696 projection List of columns to return. 1697 selection SQL WHERE clause. 1698 sortOrder SQL ORDER BY clause. 1699 The Cursor that was returned by query(). 1701 ContentResolver#query(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String) 1703 #startManagingCursor 1704 Use {CursorLoader} instead. 1707 / @link ContentResolver#query(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String)} @link Cursor} to call @link #startManagingCursor} so that the activity will manage its @link android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} @link LoaderManager} instead, available @link #getLoaderManager()}.</em> @link Cursor#close()} on a cursor obtained using @link #stopManagingCursor} on a cursor from a managed query, the system <em>will @link Cursor#close()}.</p> 1735 @param uri The URI of the content provider to query. @param projection List of columns to return. @param selection SQL WHERE clause. @param selectionArgs The arguments to selection, if any ?s are pesent @param sortOrder SQL ORDER BY clause. 1741 * @return The Cursor that was returned by query(). 1743 * @see ContentResolver#query(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String) @see #startManagingCursor 1746 * @deprecated Use {@link CursorLoader} instead. /** 1719 * Wrapper around 1720 * {ContentResolver#query(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String)} 1721 * that gives the resulting {Cursor} to call 1722 * {#startManagingCursor} so that the activity will manage its 1723 * lifecycle for you. 1724 1725 * If you are targeting {android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} 1726 * or later, consider instead using {LoaderManager} instead, available 1727 * via {#getLoaderManager()}. 1728 1729 * Warning: Do not call {Cursor#close()} on a cursor obtained using 1730 * this method, because the activity will do that for you at the appropriate time. However, if 1731 * you call {#stopManagingCursor} on a cursor from a managed query, the system will 1732 * not automatically close the cursor and, in that case, you must call 1733 * {Cursor#close()}. 1734 uri The URI of the content provider to query. 1736 projection List of columns to return. 1737 selection SQL WHERE clause. 1738 selectionArgs The arguments to selection, if any ?s are pesent 1739 sortOrder SQL ORDER BY clause. 1740 The Cursor that was returned by query(). 1742 ContentResolver#query(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String) 1744 #startManagingCursor 1745 Use {CursorLoader} instead. 1747 / @link Cursor}'s lifecycle for you based on the activity's lifecycle. @link Cursor#deactivate} on the given Cursor, and when it is later restarted @link Cursor#requery} for you. When the activity is @link android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} @link LoaderManager} instead, available @link #getLoaderManager()}.</em> @link Cursor#close()} on cursor obtained from @link #managedQuery}, because the activity will do that for you at the appropriate time. @link #stopManagingCursor} on a cursor from a managed query, the system @link Cursor#close()}.</p> 1776 @param c The Cursor to be managed. 1778 * @see #managedQuery(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String) @see #stopManagingCursor 1781 * @deprecated Use the new {@link android.content.CursorLoader} class with @link LoaderManager} instead; this is also /** 1759 * This method allows the activity to take care of managing the given 1760 * {Cursor}'s lifecycle for you based on the activity's lifecycle. 1761 * That is, when the activity is stopped it will automatically call 1762 * {Cursor#deactivate} on the given Cursor, and when it is later restarted 1763 * it will call {Cursor#requery} for you. When the activity is 1764 * destroyed, all managed Cursors will be closed automatically. 1765 1766 * If you are targeting {android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} 1767 * or later, consider instead using {LoaderManager} instead, available 1768 * via {#getLoaderManager()}. 1769 1770 * Warning: Do not call {Cursor#close()} on cursor obtained from 1771 * {#managedQuery}, because the activity will do that for you at the appropriate time. 1772 * However, if you call {#stopManagingCursor} on a cursor from a managed query, the system 1773 * will not automatically close the cursor and, in that case, you must call 1774 * {Cursor#close()}. 1775 c The Cursor to be managed. 1777 #managedQuery(android.net.Uri , String[], String, String[], String) 1779 #stopManagingCursor 1780 Use the new {android.content.CursorLoader} class with 1782 * {LoaderManager} instead; this is also 1783 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 1784 / @link #startManagingCursor}, stop the activity's management of that @link Cursor#close()}.</p> 1801 @param c The Cursor that was being managed. 1803 * @see #startManagingCursor 1805 * @deprecated Use the new {@link android.content.CursorLoader} class with @link LoaderManager} instead; this is also /** 1793 * Given a Cursor that was previously given to 1794 * {#startManagingCursor}, stop the activity's management of that 1795 * cursor. 1796 1797 * Warning: After calling this method on a cursor from a managed query, 1798 * the system will not automatically close the cursor and you must call 1799 * {Cursor#close()}. 1800 c The Cursor that was being managed. 1802 #startManagingCursor 1804 Use the new {android.content.CursorLoader} class with 1806 * {LoaderManager} instead; this is also 1807 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 1808 / 0 @deprecated As of {@link android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#GINGERBREAD} @hide /* 1824 As of {android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#GINGERBREAD} 1825 * this is a no-op. 1826 1827 / @link #onCreate}. 1836 @return The view if found or null otherwise. /** 1833 * Finds a view that was identified by the id attribute from the XML that 1834 * was processed in {#onCreate}. 1835 The view if found or null otherwise. 1837 / 1845 @return The Activity's ActionBar, or null if it does not have one. /** 1843 * Retrieve a reference to this activity's ActionBar. 1844 The Activity's ActionBar, or null if it does not have one. 1846 / /* 1853 * Creates a new ActionBar, locates the inflated ActionBarView, 1854 * initializes the ActionBar with the view, and sets mActionBar. 1855 / // Initializing the window decor can change window feature flags. // Make sure that we have the correct set before performing the test below. 1875 @param layoutResID Resource ID to be inflated. 1877 * @see #setContentView(android.view.View) @see #setContentView(android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams) /** 1872 * Set the activity content from a layout resource. The resource will be 1873 * inflated, adding all top-level views to the activity. 1874 layoutResID Resource ID to be inflated. 1876 #setContentView(android.view.View) 1878 #setContentView(android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams) 1879 / @link ViewGroup.LayoutParams#MATCH_PARENT}. To use @link #setContentView(android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams)} 1895 @param view The desired content to display. 1897 * @see #setContentView(int) @see #setContentView(android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams) /** 1886 * Set the activity content to an explicit view. This view is placed 1887 * directly into the activity's view hierarchy. It can itself be a complex 1888 * view hierarchy. When calling this method, the layout parameters of the 1889 * specified view are ignored. Both the width and the height of the view are 1890 * set by default to {ViewGroup.LayoutParams#MATCH_PARENT}. To use 1891 * your own layout parameters, invoke 1892 * {#setContentView(android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams)} 1893 * instead. 1894 view The desired content to display. 1896 #setContentView(int) 1898 #setContentView(android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams) 1899 / 1910 @param view The desired content to display. @param params Layout parameters for the view. 1913 * @see #setContentView(android.view.View) @see #setContentView(int) /** 1906 * Set the activity content to an explicit view. This view is placed 1907 * directly into the activity's view hierarchy. It can itself be a complex 1908 * view hierarchy. 1909 view The desired content to display. 1911 params Layout parameters for the view. 1912 #setContentView(android.view.View) 1914 #setContentView(int) 1915 / 1925 @param view The desired content to display. @param params Layout parameters for the view. /** 1922 * Add an additional content view to the activity. Added after any existing 1923 * ones in the activity -- existing views are NOT removed. 1924 view The desired content to display. 1926 params Layout parameters for the view. 1927 / /* 1934 * Sets whether this activity is finished when touched outside its window's 1935 * bounds. 1936 / @link #setDefaultKeyMode} to turn off default handling of 1945 @see #setDefaultKeyMode /** 1942 * Use with {#setDefaultKeyMode} to turn off default handling of 1943 * keys. 1944 #setDefaultKeyMode 1946 / 0 @link #setDefaultKeyMode} to launch the dialer during default 1952 @see #setDefaultKeyMode /** 1949 * Use with {#setDefaultKeyMode} to launch the dialer during default 1950 * key handling. 1951 #setDefaultKeyMode 1953 / 1 @link #setDefaultKeyMode} to execute a menu shortcut in 1961 @see #setDefaultKeyMode /** 1956 * Use with {#setDefaultKeyMode} to execute a menu shortcut in 1957 * default key handling. 1958 1959 * That is, the user does not need to hold down the menu key to execute menu shortcuts. 1960 #setDefaultKeyMode 1962 / 2 @link #setDefaultKeyMode} to specify that unhandled keystrokes @link android.app.SearchManager android.app.SearchManager} for more details. 1971 @see #setDefaultKeyMode /** 1965 * Use with {#setDefaultKeyMode} to specify that unhandled keystrokes 1966 * will start an application-defined search. (If the application or activity does not 1967 * actually define a search, the the keys will be ignored.) 1968 1969 * See {android.app.SearchManager android.app.SearchManager} for more details. 1970 #setDefaultKeyMode 1972 / 3 @link #setDefaultKeyMode} to specify that unhandled keystrokes @link android.app.SearchManager android.app.SearchManager} for more details. 1982 @see #setDefaultKeyMode /** 1976 * Use with {#setDefaultKeyMode} to specify that unhandled keystrokes 1977 * will start a global search (typically web search, but some platforms may define alternate 1978 * methods for global search) 1979 1980 * See {android.app.SearchManager android.app.SearchManager} for more details. 1981 #setDefaultKeyMode 1983 / 4 @link #DEFAULT_KEYS_DISABLE}) will simply drop them on the @link #DEFAULT_KEYS_DIALER}), execute a shortcut in your options @link #DEFAULT_KEYS_SHORTCUT}), or launch a search ({@link #DEFAULT_KEYS_SEARCH_LOCAL} @link #DEFAULT_KEYS_SEARCH_GLOBAL}). 2001 @param mode The desired default key mode constant. 2003 * @see #DEFAULT_KEYS_DISABLE @see #DEFAULT_KEYS_DIALER @see #DEFAULT_KEYS_SHORTCUT @see #DEFAULT_KEYS_SEARCH_LOCAL @see #DEFAULT_KEYS_SEARCH_GLOBAL @see #onKeyDown /** 1987 * Select the default key handling for this activity. This controls what 1988 * will happen to key events that are not otherwise handled. The default 1989 * mode ({#DEFAULT_KEYS_DISABLE}) will simply drop them on the 1990 * floor. Other modes allow you to launch the dialer 1991 * ({#DEFAULT_KEYS_DIALER}), execute a shortcut in your options 1992 * menu without requiring the menu key be held down 1993 * ({#DEFAULT_KEYS_SHORTCUT}), or launch a search ({#DEFAULT_KEYS_SEARCH_LOCAL} 1994 * and {#DEFAULT_KEYS_SEARCH_GLOBAL}). 1995 1996 * Note that the mode selected here does not impact the default 1997 * handling of system keys, such as the "back" and "menu" keys, and your 1998 * activity and its views always get a first chance to receive and handle 1999 * all application keys. 2000 mode The desired default key mode constant. 2002 #DEFAULT_KEYS_DISABLE 2004 #DEFAULT_KEYS_DIALER 2005 #DEFAULT_KEYS_SHORTCUT 2006 #DEFAULT_KEYS_SEARCH_LOCAL 2007 #DEFAULT_KEYS_SEARCH_GLOBAL 2008 #onKeyDown 2009 / // Some modes use a SpannableStringBuilder to track & dispatch input events // This list must remain in sync with the switch in onKeyDown() // not used in these modes 0 @link KeyEvent#KEYCODE_BACK} @link #onBackPressed()}, though the behavior varies based @link android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#ECLAIR} or later applications, @link #onKeyUp} where the action @link #setDefaultKeyMode}. 2051 @return Return <code>true</code> to prevent this event from being propagated @see #onKeyUp @see android.view.KeyEvent /** 2032 * Called when a key was pressed down and not handled by any of the views 2033 * inside of the activity. So, for example, key presses while the cursor 2034 * is inside a TextView will not trigger the event (unless it is a navigation 2035 * to another object) because TextView handles its own key presses. 2036 2037 * If the focused view didn't want this event, this method is called. 2038 2039 * The default implementation takes care of {KeyEvent#KEYCODE_BACK} 2040 * by calling {#onBackPressed()}, though the behavior varies based 2041 * on the application compatibility mode: for 2042 * {android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#ECLAIR} or later applications, 2043 * it will set up the dispatch to call {#onKeyUp} where the action 2044 * will be performed; for earlier applications, it will perform the 2045 * action immediately in on-down, as those versions of the platform 2046 * behaved. 2047 2048 * Other additional default key handling may be performed 2049 * if configured with {#setDefaultKeyMode}. 2050 Return true to prevent this event from being propagated 2052 * further, or false to indicate that you have not handled 2053 * this event and it should continue to be propagated. 2054 #onKeyUp 2055 android.view.KeyEvent 2056 / // Common code for DEFAULT_KEYS_DIALER & DEFAULT_KEYS_SEARCH_ 0 0 // something useable has been typed - dispatch it now. "tel:" 0 @link KeyEvent.Callback#onKeyLongPress(int, KeyEvent) /** 2117 * Default implementation of {KeyEvent.Callback#onKeyLongPress(int, KeyEvent) 2118 * KeyEvent.Callback.onKeyLongPress()}: always returns false (doesn't handle 2119 * the event). 2120 / 2134 @return Return <code>true</code> to prevent this event from being propagated @see #onKeyDown @see KeyEvent /** 2126 * Called when a key was released and not handled by any of the views 2127 * inside of the activity. So, for example, key presses while the cursor 2128 * is inside a TextView will not trigger the event (unless it is a navigation 2129 * to another object) because TextView handles its own key presses. 2130 2131 * The default implementation handles KEYCODE_BACK to stop the activity 2132 * and go back. 2133 Return true to prevent this event from being propagated 2135 * further, or false to indicate that you have not handled 2136 * this event and it should continue to be propagated. 2137 #onKeyDown 2138 KeyEvent 2139 / @link KeyEvent.Callback#onKeyMultiple(int, int, KeyEvent) /* 2153 * Default implementation of {KeyEvent.Callback#onKeyMultiple(int, int, KeyEvent) 2154 * KeyEvent.Callback.onKeyMultiple()}: always returns false (doesn't handle 2155 * the event). 2156 / /* 2162 * Called when the activity has detected the user's press of the back 2163 * key. The default implementation simply finishes the current activity, 2164 * but you can override this to do whatever you want. 2165 / @link MenuItem#setShortcut(char, char) shortcut} property of menu items. 2178 @param keyCode The value in event.getKeyCode(). @param event Description of the key event. @return True if the key shortcut was handled. /** 2173 * Called when a key shortcut event is not handled by any of the views in the Activity. 2174 * Override this method to implement global key shortcuts for the Activity. 2175 * Key shortcuts can also be implemented by setting the 2176 * {MenuItem#setShortcut(char, char) shortcut} property of menu items. 2177 keyCode The value in event.getKeyCode(). 2179 event Description of the key event. 2180 True if the key shortcut was handled. 2181 / 2191 @param event The touch screen event being processed. 2193 * @return Return true if you have consumed the event, false if you haven't. /** 2187 * Called when a touch screen event was not handled by any of the views 2188 * under it. This is most useful to process touch events that happen 2189 * outside of your window bounds, where there is no view to receive it. 2190 event The touch screen event being processed. 2192 Return true if you have consumed the event, false if you haven't. 2194 * The default implementation always returns false. 2195 / 2214 @param event The trackball event being processed. 2216 * @return Return true if you have consumed the event, false if you haven't. /** 2206 * Called when the trackball was moved and not handled by any of the 2207 * views inside of the activity. So, for example, if the trackball moves 2208 * while focus is on a button, you will receive a call here because 2209 * buttons do not normally do anything with trackball events. The call 2210 * here happens before trackball movements are converted to 2211 * DPAD key events, which then get sent back to the view hierarchy, and 2212 * will be processed at the point for things like focus navigation. 2213 event The trackball event being processed. 2215 Return true if you have consumed the event, false if you haven't. 2217 * The default implementation always returns false. 2218 / @link MotionEvent#getSource() source} of the motion event specifies @link android.view.InputDevice#SOURCE_CLASS_POINTER} @link View#onGenericMotionEvent(MotionEvent)} for an example of how to 2243 @param event The generic motion event being processed. 2245 * @return Return true if you have consumed the event, false if you haven't. /** 2224 * Called when a generic motion event was not handled by any of the 2225 * views inside of the activity. 2226 * 2227 * Generic motion events describe joystick movements, mouse hovers, track pad 2228 * touches, scroll wheel movements and other input events. The 2229 * {MotionEvent#getSource() source} of the motion event specifies 2230 * the class of input that was received. Implementations of this method 2231 * must examine the bits in the source before processing the event. 2232 * The following code example shows how this is done. 2233 * 2234 * Generic motion events with source class 2235 * {android.view.InputDevice#SOURCE_CLASS_POINTER} 2236 * are delivered to the view under the pointer. All other generic motion events are 2237 * delivered to the focused view. 2238 * 2239 * See {View#onGenericMotionEvent(MotionEvent)} for an example of how to 2240 * handle this event. 2241 * 2242 event The generic motion event being processed. 2244 Return true if you have consumed the event, false if you haven't. 2246 * The default implementation always returns false. 2247 / @link #onUserLeaveHint} are intended to help @link #onUserLeaveHint} callback will @link #onUserInteraction}. This 2269 @see #onUserLeaveHint() /** 2253 * Called whenever a key, touch, or trackball event is dispatched to the 2254 * activity. Implement this method if you wish to know that the user has 2255 * interacted with the device in some way while your activity is running. 2256 * This callback and {#onUserLeaveHint} are intended to help 2257 * activities manage status bar notifications intelligently; specifically, 2258 * for helping activities determine the proper time to cancel a notfication. 2259 2260 * All calls to your activity's {#onUserLeaveHint} callback will 2261 * be accompanied by calls to {#onUserInteraction}. This 2262 * ensures that your activity will be told of relevant user activity such 2263 * as pulling down the notification pane and touching an item there. 2264 2265 * Note that this callback will be invoked for the touch down action 2266 * that begins a touch gesture, but may not be invoked for the touch-moved 2267 * and touch-up actions that follow. 2268 #onUserLeaveHint() 2270 / // Update window manager if: we have a view, that view is // attached to its parent (which will be a RootView), and // this activity is not embedded. @link Window} of the activity gains or loses @link #onResume}. 2310 @param hasFocus Whether the window of this activity has focus. 2312 * @see #hasWindowFocus() @see #onResume @see View#onWindowFocusChanged(boolean) /** 2290 * Called when the current {Window} of the activity gains or loses 2291 * focus. This is the best indicator of whether this activity is visible 2292 * to the user. The default implementation clears the key tracking 2293 * state, so should always be called. 2294 2295 * Note that this provides information about global focus state, which 2296 * is managed independently of activity lifecycles. As such, while focus 2297 * changes will generally have some relation to lifecycle changes (an 2298 * activity that is stopped will not generally get window focus), you 2299 * should not rely on any particular order between the callbacks here and 2300 * those in the other lifecycle methods such as {#onResume}. 2301 2302 * As a general rule, however, a resumed activity will have window 2303 * focus... unless it has displayed other dialogs or popups that take 2304 * input focus, in which case the activity itself will not have focus 2305 * when the other windows have it. Likewise, the system may display 2306 * system-level windows (such as the status bar notification panel or 2307 * a system alert) which will temporarily take window input focus without 2308 * pausing the foreground activity. 2309 hasFocus Whether the window of this activity has focus. 2311 #hasWindowFocus() 2313 #onResume 2314 View#onWindowFocusChanged(boolean) 2315 / @link View#onAttachedToWindow() View.onAttachedToWindow()} @see View#onAttachedToWindow /* 2320 * Called when the main window associated with the activity has been 2321 * attached to the window manager. 2322 * See {View#onAttachedToWindow() View.onAttachedToWindow()} 2323 * for more information. 2324 View#onAttachedToWindow 2325 / @link View#onDetachedFromWindow() View.onDetachedFromWindow()} @see View#onDetachedFromWindow /* 2330 * Called when the main window associated with the activity has been 2331 * detached from the window manager. 2332 * See {View#onDetachedFromWindow() View.onDetachedFromWindow()} 2333 * for more information. 2334 View#onDetachedFromWindow 2335 / 2343 @return True if this activity's main window currently has window focus. 2345 * @see #onWindowAttributesChanged(android.view.WindowManager.LayoutParams) /** 2340 * Returns true if this activity's main window currently has window focus. 2341 * Note that this is not the same as the view itself having focus. 2342 True if this activity's main window currently has window focus. 2344 #onWindowAttributesChanged(android.view.WindowManager.LayoutParams) 2346 / 2363 @param event The key event. 2365 * @return boolean Return true if this event was consumed. /** 2359 * Called to process key events. You can override this to intercept all 2360 * key events before they are dispatched to the window. Be sure to call 2361 * this implementation for key events that should be handled normally. 2362 event The key event. 2364 boolean Return true if this event was consumed. 2366 / 2385 @param event The key shortcut event. @return True if this event was consumed. /** 2380 * Called to process a key shortcut event. 2381 * You can override this to intercept all key shortcut events before they are 2382 * dispatched to the window. Be sure to call this implementation for key shortcut 2383 * events that should be handled normally. 2384 event The key shortcut event. 2386 True if this event was consumed. 2387 / 2402 @param ev The touch screen event. 2404 * @return boolean Return true if this event was consumed. /** 2397 * Called to process touch screen events. You can override this to 2398 * intercept all touch screen events before they are dispatched to the 2399 * window. Be sure to call this implementation for touch screen events 2400 * that should be handled normally. 2401 ev The touch screen event. 2403 boolean Return true if this event was consumed. 2405 / 2422 @param ev The trackball event. 2424 * @return boolean Return true if this event was consumed. /** 2417 * Called to process trackball events. You can override this to 2418 * intercept all trackball events before they are dispatched to the 2419 * window. Be sure to call this implementation for trackball events 2420 * that should be handled normally. 2421 ev The trackball event. 2423 boolean Return true if this event was consumed. 2425 / 2440 @param ev The generic motion event. 2442 * @return boolean Return true if this event was consumed. /** 2435 * Called to process generic motion events. You can override this to 2436 * intercept all generic motion events before they are dispatched to the 2437 * window. Be sure to call this implementation for generic motion events 2438 * that should be handled normally. 2439 ev The generic motion event. 2441 boolean Return true if this event was consumed. 2443 / @link android.view.Window.Callback#onCreatePanelView} /* 2470 * Default implementation of 2471 * {android.view.Window.Callback#onCreatePanelView} 2472 * for activities. This 2473 * simply returns null so that all panel sub-windows will have the default 2474 * menu behavior. 2475 / @link android.view.Window.Callback#onCreatePanelMenu} @link #onCreateOptionsMenu} method for the @link android.view.Window#FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL} panel, /* 2481 * Default implementation of 2482 * {android.view.Window.Callback#onCreatePanelMenu} 2483 * for activities. This calls through to the new 2484 * {#onCreateOptionsMenu} method for the 2485 * {android.view.Window#FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL} panel, 2486 * so that subclasses of Activity don't need to deal with feature codes. 2487 / @link android.view.Window.Callback#onPreparePanel} @link #onPrepareOptionsMenu} method for the @link android.view.Window#FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL} /* 2498 * Default implementation of 2499 * {android.view.Window.Callback#onPreparePanel} 2500 * for activities. This 2501 * calls through to the new {#onPrepareOptionsMenu} method for the 2502 * {android.view.Window#FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL} 2503 * panel, so that subclasses of 2504 * Activity don't need to deal with feature codes. 2505 / @inheritDoc} 2517 2518 * @return The default implementation returns true. /** 2516 * {The default implementation returns true. 2519 / "Tried to open action bar menu with no action bar" @link android.view.Window.Callback#onMenuItemSelected} @link #onOptionsItemSelected} method for the @link android.view.Window#FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL} /* 2533 * Default implementation of 2534 * {android.view.Window.Callback#onMenuItemSelected} 2535 * for activities. This calls through to the new 2536 * {#onOptionsItemSelected} method for the 2537 * {android.view.Window#FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL} 2538 * panel, so that subclasses of 2539 * Activity don't need to deal with feature codes. 2540 / // Put event logging here so it gets called even if subclass // doesn't call through to superclass's implmeentation of each // of these methods below 50000 0 0 50000 1 @link android.view.Window.Callback#onPanelClosed(int, Menu)} for @link #onOptionsMenuClosed(Menu)} @link android.view.Window#FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL} panel, @link Window#FEATURE_CONTEXT_MENU}), the @link #onContextMenuClosed(Menu)} will be called. /* 2577 * Default implementation of 2578 * {android.view.Window.Callback#onPanelClosed(int, Menu)} for 2579 * activities. This calls through to {#onOptionsMenuClosed(Menu)} 2580 * method for the {android.view.Window#FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL} panel, 2581 * so that subclasses of Activity don't need to deal with feature codes. 2582 * For context menus ({Window#FEATURE_CONTEXT_MENU}), the 2583 * {#onContextMenuClosed(Menu)} will be called. 2584 / @link #onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu)} method will be called the next /* 2604 * Declare that the options menu has changed, so should be recreated. 2605 * The {#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu)} method will be called the next 2606 * time it needs to be displayed. 2607 / @link #onPrepareOptionsMenu}. @link Menu#CATEGORY_SYSTEM} group so that @link #onOptionsItemSelected} method to handle them there. 2632 @param menu The options menu in which you place your items. 2634 * @return You must return true for the menu to be displayed; 2637 * @see #onPrepareOptionsMenu @see #onOptionsItemSelected /** 2613 * Initialize the contents of the Activity's standard options menu. You 2614 * should place your menu items in to menu . 2615 2616 * This is only called once, the first time the options menu is 2617 * displayed. To update the menu every time it is displayed, see 2618 * {#onPrepareOptionsMenu}. 2619 2620 * The default implementation populates the menu with standard system 2621 * menu items. These are placed in the {Menu#CATEGORY_SYSTEM} group so that 2622 * they will be correctly ordered with application-defined menu items. 2623 * Deriving classes should always call through to the base implementation. 2624 2625 * You can safely hold on to menu (and any items created 2626 * from it), making modifications to it as desired, until the next 2627 * time onCreateOptionsMenu() is called. 2628 2629 * When you add items to the menu, you can implement the Activity's 2630 * {#onOptionsItemSelected} method to handle them there. 2631 menu The options menu in which you place your items. 2633 You must return true for the menu to be displayed; 2635 * if you return false it will not be shown. 2636 #onPrepareOptionsMenu 2638 #onOptionsItemSelected 2639 / 2657 @param menu The options menu as last shown or first initialized by 2660 * @return You must return true for the menu to be displayed; 2663 * @see #onCreateOptionsMenu /** 2648 * Prepare the Screen's standard options menu to be displayed. This is 2649 * called right before the menu is shown, every time it is shown. You can 2650 * use this method to efficiently enable disable items or otherwise 2651 * dynamically modify the contents. 2652 2653 * The default implementation updates the system menu items based on the 2654 * activity's state. Deriving classes should always call through to the 2655 * base class implementation. 2656 menu The options menu as last shown or first initialized by 2658 * onCreateOptionsMenu(). 2659 You must return true for the menu to be displayed; 2661 * if you return false it will not be shown. 2662 #onCreateOptionsMenu 2664 / 2683 @param item The menu item that was selected. 2685 * @return boolean Return false to allow normal menu processing to 2688 * @see #onCreateOptionsMenu /** 2673 * This hook is called whenever an item in your options menu is selected. 2674 * The default implementation simply returns false to have the normal 2675 * processing happen (calling the item's Runnable or sending a message to 2676 * its Handler as appropriate). You can use this method for any items 2677 * for which you would like to do processing without those other 2678 * facilities. 2679 2680 * Derived classes should call through to the base class for it to 2681 * perform the default menu handling. 2682 item The menu item that was selected. 2684 boolean Return false to allow normal menu processing to 2686 * proceed, true to consume it here. 2687 #onCreateOptionsMenu 2689 / @link android.R.attr#parentActivityName parentActivityName} @link #onPrepareNavigateUpTaskStack(TaskStackBuilder)} @docRoot}guide/topics/fundamentals/@docRoot}design/patterns/@link TaskStackBuilder} class and the Activity methods @link #getParentActivityIntent()}, {@link #shouldUpRecreateTask(Intent)}, and @link #navigateUpTo(Intent)} for help implementing custom Up navigation. 2717 @return true if Up navigation completed successfully and this Activity was finished, /** 2698 * This method is called whenever the user chooses to navigate Up within your application's 2699 * activity hierarchy from the action bar. 2700 2701 * If the attribute {android.R.attr#parentActivityName parentActivityName} 2702 * was specified in the manifest for this activity or an activity-alias to it, 2703 * default Up navigation will be handled automatically. If any activity 2704 * along the parent chain requires extra Intent arguments, the Activity subclass 2705 * should override the method {#onPrepareNavigateUpTaskStack(TaskStackBuilder)} 2706 * to supply those arguments. 2707 2708 * See tasks-and-back-stack.html ">Tasks and Back Stack 2709 * from the developer guide and navigation.html ">Navigation 2710 * from the design guide for more information about navigating within your app. 2711 2712 * See the {TaskStackBuilder} class and the Activity methods 2713 * {#getParentActivityIntent()}, {#shouldUpRecreateTask(Intent)}, and 2714 * {#navigateUpTo(Intent)} for help implementing custom Up navigation. 2715 * The AppNavigation sample application in the Android SDK is also available for reference. 2716 true if Up navigation completed successfully and this Activity was finished, 2718 * false otherwise. 2719 / // Automatically handle hierarchical Up navigation if the proper // metadata is available. // Activities with a null affinity are special; they really shouldn't // specify a parent activity intent in the first place. Just finish // the current activity and call it a day. // We can't finishAffinity if we have a result. // Fall back and simply finish the current activity instead. // Tell the developer what's going on to avoid hair-pulling. "onNavigateUp only finishing topmost activity to return a result" 2757 @param child The activity making the call. /** 2754 * This is called when a child activity of this one attempts to navigate up. 2755 * The default implementation simply calls onNavigateUp() on this activity (the parent). 2756 child The activity making the call. 2758 / @link TaskStackBuilder}. Applications @link #onNavigateUp()} @link #shouldUpRecreateTask(Intent)} returns true when supplied with the intent @link #getParentActivityIntent()}.</p> @link #onPrepareNavigateUpTaskStack(TaskStackBuilder)}.</p> 2779 @param builder An empty TaskStackBuilder - the application should add intents representing /** 2764 * Define the synthetic task stack that will be generated during Up navigation from 2765 * a different task. 2766 2767 * The default implementation of this method adds the parent chain of this activity 2768 * as specified in the manifest to the supplied {TaskStackBuilder}. Applications 2769 * may choose to override this method to construct the desired task stack in a different 2770 * way. 2771 2772 * This method will be invoked by the default implementation of {#onNavigateUp()} 2773 * if {#shouldUpRecreateTask(Intent)} returns true when supplied with the intent 2774 * returned by {#getParentActivityIntent()}. 2775 2776 * Applications that wish to supply extra Intent parameters to the parent stack defined 2777 * by the manifest should override {#onPrepareNavigateUpTaskStack(TaskStackBuilder)}. 2778 builder An empty TaskStackBuilder - the application should add intents representing 2780 * the desired task stack 2781 / @link TaskStackBuilder} with the constructed series of @link #onCreateNavigateUpTaskStack(TaskStackBuilder)}. 2795 @param builder A TaskStackBuilder that has been populated with Intents by /** 2787 * Prepare the synthetic task stack that will be generated during Up navigation 2788 * from a different task. 2789 2790 * This method receives the {TaskStackBuilder} with the constructed series of 2791 * Intents as generated by {#onCreateNavigateUpTaskStack(TaskStackBuilder)}. 2792 * If any extra data should be added to these intents before launching the new task, 2793 * the application should override this method and add that data here. 2794 builder A TaskStackBuilder that has been populated with Intents by 2796 * onCreateNavigateUpTaskStack. 2797 / 2805 @param menu The options menu as last shown or first initialized by /** 2802 * This hook is called whenever the options menu is being closed (either by the user canceling 2803 * the menu with the back menu button, or when an item is selected). 2804 menu The options menu as last shown or first initialized by 2806 * onCreateOptionsMenu(). 2807 / /* 2815 * Programmatically opens the options menu. If the options menu is already 2816 * open, this method does nothing. 2817 / /* 2823 * Progammatically closes the options menu. If the options menu is already 2824 * closed, this method does nothing. 2825 / @code view} is about to be shown. @link #onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu)}, this will be called every @link AdapterView} subclasses, @code menuInfo})). @link #onContextItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem)} to know when an @inheritDoc} /* 2831 * Called when a context menu for the {view} is about to be shown. 2832 * Unlike {#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu)}, this will be called every 2833 * time the context menu is about to be shown and should be populated for 2834 * the view (or item inside the view for {AdapterView} subclasses, 2835 * this can be found in the {menuInfo})). 2836 * 2837 * Use {#onContextItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem)} to know when an 2838 * item has been selected. 2839 * 2840 * It is not safe to hold onto the context menu after this method returns. 2841 * { 2842 / @link OnCreateContextMenuListener} on the view to this activity, so @link #onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu, View, ContextMenuInfo)} will be 2853 @see #unregisterForContextMenu(View) @param view The view that should show a context menu. /** 2847 * Registers a context menu to be shown for the given view (multiple views 2848 * can show the context menu). This method will set the 2849 * {OnCreateContextMenuListener} on the view to this activity, so 2850 * {#onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu, View, ContextMenuInfo)} will be 2851 * called when it is time to show the context menu. 2852 #unregisterForContextMenu(View) 2854 view The view that should show a context menu. 2855 / @link OnCreateContextMenuListener} on the view. 2864 @see #registerForContextMenu(View) @param view The view that should stop showing a context menu. /** 2861 * Prevents a context menu to be shown for the given view. This method will remove the 2862 * {OnCreateContextMenuListener} on the view. 2863 #registerForContextMenu(View) 2865 view The view that should stop showing a context menu. 2866 / @code view}. @code view} should have been added via @link #registerForContextMenu(View)}. 2876 @param view The view to show the context menu for. /** 2872 * Programmatically opens the context menu for a particular {view}. 2873 * The {view} should have been added via 2874 * {#registerForContextMenu(View)}. 2875 view The view to show the context menu for. 2877 / /* 2883 * Programmatically closes the most recently opened context menu, if showing. 2884 / @link MenuItem#getMenuInfo()} to get extra information set by the 2902 @param item The context menu item that was selected. @return boolean Return false to allow normal context menu processing to /** 2890 * This hook is called whenever an item in a context menu is selected. The 2891 * default implementation simply returns false to have the normal processing 2892 * happen (calling the item's Runnable or sending a message to its Handler 2893 * as appropriate). You can use this method for any items for which you 2894 * would like to do processing without those other facilities. 2895 * 2896 * Use {MenuItem#getMenuInfo()} to get extra information set by the 2897 * View that added this menu item. 2898 * 2899 * Derived classes should call through to the base class for it to perform 2900 * the default menu handling. 2901 item The context menu item that was selected. 2903 boolean Return false to allow normal context menu processing to 2904 * proceed, true to consume it here. 2905 / 2918 @param menu The context menu that is being closed. /** 2914 * This hook is called whenever the context menu is being closed (either by 2915 * the user canceling the menu with the back menu button, or when an item is 2916 * selected). 2917 menu The context menu that is being closed. 2919 / @deprecated Old no-arguments version of {@link #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle)}. /* 2927 Old no-arguments version of {#onCreateDialog(int, Bundle)}. 2928 / @link #onCreateDialog(int)} for compatibility. @link android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} @link DialogFragment} instead.</em> @link #showDialog(int)}, the activity will call through to @link #showDialog}. @link #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle)}. 2954 @param id The id of the dialog. @param args The dialog arguments provided to {@link #showDialog(int, Bundle)}. @return The dialog. If you return null, the dialog will not be created. 2958 * @see #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle) @see #showDialog(int, Bundle) @see #dismissDialog(int) @see #removeDialog(int) 2963 * @deprecated Use the new {@link DialogFragment} class with @link FragmentManager} instead; this is also /** 2935 * Callback for creating dialogs that are managed (saved and restored) for you 2936 * by the activity. The default implementation calls through to 2937 * {#onCreateDialog(int)} for compatibility. 2938 2939 * If you are targeting {android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} 2940 * or later, consider instead using a {DialogFragment} instead. 2941 2942 * If you use {#showDialog(int)}, the activity will call through to 2943 * this method the first time, and hang onto it thereafter. Any dialog 2944 * that is created by this method will automatically be saved and restored 2945 * for you, including whether it is showing. 2946 2947 * If you would like the activity to manage saving and restoring dialogs 2948 * for you, you should override this method and handle any ids that are 2949 * passed to {#showDialog}. 2950 2951 * If you would like an opportunity to prepare your dialog before it is shown, 2952 * override {#onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle)}. 2953 id The id of the dialog. 2955 args The dialog arguments provided to {#showDialog(int, Bundle)}. 2956 The dialog. If you return null, the dialog will not be created. 2957 #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle) 2959 #showDialog(int, Bundle) 2960 #dismissDialog(int) 2961 #removeDialog(int) 2962 Use the new {DialogFragment} class with 2964 * {FragmentManager} instead; this is also 2965 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 2966 / @deprecated Old no-arguments version of @link #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle)}. /* 2973 Old no-arguments version of 2974 * {#onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle)}. 2975 / @link #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog)} for compatibility. 2993 @param id The id of the managed dialog. @param dialog The dialog. @param args The dialog arguments provided to {@link #showDialog(int, Bundle)}. @see #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle) @see #showDialog(int) @see #dismissDialog(int) @see #removeDialog(int) 3001 * @deprecated Use the new {@link DialogFragment} class with @link FragmentManager} instead; this is also /** 2982 * Provides an opportunity to prepare a managed dialog before it is being 2983 * shown. The default implementation calls through to 2984 * {#onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog)} for compatibility. 2985 2986 * 2987 * Override this if you need to update a managed dialog based on the state 2988 * of the application each time it is shown. For example, a time picker 2989 * dialog might want to be updated with the current time. You should call 2990 * through to the superclass's implementation. The default implementation 2991 * will set this Activity as the owner activity on the Dialog. 2992 id The id of the managed dialog. 2994 dialog The dialog. 2995 args The dialog arguments provided to {#showDialog(int, Bundle)}. 2996 #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle) 2997 #showDialog(int) 2998 #dismissDialog(int) 2999 #removeDialog(int) 3000 Use the new {DialogFragment} class with 3002 * {FragmentManager} instead; this is also 3003 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 3004 / @link #showDialog(int, Bundle)} that does not @link #showDialog(int, Bundle)} 3015 @deprecated Use the new {@link DialogFragment} class with @link FragmentManager} instead; this is also /** 3011 * Simple version of {#showDialog(int, Bundle)} that does not 3012 * take any arguments. Simply calls {#showDialog(int, Bundle)} 3013 * with null arguments. 3014 Use the new {DialogFragment} class with 3016 * {FragmentManager} instead; this is also 3017 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 3018 / @link #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle)} @link android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} @link DialogFragment} instead.</em> @link #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle)} will 3035 @param id The id of the managed dialog. @param args Arguments to pass through to the dialog. These will be saved @link #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle)} will not be called with the new @link #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle)} will be. @link #removeDialog(int)} first. @return Returns true if the Dialog was created; false is returned if @link #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle)} returns false. 3044 * @see Dialog @see #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle) @see #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle) @see #dismissDialog(int) @see #removeDialog(int) 3050 * @deprecated Use the new {@link DialogFragment} class with @link FragmentManager} instead; this is also /** 3025 * Show a dialog managed by this activity. A call to {#onCreateDialog(int, Bundle)} 3026 * will be made with the same id the first time this is called for a given 3027 * id. From thereafter, the dialog will be automatically saved and restored. 3028 3029 * If you are targeting {android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#HONEYCOMB} 3030 * or later, consider instead using a {DialogFragment} instead. 3031 3032 * Each time a dialog is shown, {#onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle)} will 3033 * be made to provide an opportunity to do any timely preparation. 3034 id The id of the managed dialog. 3036 args Arguments to pass through to the dialog. These will be saved 3037 * and restored for you. Note that if the dialog is already created, 3038 * {#onCreateDialog(int, Bundle)} will not be called with the new 3039 * arguments but {#onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle)} will be. 3040 * If you need to rebuild the dialog, call {#removeDialog(int)} first. 3041 Returns true if the Dialog was created; false is returned if 3042 * it is not created because {#onCreateDialog(int, Bundle)} returns false. 3043 Dialog 3045 #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle) 3046 #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle) 3047 #dismissDialog(int) 3048 #removeDialog(int) 3049 Use the new {DialogFragment} class with 3051 * {FragmentManager} instead; this is also 3052 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 3053 / @link #showDialog(int)}. 3078 @param id The id of the managed dialog. 3080 * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the id was not previously shown via @link #showDialog(int)}. 