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Week 2 Mountain West Bowl Projections Will there be a Mountain West team that goes to a New Year’s Six Bowl game? Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire Mountain West Bowl Tie-ins & Projections – Preseason projections – Week 0 projections Week 1 is in the books and there are at least a few more games to watch and get data since all 12 Mountain West teams played this week as was basically every college football team. Colorado State losing to Colorado causes a shake up since last week they were slotted for a New Year’s Six bowl game. Maybe it was premature to put them there but they were and this week they drop down to a Mountain West affiliated bowl game. After Wyoming’s loss to Iowa they are knocked out this week in part because that the Mountain West has just five bowl game tie-ins instead of six. Las Vegas (vs. Pac-12 No. 6) Boise State Broncos vs. Cal Golden Bears Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (vs. MAC No. 2) San Diego State Aztecs vs. Western Michigan Broncos Gildan New Mexico Bowl (vs. C-USA) Colorado State Rams vs. Marshall Thundering Herd Hawai’i Bowl (vs. AAC) Hawaii Warriors vs. Memphis Tigers NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl (vs. Sun Belt) Air Force Falcons vs. Idaho Vandals Frisco Bowl (AAC vs. at-large) New Mexico Lobos vs. Central Florida Golden Knights – Preseason projections – Week 1 projections

Scientists have picked the first crew of Earthlings to fly to another planet. Those chosen for a Mars mission to be launched in October include specimens of thale cress and brewer's yeast, and a microbe known as Conan the Bacterium. Together with several other microscopic organisms, these representatives of earthly life will be carried in a package that will be flown on a Russian robot spacecraft and are scheduled to be returned to Earth in 2012. The experiment - Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment, or Life - is designed to show if living organisms can survive unprotected in space for long periods and thus support the theory of panspermia, which argues that simple organisms can survive for years as they float through space and that life on Earth could have been wafted here from another world. "Some scientists believe the solar system's first living organisms may have originally evolved on Mars and were then blasted to Earth on debris that was thrown into space when meteorites crashed on to Mars," said Dr Bruce Betts, of the US Planetary Society, which has funded the $1m Life project. "On Earth these simple microbe-like beings then started to evolve - ultimately into animals and humans. In other words, we may all be Martians under our skin." The idea that simple life forms could survive unprotected in space is controversial but has been backed by recent discoveries of bacteria that thrive in boiling, acid springs, in nuclear reactors, in vents deep below the oceans and other extremely hostile environments. However, no one has yet tested bacteria's ability to survive for years in deep space. In fact, the mission is not being aimed at Mars but at Phobos, the larger of the planet's two moons. It will be crossing interplanetary space, nevertheless, making the organisms in the Life capsule Earth's first interplanetary travellers. The Russian mission, called Phobus-Grunt (the Russian word for soil is grunt), will take 10 months to reach Mars and will then spend several more months in orbit round the planet before landing on Phobos. It will collect a sample of its soil and blast back to Earth, along with the Life capsule. These few scoops of material will become the first sample of extraterrestrial soil to be brought to Earth since the lunar missions of the 1970s. The fact that the probe will be making an Earth-Mars return journey made it especially interesting to the Planetary Society, added Betts. The organisation, based in Pasadena, California, is backed by space flight enthusiasts and has paid for several experiments that have been undertaken in space, including some carried out on space shuttle missions. "In low Earth orbit, living beings are protected by Earth's powerful magnetic field, which deflects cosmic rays and also the Sun's most intense radiation. So it is impossible to test if bacteria and other organisms could survive interplanetary space in craft, such as the space station or space shuttle, that only orbit a few hundred miles above Earth. "However, by taking them to Mars and back, we will discover if our samples are hardy enough to survive the intense radiation that can be experienced in deep space," added Betts. The Phobos-Grunt mission will last for 34 months and will carry its samples of Earth's humbler life forms in a three-inch-diameter titanium case. These will include the bacterium deinococcus radiodurans, whose ability to survive intense radiation has earned it the scientific nickname Conan the Bacterium. Other life forms will include thale cress; tiny water creature tardigrade - or water bear - which can also survive extraordinary extremes of temperature and pressure; samples of brewer's yeast, one of the most widely studied organisms on Earth; and some grains of permafrost from the Siberian Arctic. This last sample contains many different microbes and will be used to determine if a living colony of interdependent organisms are hardier and more resistant to radiation than a single microbial species. The Russian aerospace company NPO Lavochkin, which is building and launching Phobos-Grunt, has given a launch date in October, while acknowledging that this deadline will be tight. The company has also insisted that the Life capsule will not break open in the event of Phobos-Grunt missing its target and plunging into Mars.

Which is better for married couples--a joint or separate tax filing? It depends. If you're married, you have two options on how to file your income taxes: You can file a joint return, or you and your spouse can each file an individual return. Which is better? Read on. Married Filing Jointly A joint return is a single return for a husband and wife that combines their incomes, exemptions, credits, and deductions. The vast majority of married couples file jointly—over 95%. You can choose married filing jointly as your filing status if you are married and both you and your spouse agree to file a joint return. You can file a joint return even if one of you had no income or deductions. Only a married couple can file a joint return. You are considered married for tax purposes for the entire year if, by December 31: you are married and living together you are living together in a common law marriage recognized in the state where you live or in the state where the common law marriage began you are married and living apart, but not legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance, or you are separated under an interlocutory (not final) decree of divorce. (For purposes of filing a joint return, you are not considered divorced.) If your spouse dies and you do not remarry in the same year, you may file a joint return for that year. This is the last year for which you may file a joint return with that spouse. Married Filing Separately If you’re married, you always have the option to file your taxes separately. If one of you won’t agree to file a joint return, you’ll have to file separately, unless you qualify for head of household status. When you file a separate return, you report only your own income, exemptions, credits, and deductions on your individual return. If you live in a community property state, the income you and your spouse earn is split evenly between you, as are your expenses (unless they are paid by one spouse with his or her separate non-community funds—for example, money you earned or inherited before marriage). There are nine community property states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. There are several disadvantages to filing separately that you need to be aware of, however, because these can easily outweigh any potential benefits: You cannot take various tax credits, such as the Hope or Lifetime Learning education credits, earned income tax credit, and, in most cases, the credit for child and dependent care expenses. The amount you can exclude from income under an employer's dependent care assistance program is limited to $2,500 (instead of $5,000 if you file a joint return). You cannot take the deduction for student loan interest, or the tuition and fees deduction. You cannot exclude from your income any interest income from qualified U.S. savings bonds that you used for higher education expenses. If you live with your spouse at any time during the tax year, you’ll have to include in income more (up to 85%) of any Social Security benefits you receive. If you live with your spouse at any time during the tax year, you cannot roll over amounts from a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA. The following credits and deductions are reduced at income levels that are half of those for a joint return: child tax credit, retirement savings contributions credit and itemized deductions. Your capital loss deduction limit is $1,500 (instead of $3,000 if you filed a joint return). You may not be able to deduct all or part of your contributions to a traditional IRA if you or your spouse was covered by an employee retirement plan at work during the year. If you own and actively manage rental real estate, it will be more difficult for you to deduct any losses you incur. If your spouse itemizes deductions, you cannot claim the standard deduction. If you can claim the standard deduction, your basic standard deduction is half the amount allowed on a joint return. Which Filing Status Will Save You Income Taxes? As a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the tax rates in effect during 2018 through 2025 for married taxpayers filing separate returns are exactly half those for marrieds who file joint returns. Nevertheless, most married people save on taxes by filing jointly, particularly where one spouse earns most or all of the income. This is because filing jointly shifts the high earner's income into a lower tax bracket. If spouses earn about the same income, there should be little or no difference in their tax rates whether they file jointly or separately. The only way to know for sure if you’ll pay more or less taxes by filing separately or jointly is to figure your taxes both ways. This isn’t hard to do if you use tax preparation software. Beware Tax Cheater Spouses! There is one potential huge drawback to filing jointly: As a general rule, when a married couple files a joint return each spouse is jointly and individually liable for the entire tax owed on the return. This means that either spouse can be required to pay the tax due, plus any interest, penalties, and fines. A spouse can claim “innocent spouse relief” and avoid personally paying the other spouse’s taxes if he or she can show the IRS that: (1) the understatement of tax was due to the other spouse, and (2) the spouse did not know, or have reason to know, that there was an understatement of tax when he or she signed the joint return. However, both propositions can be hard to prove. You’ll avoid being personally responsible for your spouse’s taxes if you file a separate return. This is something you should seriously consider if you know your spouse cheats on his or her taxes.

Science and technology is taking over the world with new innovations every day. If you Google the latest science news, you will see that science has advanced so much over the years that people are finding it difficult to catch up on the latest inventions. From flying drones to self-driven cars, every new invention is proving to be useful to the world and human effort is gradually being replaced. With machines that are highly efficient and having the ability to do more work than human beings, many people are losing jobs over time. The world of science is caught up with one of the most recent inventions. These are ‘Voltron‘ like smart robots that have the ability to choose their own leader. Doesn’t that sound new and interesting? Well, they are more interesting than it actually sounds. The idea behind this invention is taken from the famous American animated television series – Voltron: Defender of the Universe, where five lion-shaped robots link up to form a giant robot that fights against evil. A team of scientists has come up with robots that work together and choose their own leader. What usually happens is, when the ‘brain’ of a robot gets damaged, it is taken to robotic lab or a repair shop to get it fixed. However, the team of scientists, led by Marco Dorigo, head of a robotic lab in Brussels, built robots that can link up together, react to their surroundings, and can pass on authority to another member in the group. As a result, when one member is unable to function, another member can take the charge and lead the group. The leader can decide to add new robots to the group and link it with everyone. If the leader runs out of battery, everyone else can pick another new leader and that is how the process runs. This makes sure that the robots are never lost when performing any task and that they have someone to guide them in the right path. Whenever one robot is unable to perform or complete any particular task, it is programmed to link up with other robots and together they can accomplish the task. The group of scientists carried out an experiment where one robot was unable to lift a brick and it connected with robots that had arms, in order to life the brick. Drones have a similar way of working too but the difference is that these drones are pre-programmed, using their ability of sensing positions before linking up. But the ‘Voltron’ like robots are not pre-programmed. Instead, they create a type of nervous system that helps to decide who will be the brain and who will be the limb. This amazing feature allows these robots to adapt to any new circumstance. Related: New Snake-like Robot Janitors For Undersea Maintenance How does this setup work? Well, the robots have been made with internal maps of one another. These maps look like hierarchical trees. When the leader stops functioning, others can spot where they are and those closer to the ‘root’ of the tree are preferred as the new leader. The way these robots have been created and functioned proves that robots can perform any given task by linking up with one another. This advancement in the creation of robots can solve a lot of problems in the world and one day, they might make the world free of evil.

LAS VEGAS — Fresh off a vacation to Hawaii, Warriors coach Steve Kerr arrived in Las Vegas on Monday to check out some of his young players in summer league. He sat courtside with his wife and some of his staff, but periodically hopped around the arena to chat with a number of people around the league who nearly all opened with the same question: “How are you feeling?” Want Warriors news in your inbox? Sign up for the free DubsDaily newsletter. “I feel good,” Kerr said. “If I could live in Hawaii and coach the team from there, I think I’d be fine the whole time.” Included among his stops, Kerr took time to sit down with the Bay Area News Group for about 10 minutes to discuss the Warriors’ eventful offseason, their free agency signings, Kevin Durant’s surprising paycut and more. Here is the transcript. Related Articles NBA rescinds DeMarcus Cousins’ technical vs. Charlotte 5 technical foul calls even more ridiculous than DeMarcus Cousins’ shoe toss As Golden State finds its ‘joy’, Kevin Durant is playing with anger Warriors 121, Hornets 110: Warriors’ DeMarcus Cousins makes more progress Warriors’ Draymond Green to play vs Charlotte Take me through the free agency period from your perspective. A lot went down, but most importantly, you bring Steph (Curry), Kevin (Durant) and Andre (Iguodala). Everything has gone beautifully. Happy for Steph that he got paid. Happy for Andre that he was rewarded for what he’s done here and I think he’s got gas left in the tank. KD facilitated a lot of that. I think some of our other signings were good — Nick Young and Omri Casspi. We have more shooting now than we did a year ago, which is a big deal. Even though everyone thinks it was (a cruise) last year, there were games where we needed another shooter. Were you part of that Andre back and forth at all at the start of free agency? Oh, yeah. What’d you think of that process? I think he should be an agent when he’s done. He should represent other guys. The decision by Kevin to take the huge paycut of nearly $9.5 million. Sounded like that surprised Bob (Myers). How surprised were you and what were your thoughts on it? I knew he was going to give up enough money to allow us to keep Andre and Shaun. I didn’t know he was going to go beyond that. A remarkable gesture. I told him it reminded me a little bit of Tim Duncan and his time with the Spurs. He made max money and then at key times in his career he took a little less so they could add a player here and there. The way the league works, the way the CBA works, it really kind of is up to the star player at key times to take a little haircut here and there. Whether that’s fair or not, I don’t know. But I do know that Tim knew it was dramatically helping his own career and KD understands the same thing. In the end, he’s going to make a fortune in his career. Already has and he hopefully is going to win more titles and that’s what he cares about. Sounded like you were really at the forefront of the chase to get Nick Young. I know your conversations with Luke (Walton) played a part and Bob said you really wanted him. Yeah. I think Nick fits our style. He’s 6-foot-7, great 3-point shooter, better defensively than he once was. Used to be a disaster defensively and Luke said he that he was excellent defensively for them last year. He knows how we play — switching, anticipating. We think he’s a perfect fit for us. That’s why Draymond and Kevin came to the meeting and sealed the deal. Beyond your own free agents, was Nick really the one guy you identified as who you wanted to chase? Yeah, he was one of them. Again, it’s the way this league has evolved. Length and shooting, 3s and defense. And you also add a guy who can make a play off the dribble, finish at the rim and he can shoot, now you got something. That’s what we had with our roster the last few years. We’re adding another guy who is coming off the bench now with McCaw, Nick, Omri — that’s size, shooting, length, switchability. I think our team got better. Omri at the minimum. Is that one you are fist-pumping about? Yeah. He’s a proven player. He’s a really good player. So I didn’t know we’d be able to get him for that, but timing is everything in this league. Like JaVale (McGee) last year. Sometimes it’s just the right time for the player and the team. I’m hoping that it’s the same case with Omri. I love the way he plays. He’s a proven 3-point shooter with deep range, great cutter, moves without the ball, going to fit right in with our offense. How much do you credit Joe Lacob for paying for all of this? It’s unbelieveable. The bill that we’re going to have to pay is off the charts. So I give Joe and Peter (Guber) a ton of credit. They stepped up to the plate just like they said they would. We’re lucky. We have an organization that backs up the talk about being all about winning. How about these younger guys out here, starting with Patrick McCaw. Looked like he was going to have to step into a bigger role. Now you’re bringing a lot of your guys back, so he’ll still have to compete for minutes. But do you expect a jump from Year 1 to 2? Yeah. Oh yeah. You can see the confidence he’s playing with right now in summer league. I think the biggest jump you ever make in your career is between Year 1 and 2. Year 1 you realize you can play in this league. Now he’s realizing he can be really good in this league. That’s how he’s playing. Given the way we’re going to approach next year, we’re going to play 100-plus games again, trying to get back to the Finals for a fourth year in a row. So we have to pace ourselves, find the right balance between improving, winning games and resting. I feel like we have enough depth where the way the NBA has promised to fix some of the scheduling, we’re going to probably rest one or two guys in any given game. No more than two in one game. We’re not going to do the four or five unless the schedule is a disaster again. But I think we can sit Andre and Shaun strategically and be comfortable with it because of Patrick and Nick and Omri. I’m pretty comfortable. How about your newest rookie Jordan Bell? I didn’t think it would be possible that he’d still be there. He’s a good passer, active body, has a long way to go like every rookie that comes in the league. But he’s very athletic, stays in front of people like he just did right there (points at Bell as he properly shuts down a drive with a quick lateral slide). And he’s got a good mentor in Draymond. The last roster spot that’s still sitting out there. There’s some talk about maybe bringing JaVale back. Do you need another center? You ended last year with six centers, only have five right now.

Google’s Minijail sandboxing tool could be used by developers and sysadmins to run untrusted programs safely for debugging and security checks, according to Google Software Engineer Jorge Lucangeli Obes, who spoke last month at the Linux Security Summit. Obes is the platform security lead for Brillo, Google's Android-based operating system for Internet-connected devices. Minijail was designed for sandboxing on Chrome OS and Android, to handle “anything that the Linux kernels grew.” Obes shared that Google teams use it on the server side, for build farms, for fuzzing, and pretty much everywhere. Since “essentially one bug separates you and any random attacker,” Google wanted to create a reliable means to swiftly identify problems with privileges and exploits in app development and easily enable developers to “do the right thing.” The tool is designed to assist admins who struggle with deciding what permissions their software actually needs, and developers who are vexed with trying to second guess which environment the software is going to run in. In both cases, sandboxing and privilege dropping tends to be a hit or miss affair. Even when developers use the privilege dropping mechanisms provided by the Linux kernel, sometimes things go awry due to numerous pitfalls along that path. One common example Obes cited was trying to ride a switch user function that will drop-root and then forgetting to check the result of the situation relief, or setuid function, afterwards. In this scenario, the exploit is in causing the setuid call to fail which still allows the program to run with root privileges. This in turn will exploit another bug in the process. The best way to stop this kind of exploit is to create a fix that will abort the program in the case of a setuid call fail. Find and Fix While security pros may be quick to scoff at such a rudimentary mistake, it’s often the simplest oversights that lead to the biggest security problems. Rather than judge one another, Obes said, remember that the goal is to find and fix problems in the software. Although there will always be bugs, eradicating as many as possible, from the simple to the sophisticated, is always the goal. Minijail first identifies and flags roots where problems exist. It is unnecessary for developers to understand all the intricacies of dropping privileges using Linux kernels because the tool provides a single library for privilege dropping code. “By using Minijail, we turned the 15+ lines of sign-in capabilities to one or three, because of formatting,” he said. The system never fails to check the results, such as result of a setuid call, and it provides for unit and integration testing, too, to ensure the app always works. Eventually the team realized that Minijail was roughly 85 percent of the way to building real containers so they took the tool the rest of the way. “Minijail is essentially underlying this new technology that Google added to Chrome OS which allows you to run Android applications, natively with no emulation or distortion,” he said. “It's just an Android system running inside a container.” Thus, Minijail evolved to be both a sandboxing and containment helper. It accomplishes this primarily by blocking some root permissions through the use of capabilities to partition the information. In this way, developers can “grant specific subsets of that functionality directly to a process without granting the whole function to do that process.” Obes returned to his Bluetooth D example as it needs permissions to configure a network interface. “That shouldn't give it permissions to, for example, reboot the system or mount things,” he explained. Watch the full presentation below.