3083 * @see #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle) @see #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle) @see #showDialog(int) @see #removeDialog(int) 3088 * @deprecated Use the new {@link DialogFragment} class with @link FragmentManager} instead; this is also /** 3076 * Dismiss a dialog that was previously shown via {#showDialog(int)}. 3077 id The id of the managed dialog. 3079 IllegalArgumentException if the id was not previously shown via 3081 * {#showDialog(int)}. 3082 #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle) 3084 #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle) 3085 #showDialog(int) 3086 #removeDialog(int) 3087 Use the new {DialogFragment} class with 3089 * {FragmentManager} instead; this is also 3090 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 3091 / /* 3106 * Creates an exception to throw if a user passed in a dialog id that is 3107 * unexpected. 3108 / "no dialog with id " " was ever " "shown via Activity#showDialog" @link android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#GINGERBREAD}, this function 3125 @param id The id of the managed dialog. 3127 * @see #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle) @see #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle) @see #showDialog(int) @see #dismissDialog(int) 3132 * @deprecated Use the new {@link DialogFragment} class with @link FragmentManager} instead; this is also /** 3115 * Removes any internal references to a dialog managed by this Activity. 3116 * If the dialog is showing, it will dismiss it as part of the clean up. 3117 3118 * This can be useful if you know that you will never show a dialog again and 3119 * want to avoid the overhead of saving and restoring it in the future. 3120 3121 * As of {android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#GINGERBREAD}, this function 3122 * will not throw an exception if you try to remove an ID that does not 3123 * currently have an associated dialog. 3124 id The id of the managed dialog. 3126 #onCreateDialog(int, Bundle) 3128 #onPrepareDialog(int, Dialog, Bundle) 3129 #showDialog(int) 3130 #dismissDialog(int) 3131 Use the new {DialogFragment} class with 3133 * {FragmentManager} instead; this is also 3134 * available on older platforms through the Android compatibility package. 3135 / @link #startSearch startSearch(null, false, null, false)}, which launches @link SearchManager}. 3159 @return Returns {@code true} if search launched, and {@code false} if activity blocks it. @code true}. 3162 * @see android.app.SearchManager /** 3148 * This hook is called when the user signals the desire to start a search. 3149 3150 * You can use this function as a simple way to launch the search UI, in response to a 3151 * menu item, search button, or other widgets within your activity. Unless overidden, 3152 * calling this function is the same as calling 3153 * {#startSearch startSearch(null, false, null, false)}, which launches 3154 * search for the current activity as specified in its manifest, see {SearchManager}. 3155 3156 * You can override this function to force global search, e.g. in response to a dedicated 3157 * search key, or to block search entirely (by simply returning false). 3158 Returns {true} if search launched, and {false} if activity blocks it. 3160 * The default implementation always returns {true}. 3161 android.app.SearchManager 3163 / 3179 @param initialQuery Any non-null non-empty string will be inserted as @param selectInitialQuery If true, the intial query will be preselected, which means that @param appSearchData An application can insert application-specific @param globalSearch If false, this will only launch the search that has been specifically 3196 * @see android.app.SearchManager @see #onSearchRequested /** 3170 * This hook is called to launch the search UI. 3171 3172 * It is typically called from onSearchRequested(), either directly from 3173 * Activity.onSearchRequested() or from an overridden version in any given 3174 * Activity. If your goal is simply to activate search, it is preferred to call 3175 * onSearchRequested(), which may have been overriden elsewhere in your Activity. If your goal 3176 * is to inject specific data such as context data, it is preferred to override 3177 * onSearchRequested(), so that any callers to it will benefit from the override. 3178 initialQuery Any non-null non-empty string will be inserted as 3180 * pre-entered text in the search query box. 3181 selectInitialQuery If true, the intial query will be preselected, which means that 3182 * any further typing will replace it. This is useful for cases where an entire pre-formed 3183 * query is being inserted. If false, the selection point will be placed at the end of the 3184 * inserted query. This is useful when the inserted query is text that the user entered, 3185 * and the user would expect to be able to keep typing. This parameter is only meaningful 3186 * if initialQuery is a non-empty string. 3187 appSearchData An application can insert application-specific 3188 * context here, in order to improve quality or specificity of its own 3189 * searches. This data will be returned with SEARCH intent(s). Null if 3190 * no extra data is required. 3191 globalSearch If false, this will only launch the search that has been specifically 3192 * defined by the application (which is usually defined as a local search). If no default 3193 * search is defined in the current application or activity, global search will be launched. 3194 * If true, this will always launch a platform-global (e.g. web-based) search instead. 3195 android.app.SearchManager 3197 #onSearchRequested 3198 / @link #startSearch}, but actually fires off the search query after invoking 3210 @param query The query to trigger. If empty, the request will be ignored. @param appSearchData An application can insert application-specific /** 3207 * Similar to {#startSearch}, but actually fires off the search query after invoking 3208 * the search dialog. Made available for testing purposes. 3209 query The query to trigger. If empty, the request will be ignored. 3211 appSearchData An application can insert application-specific 3212 * context here, in order to improve quality or specificity of its own 3213 * searches. This data will be returned with SEARCH intent(s). Null if 3214 * no extra data is required. 3215 / 3226 @see android.view.Window#takeKeyEvents /** 3222 * Request that key events come to this activity. Use this if your 3223 * activity has no views with focus, but the activity still wants 3224 * a chance to process key events. 3225 android.view.Window#takeKeyEvents 3227 / @link android.view.Window#requestFeature getWindow().requestFeature()}. 3236 @param featureId The desired feature as defined in @link android.view.Window}. @return Returns true if the requested feature is supported and now 3241 * @see android.view.Window#requestFeature /** 3233 * Enable extended window features. This is a convenience for calling 3234 * {android.view.Window#requestFeature getWindow().requestFeature()}. 3235 featureId The desired feature as defined in 3237 * {android.view.Window}. 3238 Returns true if the requested feature is supported and now 3239 * enabled. 3240 android.view.Window#requestFeature 3242 / @link MenuInflater} with this context. /* 3288 * Returns a {MenuInflater} with this context. 3289 / // Make sure that action views can get an appropriate theme. // Empty @link #startActivityForResult(Intent, int, Bundle)} 3322 @param intent The intent to start. @param requestCode If >= 0, this code will be returned in 3326 * @throws android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3328 * @see #startActivity /** 3319 * Same as calling {#startActivityForResult(Intent, int, Bundle)} 3320 * with no options. 3321 intent The intent to start. 3323 requestCode If >= 0, this code will be returned in 3324 * onActivityResult() when the activity exits. 3325 android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3327 #startActivity 3329 / @link #startActivity} (the activity is not launched as a sub-activity). @link Intent#ACTION_MAIN} or {@link Intent#ACTION_VIEW}), you may @link android.content.ActivityNotFoundException} 3357 @param intent The intent to start. @param requestCode If >= 0, this code will be returned in @param options Additional options for how the Activity should be started. @link android.content.Context#startActivity(Intent, Bundle) 3364 * @throws android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3366 * @see #startActivity /** 3335 * Launch an activity for which you would like a result when it finished. 3336 * When this activity exits, your 3337 * onActivityResult() method will be called with the given requestCode. 3338 * Using a negative requestCode is the same as calling 3339 * {#startActivity} (the activity is not launched as a sub-activity). 3340 3341 * Note that this method should only be used with Intent protocols 3342 * that are defined to return a result. In other protocols (such as 3343 * {Intent#ACTION_MAIN} or {Intent#ACTION_VIEW}), you may 3344 * not get the result when you expect. For example, if the activity you 3345 * are launching uses the singleTask launch mode, it will not run in your 3346 * task and thus you will immediately receive a cancel result. 3347 3348 * As a special case, if you call startActivityForResult() with a requestCode 3349 * >= 0 during the initial onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)/onResume() of your 3350 * activity, then your window will not be displayed until a result is 3351 * returned back from the started activity. This is to avoid visible 3352 * flickering when redirecting to another activity. 3353 3354 * This method throws {android.content.ActivityNotFoundException} 3355 * if there was no Activity found to run the given Intent. 3356 intent The intent to start. 3358 requestCode If >= 0, this code will be returned in 3359 * onActivityResult() when the activity exits. 3360 options Additional options for how the Activity should be started. 3361 * See {android.content.Context#startActivity(Intent, Bundle) 3362 * Context.startActivity(Intent, Bundle)} for more details. 3363 android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3365 #startActivity 3367 / 0 // If this start is requesting a result, we can avoid making // the activity visible until the result is received. Setting // this code during onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) or onResume() will keep the // activity hidden during this time, to avoid flickering. // This can only be done when a result is requested because // that guarantees we will get information back when the // activity is finished, no matter what happens to it. // Note we want to go through this method for compatibility with // existing applications that may have overridden it. @hide Implement to provide correct calling token. /* 3401 Implement to provide correct calling token. 3402 / @hide Implement to provide correct calling token. /* 3408 Implement to provide correct calling token. 3409 / "Called be called from a child" 1 1 @link #startIntentSenderForResult(IntentSender, int, 3429 @param intent The IntentSender to launch. @param requestCode If >= 0, this code will be returned in @param fillInIntent If non-null, this will be provided as the @link IntentSender#sendIntent}. @param flagsMask Intent flags in the original IntentSender that you @param flagsValues Desired values for any bits set in @param extraFlags Always set to 0. /** 3426 * Same as calling {#startIntentSenderForResult(IntentSender, int, 3427 * Intent, int, int, int, Bundle)} with no options. 3428 intent The IntentSender to launch. 3430 requestCode If >= 0, this code will be returned in 3431 * onActivityResult() when the activity exits. 3432 fillInIntent If non-null, this will be provided as the 3433 * intent parameter to {IntentSender#sendIntent}. 3434 flagsMask Intent flags in the original IntentSender that you 3435 * would like to change. 3436 flagsValues Desired values for any bits set in 3437 * flagsMask 3438 extraFlags Always set to 0. 3439 / @link #startActivityForResult(Intent, int)}, but allowing you @link #startActivityForResult(Intent, int)} @link IntentSender#sendIntent IntentSender.sendIntent} on it. 3456 @param intent The IntentSender to launch. @param requestCode If >= 0, this code will be returned in @param fillInIntent If non-null, this will be provided as the @link IntentSender#sendIntent}. @param flagsMask Intent flags in the original IntentSender that you @param flagsValues Desired values for any bits set in @param extraFlags Always set to 0. @param options Additional options for how the Activity should be started. @link android.content.Context#startActivity(Intent, Bundle) /** 3448 * Like {#startActivityForResult(Intent, int)}, but allowing you 3449 * to use a IntentSender to describe the activity to be started. If 3450 * the IntentSender is for an activity, that activity will be started 3451 * as if you had called the regular {#startActivityForResult(Intent, int)} 3452 * here; otherwise, its associated action will be executed (such as 3453 * sending a broadcast) as if you had called 3454 * {IntentSender#sendIntent IntentSender.sendIntent} on it. 3455 intent The IntentSender to launch. 3457 requestCode If >= 0, this code will be returned in 3458 * onActivityResult() when the activity exits. 3459 fillInIntent If non-null, this will be provided as the 3460 * intent parameter to {IntentSender#sendIntent}. 3461 flagsMask Intent flags in the original IntentSender that you 3462 * would like to change. 3463 flagsValues Desired values for any bits set in 3464 * flagsMask 3465 extraFlags Always set to 0. 3466 options Additional options for how the Activity should be started. 3467 * See {android.content.Context#startActivity(Intent, Bundle) 3468 * Context.startActivity(Intent, Bundle)} for more details. If options 3469 * have also been supplied by the IntentSender, options given here will 3470 * override any that conflict with those given by the IntentSender. 3471 / // Note we want to go through this call for compatibility with // existing applications that may have overridden the method. 0 // If this start is requesting a result, we can avoid making // the activity visible until the result is received. Setting // this code during onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) or onResume() will keep the // activity hidden during this time, to avoid flickering. // This can only be done when a result is requested because // that guarantees we will get information back when the // activity is finished, no matter what happens to it. @link #startActivity(Intent, Bundle)} with no options 3525 @param intent The intent to start. 3527 * @throws android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3529 * @see {@link #startActivity(Intent, Bundle)} @see #startActivityForResult /** 3522 * Same as {#startActivity(Intent, Bundle)} with no options 3523 * specified. 3524 intent The intent to start. 3526 android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3528 #startActivity(Intent, Bundle)} 3530 #startActivityForResult 3531 / @link Intent#FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK} launch flag is not @link android.content.ActivityNotFoundException} 3549 @param intent The intent to start. @param options Additional options for how the Activity should be started. @link android.content.Context#startActivity(Intent, Bundle) 3554 * @throws android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3556 * @see {@link #startActivity(Intent)} @see #startActivityForResult /** 3538 * Launch a new activity. You will not receive any information about when 3539 * the activity exits. This implementation overrides the base version, 3540 * providing information about 3541 * the activity performing the launch. Because of this additional 3542 * information, the {Intent#FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK} launch flag is not 3543 * required; if not specified, the new activity will be added to the 3544 * task of the caller. 3545 3546 * This method throws {android.content.ActivityNotFoundException} 3547 * if there was no Activity found to run the given Intent. 3548 intent The intent to start. 3550 options Additional options for how the Activity should be started. 3551 * See {android.content.Context#startActivity(Intent, Bundle) 3552 * Context.startActivity(Intent, Bundle)} for more details. 3553 android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3555 #startActivity(Intent)} 3557 #startActivityForResult 3558 / 1 // Note we want to go through this call for compatibility with // applications that may have overridden the method. 1 @link #startActivities(Intent[], Bundle)} with no options 3574 @param intents The intents to start. 3576 * @throws android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3578 * @see {@link #startActivities(Intent[], Bundle)} @see #startActivityForResult /** 3571 * Same as {#startActivities(Intent[], Bundle)} with no options 3572 * specified. 3573 intents The intents to start. 3575 android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3577 #startActivities(Intent[], Bundle)} 3579 #startActivityForResult 3580 / @link Intent#FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK} launch flag is not @link android.content.ActivityNotFoundException} 3598 @param intents The intents to start. @param options Additional options for how the Activity should be started. @link android.content.Context#startActivity(Intent, Bundle) 3603 * @throws android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3605 * @see {@link #startActivities(Intent[])} @see #startActivityForResult /** 3587 * Launch a new activity. You will not receive any information about when 3588 * the activity exits. This implementation overrides the base version, 3589 * providing information about 3590 * the activity performing the launch. Because of this additional 3591 * information, the {Intent#FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK} launch flag is not 3592 * required; if not specified, the new activity will be added to the 3593 * task of the caller. 3594 3595 * This method throws {android.content.ActivityNotFoundException} 3596 * if there was no Activity found to run the given Intent. 3597 intents The intents to start. 3599 options Additional options for how the Activity should be started. 3600 * See {android.content.Context#startActivity(Intent, Bundle) 3601 * Context.startActivity(Intent, Bundle)} for more details. 3602 android.content.ActivityNotFoundException 3604 #startActivities(Intent[])} 3606 #startActivityForResult 3607 */ @lin
THE Gold Coast rugby league community has been left reeling by the shock death of one of the region’s best amateur players. Tugun forward Chris Kitching died suddenly last Friday night, sending shock waves through the close-knit league sphere. The 24-year-old was one of the best players in the local A-Grade competition, Coast 2 Coast Cup, and came through Tugun’s junior grades. He played 23 of 24 games for the semi-professional Burleigh Bears in the Intrust Super Cup last season after making the step up in grade following Tugun’s 2013 Bycroft Cup premiership win. Tugun’s Coast 2 Coast Cup team bravely took the field against Runaway Bay yesterday at their Boyd St home ground and recorded a gutsy 24-20 win. NRL DEATHS: Five young players die in two years media_camera Chris Kitching is tackled during a game against Burleigh in 2013. The club has retired the No. 8 jersey in its three senior grades for the remainder of the season and Tugun president Rod Hill said the shattered Seahawks had banded together. “He was part of the furniture here,” Hill said. “He came through to be one of our top A-graders and tried his hand at Queensland Cup last year and was all quality. “He had a massive influence at our club on everyone. “Tugun is a big family. There’s a lot of people affected by it. “It’s been tough for the club but the shining light about the club is we’re a community and have bonded. “The boys had a good chat about it and decided to go ahead with the game. A couple of the boys said he’d want us to play.” media_camera Friends remember Chris Kitching at the game yesterday. Kitching’s death follows those of a number of young rugby league players recently which has triggered the code to dedicate more resources towards the issue. The parents of former Burleigh player Hayden Butler, who died in January, were at Pizzey Park yesterday to award a medal named in his honour. Burleigh sported black armbands and held a minute’s silence before their 23-22 win over Mackay yesterday and Kitching’s former coach, Jim Lenihan, said he fought hard for a shot in the Intrust Super Cup. “He came here on a train and hope promise and got a game in the first round which probably he didn’t even expect then played the rest of the year,” he said. “He was great for us last year. “He had a bit of a sore back and couldn’t do a lot of the pre-season this year and went back to Tugun which was fine. “It’s just very sad. I don’t know what to say.” media_camera Chris Kitching’s Tugun teammates: the team yesterday won its game against Runaway Bay 24-20 in a gutsy performance. Kitching made multiple Gold Coast representative teams and even featured in the Queensland Rangers side in 2013. Gold Coast Rugby League president Peter Daley said the association was supporting its members and urged people to seek help. “He was a very popular rugby league player and person,” he said. “It’s just a tragedy this has happened. The rugby league community is devastated. “There’s so much support out there now. “The players and members have been offered counselling and the Tugun club has been very good to everyone.” If you need help call Lifeline 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
Renowned Indian designer Dilip Chhabria has created this £136,000 Tata Nano. Unveiled at this week's Delhi motor show, the bespoke Nano - which costs around £134,000 or 6800 per cent more than the car it is based on - has been created by Chhabria and his DC Design studio to appeal to celebrities in India. The car has all-new body panels, brakes, suspension and interior parts, plus 20-inch wheels and a 1.6-litre engine in place of the standard 33bhp 624cc unit. Chhabria claims the modifications give the car a top speed of 124mph. "I expect people from Bollywood to be interested in this project, but I think generally it will be people who have a passion for cars," Chhabria told the AFP news agency. He added that he expects to sell between two and five of the modified Nanos per year, and is optimistic of exporting the car outside India.
Lumix G 25mm f/1.7 ASPH. Lens is rated 4.7 out of 5 by 156 . Rated 5 out of 5 by MatthiasLambert from Finally, the micro four thirds nifty fifty equivalent! This is the lens most m4/3 users have been hoping for. It focuses blazingly fast on my EM1 and the signature high contrast and sharp IQ I know from panasonic primes is ever present. It may be a little softer in the corners, and perhaps not as razor sharp as the highly regarded Pansonic Leica 25mm f/1.4, but at the amazing price and offered this is a must have lens for the system. Portrait and street shooters will eat this up, and the close focus distance is ideal for product shots also. Size is larger than the panasonic 20mm f/1.7 but smallerthan the Previously mentioned 25mm. It includes a nice hood that is reversable also. Rated 4 out of 5 by David from Nice Fast Prime for the Price Everyone should have a nice fast prime in their kit and, for the price, this one performs very well. I was looking at some off-brand MFT manual lenses for less with a max f/1.1 for my GH4. A price drop in this lens made me purchase this Panasonic prime instead. This lens is much better in the corners than I saw in others and, since it still has a nice max f/1.7. I still get that low-light benefit and shallow depth of field to produce some nice Bokeh. It doesn't have any stabilization so it's not so great for handheld video but it has definitely improved my photos not only due to the max f/1.7 but also forcing me to get a different perceptive with the fixed focal length. Rated 5 out of 5 by Hunter from Sharpness and Len Speed a Real Asset The kit lens with the G7 does a nice job when there's ample light. The Lumix G 25mm f/1.7 lens opens the door to new possibilties in less than idea conditions. I've been photographing time lapse of moonflowers which open just after the sun sets. The sharpness and speed of this lens allows me to use a reasonable ISO of 800 and have the ability to capture the entire process of the flower blossoming in fading light. It's speed allows me to use fast shutter speeds when trying to capture blossoms in daylight when there are breezy conditions. I'm pleased that this kind of lens was in my price range. I believe it will a lens that I often use. Rated 5 out of 5 by Golem from Terrific Normal Couldn't ask for more, at least not for a normal price ... meaning I'm not comparing it to such things as Zeiss-for-Sony or Sigma-for-Nikon/Canon normal lenses with 4-figure prices.? ? ? Distortion is practically non-existing, corner shading is minimal and disappears very early in the f/stop range ... f/2.5 by my eyes. AF is very fast and positive.?? ? ? Aesthetically, appearance and MF feel nothing special, but no problems either. It does NOT have that "cheap stuff" look or feel but doesn't seem to scream "premium product" either.?? ? ? For what this lens costs, I feel like I stole it :-) Rated 4 out of 5 by thejkhc from Great deal. Good lens. This lens for the price (got it during the $ sale). Is a great piece of kit for m4/3 shooters. It comes with a lens hood too! Which olympus really ought to do. Anyways i digress. The lens itself the image quality is very crisp. I haven't noticed much softness or vingetteing at the corners. However, wide open the lens suffers from colour fringing along high contrast edges. The bokeh is very smooth with only ever a few moments where it seems strange. But it isn't choppy like similar lenses in this price range from the Traditional APSC dslr camp. The build quality is adequate. It's a plastic body with a metal lens mount, but i forgive this because it's an internal AF system. So no fiddly bits that can get crud stuck inside. Rated 5 out of 5 by Carl from For the price... unbeatable. Great for Stills. Pretty good for video. Not a fan of the focus by wire, but that's the thing nowadays w these low budget native lenses.Very sharp w good color rendition. AF is as fast and accurate as you need it to be in 95% of situations. Lightweight and compact. And hey Panasonic, THANK YOU for including a lens hood. Nothing remarkable about it, but gets the job done quite well for the budget price.No doubt a dependable choice for vloggers, etc. But I personally prefer something like the feel, character and manual pull of a vintage lens. Still, happy to have it when I want that auto-focus and full electronic capabilities. Rated 5 out of 5 by Vincent from Great budget prime lens!! Great prime lens for a great price. I was looking for a 25mm (nifty fifty) for my MU4/3 system and was waiting for this to come out. I did not want to compromise the DFD focusing speed and this lens delivers, and focus as fast as I can frame a scene. However, you can hear the shutter/focusing mechanism in a very quiet environment, but very faint. The construction is similar to the new pany 42.5mm f1.7. The texture is matte and nice to the touch but feels very plastic but seems durable, which is fine for me as I would not want any extra weight in my bag, so it's great for travelling. However, it is still larger than the Oly 25mm or the Pany 42.5mm f1.7, especially when the lens hood is kept in reverse. Sharpness is great for a 16mp sensor, and I don't have to explain how versatile is the 25mm (or 50mm) is for general photography. Attached below are some sample pictures. CA control is good and no purple fringe not that noticeable. Personally, the aperture of 1.7 or Oly's 1.8 range of prime lens is just nice for open wide for bokeh effect. Not too soft and just enough subject separation. Overall great bang for buck and it'll stay with me for a while!
In 2012, just months before that year’s Olympics, 800-meter runner Nick Symmonds felt a sharp pain under his kneecap. There had been no traumatic event. It just flared up one day during a regular training run. With a little trial and error, he quickly found that his pain abated when he ran at faster speeds. So he cut back on his mileage, and did all his easy runs at a quicker pace. Within a few weeks, he was pain free and on his way to racing the 800-meter final in London. “I didn’t see a doctor—I could just kind of tell that it didn’t hurt running fast, so I picked up my speed,” Symmonds says. “I’m old-school like that.” He had self-diagnosed his condition as runner’s knee—or patellofemoral pain syndrome—a common injury in runners across all different levels. Although Symmond’s treatment plan is far from the norm, all runner’s knee cases aren’t created equal. There’s no definitive cause for the pain, making its rehab complicated. Nor is there any one way it presents, so it has essentially become a catch-all term for when the kneecap or the surrounding area twinge and bark during your run. Sometimes the pain can be strong enough to stop you in your tracks; in other instances, it's just enough to nag you for months on end. Variation aside, there are some measures you can take to treat and ultimately prevent runner’s knee. We talked to Michael Conlon, owner of Finish Line Physical Therapy in New York City, to mine the best advice on getting you back to 100 percent for good. What It Is Normally, your kneecap moves smoothly along a groove in your femur bone every time you bend your knee. If it gets off track, your kneecap will twist and torque the tendons underneath it. That’s what causes pain under or around the knee, Conlon says. Even at its worst, the pain outweighs the structural damage being done. Simply inflaming the tendons likely won’t cause long-term or permanent harm, says Conlon. But even if you can run through the pain, it’s best to get treated rather than continually toughing it out. You could be changing your stride to overcompensate for the discomfort, a surefire way to injure another part of your body. The Cause Usually the root problem is a combination of inflexibility, weak muscles, or imbalances that are totally separate from the knee itself. “It’s not really an issue at the knee in terms of biomechanics,” says Conlon. “Typically your knee is structurally sound, but a mobility or strength discrepancy anywhere from your spine to your foot throws it off track during movement.” Overuse can exacerbate these imbalances. Ramping up your miles quickly or suddenly, running at the same pace all the time, wearing the same shoes, or running on the same surfaces can all trigger patellofemoral pain, because your body isn’t equipped to take on the increased load. The Signs If you feel localized pain underneath or even around the kneecap while running, chances are you’ve joined the ranks of runner’s knee sufferers. But you could feel it during your workday, too—usually when you walk downhill or down stairs or sit too long at a desk with your knees bent. “It’s hard to isolate,” Conlon says. “People often say it feels like their kneecap is floating. That’s inflammation of the tissues around the kneecap.” The Cure Good news: it’s almost always treatable. But Symmonds’s experts-only method of running faster isn’t the recommended solution for most. Consider taking a hiatus from running for a couple days, or at least backing off your mileage or pace. If you don’t give the inflamed tissue a break, you’ll likely just make the pain worse. “If your pain is moderate to severe at the beginning of a run, then don’t even start,” Conlon says. “You’re better off doing something that’s pain free, like the elliptical or the bike.” Use the rest days to see a doctor of physical therapist. They can prescribe a therapy program specific to your case to expedite recovery. If you can’t get an appointment right away, Conlon recommends the following broad tips. Heat: If you don’t have severe acute pain, steer clear of icing. Cold restricts blood flow, which you need for tissue to repair itself. Heat, such as warm baths or heating pads, are a better idea. Rolling: Myofascial release with a foam roller improves flexibility, as it unlocks your hips and releases tightness in muscles. That increased mobility allows the rest of your body to move as it should to help get the knee tracking properly. Sports massage: Similar to rolling, deep-tissue release through massage or Active Release Therapy lets an expert identify specific spots—or adhesions—where your muscle isn’t moving efficiently and could be compromising your stride. Prevention First, sit less. It keeps the hips tight, which can prevent the patella from tracking in the joint properly. Second, add some variety to your footwear and runs. Rotate between several different pairs of shoes, change your speeds and distances, and run on varied surfaces. “Speed work is a great way to alter your biomechanics. As you run faster or slower, your gait changes so you maintain fluidity and openness in all your joints. You get more flex in the knees and bigger range of motion in your hip,” says Conlon. Third, learn to love your floor. Foam roll regularly and incorporate exercises, like the ones below, that focus on smaller muscles and change your range of motion to address imbalances and weakness. Exercises For lasting biomechanical change (and improved injury protection), add these exercises to your regular workout routine a few times per week. Forward lunge and overhead press: Lunge forward with right leg bent to 90 degrees. Hold the position and raise your right hand (dumbbell optional) over your head. Push right hip out towards your right side slightly and tilt torso inward. Then alternate sides. Do ten reps on each leg. Single-leg stance and rotational reach: Put your right hand on your right hip and move your left foot a half-step back. Squat halfway down, bearing most of your weight on right leg, while bringing your left hand across your body, rotating hips and trunk. Three times on each side counts as one rep. Do one set of ten reps per side. Single-leg stance and lateral reach: Put your right hand on your right hip and move your left foot a half-step back. Squat halfway down, bearing most of your weight on right leg, while holding your left arm sideways and parallel to the ground. Three times on each side counts as one rep. Do one set of ten reps per side. Pivot lunge and reach: Start with feet shoulder-width apart and your hands above your head. Lunge with your left foot back and rotate both arms across your body to the left. In one continuous motion, step into a backward lunge with your right foot leading, and pass both arms to your right as you do so. Four steps counts as one rep. Do one set of ten reps. Lunge matrix: Lunge forward with your right leg, then twist arms and torso to the right. Step back to the starting position, then lunge laterally to your right, again twisting both arms and torso to right. Return to starting position, then lunge backward while twisting both arms and hips to right. Then return starting position. Perform this matrix for one minute, doing three minutes on each side.
'Birdboy' Is A Dark, Beautiful, Boundary-Pushing Animated Film Enlarge this image toggle caption GKIDS GKIDS Just how dark is Birdboy: The Forgotten Children, a trippy animated folktale from Spain about a bunch of talking animal adolescents searching for a better life? Well, even the tottering alarm clock seemingly there for comic relief wails to its owner, "Why do you always have to hurt me?" In fact, the bulk of the movie consists of adorable, anthropomorphic objects and critters getting hurt, often in some grisly fashion: an inflatable PVC duck who screams when he's deflated; a chirping bird who gets shot to death, leaving behind starving chicks; a baby Jesus doll who cries an alarming amount of blood when his owner squeezes him. Yessir, the Happy Meal toys are sure to go flying off the shelves for this one. Yet given how rigid and formulaic most mainstream animation is, there's something liberating about watching a traditionally hand-drawn cartoon thumb its nose so gleefully at traditional G-rated storytelling. If it were all being played for mean-spirited, South Park-style laughs, such psychedelic carnage might have been unbearable. But the movie plays it relatively straight, imbuing each of its many creations with real soul and pain. First, to get the obvious joke out of the way: No, Birdboy is not a prequel to Birdman. If anything, its technique is even more daring than that faux-single-take Best Picture winner. Co-directed by Petro Rivero and Alberto Vázquez from Vázquez's graphic novel Psiconautas, the film was a 2015 release in Spain but is only now seeing U.S. screens thanks to the efforts of GKIDS, the daring boutique distributor of boundary-pushing animated features. Birdboy might be their most out-there acquisition yet. Its cute animals make reference to nuclear holocaust, landfill overflow and rising sea tides. Conventional cute-animal wisdom says that only Art Spiegelman can get away with this kind of stuff, so if the film sneaks a Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination, it would be a blessing from the underground. The film's central hero, a mute, Jack Skellington-looking bird-child with a pale face and black-hole eyes, is a drug junkie on the run from racist dog cops who want him dead. Birdboy and his brethren live on an isolated island, the choppy waters penetrated only by the beam from a crumbling lighthouse that's not always in operation. His only friend is Dinki (voiced by Andrea Alzuri), a mouse who drapes a pearl necklace over one of her ears and dreams of escaping the island and the iron thumb of her crazed, religious parents. (Dinki's house, a domestic family horrorshow, is like a refugee from the work of R. Crumb.) Dinki hasn't seen Birdboy for weeks and fears the worst for his fate even as she and her companions – a fox and a bunny – make their escape plans and set off into this dangerous world. The kids' odyssey will take them into bleak and unforgiving territory, but the darker that Rivero and Vázquez get, the more indelible their vision becomes. We meet a piglet in a sailor's outfit whose mother, possessed by a druggie spider, forces him to shoot her full of heroin-like "medicine"; the fact that it's the spider doing all the talking creates the perfect metaphor for the way someone's personality can change under addiction. There's also a landfill that seems to take up half the island, and it's home to a thriving society of those "forgotten children": a cabal of orphaned rats turned savage predators, who chant, "The future is past, garbage is the present, blood is our law!" It's all basically a grab-bag of society's ills, and the post-apocalyptic setting feels overly familiar by this point. But the fluid, expressive animation is of the sort that we haven't seen since Don Bluth's heyday. Usually, when there's a new GKIDS feature that exists far outside American standards for animation (e.g., dangerous subject matter untouched by pop-culture references), critics will make a special effort to reassure everyone that it's totally fine for thoughtful children and thoughtful parents. That was the case last winter with My Life as a Zucchini, a Claymation feature about foster kids that only used its traumatic subject matter as a way to demonstrate how resilient and inspiring the strong youth can be. Birdboy, though, should most definitely not be shown to young children. This one is reserved for the moody, anti-establishment early teens, the ones already doodling obscene images of their former Disney heroes into their high school notebooks. It will confirm their suspicions that the world and everyone in it are decaying before their eyes. And it will take flight.
The high demand for coltan is helping fuel the bloody civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo as rival armies fight over reserves. By Stuart Munckton August 1, 2010 -- Green Left Weekly -- “Yes, the notable features with iPhone 4 — both the device and the iOS4 — are mostly tweaks”, said a June 22 review on the popular site BoingBoing.net. “But what tweaks they are.” In the interests of full disclosure, I’ll admit I have no idea what “iOS4” means. But my eye was caught by the admission that the iPhone 4, launched in Australia on July 29, was almost the same as the iPhone 3. Corporations use “inbuilt obsolescence” as part of artificially creating markets. This means the products they sell are deliberately made to break down — so we have to keep buying more. In the case of products tied to ongoing innovations, the trick has a variation. Makers will hold back innovations in order to release, a short while later, a new version of the same product with a few extra features. The trick is to convince us the old version is now worthless because the new one has a couple more bells and, sometimes, a new whistle. What are the tweaks that make this iPhone 4, which sells for up to $1000, such a great investment just one year after the release of version number three? BoingBoing.net gushed: “The squared-off, thinner, steel-and-glass form is more masculine, more substantial. Like a really hot designer watch. There are bevels and grooves and linear details that didn’t exist before.” Before I looked it up, I wasn’t even sure what a bevel was. I am still unsure what it has to do with a phone call. Boingboing.net added: “The display is a huge leap forward. It’s really crisp, and hues are more true.” Now even I know what a hue is, I am not that thick. But I can’t be that smart either, because I never even realised the tricky devils were being untrue. All this time, hues have been cheating me and I was too stupid to notice. The reviewer explained: “Side by side, the 3GS display and the iPhone 4 display show that the earlier device gives off warmer hues...” That must be a bad thing because the reviewer went on: “The iPhone 4 seems more true to life.” I reread that sentence many times and finally concluded it made some existential argument about the meaning of life, as it relates to “smart phones”, that went over my head. But there’s more: “On iPhone 4, whites are whiter, blacks are blacker, and the fonts really pop.” Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t recall the last time I looked at a font and thought “if only it popped more”. Surely I can’t be the only person to read this stuff and think: “For christ sake! It’s a phone! It’s meant to make and take phone calls, not score an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art!” And the great irony is, as a phone, it doesn’t even work very well. Apple has been forced to concede the iPhone 4 has serious reception problems. The June 25 Sydney Morning Herald said if you hold the phone in your left hand, the reception cuts out. I don’t what the technical term for the problem is, but it seems the antenna’s fucked. That, at least, is a problem I can relate to. Apple has been forced to offer a free “bumper” case that helps fix the problem to all Australian consumers who buy the product before September 30. After that, you’ll have to fork out for your own. Truer hues or not, if you hold an iPhone 4 in the wrong hand, you’re screwed. I may be biased as the whole concept of “smart phones” is foreign to me. My attitude to mobiles is they need to do three things: Make phone calls, take phone calls and let you play Snake. But I can see why people get excited by phones that take photos, search the web, access hundreds of strange things called “apps”, let you read books that might be out on loan at the library, and give you the ability to shoot and edit films of high-enough quality to win an award at Cannes. But, as cool as that sounds, it doesn’t explain what is driving the ceaseless array of new products pumped out by Apple and its competitors. Drive to expand This has to do with capitalism’s endless drive to expand. The creation of more and more slightly different pieces of technology that will be redundant next year is part of the same underlying crisis of capitalism that led to the 2008 financial meltdown. Each sector of capital needs to constantly grow — or fall victim to competitors. The problem is there is a limit to how much markets can expand. There are only so many people in the world with only so much cash. One solution since the 1970s has been for capital to increasingly shift investment from the “real economy” (in which actual products are made) into financial speculation. Divorced from the real economy, this created a bubble whose bursting was as inevitable as next year’s release of an iPhone 5 featuring even truer hues and better bevels. The race to sell us ever more gadgets offering things we previously had no idea we wanted is another part of the same problem: how to generate more profits when there is a finite amount of things people can afford to buy. This is where capitalism comes up against its own contradictions. To compete, each capitalist needs to minimise costs and maximise profits. This means each capitalist has an interest in trying to drive down the wages of their workforce. Of course, the modern, enlightened, employer does not, as a general rule, seek anything so draconian as an outright wage cut. The trick is to ensure wage rises fall short of price rises. By failing to keep up with inflation, workers’ wages fall in real terms — even if incomes rise on paper. In the United States, the world’s richest nation, real wages have not risen since the early 1970s. This may be good for capitalists on an individual level, but it threatens profits overall. Most consumers are also workers. Keeping wages downs means they can afford to buy less. One way around that is to ensure access to cheap credit — allowing ordinary people to spend beyond their means. As the ’08 financial crash showed, this can only work for so long. Yet capitalists have no choice but to keep trying to expand. With competition for consumers’ finite spending cash increasing, ever-new gadgets are thrown at us that make our old gadgets outdated. `Blood phones' Such gadgets are assembled in factories in China and other “developing” countries under conditions of super-exploitation that would make the owner of an Industrial Revolution-era workhouse blush. Foxconn has installed nets to prevent workers from jumping to their deaths at its factory buildings. The May 27 Telegraph.co.uk reported on a factory in Longhua, China that makes products for Apple. Conditions were so horrific, 16 workers had killed themselves since the start of the year. Nets have been erected around the Longhua factory buildings to stop workers jumping to their deaths. Worse, a key mineral used to produce many consumer goods, including mobile phones, is the highly valuable coltan. The high demand for coltan is helping fuel the bloody civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo as rival armies fight over reserves. A 2008 International Rescue Committee report estimated more than 45,000 people were killed every month in the ongoing conflict, the January 23, 2008 British Guardian said. Half of the those killed were children. The death toll was put at 5.4 million people since 1998. The concept of blood diamonds, whereby the sale of the gem helps fund ongoing slaughter, is well known. By the same logic, our mobiles are blood phones. None of the breathless reviews of Apple gadgets make any mention of this ugly reality — that would be too true to life. Worse still is that such ridiculous over-consumption, with the ceaseless production of ever more gadgets to be replaced as soon as possible, is threatening to kill the planet. That’s as true as any hue — even if it comes with a free bumper case. [This article first appeared in Green Left Weekly, Australia's leading socialist newspaper. Stuart Munckton is an editor of Green Left Weekly and a member of the Socialist Alliance of Australia.]