A McDonald's restaurant sign is seen in San Diego, California Thomson Reuters LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As McDonald's prepares yet another plan to revive its business, company watchers have the following advice: reconnect with lower income consumers who remain faithful to the brand, improve wages and ease the financial burden on operators. Steve Easterbrook, the company's new chief executive, on May 4 will announce his plan to reinvent McDonald's as a "modern, progressive burger company" that is more responsive to global diners' increasing demand for fresh, less processed and more customized food. The company signaled its plan for a fresh start after reporting another quarter of disappointing financial results. It declined to provide further details ahead of the announcement. Easterbrook has helped forge previous restructuring plans at the world's largest hamburger chain. They include simplifying complicated menus, flattening management structure, closing hundreds of underperforming restaurants and removing important human antibiotics from its chicken production. Faith Popcorn, founder and CEO of marketing consulting firm BrainReserve, would like to see McDonald's embrace the lower-income consumers that account for a big share of its diners and employees. "They should be the champions of the 99 percent," said Popcorn, who has worked with McDonald's in the past and advised some of the best known U.S. consumer brands, including Coca-Cola and Campbell Soup. She advised the company to take concrete steps, such as serving healthier fast food and encouraging franchisees to follow McDonald's corporate leadership to raise wages for restaurant crew members. U.S. franchisees in a recent survey said their relations with McDonald's Corp had hit a new low. They called on the company to implement changes to help their bottom lines. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The franchisees, who operate nearly 90 percent of McDonald's U.S. restaurants, worry the company is trying too hard to be all things to all people. They called on management to significantly downsize the menu and rethink a plan for custom burgers that they worry will be labor-intensive and expensive. One franchisee also called for cost relief. "Nothing would ignite owner/operators more than lower rent and service fees," said the franchisee, whose identity was not revealed. McDonald's rivals such as Wendy's Co and Burger King have boosted their financials by selling virtually all their restaurants to franchisees. McDonald's could make a similar move by increasing the percentage of its global franchised restaurants to 90 percent from 80 percent, said RBC Capital Markets analyst David Palmer. "We believe that the management gets it," Palmer said, adding that the question is how long it will take to turn the ship. (Editing by Michele Gershberg and Andrew Hay)

COLUMN ONE Rags brought riches to Guess co-founder Georges Marciano, but now he faces ruin Convinced that some employees stole from him, Marciano initiated lawsuits that backfired when a judge instead ordered him to pay the accused employees hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Marciano, 62, cannot blame his troubles on a Ponzi scheme or the mortgage meltdown. He is poised to lose an empire worth as much as $500 million because he is convinced that some employees stole from him. "I do not know where Mr. Marciano is residing at this time," his spokeswoman conceded recently. These days, there is no reason for the buses to stop. The Ferraris are gone. Creditors have laid claim to Marciano's assets. The gubernatorial campaign is dormant, and the great man himself has disappeared. A knowledgeable guide might have gone on to describe Marciano as a classic American success story -- a poor immigrant who amassed a fortune through hard work and business savvy. The guide might have noted Marciano's two other palatial residences on Sunset Boulevard, his Boeing 737, the art collection boasting works by Marc Chagall and Ed Ruscha, the cellar of priceless wines, the homes in Utah and France, and his self-financed if little-noticed campaign for governor. The buses that ferry tourists past the homes of celebrities used to slow to a roll outside a Beverly Hills mansion with 11 Ferraris parked just inside the gates. Georges Marciano lives here, the gawking customers were told. You know, Guess Jeans. That his own accountants and law enforcement agencies found not a cent missing has not dissuaded Marciano from persisting in what he calls "a crusade" to prove the allegations. It has been thus far a losing battle. Lawsuits that Marciano initiated to recover assets backfired when a judge instead ordered him to pay the accused employees hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Marciano, the design prodigy credited with introducing the world to acid-washed denim and jeans as high fashion, was portrayed during the proceedings as a man unhinged from reality. Reeling from an acrimonious and bitter divorce, he binged on pain medication, pursued women barely out of their teens and, ultimately, made paranoid accusations about those closest to him, according to allegations in court papers, transcripts of testimony and reports by a sheriff's investigator A self-made man has become, in the eyes of many, a self-destroyed man. "I do believe it's tragic," said R. Rex Parris, an attorney who represented some of the employees who won libel judgments totaling $425 million against Marciano last summer. "He surrounded himself by people who wouldn't tell him that he was being a jerk, and as sufficient time went by, he started to become disconnected from the world." Marciano's attorney, who wrote in a recent court filing that his client is living somewhere outside the U.S., disputed the tawdry accusations aired in court. He said sanctions that the judge imposed on Marciano for flouting her orders barred him from presenting his side of the story to the jury. "Mr. Marciano's forced silence cannot be viewed as an admission of those false allegations, which he denies," Daniel J. McCarthy said in a statement. Marciano and his three brothers started Guess Inc. in Los Angeles in 1981 after arriving from France, where they had grown up in poverty. Georges dropped out of school at 15 and quickly gravitated toward the garment industry. His design of skintight jeans, zippered at the cuffs and softened by repeated washings with pumice stone, launched the brand. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art named him California's Designer of the Year in 1987. Even after he left the company in 1993, labels and advertisements touted "Guess? by Georges Marciano." After selling his stake in Guess for $220 million, Marciano turned his attention to real estate. The crown jewel of his properties was the Bank of America building in Beverly Hills, nicknamed the Power Tower for its influential and wealthy tenants. Marciano shared a 20,000-square-foot mansion on Crescent Drive with his wife, Megan, whom he married in 1986, and their four children. The family enjoyed what Megan Marciano would later describe in divorce papers as a "standard of living that had no limits."

Theresa Anne Villiers (pronounced Villers; born 5 March 1968) is a British Conservative Party politician. She was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chipping Barnet in 2005. Villiers was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2012 to 2016.[1][2][3] Early life [ edit ] Villiers was born in Hunstanton in 1968, the third child of George Edward Villiers by his marriage to Anne Virginia Threlfall; she has two elder brothers, Edward and Henry.[4][5] On her father's side, she is a descendant of Edward Ernest Villiers (1806–1843), brother of George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, Thomas Hyde Villiers, Charles Pelham Villiers, Henry Montagu Villiers and a direct descendant of Edward II.[6] Growing up in North London, she was educated at the independent Francis Holland School. Villiers gained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree with first-class honours in 1990 from the University of Bristol, and a year later the postgraduate degree of Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) from Jesus College, Oxford.[citation needed] After university, she qualified for the bar at the Inner Temple, and worked as a lecturer at King's College London from 1994 until 1999.[citation needed] Member of the European Parliament [ edit ] Villiers was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the London constituency in 1999, and was re-elected in 2004. She stood down after the 2005 general election when she was elected as the Member of Parliament (UK) (MP) for Chipping Barnet.[7] She served as Deputy Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament between 2001 and 2002. She also served as a member of the governing board of the Conservative Party during this period.[citation needed] Member of Parliament [ edit ] In 2003, following Sir Sydney Chapman's announcement that he would retire at the following election, Villiers was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Chipping Barnet. Although Chapman's majority at the 2001 general election had only been 2,701 votes, the party viewed Chipping Barnet to be quite a "safe" Conservative seat, and Villiers held it at the 2005 general election with an increased majority of 5,960 votes, which she increased again to 11,927 in 2010. Her majority dropped to 7,656 in 2015, and was reduced to just 353 in 2017. Upon her election to the House of Commons, she resigned from her seat in the European Parliament; it went to Syed Kamall, the next candidate on the Conservatives' regional list for London. Villiers now lives at Arkley in her constituency, and formerly lived at Hillsborough Castle.[citation needed] Villiers was sworn of the Privy Council on 9 June 2010.[8] Shadow Cabinet [ edit ] In December 2005, following the election of David Cameron as Conservative Party leader, Villiers was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet after just seven months in parliament, as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In July 2007, Cameron promoted her to Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.[citation needed] Government [ edit ] Following the 2010 general election, the Conservatives, short of an overall majority, formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. This required positions in Cabinet to be awarded to Lib Dem MPs, so Villiers did not become Secretary of State for Transport as might have been expected in the event of a majority Conservative government taking office. That role went instead to Philip Hammond, who had shadowed the post of Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Villiers instead became a Minister of State at the Department for Transport.[9] Villiers was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in September 2012, but continued to spend three days a week in her North London constituency of Chipping Barnet.[10] Her time in Northern Ireland gained mixed reviews.[11] She made a speech in February 2016 defending the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army, which had been accused of colluding with loyalist murderers in the Loughinisland massacre. The Police Ombudsman who investigated the murders, Dr. Michael Maguire, later stated with regard to law enforcement authorities colluding with the murderers: "I have no hesitation in unambiguously determining that collusion is a significant feature of the Loughinisland murders".[12] Villiers had said that "a pernicious counter-narrative" of the Troubles was emerging whereby responsibility for acts of terrorism was being shifted onto the security forces "through allegations of collusion, misuse of agents and informers or other forms of unlawful activity".[13] Villiers was one of the six Cabinet ministers who came out in support of Brexit during the EU referendum. Following the referendum, on 14 July 2016, Villiers resigned from her position as Northern Ireland Secretary[3] after stating that new Prime Minister Theresa May had offered her a post outside the Cabinet which was "not one which I felt I could take on".[14] Parliamentary expenses and second home [ edit ] The Daily Telegraph reported on 11 May 2009 that Theresa Villiers had bought a property in Kennington, London, for £345,000. In 2007-08 she claimed a total of £18,181 in parliamentary allowances for a second home.[citation needed] She also has a house in Arkley in her North London constituency of Chipping Barnet. The house, a semi-detached property that she bought for £296,500 in May 2004, is an eight-minute drive away from High Barnet tube station, from which commuters can reach Westminster in about forty-five minutes.[15] Political opinions [ edit ] Villiers supported the temporary suspension of Ken Livingstone, then-Mayor of London, by the Adjudication Panel for England, which examined the case after a complaint from the Board of Deputies of British Jews to the Standards Board for England. Theresa Villiers is a member of, and since 2017 Vice-Chair, of Conservative Friends of Israel.[16] [17] On 19 July 2018 she was the only MP of any party to attend a rally of about 200-300 Jewish and other persons called by the "Campaign Against Antisemitism" (CAA) in Parliament Square, London, to protest against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.[18] She has, on previous occasions, attended CAA protests similar to that of 19 July 2018 against anti-semitism within Labour.[19] She has spoken out publicly in support of Iranian resistance to the Iranian regime at an event in Paris in 2017, organised by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The NCRI is considered by some analysts to be a front organisation for the Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organisation (MEK), which was once listed by the US as a terror organisation.[20] Since September 2008, Villiers has dedicated a considerable proportion of her public announcements to aviation policy, specifically the expansion of airports in the South East of England. Villiers underlined that despite differences of opinion, the Coalition government's policy was opposed to a third runway.[21] She has also spoken out against Boris Johnson's favoured proposal for a new London airport to be built in the Thames Estuary, and alternative expansions at Gatwick and Stansted airports, arguing that airlines should make greater use of the UK's regional airports, though some regional airports themselves have expressed concern about being adversely affected by capacity shortages in the South East.[22] Villiers favours construction of a high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham and Manchester, arguing that flyers could use capacity at airports such as Birmingham International and Manchester International Airport. In May 2017, Villiers announced that she fundamentally supports the ban on hunting of wild animals with dogs but suggested that there remains scope for reform of the Hunting Act 2004.[23] Personal life [ edit ] Villiers married fellow barrister Sid Wilken in 1997,[6] and the following year they co-wrote a book on matters of contract and quasi-contract law, which was published by a major publishing house.[24] They are now divorced.[25] Publications [ edit ] Theresa Villiers & Sean Wilken (29 April 1998). Law of Estoppel, Variation and Waiver. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-96921-4.