A Master Passes A Tribute to Cheng Man-ch'ing By Robert W. Smith, 1979 On hearing that Cheng Man-ch'ing had died suddenly in Taiwan on March 25, 1975, my reaction was one of disbelief. Even knowing that he was 75 and that he had energetically graced several fields of endeavor for so long couldn't dull this edge of disbelief. But a fact is a fact: Cheng has, as old Taoists say, 'changed.' He may even have had a premonition of the approaching change. I have been told that he had been working twenty hours a day on his study of the I-ching, (The Book of Changes) treating patients, and teaching T'ai-chi. His teaching style had changed. Where earlier he guided tersely, slowly, and sometimes by indirection, recently he had expedited the training and taken a more active part in it. The hectic pace of these activities - so like him - suggest that he was aware of the limited time remaining to him. Life is anything but even. Yang Sen, the old Szechwan warlord, is now 94 in Taiwan, full of years, with many wives, and reportedly, 43 children. Yan has nothing to teach (despite his purported yang/yin powers) and is alive. Cheng who had much to teach is dead. And yet it seems to me that the Professor's greatest teaching is that each of us has to do it for himself. He always said that there were no secrets; he couldn't give us a pill. There was only the work of relaxing and sinking (and we know how hard that is), or 'investing in loss' and thereby winning by losing. And these are better than the fact I spoke of above: These are truths. During the week in which the tiny 12-line notice headed 'Artist Cheng Dies at 75' appeared in the Taipei China Post two other stories were given full treatment. One, headlined 'Local Kung-fu Fighter Overpowers U.S. expert' told of a local screen boxer who outpointed a young American none of us had ever heard of. The Chinese, of course, claimed he could beat Muhammad Ail. In the other story, Chinese martial artists were deriding two Americans who spent 18 months studying, labeled themselves 'Masters of Kung Fu,' and returned to the USA One now had over 300 students in California. Do you wonder why I cringe from commercialism? Our 'kung fu' heroes today with their trampolines, sound effects, trick cameras, and public relations prostitutes have so little knowledge that most would not even recognize the high skill Cheng possessed. But we knew it. Put it this way: there was not only nobody equal, there wasn't even anyone second to him. The sadness of all this is that one of the last of the giants is gone. Each generation sees more of the brilliance of real ch'uan fa die. It is not nostalgia that puts Yang Lu-ch'an far above Cheng-fu, and he superior to Cheng. There is much credible evidence establishing this sad decline. Professor Cheng acknowledged this. He wanted to advance but circumstances when he arrived on Taiwan from the mainland prevented it. Perhaps his genius in other fields also impinged on his desire. He did not have the skill of the Yang's but he was a more complete man that any of them. Maybe he knew what Bizet meant when he said of music: 'What a glorious art; what a hideous profession.' Cheng wanted to be more than a T'ai-chi master. And was. When I met him in 1959, Professor Cheng was already on the wrong side of 60, but not showing it. I had been told that his eyes were very high, that he was independent almost to a fault, and that he was a Chinese traditionalist. So that I shouldn't expect much from him. Add to the difficulty, I, too, was fiercely independent. But what I got from the outset and down more than fifteen years was the quality Mencius made so much of - jen, loving kindness. He could be impatient; he was never with me; he sometimes could not suffer fools; he smilingly suffered me. And all this for a man who wanted no guru except love. He knew I was studying not only his system of T'ai-chi but he himself. I used to ask the same question (how my questions must have tired him!) from a different vantage on different occasions. He would smile (probably thinking: "Smith and the same old question!") and answer. The main thing I wanted to elicit from him was simply: what can T'ai-chi do for character? This it seems to me is the toughest question of all. He had waffled on this I thought in his Thirteen Chapters by saying that it depended on the person. I sought to draw him out on it and was able over the years to establish that Yes, T'ai-chi, by relaxing not only the muscles but the organs themselves, would quiet a person. That once quiet and secure (sinking into rooted centered-ness) a person should be in a position where anxiety could make no inroads. This should then out in jen. In Thirteen Chapters he was only citing reality: many do T'ai-chi as an exercise which, even if they become very skillful at it, is never carried over into their workaday lives. His message was that this is incomplete T'ai-chi. Of course that wasn't the only question, merely the most important. I asked him endless questions on the postures and on pushing-hands (how I wish we could term this 'sensing-hands!'). And he was always forthcoming. I never got all my questions asked. As I tried to level out the mound atop my desk today I found a note to myself to ask the Professor. It concerned some words written in 1939 by Theos Bernard, the yoga adept: "The body is most vigorous, active, and strong and the spirit is most brisk and lively when the sky is serene and unclouded and the wind east, north-east, or southeast. Warm dry air is superior to cold moist air. Humidity causes morbidity. Intense cold is bad - it obstructs vessels." unasked question that there's no one left to answer. I wanted to ask him how important these climactic conditions were for us in practicing T'ai-chi. Life is essentially an existence of unanswered questions. Ah, the memories. . . In Taiwan my wife went with me once to a Sunday practice. After watching a while, she asked the Professor to push her. He compiled by lightly maneuvering her off the wall. She came back to me smiling by unawed: 'It was OK,' she murmured, none too enthusiastically. He watched well. And he was watching then, sensing her indifference. Walking over, he asked me her reaction, and truthful to a fault, I told him. Whereupon he took her by the hand back to the wall and pushed her again. This time she ran back to me (one of life's sweetest pleasure is to have a comely woman run to you), her eyes sparking, her words tumbling over one another. 'It was so strange,' she said, 'when he touched me I felt an electricity-like surge go throughout my body but without the shock.' He had followed her over and laughed at what she said. 'She felt that because she was relaxed,' he explained. That bothered me. 'But I've practiced for two years and I can't feel it,' I complained. He laughed again, 'Women,' he said, 'have an advantage over men. They are inherently more relaxed. You must work hard to get where they start from.' Once I made the mistake of taking an American nidan in Okinawan karate to meet the Master. The American was singularly unimpressed by what he saw. He wanted a test. So the Master signaled to a student who faced the karateka. He faked a high kick, the student's arm started up; the foot flashed down, the student slapped it lightly while stepping inside and touching the American's heart. Dead, he failed to realize it, for he went away scoffing at T'ai-chi. I apologized to the Master later and he waved it aside: 'One must be kind to blind men.' The inevitable sequel: I took the lad to a Shaolin friend of mine and left him to his ministrations. A week later I saw him. He had discontinued. Why? "Damn it, those guys wanted to fight!" Unappreciative of the "soft," afraid of the "hard," this one doubtless is still thrilling them at cocktail parties with his dance. Fighting it is not. The Master was strong on a sound foundation. A good teacher, a good system, and a healthy body could not but equal success. Lacking any of these, the results would be less. He had told me that T'ai-chi develops a tenacious strength quite different from the force associated with most fighting arts. This tenacity may be likened to a strong vine which is pliable; force, to a stick which is rigid. Tenacity comes from the sinews: force from the bones. Tenacity is always to be preferred over force because it springs from the ch'i. He said all this. but often my Western boxing background would obtrude, my faith would flee, and I would dub all of it as exquisite nonsense. Sensing my unbelief at times he would flesh out the skeletal theory with techniques which stunned. The most recent time this happened may be of interest. A few years ago in my home in Bethesda, Md., I had a couple of my students on hand: typical rational, skeptical, clever, ignorant attorneys. They kept insisting on a demonstration and he couldn't have been less interested. But when I spoke of his fight on the mainland with the famed Wu Meng-hsia, he warmed a bit. We spoke of this in the context of tenacious energy. He asked me to attack him. I did, he dodged in, deflected, struck me lightly. He had done this before. But this time he didn't stop the attack. Both hands were in my eyes, on my throat, all over my midriff and at the same time his feet peppered my legs. It was so beautifully orchestrated that I couldn't turn from it. I backed frantically until I came to the wall where, after taking his finger from my throat, he desisted. Informal and friendly it should have been but frightening it actually was. Against that there was no defense. I told my two students later that it was so quick, so concentrated that I actually felt fear during the onslaught: I wanted nothing other than to get out of that room. It must have been contagious: they both said they too wanted out. Strange. I am convinced that no one has ever been struck more quickly and often in a short space of time. Fortunately, he put little energy into the strikes. He had on other occasions. One such that I have never before told occurred in Taiwan. A well-known mantis boxer surnamed Liao from Hong Kong once came to Taiwan to try conclusions with the locals. He traded punches (the accepted challenge method) with a leading pa-kua/hsing-i teacher and his free punch put the local man down to his knees. The local boxer did not hurt Liao with his punch so the affair had to be adjudged in Liao's favour. Strutting out of the park where this occurred, Liao asked if Taiwan had any other boxers. Someone mentioned Cheng's name. So Liao accosted Cheng at a party. Cheng resisted the challenge, saying that the place and time were inappropriate. Liao persisted until Cheng invited him to his house a day or so later. Liao came and watched demonstrations of T'ai-chi dynamics. But he wasn't satisfied. 'This is interesting, Liao said, 'but what would you do if I attacked you?' Cheng replied that he would attempt to push him away. Liao, by this time convinced that the small man before him was afraid to fight, retorted that it would be well to get ready for he was about to attack. At this point, Cheng said 'Very well, but if you even see my hands move I'll never call myself Cheng again' (to give up one's name is a serious thing which most Chinese would commit suicide rather than do.) Liao attacked him from 15 feet with a combined foot-fist action. Those watching did not see what happened, only its results. Liao first was on top of Cheng striking, next he was propelled backward by an unseen force, and bounced off the wall unconscious. Those who were there will never forget it. Liao himself took it in good grace. Revived, he stayed on and studied T'ai-chi for a time. But before he went back to Hong Kong he returned to the park to see the man he had defeated earlier. That one casually told Liao that he was getting ready to challenge Cheng Man-ch'ing (the same - he had not heard of the Liao-Cheng confrontation). Liao said: 'Don't bother. I've already been there and lost.' I tell this not to romanticize the Master but to show that the art has both body and function. One visit to New York City in 1964 was especially instructive. The Professor, Mrs. Cheng, and I were alone, muddling along in a linguistic wilderness; between her inadequate English and my inept Chinese, getting about fifty per-cent of what was said, but all of us hugely enjoying the experience. After practicing we spoke of breathing. It should be natural, the Professor said, and must not be forced. He placed my hand on his abdomen (he had a small pot there that he continually tried to erode with his circular massage but to no avail) and I felt it expand as he inhaled. Then he took the index finger of my other hand and placed it under his nose. As his belly contracted he exhaled. But I didn't feel the exhalation. Or put it this way: I think I felt an extremely light and wire-fine beam of air emerging, but to be truthful I may have imagined it. That is why I can't really say I felt the exhalation. I don't know which is more astounding: the crystallization of the exhalation or the absence of it. Either way, it was an impressive performance. Next we moved into tien hsueh (the art of attacking vital points, which normally he wouldn't talk much about. I had known that, preparing for an anticipated return and challenge from Wu Meng-hsia, he had gone into special training in tien hsueh from two teachers in Nanking. So starting from there we got a good discussion-cum-demonstration session going. This part of our discussion that day, however, is best left unelaborated. But what stands out in my mind about that day even more than the breathing and tien hsueh was what happened at the end. I had been doing some postures and asking about rooting. From his couch he motioned me over to sit beside him. Then he told me to push him against him in any way I wished. So I pushed his wrist, elbow, shoulder, waist - in fact, wherever I could find a vacancy. He neutralized all my efforts without a root, that is with both feet off the ground. He had a root, of course, but it wasn't the feet. He simply rooted another part of his anatomy through the couch to the floor and was thus able to pivot and neutralize from that point. This revealing demonstration was one which started me believing that he was nearly invulnerable. What capped this ideas was an afternoon very recently when after a Szechuan luncheon with copious drafts of cognac and stories of Tu Hsin-wu being done in by Shorty Tzu we repaired to the Shr Jung Tai chi chuan Study Group Head-quarters. He led me back to a wall and we pushed-hands for ten or fifteen minutes. If anything. his touch had more authority then in 1974 than it had fifteen years before in 1959. Later that night he did some pushes with other from disadvantageous postures with explosive trigger force. I was standing, watching him push with a Shr Jung lad and talking to Stanley Israel and suddenly where there were two pushers now the Professor was alone and his partner was hurtling at us, seeming to gain speed the further from the Professor he got. We jumped out of the way in the nick of time and this boyo sailed past. We quit talking and paid closer attention. (My typist had just read this and asked 'Why didn't you catch him?' I told her that that is the point of the story. We scurried out of the way because he looked to be coming to hard and fast to do anything for him except get out of the way.) He left us a lot of himself, his teaching and philosophy. And he left us guidelines, a way to gauge our development. (I almost wrote 'progress.' But there's a problem using that word in T'ai-chi lexicon. T'ai-chi is a circle: how do your progress in a circle? You see the problem.) In the chapter 'The Process of T'ai-chi' in Thirteen Chapters he delineates these bench- marks. He used nine levels grouped in threes under three divisions: MAN, EARTH and HEAVEN. Encapsulated, they were as follows: MAN relaxes sinews, vitalizes blood. 1. Relax shoulder to fingertips 2. Relax legs by single weighting 3. Relax sacrum to scalp Earth sinks, nourishes, moves the ch'i. 1. Sink ch'i to tan-t-ien 2. Move ch'i to legs and arms 3. Move ch'i past sacrum to scalp HEAVEN is a state of sensory and spiritual functioning. 1. Ability to hear partner's inner strength 2. Ability to understand partner's inner strength 3. Ch'i transmuted to pure spirit Now, before we ask the two most pressing questions - at which level was Professor Cheng, and where am I? - let me expand the shorthand above and summarize as best I can what he meant at each step. In MAN (1) we relax the sinews in our arms in this sequence: wrist, forearm, shoulder. If we become soft, it will improve our blood circulation. In MAN (2) we differentiate the weighted and un-weighted foot and coordinate the opposite hand to the weighted foot. This weighting involves the pelvis and is the only way to relax the lower body. In MAN (3) we soften the waist and relax the joints so that the relaxation goes past the sacrum, softens the spine, and rises to the scalp. In EARTH (1) we take the relaxed body and sink the ch'i to the tan t'ien. This is done by slow breathing and 'perching' the mind (i) at the tan t'ien with the breath. It takes a long time and much perseverance. In EARTH (2) the ch'i which has been gathered and nourished at the tan t'ien is moved down the thigh to the knee and foot, then down the shoulder to the elbow and wrist. In EARTH (3) we become able to move the ch'i through three gates up past the sacrum to the scalp. Don't force it or illness will ensue. At this stage a knowledgeable teacher is indispensable. in HEAVEN (1) we are able to 'hear' our partner's inner strength - that occurring in his sinews. His external strength can be managed at a lower stage, but to hear and act on his internal strength takes much longer. Only by soft 'sticking' hands can we detect this supremely subtle strength. HEAVEN (2) is a giant step in which we not only hear these inner changes, we 'understand' them before they occur and can act appropriately. (1) is tactile but reactive (2) is sophisticated and initiatory. In a real sense we hear our partner's mind before he actually uses it. At this level we go beyond his sinews and tap his membranes and organs. When blood is detected surfacing or when his ch'i is detected being withdrawn from the liver area we know that he will act or withdraw, respectively. This level is so profound it is as difficult to discuss as it is to comprehend. In HEAVEN (3), the acme of the art, mind depends solely on spirit, no on ch'i. In a preface to Yang Cheng-fu's book (issued by his son Yang Shao-chung) in the late 1940's, Professor Cheng told now he learned from Yang the meaning of the enigmatic phrase from the Classics, 'Without ch'i, your inner strength is steel.' This seemed a paradox: after all, was not ch'i the basis of T'ai-chi? Yang taught him that there was no paradox, only a great change. Ch'i is necessary - without it there can be no change. At this level one looks 'spongy and spiritless; but has everything. Your spirit guides you where you look, there your ch'i goes.' But, Cheng said, a beginner will fail if he attempts this; it is like trying to 'wring water from a flint.' This is the ultimate stage of spiritual mastery and knows no limits. Professor Cheng ended the chapter by saying we must follow process step by step without deviation. By following the rules laid down by Chang San-feng and Wang Chung-yueh, he said, he hoped he could outdo them and thus help others. Did he succeed? Clearly by his own admission, no. Family responsibilities and the claims of painting, medicine, and his other arts prevented him from going as far as he wished. But he did quite well. I would put him at HEAVEN (1), that is, level 7. Others might not agree. He put himself lower in the 1950's, but he continued to develop and I believe he told me in 1962 that he was at level 7, thought the remembrance is too vague for me to assert it as fact. For that reason, I leave it as my estimate. Yang Cheng-fu I would put at level 8, and Cheng admitted having only one-tenth of his ability. Because the differences in levels are geometric rather than arithmetic, this assessment seems to jibe with my estimate. What about us? It breaks my heart even to think about it - so I won't. In fact it may be a good idea to forget the steps and simply continue our regular practice. It's all there, needing only us. When we add ourselves to it, the synthesis produces an alchemy. Let the alchemy take you in a couple of decades, if you like, look at the chart again. But don't let it look large now. This, of course, is written primarily for a T'ai-chi audience. Beginners and others may not understand some of it. Some will scoff at the description of the upper levels. Let them. Poor souls, they never knew Cheng Man-ch'ing. The Master brought me to a new art form, a new life style (to use Adler's term) by which I could rediscover my body as a tool of expression. It is as no other. Other fighting arts brag they are defensive: T'ai-chi asserts that it is yielding. When others miscall their systems soft, T'ai-chi responds that it is softer - it is nebulous. When others with fire in their eyes say theirs is masculine and powerful, T'ai-chi is off somewhere doing its postures, breathing in life, its mind turned toward something infinitely greater than fighting: namely, living. But it pursues its "meditation in movement" blithely unafraid. For no one will attack. I mentioned above he had been cut down in full bloom of his creative process. And this quality - creativity - he was able to keep and improve right up to the end. Simon Magus, the great mystic, said that all of us have the latent powers of the high gods and by creating we grow like them and into their being. Cheng did that all his life. In turn, we must be creative. We must learn not only the T'ai-chi exercise but also that which lies beyond- the T'ai-chi life. We must heal all wounds and welcome back those who grew away. We must reduce our egos and our desires. In this way we can be creative and energizing. Professor Cheng would have smiled on this first step we take without him. For, masterless man that he was, he knew that there is no creativity without love. . . As I write, an old line rampages: 'I would not have you monks of whom there are many, but men of whom there are few.' Number in this latter lot Master Cheng Man-ch'ing. (End) ----Retyped by David Chen, 1999
(MentalFloss.com) -- From how to score a cocktail to where to scatter grandma's ashes, this is your ticket to the real Magic Kingdom. 1. There are dead bodies in the Haunted Mansion The Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland is one of the scariest places in the park, but not for the reasons you'd expect. In his 1994 book "Mouse Tales," former Disney employee David Koenig tells the story of a tourist group that requested a little extra time on the ride so they could hold a quick memorial for a 7-year-old boy. Disney gave the family permission, but it turns out, the memorial was only half their plan. When the mourners were spotted sprinkling a powdery substance off their "doom buggies," the Haunted Mansion was quickly shut down until all the remains could be cleaned up. Amazingly, this wasn't an isolated incident. Stealthy ash scatterings have occurred all over Disneyland. Not everyone tries to skirt the rules, though. Every year, several families ask for permission. According to one Disney spokesperson, the answer is always no. Mental Floss: 10 abandoned Disney projects 2. The cats own the night Each night at Disneyland, after the sunburned families and exhausted cast members have made their way home, the park fills up again -- this time, with hundreds of feral cats. Park officials love the felines because they help control the mouse population. (After all, a park full of cartoon mice is more enticing than a park full of real ones.) But these cats aren't a new addition to the Disney family. They first showed up at Disneyland shortly after it opened in 1955, and rather than spend time chasing them away, park officials decided to put the cats to work. Today, there are plenty of benefits to being a Disney-employed mouser. When they're not prowling the grounds, these corporate fat cats spend their days lounging at one of the park's five permanent feeding stations. Of course, Disney also goes to great lengths to manage its feline population. Wranglers at the park work to spay and neuter adult cats, and any time kittens are found, they're put up for adoption. 3. It's a good place to be a flasher, again Just before the final, five-story drop on Splash Mountain, Disney cameras take a snapshot of the riders to catch their facial expressions. The idea is to provide guests with a wholesome keepsake of the experience. But in the late 1990s, the photographs took a turn for the obscene after exhibitionists started baring their breasts for the camera. Soon, Splash Mountain had gained a reputation as "Flash Mountain," and Web sites featuring the topless photos began cropping up. In its effort to curb this Tourists Gone Wild phenomenon, Disney began hiring employees to monitor the photos, training them to pull anything offensive before it got displayed on the big screen. Since then, the number of flashers has dwindled. In fact, the countermeasure was so effective that in May 2009, Disneyland decided that it didn't need employees to monitor the photographs anymore, putting an end to what must have been one of the strangest jobs in the park -- watching for topless riders. 4. Fully formed mustaches are welcome Even though Walt Disney had a mustache himself, he wanted his employees clean-shaven. The idea was to make sure they looked as different from the stereotypical image of a creepy carnival worker as possible. So, for 43 years, Disney theme park workers were forbidden from growing facial hair. But on a momentous day in March 2000, the company took a giant leap forward and decided to grant the park's male employees the right to sport mustaches. (Beards, goatees, and Chester A. Arthur-style muttonchops were still off limits.) There wasn't much time for rejoicing, though. When several employees started to grow out their facial hair, management realized that they hated the stubbly look. The rule was quickly amended. Today, in order to have a mustache at the park, Disney employees must either have them when they're hired or grow them during vacation. Mental Floss: 10 Peanuts characters often forgotten 5. Disney World is its own city Four years after opening Disneyland's doors in 1955, Walt Disney became convinced that it was time to expand his franchise. After scouting several locations, he decided on a plot of land in Orlando, Florida. But there was a major obstacle standing in his way. The land spilled over into two counties, meaning the task of constructing Disney World would require navigating the bureaucracies of two local governments. To skirt the issue, Disney petitioned the Florida State legislature to let the company govern its own land, essentially making Disney World a separate city. The request wasn't as novel as it may seem, however. Governments often create special districts for private companies because the arrangement is mutually beneficial. The company wins by receiving more power over things such as building codes and tax-free bonds, while the local government saves money on providing infrastructure. In the end, the state gets an economy-boosting business that it paid little to help build. So, that's what Florida did. On May 12, 1967, the Reedy Creek Improvement District was born. Governed by a board of supervisors, the agency has powers typically reserved for city and county governments. It has the authority to open schools, create its own criminal justice system, and open a nuclear power plant -- although it hasn't chosen to do any of those things yet. The company also holds all of the seats on the board, and it can always count on its residents' support. After all, they're all Disney employees. Mental Floss: A private tour of the Disney monorail 6. They paint the town green If you look beyond the fantasy of the Magic Kingdom, Disney hopes you won't see anything at all. The less-than-magical parts of the park, such as fences, garbage bins, and administrative buildings, are all coated in a color known as "Go Away Green" -- a shade that's meant to help things blend in with the landscaping. According to Disney officials, there's no set formula for the color, but that hasn't stopped die-hard fans from trying to recreate it. One enthusiast collected paint chips from the park and took them to The Home Depot, where he supposedly found an exact match -- useful knowledge if you're looking to fade into the background at Disneyland. Mental Floss: Camouflaging an airplane factory 7. You can shoot hoops inside a mountain Disneyland's Matterhorn is best known for its bobsled-like roller coaster that twists down the giant peak. But few people outside the park know that deep inside the 147-ft. mountain lurks a basketball court. How did Disneyland become a place where your hoop dreams could come true? After construction of the Matterhorn was completed in 1959, the roller coaster occupied the bottom two-thirds of the mountain, while the top third remained empty. What to do with the extra space? Disney employees voted to put in a basketball court. Because a regulation court wouldn't fit inside the mountaintop (sometimes magic can't trump physics), only one goal was installed. As for the story about the court being installed to skirt building ordinances, that's just an urban legend. 8. There's a speakeasy Hidden behind a dull green door in Disneyland's New Orleans Square is one of the park's most exclusive and mysterious attractions: a VIP lounge called Club 33. Walt Disney built the club as a secret hideaway for dignitaries and celebrities, and he even went to New Orleans to personally pick out the knickknacks for the interior. During the 44 years that Club 33 has been operational, it's served the likes of Johnny Depp, Elton John, and scads of executives from companies such as Boeing, Chevron, and AT&T. But if you're hoping to join, you'll have to be patient. It takes about 10 years to get off the waiting list, after which you'll have to fork over $10,000 in initiation fees and another $3,500 each year that you're a member. But it's worth it; Club 33 is the only place at Disneyland where you can ditch the kids for a cocktail. Mental Floss: How Columbia House made $$ giving away music For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved.
With the mortgage crisis refusing to go away, you might be one of the 1 million jobless Americans lucky enough to find yourself unfettered by modern living standards and entering into the glorious freedom of life on the street. Here are 5 essentials to make it in the big city without paying rent: 1. Cart Light, maneuverable, convenient - it's amazing how much stuff you can pile into these things. But if a plain old ShopRite cart isn't hip enough for you, you can try to get an intelligent alternative like this Shelter in a Cart the iPod-reminiscent SleepCart or any of the wicked stainless steel contraptions uber-designed by Winfried Baumann 2. Warm Clothes You can wait for Virgin's Strippers to help you, but without a roof over your head, you'll soon find it's hard to be under-exposed as far as the elements are concerned. Time to revert to the layered look that was so popular in the late 90s: 3. Self Defense Sadly enough, "A bit o' the ol' Ultra-Violence" is still a popular pastime for bored young hooligans. Protect yourself with anything from a switchblade to a broken beer bottle or even the ever-effective "Poo on a Stick" 4. Medical Care Sure, you can rely on the antiseptic virtues of Medical Maggots, but finding the closest free clinic is probably a safer bet. The quality of treatment obviously differs from place to place, but if you're a starving actor bumming out in California, for example, even your pet can get free care! 5. Wireless Internet Some of you might be raising an eyebrow at the inclusion of this "necessity" - especially when "food" didn't make the cut - but when fending off the insanity so common to street-dwellers, you'll find that feeding your mind is just as important. As strange as it sounds, there are many initiatives dealing with providing free internet to the homeless, so you don't necessarily have to lounge around Starbucks all the time (for a change). And finally, remember: you don't have to have a home to have your dignity! Don't Wait. Wipe out your debt now!
An injured man from a Foxconn factory on a stretcher. AP Last Friday, a story reverberated around that Apple was retaliating against the New York Times for a series of articles the NYT ran about Apple's supply chain practices. (I know the story well because I helped reverberate it.) The story was based on a post by Erik Wemple of the Washington Post, who t alked to one New York Times staffer who was sure that retaliation was what was going on: "They are playing access journalism ... I've heard it from people inside Apple: They said, 'look, you guys are going to get less access based on the iEconomy series.'" The specific Apple retaliation measures initially cited were twofold: Shortly after the kerfluffle hit the web, however, Pogue weighed in to say that he HAD gotten access to the same Apple executives as other reviewers. So then the theory became that Apple had been shrewd enough to target its retaliation at the New York Times' news desk--the folks who had produced the Apple supply chain stories--rather than at the New York Times in general. This seemed logical given how much excellent press David Pogue generally gives Apple's products and how many Apple products he helps sell. (No one has ever accused Apple of being stupid.) But now, in response to our questions, two NYT staffers have told us on background that they have not seen any evidence of retaliation and that they think that the whole retaliation story is a crock: Staffer 1: Times reporters talk to Apple people all the time about many different stories. The access we get hasn't changed. Companies give interviews to different publications all the time. Everybody in the news business knows and understands that. I really have no complaints. Really. Staffer 2: I don't think there's any kind of retaliation... The Times has had plenty of exclusive Jobs interviews, for example, and nobody ran stories about how Apple was "retaliating" against the WSJ or anyone else. In other words, in the opinion of a couple of folks within the Times, the NYT staffer who complained to WaPo's Erik Wemple was just whining (or, worse, making excuses for not landing the Cook interview). This, it bears noting, was the suspicion of our Jay Yarow to begin with. (Having gotten retaliated against frequently as a Wall Street analyst, I found the retaliation story perfectly plausible. But perhaps Apple is above that sort of thing.) So, which is it, NYT news desk? Is Apple retaliating against you? Or are you just whining and making excuses? Please let us know... SEE ALSO: Apple Retaliates Against New York Times For Exposing Its Labor Practices
Sure Facebook privacy issues can be frustrating, but what's the alternative? With more than 400 million users, no other social media platform has been able to touch Facebook's grip on person-to-person networking. But rumors have already started to fly that Facebook may soon face some stiff new competition. Google is supposedly getting into the market with Google Me, a not-yet-launched, oft-rumored social network that will directly compete with Facebook. Nothing is for certain yet, but more and more sources are saying Google Me does exist, and that could mean good things for all of us. If anyone were to take on Facebook, Google has the engineering talent, deep pockets, and customer loyalty required to give it a fair shot. Still, Google hasn't had the best track record when it comes to social media attempts. Rather than a boring old list of past efforts, we decided to put together a graphical timeline with text by our very own Stephanie Marcus and graphics by Shane Snow. Let us know what you think of Google Me (if it exists) and if anyone can actually topple Facebook. EDIT: The graphic has been updated to include Google Lively. Thanks to commenters who pointed out the oversight. More Google Resources from Mashable: [img credit: Robert Scoble]
Supply shortages are so bad in Venezuela that the local McDonald’s chains have had to cease serving Big Macs because they don’t have the ingredients anymore. And the economic outlook overall doesn’t look any better, with the economy projected to contract by 10 percent this year. Inflation is set to soar to 700 percent as well (via CNN Money) McDonald's has been forced to suspend sales of Big Macs in the country because it can't source one of the burger's key components. Arcos Dorados, the world's largest McDonald's franchisee, said Thursday that it wasn't able to supply the middle bun that separates the two burger patties. […] The country can't pay to import some goods because its government is desperately strapped for cash after years of mismanagement of its funds, heavy spending on poorly run government programs, and lack of investment on its oil fields. The International Monetary Fund forecasts Venezuela's economy will shrink 10% this year, worse than its previous estimate of 8%. It also estimates that inflation in Venezuela will catapult to 700% this year. The country has been anguishing under the failed left wing policies that began with the late Hugo Chavez. He called it 21st Century Socialism that has now relegated Venezuelans to eating out of trash cans due to a lack of food, a hospital system that’s operating under 19th century conditions, a breakdown of law and order, and virtually no access to basic medicine, which has led to tragic results for the 200,000 Venezuelans living with chronic illnesses.
A powerful earthquake struck off Japan's northeastern coast on Sunday. Tsunami advisories were issued following the Japan earthquake, Tokyo Breaking News reported. The alert was later lifted. According to Reuters, Fukushima nuclear plant workers evacuated to higher ground following the earthquake, with no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Tokyo Electric Power said that there did not appear to be any further damage at the nuclear plant. In March, Japan's earthquake and tsunami devastated the country, and wreaked havoc at the Fukushima nuclear plant. The Associated Press reports: The quake hit at 9:57 local time (0057 GMT), and a warning of a tsunami was issued for most of the northeastern coastline. The epicenter of the quake was in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan's main island, Honshu, at a depth of about 20 miles (30 kilometers). passed in most areas without any tsunami being recorded. Japan's Meteorological agency at first estimated the strength of the quake at 7.1, but later revised that to 7.3. It also revised the depth estimate from 10 to 30 kilometers. Japanese officials predicted the quake could generate tsunami of up to 20 inches (50 centimeters), but the initial waves were only about 4 inches (10 centimeters). The tsunami warning was lifted after the forecast arrival time of the waves
The New York Times · Saturday, November 2, 1918 Image 94280 (95k, 650x540) Collection of: NYCTA File Photo Location: Empire Blvd. (Malbone St.) Tunnel Portal Image 94281 (114k, 675x551) Collection of: NYCTA File Photo Location: Empire Blvd. (Malbone St.) Tunnel Portal Image 94283 (130k, 600x612) Collection of: NYCTA File Photo Location: Empire Blvd. (Malbone St.) Tunnel Portal Image 94284 (115k, 600x600) Collection of: NYCTA File Photo Location: Empire Blvd. (Malbone St.) Tunnel Portal Image 114322 (214k, 1024x772) Collection of: George Conrad Collection Location: Empire Blvd. (Malbone St.) Tunnel Portal SCORES KILLED, MANY HURT ON B.R.T. First Car Crashes Into Tunnel Pier and Other Cars Grind It to Splinters. INJURED MAY REACH 100. Dispatcher, as Strike Motorman, Sends Crowded Train to Doom at 70 Miles an Hour. TO ARREST B.R.T. OFFICIALS. Rescue Hindered by Jam of Debris In Narrow Tunnel-- Hardly a Soul Escapes from First Car. A Brighton Beach Train of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, made up of five wooden cars of the oldest type in use, which was speeding with a rush hour crowd to make up lost time on its way from Park Row to Coney Island, jumped the track shortly before 7 o'clock last evening on a sharp curve approaching the tunnel at Malbone Street, in Brooklyn, and plunged into a concrete partition between the north and south bound tracks. Nearly every man, women, and child in the first car was killed, and most of those in the second were killed or badly injured. Rescue work in the wreckage, jammed into the narrow tunnel, was extremely difficult, and the counting of the dead proceeded slowly. At 11 o'clock eighty-five bodies had been taken from the wreckage, and the police announced that no more bodies were in the tunnel. The names of many of the injured were not obtained, but the police estimate that at least 100 had been injured. District Attorney Lewis announced at midnight that the train was being run by a train dispatcher. This man had been pressed into service in the rush hour because of the strike of motormen, which began in the early morning. At 2 o'clock this morning, as a result of the wreck, the motormen called off the strike, leaving the adjustment of their grievances to the Public Service Commission. The District Attorney ordered all the officials of the B.R.T who could have been responsible, and members of the train crew put under arrest. He said the B.R.T. officials had withheld the name of the man who was operating the train. Mayor Hylan arrived at the Snyder Avenue Police Station shortly after midnight and consulted with District Attorney Lewis and Commissioner Enright as to what steps should be taken in ordering the arrest of the officials of the B.R.T. Just before one o'clock this morning, the missing motorman, Anthony Lewis, who is 29 years old, was arrested at his home, 100 Thirty-third Street, Brooklyn, by Detectives McCord and Conroy, and brought to the Snyder Avenue station, where he was immediately taken into a room to be questioned by the District Attorney, Mayor Hylan, and the Police Commissioner. After Motorman Lewis had been escorted to the Snyder Avenue Station and questioned, it was stated that his story indicated criminal negligence in hiring him to run the train. Mayor Hylan said: "This man confessed that he had never run a train over that Brighton Beach line before. He also admitted that when running around that curve, he was making a speed of thirty miles an hour." A post on the curve warns motormen not to go faster than six miles an hour in this part of the road. When he was asked at the examination why he had taken a job for which he was unfitted, Motorman Lewis replied: "A man has to earn a living." He said that the only experience he had had in running a motor was in switching about a year ago, but that he had been taking instruction for two days on the B.R.T. before running the train yesterday. On the way to Flatbush the motorman said he had no intention of running away. He said he remembered nothing until he found himself at home, following the accident. He does not know how he managed to get out of the wreck, nor how he got home. He says he has an indistinct recollection of having boarded a trolley car but cannot remember what car it was. He was seated in a chair, pale as death, when the detectives reached his home. He was very nervous and seemed to be on the verge of a collapse. After the conference with District Attorney Lewis at the Snyder Avenue Police Station, Mayor Hylan said: "I have ordered Police Commissioner Enright to station policemen at every terminal and carbarn from which trains leave, with instructions not to permit any green motormen to take out a train. No man will be permitted to run a train, unless he has had at least three months experience." Mayor Hylan said that he did not wish to discuss the legal and possible criminal phases of the accident until he had completed his investigation. District Attorney Lewis, after his conference with Mayor Hylan said: "I have ordered Colonel Timothy s. Williams, the president of the B.R.T. and Vice President John J. Dempsey to appear at my office today and give me an explanation of Lewis's running the train". A few minutes before the accident the motorman missed a switch, according to passengers, went some distance on a wrong track and then backed up and switched again to the Brighton Beach line for Coney Island. After that the train moved at such high speed as to frighten many passengers. Some thought the motorman had lost control of the train, and others supposed he was going at unprecedented speed to make up for time he had lost. A naval officer who was a passenger said the train was making fully seventy miles an hour when it left the track. Rams Concrete Partition. The first car left the rails a few feet in front of the opening of the tunnel and rammed one end of a concrete partition separating the northbound from the southbound tracks. It was thrown at right angles across the roadbed in front of the entrance to the tunnel. The other cars cut right through it, the second car smashing it to bits and the whole train passing over the wreckage and coming to a stop 200 feet down the tracks inside the tunnel. Packed together as in a box without structural strength to give them any protection, the passengers in the first car were crushed and cut to pieces. Not one is believed to have escaped. After breaking through the first car, the rest of the train dashed it against the partition wall and strewed wreckage and passengers along the tracks ahead, where the wheels of the cars following passed over them. Only splintered fragments of wood and broken and twisted bits of iron and steel remained of the first car. The second and third cars, leaving the rails after their impact with the first, ran sidewise into a series of iron pillars supporting the roof of the tunnel at intervals beside the partition. The pillars cut great gashes in the sides of the cars, which were still traveling at high speed, and mowed down the passengers who were standing striking the heads of some from their bodies. The left sides of the second and third cars were stripped away. Scores of men, women, and children were flung by the impact out of these cars against pillars and the concrete wall, where they were killed instantly or ground under the wheels after falling back upon the tracks. Some who were not flung from the car were killed inside when they fell upon the broken iron of seats, splintered timbers and iron beams which projected through the shattered bottoms of the car. Passengers on the platforms were nearly all killed instantly. One dead man was found impaled on a broken bar of iron, which had run underneath the car, but which broke and shot up into the air like a javelin in the crash. Firemen who took part in the rescue work said the second and third cars had fallen over so that one side formed the floor, and the passengers were heaped upon one another, some dead some dying, some slightly injured and some unhurt, but all so tightly gripped in the wreckage and so menaced by steel and wooden splinters that movement was impossible. Bodies were found with only slight marks of injures, indicating death by suffocation. Small fires were reported to have started but these, it was said, lasted only long enough to cause terror to still conscious persons imprisoned in the wreckage. Most of the passengers in the two rear cars escaped without serious injury, although nearly every one was cut by glass or bruised when thrown from his seat. They were packed so tightly in these two cars that the force of the shock was broken. Women became hysterical when they learned what had happened in the front cars. The rear cars were without light, and when the passengers made their way into the tunnel, they found themselves in total darkness. Many who tried to reach the forward cars in answer to the cries of the injured found their way cut off by masses of broken wood and twisted steel which barred the entrance to the second and third cars. There was no access to eitehr of these cars and no means of escape for the survivors, who were pinned by broken seats or jutting timbers from the roof, sides, and floor of the car, so that they could not move. Some were pressed against dead bodies, and others jammed until they were smothered against wounded or fainting passengers Delay in Rescue Work Because of the position and the nature of the accident there was a delay in spreading the alarm and police and firemen were not notified for fifteen or twenty minutes. It was nearly three-quarters of an hour before an organized attempt at rescue could be made. The word that a terrible accident had occurred, with little detail as to the place, or time, spread quickly over the borough. As a large part of the people in Brooklyn have fathers, husbands, sons, and daughters traveling home in the rush hours thousands of persons were alarmed. When the place of the accident became generally known great crowds gathered there trying to learn the fate of friends or to satisfy curiosity, and the work of the police and fireman was for a time greatly embarrassed by those who crowded forward as bodies were being lifted up the side of the open cut which approached the tunnel. Reserves from six precincts were sent to keep back the throngs which filled the streets near the wreck and ambulances arrived from every hospital in the borough. Scores of doctors and nurses were sent from the Department of Charities. Aid was given promptly by women and ambulances of the Women's Motor Corps of America. Women of the motor corps went into the tunnel to aid in carrying out the injured women and children. Some of the desperately injured breathed their last in the arms of these women. District Attorney Harry E. Lewis of Kings County and Police Commissioner Enright, who started an inquiry into the causes of the wreck at the Snyder Avenue Police Station with Timothy S. Williams, president and other officials and Messrs. Whitney, Kracke and Hervey of the Public Service Commission present, expressed the positive opinion that the accident was caused by the negligence of the motorman of the wrecked train. Due to Recklessness "The accident was undoubtedly due to the negligence and to the recklessness of the motorman," said Mr. Lewis. "This man was drafted from another department to run this train, and we are searching for him. He disappeared immediately after the accident and apparently he was aided in making his escape. We are searching also for the other men who were in charge of the train." "From information in my possession he was traveling at a highly excessive rate of speed around this curve and disregarded the signals. When his car jumped the track the second, third, and forth cars were buckled and smashed. These three cars were old-fashioned wooden coaches, and at least twenty-five years old. The first and fifth cars of the five car train were motor cars, but they were of wood like the others." "All five cars were loaded to the gates with people. Directly after the accident happened the motorman, Lewis, disappeared and I heard that he had been spirited away by one of the claims adjustors in the employ of the B.R.T. I have ordered his arrest, and sent a notification to the company to produce the man forthwith. I also went to the home of Turner, the conductor of the train who was in his bed under police surveillance suffering from an injury to his hip received in the accident. Turner said the train was going at a fast rate around the curve. Lewis was known as a train dispatcher at Brighton Beach and it was his first trip with a train". Mayor Hylan visited the scene of the wreck last night, went down the ladder and into the tunnel, where he viewed the wreckage, from which bodies and parts of bodies were still being taken. His first remark was: "Wooden cars." Later he said: "I believe this this is the result of employing an inexperienced motorman and the use of all wooden cars. I shall make an investigation tomorrow and see if the B.R.T. cannot be compelled to stop using 'green' motormen." He left the accident to go to the Flatbush Avenue Police Station to confer with District Attorney Lewis. Commissioner Enright went to the wreck to direct the police, in their efforts to find the names of the men who were running the train. They found none of the officials of the transit company were able to give them the names because the regular men were not in their places on account of the strike. The police reported to the Commissioner that officials of the B.R.T and employees as well had showed disinclination to aid in discovering the names of the motorman and guards. By direction of the Commissioner and District Attorney Lewis, Acting Captain Jon Coughlin, in command of the Sixth Branch Detective Bureau, confined the efforts of his men last night to search for the motorman and other employees. Police and firemen, making their way by the light of lanterns into the tunnel. and moving cautiously among wreckage and dead bodies, chopped openings into the second and third cars and then began the painful task of lifting wounded men, women, and children from the tangle of steel, glass and sharp splinters which stuck out like bayonets in all directions, some of the having already pierced those in the cars. Those able to walk or to be helped along were carried to a concrete buttress at the right ride of the cut which made a path about two feet wide and sloping inward. Those not badly injured were supported up a ladder running up the side of the open cut to the street. One woman, who had escaped uninjured from one of the cars which had suffered least, fell from the ladder, but was caught by a fireman just below her. Cradles of burlap were made for the recovered bodies. These were made fast by ropes and hoisted by firemen and policemen to the street level, where they were laid out in rows and then carried to police stations. While surgeons were hastily binding wounds by lantern light, inside the tunnel, priests were administering last rites to the dying and to bodies of those apparently killed instantly, but in whom it was thought possible that a spark of life might linger. Thousands Seek Friend Tens of thousands of men and women went to the police stations where the bodies were taken, The number of those fearing they had lost relatives made the identification of the dead a slow and difficult process in the midst of affecting scenes. The bodies were finally removed to the Kings County Morgue. The telephone service in Brooklyn was overburdened until communication was almost impossible by thousands of families seeking news of members who came home by this line and had not arrived. The wreckage put an end to Brighton Beach traffic, holding up tens of thousands on trains which followed it. Many of those who were delayed had to take long walks to overcrowded street cars, that that practically all the ordinary travelers on this line, who did not get through the tunnel before the wreck, were an hour too two late in getting home. In the meantime their families had in many cases become alarmed and had gone to the place of the wreck in search of news, so that their reunion did not take place until late in the evening, after many hours of suspense and dread. Those fearful that they had lost relatives in the wreck reported them as missing at the police stations nearest the accident, and the list soon grew to several hundred. Most of the detectives in Brooklyn were put to work by Police Commissioner Enright aiding in the identification of bodies. Many of the bodies were in such a state that identification may never be made. Women and girls, it is thought will be in the majority when the list of the dead is finally made up. For a long time last night Charles Ebbets Jr., was very uncertain as to the fate of his father, the President of the Brooklyn Baseball Club. The young man was to have met his father at Ebbets Field about the time the collision occurred, and he feared that the elder Ebbets might have been on board the ill-fated train. The young man after working the telephone for an hour or so, was finally able to get tidings of his father, who was making a four-minute speech in the War Savings Stamp campaign. The young man threw open Ebbets Field for the treatment of the less seriously injured. About fifty of those not badly injured were attended there by physicians who had volunteered for this work. A Survivor's Story Walter H. Simonson, a civil engineer and President of the American Lead Burning Company at 30 Church Street, who was a passenger in the third car of the train, said the wreck was caused in his opinion by the speed maintained by the motorman on the curved tracks leading into the subway beneath Malbone Street, at the approach to the new station at Prospect Park. Mr Simonson, who lives at 935 East Thirteenth Street, Flatbush, gave this account of his experience in the wreck: "I entered the car at the Flatbush station, At the Franklin Avenue Station, where the tracks curve away from the Fulton Street tracks, and which the train should have followed, the motorman, instead continued upon the Fulton line for a block or more. The the train was backed across a switch to the Park Row tracks, and thence onto another switch, and finally over to the Coney Island tracks. Instantly the speed of the train was increased, even at the curve at the Franklin Avenue Station, so much so that many of the passengers showed nervousness." "At the Park Place station where the tracks begin on a down grade, the motorman seemed to continue the same speed, apparently to make up for the delay at the Franklin Avenue switch, and this speed continued at the curve to the entrance of the tunnel. As the wheels hit the tracks of this curve under Malbone Street I felt the car rise from the rails and turn partly over, striking against the concrete pier at the entrance to the tunnel with such force as to tear out the entire side of the car." "The left side of the car crumpled against the concrete wall. The car seats were torn apart and the men and women jammed among them, and down on them came the roof of the car. We sideswiped the wall for a car length or more before the train was stopped. My head bumped against a wooden column in the side of the car that was not demolished with all the other woodwork, but this protected me from contact with the concrete wall." "Every light in the car was extinguished. When I partly recovered my dazed senses I found myself pinned down at the neck with a beam from the roof. I got free and assisted two men to get out through a window on the opposite side. His the cars been of steel construction instead of wood such an accident could not have had such disastrous results." Mr. Simonson said the car was crowded, many of the men and women standing. Crash Heard a Mile Away The series of crashes that demolished the train against the immovable sides of the narrow tube in which it was traveling was heard for blocks, and policemen on post near Flatbush Police Station in Snyder Avenue, almost a mile away from the enclosed tube, reported to the superiors in the station their belief that a great accident had occurred somewhere in Prospect Park. Thousands of persons living in the vicinity heard the noise, and those within a few blocks of the tube heard the cries of the injured a few moments after the demolition had ceased. Immediately the station employees on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit and all the near-by stations, as well as policemen and civilians who had heard the noise sent telephone calls to the police and fire stations. The policemen and firemen did not reach the open breach where the road enters the tunnel before hundreds of civilians, and the police had difficulty driving back the crowds. All this added to the general confusion, and before the police had been able to drive the crowds back other thousands, from trains that had been stopped at other stations along the line for passengers to alight, ran to the tunnels only to form an immense barricade against the efforts of the policemen, the firemen and others who were trying to beat their way into the tunnel to aid the injured. Exerting great efforts under the direction of Inspector Murphy, in charge of the police for the borough, the police managed in time to drive back the crowds so that the rescuers worked without being hampered, but occasionally a person anxious about the safety of a relative would break through the lines and run to the tunnel. The first man to emerge from the tunnel was almost divested of clothing. His coat and trousers had been ripped from him; he had only one shoe, and was without hat, collar, and tie. His face was bleeding from many gashes and is left arm was useless. The crowd divided for him to pass through and before the police could get his name he was taken into an ambulance bu a surgeon from the Kings County Hospital and hurried away. Before many minutes had passed scores of persons, most of them men, struggled out of the tube with the assistance of policemen, and other who had made their way through to the high piled wreckage. Many others injured did not have enough strength to leave the tube and lay upon the concrete emergency walk at the sides of the tunnel, helpless. Officials of the Edison Company heard of the difficulty of the work in the dark, and gangs of men were sent to set up a system of emergency lights. For more than a block around the entrances of each end of the tube was made as light as if searchlights were playing. The first rescuers found that they would be unable to give much assistance to the injured or to bring out the bodies at once, because the wreckage was jammed so tightly into the tube that no crevice or opening was left. They had to tear away the debris piece by piece, to uncover the bodies and to release the injured. As they worked, carrying the wreckage out at the mouth of the tube they found parts of human bodies, with purses, books, newspapers, broken packages, shreds of apparel, and here and there some breakable article that remained unbroken and unscratched.