In an age in which downloadable content is often discussed when a game is released (or even before!), Square Enix has stated that it does not have currently have any plans for Final Fantasy XIII DLC. "Regarding the DLC content, we feel that the final product is 100% enjoyable…it's the complete package," says Final Fantasy XIII producer, Yoshinori Kitase, and director, Motomu Toriyama in a joint statement." So we're not planning any DLC at this time." No plans. At this time. That doesn't exactly rule out planning for the future, now does it? "In regard to the rumored cut content, we feel it was taken out of context," the pair continues. "There are a lot of ideas that are brought to the table, and then the team takes the best ideas out of those, and the final product is polished that way." A lot of those ideas were just that: ideas. They didn't make the final cut and are not in the game. According to Square Enix, the team is not looking into releasing this unused content as DLC. Perhaps Square Enix is not ready to discuss downloadable content, and that's fine. But if there's no DLC, there will be disappointed FFXIII players. These days, DLC is not just expected, but a given. Advertisement Final Fantasy XIII: Your Questions Answered [PlayStation.Blog.Europe via VideoGamer]

Ski resorts, much like beachfront real estate in Miami, do not have the luxury of ignoring climate change and its financial implications. The relationship between warming temperatures, diminishing snow levels, and fewer skiers is well known. A 2015 Stanford climate and finance analysis of Vail Resorts, Inc., the multinational ski conglomerate, found that the company was in between a rock and a hard place. While increasingly snow-challenged Vail invested heavily in summer recreational projects, 100 percent of its profits still came from winter activities. That’s why it’s surprising that Vail Resorts PAC—a political fundraising tool seeded with contributions from Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz and other high-level executives—donated thousands of dollars to politicians who either deny that climate change exists or refuse to take action. Among the beneficiaries were Scott Tipton (R-Colo.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), and Chris Stewart (R-Utah). While the PAC also gives to pro-climate-action candidates—Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Michael Bennett (D-Colo.) among them—the question remains: Why is a company that is already experiencing a climate-induced kneecapping supporting candidates who are working to bring more of the same? It’s all about the water. Vail’s response to climate change reflects a company split between short-term economic gains and the long-term health of the industry. If Vail takes the long view, it’s clear that a stable climate is the best thing for its bottom line. But because of erratic snowfall, the company is already scrambling to come up with the water necessary to manufacture snow that used to fall for free out of the sky. “One of the political risks for a company like Vail Resorts is the retraction of water rights, which is arguably their most critical resource,” Donna Bebb, author of the Stanford report, told me. Artificial snow is energy- and water-intensive, and getting access pits ski resorts against farms, cities, and conservationists during drought years, when water supplies are lowest. In 2012, Vail Resorts reported its water rights as an intangible asset valued at $18.3 million. To a ski resort that needs water, supporting a politician like Representative Tipton, who believes that the increasingly erratic weather of the last century is just part of “natural cycles,” makes perfect sense. Tipton has twice introduced the Water Rights Protection Act, which seeks to block the U.S. Forest Service from ever taking control over the water rights for ski resorts that operate on public lands. The ski industry has loudly endorsed the act. So has Representative Gardner, who refuses to take direct action on climate and spearheaded the Outdoor Recreation Jobs and Economic Impact Act—a move that strengthens the outdoor recreation industry relative to agriculture, mining, and timber when it comes to applying for use of public land. Where environmental stewardship and financial gains go hand in hand, Vail is not shy about climate change. The company cited climate change as the main reason behind its energy-efficiency efforts, for example. Vail has also partnered with Ceres and the World Wildlife Fund on climate-related initiatives and was one of the first signatories on the Business Backs Low-Carbon effort. Yet, for the most part, the company steers clear of using its powerful stature within the ski industry to influence climate change legislation. Vail Resorts has also been noticeably absent from advocacy efforts by Protect Our Winters (POW), an alliance of pro athletes and winter sports companies that lobbies for climate action. “We think it’s incredible the work that resorts are doing to reduce their carbon footprint,” said Lindsay Bourgoine, manager of advocacy and campaigns at POW. “We unfortunately feel we are in a time where that’s not enough. We need voices on policy, too.” Other resorts, like Aspen Ski Company, are more outspoken. Auden Schendler, the company’s VP of sustainability, has made 15 trips to lobby politicians on climate issues in Washington, D.C. The company has also published detailed reports of its energy consumption since 1999 in an effort to be transparent about its energy-reduction efforts, something that Vail does not do. One clue to Vail’s ambivalent position can be traced back to 2012. Protect Our Winters had just coauthored a report with the Natural Resources Defense Council called “Climate Impacts on the Winter Tourism Economy in the United States.” The report estimated that the $12.2 billion winter tourism industry had already lost out on an estimated $1 billion due to diminished snowfall. “Count me in the category of someone who is very worried about climate change,” Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz wrote in an op-ed published a few weeks after the report’s release. “But to the folks trying to alarm people with images of melting snow, here is the dirty little secret: When the effects of climate change really show up, no one will care about skiing at Aspen and Vail.”