Texas Slow To Review Health Insurance Rate Hikes Enlarge this image toggle caption L.M. Otero/AP L.M. Otero/AP Few governors have been as vocal and as unequivocal in their opposition to the federal health care law as Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Perry, a Republican, has vowed not to expand Medicaid and not to create an insurance exchange. Consumer advocates in Texas say the Perry administration has also been dragging its feet when it comes to insurance rate review. To make insurance more affordable, the federal law requires every state to conduct a special review whenever a health insurer wants to raise premiums more than 10 percent. This rate review would help protect small businesses and individuals who buy their own policies. The provision went into effect last September, and since then, insurers made nine such requests in Texas. But so far the Texas Department of Insurance hasn't completed any reviews. Officially, they're all pending. In the meantime, the insurance companies can go ahead and raise the rates anyway. An insurer called Celtic, for example, has raised rates on three policies in Texas by 20 percent. "We were growing increasingly frustrated," said Mimi Garcia, organizing director for Texas Well and Healthy, an advocacy group that has been active on the rate review issue. "They've been very unresponsive," Garcia said of the Department of Insurance. "They have not returned calls. They have not returned repeated requests. And it really took having over 1,600 Texans signing on to a petition to say, 'Hey, this is something we care about and we need to know what's going on with this.' " Anne Walker, a resident of Lake Jackson, a city south of Houston, signed the petition. "I'm not sure why the state has let some of its citizenry down by not monitoring it," said Walker, who is the director of financial aid at Rice University. "It's the law, and Rick Perry is choosing to ignore it." The rate review provision is a popular piece of the health law. A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 66 percent of the public has a favorable view of the policy. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.) The Texas insurance department got a $1 million grant from the federal government to work on rate review. After reviewing a rate increase, the department is supposed to announce whether the increase is acceptable or unreasonable, although it can't actually do anything to stop it. Still, the point is to create a transparent market for people who have to shop for their own insurance. "It's important for the public to know so that they can use their dollars wisely," said Stacey Pogue of the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. "And if the insurance coverage is charging excessive rates that they know that, so they can go out into the market and look for other coverage and hopefully find a better rate and a better policy." John Greeley, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance, didn't answer specific questions about the rate review program, but did say the department is working on various aspects of the healthcare law. Alexis Ahlstrom, who works on insurance oversight for the federal government, says Texans may need to be a little more patient. "You want the department of insurance to being doing a thorough review and that sometimes can take time," Ahlstrom said. "They might go back to the issuer and ask for more information. They may be working with the issuer to lower a proposed increase. So the end result might be very positive for Texas consumers when the department of insurance does make these determinations." But advocates want to see results now, so they can work on their next priority: changing state law so that insurance department regulators can actually overturn an unreasonable rate hike. In Texas, regulators can do that for auto and home insurance, but not health insurance. This story is part of a reporting partnership between KUHF, NPR and Kaiser Health News.
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So here we are, forming an orderly queue at the slaughterhouse gate. The punishment of the poor for the errors of the rich, the abandonment of universalism, the dismantling of the shelter the state provides: apart from a few small protests, none of this has yet brought us out fighting. The acceptance of policies that counteract our interests is the pervasive mystery of the 21st century. In the US blue-collar workers angrily demand that they be left without healthcare, and insist that millionaires pay less tax. In the UK we appear ready to abandon the social progress for which our ancestors risked their lives with barely a mutter of protest. What has happened to us? The answer, I think, is provided by the most interesting report I have read this year. Common Cause, written by Tom Crompton of the environment group WWF, examines a series of fascinating recent advances in the field of psychology. It offers, I believe, a remedy to the blight that now afflicts every good cause from welfare to climate change. Progressives, he shows, have been suckers for a myth of human cognition he labels the enlightenment model. This holds that people make rational decisions by assessing facts. All that has to be done to persuade people is to lay out the data: they will then use it to decide which options best support their interests and desires. A host of psychological experiments demonstrate that it doesn't work like this. Instead of performing a rational cost-benefit analysis, we accept information that confirms our identity and values, and reject information that conflicts with them. We mould our thinking around our social identity, protecting it from serious challenge. Confronting people with inconvenient facts is likely only to harden their resistance to change. Our social identity is shaped by values that psychologists classify as extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic values concern status and self-advancement. People with a strong set of extrinsic values fixate on how others see them. They cherish financial success, image and fame. Intrinsic values concern relationships with friends, family and community, and self-acceptance. Those who have a strong set of intrinsic values are not dependent on praise or rewards from other people. They have beliefs that transcend their self-interest. Few people are all-extrinsic or all-intrinsic. Our social identity is formed by a mixture of values. But psychological tests in nearly 70 countries show that values cluster in remarkably consistent patterns. Those who strongly value financial success, for example, have less empathy, stronger manipulative tendencies, a stronger attraction to hierarchy and inequality, stronger prejudices towards strangers and less concern about human rights and the environment. Those with a strong sense of self-acceptance have more empathy and greater concern for human rights, social justice and the environment. These values suppress each other: the stronger someone's extrinsic aspirations, the weaker his or her intrinsic goals. We are not born with our values. They are shaped by the social environment. By changing our perception of what is normal and acceptable, politics alters our minds as much as our circumstances. Free, universal healthcare, for example, tends to reinforce intrinsic values. Shutting the poor out of it normalises inequality, reinforcing extrinsic values. The rightward shift that began with Thatcher and persisted under Blair and Brown, whose governments emphasised the virtues of competition, the market and financial success, has changed our values. The British Social Attitudes survey shows a sharp fall over this period in public support for policies that redistribute wealth and opportunity. This shift has been reinforced by advertising and the media. Their fascination with power politics, their rich lists, their catalogues of the 100 most powerful, influential, intelligent or beautiful people, their obsessive promotion of celebrity, fashion, fast cars, expensive holidays: all inculcate extrinsic values. By generating feelings of insecurity and inadequacy – which means reducing self-acceptance – they also suppress intrinsic goals. Advertisers, who employ plenty of psychologists, are well aware of this. Crompton quotes Guy Murphy, global planning director for JWT: marketers "should see themselves as trying to manipulate culture; being social engineers, not brand managers; manipulating cultural forces, not brand impressions". The more they foster extrinsic values, the easier it is to sell products. Rightwing politicians have also, instinctively, understood the importance of values in changing the political map. Margaret Thatcher famously remarked that "economics are the method; the object is to change the heart and soul". Conservatives in the US generally avoid debating facts and figures. Instead they frame issues in ways that appeal to and reinforce extrinsic values. Every year, through mechanisms that are rarely visible and seldom discussed, the space in which progressive ideas can flourish shrinks a little more. The progressive response has been disastrous. Instead of confronting the shift in values, we have sought to adapt to it. Once progressive parties have tried to appease altered public attitudes: think of all those New Labour appeals to middle England, often just a code for self-interest. In doing so they endorse and legitimise extrinsic values. Many greens and social justice campaigners have also tried to reach people by appealing to self-interest: explaining how, for example, relieving poverty in the developing world will build a market for British products, or suggesting that, by buying a hybrid car, you can impress your friends and enhance your social status. This tactic also strengthens extrinsic values, making future campaigns even less likely to succeed. Green consumerism has been a catastrophic mistake. Common Cause proposes a simple remedy: that we stop seeking to bury our values and instead explain and champion them. Progressive campaigners, it suggests, should help to foster an understanding of the psychology that informs political change and show how it has been manipulated. They should also come together to challenge forces – particularly the advertising industry – that make us insecure and selfish. Ed Miliband appears to understand this need. He told the Labour conference that he "wants to change our society so that it values community and family, not just work" and "wants to change our foreign policy so that it's always based on values, not just alliances … We must shed old thinking and stand up for those who believe there is more to life than the bottom line". But there's a paradox here, which means that we cannot rely on politicians to drive these changes. Those who succeed in politics are, by definition, people who prioritise extrinsic values. Their ambition must supplant peace of mind, family life, friendship – even brotherly love. So we must lead this shift ourselves. People with strong intrinsic values must cease to be embarrassed by them. We should argue for the policies we want not on the grounds of expediency but on the grounds that they are empathetic and kind; and against others on the grounds that they are selfish and cruel. In asserting our values we become the change we want to see. • A fully referenced version of this article can be found on George Monbiot's website
Adolf Hitler is Born At 6:30 p.m. on the evening of April 20, 1889, he was born in the small Austrian village of Braunau Am Inn just across the border from German Bavaria. Adolf Hitler would one day lead a movement that placed supreme importance on a person's family tree even making it a matter of life and death. However, his own family tree was quite mixed up and would be a lifelong source of embarrassment and concern to him. His father, Alois, was born in 1837. He was the illegitimate son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber and her unknown mate, which may have been someone from the neighborhood or a poor millworker named Johann Georg Hiedler. It is also remotely possible Adolf Hitler's grandfather was Jewish. ADVERTISEMENT Maria Schicklgruber was said to have been employed as a cook in the household of a wealthy Jewish family named Frankenberger. There is some speculation their 19-year-old son got her pregnant and regularly sent her money after the birth of Alois. Adolf Hitler would never know for sure just who his grandfather was. He did know that when his father Alois was about five years old, Maria Schicklgruber married Johann Georg Hiedler. The marriage lasted five years until her death of natural causes, at which time Alois went to live on a small farm with his uncle. At age thirteen, young Alois had enough of farm life and set out for the city of Vienna to make something of himself. He worked as a shoemaker's apprentice then later enlisted in the Austrian civil service, becoming a junior customs official. He worked hard as a civil servant and eventually became a supervisor. By 1875 he achieved the rank of Senior Assistant Inspector, a big accomplishment for the former poor farm boy with little formal education. At this time an event occurred that would have big implications for the future. Alois had always used the last name of his mother, Schicklgruber, and thus was always called Alois Schicklgruber. He made no attempt to hide the fact that he was illegitimate since it was common in rural Austria. But after his success in the civil service, his proud uncle from the small farm convinced him to change his last name to match his own, Hiedler, and continue the family name. However, when it came time to write the name down in the record book it was spelled as Hitler. And so in 1876 at age 39, Alois Schicklgruber became Alois Hitler. This is important because it is hard to imagine tens of thousands of Germans shouting "Heil Schicklgruber!" instead of "Heil Hitler!" In 1885, after numerous affairs and two other marriages ended, the widowed Alois Hitler, 48, married the pregnant Klara Pölzl, 24, the granddaughter of uncle Hiedler. Technically, because of the name change, she was his own niece and so he had to get special permission from the Catholic Church. The children from his previous marriage, Alois Hitler, Jr., and Angela, attended the wedding and lived with them afterwards. Klara Pölzl eventually gave birth to two boys and a girl, all of whom died. On April 20, 1889, her fourth child, Adolf, was born healthy and was baptized a Roman Catholic. Hitler's father was now 52 years old. Throughout his early days, young Adolf's mother feared losing him as well and lavished much care and affection on him. His father was busy working most of the time and also spent a lot of time on his main hobby, keeping bees. Baby Adolf had the nickname, Adi. When he was almost five, in 1893, his mother gave birth to a brother, Edmund. In 1896 came a sister, Paula. In May of 1895 at age six, young Adolf Hitler entered first grade in the public school in the village of Fischlham near Linz, Austria.
Meet Roboy, “one of the most advanced humanoid robots,” say researchers at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the University of Zurich. Their 15 project partners and over 40 engineers and scientists are constructing Roboy as a tendon-driven robot modeled on human beings (robots usually have their motors in their joints, giving them that “robot” break-dance look), so it will move almost as elegantly as a human. Roboy will be a “service robot,” meaning it will execute services independently for the convenience of human beings, as in the movie Robot & Frank. And since service robots share their “living space” with people, user-friendliness and safety, above all, are of great importance, roboticists point out. Which is why “soft robotics” — soft to the touch, soft in their interaction, soft and natural in their movements — will be important, and Roboy will be covered with “soft skin,” making interacting with him safer and more pleasant. Service robots are already used in a wide variety of areas today, including for household chores, surveillance work and cleaning, and in hospitals and care homes. Our aging population is making it necessary to keep older people as autonomous as possible for as long as possible, which means caring for aged people is likely to be an important area for the deployment of service robots, roboticists say. To speed up the process, the AI Lab researchers set a goal to build Roboy in just 9 months (the project began five months ago). Roboy will be unveiled at the Robots on Tour March 8 and 9, 2013 in Zurich. To make this ambitious schedule possible, they decided to finance the first grassroots robotics project via crowdfunding. To participate, see Make Roboy your friend. You can also friend Roboy on Facebook. By announcing the birth of a humanoid baby robot, we are not implying any relationship to a current holiday and certain Futurama episodes — get that idea out of your head! BTW, Roboy just accepted my friend request. That’s not something you see every day. —- Ed.
A list of some subway accidents. 2000-2009 02/13/2009. Just after 1:00pm, a Coney Island bound "D" train derailed at the 81st Street/Museum of Natural History station on the IND 8th Avenue Line. An MTA official says that "approximately two cars were derailed" (WCBS-TV). Passengers were loaded onto another train that pulled up behind the derailed one. The rescue train took them to the West 125th Street/St. Nicholas Avenue station. The A and D trains were put into local service between 125th Street and 59th Street stations while C train was suspended along the entire length of its run. It is believed that 500 people were on board the IND train. According to a report from WABC-TV's website, a broken rail was reported at the station, but it is not known if that countributed to the accident. (Thanks to David Harris for the report.) 05/04/2008. A Brooklyn bound "N" train derailed at the 57th Street/7th Avenue station on the BMT Broadway Subway. Passengers were evacuated from the derailed train with a rescue train. The passengers came to the surface at the 5th Avenue station. There were no serious injuries as a result of this accident. N service was suspended in both directions between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square, Bay Ridge bound R trains were re-routed via the "F" line between 36th Street (Queens) and Herald Square. A shuttle train was put into service between Queensboro Plaza and Ditmars Blvd. NYC Transit says the train's operator and motorman will receive blood alcohol testing. (Thanks to David Harris for the writeup.) 11/06/2007. Bumper block overshoot at Chambers Street, 11/6/2007. As the R42 fleet is being prepared for scrapping, the four pairs of R42 cars were sent to the 207th St. yard scrap line instead of being repaired, even those with only relatively minor damage. Cars involved: 4624-4625, 4730-4731, 4786-4787, 4818-4819. 04/29/2007. At 4:06PM on April 29th, 2007 two NYCTA track workers were struck by a Queens bound G train at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street station. One of them was killed by the train while the other was sent to Bellevue Hospital for treatment. His injuries were serious in nature. Service on the G train was suspended until 7:42PM that evening. Five days earlier (April 24th) at 11:20PM, a track worker was killed on the 7th Avenue IRT near the Columbus Circle station. He was struck by a 3 train while setting up flagging lanterns. With the exception of completing the work that was already in progress at the time of the incidents, track work was suspended. Work resumed on May 4th at 8:00AM. During the suspension, MoW workers were retrained on safety procedures. > 10/25/2000. Out of service train rear-ends another stationary out of service train on middle track of Jerome Ave (#4) line at Fordham Road. Lead car of rear train (#1370) head end damaged; second car of rear train (#1369) is completely wrecked, due to jackknife at center of car. No passenger injuries. (full photo.) 06/21/2000. B train derails at DeKalb Ave. Brooklyn, around 10:00 pm. Approximately 70 people injured. First three cars of southbound train jumped the tracks south of DeKalb requiring approx. 70 feet of track to be replaced. Service was restored by 6:00 am the next morning. 04/12/2000. A #5 train derails near 59th St. at end of rush hour. Thousands of riders are stranded in the disabled train for hours while a second train is sent to pick them up. 1990-1999 > 02/03/1998. Accident on 239th Street Yard lead- collision between two trains. Cars involved 1391-1400; 8832-8833, 8912-8913, 8980-8981, 9152-9153, 9154-9155. No passenger injuries. (full photo) > 11/20/1997. A Jamaica-bound R train rear-ends a G train in a tunnel near the Steinway Street station in Long Island City, Queens. There were no serious injuries were reported among the approximately 40 victims, who mainly suffered minor head and neck injuries. All of the injured were treated and released. The cars, which were estimated traveling at about 10 miles per hour at the time of the collision, suffered only limited damage. (full photo). 07/14/1997. A Flatbush Ave. bound #2 train derailed south of the Franklin Avenue Station at the point where the Nostrand Avenue Line branches off from the Eastern Parkway Line. Service was shut down on the #2 between Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue and on the #4 from Franklin Avenue to New Lots Avenue. Of the 120 people on the train, only three were injured. The consist was (s) 9203-2, 9087-6, 9073-2, 9052-3, 8885-4 (n). R-33 8884 was wedged into the wall and cut up on the spot. Its mate 8885 was converted to a work car. 07/03/1997. At 10:20 pm a Queens-bound A train derails under St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, just north of the 135th Street Station as it is going over a switch. Mayor Giuliani reports: "It's an absolute miracle no one was killed or seriously injured. What I saw was unbelievable. The last car as smashed in half, just ripped apart." 15 people were injured and service on the A and D was terminated at 59th Street and C service suspended entirely. The Transit Authority was forced to run shuttle trains on the D from 205th to 161st Street in the Bronx, and on the A from 207th Street to 168th Street, in conjunction with shuttle bus service. > 11/24/1996. Derailment south of Hunts Point Avenue (Pelham line) on Track M. Car 1716 repaired and returned to service. 1909 was a total writeoff due to mid-carbody damage. (full photo) 08/13/1996. A Brooklyn-bound D train of R-68s derailed while it was pulling out of the DeKalb Avenue station in Brooklyn. There were no injuries among the 350 passengers. It has not been determined if track work in the area of the derailment caused the incident. This was the first derailment of 1996, and the seventh since 1991. 08/22/1995. 18 people were injured when a 6 train bypassed a red signal and struck another train stopped at Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station, New York state investigators said. > 06/05/1995. Major collision on the Williamsburg Bridge. At about 6:12 am a Manhattan bound M train which had stopped near the Brooklyn tower of the bridge was hit from behind by a J train. The motorman of the J train, on his final run of an overnight shift, was killed and over 50 passengers were injured. The M train's consist was (s) 4622-3,4611-0,4587-6,4665-4 (n) . The J train's consist was (s) 4461-0, 4489-8, 4536-7, 4452-3 (n). The ends of cars 4461 (J train) and 4664 (M train) were demolished. Cars 4460, 4489-8 received moderate damage. Investigators conclude that the J train ran a red signal at high speed, and that the spacing of signals and poor performance of the trains brakes contributed to the crash. (full photo) 02/09/1995. An M train carring no passengers smashes into a Manhattan bound B train near the Ninth Ave. station in Brooklyn. The motorman and 6 people aboard the B train suffered minor injuries. Investigators blame the motorman of the M train, who intentionally "keyed by" a red light - a procedure that allows him to bypass it - before accelerating around a sharp curve and into the B train. 12/21/1994. Edward Leary explodes homemade bomb that sent a fireball whooshing through a subway car, injuring himself and 47 others. The crude bomb went off while the subway train was parked in a station. 09/28/1994. A work train rear-ended another work train on the IRT line at Graham Ave. in Brooklyn. Investigators determined that the motorman, who had worked 16 hours straight in violation of Transit Authority regulations, passed two stop signals. 08/15/1994. 11 people are injured when the last car of a southbound B train derails near Ninth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and slams into a tunnel wall. Someone in a control tower mistakenly activated a switch to send the train from the local to the express track, while the train was passing over it, and a mechanism designed to prevent that from happening failed. 10/07/1993. At 5:20 AM a Manhattan bound L train collided with another L train in the Graham Avenue Station. The Manhattan bound train was composed of eight R-42's , (W) 4882-3, 4905-4, 4892-3, 4915-4. The train in the station was composed of eight slant R-40's (W)4427-6, 4431-0, 4437-6, 4416-7. 45 people are injured. Officials find that the motorman of the rear train intentionally "keyed by" a red signal. > 08/28/1991. Five people are killed and more than 200 injured when a southbound No. 4 train derails going over a switch just north of Union Square. Service on the Lexington Avenue IRT, was disrupted for six days as transit workers toiled around the clock to clean up the wreckage. The motorman, Robert Ray, who was drunk and going more than 40 mph where the speed limit was 10 mph, is later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison. It was the worst subway accident in 63 years. (Photo courtesy New York City Transit) (full photo) 12/28/1990. Electrical fire in tunnel near Clark Street, Brooklyn kills two and injures 188. 07/26/1990. 36 people are injured when a B train rear-ends an M train in Borough Park, Brooklyn. 1980-1989 > 06/18/1989. An A train derailed on a crossover north of 59 Street-Columbus Circle. R-44 215, the seventh car in the train hit the retaining wall and was badly damaged. R-44 281 received some light damage. The consist was (s) 374-375-333-208-284-281-215-176 (n). (full photo) > 04/25/1986. "The motorman, Alick Williams, 54 years old, of St. Albans, Queens, suffered a heart attack, apparently causing the IND train he was operating to derail in a tunnel near the 179th Street station in Jamaica, Queens, at 11:10 P.M. ... [he was] turn[ing] the train around on a relay track near the end of the F line [when he] crashed into a wooden barrier at the end of the tunnel. Mr. Williams... was trapped in the wreckage of the first car, [and] was pronounced dead at the scene. A conductor who was in the fourth car of the eight-car train was unharmed. There were no passengers on board." -- New York Times, 4/27/1986. (full photo) 07/03/1981. A subway motorman was killed and more than 135 passengers were injured when an IRT train crashed into the rear of a train stopped in a Brooklyn tunnel. 1970-1979 > 11/24/1979. Rear-ending accident at Morris Park, Dyre Avenue line. (full photo) 05/18/1978. R-33s 9014-9015 were slightly damaged in a derailment within 207th St. Yard. 05/22/1975. Collision on the center track of the Astoria Line near 30th Avenue (Grand Avenue) Station. R-30s 8507 and 8545 were badly damaged. The car bodies were reportedly transported by truck to the Corona Yard. (They must have been removed from the el by crane.) The damaged end of 8507 was cut off and transported to the Coney Island Yard. R-30 8507 was later scrapped but 8545 returned to service around June of 1977. The mate of 8507, #8506, ended up part of the Transit Museum collection. > 10/25/1973. Fire in master controller unit of car 9203, in Pelham line tunnel near Longwood Avenue station. Fire also affected car 9224 which had a large floor section cut out during firefighting (it was subsequently scrapped). The following train ended up rear-ending the disabled train due to low visibility caused by the smoky fire. (full photo) 10/04/1973. Southbound #4 train derails near Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, around 10:00 pm. All four tracks closed due to subsequent fire. Service restored around midnight. Consist: s-8756-7,6620,6677,7615,6632,7600,7128,6226,5998-n. 09/12/1973. A southbound #3 train derailed south of Borough Hall, Brooklyn, at 4:45 pm. Consist: s-7319,5966,5967,5975,7305,5748,5718,8610-1-n. 08/28/1973. A 20 foot long chunk of a concrete ceiling duct in the Steinway Tunnel near 1st Avenue hit the first car (R36 9759) of a Queens bound 7 train at about 4:50 PM. One person in the first car was killed, 18 injured. "One man died and 1,000 passengers were trapped in 115-degree heat and heavy smoke yesterday after an archway in the ancient Flushing line tunnel under the East River collapsed on the first car of a Queens-bound IRT train."--New York Times. 08/23/1973. A northbound #2 train derailed in the Clark Street tunnel heading toward Manhattan at 12:08pm. Full service was not restored til the next day. Consist: n-8793-2,5823,5859,7693,7081,8735-4,8711-0-s. 08/11/1973. "State of the Art" SOAC cars derail during testing at US DOT test track in Pueblo, Colorado. Train rams standing freight cars alongside test track; the operator is killed. The cars seriously damaged but rebuilt and arrive in New York City for testing on April 18, 1974. 08/06/1973. Southbound #4 train derails at Rogers Junction, Brooklyn at 6:15am. Service resumed by 10:00 am. Consist: s-8910-1,8718-9,7133,8956-7,8789-8,7633-n. 05/18/1973. A northbound #5 Lexington Av Express derailed south of Grand Central-42 Street Station about 10PM. The first eight cars of the ten car train derailed. The consist was (n) 6239,7912,7771,7093,6633,7733,5822,6598,7071,7260 (s). Car 6239 sideswiped the wall and car 7771 hit the northbound local rail. #6239 is now part of the Transit Museum collection; #7771 is now a school car at Rockaway Parkway (Canarsie) Yard. 01/06/1971. Accident at 59 Street/Colombus Circle involving R-10 #3283 hitting R-42 #4798 on NB crossover. 08/01/1970. Tunnel fire near Bowling Green kills 1, injures 50. The one death occured when a woman, who returned to the train to retreive her purse, died of smoke inhalation. 07/17/1970. An Manhattan bound E train keyed by a red signal north of the Hoyt-Schmerhorn Street and rammed a halted A train, injuring 37. The E train consisted of 10 R-6�s, (n) 986-1161-1183-1318-1055-1141-944-958-905-1136 (s). The A train consisted of 10 R-10�s, (n) 3065-3173-3076-3309-3234-3327-3089-3080-3338-3133-3062 (s). Cars 986 and 3062 were damaged. > 05/20/1970. An empty Brooklyn bound GG train running on the southbound local track (D1) crashed into another GG train west of Roosevelt Avenue that was crossing from the southbound express track (D3) to the southbound local track (D1). The empty GG had left Continental Avenue at 7:13 AM and developed brake trouble. Passengers were discharged at Woodhaven Boulevard and the first two cars were cut out. The motorman then operated the train from the third car with the conductor signaling with a flashlight from the front of the train. Because of the stalled train southbound EE and GG trains were routed to the express track (D3) and then crossed back over to the local track (D1) west of Roosevelt Avenue. The home signal tripper on the local track (D1) was working but as the empty train was running with the first two cars cut out it did not engage the trip cock in time. The empty train rammed into the train crossing over to the local track between the 6th and 7th cars. Two passengers were killed and 77 injured. The motorman, conductor, and an inspector were held responsible by an inquiry. The consist of the empty train was (s) 4501-0, 4043-2, 3992-3, 4548-9 (n). Note that this was a mixed consist of R-38, R-40M and R-42. R-40M 4501 was badly damaged. The rerouted GG train had cars (s) 6344-6492-6318-6469-6304-6468-6315-6355 (n). 6304 was so badly damaged that she was cut up on the spot. 6468 was moderately damaged. The other six R-16s were back in service in a week. (full photo) 02/27/1970. An IRT train hit a bumper at the Pelham Bay Park station (Bronx), injuring 7. An inquiry found that the train apparently came into the station too fast. 1960-1969 > 12/29/1969. A southbound IRT train derails near east 180th St. in the Bronx, injuring 48. An inquiry found that the motorman misread a signal and failed to slow his train. Car 5815 cut up and scrapped on spot. (full photo) 05/04/1965. On May 4, 1965, a work crane fell from the IRT New Lots El on the center track where it ends near the portal beyond Utica Ave. One man was killed and some were injured and service was suspended from 2 AM until about 8 PM. A shuttle was operated between New Lots Ave. and Junius St. and passengerswere given transfers to a shuttle bus or to the BMT Canarsie line. Cars involved were: Crane 20149-ex-102, Low-V's 20376-ex-5496 (badly damaged), 20251, 20273, 2038O, 20294 and Flat S-75. --NY Division ERA Bulletin, June 1965. > 04/21/1964. Suspicious fire at the Grand Central shuttle platform destroys several train cars including the "SAM" test train 7509, 7513, 7516. See: IRT Times Square-Grand Central Shuttle (full photo) 09/12/1963. A Navy jet crashes into the Coney Island Yards after being struck by lightning around 9:30 pm. The pilot, Lt. William A. Gerrety, bailed out and landed in a parking lot a few blocks away on Avenue U. The plane was an A-4D single jet fighter. It landed in a clear area at the south end of the yard. The debris caused no damage to trains except a few broken windows. 11/28/1962. A railroad crane toppled off a 40-foot-high IND elevated track onto a street in Coney Island, killing three men. 1950-1959 09/26/1957. NY Times Headline: "MOTORMAN KILLED IN SUBWAY CRASH; His Empty IRT Train Rams Into Another in Bronx-- 3 Hurt in BMT Mishap Riding on Middle Track. A subway motorman was killed yesterday morning when his empty ten-car train crashed into the rear of another empty train. The accident occurred on the elevated section of the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue line at 230th Street, the Bronx." 04/19/1957. NY Times Headline: "65 HURT IN CRASH OF SUBWAY TRAINS ON BROOKLYN LINE; Accident Occurs on the IND Near Myrtle Avenue Station With Hundreds Aboard CREW MEN ALLAY PANIC Passengers Led to Safety on Catwalk--Motorman Is Rescued From Cab Suffers a Crushed Leg." 06/19/1955. Two Sea Beach express trains collided at Stillwell Ave. in the only known accident involving Triplexes. Units 6043C and 6078 A and B suffered extensive damage and were scrapped. 6078C was grafted onto 6043B and renumbered 6043C. The number of injuries and/or fatalities is unknown. 1900-1949 08/27/1938. IRT collision at 116th Street kills 2, injures 51. 08/24/1928. Derailment in Times Square kills 16, injures 100. 08/06/1927. Two bombs explode, one in the 28th St IRT (Lex Line) station and the 28th St (B'way) BMT station. "[The bombs] injured many persons, one of them it was believed, fatally." (NYT 8/6/1927). 11/01/1918. A dispatcher, filling in for striking motormen, loses control while entering the tunnel at Malbone Street (Empire Boulevard) and 97 are killed, with 200 injured. (The worst accident in subway history.) See: Malbone Street Wreck (New York Times, 1918) 10/03/1918. The New York Times of October 4, 1918, reports: "A train of empty cars southbound on the elevated extension of the subway halted not far from Brook Avenue, the Bronx, to allow for switching about 5 o'clock yesterday morning. The passenger-filled train following stopped behind it at the Jackson Avenue station. While the two trains were stopped a local train which left 180th Street at 4:50 o'clock bound for South Ferry, ran by the signal at the north end of the Jackson Avenue station and crashed into the train ahead. Two persons were killed and about twenty-eight were injured. Many of the passengers were thrown from their seats and showered with broken glass. ... Charles Bulkleu Hubbell, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, went to the scene... This is what Chairman Hubbell found: 'It seems that the front the train was a five-car train standing at the south end of the station where it would normally stop. The "trip" stop at the north end of the station "tripped" the rear train and would have stopped it before collision if the motorman had been reducing his speed sufficiently to make his required stop at this station. Back of the trip signal at the north end of the station was a caution signal set against the train. The cause of the accident, of course, lay with the motorman of the rear train who had stopped at Prospect Avenue and took on and discharged passengers at that point. The schedule time from that stop to the Jackson Avenue station is only a minute and a half.' Mayor Hylan wrote Mr Hubbell a letter in which he advocated a rearrangement of the automatic stops so that if a train attempts to enter a station, at high speed or in disregard of signals it will be stopped befire it has a chance to collide with any train that happens to be in the station. To this Chairman Hubbell replied giving the Mayor the cause of te accident as the commission found it. 'Your suggestion as to the relocation of the automatic signal will be given careful consideration' he wrote and to this he added this information: 'I have ascertained that the motorman, who was killed, had been on duty about five hours, as he had gone on duty at 12 o'clock midnight after sixteen hours off duty'". Page Credits Sources: Electric Railroaders' Association New York Division Bulletin, Associated Press, The New York Times, New York Daily News, Newsday, NY1, WCBS-AM.
A story of the durability of the B-24 Liberator, from Informational Intelligence Summary, No. 44-17, Office of the Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence, Washington, D.C., May 30, 1944. B-24 vs. 50 GERMAN FIGHTERS The surprising durability of an AAF B-24 on a deep penetration mission over Germany when attacked by an overwhelming number of German fighters is described in this article, based on crew’s report. Target time was assigned as 1300A and all planes of a B-24 Group had proceeded as planned until just over the heavily defended target of Regensburg, Germany. The flak over the target was heavy, intense and accurate. At 20,000 feet, just before the signal “Bombs Away,” the B-24 was hit by flak in No. 1 engine. A fire broke out in this engine but was soon extinguished and the prop feathered. Proceeding in formation with only three engines, the bombardier scored direct hits on the target. Shortly after, many enemy fighters soon noticed the feathered engine and, thinking it was a good target, began to swarm in. Attack after attack was made and soon the No. 2 engine was knocked out, but it also was feathered successfully. By that time enemy fighters seemed to multiply. With two left engines gone, the Liberator gradually lost altitude and began dropping to the rear of the formation, soon to find itself without “friends” but in the company of some fifty enemy aircraft. The air speed had been cut considerably and a terrific tail flutter had developed due to 20-mm hits on the horizontal stabilizer. The left wing was down 30° and full right rudder trim was used to maintain as near normal flight as possible. The Alps had yet to be crossed. Me 110s in pairs assembled high astern, and made repeated attacks knocking out the tail turret, but not until the tail gunner had accounted for two Me 110s destroyed. The top turret and ball turret were destroyed and many other hits had been scored on the B-24. After crossing the Alps, the co-pilot noticed that the oil pressure was indicating zero on the No. 4 engine but it did not quit. This engine operated for approximately one hour longer before it finally ceased to function. The pilot tried to feather the engine but the electrical system had been rendered useless. With only one engine left and losing altitude very rapidly, the pilot decided to set her down. Finding this impossible and knowing they were over friendly territory, he ordered the crew to “hit the silk.” All then alive landed safely. The final score: • Tail gunner–2 Me 110s destroyed. • Waist gunners–2 Me 109s destroyed. • Bombardier–Me 109s destroyed. The bombardier manned the right waist gun when the gunner was injured and accounted for one Me 109, which, in recovery from a dive to blast out a fire in his engine, collided with another in mid-air. One U.S. gunner killed. One B-24 crashed.