In case youâ€™ve been off the grid for the last week or two, allow me to fill you in: the Seattle Mariners appear to be going for it. After a rocky negotiation process between the clubâ€™s General Manager Jack Zduriencik and new agent Jay-Z, the Mariners surprisingly decided to break the bank on a true superstar free agent, locking up Robinson Cano for $240 million over 10 years. And by superstar, I do mean superstar. Weâ€™re not talking about Richie Sexson or shudders Chone Figgins here. What Exactly Did the Mariners Buy? Itâ€™s exciting anytime a big ticket free agent goes to a new team, and doubly so when itâ€™s a player as great as Cano. Squarely in the prime of his career, Cano hasnâ€™t had an OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging) percentage below .871 since 2009, and year after year he has been a top-10 player in a smorgasbord of offensive categories. Put simply, Cano is the kind of player the Mariners havenâ€™t had in a long time - perhaps the only names who can come close in recent years are Adrian Beltre, Brett Boone and Alex Rodriguez. But it comes at a steep price. Giving a 10-year deal to a 31-year-old player invites a lot of risk, as Cano will start to decline in both production and health as he gets into his late 30s. Therefore it's critical that the Mariners get significant production from Cano in the first four or five years of this deal to at least partially justify paying so much money on the back end. Luckily for the team, Canoâ€™s track record shows a stalwart offensive player who has the ability to age more like David Ortiz than Lance Berkman. Production and WAR Let's do a little comparison. Since his age 26 season in 2002, David Ortiz has averaged 585 plate appearances, 37 doubles, 33 home runs, 106 RBI, 1 steal, a .291 batting average (BA), .386 on-base percentage (OBP) and a .567 slugging percentage (SLG). Those numbers (per Fangraphs) group him in elite company over that time frame with names like Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Adrian Beltre, to name a few. Likewise, Cano has been fantastic since his age 26 season in 2009 with averages of 686 plate appearances, 160 games, 45 doubles, 28 home runs, 103 RBI, a .314 BA, .369 OBP and a .530 SLG. As I mentioned earlier, Canoâ€™s numbers place him in the top 10 of most offensive categories. Both guys are truly elite offensive players. Ortiz does have an edge in the power department, but Cano finished ahead of Ortiz in runs created due to his ability to play every single day. Since 2007, Cano has never played in less than 159 games, and that only happened twice in that span. The man simply doesn't come out of the lineup, which suggests that he either avoids injury well, or plays through them in a productive manner - further suggesting that Cano has the ability to continue his productive hitting as he ages. And we canâ€™t forget the fact that Cano plays a valuable position - second base - at a solid level: his .991 fielding percentage was good for sixth best at the position last year. Itâ€™s certainly possible that the Mariners will move him off of the position later in his career, but for the foreseeable future, Cano should be locked in at the keystone. Whatâ€™s more, Cano has consistently been able to drive in a strong number of runs without a reliance on massive home run numbers. Certainly 28 home runs a year is good, but itâ€™s not elite like Canoâ€™s ability to hit for doubles. Heâ€™s gone for 41 or more doubles for each of the last five seasons and pounded out 48 twice in that span. That combination should play very well in his new park, and he could even increase his doubles as Safeco Field allowed the seventh-most doubles in the league last year while suppressing the number of home runs allowed to hitters (21st-least home runs allowed per ESPNâ€™s Park Factors). But donâ€™t worry about Canoâ€™s home run numbers, as the former Yankee possesses terrific strength. He averaged 403.9 feet on his home runs in 2013, and this chart shows how those home runs look with Safecoâ€™s dimensions: Itâ€™s Canoâ€™s consistency and ability to stay healthy and productive without relying on gaudy power or speed numbers that make me think heâ€™ll follow in Big Papiâ€™s footsteps as a stellar offensive producer well into his contract and career. We can't overlook the fact that the Mariners locked up Cano's 6.84 short-term WAR (his average since 2009) and his estimated 36 WAR over the duration of the contract. Within the parameters of $/WAR, Seattle will get an early discount on Cano's prime years as the market value for one WAR is roughly $6 million (and rising). As Cano declines, Seattle will be left with a poor contract, but this doesn't mean that the contract itself is poor. On a pure $/WAR model, the Mariners are paying roughly $6.7 million per projected WAR ($5 million standard), which seems quite reasonable when accounting for future inflation. In other words, the positive value at the beginning of the contract balances the poor value at the end of the contract. Why Now and Whatâ€™s Next? Itâ€™s certainly odd to see a team that has refused to spend money bust open the piggy bank for a 31-year-old player after a putrid 71-91 season that featured a lot of new and young faces, including the promising young middle infield combination of Nick Franklin and Brad Miller. The youth movement seemed to give the franchise a solid direction to move toward, but it also required a long-term view with a lot of growing pains as the teamâ€™s best players get older. Felix Henandez has been nothing short of spectacular despite diminishing velocity on his fastball, and Hisashi Iwakuma has been an absolute beast since coming over from Japan. Both pitchers were in the discussion for American League Cy Young, with Iwakuma finishing as a finalist this year. But Iwakuma is already 32 years old, and Hernandez is 27 with injury concerns between his frequent back spasms, muscle strains and the torque placed on his elbow from throwing his nasty slider. Furthermore, this is the same Mariners team that cut its payroll every year since 2007 and started the 2013 season with the seventh lowest payroll in baseball (per ESPN) while typically dumping big name players like Cliff Lee instead of signing them. So why Cano this year, and not Pujols or Prince Fielder in 2011, or Josh Hamilton last year? Why a second baseman when Nick Franklin flashed some solid play on a cheap contract? Well, maybe they were sick of looking up at Oakland (who spends less and wins more) and Texas and decided to make a move in a deep free agent year. Or, as this Seattle Times article points out, â€œthe Mariners front office is plagued by total dysfunction and a lack of leadership.â€ Ouch. Could it be that GM Jack Zduriencik is simply looking to save his job with a splashy move? If that is indeed the motive then he is fortunate that Cano is the type of impact player who could save him. But letâ€™s assume this isnâ€™t some kind of desperate last gasp from Zduriencik. Letâ€™s assume he and the rest of the front office have a real plan in a pretty deep free agent market. Now that theyâ€™ve signed Cano, they must realize that this is a far different situation than looking long-term and patching things over with one year deals to players like Jason Bay and Raul Ibanez (who had an awesome first half in 2013). They have to realize that their window to contend is open right now, and they have to put all their chips in the middle to maximize their potential. Theyâ€™ve already got a pair of great starting pitchers, a solid and improving third baseman in Kyle Seager, and an interesting young group of guys in Mike Zunino, Justin Smoak, Nick Franklin, Brad Miller, Dustin Ackley and Michael Saunders. And now they have Cano. On the other side, their bullpen is young and unsettled, but the team can shore that up with a few parts from the nice crop of relievers on the market. In fact, the Mâ€™s have been rumored to be interested in Joaquin Benoit, though Grant Balfour and Jesse Crain are also solid free agent relievers should Benoit fall through. They have also been linked to Nelson Cruz and Corey Hart as they try to solidify their outfield and balance the lineupâ€™s heavy southpaw tilt. On top of that, thereâ€™s steady buzz about a deal for David Price in exchange for Taijuan Walker and the now expendable Nick Franklin. If the Mariners do all of that, they can likely contend after a single offseason, which is extremely impressive. Theyâ€™ll certainly have the money to throw around with their $2 billion television deal kicking in next year. Of course, the team could also decide to do little-to-nothing more after signing Cano, in which case we could be looking at the newest version of the Alex Rodriguez-era Texas Rangers. After breaking the bank on the 25-year-old best player in baseball, the Rangers finished with 71, 72 and 73 wins in A-Rodâ€™s three seasons with the team before he opted out and signed with the Yankees. That team featured some good hitters in a young Michael Young, Rafael Palmeiro and Ivan Rodriguez along with Mark Teixeira in the last year, but the rest of the lineup wasnâ€™t able to support a bad rotation with an earned run average in the stratosphere. What Does it All Mean? Depending on which direction the team decides to take, we are looking at either a three-horse race in the AL West, or a disappointing could-have-been burning giant piles of money as its best players rot. I am hoping the Mariners reel in a big-name player or two and execute the Price trade (which they should, given the sudden expendability of Nick Franklin) over the next few weeks, quickly putting themselves in position for serious playoff contention. It wonâ€™t be easy given how good Oakland and Texas have been, but the worst thing the Mariners can do is not commit to trying to win as soon as possibleâ€”before Cano slips past his prime.

The New York Islanders announced today that members of the past four decades will return to Nassau Coliseum on Saturday, April 4 when the team takes on the Buffalo Sabres at 7 p.m. Ed Westfall , Garry Howatt, Butch Goring, Pierre Turgeon and Shawn Bates will all be recognized, as the team continues to honor the most memorable moments and the players that helped create them. Season ticket holders will receive an invitation for a two-hour meet and greet from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. on game day. Do not miss any of the other Islanders second-half promotions, including the two nights honoring Bryan Trottier (Friday, Jan. 16 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins) and Mike Bossy (Thursday, Jan. 29 vs. Boston Bruins). Fans can still purchase the exclusive “Tradition on Ice” Ticket Package for these nights and leave with a mini-locker souvenir. Pat LaFontaine, who accumulated 566 points in 530 games with the Islanders, will return to the Coliseum on Tuesday, March 24 vs. the Minnesota Wild for one last salute to the Long Island fans. The team will wear their classic “Fisherman” jerseys for warmups on Tuesday, Feb. 3 when they take on the Florida Panthers. Fans who wear their “Fisherman” jersey will have the ability to purchase specially priced $25 upper level seats at the box office on game day (subject to availability). The final regular season game at Nassau Coliseum is set for Saturday, Apr. 11 when the Islanders faceoff against division rivals, the Columbus Blue Jackets. The players will wear jerseys from the inaugural 1972 season with orange numbers and no nameplates. Fans have the opportunity to bid on both the Fisherman and inaugural jerseys in advance of each game, with the proceeds benefiting the Islanders Children’s Foundation. Bidding on the Fisherman jersey is currently taking place on newyorkislanders.com. Current team favorites Kyle Okposo (Saturday, Feb. 14 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets), Matt Martin (Saturday, Feb. 28 vs. Carolina Hurricanes) and John Tavares (Sunday, March 29 vs. Detroit Red Wings) will have bobblehead nights. Fans must purchase a “Tradition on Ice” ticket for the particular game to receive the bobblehead. It is not too late to lock-in playoff rights and guaranteed seats for two of the four marquee dates (three Rangers games and the final regular season home game)*. The “Rock the Barn” plan is your ticket to these benefits. For information on all these great offerings, contact a sales representative at 1-800-882-ISLES extension 1.