Here’s your weekly roundup of all the news that the powerful and corrupt would rather you didn’t know about. The corporate contributions behind Congress’ tax overhaul The lawmakers who drafted the tax bills have taken a shocking amount of money from corporate interests over the years. The tax overhaul bills moving through Congress include major benefits for the corporate sector, including a permanent reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the reduction in the corporate tax rate and other business related measures in the Senate’s tax bill would save corporations $669 billion over the next ten years. The corporate sector in the US has been posting record profits lately, so why is Congress’ bill so generous to corporations? According to research by the Center for American Progress, the 66 lawmakers that serve on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee—the committees that were in charge of writing the tax bill—have received a combined $1.5 billion in campaign contributions from corporate sources over the course of their careers. To put that in context, “senators on the Finance Committee have done enough fundraising to get contributions from at least 170 corporations and 315 corporate employees every year for their combined 360 years in office,” the report states. The bottom line: When you look at the inputs to the system, the outputs start to make sense. Our campaign finance system relies heavily on contributions from corporations and wealthy donors, and time after time it biases politics and policymaking in favor of their interests. The campaign to block Obama’s Supreme Court pick was financed by a single secretive mega-donor The money was funneled through two dark-money groups so it would be incredibly difficult to trace. When ads began blanketing the airwaves in 2016 pushing senators to block President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, it felt like a grassroots campaign. “This isn’t about Republicans or Democrats, it’s about your voice,” one of the ads stated. “You choose the next President; the next President chooses the next Justice.” But it turns out the campaign was anything but grassroots. In fact, it appears that all of the money for the campaign came from a single individual. Researchers at MapLight reviewed the 990s and found that the Wellspring Committee—the non-profit that provided nearly all of the funding to the group that ran the ads, the Judicial Crisis Network—received a $28.5 million contribution from an unnamed individual in 2016. Before 2016, Wellspring had never received more than $13.2 million in total contributions during a single year. Unfortunately, the Wellspring Committee doesn’t have to reveal their donors because they are registered with the IRS as a “social welfare” group and thus exempt from disclosure requirements. The bottom line: Loopholes in the rules around political money mean we may never know who actually financed the campaign to block President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. One thing is for sure, however: when a single person can take down a Supreme Court nominee through a secretive, multi-million dollar donation to a dark-money group, the laws meant to prevent our government from being bought and sold are woefully ineffective. Someone submitted more than a million fake anti-net neutrality comments at the FCC Cable companies have a history of financing astroturf efforts to further their causes, so this is suspicious. As the Federal Communications Commission gets ready to vote on repealing net neutrality rules and giving ISPs like Comcast and Verizon more power over the Internet, researchers have found that a large portion of the public comments supporting the repeal of net neutrality are in fact fake. Jeff Kao at Hackernoon analyzed the comments submitted to the FCC and discovered that at least 1.3 million of the comments were generated by someone using natural language processing techniques and submitting them via stolen identities. When the fake comments are excluded, Kao found that 99+% of the comments submitted to the FCC were in support of keeping the net neutrality rules in place. In 2014, a dark-money group called American Commitment was caught submitting fake comments to the FCC against net neutrality. The cable industry has a history of financing front groups like Broadband for America and the American Consumer Institute to make it look like there is strong public support for doing away with net neutrality (recent polling shows that just 18% of the population opposes the net neutrality rules). While there is no smoking gun linking this latest round of fake comments to the cable industry, the fact remains that someone has financed and executed a massive effort to fraudulently oppose a policy that is overwhelmingly popular among the general public. The bottom line: Money flows in politics in many ways, including the financing of astroturf efforts to influence regulatory decisions. Kochs in the White House The libertarian billionaires have managed to have incredible influence in an administration that was supposed to be about protecting the little guy. President Trump and the Koch brothers haven’t always been political allies. The Kochs opposed Trump’s candidacy and Trump pledged to resist their influence while on the campaign trail. “I don’t want their money or anything else from them,” Trump tweeted in reference to the Koch brothers shortly after he declared his candidacy. “Cannot influence Trump!,” he added. But now that he’s running the White House, the Kochs and Trump seem to have patched things up. According to a new report from Public Citizen, 44 Trump administration officials have close ties to to the Koch brothers and their political organizations, including 21 who are working inside the White House or have been nominated for White House jobs. As a result, the Koch brothers are making progress on many of the policies they have been pushing for years. Of the 16 regulatory changes the Koch-backed Freedom Partners included in their “roadmap to repeal” agenda, nine have already been achieved since Trump took office, and one—the repeal of net neutrality rules—is set to be finalized in a matter of weeks. The bottom line: The Koch brothers have spent a fortune on building a vast political network, and their investment is paying off. Many of the regulatory changes they have already achieved through their work inside the Trump administration will directly benefit their bottom line with their work in the fossil fuels industry. — That’s all for this week, folks. If you have a corruption story you’d like to see covered here, send me an email at donnydonny [at] gmail [dot] com.
Ripple supports Washington, DC based Coin Center. Image: Shutterstock Innovation in banking often results from the convergence of three key domains: financial services, technology, and regulations. The regulatory framework is a crucial aspect of innovation. When crafted in a balanced, proactive way, regulations can directly drive positive innovation and market competition. This is why Ripple has been an active participant in key policy discussions, advocating for policy that supports innovation and participating in industry initiatives such as our role on the Steering Committee of the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force. Regulatory frameworks help ensure the safety and security of financial products and the technologies that enable them. They create certainty, instill customer trust and enable broader adoption. For this reason, it’s vital that the frameworks developed to govern new technologies, such as virtual currencies, be done so in a way that mitigates risk and protects customers, yet are balanced to allow further advances to occur. Our work for balanced, effective regulatory frameworks is not a solo mission – which is why this year Ripple is supporting Coin Center, the leading policy advocacy group focused on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Through their expertise and thoughtfulness, Coin Center has been effective at driving a positive regulatory climate needed for further blockchain innovations. Most recently, Coin Center was instrumental in assembling the new Congressional Blockchain Caucus, formed to build awareness among policy makers. Ripple is pleased to join their work and formally support Coin Center. Jerry Brito, Coin Center’s Executive Director commented, “Preserving the freedom to innovate with cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is something that benefits us all, so it’s also great to see that the effort to do that has a broad and growing base of support.” As our co-founder Chris Larsen has stated, we at Ripple believe it’s a very important time in history for this industry. Much like when the internet was formed in the early 90s, there’s a huge opportunity to support the creation of an Internet of Value: a system that moves money as seamlessly as information. We’re heartened to see several market developments that show a thorough, thoughtful approach to regulation, allowing innovation to flourish while mitigating risks. Last month, the Governor of the Bank of England and Chair of the Financial Stability Board, Mark Carney, spoke about the enormous potential of fintech, stating: “Consumers will get more choice, better-targeted services and keener pricing. Small and medium sized businesses will get access to new credit. Banks will become more productive, with lower transaction costs, greater capital efficiency and stronger operational resilience.” Yet, Carney points out, we cannot ignore the risks. While fintech may be new, the types of risk it may pose are not. We have well-founded principle-based frameworks for mitigating risk in financial services. These offer a great lens for looking at fintech. We’re not starting from scratch. And most recently, Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President and CEO Patrick Harker has stated that proper fintech regulations not only protect the consumers, but also the innovators by providing certainty and ensuring safety and soundness as companies grow. Balanced regulatory frameworks enable the promise of new technology to be fully realized while ensuring robust security and customer protections. We look forward to many positive developments in 2017. For more information, please visit our Policy Framework page.
Mauno Henrik Koivisto GOIH ( Finnish pronunciation: [ˈmɑuno ˈkoiʋisto]; 25 November 1923 – 12 May 2017) was a Finnish politician who served as the ninth President of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served twice as Prime Minister, 1968 – 1970 and 1979 – 1982.[1] He was the first Social Democratic Party member to be elected President of Finland. Early life [ edit ] Koivisto was born in Turku, Finland, as the second son of Juho Koivisto, a carpenter at Crichton-Vulcan shipyard, and Hymni Sofia Eskola, who died when he was 10. After attending primary school, Koivisto worked a number of jobs, and at the beginning of the Winter War in 1939 joined a field firefighting unit at the age of 16. During the Continuation War, Koivisto served in the Infantry Detachment Törni led by Lauri Törni, which was a reconnaissance detachment operating behind enemy lines. This detachment was only open to selected volunteers.[2] During the war he received the Order of the Cross of Liberty (2nd class) and was promoted to the rank of corporal. While reflecting on his wartime experiences later in life, he said "When you have taken part in a game in which your own life is at stake, all other games are small after that".[3] After the war, he earned a living as a carpenter and became active in politics, joining the Social Democratic Party. During his early years, Koivisto was also influenced by anarchism and anarchosyndicalism.[4] In 1948 he found work at the port of Turku. In December 1948, he was appointed the manager of the Harbour Labour Office of Turku, a post he held until 1951. In 1949 communist-controlled trade unions attempted to topple Karl-August Fagerholm's social democratic minority government, and the Social Democratic leadership of the Finnish Confederation of Trade Unions (SAK) declared the port of Hanko an "open site", urging port workers who supported legality to go there. Koivisto went to Hanko to take charge of the harbour-master's office and recruit workers to break the strike, the government having banned strike action. The Communist newspapers branded Koivisto as their number one enemy due to his status as a major figure in the struggle for control of the trade unions. Banker and politician [ edit ] In addition to his political engagements and ongoing career, Koivisto continued with his education, passing his intermediate examination in 1947 and his university entrance examination in 1949. In 1951 he became a primary school teacher. On 22 June 1952,[5] he married Tellervo Kankaanranta (born 1929). Together they had a daughter, Assi Koivisto (born 1957), who was later voted to the electoral college during the 1982 presidential election. Koivisto graduated from the University of Turku with a Master of Arts degree and a licentiate in 1953, and had plans to become a sociologist. Three years later he completed his doctoral thesis, which examined social relations in the Turku dockyards. Koivisto also served as a Vocational Counselor for the City of Turku, and as a member of the Turku City Council. Mauno Koivisto and daughter Assi in 1957. In 1957, he started working for the Helsinki Workers' Savings Bank and served as its general manager from 1959 to 1968. In 1968 he was appointed the chairman of the board of the Bank of Finland, a position he held until 1982.[6] During the 1960s, he witnessed a number of internal schisms within the Social Democratic Party, and made efforts to improve the party's relationships with both the communists and with President Urho Kekkonen.[citation needed] The 1966 parliamentary election's Social Democratic victory saw the formation of a government under Prime Minister Rafael Paasio, with Koivisto, the party's expert on economic policy, assuming the role of the Minister of Finance.[7] By the beginning of 1968, many SDP members had become disillusioned with Paasio's leadership style, and Koivisto emerged as the chief candidate to succeed Paasio as Prime Minister. Koivisto became the Prime Minister of his first government, the Koivisto I Cabinet, on 22 March 1968. He served as Prime Minister for two years until the 1970 parliamentary election, which saw the other parties in the coalition government – Centre, SKDL, SPP, and TPSL – suffer heavy losses, bringing about Koivisto's resignation. In the 1970s, President Kekkonen started to regard Koivisto as a potential rival. To counter this, he threw his weight behind Koivisto's Social Democratic colleague, Kalevi Sorsa. For most of the decade, Koivisto concentrated on his work as the chairman of the Bank of Finland. The 1979 election saw him return as Prime Minister, forming a coalition government between the SDP, Centre, SPP, and SKDL. By this point there was increasing dissatisfaction with the aging President Kekkonen, whose failing health was becoming difficult to conceal, and also a perceived lack of change. As Prime Minister and chairman of the Bank of Finland who enjoyed high ratings in opinion polls, Koivisto began to be seen as a likely future candidate for the presidency. In early 1981, President Kekkonen began to regret Koivisto's appointment as Prime Minister and started to offer support to those who wanted to get rid of him. In the spring of 1981, members of Centre, which was serving as part of the government coalition, launched a behind-the-scenes attempt to bring down the government through a parliamentary motion of no confidence, so that Koivisto would not be able to conduct a presidential election campaign from the position of Prime Minister. At the critical moment Koivisto managed to gain the support of the SKDL; by now, Kekkonen no longer had the energy to topple the government when Koivisto called his bluff by refusing to tender his resignation. Finnish historians, political scientists, and journalists still debate whether Kekkonen really wanted to dismiss Koivisto or whether Kekkonen simply wanted to speed up Koivisto's slow and ponderous decision-making. Some question whether this government crisis was just a part of the ruthless "presidential game" that top politicians such as Koivisto and Social Democratic chairman Sorsa were playing with one another. Later that year, as Kekkonen became too ill to carry out his duties, Koivisto became the acting President and was able to launch his presidential election campaign from the position. During the campaign, Koivisto was questioned particularly thoroughly on two issues: the nature of his socialism and his relations to the Soviet Union. Describing the nature of his socialism, he referred to Eduard Bernstein, a revisionist social democrat, saying: "The important thing is the movement, not the goal." To a journalist's question, intended to be a difficult one, on the issue of relations with the Soviet Union, Koivisto replied that they were nothing to boast about; this answer increased his popularity. Koivisto did not want to be elected with the support of the Soviet Union. Koivisto postage stamp from 1983. The voter turnout in the presidential elections was nearly 90%. Koivisto's wife and daughter were among the members of the electoral college. Koivisto won 167 of the 301 votes of the electoral college in the first round; his closest competitor, NCP candidate Harri Holkeri, received 58. As a result, Koivisto became Finland's first Social Democrat to be elected president. Presidency [ edit ] President Mauno Koivisto and Tellervo Koivisto visiting Dresden, East Germany, 1987. As president, Koivisto kept a low profile and used less authoritarian leadership tactics than Kekkonen had employed, refraining from using some of his presidential powers and initiating a new era of parliamentarianism in Finland. On the other hand, he had an occasionally difficult relationship with journalists, which he famously called "lemmings". One practical problem that quite a few reporters had with Koivisto's statements was their deeply pondering and philosophical nature. Those statements were not often easy to interpret, unlike Kekkonen's blunt and sometimes harsh statements (see, for example, "The Republic's President 1956-1982"/Tasavallan presidentti 1956-1982, published in Finland in 1993-94; "The Republic's President 1982-1994"/Tasavallan presidentti 1982-1994, published in Finland in 1993-94; Mauno Koivisto, "Two Terms I: Memories and Notes, 1982-1994"/Kaksi kautta I. Muistikuvia ja merkintöjä 1982-1994, Helsinki: Kirjayhtymä Publishing Ltd., 1994). As the leader of Finland's foreign policies he initially continued Kekkonen's line until the collapse of the Soviet Union. He also continued the established practice of returning Soviet defectors to the Soviet Union,[8] a custom now prohibited as a human rights violation by the Finnish constitution. Koivisto created close contacts with Mikhail Gorbachev, George H. W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan.[9] He carried on private correspondence with Gorbachev and Bush.[10] His ties to the other Nordic countries and Nordic colleagues were very close and trustworthy. He spoke fluent Swedish, English, and German, and also learned Russian.[11] In the critical moments during which the Soviet Union was collapsing, and the Baltic countries, particularly Estonia, were declaring themselves independent, Koivisto referred to the policy of neutrality and avoided publicly supporting the Baltic independence movement, but its members were allowed to work from Finland. Koivisto's Finland recognized the new Estonian government only after the major powers had done so. Koivisto made two bold unilateral diplomatic moves that significantly changed the Finnish political position. In 1990, after the reunification of Germany, Koivisto unilaterally renounced the terms of the Paris Peace Treaties which limited the strength and armament of the Finnish Defence Forces. The rationale was that after Germany had been given its full rights as a sovereign state, Finland could not remain bound by the antiquated treaty. The renunciation caused no official protest from Soviet Union or Great Britain. The other major move was the renunciation of the Finno-Soviet Treaty (Finnish: YYA-sopimus) in 1991, concurrently with the fall of Soviet Union. The treaty, the military article of which had shaped Finnish foreign policy for decades, was substituted with a new treaty without military obligations in the next year. In 1990, partly motivated by nationalism, partly by the fear of the declining work force, Koivisto proposed that any Soviet citizen with either Finnish or Ingrian ancestry be enabled to immigrate to Finland as a returnee.[12][13] The proposal resulted in a modification of immigration laws to this end during the year. In the 1988 presidential election, Koivisto was re-elected with 189 out of 301 votes in the electoral college during the second round. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he supported more radical ideals like joining the European Union. In 1992, Koivisto initiated the process of Finnish accession to the European community. The final terms of the membership agreement were finalised on the day of Koivisto's departure from the presidency. He was succeeded by President Martti Ahtisaari, who was also a supporter of EU membership. Koivisto's popularity sharply declined during Finland's economic depression of the early 1990s, because many unemployed or otherwise impoverished citizens believed that he could have forced the centre-right government of Esko Aho to stimulate the economy and grant unemployed people temporary public sector jobs.[14] Koivisto's term ended in 1994. Henceforth he published his memoirs in four volumes and continued as a commentator on economics and both domestic and international politics. The funeral cortege of Mauno Koivisto on 25 May 2017 in Helsinki. Subsequent to his precedency, Koivisto occasionally continued to represent Finland officially abroad, most notably at the funerals of Queen Ingrid of Denmark in 2000, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 2002 and Ronald Reagan in 2004. In 2009, Koivisto declined to apologize to Estonia that his administration did not support the country's independence movement.[15] On 3 March 2010, he was hospitalized for cardiac dysrhythmia but was released less than a week later. Death [ edit ] Koivisto's health deteriorated in December 2016 due to Alzheimer's disease and his wife Tellervo started as his caregiver. In January 2017, Koivisto fell badly at his home and broke his hand, after which he moved to a nursing home. In May 2017, Koivisto was put in end-of-life care.[16] Koivisto died on 12 May 2017, aged 93.[17][18][19] His state funeral was held on 25 May 2017.[20][21][22] Koivisto is buried in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki. Bibliography [ edit ] Sosiaaliset suhteet Turun satamassa : sosiologinen tutkimus , 1956, doctoral thesis , 1956, doctoral thesis Linjan vetoa , 1968 , 1968 Väärää politiikkaa , 1978 ISBN 951-26-1511-8 , 1978 ISBN 951-26-1511-8 Tästä lähtien , 1981 ISBN 951-26-2285-8 , 1981 ISBN 951-26-2285-8 Linjaviitat: Ulkopoliittisia kannanottoja , 1983 ISBN 951-26-2446-X , 1983 ISBN 951-26-2446-X Politiikkaa ja politikointia 1978–81 , 1988 ISBN 951-26-3239-X , 1988 ISBN 951-26-3239-X Maantiede ja historiallinen kokemus: Ulkopoliittisia kannanottoja , 1992 ISBN 951-1-12614-8 , 1992 ISBN 951-1-12614-8 Kaksi kautta , 1994 ISBN 951-26-3947-5 , 1994 ISBN 951-26-3947-5 Historian tekijät , 1995 ISBN 951-26-4082-1 , 1995 ISBN 951-26-4082-1 Liikkeen suunta , 1997 ISBN 951-26-4272-7 , 1997 ISBN 951-26-4272-7 Koulussa ja sodassa , 1998 ISBN 951-26-4384-7 , 1998 ISBN 951-26-4384-7 Venäjän idea , 2001 ISBN 951-31-2108-9 , 2001 ISBN 951-31-2108-9 Itsenäiseksi imperiumin kainalossa - mietteitä kansojen kohtaloista, 2004 ISBN 951-31-3181-5 Honours [ edit ] Coat of Arms of Mauno Koivisto Armiger Mauno Koivisto Adopted 1983 Motto "Valtakunnan parhaaksi"("For the best of the Nation") Awards and decorations [ edit ] National orders [ edit ] Foreign orders [ edit ] Honorary degrees [ edit ] Finland: University of Helsinki 1990 Finland: University of Helsinki 1990 Finland: University of Helsinki 1988 Finland: University of Helsinki 1988 Czechoslovakia: Charles University in Prague 1987 Czechoslovakia: Charles University in Prague 1987 Finland: University of Tampere 1985 Finland: University of Tampere 1985 France: University of Toulose 1983 France: University of Toulose 1983 Finland: Åbo Akademi 1978 Finland: Åbo Akademi 1978 Finland: University Of Turku 1977 References [ edit ] Media related to Mauno Koivisto at Wikimedia Commons
ryanmeft: The press around They Shall Not Grow Old has focused on the techniques filmmaker Peter Jackson used to restore World War I footage and imbue it with the colors of life loved and lived and lost, even though all you need to do to realize it is not about the tech is read the title again. Jackson and his team have again pioneered a new frontier in film—this time, inventing a way in which the past can most urgently be made into the now—but if that were the point, the film would have been titled something like The Colors of War. Instead, it was named in emotional, rending honor of those, many teens, whose lives ended in the trenches of a senseless conflict. The techniques in question involve taking old footage, colorizing it to a degree of quality I cannot remember seeing before, using actual voices of World War I soldiers instead of narrators or historians, sometimes splicing together the original single-frame shots into a greater panning shot to drive home the scale of the reality, and even hiring lip readers to understand and recreate what soldiers were saying in the silent film footage. They mostly did not talk about charges at the enemy over the trenches (where we get the term “over the top”), of battle glorious or otherwise, and they certainly care nothing for the complex and ultimately meaningless causes of the war. They talk about what they had to eat, the ways in which they had to use the bathroom, visits to brothels, keeping clean or rather entirely failing to, and rare little moments when they could gain a reprieve. It takes no special focus to listen to stories of violence and death; that’s the unspoken goal of much entertainment. What we learn here brings trench warfare home in a far more intimate and immediate way. The choice has been made not to try and encompass the entire war and every nationality which fought in it, but to focus on a handful of British soldiers. In other circumstances, I might be quick to point to this as a failing, and bring up the fact that the British take quite as much of a themselves-centric view to history as Americans do. In this case, it is the right decision. The film needs to zero in on the humanity of soldiers, not the details of involved nations and war weapons and treaties and such. It isn’t that other countries don’t deserve a spotlight. It is that they deserve their own spotlight, and to try and cram them all in here would be a disservice. Though Jackson has said he imagines the experience was similar for soldiers hailing from all places, I rather dearly hope he or his acolytes choose to give us such films. Jackson’s grandfather, who fought in the war, is mentioned as someone who survived the trenches but later succumbed to battle’s other effects; the fallout of World War I not only affected soldiers ever after but led directly to World War II. The film only briefly touches on larger consequences, as it is about personal lives, but if there is one omission I wish time had been found for, it is the Christmas Truce of 1914. If you don’t know about that, I can’t do it justice. Read about it. The film does spend some considerable time on humanizing German soldiers, most of whom were of course as terrified as anyone else, and my personal desire for that story to have been in it is only my own. It would have been excellent to hear some veterans talking about it, but I must sadly face the possibility that none who were there were able to do so. That Jackson and company have made this film is true, and also only partially true. They have compiled it, from a hundred hours of footage and six hundred of audio stored in Britain’s Imperial War Museum, but it was made by those who lived it, something Jackson and friends seem eminently respectful of. In most theatres the film is “followed” by a second documentary about the making of the first, but really this is an essential part of the film, for in it Jackson illuminates how little true trickery was used. He visits the site of the hedge road where the soldiers in the film waited to charge the Germans, and forlornly reminds us that almost all of the men in that footage were living the last 30 minutes they had. He shows brief clips from the interviews from which the audio recordings were taken, and we see men we saw in the war in civilian clothes, 50 or 60 years later. While the Space Race was being duked out and hippies were marching with peace signs, these men were still alive. Yet we have, as a culture, consigned them to the dustbin of history, in service of an unspoken agreement seemingly made in which the 20th century really started with the second World War. Several of the audio clips lament that when these soldiers returned, they and the war were ignored by an indifferent populace, to the point of employers outright refusing to consider them (in America, Herbert Hoover’s infamous burning of makeshift towns constructed by destitute veterans ensured Franklin Roosevelt the Presidency). That the veterans of this war have been quietly forgotten is the sense in the final audio clip shared, in which a soldier returns to the shop where he works after four years, and the employee asks “Where have you been—on nights?” Verdict: Must-See Note: I don’t use stars, but here are my possible verdicts. Must-See Highly Recommended Recommended Average Not Recommended Avoid like the Plague You can follow Ryan’s reviews on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/ryanmeftmovies/ Or his tweets here: https://twitter.com/RyanmEft All images are property of the people what own the movie.
A Canada-based graphic artist says that at least 18 pieces of his artwork, and work from more than 170 other artists on DeviantArt, have been stolen and sold on the website Art4Love. On Friday Vitaly Alexius, 27, posted a detailed image on DeviantArt, an 11-year-old social network which showcases original art, that contained a screenshot of his work being sold on art4love.com. Artist Deirdre Reynolds has created a list with links to original DeviantArt artwork and screenshots of them being sold on Art4Love. So far, the list includes 320 DeviantArt artists. The cofounder and main artist behind Art4Love, an online art retailer, is Chad Love Lieberman, the nephew of Sen. Joe Lieberman, according to Yahoo! News and The Daily What. The Art4Love website was down Monday morning. The Daily Dot has reached out to Alexius for an interview and is waiting to hear back. Alexius’ post collected more than 2,000 comments combined on DeviantArt and Reddit where people expressed their anger and distaste for Lieberman. “It’s sad someone thinks they can do this,” wrote blackcrowcooro on DeviantArt. “Did he not realize the more popular he was, the more people were gonna see his site?” “I can never understand how people can get away with this stuff or even live with themselves,” wrote twinsnakesorrow. In an article published in May 2010, the South Florida Chronicle interviewed Lieberman about his art and his background. “A lot of art teachers are failures in the art world. I think I bring a younger, fresher approach,” Lieberman told treez, the username of a regular contributor to the Chronicle. “Did you know that 50,000 graduate with a fine arts degree. The average artist makes just $1,500 a year from their art! I want to make a dent in that!” On Wednesday treez apologized for her profile piece and said wrote that “Chad had never claimed to me that all of the art on his site was his. That being said, if it is indeed true that he is stealing art and selling it as his, it is going to be pretty easy to sue him and possibly even worse repercussions are waiting for Chad.” Since then, treez has written about some of the DeviantArt artists who have had their work stolen. These artists include Kristafee, Laura ‘Pelick’ Siadak (Shadowgirl), Alx234 and Alexius. “To all the artists he ripped off, my best goes out to you in doing what you need to do to make your situation right,” treez wrote. “Whatever that may entail.” Art4Love was started in 1999 to sell artwork from “independently certified artists at prices significantly below traditional retail,” according to Yahoo! News. DeviantArt has 13 million registered members.
WARSAW, Poland — Poles heading out to do last-minute Christmas shopping should give any Che Guevara T-shirts a wide berth as a new Polish law threatens anyone who produces or propagates communist symbols with two years in prison. The legislation has caused outrage among Poland's ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) party, which plans to challenge the law's constitutionality before the end of the year. But it is worrying everyone from collectors of communist memorabilia to restaurateurs with increasingly popular themed eateries recalling Poland's communist past. “I have some advice for the creators of this legislation, they should take the hammer, a symbol of the USSR, and whack themselves in the head,” said Slawomir Kopczysnki, a member of parliament for the SLD. Even the governing Civic Platform party seems confused about the new law, passed in late November, which sets the same penalties for propagating fascist symbols. Janusz Palikot, one of the party's leaders, said that his party had “gone crazy,” even though he himself had voted for the bill. The new law is part of a long-running attempt by central European countries that suffered for decades under communism to treat its symbols in the same way as those of Nazism. Many European countries, including Poland, make it a crime to propagate Nazi images, and works like Hitler's Mein Kampf are frequently banned. The general aversion toward anything that could be seen to glorify the Nazis even extends to toys. In Europe, model airplanes of German wartime fighters and bombers do not have swastikas on their tails, which were part of their actual markings. “I once went to a model show with an airplane where I had painted on the swastika and I was thrown out,” said the owner of a Warsaw modeling store. But the revulsion felt toward fascism and Nazism is very different from how communist symbols are viewed. Tourist shops in cities like Warsaw and Prague sell fur caps adorned with red stars. There is no similar trade in Nazi Party armbands. The European Parliament has established Aug. 23 — the anniversary of the date of the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that paved the way for World War II — as the European days of remembrance for the victims of Stalinism and Nazism. But trying to equate the two totalitarianisms is proving to be a tough slog. Part of the reason is that the Nazis are treated as uniquely evil. Although communism imposed decades of dictatorship, the communists' rule was milder than the murderous rampage of Nazi Germany. Although Poland spent 45 years under communist rule, the system still has its supporters. In a recent newspaper debate, Slawomir Sierakowski, the editor of a left-wing journal, noted: “It is impossible to think about Nazism without thinking of the Holocaust, while it is possible to think of Communism without the Gulag. The communist idea arises from wholeheartedly positive intentions.” Nationalist Poles have a hard time stomaching that view. Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's outspoken foreign minister, recently called for Warsaw's Palace of Culture, a 1955 gift from Josef Stalin to the Polish people that remains the Polish capital's tallest building, to be demolished and replaced with green space. But despite Sikorski's appeals, the Palace of Culture has stood for 20 years since the end of communism, and, as it has recently been declared a historic monument, is likely to continue standing for some time to come. Its resilience is a sign that, despite the new anti-communist law, Poles do not equate communism with the horrors of Nazism. Another sign of acceptance can be found on the streets of almost every Polish city and town. In the first years after 1989, hundreds of street names were changed: Streets named after communist heroes like Vladimir Lenin and Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Soviet secret police, were renamed after Polish icons like Pope John Paul II. But in recent years the impetus to root out communist names has faded and Poles are reluctant to undergo the hassle of changing addresses, street signs and documents. In Warsaw, one of the capital's main thoroughfares still bears the name of the People's Army, while the western city of Gliwice still has a Karl Marx Street. The issue of stamping out communist symbols remains important to the nationalist right — particularly for Law and Justice, the leading opposition party — and to the ex-communist left, which is fighting to preserve the symbols of the state it once served. But a generation after the fall of communism, the topic is an increasingly esoteric one for most Poles.
Bancor Unchained: All Your Token Are Belong To Us Udi Wertheimer Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 20, 2017 This post is the first in a series of Unchained Reports, covering the often overlooked details about projects in the current “ICO bubble”. Last week, the Bancor project raised ~$150M. The team stood up an impressive campaign, ending with the largest amount raised in an ICO to date. Bancor’s main product is said to be a way to provide liquidity to the “long tail” of tokens, and seems to be an interesting idea, that deserves exploration. It is lead by an accomplished team of entrepreneurs, and already produced some great-looking demos. I took some time to read many of the materials published by Bancor, including its smart contract code. I was absolutely astonished by some of the things I found, including what I consider dangerous backdoors. In this report, I will detail my findings, including the team’s ability to take anyone’s tokens arbitrarily. But first, a brief introduction on what smart contracts are, and why it’s so important to read and review them. Did you read your smart contract? “Smart contracts” are at the heart of the Ethereum blockchain. They are written by coders, so some people think of them as “apps”. But in reality, they aim to replace legal prose. Smart contracts can describe, for example, a set of conditions that will control who gets a pre-deposited amount of money. Or they can describe who will get to decide what happens with a pool of coins. They are very much like regular legal contracts. But unlike regular contracts, there are no judges to make decisions at their discretion. Instead, blockchain participants will run the smart contract code to decide what’s the outcome of a transaction. There’s only one way to “interpret” a smart contract, and that’s the way a computer would. The intent of the contract writer does not matter, nor does the understanding of any counter party. The only thing that matters is what’s in the code. Reading Bancor’s contracts A lot of ICOs use smart contracts to raise money. Bancor is one of them. This report is (at least) as much about the importance of reading contracts as it is about Bancor itself. I won’t be touching the actual details of Bancor’s protocol at all. I recommend reading Bancor’s whitepaper for that, which is very well written, and also Emin Gün Sirer and Phil Daian’s breakdown on its potential problems (Edit, 22/06/2017: and Bancor’s very detailed response, which was published after this report). Instead, we will look at the contract of the actual crowdsale: did the contract code fit the sale terms that were published by the project? Then, we’ll look at the contract governing the token created by that crowdsale, BNT, and the dangerous backdoors that contract contains. Crowdsale Unlimited Bancor’s crowdsale went live on June 12th. Prior to its start, in a blog post, the team pubished the sale terms, including the following: The sale would run for no more than 14 days. There would be a “hidden cap” for the amount of funds to be allowed in, which would be revealed when raising 80% of the cap. During the first hour, called the “minimum time”, all funds would be allowed in, even if above the “hidden cap”. If the sale goes over the “hidden cap” during the first hour, it would stop immediately at the end of this first hour. Otherwise, it will continue until reaching the “hidden cap”. However, the crowdsale contract, viewable here, told a slightly different story. I’ll explain what the contract says in words, and add code snippets so you can follow along if you can read contract code. The sale will, indeed, run for a maximum of 14 days. The corwdsale duration, in the actual contract code There will be a “hidden cap”, and the team will cryptographically commit to it (meaning it’s hidden but can’t be changed after the sale starts). It will be revealed whenever the team decides to reveal it. The “hidden cap” was to be revealed, and set, whenever the contract owner calls this enableRealCap function, which sets the totalEtherCap variable The sale was to have no limits (other than a 1,000,000 ETH “safety limit” which equals roughly $400 million dollars, 4 times the “hidden cap” that was later revealed), until the team would reveal the “hidden cap”. Not until 1 hour passed, as the blog post detailing the sale terms promised. In fact, I can think of no reasonable way they could codify this promise into a contract, without revealing the “hidden cap” beforehand. The safety cap is 1,000,000 ETH, until the enableRealCap function, from the previous snippet, is called by the contract owner to replace it with the “hidden cap”. This etherCapNotReached modifier is called before every “contribution” to the sale, to assert that the total amount contributed isn’t higher than the current totalEtherCap, which is set to 1,000,000 ETH (above) until the contract owner decides to reveal the “hidden cap”. As the sale started, people rushed to get their ethers in. The Ethereum network had a hard time processing all those transactions, as it frequently does during high-profile ICOs. As the first hour was approaching its end, about $70M worth of transactions were confirmed by the network, with tens of millions more sitting in the backlog, waiting to be confirmed. In order to comply with the terms the project published before, they had to stop the “cap-less first hour” at that point, and reveal the “hidden cap” very soon after, once $80M was reached, which was ~80% of the hidden cap. Instead, they released this critical update, saying: We have decided to extend the minimum time to THREE HOURS in order to allow the Ethereum network to process all PENDING transactions and allow everyone who’s transactions have failed to RETRY. Our intention remains to include all early contributors. Many were surprised by this. Some investors were grateful, as they weren’t able to get in during the first hour due to a high load on the network. Yet others were furious — probably the ones that already managed to get in — they were promised that the cap will be enforced after 1 hour, but now that the “minimum time” was expanded to 3 hours, they were effectively being diluted. One group wasn’t surprised: those that took the time to read the contract before hand. They always knew this was an option. It is hard to tell whether extending the “minimum time” was good or bad. The key takeaway from this ordeal though, is that when a contract gives its owner capabilities that aren’t listed in the official announcements and blog posts, some people who didn’t read the contract might end up being upset. But for those who didn’t read the contract, a bigger surprise is in store… A token full of back doors When people think of “cryptocurrencies” or “digital assets”, or whatever the cool kids call them today, they think of decentralized, censorship resistant tokens, that no central party could control for any reason. And while some projects have various degrees of (de)centralization, I have never seen a token as centralized as BNT, that puts so much power in the hands of so few. The BancorTokenContract controls the actual BNT token and its behavior. It is currently owned by the BancorCrowdsale contract, which is owned in turn by a closed-source contract which is most likely a “multisig” account held by the project and/or its partners. These are the powers that the BancorCrowdsale contract allows its owners: All transactions using the BNT token can be disabled by the team at any time for any reason. Presumably the capability is there to allow the tokens to be frozen immediately after the crowdsale for about a week, until Bancor’s main product is ready. However, for some reason, after they’ll unfreeze the tokens, the team will retain the option to freeze transactions again at any time. In BancorTokenContract, contract owner (the contract below) is allowed to disable transactions In BancorCrowdsale, contract owner (the Bancor team) is allowed to use BancorTokenContract (above) to disable transactions The team can issue new tokens at any time. Bancor’s “changer” product requires the ability to create tokens programmatically based on a market-making formula distilled in another smart contract, so it must have the ability to create more tokens. However, for some reason, the team has the ability to create new tokens arbitrarily, for whatever reason they choose. In BancorTokenContract, contract owner (the contract below) is allowed to issue new tokens arbitrarily In BancorCrowdsale, contract owner (the Bancor team) is allowed to use BancorTokenContract (above) to issue new tokens arbitrarily Shockingly, the team can DESTROY any tokens FROM ANY ACCOUNT, at any time. Once again, Bancor’s “changer” product requires the ability to programmatically destroy tokens sent to its contract, so there has to be a functionality to destroy tokens — but it could be easily limited to destroying only tokens sent to that contract. Instead, the team has the power to pick any account’s tokens and destroy any amount of them, at any time, for any reason. In BancorTokenContract, contract owner (the contract below) is allowed to destroy anyone’s tokens arbitrarily In BancorCrowdsale, contract owner (the Bancor team) is allowed to use BancorTokenContract (above) to destroy anyone’s tokens arbitrarily This third point is unheard of. I’ve looked at other high-profile contracts managing other tokens, and couldn’t find anything similar. This puts unprecedented, and worse, unexpected power in the hands of the contract owners. How did this go by unnoticed? For anyone who’s been in crypto long enough, this is a big no-no. How come no one noticed this? Well, people did notice. As noted in this blog post, two security auditors were invited by Bancor to inspect the contracts. However, the blog post only refers to the positive points from the audits. The post didn’t list the concerns that both auditors raised, and instead linked to their full reports which are very lengthy and highly technical. I doubt many people took the time to deep dive into the full reports. Martin Holst Swende, Security Lead at Ethereum, wrote in his report: The Bancor protocol implementation has a security model based on centralized trust: the owner of the contracts have (sic), to a large degree, full control over assets traded over the platform… Since the bancor protocol is fairly a complex scheme … it makes sense to have a centralized model, at least initially. While Ethereum Foundation’s member Nick Johnson wrote in his own report: Participants should note that the contracts as authored for the crowdsale are not trustless, and depend on the good behaviour of Bancor. Bancor have stated that this is intentional, intended to allow them to respond to and remedy any issues that come up during the crowdsale and in early operation, and that manual oversight will be exchanged for more automated operation once they are confident the system is working as intended. So, both of these respectable auditors found that the contracts are fully centralized, in an unprecedented way. When they told the Bancor team, Bancor just said “we know, that’s the point”. Now, the team’s reasoning seems to be that while their main smart contract is still being tested, they should retain full control in case anything goes wrong. They expand on this approach in a blog post about “learning from the DAO”. That blog post details the team’s control over their main “changer” product, control which they plan to diminish over time, but it doesn’t mention at all the backdoors listed above. From Wikipedia’s article on backdoors: Although normally surreptitiously installed, in some cases backdoors are deliberate and widely known. These kinds of backdoors might have “legitimate” uses such as providing the manufacturer with a way to restore user passwords. I’m pretty sure that the Bancor team has no intention to misuse these backdoors, and that they believe they have “legitimate” uses. I’m not 100% sure of their legitimacy myself, but in any case I would argue that their existence should be clearly communicated to investors. People in this space expect the control over tokens to be fully decentralized, and if for some reason they’re not, this should be made very clear. Upgradeability Bancor’s contracts are “upgradeable”, meaning they can replace them with new functionality, giving them more power, or removing power from themselves. They promise on some communications they will gradually remove their control over the system. The currently deployed BancorCrowdsale contract is planned to be replaced by BancorChanger in the next few days, however this new contract still retains the 3 backdoors: freezing all transactions, issuing new tokens, and destroying any tokens. The risks As I mentioned before, I trust that Bancor’s team won’t try to misuse this backdoor. However, having so much power concentrated centrally, creates a potential single point of failure. The keys held by the team could be stolen for example. Or, law enforcement could force the project to freeze or destroy tokens if they realize this is possible (and if for some reason they would suspect any wrongdoing). It could be argued that BNT investors would be at risk of the team being compromised anyway, so these backdoors don’t add any significant exposure. It could also be argued that if these backdoors are misused, Bancor could always use its reissuance capabilities to restore the state prior to any misuse. However, because the existence of these backdoors isn’t properly communicated, this puts many users at risk, and especially exchanges. Exchanges that list the BNT token, might not be aware that if the team’s keys are compromised, the exchanges could lose access to deposited tokens. This could raise regulatory concerns, but also technical risks: exchanges normally don’t “monitor” accounts to check that tokens are “still there”. They assume that once deposited the tokens stay in place, unless they’re moved. If an exchange’s tokens are destroyed (or frozen) while the market is active, this could bring a world of pain to the exchange operator, who might not be able to reverse executed orders. Recommendations and Conclusion For the Bancor project : I would recommend to immediately restructure the contracts to remove the team’s capability to freeze, issue, or destroy assets arbitrarily. Otherwise, a proper advisory should be given to investors and industry members about the existence of these backdoors, and how to mitigate their risks. : I would recommend to immediately restructure the contracts to remove the team’s capability to freeze, issue, or destroy assets arbitrarily. Otherwise, a proper advisory should be given to investors and industry members about the existence of these backdoors, and how to mitigate their risks. For exchanges : The safest route would be to delay listing BNT tokens until the team removes the backdoors. If this is not possible, at the very least inform users during the deposit process that their tokens may be frozen or destroyed by Bancor, and adapt the exchange’s system to monitor that tokens remain non-destroyed and liquid. : The safest route would be to until the team removes the backdoors. If this is not possible, at the very least inform users during the deposit process that their tokens may be frozen or destroyed by Bancor, and adapt the exchange’s system to monitor that tokens remain non-destroyed and liquid. For future crowdsales: In order to be fully transparent with potential investors and users, it would be best if ICO projects share a clear “English translation” of their smart contracts, that explain step-by-step what the contract does. More than anything else, it should focus on the differences between the written terms and the contract itself, differences that sometimes have to exist. And for users: always read the contract before you sign. The security of smart contracts depends on the users reading them. If you can’t read code yourself, find someone who can.