Antigua Barracuda, the former USL Pro side, achieved notoriety during their 2013 campaign, for all the wrong reasons. Here’s the story on how the 3rd Tier underdogs came to be. Antigua and Barbuda is a small Caribbean nation, consisting of it’s two namesake islands, located among the Lesser Antilles. According to it’s most recent census, it’s population is somewhere around 81,000. Ruled by Britain until it’s independence in 1981, it was only natural that the colonial influence would bring with it the sports of cricket and soccer. Antigua and Barracuda are one of several nations that make up the successful West Indies international cricket team; one of only ten to play at the elite Test level. Yet, in soccer, they’re historically one of the least successful nations in CONCACAF. The Benna Boys, named for the nation’s indigenous music, got their start in 1928 with the creation of the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association. The local Premier Division was founded in 1968, en route to FIFA and CONCACAF membership in 1970, just in time for qualification to the 1974 World Cup. On November 10th, 1972, the Benna Boys traveled to nearby Trinidad and Tobago to take on the Soca Warriors for their first official international. The match was the first in a World Cup qualification home and away series. Antigua lost, eleven to one. Their worst defeat, in their first match. The following week didn’t end much better, with the Benna Boys losing again, two to one. The remaining qualifying matches followed suit, with Antigua and Barbuda losing 6-0 and 3-1 against Suriname. It would be another twelve years before the twin islands would so much as enter another World Cup. In January of 1978, the Caribbean Football Union was created, providing more frequent international competition for the region. Antigua and Barbuda entered the inaugural CFU Championship, qualifying for the final with their first international win over French territory Guadaloupe. Having made it to the finals, they swiftly found themselves overpowered, losing all three round robin games to Suriname, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago. The following year, they were knocked out of qualification by Haiti, losing both games 1-0. Four years passed before the Benna Boys played again. Advertisements

Story highlights Marcus Dickinson has lost 45 pounds and toned up to be more like his character Roc Wieler is a retired colonel from the Minmatar tribes with an affinity for discipline Dickinson blogs as Roc, in addition to creating 3-D artwork and music albums The world of " EVE Online " is brutal. There are enemies and alliances, death and destruction. Gamers fight for territory, profit and fame in a never-ending quest to top their opponent. It's a bit like the real world that way. When Marcus Dickinson first created his "EVE" character, Roc Wieler, the two had little in common. Roc was a retired colonel from the Minmatar tribes -- a stoic, physically imposing disciplinarian. Dickinson was a 230-pound Canadian with an affinity for bacon. Over time, the line between fiction and reality has blurred. "I'm a role player inherently," Dickinson says. "I take it seriously." For Dickinson, Roc Wieler is a brand. The 40-year-old advertising director has a blog called Roc's Ramblings that he writes for daily -- as Roc. He also creates music albums and 3-D artwork. He even sells Roc-related paraphernalia to his fans through the blog and social media sites. Brand loyalty is one of the reasons Dickinson first decided to shape up. During his trip to the 2009 "EVE Online" FanFest, real life hit him smack in the face. Walking into the convention, he didn't feel like Roc. He felt like a stereotypical geek, surrounded by other stereotypical geeks. "We were all just a bunch of pathetic losers," Dickinson remembers. "We paid good money to fly all the way to Iceland and instead of enjoying Iceland, most of us spent all our time sitting around playing the video game we already played back home." "Something snapped inside me, and I realized I wasn't being true to my brand. Why can't I be this character? Why can't I look like this? He acts and talks like me because he is me. I'm the one who gave him life." For years, Dickinson's wife, Farah Iqbal, had been bugging him to go the gym. When he returned from Iceland, the pair joined on a trial basis. The first month was hard, Dickinson says -- his knees hurt, his feet hurt and he could barely run a mile. But he kept at it. He executed his fitness plan as seriously as Roc would execute a mission. He told himself his weight loss was a matter of life or death. "If I do not make these changes today, and every day going forward, I will die," he says. "I know it sounds tragic but that's what it took for me." So he made the changes. He got up at 5:30 every morning. He did leg workouts that made him collapse. He pushed himself until he vomited. He did fitness programs like P90X and Insanity. He ran a half-marathon. Dickinson also changed the way he ate. Iqbal remembers a trip to visit friends in Montreal when Dickinson created a grocery list for their hosts and made all his own meals. "It was almost embarrassing," she says of the grocery list creation, "but you know what, I got over myself. Because he's on a path that I support." Dickinson now eats 3,000 calories a day -- mostly lean protein and vegetables -- to sustain his body-building lifestyle. "Five years ago if I was eating 3,000 calories a day, it was because I had bags of Doritos in front of me," he says with a laugh. He's rigid about his lifestyle. He doesn't eat dessert or allow for cheat days. It's a struggle, but one he embraces as a sort of real-life challenge. "He always had this attitude of not giving up, but now it's extreme," Iqbal says. "He's become very well-focused -- or stubborn -- with (the) journey he's on." His laser focus has paid off. Dickinson now weighs 185 pounds and is only 14% body fat. He can squat almost twice his weight and dead-lift 450 pounds. "I'm closer to looking like Roc than I've ever been," he says. Dickinson realizes he sounds slightly schizophrenic. But if you think about it, he says, all guys have fantasy lives. When they read comic books, they envision themselves as caped crusaders. When they watch James Bond, they envision themselves as suave womanizers with oodles of money. "Superman, Vin Diesel -- we want to be them so badly," Dickinson says. "The difference is you'll never be Superman. You're setting yourself up to fail. "The reason Roc worked was that he was a fantasy hero of my creation, so I was already part way there. I just had to get the physical." Iqbal says she keeps her husband from crossing the line between fantasy and reality. She's not a big fan of Roc -- she prefers her men balanced, with a feminine side. When Dickinson slips into Roc's deep voice with a "Hello, darling..." greeting after work, "I'm like 'Oh, shut the hell up,'" she says. "I have to remind him that it is a character." Still, Iqbal encourages him to blog and play "EVE Online" as much as possible because she knows his fans are eager for more advice on how to get fit. Plus, there's that other side benefit... "If I said to him, 'This is affecting our relationship,' I know he would (stop)," Iqbal says. "But I don't want to -- he looks yummy!"

The owners of Winnipeg's two largest taxicab companies are suing the province and seeking an injunction to stop ride-hailing from coming to Manitoba. "This is our livelihood and we are pursuing all options including legal options," Winnipeg Taxi Coalition spokesperson Scott McFadyen said in a message Friday night. The Local Vehicles for Hire Act, which passed in November, dissolves the Manitoba Taxicab Board, placing responsibility for regulation with local municipalities. When it comes into effect as of March 1, communities can welcome Uber and Lyft to move into the marketplace. In a statement of claim filed with the Court of Queen's Bench Friday the owners of Duffy's Taxi and Unicity Taxi allege the law discriminates against them, citing the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "As a result of the particular market conditions and nature of the taxi industry in the City of Winnipeg, the current holders of Taxi Business Licences are overwhelmingly male, immigrants to Canada, and of South Asian ethnicity and national origin," reads the statement of claim. "The purpose of the [The Local Vehicles for Hire Act] is to radically alter the existing taxicab industry in the City of Winnipeg and allow for companies operating through Ride Sharing Arrangements to compete with existing taxicab operators." New legislation introduced Monday intends to unlock the Winnipeg market for companies like Uber. 2:15 The law is to come into effect no later than Feb. 28. The Manitoba Taxicab Board's licences will be cancelled on that date, but the City of Winnipeg will continue to recognize them. Those licences can sell for as much as $430,000, according to a provincial report prepared by MNP LLP last year. Winnipeg plans to add 60 more licences immediately and another 60 by the end of the year. In the statement of claim Unicity and Duffy's say they should be repaid for the loss in value to their taxi licences as well as to their livelihood, saying the province acted in bad faith. A spokesperson for the province said they would reserve comment until seeing the details of the statement of claim.

Golly, we seem to be doing a lot of this we-interrupt-this broadcast type of posts lately. Perhaps that ‘climate of violence’ business we’ve been hearing from the media is real after all. Again, since I’d hate to be accused of being mean to people who think differently than I do, and the maniac Hodgkinson sure does think differently than I do, so I’ll let you talk about it. One word of advice, and a couple of links to other people’s thoughts. Beware the So’s Yer Old Man Fallacy. It would be particularly embarrassing to commit today. WP: “As people offered prayers for the victims, a profile began to emerge of Hodgkinson, a onetime home inspector. A Facebook page believed to be his includes pictures of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and rhetoric against President Trump, including a post that reads: ‘Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.'” From 26 April (ahem): Leftists Ramping Up the Violence: How Long Until They Kill Somebody? Twitter celebrates maniac. Democrats CELEBRATING the attempted mass murder of Republicans. Facebook group "Terminate the Republican Party." Remember this. pic.twitter.com/WB0OWxYsam — Thomas Wictor (@ThomasWictor) June 14, 2017 The tolerant left. Imagine my shock. pic.twitter.com/d4yuczpiPJ — Orwell & Goode (@OrwellNGoode) June 14, 2017 I have a feeling we're going to be told this is another act of violence we're not allowed to politicize, except for the gun of course — Settler Scott ? (@ScottMGreer) June 14, 2017 GOP rep. received threatening email with subject line ‘One down, 216 to go…’ after lawmaker shooting Based on analysis of the shooter's FB page, I'd say no more than 5% of blue checkmark Twitter is a mass murder risk, OK 10% tops — David Burge (@iowahawkblog) June 14, 2017 There’s nothing special about this last one, except that it’s typical. .@CNN host praises Trump #assassination play@MSNBC contributor wishes death on GOP families@BuzzFeed staff express hope for Trump assassin pic.twitter.com/rsbvOwezGW — Stephen Herreid (@StephenHerreid) June 14, 2017 Question o’ the day. Can a nation have a civil war when it is not (wholly) divided by geography? And the answer is: España.

Supreme Court's decision to ban the sale and purchase of firecrackers was a move which gained mixed responses from the public, for those who think its the first time such move has been implemented, here are the details of first Firecracker ban imposed in India in 1660 by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Supreme Court of India on Tuesday imposed a ban on sale and purchase of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. The top court’s order didn’t go well with the traders who alleged that they would suffer huge losses as they had piled up large stocks after getting their licenses in September. Bursting firecrackers has been a tradition followed in India since long back, be it a marriage ceremony, victory in sporting or other events, Diwali, Chhath, etc. Ban on firecrackers to avoid damage to the environment and mankind is not a new thing and the traces of such preventions date back to 1667 when the then Mughal emperor Aurangzeb banned the use of firecrackers in India for the first time. As per a Patrika report, Aurangzeb’s decree written in the sixteenth century which states about the ban is still safe in Bikaner’s state archives. For the first time on April 8, 1667, firecrackers were banned in India after an order released by Emperor Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb had instructed his officials through this Persian article demanding that no one in the country would use ammunition or fireworks. Among many orders which were released by the popular emperor for the welfare of the public, this was one of the most famous moves. The execution of the ban was also supported by Bikaner’s former King Maharaja Ganga Singh who drafted an act asking the public to not use firecrackers for celebrations as it can have an adverse effect on both the environment and property. Under the act, it was mentioned that any person who is found guilty of using explosive material and harming any person or property with its unlawful use will be penalised and jailed. The ban on firecrackers by Supreme Court in Delhi-NCR is not the only such move enacted in India, and neither has it been done for the first time ever. Considering the damage the pollution from firecrackers had on Delhi’s air quality in 2016, the court decided to take this strict move and see what improvements it can have on the atmosphere. This decision has been taken keeping in mind only the Diwali 2017 and the move might be withdrawn in the future if it fails to create the desired impact. For all the latest National News, download NewsX App Read More

Police in Paris have shot a man dead who tried to enter a police station armed with a knife, shouting “Allahu Akbar.” The man was found to be carrying a cellphone and a paper with an Islamic State flag, the Paris prosecutor says. The man was carrying a butcher's knife and wore a fake explosive vest, AP reported. He was identified by officials as 20-year-old Sallah Ali. The man was originally from Casablanca in Morocco, and was reportedly homeless at the time of his death. Ali was identified by his finger prints. He was a convicted thief, having been detained for a group robbery in the south of France in 2013. The attacker was reportedly not on the radar of anti-terror forces, and police are treating the incident as a case of attempted murder. "What is very clear from what is known of this person, [he] has no connection with violent radicalization," France's justice minister Christiane Taubira said, adding that Ali might have been a psychologically disturbed person acting on his own. Further investigations will show whether he had connections with any terror groups, she said. The shooting took place at the Goutte d’Or police station in Paris’ 18th district. Anna Polonyi, a journalist from the New York Times, witnessed the events unfolding and published a photo of a man lying on the ground outside the building. She also tweeted a photo of what appeared to be a robot inspecting the body. Police had told the man to "stop" and "move back" before firing twice at the alleged attacker, who immediately dropped to the ground, eyewitness Alexis Mukenge, who saw the shooting from inside another building, told French iTele network. Another eyewitness said two or three shots were heard, AFP reported. Police sealed off the area. The man armed with a knife apparently attacked on-duty policemen, with one officer receiving injuries, according to local media reports. Police union sources told Reuters the knife-wielding attacker was shot and killed. Fusillade au commissariat de la Goutte d'or, toute la zone est fermée #Barbèspic.twitter.com/XRqe3kyZ8U — Mathieu Rollinger (@MatRollinger) January 7, 2016 There were also reports that the man was believed to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he tried to gain entry to the station. Following the shooting, police found the man had been carrying a sheet of paper bearing an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) flag, according to the Paris prosecutor. Police say they also found a handwritten note written in Arabic claiming responsibility for the attack. "A mobile phone and a piece of paper, on which appear the Daesh flag and a clearly written claim in Arabic, were found on the individual," Francois Molins said, referring to the Arabic acronym for Islamic State, according to Reuters. The incident comes as Paris marks the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, which killed 12 people on January 7, 2015. Thursday’s shooting occurred minutes before French President Francois Hollande paid tribute to police officers, who have been killed in the line of duty. He said there would be an unprecedented strengthening of French security, which would include a further 5,000 police officers. Le quartier de Barbès est bouclé par l'armée et la police pic.twitter.com/zvZ83gxf09 — Jonathan RT France (@Jonathan_RTfr) January 7, 2016 The incident comes less than two months after the Paris attacks on November 13, which killed 130 people. Alain Corvez, a former adviser to the French Interior Ministry, told RT he believes Paris could be subject to more terror attacks in the future. “What I am sure of is that such attacks could occur again and again because the problem of terrorism is not solved and we have to be very cautious,” Corvez said. “The president is doing his job, but the problem is different. It is not with words that you fight against terrorism.” Corvez mentioned the 18th district where the attack took place is a mixed area, which is home to people from a number of different nationalities. However, he warned that future attacks could take place anywhere in the capital. “You can take all these measures to counter these attacks, but there will be places for terrorists to [commit] attacks.”

At least three of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees won't be getting a "yes" vote from Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey when their nominations come to the Senate floor. The Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday that he plans to vote against Department of Education nominee Betsy DeVos, Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions, and Environmental Protection Agency nominee Scott Pruitt. The trio were the first three nominations for which Casey outlined how he plans to vote. On Sessions, Casey said he and the Alabama senator have "a fundamental disagreement" on how to protect voting rights. Sessions supports a Supreme Court decision that removed a requirement on states with a history to discrimation that they must get federal approval before changing their election laws. Casey opposes that decision, and said the men discussed that case at length. Regarding Pruitt, who serves as Oklahoma's attorney general, Casey said his "record is clear: he fought to dismantle the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, anti-pollution programs that target ozone and mercury in the air, the agreement to clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed and denied the science of climate change." U.S. Sen. Bob Casey convened at a panel and reviewed efforts made by Congress to pass common sense gun safety measures and looks ahead at what the feds can do to combat gun violence. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey convened at a panel and reviewed efforts made by Congress to pass common sense gun safety measures and looks ahead at what the feds can do to combat gun violence. SEE MORE VIDEOS As for DeVos, who Casey questioned during a hearing Tuesday, the senator said he was concerned by the policies she has pushed for in Michigan in support of charter schools, saying those efforts "have produced abysmal results for children." Casey's full statement outlining his concerns with the trio is available on his website. Confirmation hearings for Trump's slate of nominees began last week. In addition to DeVos, Casey got a chance to question Health and Humans Services nominee Tom Price during committee hearings this week. Both he and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., serve on the Senate Finance Committee, which will hear from Treasury nominee Steve Mnuchin on Thursday morning. Toomey has largely praised Trump's nominees, calling DeVos a "great pick" and saying that Sessions has his "full support" for the post.