Five tribes claiming Kennewick Man as a relative will work to rebury him after the Army Corps of Engineers said it’s validated the skeleton is Native American. Five tribes claiming Kennewick Man as a relative will work together to rebury him after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday it has validated the skeleton is Native American. Scientists at the University of Chicago this month documented they were able to independently validate last summer’s scientific findings as to the skeleton’s ancestry by at least three lines of evidence, said John Novembre, associate professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, who led the review. The validation was part of a federal process to allow repatriation of the skeleton. The team’s finding clears the way for the next steps, in which potential claimants of the remains must document their cultural connection to the Ancient One, as tribes refer to the skeleton. Kennewick Man is one of the oldest and most complete skeletons discovered in North America, dating back nearly 9,000 years. Debate has continued since the 1996 discovery as to whether the remains should continue to be studied by scientists, or reburied, as tribes have long wished. The breakthrough in confirming the ancestry of the skeleton after years of research came with DNA testing, which enabled scientists to compare DNA in an ancient finger bone from Kennewick Man with saliva samples from Colville tribal members, where genetic similarities were confirmed. That research was performed by Morten Rasmussen and Eske Willerslev and their collaborators at the Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, with results published in July 2015 in the journal Nature. The next steps in the repatriation process will be taken cooperatively between tribes that have fought for reburial ever since two students discovered the skeleton washed out of a bank of the Columbia River on Corps of Engineers property during hydroplane races in Kennewick. The area where the skeleton was found was ceded by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation during the treaty of 1855. But it’s part of a Columbia Plateau landscape that would also have been visited and traveled through by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation; the Wanapum Band; the Yakama Nation; and the Nez Perce. All those tribes consider the Ancient One a relative. Traditionally, repatriation would be to a site as close as possible to where the skeleton was originally interred, said Rex Buck Jr., leader of the Wanapum people whose ancestral lands are at Priest Rapids Dam near Mattawa, Grant County. Tribes welcomed the news from the Corps. “Obviously we are hearing an acknowledgment from the Corps of what we have been saying for 20 years,” said JoDe Goudy, chairman of the Yakama Nation. “Now we want to collectively do what is right, and bring our relative back for reburial.” Michael Coffey, a spokeswoman for the Corps Northwestern Division, said the agency by law had to verify the findings before allowing the next steps in repatriation to proceed. She said it may be next February before cultural ties can be affirmed so repatriation may take place. Until then, the skeleton will remain at the Burke Museum of History and Culture. Tribes visit the Ancient One regularly and will continue to do so, said Chuck Sams, spokesman for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. “In keeping with our traditions and our law, he has been displaced, and we continue to offer our prayers and our hopes for a safe journey back to the land again.” Meanwhile, federal legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray also is advancing, with language calling for repatriation of the skeleton tucked into a water bill scheduled to be heard in committee as soon as Thursday. The legislation does not affect the Corps going forward with its process, Coffey said. Nor does the Corp’s process put Murray off the legislation, said Kerry Arndt of Murray’s staff: “Because this is just one step of many in the process the Army Corps must follow, Sen. Murray will continue to push her legislation forward in the Senate to ensure that one way or another, the remains go to their rightful place.” The remains have been at the center of controversy since the initial find. The Corps’ early decision to hand the bones over to local tribes resulted in a lawsuit from a team of scientists, headed by Douglas Owsley of the Smithsonian Institution, who argued the find should be preserved for study. Owsley later said his research showed that not only wasn’t Kennewick Man an Indian, he wasn’t even from the Columbia Valley. Owsley argued he seemed to be from the coast, because of high levels of isotopes from marine-derived nutrients in his bones. Isotopes in the bones told scientists Kennewick Man was a hunter of marine mammals, such as seals, Owsley said. “They are not what you would expect for someone from the Columbia Valley,” he said in an October 2012 meeting with tribal leaders. “You would have to eat salmon 24 hours a day and you would not reach these values. “This is a man from the coast, not a man from here. I think he is a coastal man.” That work was overturned by the Rasmussen/Willerslev team’s genetic testing.
0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard Andrew McCabe, who’s served as director of the FBI since May after Trump fired James Comey, is retiring in roughly 90 days, according to The Washington Post. The decision comes after continual attacks from Republicans and President Trump over that past half year. Comey responded to the news with a rare post on social media. “Sadly, we are now at a point in our political life when anyone can be attacked for partisan gain,” he tweeted. “James Baker, who is stepping down as FBI General Counsel, served our country incredibly well for 25 years & deserves better. He is what we should all want our public servants to be.” Sadly, we are now at a point in our political life when anyone can be attacked for partisan gain. James Baker, who is stepping down as FBI General Counsel, served our country incredibly well for 25 years & deserves better. He is what we should all want our public servants to be. — James Comey (@Comey) December 23, 2017 According to The Post, McCabe had to face several hours’ worth of questioning “behind closed doors from members of three committees,” only to leave the Republicans interviewing him dissatisfied. John Pistole, former deputy director of the FBI, said McCabe is in a “difficult position” because of the “hyper-partisan environment” and that he’s currently “weathering the storm” and having to take responsibility for Comey’s decisions. It’s disappointing,” he said, “to see how the criticism of the FBI is being used to try to undermine the credibility of the Mueller investigation. I think they’ve figured out they can’t undermine Bob’s integrity, so they’re just going to go after whoever they can dig up any dirt on.’’ Criticism of the FBI’s involvement in the Russia investigation has intensified over the past few weeks among Trump and others in the GOP. For obvious reasons, Trump has been the most invested in pushing the narrative that the probe into whether he colluded with Russia to sway the election is a “witch hunt” and a “scam.” Like Comey, Trump also reacted to the news of McCabe’s retirement on Twitter, but he predictably chose to attack the deputy director for supposedly trying to take advantage of his retirement benefits and for having previously accepted money from the Clintons. “How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin’ James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife’s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?” he wrote. He followed with a second tweet reading, “FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!” Several Democrats, such as California Rep. Adam Schiff, have recently warned that Republicans are trying to shut the Russia investigation down. This new development about McCabe shows their efforts might be starting to work.
SACRAMENTO – An ambitious proposal to create a single statewide insurance plan for every Californian — including undocumented residents, seniors on Medicare and people who now get their health coverage through work — began to take shape on Thursday when two legislators released details about what services would be covered and who would run the giant program. Still missing, however, are the details that have bedeviled universal health care advocates for decades: how much it would cost taxpayers. And the plan will be difficult, if not impossible, to execute without permission from Washington to steer billions of federal Medicare and Medicaid dollars into a trust fund that covers everyone. But advocates say it’s time for California to prove that a universal approach to health care isn’t just possible for the U.S., but also cheaper and less anxiety-inducing than the employer-based system now in place. “I hope that people will have the vision and the guts to do it,” said Sheila Kuehl, a Los Angeles County supervisor and former state lawmaker who made numerous attempts to make universal health care the law of the land a decade ago, only to have the bills vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. A single-payer system generally works like this: Instead of buying health insurance and paying for premiums, residents pay higher taxes. And those taxes are then used to fund the insurance plan — in the same way Medicare taxes are used to provide insurance for Americans 65 and over. With its simplicity, low overhead and cost controls, single-payer insurance “has the potential to create a lower cost health care system, so in total it could very well be that people in this state would pay less for health care than they do now,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Menlo Park-based Kaiser Family Foundation. One author of Senate Bill 562, Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, argues that the approach “covers more and costs less.” “We have the chance to make universal health care a reality now,” Lara said in a statement about his bill, the Healthy California Act, which is sponsored by the California Nurses Association and a coalition of Californians and health care providers. “It’s time to talk about how we get to health care for all that covers more and costs less.” The single-payer plan would be administered by a nine-member, unpaid board appointed by the governor and Legislature and a public advisory committee of doctors, nurses, health care providers and consumers. The board also would develop proposals related to long-term care, retiree health care and health care services covered under worker’s compensation. But there are significant political hurdles. Experts say that unless the federal government allows California to funnel Medicare and Medicaid dollars into the system, it will be all but impossible to carry out. And the health insurance industry, which would be upended by such a plan, has come out strongly against the bill and is expected to lobby aggressively against it. “California led the pack in expanding quality health care to millions of residents over the past four years; we cannot jeopardize our progress by hastily instituting a failed model during this time of uncertainty,” Charles Bacchi, president and CEO of the California Association of Health Plans, said in a statement Thursday. Advocates are also eyeing another challenge: the governor himself. Jerry Brown rarely comments on current legislation, but he recently expressed deep skepticism. “Where do you get the extra money?” Brown asked during a conversation with reporters last week during his visit to Washington, D.C., just before the GOP health care plan fell apart. “This is the whole question. I don’t even get. … How do you do that?” The California proposal is similar in its goal to a single-payer health care system that liberals like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have championed. Proponents say that with its 39 million people, California is large enough to make the system work — unlike Vermont (population 620,000), where in 2014 a similar effort fell apart after the governor decided it would cost too much. “I think that Bernie Sanders’ campaign last year indicated there was broader support for single-payer than a lot of people understood,” said Gerald Kominski, a professor of health policy at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “This is an issue that’s not just going to go away.” But one longtime critic of single-payer plans on Thursday called the Senate proposal “a budget buster.” “This is a utopian socialist plan that will be very costly for the state budget and result in major tax increases for Californians, if passed and signed into law,” said Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute, a nonprofit that promotes limited government. Pipes is originally from Canada, whose publicly funded health care system is viewed by some Americans as a model for the United States. But Pipes said the system has resulted in “rationed care” and growing wait lists to see a doctor. One advocate for the single-payer approach, however, said he has one question for those who question its viability: “Why is it that every other country does it and it’s cheaper?” asked Andrew McGuire, founder and executive director of California OneCare, which is raising money to launch a campaign for the proposal. KEY PROVISIONS OF THE HEALTHY CALIFORNIA ACT The bill’s authors say their proposed single-payer system would include these features: Coverage for all medical care, including inpatient, outpatient, emergency care, dental, vision, mental health and nursing home care. No co-pays or insurance deductibles. Ability to choose your own doctor from a huge list of health care providers rather than an insurer’s network. The full bill is available at OnePlanMyChoice.com. Source: Offices of Sens. Ricardo Lara and Toni Atkins.
While President Donald Trump insists that he won’t get rid of Special Counsel Robert Mueller during the Russia investigation, one man is prepared to take action in case that happens. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a New York Times interview that while he hopes this does not occur, “If that happens, we’ll do — as I think would be a genuine sentiment around the country — we’ll do whatever we can do to see that justice is done.” Schneiderman has never been shy about engaging in legal battles with Trump or other Republicans in Washington. His office conducted a criminal probe of money laundering allegations against former Trump campaign head Paul Manafort, stepping aside when Mueller’s investigation headed into that territory. Schneiderman also recently filed his one hundredth action against the current government by moving to sue the FCC over its repeal of net neutrality policies. The New York AG’s office also fought against all three of President Trump’s travel ban orders. Schneiderman remains undeterred in what he views as a significant role in protecting New Yorkers from Washington. “We try and protect New Yorkers from those who would do them harm,” he told the Times. “The biggest threat to New Yorkers right now is the federal government, so we’re responding to it.” Prior to Trump taking office, Schneiderman also brought a fraud case against Trump University, reaching a $25 million settlement. Trump has long been at odds with Schneiderman, taking to Twitter in the past to blast him with names like “lightweight” and “total loser.” Others view Schneiderman and his counterparts in other states as the last line of defense, should Trump decide to issue pardons related to Mueller’s investigation, or if the Mueller probe comes to an untimely end. Presidential pardons only apply to federal matters, not state charges. If there are any state charges that Schneiderman can file against Trump or his associates, he would be prepared to do so, if Mueller doesn’t get to finish his job. “But,” he said, “I hope we don’t have to face a problem like that.” [Image via NBC screengrab]
Stephen Crowley/NYT/Redux/eyevine Hundreds of climate scientists, including many from the United States, have applied to work in France under a €60-million (US$69-million) scheme set up by the country's president, Emmanuel Macron, after his US counterpart Donald Trump rejected the Paris accord on global warming. And Germany has announced that it will set up a similar programme to lure researchers. Macron launched his ‘Make Our Planet Great Again’ initiative on 8 June, seeking to entice researchers in other countries to France with offers of 4-year grants worth up to €1.5 million. Six weeks on, the programme has been flooded with applicants, says Anne Peyroche, a biologist and the chief research officer of the CNRS, France’s national basic-research agency. "Applications continue to come in every hour," she says. Most applied for relatively short sabbaticals in France, but the 154 scientists attracted by longer-term stays of four years or more are of most interest to the initiative's organizers, Peyroche says. France is also headhunting some top climate scientists individually, she adds. The scheme will shortlist as many as 80 scientists by mid-September, with 50 or so winners to be announced around the end of November. Visionaries wanted One applicant is Ashley Ballantyne, a bioclimatologist at the University of Montana in Missoula. His proposal involves laying the foundation for a global integrated carbon-observing network, combining satellite and atmospheric data to seek insights into how ecosystems respond to climate change. "There are very few funding opportunities in the United States that promote research on carbon–climate interactions at the global scale, so the fact this programme was looking for visionary thinking was appealing," he says. Ballantyne has long had informal collaborations with French and other European scientists, including at the renowned Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences (LSCE) at Gif-sur-Yvette near Paris. His principal motivation for applying was the opportunity to strengthen and formalize these ties, he says. The French offer is a "very attractive proposition for many scientists in the US", says Kim Cobb, a palaeoclimatologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. US climate science is under pressure, she adds: scientists are waiting to hear whether Congress will approve Trump's proposed drastic cuts to the field. Cobb says that, were she not a tenured scientist working in an exceptional research environment, she would be "jumping at the opportunity" to work in France. German backing Officials in Germany announced on 13 July that they will establish a scheme to operate alongside the French programme. The German fund will comprise €15 million of government money, matched by a sum from the country's participating research organizations. The details of the programme have not yet been finalized, but Germany's research ministry has created a website for interested scientists to sign up to receive details. Peyroche says that the German fund will target younger or more-junior scientists than its French counterpart. Climate scientists in France support Macron's strong political and diplomatic stance on the Paris agreement. But a vocal minority of researchers argue that the scheme is largely a public-relations exercise to boost France's image abroad, even while research funds at home are scarce. The French government last week proposed trimming the 2017 budget for research and higher education by €331 million, as part of more than €3 billion of cuts in public spending to pay for new initiatives without increasing the national deficit. (The cuts for research activities are distributed across several ministries, from agriculture to defence; the research and higher education ministry itself will see only a €180-million reduction in its €23.85-billion budget, says its minister Frédérique Vidal.) On 13 July, France's Conference of University Presidents said in a statement that it "deplored" what it described as "incomprehensible" cuts. "These numbers should make any foreign scientist wonder about the generous invitation of President Macron to relocate to France," says Patrick Lemaire, a biologist at the University of Montpellier and founder of the researcher-led campaign group Sciences en Marche. "The cuts are a warning that the scientific environment they would find in France may be very far from the one they are promised." But Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, an economist at the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, says that Macron's prominent overtures to foreign scientists and entrepreneurs are helping to promote France as a good place to do research and innovation, which is important for attracting top talent. "There is a seismic shift in the branding of France," he says.
Trivia junkies, take note: Jeopardy! will be taping in DC at DAR Constitution Hall from April 9 to 13. Throughout that time, Alex Trebek and company, who are making the trek to Washington in honor of election season, will shoot three specials: “Power Players Week,” the “Teachers Tournament” finals and semifinals, and the “Teen Tournament.” The show—which hasn’t filmed in DC since 2012—isn’t accepting entrants for these specials, but the planned matchups sound exciting. “Power Players Week” (taping April 9 and airing May 16-20) pits influential people—specifically newsmakers, political figures, and journalists—against each other for charity, while the “Teachers Tournament” (taping April 10 and airing May 2-13) and “Teen Tournament” (taping April 12 and 13 and airing TBD) will feature the smartest instructors and high school students. Tickets for all the specials are free, but there’s a major caveat: They’re first available at 6 AM on Monday. You know what to set as your alarm clock song, right?
Close It's hard to continue to be in denial that the summer is over now that school is in full swing, work is busier than ever and you can't escape seeing everything pumpkin spice-flavored in stores and restaurants. It's only a matter of time before the sweaters and Ugg boots come out in full force, too. So between decorating for Halloween and carving pumpkins, one of the best ways to keep it all together before the holidays is to take some time out to relax with some good, old-fashioned entertainment - well, when it comes to the modern, digital age. That means getting ready to stream all the new titles premiering on the three major platforms this month. Kick off your cowboy boots after a day of hayrides and stream part two of The Ranch, season one, or get your scream on with The Blair Witch Project on Hulu. Prime members can also get their gore on with Sharknado: The 4th Awakens or purchase Finding Dory on Amazon Video. Here's a rundown of the best titles to stream on Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video in October. Netflix While Netflix's original series The Ranch (which gave us a mini That '70s Show cast reunion) returns to the platform on Oct. 7, other series worth streaming include season two of The Flash, season four of Arrow and season two of iZombie, all of which will be available the first week of the month. If you are feeling like going for a good chick flick, then stream A Cinderella Story, Titanic or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days on the first. Then again, you could always just let Justin Timberlake serenade you when his concert debuts on Oct. 12. Those looking for something more spooky can stream American Horror Story: Hotel on Oct. 4 or the fist half of Black Mirror, season three on Oct. 21. via GIPHY See the full list of what's being added to and what's leaving Netflix in October here. Hulu Hulu is allowing users to stream a complete Smallville marathon when it releases all 10 seasons of the series on the first. Then, on Oct. 12, it will add the season premieres of NBC's Chicago Fire and ABC's Fresh Off the Boat and The Middle. Make sure to watch blockbusters like Spectre on Oct. 21, or go the Halloween route with The Blair Witch Project, Sleepy Hollow and The Amityville Horror on the first or Return to Halloweentown on Oct 18. via GIPHY See the full list of what's being added to and what's leaving Hulu in October here. Prime Video / Amazon Video Prime Video subscribers will want to tune in to movies like Tucker & Dale vs Evil, V/H/S and Joyride if they want to be spooked starting on the first. Two new Amazon original series will also debut this month: Complete Unknown on Oct. 27 and Good Girls Revolt the next day, with both being buzzed about. Anyone can purchase titles like new episodes of The Walking Dead from Amazon Video on Oct. 27, as well as Supergirl on Oct. 11 and The Flash on Oct. 5. New movies available to purchase include Sharknado: The 4th Awakens, Alice Though the Looking Glass and Finding Dory. via GIPHY See the full list of what's being added to Prime Video and what's available to purchase on Amazon Video in October here. ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Treasury Department announced Thursday it would be scaling back sanctions put forward by Obama on Russian intelligence agency Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti, otherwise known as FSB, despite some Republicans calling for stronger sanctions. The document released by the department weakens the sanctions Obama put in place by executive order in response to cyberattacks. American businesses will now be able to engage in financial transactions with the FSB, which is sometimes a necessary step in trading with Russia. President Obama first levied these sanctions in April 2015 and strengthened them in late December of 2016 following a comprehensive intelligence report that Russia hacks were intended to interfere in the November election. The document, technically a "general license," appears to allow trade with FSB, noting it "authorizes certain transactions with the Federal Security Service (aka FSB)." Asked about the move, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that it's common after sanctions have been levied for the administration to "carve out" certain exceptions. He declined to comment further, directing questions to the Treasury Department. "We're not easing sanctions," Spicer said. On Twitter, Pete Alexander of NBC News said a source familiar with sanctions called it a "technical fix, planned under Obama, to avoid unintended consequences of cybersanctions." Regardless of the motivation or the terms used, the text is clear that the additional rules will allow more cooperation with the FSB. Nikolai Kovalyov, a former director of the FSB, praised the step to the government-owned Tass news agency. "This is the first step on the way leading to cooperation in the war on terror," he said. "These practical actions indicate that US President Donald Trump has been consistent." "I am truly shocked," said Marie Harf, a former spokesperson for the State Department. "I shouldn't be, after two weeks of foreign policy chaos, but I am." But other commentators disagreed that the decision was that shocking. "This is nothing more geopolitical kabuki dancing between Washington and Moscow," said Justin Thomas Russell, the host of "Backroom Politics" on sidewire. "It is a slight roll back without much teeth but it makes it look like a he is fulfilling a BIG FAVOR for a new bff... Putin." Others pointed out that the timing is particularly inopportune, as reports broke Thursday that a critic of the Kremlin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, nearly died from organ failure after a prior apparent poisoning.* Many had predicted President Trump would lift the sanctions on Russia, given his friendly rhetoric on President Vladimir Putin and his public dismissal of the evidence on Kremlin-directed hacks. But many Republicans have urged Trump to reconsider softening on Russia. "I'm absolutely opposed to lifting sanctions on the Russians," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday. "If anything, we ought to be looking at increasing them." After the policy was announced Thursday, Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, decried the move: #RussianHacking attacked our democracy. They should pay a price. @POTUS rewards them by rolling back sanctions against their team of hackers — Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 2, 2017 Read the full license from Treasury>> *Correction: A prior version of this article reported that Vladimir Kara-Murza died due to an apparent poisoning. It has been corrected to say he nearly died; he is in a medically-induced comas according to the most recent report.. Photo credit: IoSonoUnaFotoCamera
Jonathan Harris, artist and storyteller, made a documentary "I love your work" in which he explores the life, the story of women in the feminist lesbian porn industry. Linking sequences of daily life and work, one discovers nine women filmed on a 24-hour period in New York in 2010. They speak about sex of course, but also about gender, depression and share their lives. Lesbian porn is seldom the subject of documentary and even less women who made it. Harris explains in an interview with Fastcocreate, the juxtaposition [between reality and imagination porn can produce] was really interesting. He continues by taking the example of what porn brought to Internet and it is much more than we could imagine. "Porn sites were the first to use digital photos, digital videos, chat, e-commerce, social networking, and virtual 3-D worlds. New technologies are often tested in the world of porn, and if successful, later introduced to the mainstream Internet. So porn plays this really important role as a staging ground for new technologies, but it rarely gets credit for that. In a lot of ways, porn is like the elephant in the room of the Internet," Harris said. Watch the "I Love Your Work" trailer: The complete interview of Harris is here: Fastcocreate
article Microsoft Corp. plans to lay off 2,850 employees, adding to previously announced job cuts as it retools its sales operations and dismantles its mobile phone hardware business. Continue Reading Below The software giant disclosed the latest cuts in a Thursday filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nine hundred of the layoffs in the global sales unit have already been completed, a spokesman said. Those cuts are part of a restructuring announced earlier this month when former chief operating officer Kevin Turner departed Microsoft for hedge fund Citadel LLC's securities unit. His departure led Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella to reorganize the sales group. Microsoft disclosed the new leadership group as part of that reorganization, but it didn't publicly note the layoffs at the time. The remaining 1,950 cuts, which Microsoft expects to complete by mid-2017, will include jobs in the sales organization and mobile phone division. Advertisement The latest cuts come on the heels of 1,850 layoffs in the phone unit, announced in May. Write to Jay Greene at Jay.Greene@wsj.com
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: Israelis and Palestinians have agreed to an indefinite ceasefire, ending Israel’s 50-day assault on the Gaza Strip. Palestinian health officials say 2,139 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, were killed in the Israeli offensive. Israel’s death toll stood at 64 soldiers and six civilians. The ceasefire deal was mediated by Egyptian officials in Cairo and took effect Tuesday evening. It calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, an opening of Gaza’s blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory’s fishing zone in the Mediterranean. This is Israeli spokesperson Mark Regev. MARK REGEV: Israel has accepted the Egyptian ceasefire proposal. We hope that this time the ceasefire will stick. And I think now, as the dust will begin to clear, many people will be asking, “Why is it that today Hamas accepted the very same Egyptian framework that it rejected a month ago?” Ultimately, so much bloodshed could have been avoided. AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said the people of Gaza have triumphed over Israeli oppression. SAMI ABU ZUHRI: [translated] Today, this week, blockaded people have won over the destructive Israeli power. It has done the impossible. It has done what the Arab armies have failed to do combined. Today, the women, children and elderly of Gaza, in their resilience and resistance, through their mighty and legendary unity, have succeeded in recording this victory. AMY GOODMAN: Several thornier issues remained unaddressed by the ceasefire and are expected to be raised during further talks next month. Hamas has demanded Israel release a number of its prisoners. The group has also asked for an airport and seaport in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel has called for the disarmament of Palestinian militant groups and the return of the remains of two of its soldiers killed in the fighting. Well, for more, we go directly to Gaza City, where we’re joined by the award-winning Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer. He tweets at the handle @Mogaza. Mohammed Omer, welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the significance of this ceasefire and Israel saying, the spokesperson Mark Regev, that so many people didn’t have to die if Hamas had simply accepted this same—essentially same agreement over a month ago? MOHAMMED OMER: Thank you very much, Amy. I guess Mark Regev, this is his job, really. This is his job to say these statements over and over, and he wants the international community to believe these statements. In any case, the fighting is on hold at this moment. People are trying to get back to their homes in the east of Gaza City and the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The different parts of the Gaza Strip are now trying to come back slightly to life. People started to have confidence after President Mahmoud Abbas appeared on TV yesterday announcing this is a serious ceasefire and is going to be lasting for long. There is a lot of wounds here that’s happening in the Gaza Strip, damages and destruction, and we’re talking about thousands of homes that have been demolished between completely and partially. We’re talking about a massive number of people who are killed and injured, just about 1,800 children who became orphans in the Gaza Strip as a result of targeting at least 145 families in the Gaza Strip over the past seven weeks. The massive destruction, you won’t believe. Just behind me, I don’t know if you can see that, but Al-Basha Tower, which is a residential area, apartment, which was completely destroyed by the Israeli F-16s. A number of these apartment buildings have been completely destroyed. The damages is beyond imagination in Gaza. I believe Gaza will need several years to fix or reconstruct the damages that are caused by the Israeli military. We are also talking to different people in Gaza, and we are seeing that they’re trying to come back to their lives, they’re trying to rebuild their life. The resilience is still very high among the population in Gaza. We have seen also people in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, who are facing the Israeli watching towers, are just coming back to their homes to find massive destruction after several weeks of fighting. Gaza is still in very much bad need for humanitarian aid, which the population hope that it’s going to be coming anytime soon in the coming days. We’re talking also to some other health officials, who inform us that among the 11,000 people who were injured, there are about 3,000 children, and just one-third of them will become paralyzed for the rest of their life. AMY GOODMAN: What about the agreement? What exactly does this ceasefire say? MOHAMMED OMER: The ceasefire is a quite vague terminology. I have seen the document which the Egyptians have released. The term “ease the crossings” or “ease the blockade” is rather vague, and it’s a rather subjective term which I find very difficult to translate on the ground. If you go back a little bit, Amy, to May 2010, just after the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish attack—or, the attack on the Turkish flotilla, we do see how much Israel tried to get materials into the Gaza Strip, and “easing the blockade” back then was translated into allowing ketchup, shoelace, and even coriander to make falafel for the people of Gaza. I hope this is not going to be the case this time. People are hopeful that this is going to be holding, but I am not quite confident that Israel is really willing to do that. If that’s the case, then we would be seeing all the commercial crossings and Rafah crossing will be open. But that has not been the case today. Palestinian fishermen are hoping to get inside further than the three miles that they have been restricted to by the Israeli military for the past period, but so far we haven’t heard any reports from the fishermen whether they were able to get inside further than six miles. So it’s all in the test mode, if you like, in the coming hours. We are trying to see how much of this is going to hold. But the fact that it is really quite holding right now, that the ceasefire is still going on, and there is no fighting, which is a good chance for people to come back to their homes and to check on their relatives and to bury their loved ones and to go condolences. I have seen about—talking about condolences, there are hundreds of people who are running to mourning tents, from one to the other, and there are many people who don’t know who was lost. Some people who are living in the same neighborhood, who say, “Well, we don’t know that our neighbors have been killed, because we were under constant bombardment and attacks that we could not leave outside of our homes.” AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed Omer, on Tuesday, the U.N. spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, welcomed the ceasefire but warned that any lasting solution must address the root causes of the conflict. This is what he said. STÉPHANE DUJARRIC: Any peace effort that does not tackle the root causes of the crisis will do little more then set the stage for the next cycle of violence. Gaza must be brought back under one legitimate Palestinian government, adhering to the PLO commitments. The blockade of Gaza must end. Israel’s legitimate security concerns must be addressed. The United Nations stands ready to support efforts to address the structural factors of conflict between Israel and Gaza. AMY GOODMAN: What does this position of the United Nations mean for the people of Gaza, Mohammed Omer? MOHAMMED OMER: But this position is not new. If we are talking about eight years ago, this is the same position exactly. The United Nations have called on Israel to end the blockade in Gaza, to make life possible for the Palestinians. But now it’s really up to Israel. It’s Israel who will decide whether the Gaza Strip should be opened or not. I mean, talking about six miles, this is not enough, when I talk to fishermen. This is absolutely not enough. Basically, Palestinians for the last few years have been fishing an area which is virtually fished out, in fact. So, people are fishing within three miles just for the last few years, and now they are extended another three miles. I’m sure they will be shot at in the coming days. People say that this is going to be a quite shaky ceasefire, given that there is no guarantee. It’s only Egypt that guarantees all these issues. If you remember, in November 2012, the United States of America, they were on this agreement of ceasefire. President Morsi, back then, and several Arab states and European Union were supporting the ceasefire. And it did not really hold for more than two years. So what are we expecting, this ceasefire to hold for more than a year now? I’m quite doubting that. But people wanted to get back to their life The people wanted to get back to normal. Hospitals are still flooded by people who are injured, who need to be treated. We are talking about people, for example, those who need treatment for thalassemia. They have been struggling in Gaza because of that. And they haven’t been given any chance to receive medical care, because the hospitals in Gaza are overwhelmed. People are hoping that Israel is going to abide by what it has agreed in Cairo. We will see in the coming days what will happen. I think the most critical point at this stage is basically to open the Rafah crossing. Opening the Rafah crossing will be the first step for ending the blockade on the Gaza Strip. But I have realized also that this is not one of the items that were discussed in the Cairo talk, because the Egyptian officials, they say this is a Palestinian-Egyptian matter that needs to be discussed between two sides without Israel. So, Palestinians have to negotiate with Israel indirectly through Egypt about the other crossings, but then the crossing which is the main crossing for the Gaza Strip, Rafah, is being negotiated between Palestinians and the Egyptian officials. AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed— MOHAMMED OMER: Now, there is hope that President Mahmoud Abbas would come— AMY GOODMAN: A quick question. You’ve just written a piece about the Juda family. You were in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. Can you tell us about Thaeer, this little boy that you met? MOHAMMED OMER: Thaeer is the pain—he’s the pain of everybody. He’s the pain of every Palestinian. He’s one child, just a child who’s sitting just about five to 10 minutes from here at Shifa Hospital. He had lost four of his brothers. He did not know that he had lost them. He had lost his mother, Rawia, a 40-year-old woman. The mother was watching the children playing in the northern part of Gaza Strip in Jabaliya, as she was watching them, trying to have a moment of relief. The children wanted to play, as her husband was preparing a supper for the children. Unfortunately, they could not take the supper because all of them were hit by several Israeli airstrikes on the area, killing the children. The children’s bodies were not identifiable, and the mother also. This is one of the last family massacres that we witnessed in the Gaza Strip. I have been to the scene to see people. The only thing you can smell is explosives, damage and destruction that are caused to the families. The smell of just dead bodies and blood just remains a witness in this area in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Thaeer is traumatized. AMY GOODMAN: Does Thaeer, the 10-year-old boy— MOHAMMED OMER: I know he’s going to live. AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed, does Thaeer, the 10-year-old who’s at Shifa—does he know that his brothers and mother were killed? MOHAMMED OMER: Unfortunately, no, he doesn’t, not until—they are trying to bring it back to him, but he is semi-conscious, so he doesn’t know that he had missed his four brothers and his mother. And the house has been completely destroyed. I mean, Thaeer is not one—is not only one; there are thousands of people like Thaeer in hospitals across the Gaza Strip, who are really not aware of what happened to their families. And now we are questioning: What’s going to happen to these children who became orphans? We are talking about 1,800 children in the Gaza Strip who became orphans. Now, Israel has destroyed over 35 organizations, and most of these organizations that have been destroyed are children organizations which offer either rehabilitation, like al-Wafa Hospital, which I’m sure you know that it was bombed by the Israeli missiles, or organizations that support orphan children and sponsorship children programs within the Gaza Strip and the outside world. So, what is going to happen to the future of those people? It’s actually Israel who decided to end the life of those people. It’s Israel who decided not to allow them to get the patronage and care which they need from the outside world. But I say that the resilience of Gaza is quite strong. And in fact, it’s quite astonishing to see the people of Gaza are supporting as much as possible by taking those children who are killed and injured. Thaeer will remain. He does not know that his family have been killed. He will survive, but not with the ones that he would like to stay with for the rest of his life. AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed Omer, over the weekend, Hamas said it supports the push to bring the conflict before the International Criminal Court, a move that could expose both Hamas and Israel to probes into war crimes. Hamas official Mushir al-Masri said Israel has more to fear than Hamas. This is what he said. MUSHIR AL-MASRI: [translated] There is nothing to fear. The Palestinian factions are leading a legitimate resistance in keeping with all international laws and standards. All the nations resisted occupation. We are in a state of self-defense. AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed Omer, can you talk about the significance of this, of Israel and Hamas being brought to the ICC, the International Criminal Court? MOHAMMED OMER: Now, the Roman Charter have been actually signed by Hamas. Hamas have informed President Mahmoud Abbas that they officially agreed to join the International Criminal Court and actually agree that the Palestinian Authority join on behalf of all the Palestinians. Now, there are more calls from the population in Gaza. There are war crimes. People have been used as human shields. Human rights experts in Gaza are talking about war crimes against humanity, war crimes that have been committed against civilians. I’m sure you know about the cases of executions which happened in Khuza’a, the families who have been shot dead alive just from short distance by the Israeli soldiers. There are many of these cases that have been documented. I must say that Israel have prevented most of the international groups, talking mainly about the human rights groups on the outside of the Gaza Strip, to get inside the Gaza Strip. So, that has made a big problem on the population in Gaza. We don’t know what’s going to happen and what’s the prospect, but there is massive support for the Palestinian Authority to take Israel into international court. Of course, Hamas is not fearing anything. There is the impression among Hamas leaders that they are not a state, therefore they won’t be as liable as the Israelis, a military state, and one of the most powerful, using the human shield—Palestinians as a human shield and bombing a whole area by constant Israeli bombardments and airstrikes and F-16s. The talk of human rights violations is increasing. Many of the people are now in the field. They are trying to connect information on war crimes and crimes against humanity. And the population is hoping that the only way to get Israel to listen to the international community is not actually the support from the Arab world or the international community itself, but bringing Israel into international courts with the claims of human rights violations and war crimes and crimes against humanity. AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed, can you talk very quickly about the killing of the Hamas commanders, the significance of this, and also the outcry over the recent execution of—I think 18 Palestinians who were accused of collaborating with Israel, killed by Hamas? MOHAMMED OMER: The number of people who have been executed by, I would say, not necessarily Hamas, because that was not the case—it’s a mistake most of the international media fall into. But according to the statement which we have seen is it was signed by a Palestinian resistance. We don’t know what’s Palestinian resistance. There is a lot of people who support—people who support such move of execution, because they believe those people who have been killed have been actually passing accurate information about the whereabouts of resistance fighters, which killed the life—which destroyed the life of many people and killed and destroyed several homes. Now, that’s as far as the Palestinian street or the Palestinian public is concerned. But also among the Palestinian human rights groups, the issue have been quite criticized and condemned as a violation for the rights of those collaborators, or alleged collaborators, rather, to appeal to international courts and to go for a fair trial. No, they haven’t been going through a fair trial, at least many of them, so Hamas is being criticized now for that. And the other Islamic groups, including the PFLP and other factions, it’s a whole combination of Palestinian factions who have taken the decision jointly to kill the collaborators who have helped Israel to target people in the Gaza Strip. There is massive support for that, once again, but the human rights groups are thinking that this is not really what Hamas should have done. Remember that Israel have used a lot of these collaborators. In the case of cancer patients, Israel put conditions on cancer patients. In order to get outside of the Gaza Strip for medical treatment, they have to collaborate with the Israeli military and the Israeli security establishment and bring information about Palestinian resistance in order to get outside. So, many of those people have been quite innocent. We don’t know about the cases. But Hamas has tried to hide, together with other factions, all the names of those people. They say that this is going to affect the social fabric of the Palestinian community in the Gaza Strip. AMY GOODMAN: Last seconds, Mohammed Omer, to describe the scene on the ground right now, as we leave you in Gaza City. MOHAMMED OMER: Well, in Gaza City, it’s quite a cheerful moment that people are trying to come back to their life. Many people have celebrated yesterday. It’s what they call a victory. What I believe is that Israel has failed in the war. The Palestinian resistance is not defeated. That’s what it is, basically, on the ground. But the Palestinians are now trying to come back to their life. Banks have just been opened. The Rafah crossing is still closed. There are more and more people in the different parts of the Gaza Strip who are trying to resume their life and just bring it back to normal. But I must say that the damage is beyond imagination. We are talking about thousands of homes that have been completely and partially demolished, and over 130 mosques and over 140 schools in the different parts of the Gaza Strip. That’s going to affect the opening of the new year of school, which was supposed to start a few days ago, but it did not start. I doubt if it’s going to start, because there are still hundreds of thousands of people who are seeking shelter inside UNRWA schools after their homes have been demolished in different parts of Gaza. The situation as it is in Gaza, people are trying to return back to normality. I don’t know what’s normality after over 50 days of trauma and constant airstrikes. One thing which I know for sure, that the majority of people in Gaza, they need the psychological support to overcome the trauma sustained over the last seven weeks. AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed Omer, we want to thank you for being with us, award-winning Palestinian journalist, reporting to us from Gaza City. He tweets at the handle @Mogaza. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Back in a minute.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed has said his organisation supports the efforts of the Pakistan government and army to “help the people of Kashmir”, calling it ‘jihad’. “Jihad is the duty of an Islamic government... there is a government in Pakistan and it has always taken the stand that it is the right of Kashmiris to attain freedom. I say what our army will do to secure the right of Kashmiris is jihad... we extend help to Kashmiris alongside the Pakistani government... we call this jihad,” the Lashkar-e-Taiba founder said in an interview to a news channel in Lahore on Friday. He also brought up the arrest of separatist Masarat Alam, who faces sedition charges for waving a Pakistan flag at a protest rally. “The waving of Pakistani flags in Srinagar has shown the whole world that Kashmiris don’t want to live with India. India has to give Kashmiris their rights.” “Is it justified to arrest Masarat Alam the way he was yesterday? He hoisted a Pakistan flag in Kashmir, not in Delhi. Kashmir is a disputed area, so nothing is wrong,” he said. Saeed said if India was not prepared to give Kashmiris their rights, “we believe now that if they fire bullets, then the only answer is jihad”. The BJP, which heads the government at the Centre and is part of the ruling alliance in the state, said Saeed’s statement reinforced the contention that Pakistan supports terrorists against India. “I don’t consider the statement of Hafiz Sayeed a serious thing, rather I consider it ridiculous. The serious thing is pointing towards Pakistan, which has made so many voices and slogans for its commitment to fight terrorism,” said spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi. Echoing Trivedi, Union minister of state in the PMO Jitendra Singh said, “What is important for us is not what Pakistan is doing but what we have in the mind and the clarity with which we will deal with a situation like this (Kashmir violence).” A home ministry official added, “The home ministry’s stand is very clear and consistent. During the UPA regime and now when the NDA is in power, we have been saying that Pakistan has done nothing to bring the accused of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice. Hafiz Saeed’s trusted aide and the main conspirator in the Mumbai attacks, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was released on bail. Now Hafiz Saeed, a known asset of the Pakistani army, is being allowed to carry on his anti-India propaganda. Pakistan has totally failed to live up to its promise to rein in terror outfits working from its soil.” Rana Banerji, a former special secretary of the external intelligence agency R&AW, said, “Though Lashkar has remained a most disciplined non-state asset of the Pakistani army, ultimately they will have to take a call on how to deal with it, as the day is not far when Hafiz Saeed, who already enjoys a great amount of sympathy in the radicalised sections of Pakistani society, will head towards capturing the state power there as well.” Pakistan’s foreign office, too, released a statement condemning the “brutal use of force” in J&K. “Pakistan has consistently extended diplomatic, moral and political support to Kashmiris’ struggle for self-determination. Pakistan deplores the brutal use of force by Indian security forces against peaceful and unarmed Kashmiris,” it said. (Inputs from HT Correspondent, Delhi and PTI) First Published: Apr 18, 2015 16:19 IST
NEW ORLEANS -- A little more than a week ago the NBA purchased the New Orleans Hornets, buying the team from majority owner George Shinn and minority owner Gary Chouest in hopes of finding a new ownership group. Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson, in town to play the Hornets on Wednesday, voiced his displeasure with the transaction. "Not happy about that," Jackson said, when asked about the purchase. "Who's going to trade who to whom? Who's going to pull the button on trading player or when Chris [Paul] says he has to be traded? How's that going to go? I don't know. Somebody's going to have to make a very nonjudgmental decision on that part that's not going to irritate anybody else in this league ... I don't know how they're going to do that." The Hornets basketball decisions and day-to-day operations will continue to be controlled by team president Hugh Weber and general manager Dell Demps, but Jackson was skeptical any move made by New Orleans would be viewed as the league helping out another franchise. "That's what everybody is going to be afraid of: Who is going to be helping who out?" Jackson said. "The best thing about [the Hornets franchise] is its still in existence; it's still here." He was not sure how long that would continue to be the case. "I don't know if New Orleans can support [an NBA] team," Jackson said. "It hasn't been successful supporting a team up until now. So, all the situations that have gone on in New Orleans, unfortunate things have happened and you know if the franchise can't make it, somebody is going to have to move it." NBA commissioner David Stern said the league prefers to find an ownership group that would continue to operate the team in New Orleans. Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Follow him on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Star Wars: The Data Wars A long time ago in a galaxy far far away technology was leaps and bounds ahead of what we would know even in the 21st Century. Lightsabers, spaceships that travel at light speed, holograms, robotic droids, the list can go on and on. One thing that our humble little planet has in common with the Star Wars Universe is data storage. This infographic examines the data storage technology used in Star Wars and includes information on how it was used, what it was used for and where it fits in the Star Wars story. From 1976 until today and beyond, the Star Wars franchise continues to exercise our imaginations and keep us asking; Will we one day have this technology? 39 Embed Star Wars: The Data Wars on Your Site: Copy and Paste the Code Below <img src="img src=https://sep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/yhst-10634168652522/StarWarDataStorageIG2.png?t=1529653547&" width="540"><p>Star Wars: The Data Wars - An infographic by the team at <a href="http://www.pc-wholesale.com">PC Wholesale</a></p>
Clinton, who on Tuesday night claimed the title of presumptive Democratic nominee, was asked about a Democratic senator's recent comments on the idea of Sen.(D-Mass.) as Clinton's running mate. "I’m not going to get into vice presidential choices, but I have the highest regard for Senator Warren," Clinton responded when asked about his comments. Clinton became the first female presumptive nominee for a major political party this week, extending her delegate lead with wins in several states, including New Jersey and California, on Tuesday. Clinton told ABC that becoming the first woman elected president is also part of her "unfinished business." "It is of course symbolic, but symbols mean something and symbols often can spark hope and action in people, particularly young people, and I think it will be a real milestone with my nomination for our country, but it will also send a signal around the world," Clinton said.
Finding sponsorship in the NASCAR series is becoming increasingly difficult, so drivers and teams are always on the lookout on new ways to gain funds to race every week. Driver Josh Wise, who is currently sponsorless in the Sprint Cup Series may have some new help. Users of the r/NASCAR subreddit (which is a pretty awesome community, might I add), are trying to raise funds for Wise using the cryptocurrency “Dogecoin.” I’m not an expert in the whole cyrptocurrency deal, but at the time of writing this, $539 has been raised to sponsor Wise in the Phil Parsons Racing’s No. 98 Chevrolet SS. Phil Parsons is apparently on board with it, as is Josh Wise himself, who tweeted "Wow, thanks for the support! Let's make it happen!" Here’s how you can donate to the cause. UPDATE (March 20th @ 4:00pm ET): Looks like the total amount raised has reached $2,319 USD
Germany has taken in almost 760,000 asylum seekers this year, with a third of all arrivals coming from Syria Germany has received nearly one in two of all asylum applications made by Syrians in EU member states this year. New figures released by the ministry of the interior on Thursday put the total number of asylum applications filed in Germany so far this year at 362,153, up 130% on January to October 2014. Nearly 104,000 of these applications were made by Syrians. This corresponds to about 47.5% of all requests for asylum submitted by Syrians in EU member states this year. Syrian asylum seekers Figures for Spain are to the end of June. Figures for Greece, Denmark, France, UK, Cyprus, Romania, Malta, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Portugal are to the end of July. Figures for Hungary, Austria, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia are to the end of August. Figures for Germany are to the end October. All others to the end of September. Together with Germany, the countries that have received the most asylum applications from Syrians relative to their population sizes are Austria, Sweden and Hungary, with 1.3, 1.5, 2.7 and 4.7 applications per 1,000 people respectively. Europe’s next two biggest economies, France and Britain, on the other hand, have received only 0.03 and 0.02 applications from Syrians per 1,000 people respectively, according to Eurostat data. Germany received 54,877 asylum applications in October alone, an increase of nearly 160% compared with the same month last year, according to the same figures. But the figure for formal asylum applications doesn’t reveal the full scale of the number of people Germany is absorbing. Filing the required paperwork takes time. The German interior ministry notes that the country registered 181,166 asylum seeker arrivals in October alone. Of these, 88,640 were from Syria, 31,051 from Afghanistan and 21,875 from Iraq. Germany to push for compulsory EU quotas to tackle refugee crisis Read more Between January and October, Germany registered the arrival of 758,473 asylum seekers, about a third of which (243,721) were from Syria. The country expects to receive more than a million asylum seekers this year. So far this year, 81,547 people have been granted refugee status in Germany, which represents just under 40% of all asylum decisions taken from January to October 2015.
The Derek Jeter Gatorade commercial made baseball fans all tingly on Thursday as the legendary Yankees shortstop plays out his final days in pinstripes. Meanwhile, for fantasy baseball purposes this season, Jeter’s production has been severely lacking — if any fantasy owner even has the shortstop in an active lineup at all given his recent 0-for-28 slump. Still, a guy in my fantasy league named Andy is attempting to protect Jeter’s honor. Two weeks ago the league commissioner locked everyone’s rosters for the playoffs (a subject of great controversy), leaving Jeter mired in the pool of free agents (mixed league) with the likes of injured stars and disappointments such as Jedd Gyorko, Manny Machado and Curtis Granderson. Article continues below ... Here is Andy’s plea for the Captain: So far league reactions have ranged from "I support this motion" to "Awwww, that’s cute." Update: The commissioner has allowed it. Jeter’s fantasy baseball dignity is restored.
Transporting an elephant to New Zealand comes with a jumbo pricetag - $1.6 million in fact. In May 2011 Auckland Council approved $3.2m to transport two gifted elephants from Sri Lanka to New Zealand. In June 2015, Anjalee arrived at Auckland Zoo from Sri Lanka's Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, to keep the zoo's veteran elephant Burma company, after spending three months quarantined on Niue. REBEKAH PARSONS-KING/STUFF Anjalee and Andrew Coers at the enclosure in Niue where Anjalee stayed for three months before moving to Auckland Zoo. Protests earlier this year stopped a baby elephant called Nandi from leaving Sri Lanka for New Zealand. Nandi was also from Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and gifted by the Sri Lankan Government. READ MORE: * Protest stops Sri Lankan elephant bound for Auckland Zoo from flying * Prime Minister John Key and the elephant in the Sri Lankan courtroom * Auckland Zoo 'delighted' by new elephant offer, but animal rights activists angry * Elephant Anjalee a walking ambassador for zoo's Sri Lankan effort Campaigners in Sri Lanka petitioned the Sri Lankan Court of Appeal to prevent Nandi from being moved to Auckland. A hearing is scheduled for Saturday. Now Auckland Council is budgeting $1.6m for a second elephant to join Burma and Anjalee however, it is not clear whether it will be Nandi or a different gifted elephant. During the 2017/2018 Annual Plan process council allocated only $1.1m for the relocation of the second elephant instead of the $1.6m required, due to an oversight. A meeting will be held on October 24 and a correction of $549,000 will need to be added to the regional facilities Auckland board's ((RFA) operating expense budget in order for the second elephant to be transported from Sri Lanka. Animal rights activist and SAFE ambassador Hans Kriek said $1.6m was a one-off cost and there would be high ongoing costs to look after an elephant in captivity. "It's really not contributing to conservation of the species," Kriek said. "If this is really about conservation, then that money would be better spent protecting animals already in the wild rather than putting one in a zoo for people to look at." Elephants lived in groups and zoos could not replicate these types of family ties, Kriek said. He said living in captivity was not good "emotionally, mentally and physically" for elephants. RFA external relations director Paul Brewer said aspects of the elephant programme funding would be discussed at Auckland Council's finance and performance committee meeting on October 24. Auckland Zoo would not comment until after the meeting.
The extinction of most of the world’s remaining megafauna mammals is more or less imminent (over the next few decades) without major changes and improved conservation strategies, according to a public declaration published in the journal BioScience. The public declaration — which calls for a coordinated global plan to prevent further megafauna extinctions — was signed by over 40 conservation researchers and experts. The main drivers behind this rapid slide towards mass megafauna extinctions are the same ones that have been in play for centuries and millennia now — the expansion of agriculture and livestock grazing, the attendant wild habitat loss, deforestation, and over-hunting (often owing to demand from the wealthy; ie as with the extinction of the European lion during the growth days of the Roman Republic/Empire owing to a demand for lion pelts). “The more I look at the trends facing the world’s largest terrestrial mammals, the more concerned I am we could lose these animals just as science is discovering how important they are to ecosystems and to the services they provide for people,” stated Dr William Ripple, professor of ecology at Oregon State University and lead author of the study. Roughly 59% of the world’s biggest mammalian carnivore species, and 60% of the largest herbivores, are now categorized as being threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. These animals are of license vitally important to the ecosystems and regions in which they live — the loss of large herds of migrating herbivores is associated with vastly increased rates of desertification in dry-land regions; the loss of large carnivores with attendant ecosystem collapses owing to lack of predators; etc. “The loss of elephants in the forests of Central Africa is increasingly damaging the function of the region’s most important ecosystems,” noted WCS Conservation Scientist Dr Fiona Maisels, one of the study’s co-authors. “We’re only beginning to understand how vital these keystone species are to the health of rainforests and other species that inhabit them.” The press release notes that the paper “includes a 13-part declaration that highlights the need to acknowledge the threatened status of many large mammals and the vital ecological roles they play. The declaration also cites the importance of integrating the efforts of scientists and funding agencies in developing countries where many species occur; the need for a new global framework to conserve megafauna; and the moral obligation of saving the world’s biggest mammal species.” While the megafauna animals in question are of course still in the world, for the time being, they have all suffered an enormous loss of genetic diversity over the last few hundred years — leaving them increasingly susceptible to environmental changes, variation, and to the effects of inbreeding.
Fan Bases’ Projections for the 2017–2018 NBA Season, Along With Some Insight Into The NBA Fan’s Mind (Survey Results) Dashiell Nusbaum Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 16, 2017 Surprise surprise: It leads to an impossible season The survey was not without it’s struggles: The Nuggets took my post down after three responses (though eventually put it back up), someone answered that their team would get 33.5 wins, and 112 people thought it would be absolutely hilarious to write 82 wins (shoutout to Hawks and Lakers fans for the majority of these responses). Note: I removed all “joke” responses of 0–9 and 79–82 wins, and then some for individual teams that felt like jokes (E.g. Brooklyn Nets, 74 wins). (or maybe this wasn’t a joke) How many teams guessed under the Vegas odds? This isn’t to say that Vegas odds are the be-all-end-all of predictions, but it’s the pre-season ranking that most accurately serves as a reflection of the general consensus going into the season. So how many teams guessed under Vegas lines? There was only one: The Sacramento Kings (Fans: 26.76, Vegas 28.5). Their misery persists. As for the other 29 teams, there were individuals that guessed less; however, cumulatively, all other fanbases guessed above the Vegas odds. Okay, so who was the most “off”? That would be Pelicans fans, who guessed 48.47 wins, 8.97 more wins than Vegas (39.5) thinks they’ll have. In second place for the most optimistic team are the Memphis Grizzlies, who thought they’d win 45.91 games, 8.41 more than the Vegas odds of 37.5. And what fans were the most accurate/closest to Vegas? This one shocked me. Coming in as the most-sane, most level-headed fanbase: The Boston Celtics? (Fans: 54.68 Vegas: 54.5). Boston fans were only 0.18 wins off. Think about that for a second. Maybe they’ve turned over a new leaf. Just how off were most fanbases? Every team’s record should average out to 41–41 (.500 record). When fans make predictions for their own teams, the average was 45–37 (.550 record). Fans think their teams will win an average of 4 more games than Vegas does. Can we just see the results? Sure.
Nearly three hundred years since his death, Isaac Newton is as much a myth as a man. The mythical Newton abounds in contradictions; he is a semi-divine genius and a mad alchemist, a somber and solitary thinker and a passionate religious heretic. Myths usually have an element of truth to them but how many Newtonian varieties are true? Here are ten of the most common, debunked or confirmed by the evidence of his own private papers, kept hidden for centuries and now freely available online. 10. Newton was a heretic who had to keep his religious beliefs secret. True. While Newton regularly attended chapel, he abstained from taking holy orders at Trinity College. No official excuse survives, but numerous theological treatises he left make perfectly clear why he refused to become an ordained clergyman, as College fellows were normally obliged to do. Newton believed that the doctrine of the Trinity, in which the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost were given equal status, was the result of centuries of corruption of the original Christian message and therefore false. Trinity College’s most famous fellow was, in fact, an anti-Trinitarian. 9. Newton never laughed. False, but only just. There are only two specific instances that we know of when the great man laughed. One was when a friend to whom he had lent a volume of Euclid’s Elements asked what the point of it was, ‘upon which Sir Isaac was very merry.’ (The point being that if you have to ask what the point of Euclid is, you have already missed it.) So far, so moderately funny. The second time Newton laughed was during a conversation about his theory that comets inevitably crash into the stars around which they orbit. Newton noted that this applied not just to other stars but to the Sun as well and laughed while remarking to his interlocutor John Conduitt ‘that concerns us more.’ 8. Newton was an alchemist. True. Alchemical manuscripts make up roughly one tenth of the ten million words of private writing that Newton left on his death. This archive contains very few original treatises by Newton himself, but what does remain tells us in minute detail how he assessed the credibility of mysterious authors and their work. Most are copies of other people’s writings, along with recipes, a long alchemical index and laboratory notebooks. This material puzzled and disappointed many who encountered it, such as biographer David Brewster, who lamented ‘how a mind of such power, and so nobly occupied with the abstractions of geometry, and the study of the material world, could stoop to be even the copyist of the most contemptible alchemical work, the obvious production of a fool and a knave.’ While Brewster tried to sweep Newton’s alchemy under the rug, John Maynard Keynes made a splash when he wrote provocatively that Newton was the ‘last of the magicians’ rather than the ‘first king of reason.’ 7. Newton believed that life on earth (and most likely on other planets in the universe) was sustained by dust and other vital particles from the tails of comets. True. In Book 3 of the Principia, Newton wrote extensively how the rarefied vapour in comet’s tails was eventually drawn to earth by gravity, where it was required for the ‘conservation of the sea, and fluids of the planets’ and was most likely responsible for the ‘spirit’ which makes up the ‘most subtle and useful part of our air, and so much required to sustain the life of all things with us.’ 6. Newton was a self-taught genius who made his pivotal discoveries in mathematics, physics and optics alone in his childhood home of Woolsthorpe while waiting out the plague years of 1665-7. False, though this is a tricky one. One of the main treasures that scholars have sought in Newton’s papers is evidence for his scientific genius and for the method he used to make his discoveries. It is true that Newton’s intellectual achievement dwarfed that of his contemporaries. It is also true that as a 23 year-old, Newton made stunning progress on the calculus, and on his theories of gravity and light while on a plague-induced hiatus from his undergraduate studies at Trinity College. Evidence for these discoveries exists in notebooks which he saved for the rest of his life. However, notebooks kept at roughly the same time, both during his student days and his so called annus mirabilis, also demonstrate that Newton read and took careful notes on the work of leading mathematicians and natural philosophers, and that many of his signature discoveries owe much to them. 5. Newton found secret numerological codes in the Bible. True. Like his fellow analysts of scripture, Newton believed there were important meanings attached to the numbers found there. In one theological treatise, Newton argues that the Pope is the anti-Christ based in part on the appearance in Scripture of the number of the name of the beast, 666. In another, he expounds on the meaning of the number 7, which figures prominently in the numbers of trumpets, vials and thunders found in Revelation. 4. Newton had terrible handwriting, like all geniuses. False. Newton’s handwriting is usually clear and easy to read. It did change somewhat throughout his life. His youthful handwriting is slightly more angular, while in his old age, he wrote in a more open and rounded hand. More challenging than deciphering his handwriting is making sense of Newton’s heavily worked-over drafts, which are crowded with deletions and additions. He also left plenty of very neat drafts, especially of his work on church history and doctrine, which some considered to be suspiciously clean, evidence, said his 19th century cataloguers, of Newton’s having fallen in love with his own hand-writing. 3. Newton believed the earth was created in seven days. True. Newton believed that the Earth was created in seven days, but he assumed that the duration of one revolution of the planet at the beginning of time was much slower than it is today. 2. Newton discovered universal gravitation after seeing an apple fall from a tree. False, though Newton himself was partly responsible for this myth. Seeking to shore up his legacy at the end of his life, Newton told several people, including Voltaire and his friend William Stukeley, the story of how he had observed an apple falling from a tree while waiting out the plague in Woolsthorpe between 1665-7. (He never said it hit him on the head.) At that time Newton was struck by two key ideas—that apples fall straight to the center of the earth with no deviation and that the attractive power of the earth extends beyond the upper atmosphere. As important as they are, these insights were not sufficient to get Newton to universal gravitation. That final, stunning leap came some twenty years later, in 1685, after Edmund Halley asked Newton if he could calculate the forces responsible for an elliptical planetary orbit. 1. Newton was a virgin. Almost certainly true. One bit of evidence comes via Voltaire, who heard it from Newton’s physician Richard Mead and wrote it up in his Letters on England, noting that unlike Descartes, Newton was ‘never sensible to any passion, was not subject to the common frailties of mankind, nor ever had any commerce with women.’ More substantively, there is Newton’s lifelong status as a self-proclaimed godly bachelor who berated his friend Locke for trying to ‘embroil’ him with women and who wrote passionately about how other godly men struggled to tame their lust. Headline image credit: Sir Isaac Newton by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1702. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Thousands of jobs will be up for grabs Tuesday in Huntsville during a regional job fair hosted by the Alabama Department of Labor. ADOL spokeswoman Tara Hutchison said approximately 160 employers with more than 4,000 jobs will be available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Von Braun Center. The job fair is free and open to the public, but residents must register prior to the hiring event. "More than 2,000 people have already pre-registered," Hutchison said. "We are still accepting applications from employers through the end of today." The Alabama Career Center System, a division of ADOL, is partnering with the City of Huntsville and WAFF 48 for the job fair. Belk, Polaris, Home Depot, GE Aviation, Regions Bank, Tyledyne Brown Engineering and other employers will attend. To pre-register, ADOL suggests visiting www.labor.alabama.gov/jobfair and bringing a printed copy of the confirmation. Job seekers can also save it on their phones before attending the event. On-site registration will also be available. Attendees should dress professionally, be prepared to interview and bring multiple copies of their resume. "We are excited to host our first regional job fair in North Alabama," said Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington. "A huge variety of employers have registered for the job fair, encompassing all sorts of career fields, such as engineering, hospitality, banking, retail, education, and more. All of them have available jobs to fill - it's one of our requirements to participate. This is a great opportunity for anyone looking for a job or looking for a change in career." For more details, click here.
The few startups that grow rapidly to over $1 billion in revenue are almost never in retail, they’re usually in technology or other industries. Retailers that grow so fast are normally unsustainable, I try not to even comment about them. Except for this one. I can’t recall ever seeing anything like it. It has grown so fast and so high that it’s worth looking at. Growth like this has to have tapped into an underlying need that most other industry people didn't see. If you want to understand consumers and you find companies like this, it's worth looking at more closely because there's probably a trend or a need they're serving that's not otherwise apparent. It's not easy to figure out what that kind of growth reveals, sales growth numbers on their own don’t explain why consumers do what they do. It means consumers are up to something different and it’s up to the observer to figure out what that is. Here Are The Facts The Company is called LuLaRoe. They sell ladies clothes along with some men’s and children’s in colorful styles. There’s nothing so unusual about that, in fact right now that’s a fairly unattractive business to be in. That’s what makes this company so intriguing. There are a few other unusual things about LuLaRoe, even aside from the growth it’s experienced. LuLaRoe does not have stores and does not sell direct-to-consumers on its website or any other way. It sells through a network of individual representatives it calls Independent Fashion Retailers (I’ll call them IFRs). IFRs buy from LuLaRoe at 50% of the suggested retail price and sell to their friends and contacts, pocketing the difference. The IFRs do not pick out the patterns they want, IFRs specify the styles and sizes they want in their order and how much of it they'll buy. LuLaRoe picks out the patterns and ships it to the IFRs. The Company makes no more than 5,000 units of any one item so the market is never flooded with a particular style. LuLaRoe has over 80,000 IFRs. None of them receive the exact same assortment of products in any shipments. LuLaRoe clothes are made for real women, not stick-thin models who are really 16 years old. They are comfortable, roomy and forgiving. That message is emphasized in all its imaging. You can see from the photos that they respect the way women are in real life. LuLaRoe requires its IFRs to buy at least $5,000 worth of product to start. That’s a meaningful investment for a lot of people and not everyone succeeds at it. You have to have a lot of entrepreneurial derring-do to make that leap and sell product directly to contacts, friends and relatives. If you Google LuLaRoe you can certainly find stories about failures, as well as descriptions of other multi-level marketing companies that have taken advantage of their customers. One of the concerns you normally find in a company with this structure is that people are paid just to recruit other sellers. Those companies wind up being a pyramid where very few people are doing the real selling and others are free-riding on their work. The FTC has a study on its website that says that less than 1% of participants in multi-level marketing companies make a profit. What about LuLaRoe? It certainly pitches recruits on the potential to earn money by signing up other sellers. The company says it reserves up to 13% of its own margin to encourage IFRs to recruit, coach and mentor other IFRs. No IFR can receive any of that 13% bonus pool without selling, at the lowest tier, at least 75 items for a total of at least $2,250 every month, so no one can be just a recruiter -- you have to sell product to customers to make any money. Most LuLaRoe IFRs aren't getting much if any money from this bonus pool. LuLaRoe's income disclosure statement shows that just 27.37% of its IFRs in 2016 received any money from developing their own network of sellers, with the average amount being $2,118. It doesn't disclose how much its IFRs make from their direct sales, so it's unclear how many turn a profit. LuLaRoe trains its IFRs to sell outside their direct network so they’re not limited to just their own friends and families. The goal is to give consumers a personalized shopping experience using a combination of in-home pop-ups and live, video presentations on social media like Facebook Live and Periscope. Remarkably, half the Company’s sales are coming from social media. IFRs post product images and sales messages online to reach far-flung customers outside their immediate circle. Since IFRs all have different assortments, consumers connect to different LuLaRoe IFRs to find what they want. There are no exclusive territories, just unique assortments among IFRs. So far, the inventory turns at LuLaRoe have been extraordinarily high. That may not mean anything to you if you’re not an accountant but it implies that the time it takes for the Company to sell its products through to consumers is very short. LuLaRoe has not raised outside capital but a company selling ladies clothes needs an enormous amount of money to grow this fast because it has to keep buying increasing amounts of inventory to support the growth. That tells us that LuLaroe likely has very attractive profit margins, that its manufacturing costs are under control and so is its overhead. That’s the only way it could have enough cash to support the inventory costs for this kind of growth. LuLaRoe has very few customers in traditional, big city fashion locations like New York and Los Angeles. That tells us that they have tapped into a need in other areas that was previously unserved. What Can Go Wrong A lot can go wrong when a company is growing this fast. Let’s think of a few things: Supply chain. LuLaRoe hasn’t been doing this a long time and its supply chain and logistics can’t be well established. Unreliable suppliers or uneven quality can hurt the Company’s reputation at an early stage in its life. It’s hard to control things when you’re growing so fast. You can read online about quality problems they've had with leggings already, including lawsuits filed. Product problems can't keep happening in a successful company. When a company grows this fast, they can't do everything right and clearly LuLaRoe has done some things wrong. They have to fix those problems immediately to maintain loyalty and continue to develop the business. Fashion miss. In an effort to continue to grow, LuLaRoe may try to design product that doesn’t meet its customers’ tastes as well as in the recent past. Also, fashion can change and LuLaRoe may miss the change. Too many IFRs. Success stories of some of its many IFRs have led other people to sign up. The market can get oversaturated and then be too competitive, leading to price competition among IFRs. Success breeds success, until it doesn’t. At least some IFRs have complained that this is already happening. Update: After the publication of this article, we heard from a number of unhappy former IFRs who say that they are in a standoff with LuLaRoe trying to get refunds for unsold merchandise. A class-action lawsuit has been filed stating that LuLaRoe had previously promised full refunds and free shipping on returns, but that the company changed its policy in September and no longer provides free shipping or 100% refunds. After the publication of this article, we heard from a number of unhappy former IFRs who say that they are in a standoff with LuLaRoe trying to get refunds for unsold merchandise. A class-action lawsuit has been filed stating that LuLaRoe had previously promised full refunds and free shipping on returns, but that the company changed its policy in September and no longer provides free shipping or 100% refunds. If the Company runs into more headwinds, it will need more than its profits to support its growth and it could get squeezed for capital it doesn’t have. Sometimes consumers just want something new. When the last new thing feels old, they stop wanting it. What Can Go Right LuLaRoe has obviously tapped into a need that no one else found. Knowing that its customers are in certain areas and not in others, it would be interesting to look at a map of its consumers and overlay different templates on things like: Income Occupation Education Political affiliation Knowing those characteristics can lead to discovering other products that can be sold to the existing customer base as well as being a predictor of the kinds of apparel products that customers want. If the Company is savvy about its expansion, there could be unlimited upside to developing a broader business on their existing base. What LuLaRoe Means For most companies right now, fashion is a lousy business. And yet, here’s LuLaRoe practically defying gravity. I keep finding that even when things are tough, creative people can find niches that are highly profitable. In LuLaroe’s case, that includes: Above all, the product is right. Customers aren’t in the major fashion-focused cities like New York and Los Angeles. There are no retail stores. Social media is an important component. Everyone in the supply chain is heavily incentivized. Prices are all well under $100. There’s a certain amount of treasure hunt required for customers to find products they like. The founders are real people, with a personal story, not an anonymous corporation. They enable entrepreneurs which can also include people that have fallen out of corporate America or who just want more discretion over their time and work/life balance. For the moment we’re in right now, these are important components to success. How LuLaRoe will adapt as it grows and whether its scale can be maintained is their next clear challenge.
After spending the last two years on the Trans Canada Trail, Sarah Jackson is set to become the first woman on record to complete the 11,500 kilometre hike. The 24-year-old Edmonton woman parked her car in Victoria, B.C. back in June of 2015, and hasn't looked back since. After two years on the trail, Sarah Jackson says she gets emotional thinking about the final leg of her cross-country hike. (Chris O'Neill-Yates/CBC) Two years later, Jackson has arrived in St. John's, where she's expected to stay overnight Tuesday before completing the final leg of the trail Wednesday in Cape Spear. "I didn't know I'd do the whole thing," says Jackson. "I figured I would keep carrying on as long as I was enjoying it and I loved it, so I just kept going." Jackson has occasionally had to reroute her hike because the trail system isn't yet complete. She said she does her best to avoid highways, preferring instead to take side roads, logging roads and regional trails. When it's finished, the TCT is expected to stretch 24,000 kilometres, spanning from Victoria to St. John's, and up to the Northwest Territories. Jackson is completing the final leg of her trip alongside friends and family. (Gary Locke/CBC) Safety on the trail Jackson is travelling alone and, when asked about her safety, said she uses a locator beacon and other measures to feel "relatively comfortable." "I don't feel any different on the trail as I would in every day life. It's a reflection of how I feel normally. I'm a white woman walking across Canada. Maybe my experience would be different if I wasn't." I go to bed thinking I live in the most beautiful place. - Sarah Jackson Jackson said she's heard about others experiencing racism while trekking across the country, and feels fortunate that her hike has been so positive. "I'm not naive enough to believe that's the same for everyone," she said. "If you look at missing and murdered Indigenous women in this country." Jackson arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador a month ago, after taking the ferry from Nova Scotia. Since arriving, she's experienced "wonderful" hospitality, with locals offering her everything from shelter to cups of tea along the way. Sarah Jackson surrounded by friends and family in St. John's Tuesday. The Edmonton woman completed her cross-country hike in less than two years. (Courtesy of Paul Daly) Now nearing the end of her trip, Jackson said she'd grown accustomed to life on the trail, and she gets emotional when thinking about the end of her journey. "It's kind of devastating. I can't imagine anything different right now," she said. "At night, I'm walking under the stars. It doesn't matter where I land, I go to bed thinking I live in the most beautiful place." Follow along with Jackson's journey on her blog, Sarah Rose Walks.
Just when we thought that Warner Bros. would not tease an image of Cesar Romero as the 1966 Joker from the from the classically campy Batman TV show, we get all sorts of image goodies this weekend. Finally we get to see what the final Cesar Romero Clown Prince of Crime will look like with the sets available for Pre-order now! The diehard Bat '66 fans were vehemently for Warner Bros. and Mattel to include the mustache that the famed character actor refused to shave for the mega-popular series. Their view of a picture perfect '66 Joker is beautifully done and you can even see the remnants of Romero's sweet stache! Adding a POW! And BAM! to the fold is Mez-Itz' vinyl '66 Batmobile with Batman and Robin, for you vinyl toy junkies out there. But in perhaps the earliest SDCC Exclusive reveal of the year, we get the art for MATTEL's 2013 SDCC CON-EXCLUSIVE of Batman doing the Bat-Tusi from the iconic LIFE Magazine image we posted last week. Complete with its retro 60's hippie design, this is sure to bring something Bat-tastic for all of the Bat-fans in your geeky lives! More to come as DoG gets it!
Great app syncs with Windows Phone Finally a simple way to sync notes between my desktop and Windows Phone. While I use My Notes in conjunction with OneNote, with OneNote generally containing things that are more extensive, My Notes is a great way to quickly and simply create a note on the fly...it is much faster to open and start a note in My Notes than in OneNote, which makes it much more suitable to the notes I create on my phone. When I had complications as a result of installing both the free and paid versions of My Notes on my Windows Phone, (rather than upgrading the free version) Sam, the developer of My Notes helped resolve the mess I created, emailing me numerous times. I was VERY impressed with his commitment to his product and his subscribers. And while I was going to rate the desktop version with 4 stars, as it doesn't yet have all the features of the phone version, I just can't. I have to give it 5 stars, because I know, without a doubt, Sam will add the additional features in the very near future.
LAWRENCE, Kan. –Kansas head football coach David Beaty announced the hiring of six members to his coaching staff, including the arrival of four on-field assistant coaches, on Tuesday. With the role of defensive coordinator filled by assistant head coach Clint Bowen , Beaty announced that Rob Likens will orchestrate the offensive side of the ball as KU's offensive coordinator. Likens arrives at Kansas after serving two seasons on the coaching staff at Cal as the assistant head coach and passing game coordinator. Under his tutelage in 2013, the Golden Bears' aerial attack set school records for completions, yardage and attempts. Likens and the passing game followed up their record-setting 2013 season by rewriting the Cal single-season passing yardage record in 2014 with 4,152 yards. "I'm very excited to announce that we have added Rob Likens to our staff as our offensive coordinator," Beaty said. "Rob has been a major player in some of the best offenses in the history of college football. I have always been a fan of Rob's ability to develop players who produce at a high level. Rob has learned from some of the best in the country and is as fine of an offensive mind as I have been around. Rob is a man of integrity and character and I cannot wait for our team to be able to benefit from his wisdom." Beaty also revealed the additions of five other coaching components of his inaugural staff at Kansas. Je'Ney Jackson will serve as the head strength and conditioning coach, while on the defensive side of the ball the linebacker position will be overseen by Kevin Kane and the defensive line will be coached by Calvin Thibodeaux . On offense, Klint Kubiak will coach the wide receivers, while Gene Wier will fill the post of Director of High School Relations. "As I've said before, it's really important for us to find the right people for this program," Beaty said. "These six guys, they not only can teach, they can recruit and they can develop relationships and produce productive citizens off the field. We are excited to have all of them onboard." Jackson returns to Kansas - where he once coached cornerbacks and was an assistant strength coach for the Jayhawks - after spending the previous four and a half years at the helm of the strength and conditioning program for the University of Indiana men's basketball team. Over his time at Indiana, Jackson helped the Hoosiers to a 2013 Big Ten Championship and assisted in producing three first-round National Basketball Association draft picks. While at Kansas, he mentored cornerback Aqib Talib to consensus All-America honors and oversaw corner Chris Harris earn a Freshman All-America Honorable Mention selection. "Je'Ney brings a great familiarity with the University of Kansas as well as a wealth of experience in the strength and conditioning world," Beaty said. "His ability to develop and relate to our players will be a large part of our initiative moving forward. He is widely regarded as one of the top coordinators in this field. He is without a doubt, my most important hire and we are honored to have him here." Joining Jackson in a return to Lawrence is Kane who served as a former captain for the program and was a two-time all-conference linebacker from 2002-05. The Kansas City, Missouri native spent the last four seasons at Northern Illinois University where he coached the tight ends and fullbacks for one year, while spending the next three seasons coaching the linebackers. Additionally he served as the Huskies' special teams coordinator in 2013-14. "I always admired Kevin as a player, but I am even more impressed with his ability to teach and develop young players," Beaty said. "He is a tireless recruiter and he is as well thought of in the Kansas City community as anyone I know. He will bring an energy and toughness to our team that we will all benefit from. It has been fun watching his linebackers play over the years and I'm glad that he is now coaching our guys." Thibodeaux joins the Kansas staff tasked with coaching the same position he held for the previous three seasons at the University of Tulsa. While at TU, Thibodeaux helped guide the team to an 11-win season and a Liberty Bowl victory in 2012. Prior to his time with the Golden Hurricane, Thibodeaux coached in the same capacity at Dartmouth College where the Big Green posted their first winning season in Ivy League play in seven seasons. "Calvin is a tireless recruiter and a well-respected member of the defensive line coaching community," Beaty said. "His players exhibit responsibility, toughness and passion and we are looking forward to him bringing those elements to KU. His ability as a coach is only surpassed by his upstanding character and integrity as a man." Kubiak comes to Kansas to coach the wide receiver unit after a stint in the National Football League. Kubiak worked with the Minnesota Vikings for two seasons where he doubled as the assistant offensive quality control coach and assistant wide receivers coach. He also spent three seasons at Texas A&M working closely alongside Beaty in 2012. "Klint brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to our staff," Beaty said. "He is as hard of a worker as I have ever seen in our profession. His ability to connect with his players in the NFL and at Texas A&M has been impressive to watch. Our wide receivers will benefit greatly from his experience." Beaty also introduced Wier as the program's director of high school relations. In his position with the Jayhawks, Wier will oversee all of KU's football camps and clinics among other responsibilities with recruiting. Wier spent time as a high school head coach in both Kansas and Texas. While in Kansas, Wier guided the Olathe North football program to six state championships during his 25-year tenure as the Eagles' head coach. "Gene is a well-respected high school coach in the state of Kansas who has a passion for our great university," Beaty said. "Not only is he fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming a Jayhawk, but he will certainly add a much-needed element to our staff. His long-standing relationships with the great coaches of the state will allow us to better understand and serve our coaches." With Beaty's announcement of the six new staff members Tuesday and the retention of Bowen, Reggie Mitchell (recruiting coordinator/running backs) and Louie Matsakis (director of personnel) the Kansas football staff is taking formation in anticipation of the 2015 spring football season. KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
I’m on the ground in one Christian town targeted by ISIS in northern Iraq. Telskuf is now liberated thanks to Peshmerga forces on the ground, in tandem with US led coalition air strikes in the skies. Amid the rubble, I speak to Christian townspeople now making their way back home, all of whom credit the air strikes for their ability to finally return home after displacement. There's only one problem: Canada had nothing to do with this Christian town's newfound freedom. One of the very first things Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did upon being elected was to withdraw Canada's six CF-18 —our contribution in the worthwhile fight against the world's greatest evil, ISIS. Watch as I share my raw reaction from the ground. To support The Rebel's journalism and humanitarian mission in Iraq, please visit SaveTheChristians.com.
M Natarajan, AIADMK chief Sasikala's husband, no longer shares name-space with her. That is because Sasikala, arguably the most powerful person in Tamil Nadu today, does not call herself Sasikala Natarajan any more. She is VK Sasikala (short for Vivekanandam Krishnaveni Sasikala, her maiden name). To the AIADMK, however, she is just Chinnamma. For as long as Jayalalithaa was alive, Natarajan was persona non grata. Although he was a powerful figure in the dispensation in Jayalalithaa's first term as chief minister in 1991-96, he was thrown out of Poes Garden subsequently. Among many things, he was accused of using Jayalalithaa's name to make money. A host of other cases were filed against Natarajan in subsequent years, many of them in 2011. He was accused of grabbing land, cheating, assault among other things. He was also convicted by a CBI court to two years in prison in a car import case. When the doors of Veda Nilayam in Poes Garden were shut on Sasikala in December 2011, Jayalalithaa issued a firm diktat to her party cadre not to have any connections with any member of the family. When Sasikala was taken back four months later, her apology included dumping her family for Jayalalithaa. She wrote: "Only after coming out of Poes Garden, I became aware of the machinations of my relatives who have misused my proximity and brought disrepute to Akka (elder sister) and the party. I have no role whatsoever in that. Hereafter, any relative, whosoever it might be, who had conspired against Akka, will remain a persona non grata for me as well." Which is why the presence of Natarajan by Jayalalithaa's casket on 6 December shocked everyone. Not only was he accepting condolences from the visiting VIPs, but BJP leader L Ganesan even sought to introduce him to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Subsequently at the Marina, when the last rites were being performed, Natarajan was seen with Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Tamil Nadu Congress chief Thirunavukkarasu. The TNCC president and Natarajan go back a long way and the relationship is said to have been instrumental in the Congress moving closer to the Sasikala faction after Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation. Rahul even air-dashed to Chennai to enquire about Jayalalithaa's health in October. The bonhomie translated into an embarrassing moment captured on live TV, when the four leaders were seen smiling away on that sombre occasion. It perhaps also conveyed the political reality. That it was time to move on. Now that Sasikala has taken over the party and may even become the chief minister, what will be Natarajan's sphere of influence? Plenty if you believe those in his inner circle. Chennai speaks in hushed tones about Natarajan's clout, making it appear as if he pushes the buttons on the remote control to the party and the government. But no one speaks on record, as they do not know if it will be appreciated by Poes Garden. Whispers convey that O Panneerselvam was Natarajan's choice for the chief minister's post. They brag that he will remain Chief Minister Panneerselvam till such a time that he does not disobey Natarajan's diktat. "The day he crosses the line, Panneerselvam will become Kanneerselvam," a Natarajan aide bragged. 'Kanneer' translates to tears in Tamil. Natarajan, who lives in Kalakshetra Colony in Besant Nagar in Chennai, is someone who likes to flaunt his connections. But he has reportedly been asked to lie low after his interview to a Tamil channel on 6 December after Jayalalithaa's burial created a furore. In the interview, Natarajan spoke like a long-standing AIADMK functionary and Jayalalithaa associate saying, "When MGR was laid to rest at the same place, when we were deciding on who will be the next leader, among the many important leaders, we decided that Amma has the quality to take the party to the next level." And to emphasise that he will have a say in the leadership stakes after Jayalalithaa, he said, "Even an ordinary person can take the party forward. There is no vacuum in the party." Sources close to Natarajan even claim that he played a significant part to ensure nothing untoward took place after Jayalalithaa passed away. "He gave specific instructions to the top police officer that no person coming to pay his or her last respects should be beaten up by the police in the name of crowd control. It is only because of him that Chennai was peaceful," said a source. Natarajan's coterie likes to build up the image of a man with brains, clout and political savvy. Those close to him even insist that Natarajan has been in indirect touch with Sasikala, even though for the world, they are believed to be estranged. They say he would pass suggestions on to her, using one of the relatives as a courier. Instructions, they claim, would sometimes be written with pencil and sometimes with pen. "Only Natarajan and Sasikala knew the specific meaning of what a pen or a pencil conveyed," one of them says conspiratorially. Much of this also needs to be taken with a pinch of salt as Natarajan's power now lies in Sasikala's name. She is sensible enough to realise that in the public eye, he is her Achilles heel and that the AIADMK cadre won't take kindly to his interference in matters concerning the party or the government. But at the same time, she has not issued any public diktat asking the rank and file of the party not to entertain Natarajan, like Jayalalithaa did. This gives rise to doubts and suspicion. 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City council has approved future property-tax rebates that will help True North Development build the $8.9-million public-plaza component of True North Square. Council voted 14-2 Wednesday to refund up to $3.2-million worth of municipal property taxes that will flow from the first phase of True North's $400-million development after construction is completed in 2018. The province is mulling a request to rebate another $5.7 million worth of proceeds from provincial property taxes on 225 Carlton St., where two towers and a plaza are under construction. The parcel generated $116,000 of total property taxes last year, city records state. True North Development president Jim Ludlow said he expects the parcel to generate $4.2 million worth of taxes every year once construction is complete. Councillors Ross Eadie (Mynarski) and Russ Wyatt (Transcona) voted against the property-tax rebate. Eadie said he can't support more aid for True North until the owner of the Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose agrees to give the city the proceeds of the entertainment taxes charged on tickets to events at MTS Centre. "They are prospering! They are rich! They are wealthy!" Eadie told council. Mayor Brian Bowman, however, noted the net benefit to downtown from the $400-million project is far greater than the tax rebates. "This is a game changer for downtown," Bowman said. "This council's commitment to rebuilding downtown is unwavering." Construction on phase one of True North Square is well underway. This component of the project — two towers and a plaza — is slated to be finished in 2018. (Bartley Kives/CBC) Council also agreed to allocate $17.6 million of previously approved tax rebates from properties in the vicinity of MTS Centre to pay for streetscaping, sidewalk and intersection improvements around True North Square, as well as new skywalks that will connect Cityplace mall to the RBC Convention Centre through True North Square. The second phase of the project, at the former Carlton Inn site at 220 Carlton St., will involve the construction of a residential tower and luxury hotel. The rebates are a form of tax-increment financing, where increases in property-tax revenue that result from improvements to a piece of land are either returned to the property owner or spent on public amenities in the immediate area. This funding mechanism is most commonly applied to blighted areas.
MSNBC President Phil Griffin vowed to fire Keith Olbermann if he went on other networks to discuss his suspension, The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz reports. Kurtz writes that the threat came during a conversation with Michael Price, Olbermann's manager, on Nov. 7, two days into Olbermann's suspension. Price told Griffin that, if the suspension was not resolved quickly, Olbermann would appear on "Good Morning America," "Larry King Live" and David Letterman's "Late Show" to air his side of the story. "If you go on GMA, I will fire Keith," Griffin reportedly replied. Minutes later, though, Griffin released the statement announcing the lifting of the suspension and preventing an even more serious showdown. When Price asked Griffin why he had made such an extreme threat, Griffin told him, "we are at war." Kurtz also writes that many within the broader NBC News organization had raised serious concerns about Olbermann with the top management. Chief among these, he says, was Tom Brokaw, who was one of several top NBC News stars to worry that Olbermann "has badly damaged MSNBC's reputation for independence."
MIT’s rather fabulous Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), after using humble WiFi waves to sense movement behind a wall, has now improved its technology to the point that it can remotely — from behind a wall in another room — can detect heart rate and respiration. MIT has successfully used this technology to non-invasively check a sleeping baby’s breathing and pulse, and even to track the breathing of two adults simultaneously. Yes, there are videos of both feats embedded below. This time last year it was Wi-Vi — and now, with some further refinements, MIT is now calling it WiZ (which might be a play on “Wi-See,” but it isn’t clear). While Wi-Vi and other similar technologies could detect movement in general, WiZ can use radio waves to accurately (within a few centimeters) locate up to four people in a room. WiZ can also locate static people by detecting the motions caused by breathing — and yes, from these minute movements, they can work out your heart rate with 99% accuracy. “It has traditionally been very difficult to capture such minute motions that occur at the rate of mere millimeters per second,” says MIT’s Dina Katabi who co-authored the recent research paper. “Being able to do so with a low-cost, accessible technology opens up the possibilities for people to be able to track their vital signs on their own.” To create WiZ, MIT uses a custom-made (but fairly inexpensive) setup consisting of a bunch of antennas that output specially constructed frequency-modulated carrier waves (FMCW). I won’t go into the exact maths of it, but these FMCWs allow the software to work out accurate time-of-flight for reflected radio waves — much in the same way that Kinect 2.0 uses reflected infrared light to gather 3D time-of-flight data (infrared light and radio waves are ultimately both just different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation, so it makes sense that a similar approach can be used). Technologically speaking, the most impressive feat here is using the same radio waves to detect multiple people who may be in front of each other. There’s a lot of impressive maths going on behind the scenes. [Read: MIT researchers measure your pulse, detect heart abnormalities with smartphone camera.] Fancy maths aside, it’s the possible applications for WiZ that gets me truly excited. As you can see in the videos, at the very least we could be looking at a gadget that cheaply and easily monitors your child’s vital signs while they sleep. There could also be applications in military and law enforcement. Perhaps most significantly, though, with the world moving towards wearable computers and ubiquitous sensor networks, WiZ could play a role in tracking your movement and vital signs without having to wear a Fitbit or smartwatch. It’s quite easy to imagine a wide-scale radio-based sensor network that tracks the movements of everyone through a given area — and then using some kind of beacon system (say, if your smartphone broadcast your identity) that sensor data could be correlated to each person. It would be equal parts great news for people wanting to keep track of their health and activity levels, and modern-day governments that just love to surveil their populace.
Why And When Men Grow Beards LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: For everyone with a hirsute family member, a bearded patriarch, a fuzzy metro-sexual, here's a great gift, a not-entirely-serious account of why and when men grow facial hair. It's called "Of Beards And Men," by Christopher Oldstone-Moore. It's a history of beards, which begins in ancient times and works its way to the modern day, demonstrating when beards were cool and when they were not. It's full of pithy quotes. "Jesus is the most recognizable bearded man in Western civilization," that's one. And here's another. "At the dawn of the 17th century, Italy produced the Copernicus of beard science, Marco Antonio Olmo, "of whom, I regret to say, I have never heard until now. But we have the modern practitioner of beard history with us. Christopher Oldstone-Moore, welcome to our program. CHRISTOPHER OLDSTONE-MOORE: Thank you very much. WERTHEIMER: First of all, what are the four great beard movements? I mean, I assume it's not up, down and sideways. OLDSTONE-MOORE: (Laughter) Well, the first one's in ancient times. It got started with Emperor Hadrian, emperor of Rome, in the second century A.D. And that lasted for about a century or so. But then they reverted back to shaving. And then the second movement, you'd have to say, is in the Middle Ages, particularly we call the high Middle Ages, particularly what we call the high Middle Ages, 11th, 12th, 13th centuries, when noblemen and knights favored noble-looking beards. And then the Renaissance opts strongly for beards, and you can think of pictures of Shakespeare and other men of that era and later van Dyck paintings and the famous van Dyck beard. And then, by the middle of the 19th century, in the 1850s to about turn of the 20th century, we have our fourth beard movement, the late 19th century. And we're waiting to see whether we're going to have a fifth one. WERTHEIMER: We in the United States were founded by the clean-shaven men of the 18th century who led our revolution. But it seems like - I mean, I get your - I get your idea of nature versus transcendence. But there doesn't seem to be much of a political connection here because when the South revolted, both sides were led by hairy men - Lincoln, Grant, Lee, all bearded. OLDSTONE-MOORE: Right. WERTHEIMER: What does that mean? OLDSTONE-MOORE: Well, I think the 1850s was driven by not so much the political excitement of the time but more - a more fundamental shift in the identity of masculinity in the middle of the 19th century. I think that at that time, there was such a major shift in the process of industrialization. The marketplace is more dynamic, and you have the evolution of democracy. These kinds of things mean that men evolve in the century a kind - a focus on self-reliance and individuality. And I think that beards represent that rugged individuality that the 19th century aspired to. WERTHEIMER: Women don't have this kind of metric, obviously. OLDSTONE-MOORE: Right. WERTHEIMER: Do you think? Or do they have something else? Do we have something else? OLDSTONE-MOORE: Well, I think so. And I think that's going to be a challenge for other historians. WERTHEIMER: (Laughter) Well, what do you think is the situation right now? We're looking at baseball players who look like they sort of wandered out of an Amish colony. And the brand-new speaker of the House, he was sworn in and promptly forswore shaving. OLDSTONE-MOORE: Yeah. WERTHEIMER: I mean, we haven't had - we haven't had a bearded speaker since those - you know, the 1850s. OLDSTONE-MOORE: Well, a little later than that, but you're right. And I think that Speaker Ryan's choice not to shave is very striking and very telling - one of the strongest indications yet, I think, that we really are experiencing a shift towards spirits which, I think, might have larger implications about what we're experiencing today. I think that at this point, as I say, we're in a really experimental phase. We're kind of teetering between two options here. And I think men - men are a little bit uncertain about how to define themselves and how to present themselves. And I think it represents a larger uncertainty about masculinity in our day. And also, in this era of gender fluidity and - a lot of people who are transitioning from one gender to another are looking at facial hair as important to define their arrival. For example, if they're transition to masculinity, it's an important way to define their arrival to that status. WERTHEIMER: Christopher Oldstone-Moore's book is called "Of Beards And Men: The Revealing History Of Facial Hair." Thank you for sharing, Mr. Oldstone-Moore. OLDSTONE-MOORE: It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET. The city of Chicago has become the first in the nation to create a reparations fund for victims of police torture, after the City Council unanimously approved the $5.5 million package. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the abuse and torture of scores of mostly black, male suspects in the 1970s, '80s and early '90s by former police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his detectives is a "stain that cannot be removed from our city's history." "But," Emanuel says, "it can be used as a lesson of what not to do." Today's unanimous vote in favor of the reparations fund is "an essential step in righting a wrong," he adds. Burge and his "midnight crew" of detectives on the city's South Side used electric shock, beatings, suffocation and even Russian roulette to coerce confessions out of suspects. The city has already paid more than $100 million in judgments and legal settlements to some victims. The reparations fund will compensate up to 80 others and will provide them counseling, education and job training. Our original post continues. Anthony Holmes, who served 13 years in prison for a murder he says he did not commit, claimed at a recent City Council committee hearing that he was one of Burge's first victims, as reported by NPR's Cheryl Corley: "In 1973, he [Burge] came to my house, kicked the doors in, threw me on the floor, put a shotgun to my head, knee in my neck. He said, '[Expletive], I'm going to kill you if you don't be still.' " Holmes says he was shocked by officers and thought three or four times that he was dead. Another victim, Darrell Cannon, was emotional as he testified, Corley reported. Cannon was arrested in 1983 and served 24 years in prison for murder, and was freed after a review board determined the evidence used to convict him was tainted. Cannon says that when he was arrested, three of Burge's officers placed a shotgun at his head and played a sort of one-target Russian roulette as they questioned him. "The third time that I heard that click, the hair on the back of my head stood straight up because I honestly thought he had blew my brains out. When that didn't work, they tried to hang me by my handcuffs, which was cuffed behind my back." The $5.5 million fund will provide up to $100,000 to each of those victims with credible torture claims who have not already received settlements. The Chicago City Council also will issue a formal apology to torture victims. Former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge walks into the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago in June 2010. He was convicted on all counts of an indictment charging him with perjury and obstruction of justice. (MCT/Landov) The mayor has said it's time for "the city to own up to" its dark past and provide victims with closure. "This is a stain on the history of the city and its reputation, and I thought it was essential to finally move forward," Emanuel said when the ordinance was introduced in April. A Chicago police board investigation found evidence of torture under Burge and fired him in 1993, but no criminal charges were filed for the acts of torture. A special prosecutor appointed in 2002 spent four years investigating and found overwhelming evidence of torture by Burge and his "Midnight Crew" — but concluded that the statute of limitations had run out. Finally in 2010, then-U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald filed federal perjury and obstruction of justice charges against Burge, alleging that Burge lied about torture under oath in civil lawsuit proceedings. Burge was convicted and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison. He was released from a halfway house in February. He lives in Florida — and continues to collect a Chicago police pension. Copyright NPR 2019.
Come celebrate the launch of Overwatch with us by entering to compete in the second Alienware Monthly Melee tournament featuring a $3,000 prize pool! For your convenience, we have all of the details compiled below on how you can register your team, and more. Will we see you on the battlefield? We're kicking off launch day in style with the biggest tournament ever for Overwatch, allowing up to 64 teams to participate in the competition! Here's some of the general information: Dates & Times: Tuesday, 24th @ 5 PM EST ( Winner’s Bracket RO64 - RO16 & Loser’s Bracket Rounds 1-5) Wednesday, 25th @ 5 PM EST ( Winner’s Bracket RO8 - Grand Finals & Loser’s Bracket Round 6 - Grand Finals) Prize Pool: $3,000 prize pool Watch it Live: If you're not participating, come watch it live with the rest of us! Registration & Contact You can register for the tournament over here at GosuGamers.net starting at 2 PM PST today. When registering, you MUST add your battle tag so that teams have the ability to contact each other. The tags will show up for the opposing team on the Match page. The Curse app will be used for contacting and communicating for the tournament. All teams MUST be reachable here at this link: https://www.curse.com/invite/gzE8gMMcrky0M0vezyOKMA! If our admin team is unable to reach a registered team via the Curse app, it may be grounds for disqualification. All teams will be required to be on the Curse app no later than 4:30 PM EST on both tournament days. Failure to appear and check in may result in disqualification. Please be on time! Scoring System The tournament will be using a medal scoring system that will be based on how quickly the map is completed. Teams will be awarded points dependent on the ranking received. Points are only scored on attack. RANK TIME POINTS Gold 5 minutes or less 3 Silver 8 minutes or less 2 Bronze Over 8 minutes 1 No Completion N/A 0 General Rules KOTH Hero Limit - Only King of the Hill maps will be enforcing 1 hero limit. (Lijang Tower, Nepal, Illios) 2 CP Map Ban - Volskaya Industries, Temple of Anubis, and Hanamura will not be eligible to be drafted on Day 2. BO3 Series - On day one, teams will play on the map pool listed below. On day two, both teams ban Payload maps until two remain. Two maps are guaranteed to be played. If both teams are tied after two payload maps, both teams ban a KOTH map each and the remaining map is played as a tiebreaker. BO5 Series - Both teams ban until four Payload maps remain. Three maps are guaranteed to be played. If a team has a lead of 4 points or more after 3 maps, the series is over. Otherwise, a fourth map is played. If both teams are tied after four payload maps, both teams ban a KOTH map each and the remaining map is played as a tiebreaker. Map Order: On Day One, maps will be played in the order listed in the map list. On Day Two, the last map to be banned will be the first map. In a BO5 series, the team which lost the last map gets to choose the next map. Ban Order - The team with the higher seeding gets choice of first ban or second ban. Side Choice - Day One: On day one, the higher seed gets first choice of side on map one. After the first map of the series, the team with the higher point total will be the first attacker (Red) for the next map. In the event that both teams are tied before beginning a map, side choice will default to the team which did not pick the last side. Side Choice - Day Two: For the first map of any series, the team which did not ban last has first choice of side. After the first map of the series, the team with the higher point total will be the first attacker (Red) for the next map. In the event that both teams are tied before beginning a map, side choice will default to the team which did not pick the last side. Server Rules - All games are to be played on the Americas realm except in the event of an agreement between both teams to play elsewhere. Default server settings must be used, with the exception of the Kill Cam setting which must be turned off. When a KOTH map is played (Lijang, Nepal, Ilios), the Hero Limit setting must be set to 1. Server Crash Policy - If the server crashes in the middle of a map, the standard response will be to replay that side of a map in full. However, the admin team reserves the right upon review to award a judgment to a team if a definitive result was going to be imminently produced (IE: A team was 3 seconds from losing wih no mathematical way of winning prior to the crash). If the server crashes in the middle of a KOTH game, the following will be observed: Round Completions are counted. (IE: If a team was up one round, they will still be considered up one round on the replay.) When remaking a KOTH game, the game will be remade until the same stage is able to be played. Furthermore, the game is remade on the second round, it is not acceptable for the first round stage to be played as a third round. In the event the first round stage comes up in the third round, the game will be remade until the proper third round stage is selected. Player Substitutions - In the event that a team is without a full 6 players that were officially signed up, a team may substitute in ONE non-rostered player. This player must not have played in any previous rounds of the tournament with any other teams. Furthermore, a team is allowed only one substitute player for the entire tournament. If the team loses another player, or the original substitute is unavailable to play, the team in question may not use a second non-rostered substitute. Match Reporting - Screenshots of each side of each map must be submitted in the #matchreports channel. Additionally, it is encouraged (though not required) that teams take a screenshot after each round of KOTH in the event of a server crash and subsequent dispute. In the event of a dispute in where neither team can produce screenshots, the Admin reserves the right to either force a replay or disqualify both teams. Admin Clause - While the administrators will make every effort to adhere to the rules of the tournament as previously outlined, the admins retain the right to overrule any part contained within if necessary. IMPORTANT: Streaming your own matches is forbidden and doing so may result in automatic disqualification. Map Pool for Day 1 Winner's Bracket ROUND MAPS Round of 64 Route66, Dorado, Ilios Round of 32 Numbani, Hollywood, Nepal Round of 16 King's Row, Gibraltar, Lijang Tower Loser's Bracket ROUND MAPS Round 1 Ilios Round 2 Lijang Tower Round 3 Nepal Round 4 Lijang Tower Round 5 Hollywood, King's Row, Nepal For Day 2 of the tournament, see the General Rules section. Be sure to check out the excitement with the rest of us LIVE on the 24th and 25th over at TheLab.gg and Twitch! If you're looking for more information about Overwatch, or simply looking for a community that shares your interest in the game, head over to our Overwatch wiki and Overpwn.com, respectively! And as always, Enjoy the game. This is a sponsored article brought to you by Alienware.
Represent! is your eye on how well government serves citizens and the public interest in Southern California. KPCC's politics and government team posts frequently on transparency, civic engagement, reform efforts and accountability. We invite your comments and suggestions — follow us on Twitter at the links below. Federal agents bust a bunch of L.A. and Orange County pot shops. A San Diego judge says its OK to purchase pot. Medical marijuana news can leave you in a haze. Let’s sort out the latest: First, federal prosecutors Thursday said agents arrested a dozen people associated with a chain of nine marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles and Orange Counties on drug trafficking charges. “Most of the stores previously were the subject of search warrants executed in 2010 and 2011,” read a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office. “Most of the nine stores are now closed, but several are believed to still be in operation.” Prosecutors allege one dispensary - Safe Harbor Collective in Dana Point - made $2.5 million in 2009. Shop owner John Melvin Walker allegedly told his bookkeeper “to destroy all records pertaining to income.” He also allegedly possessed an AK-47, and nearly $400,000 in cash. Walker’s attorney did not return a phone call for comment. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the Justice Department targets only dispensaries that violate California law, which requires they be non-profit and serve only qualified medical marijuana patients. But prosecutors believe almost all operate in violation of state law. That’s why the feds last month launched a crackdown on the 800-plus pot shops in Los Angeles, ordering 70 to close in Eagle Rock and downtown L.A. “The federal government should let California police its own,” said Joe Elford, an attorney with Americans for Safe Access. “Let this experiment play out, and then see what happens.” Like most experiments, there’s been a lot of trial and error since California voters approved the Compassionate Use Act in 1996. For example, courts have issued conflicting rulings on whether qualified patients can purchase pot without actively participating in cultivating it. That brings us to the second piece of news this week. In San Diego Wednesday, a state appellate judge ruled patients are allowed purchase their medical marijuana, without toiling the soil as part of a collective. “I think it’s pretty definitive on the issue of sales,” Elford said. “It's very important for Los Angeles because the city attorney’s office has taken this position that you can’t sell marijuana at all.” Elford argues this reasoning helped motivate the L.A. City Council to ban dispensaries in August. Faced with a petition with enough signatures to force them to place the ban on the ballot, councilmembers decided to repeal it. The state attorney general’s office said it is reviewing the San Diego case, and may appeal it. In the next six months, the California Supreme Court is expected to consider whether cities and counties are allowed to ban marijuana dispensaries. Some argue that simple zoning laws permit prohibition, as with liquor stores. Elford argues local government can regulate but not outlaw dispensaries because voters have “ensured the right of patients to have their medicine.” All sides in the hotly contested debate anxiously await the state Supreme Court’s decision on the issue, but not federal prosecutors. They promise more raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, many of which they say are glorified fronts for drug dealing.
AngularDart v4 is now available. We've been busy since the release angular2 v3.1.0 in May. Not only did we "drop the 2", but we also improved the compiler and tightened up the framework to give you smaller code, we updated the package structure to improve usability, and we added several new features. Check out the updated documentation to get started.Just angular Upgrading to v4 will require more than updating your version constraint. The package has changed names (back) to– dropping the 2. You'll need to update your pubspec.yaml and the corresponding imports in your code. In most instances, find-and-replace should do the trick. Going forward, the package will be called. We'll just update the version number.Smaller code The updated compiler in 4.0 allows type-based optimizations that not only improve runtime performance but generate better code because we are able to strongly type templates. A big result of the update is that many ap…
The only declared federal NDP leadership candidate is standing in solidarity with Black Lives Matter Toronto in the wake of the group's protest at the Toronto Pride parade. Ontario NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo, who serves as a critic for LGBTQ issues, released a statement Wednesday on behalf of her party's LGBTQ committee. "We want to express our concern for the alarming amounts of hateful speech that BLM TO has been a target of since their non-violent direction action during Sunday's Toronto Pride parade," the statement reads. "We recognize that BLM TO is an irreplaceable part of our community and represents voices of those who have been marginalized and excluded for too long." Ontario New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo announces her candidacy for leadership of the federal NDP in Toronto on June 7, 2016. (Photo: Christopher Katsarov/Candian Press) Members of Black Lives Matter Toronto shut down Canada's largest Pride parade for about 30 minutes Sunday with a peaceful sit-in. The parade only resumed when Pride Toronto's executive director signed a list of specific demands, including more funding and community space support for racialized communities and a ban on police floats in future parades. That proposed exclusion has already proven to be the most contentious issue, particularly after Pride Toronto later said it didn't sign off on banning floats associated with police. Toronto Mayor John Tory also released a letter of support to the Toronto Police Association, saying he would have "serious concerns" if officers could not participate in future events. Black Lives Matter Toronto says it has been flooded with hate mail and racist messages this week. Members of Black Lives Matter Toronto take part in the annual Pride Parade in Toronto on July 3, 2016. (Photo: Mark Blinch/Canadian Press) In the statement, DiNovo and committee members state that while many take part in Pride as a celebration, the event remains "inherently political." They say it should come as little surprise that Black Lives Matter Toronto was selected as an honoured group by event organizers. "Historically, our communities came together and organized for safer spaces for all of us. Black drag queens and Black Trans and queer folks were some of the original organizers of Prides across the world," it reads, adding that activists reminded Pride of its "roots" as a march on behalf of marginalized people. "The non-violent direct action undertaken by BLM TO at the Pride parade was a warranted taking up of space." LIVE REPLAY: Watch the Black Lives Matter sit-in unfold at the Toronto Pride parade: DiNovo, an ordained United Church minister, has represented Toronto's Parkdale-High Park riding since 2006. She has long been considered a champion of the LGBTQ community and tweeted last week that she has participated in Pride events for more than 45 years. #Pride2016 This weekend I will have attended Pride over 45 years #onpoli #cdnpoli — Cheri DiNovo (@Cheri4NDPLdr) June 30, 2016 When she launched her leadership bid last month, DiNovo said LGBTQ rights would be a core principle on which she would fight. She also made specific mention of the Black Lives Matter movement. "Saying Black Lives Matter should be more than lip service," she said at the time. "It must mean an end to systemic racism." With files from The Canadian Press Like Us On Facebook Also on HuffPost
According to initial calculations given to Turkey by Russia, deliveries of additional volumes of gas could start in the beginning of 2016, Turkish energy minister said. © Sputnik / Mikhail Fomichev Russia, Turkey to Raise Blue Stream Annual Volume to 19Bln Cubic Meters MOSCOW, November 26 (Sputnik) – Russia and Turkey have confirmed their interests in increasing gas deliveries via the Blue Stream pipeline to three billion cubic meters per year, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Wednesday. "The Turkish side expressed its desire to increase the volume of gas deliveries through Blue Stream to three billion cubic meters a year," Novak said during a Russian-Turkish inter-government commission meeting. Russian gas giant Gazprom and Turkey’s Botas are working on the technical and economic details of the project, he said, adding "Russia and Turkey as a whole are interested in completing this project." "According to initial calculations given to us by Gazprom, deliveries of additional volumes of gas could start at the beginning of 2016," Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told journalists. © RIA Novosti . Vitaly Ankov Russia, Turkey to Increase Capacity of Blue Stream Gas Pipeline Yildiz said Turkey was ready to receive extra gas in the beginning of 2015, adding that Turkish gas consumption has increased as a whole, especially during the winter. According to the Turkish energy minister, a request was made at the meeting for a price discount on gas supplies to Turkey. "We have sent a request to the Russian side for a discount and it is currently being reviewed," Yildiz said. In October, Russia and Turkey agreed to increase the flow of gas through the Blue Stream pipeline from 16 billion cubic meters to 19 billion cubic meters annually. Blue Stream is a major gas pipeline between Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea. It is part of the gas transmission corridor between the two countries running through the territories of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. The pipeline was constructed by a joint venture of Gazprom and Italian corporation Eni.
The winds of change are stirring at the Environmental Protection Agency. Newly confirmed administrator Scott Pruitt expressed skepticism of the scientifically accepted fact that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to climate change. This view conflicts with the stated position of the agency he leads, which started regulating emissions after a 2007 Supreme Court decision classified the gas as a pollutant. His comments hint at a marked shift in EPA policy, and a possible return of power to the states that had been consolidated at the federal level under the Obama administration. "I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see," Mr. Pruitt told CNBC's "Squawk Box." He admitted to continued need for data collection and analysis, adding, "but we don't know that yet.... We need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis." Researchers largely agree about the degree of impact, as reflected by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's January statement declaring 2016 the hottest year on record, for the third year in a row. “The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2.0 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere,” the agencies wrote in a press release. Meanwhile, 2017 got off to a hot start as well, with February temperatures breaking record highs in more than 11,000 locations across the country, compared with about 400 lows. The national monthly average contiguous temperature reached 7 degrees F., above average, but still two-tenths of a degree behind the record-holding 1954, according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. “I don’t recall ever seeing a February like this,” Princeton University climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi told CBS. “We expect this to happen with more and more frequency over time.” The EPA’s own website says that while natural causes such as changes in the brightness of the sun do affect the climate, “Research indicates that natural causes do not explain most observed warming, especially warming since the mid-20th century. Rather, it is extremely likely that human activities have been the dominant cause of that warming.” How Pruitt will reconcile his views with those of his agency remains to be seen. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases can be regulated under the Clean Air Act, a definition the EPA took advantage of two years later, classifying CO2 and five other gases as pollutants based on the idea that climate change can negatively impact health. This move let the agency set new vehicles emissions standards in 2010 and 2011. Where Democrats see health and environmental protection, Pruitt, who has sued the EPA more than a dozen times as Oklahoma's attorney general, sees government overreach. The EPA was founded at the behest of former President Richard Nixon under a model of “cooperative federalism,” in which federal research and standards pave the way for states to implement and enforce their own policies, but many Republicans believe that process has broken down. “The Clean Air Act stipulates that the states are supposed to be first among equals,” William Yeatman, a senior fellow at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute previously told The Christian Science Monitor. “Demonstrably, that’s the way it has not worked over the last eight years. What we’ve seen is this shift from cooperative federalism to coercive federalism.” Many observers now expect Pruitt, who told CNBC Congress should revisit the Supreme Court’s carbon dioxide decision, to respond by devolving some of the federal power consolidated during the Obama administration to the states. “He is deeply committed to federalism in a proper sense of this word,” David Rivkin, a constitutional lawyer who represented Pruitt and Oklahoma on their lawsuit against the EPA's power sector emissions rule, in a January interview with the Monitor. “It’s something that very much animates his thinking. I think what a lot of people don't understand is a lot of the lawsuits he brought are driven entirely by his constitutional views.” But Democrats argue that a patchwork network of state-run environmental programs can’t live up to the task of protecting the country as a whole. "In my state," Sen. Tom Carper (D) of Delaware told the Monitor, "the air pollution includes mercury, ozone and any number of toxic substances that are put up not in Delaware but in other states and it’s simply blown to our part of the country." Should Pruitt succeed in getting the regulation ball into the states' courts, the country will still be bound by the Paris Agreement, under which the United States is responsible for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions between 26 and 28 percent below 2005 levels in the next eight years. Pruitt has called the agreement “a bad deal,” arguing that it should have been put to a vote in the Senate. Instead it was the State Department that negotiated the accord, and it's the State Department that would have the power to withdraw, not the EPA. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s position on climate change is vague. He admitted during his confirmation hearing that greenhouse gases are having an effect on the environment, but said that “our ability to predict that effect is very limited.” Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Nevertheless, unlike Pruitt he spoke out strongly in favor of the Paris Agreement. “It’s important that the US maintain its seat at the table,” Tillerson told the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Scientific American reports. The threat of global warming is real and “requires a global response.” “No one country is going to solve this on its own,” he added.
Tina Fey has a message for aspiring comedy writers and creative execs: Get yourselves to an improv theater. In a wide-ranging Q&A Saturday at the Producers Guild’s Produced By NY conference, Fey suggested that comedy writers and development executives would do well to grab a mic in order to get a real feel for the world of comedy. Fey credited her background in theater and her time doing improv with Chicago’s Second City troupe for giving her the foundation that has allowed her to succeed as a writer, actor and producer. The most important advice that she gives to aspiring writers is to take the plunge on stage, even if they have no interest in acting. “Even if you never want to do it, you should go to (Upright Citizens Brigade) and get on stage to get an understanding what you’re asking people to do,” Fey said. Later in the conversation with producer John Lyons (who worked with Fey on 2015’s “Sisters”), she added that the same advice goes for comedy development executives: “It wouldn’t kill you to experience the white-hot torture of improv,” she said. Fey spoke at length about her experience learning the ropes of producing from Lorne Michaels as a “Saturday Night Live” writer and actor. She shared her observations on the creative process in TV as compared to film. She talked about having to “unlearn” the rules of broadcast TV (in the binge-watching era, characters don’t have to repeat their names as often) in making “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” for Netflix. And she was candid about the limits of what she’s willing to do on screen, even for a laugh. Related Tina Fey Talks ‘Kimmy Schmidt’ Season 2 and ‘Mean Girls’ Musical at Tribeca Q&A “I feel like Amy Poehler and I are the absolute end of the generation (of comedians) who don’t want to screw on camera,” Fey said. “It picks up with Kristen Wiig, who is hilarious at it.” Citing Wiig’s sex scene in the 2011 comedy “Bridesmaids,” Fey asserted: “I could not do it.” In talking about “Kimmy Schmidt,” Fey praised the creative working environment at Netflix. The biggest boon is having a running time for episodes of anywhere from 24 to 41 minutes (anything over 41 means actors have to be paid at the hourlong series rate). But she also raised a big question about the lack of information that producers receive about viewership statistics. As much as she felt “beaten down” at times by the modest ratings for “30 Rock” during its 2006-2013 run on NBC, she would like to know the numbers for “Kimmy Schmidt.” “Five years from now when you go in to renegotiate, you don’t know what you have,” she said. “Somebody who is more money-oriented than me will be at the head of (addressing) that.” Fey reflected on the craziness of the 2016 presidential race and marveled that her much-loved impersonation of former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin for “SNL” first landed more than eight years ago. “And we thought that was tense,” she said of the 2008 election. “Now it seems like an ice cream social. It was so genteel.” In developing the Palin sketches and other political material, Fey emphasized that “SNL” writers never go into it with a partisan agenda other than for the comedy to ring true to the personalities involved. When the first Palin sketches were written, “We spent so much time thinking ‘What is a fair hit? Was it unnecessarily aggressive?” she said. “We never went into it thinking ‘We have to protect Obama.’ “ What’s more, she said, “People can smell it when a sketch comes in and it’s tipped. It only works if people feel like it’s true, if we can put our finger on something that people are already feeling.” Fey noted that her heart went out to “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, her former “SNL” co-star, for the criticism he took last month for his interview with Republican nominee Donald Trump. Fallon was slammed for not hitting Trump on controversial positions but Fey thinks the outrage was misplaced. “It’s not Jimmy who peed in that punchbowl,” she said. Fey shared an experience from her early days as an “SNL” writer when Al Franken, the Democratic senator from Minnesota and an “SNL” alum himself, publicly criticized a sketch that Fey wrote about Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. She acknowledged that the sketch was insensitive about McCain’s military experience but she was not amused that Franken went public without calling her first. “I was like, you’re not wrong, but you know the phone number,” she recalled. “Do you want to call me or Larry King?” Years later, when Franken was in a tough re-election race, he reached out to Fey for a campaign contribution. She didn’t write that check but she did have a message for him after he prevailed. “I texted him, ‘I knew you could do it without my $4,000.’ To which Senator Franken, to his credit, texted me back ‘F— you.'” Other highlights from the conversation:
Since Barack Obama has been the Hindenburg of Presidents on the domestic front, there hasn't been as much commentary as you'd expect about the fact that he has been the Titanic of Presidents on foreign policy. George W. Bush certainly made his mistakes as President, primarily in Iraq, but you did at least get the sense that his administration was full of capable, serious adults sincerely grappling with a new strategic problem for the country. On the other hand, when it comes to foreign policy, Obama comes across like a bored kid playing war because his mother won't let him come inside and play with his Xbox. He doesn't care very much, he's not prepared, and he doesn't spend a lot of time thinking things through. It's like Obama just ponders the issues in-between shots on the golf course, formulates his policy by shooting from the hip, then gives a speech about it and thinks his work is done. We may have laughed at the incompetence of the Obama Administration when it gave a "reset" button to the Russians that actually said "overcharge" or when the POTUS bowed to a foreign leader like he was his butler instead of the President of the United States, but there are real consequences to Obama's buffoonery on the world stage. 5) Benghazi: Congress is still investigating Benghazi, but best case scenario, the Obama Administration got Americans killed in Libya by ignoring their repeated requests for more security in a dangerous part of the world. Worst case scenario, the Obama Administration got them killed, deliberately misled the public about what happened for political purposes, and did nothing when it could have conceivably acted and saved their lives. When all the investigations are completed, we'll have a clearer picture of what happened, but at a minimum, good people are dead because the Obama Administration didn't take basic precautions to save their lives. 4) Libya: Gaddafi was an evil dictator with American blood on his hands, but he had also been scared straight by Bush’s invasion of Iraq and was cooperating with the United States. So naturally, Obama signaled the world that it was dumb to work with us by helping radical Islamists defeat Gaddafi. Today, Libya has implemented Sharia law, is a hotbed of terrorism and is descending into civil war. Meanwhile, many of Obama’s supporters still consider that country to be a “success story.” Maybe it is compared to say, Obamacare -- but like most of Obama’s presidency, we’d have all been better off if he’d just done nothing and let Gaddafi crush the radical Islamists. 3) Obama's Iranian Nuclear Deal: After a lot of grumbling that Obama wasn't doing anything to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, Obama swung into action and made the situation even worse. He signed a deal with Iran that will allow it to rake in somewhere between 7 and 20 billion dollars in sanctions relief and frozen assets even as it CONTINUES to work on enriching uranium. In other words, the Iranians get billions of dollars, give up nothing of consequence and when anyone complains, Obama claims the problem is solved because we have a "deal" in place stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Given how bad a negotiator Obama is, I guess we should feel lucky that he didn't just give Iran a nuclear bomb in return for promises that it will never use it. 2) The Bowe Bergdahl swap: There's a reason that it is our nation's policy not to negotiate with terrorists. If you reward terrorists for their terrorism, it encourages more of the same. So, when Barack Obama broke the law to release five Taliban generals in return for deserter Bowe Bergdahl, he served notice to every terrorist on the planet that kidnapping Americans could pay big dividends. So it’s not exactly shocking that ISIS is promising to murder a captured relief worker if the U.S. doesn’t pay it millions and release Aafia Siddiqui AKA “Lady al-Qaeda.” After the Bergdahl deal, why wouldn’t ISIS expect that to work? Why wouldn’t Al-Qaeda start trying to capture our troops to trade for terrorists in Gitmo? How many of our soldiers will end up being kidnapped and held because of this swap? How many Americans will die when those Taliban generals inevitably go back to the fight? The Bergdahl swap was illegal, short-sighted, and stupid. In other words, it was VERY OBAMA. 1) Iraq/Isis: Despite being told over and over again that it was a terrible idea to set up a timeline in Iraq and pull out of the country for political reasons without getting a Status of Forces Agreement, Obama did it anyway. Then he bragged that "We’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq." Not so much. That’s because ISIS sprang up in Syria as one of the groups fighting anti-American dictator Bashar al-Assad. After Assad rather famously crossed Obama’s imaginary “red line” by using chemical weapons against the rebels trying to overthrow him, Obama wanted to aid them, even though there was every indication that radicals were taking over the movement. Had the public outcry not stopped him, it’s entirely possible Obama would have accidentally ended up helping ISIS take over Syria. After ISIS gathered strength, it moved into Iraq where it outfought an Iraqi army that outnumbered it 15-to-1. If only those troops had more American training and a minimal amount of American air support, they would have crushed ISIS like a steamroller running over a watermelon with no U.S. casualties. Instead, there’s now an Islamic State stretching from Syria to Iraq run by maniacs who are committing genocide against Christians, taking sex slaves, and promising terrorist attacks against the United States. What’s Obama’s plan to handle this disaster his policies created? Earlier this week, he said, “We don’t have a strategy yet. We need to make sure that we’ve got clear plans. As our strategy develops, we will consult with Congress.” Wow. Just wow.
Less than a week after announcing the signing of someone know as the "Austrian David Beckham," the Sounders FC coaches decided to add a little South American flavor to the roster by signing Nelson "El León (The Lion)" Valdez. The nicknames just keep on rollin' in. Although he's been playing the game professionally for 15 years, Valdez is still just 31 years old, having started his career at a seasoned 15 years old with Paraguayan side Club Atlético Tembetary. Since that moment, El León has roared through both Bundesliga, La Liga and the rest of Europe on his way to five major titles and a whole lot of goals. Now, with Seattle and former teammate Obafemi Martins welcoming Valdez with open arms (followed by bear hugs), let's take a second to get to know our new Designated Player with this brand spanking new installment of "Fast Facts."
Kickxy Vixen-Styles was reportedly "let down by the people around," including a group of trangender witnesses, after cries for help went unanswered. A San Diego drag queen has been attacked. Kickxy Vixen-Styles, a greeter at Rich’s, was assaulted by a man at around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, after the bar closed. The attacker, who had been removed from the club earlier by security, had waited for Vixen-Styles in the parking lot. The man approached the performer from behind, and then used a vehicle as a weapon. “I'm done for the night and I'm walking to my car when all of a sudden he's behind me and I try to get in my car but it was too late,” Vixen-Styles told the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News. “He grabs my door open, and at that point I'm stuck between my door and him slamming it against me and trying to break my window.” Vixen-Styles was visible to the crowd still in front of Rich’s. But screams for assistance were ignored. “A group of four trans girl[s] just sat across the street watching instead of getting help,” Vixen-Styles said. "I just felt so helpless and in a way just let down by the people around,” Vixen-Styles added. Eventually, a bystander did alert Rich’s security team, who “handled the attacker,” the San Diego publication reports. No arrest was made. Vixen-Styles describes the man as in his 20s, medium build, Middle Eastern, with black hair and a goatee.
Currently my dog (Rosie) is on holiday with my parents so she hasn’t been able to enjoy her presents just yet. I can say that she will absolutely love them and I just know we will all be treated to whacks around the legs if we’re not paying attention. Rosie received in her bag of goodies; An assortment of balls which include both squeaky and hard/tough A Ruff and Tuff rope which is perfect for her and will last a very long time. A large bag of mini chicken flavoured bones for her to relax with. Once she is home and I have showered her with new toys, I will update this page with photos/videos and a better summery. Update: Rosie loved all of her new toys, she particularly liked the squeaky balls and the rope :) There are a lot of pictures of her receiving her gifts but at the moment i can only upload a few of them. There have been no injuries as of yet to the humans in the house :)
In a major setback to foes of the California high-speed rail project, a Sacramento judge rejected claims by opponents in Kings County that plans for the bullet train system violate state law. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny, who heard verbal arguments from attorneys Feb. 11, issued the ruling late Friday but the court didn’t release it to the public until Tuesday morning. The ruling is a major setback to efforts to stop the project, and boosts California’s $64 billion plans to develop a system of high-speed electric trains to ultimately connect Los Angeles and San Francisco, by way of Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley, but Kenny’s ruling is almost certain to be appealed to a state appellate court. Attorneys for Kings County farmer John Tos, Hanford resident Aaron Fukuda and the Kings County Board of Supervisors argued the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s plans for the system violate Proposition 1A – the $9.9 billion high-speed rail bond measure approved by the state’s voters in 2008 – in several key areas: Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to The Sacramento Bee ▪ That a proposed “blended” system in which high-speed trains would share upgraded and electrified tracks with the Caltrain commuter rail line between San Jose and San Francisco is inconsistent with what voters approved in the ballot measure. A switch from dedicated tracks only for high-speed trains on the San Francisco Peninsula was dropped in 2012 in favor of shared tracks to dampen opposition in the Bay Area and to trim about $30 billion from the overall system cost. ▪ That the proposed route would be unable to meet Prop. 1A’s requirement to provide a nonstop 2-hour 40-minute ride between San Francisco and Los Angeles under “real-world” travel conditions. ▪ That the system would not be financially viable and could not be realistically expected to meet the law’s mandate to cover its operating costs without any subsidy of public funds. This was the second portion of the long-running Kings County lawsuit Kenny has ruled on since it was filed more than four years ago. In November 2013, Kenny ruled in favor of the Kings County plaintiffs in the first part of the case, agreeing the state’s preliminary 2011 funding plan for the rail system was flawed and violated Prop. 1A because it did not realistically identify all of the money needed to build an “initial operating segment” from the San Joaquin Valley to the San Fernando Valley, and because the authority could not certify it had all of the environmental clearances for that operating segment before starting construction anywhere on the route. Kenny at that time ordered the rail authority rewrite its financing plan to comply with Prop. 1A. His decision was overturned in August 2014 by a three-judge panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal. The California Supreme Court declined to review the 3rd District decision.\ Even as the rail agency continues with construction in the San Joaquin Valley, it still faces additional legal challenges over its plans. Several lawsuits filed under the California Environmental Quality Act challenge the adequacy of the authority’s environmental-impact reports for its Fresno-Bakersfield section. A separate lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board seeks to overturn the use of cap-and-trade money from the state’s greenhouse gas-reduction program for the high-speed rail project. ▪ This story will be updated with reaction and analysis.

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