No scholar working in China today seems as able to irritate the North Korean leadership as Zhang Liangui, a professor at the Central Party School in Beijing. On December 20, 2013, Zhang published a Huanqiu Shibao editorial that asserted that North Korea had allowed the tombs of Chinese soldiers from the Korean War to fall into disrepair. While Zhang’s earlier complaints went unanswered by the North Koreans, this time, very unusually, it was taken public by the DPRK Embassy in Beijing, which sought to rebut the allegations in no less a forum than the People’s Daily, calling Zhang “a so-called expert” spreading lies about North Korea. My colleagues at Sino-NK have been doing yeoman’s work in order to keep track of Dr. Zhang’s many fascinating outputs and those of his colleagues like Zhu Feng. I hope to add to this growing body of mainly Chinese-language source work by unearthing gems in the form of Zhang Lian’gui’s extensive and highly revealing interview with a Chinese television station. Part 1 of this effort can be read as background to the current episode, which focuses again on Jang Song-taek and Chinese intelligence on North Korea. Zhang Liangui, “张琏瑰：张成泽事件后的朝鲜及东北亚局势“ [Zhang Liangui: The Situation in North Korea and North East Asia following the Jang Sung-taek Incident], Consensus Online, January 22, 2014 Host: Currently most of the information we get about North Korea comes from South Korea. Do we have any of this kind of exclusive information [独家信息]? Zhang Liangui: It has to be said that of the countries bordering North Korea, South Korea is best able to collect information on North Korea because of their shared ethnicity and shared language. They have these advantageous conditions [有它的优长，有它的顺便条件]. Therefore, South Korea is probably the country that understands North Korea the most. A lot of the things that we hear about North Korea come from South Korea. Although we hope to get even more precise information from North Korea, regrettably, North Korean leaks don’t give us much. When there’s news, other than looking at the government’s very formal-style slogans and wording [非常官方的制式口号和言辞以外], we don’t know about the more lively details [更生动一些的细节]. Under relative conditions, this ends up influencing our observations and understanding of North Korea. If North Korea knew about these issues, and was able to open up a bit more to the international community, and give more of an introduction regarding their actual situation, it would help to revise the inaccurate information coming from the South Korean side. This is what we researchers are hoping for, and I think this is what most Chinese people are hoping for, too. Host: How good are China’s intelligence reports on North Korea? Zhang Jiangui: Because I’m not involved in the writing of intelligence reports, I really don’t know about this sort of thing. It’s hard to say what kind of standard these reports meet. Host: On an international level, how good is China’s research on North Korea? Zhang Jiangui: China’s research on North Korea is probably relatively good in the eyes of other countries. We often have contact with South Koreans – there are some particular aspects of North Korea that they understand quite well. But because their social system and political cultures are totally different than those of North Korea, they don’t really understand the logic behind the methods or ways by which North Korea does things [做法、办事逻辑]. So the South Koreans often end up issuing mistaken judgments. We have similar historical experiences as North Korea, and, in the past, both of us were members of the socialist camp, so China can easily understand a lot of the ways in which North Korea does things. Americans have a similar problem. When we have contact with Americans, they’ll ask questions that to us seem quite strange. They’ll say, “Look at how many hungry people there are in North Korea, some of them are even starving to death, how can the government be so stable?” Or, “How can they so cruelly take so much money to develop nuclear weapons and missiles that can neither be eaten nor worn［还能无心旁骛地拿出那么多钱来去发展既不能吃又不能穿的武器和导弹呢]?” It’s really strange. In Western countries, for example, in countries like the US, governments are produced through elections, and presidents are selected every four years. In any place like that, if there’s a policy failure which produces starvation, that government would be quickly kicked out of office. South Korea is like this; every five years they elect the president. No matter what happens, it doesn’t even need to be people starving, it could be that a building collapses or a bridge collapses; in any case, the government would face intense questioning and a torrent of abuse from the legislature [国会批的狗血喷头]. But North Korea isn’t like this. The leader of North Korea has supreme authority, and the legality of the government doesn’t emerge from elections. Western countries don’t really understand some of the specific characteristics of the North Korean system. They always analyze North Korea through their own mindset [思维定势]—it’s like they’re observing North Korea through a pane of frosted glass [隔着一层毛玻璃来观察朝鲜]. From this angle, they aren’t able to look at the issues as accurately or as deeply as Chinese. The Main Reason Why Jang Sung-taek was Cleansed Host: Recently Kim Jong-un’s uncle Jang Sung-taek was eliminated (被清理). What was the real reason behind this? There are three voices on the matter that have been going around on the internet: Some say that there were political differences between him and Kim Jong-un over matters of economic reform and nuclear weapons development; others say that a plot of his to seize power was discovered by Kim Jong-un; and others say that it was because of a sex scandal (绯闻) between him and Kim’s wife. Zhang Jiangui: These things coming out of the internet are all just inferences, and there’s no evidence to back them up. But based off of what North Korea has officially declared regarding Jang Sung-taek’s crimes, we can say that there are three parts: One is the political aspect. That would be not obeying the Supreme Leader’s commands. Perhaps in a lot of areas, he didn’t carry out Kim Jong-un’s instructions well. Another is the organizing of a factional group (组织宗派集团). Obviously, working as he did in the upper levels for such a long time, he had amassed a group of cadres and supporters. In North Korean political life this is not permitted, so it could be said he was part of a factional group (他是宗派集团). Publicly released sentencing documents reveal that he apparently had a plan to take power himself (他似乎有“为国择君“的企图). More precise details are not publicly available. In addition, according to North Korea’s official statues, he had monopolized power, and had assembled a shadow government (架空内阁). This is the political side. The economic side is probably that his reach had become too great. As the head of the North Korean [Workers’] Party Central Finance Department [朝鲜党中央的行政部], what he had to take he took, and what we didn’t have to take he also took [该他抓的他抓，不该他抓的他也抓]. Especially on the economic side, as they say in North Korea, whoever controls the economy has money to spend [谁抓住了经济谁就有钱花]. Mineral works, fisheries, foreign trade: these are the kind of departments that can bring in foreign currency. Jang Sung-taek could have used his authority to grab some of the industries belonging to various cabinets and departments [可能利用权利，把这些属于内阁，属于其他部门控制的这几个行业抓在手里]. In this way he could have accumulated a lot of funds. Another aspect could be his mistakes in foreign trade and foreign economic cooperation. North Korea clearly pointed to his selling of minerals at low prices to foreign countries and to renting out ports to foreign countries for 50 year leases. These are specific reasons on the economic side (for why he was eliminated). Then there are the problems of his lifestyle habits. Some say he “chased women” [说他”搞女人“], took drugs, and squandered money. Frankly speaking, the main reasons for his fall from power were on the political side. Host: What position did Jang Sung-taek have in North Korea? Zhang Liangui: Jang Sung-taek had a lot of posts. He was a member of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee (党中央的政治局委员), the Deputy Chairman of the National Defense Commission (国防委员会副委员长), the Director of the Administrative Department of the Party Central Committee (党中央的行政部部门), and Chairman of the State Sports Guidance Committee (朝鲜的体育指导委员会委员长), etc. During formal events, he wasn’t placed that near the front, but his actual authority was great. This is why the media had taken to calling him the number two (2号人物). Host: We know that he led economic reforms and conducted trade with China. Why did he experience problems on the economic side of things? Zhang Liangui: The North Korean Party Central Committee’s Administrative Department is a department with great power. It doesn’t resemble our general understanding of the Administrative Department as engaged in back scratching [就是抓一抓后勤], providing guarantees and so on. In actuality, the head of the Administrative Department is responsible for the whole party and for public security (公安), security (安全保卫), armed police (武警) and those kind of special industries, as well as the intelligence agencies (情报部门). Jang Sung-taek’s power was considerable. Because North Korea’s economy is underdeveloped, there’s this basic policy that all industries are to do everything possible to set up companies to produce revenue, which is to be handed over to the Central Government. This describes the background of a lot of North Korean companies operating in China. Some of these companies are military (军方的), some are public security (公安的), some are Communist Youth League (共青团的), some are set up by one Central Government ministry or another (中央哪个部委办的). Because North Korea has insisted on continuing nuclear tests, they’ve been sanctioned by the international community and run into foreign exchange difficulties. Now the North Korean government has given each department and each company a target for foreign exchange, and every year they are to hand over that much in foreign exchange. Jang Sung-taek did a lot of work in this area. In conducting economic cooperation with China, we noticed that it was Jang Sung-taek who came forward to set up last year’s agreement with China to develop the two islands of Hwanggeumpyeong and Wihwa (黄金坪岛和威化岛). In terms of China’s economic cooperation [with North Korea], although Jang was involved in a lot of it, many of the really important decisions were not ones that he alone could have made – for example, deciding for how many years to rent out ports. Obviously this wasn’t a case of whatever Jang said went, as this involved issues of national sovereignty and so on. But now that Jang has been gotten rid of, he is said to have been responsible for all of these things. Host: Those seven men entrusted to take care of the orphan prince [七位托孤大臣] before the death of Kim Jong-il, where are they now? Zhang Liangui: The media reported after Kim Jong-il’s death on the people standing to the two sides of the hearse carrying his body. The first one on the right was Kim Jong-un, with the second being Jang Sung-taek. The third was Kim Ki-nam [金基南], the fourth was Choe Tae-bok [崔泰福]. Jang has already been executed. Kim Ki-nam has been the official in charge of North Korean propaganda work [朝鲜负责宣传工作的大总管] for a long time now. Choe Tae-bok was originally a teacher at Kim Il-sung University [金日成综合大学] and was Kim Jong-il’s teacher. These two men are highly respected. On the left side were military men. The first was Chief of Staff Ri Yong-ho [总参谋长李英浩]. On July 15, 2012, he was relinquished of all of his duties. Behind him is Kim Yong-chun [金永春], originally defense minister [国防部长], he’s also been relieved of his duties. Behind him was Kim Jong-gak (金正阁), he replaced Kin Yong-chun as defense minister, but after a few months resigned. At the very end was U Tong-chuk (禹东测), responsible for defensive work in the State Security Department (安全保卫部). In fact, he left office last year. Ri Yong-ho was publicly announced to have been relieved of all his duties and was afterwards said to have been a counterrevolutionary. The other few, after having been removed from their posts, have not appeared in public again. There hasn’t been any explanation as to why they were removed. Host: Choe Ryong-hae [崔龙海] was said to have been arrested for having rebelled against Kim Jong-un. Do you think there is any plausibility to these rumors? Zhang Liangui: This is obviously a rumor or speculation. On December 17, the second anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-il, Choe Ryong-hae was still representing the military when he made an impassioned speech, expressing the military’s defense of the absolute leadership of Kim Jong-un, their defense of Kim’s singular position, and their obedience to his singular instructions. Host: Jang was arrested on December 8 and was executed on December 12. When North Korea disposes of senior leaders, do they have to go through a judicial process? Zhang Liangui: According to North Korean statements, Jang was arrested during an expanded session of the Politburo on December 8. This was formally announced on December 9. In fact, before that, on December 3, South Korea had news that Jang had already been sacked. It was later revealed by South Korean media that this information came from South Korean intelligence agencies monitoring North Korean phone calls. The execution was carried out on Dec. 12, and on Dec. 13 the news was made public. According to formal statements made by North Korea, the judgement was issued by a Special Military Tribunal of the State Security Department [国家安全保卫部特别军事法庭], with the execution being carried immediately after sentencing. Host: There are some rumors that Jang was executed by having dogs set upon him—“death by canine” [“犬决”]. Zhang Liangui: And there are some who say they used anti-aircraft guns to kill him. Right now we have no way of judging whether these things are true or false. North Korea hasn’t gone further to reveal any more details. Host: How much of Jang’s confession was true? Could he have been intimidated or coerced into confessing? Zhang Liangui: I’m unable to make a judgement. Because we don’t know the situation of the trial, and especially because as Chinese we don’t understand the entirety of their judicial proceedings, it’s really difficult to judge. Host: A lot of information is closed off and hasn’t been disclosed. Zhang Liangui: South Koreans are really careful about these things; they study the photos that North Korea publicly issues with a magnifying glass. In the photo (of the trial), there are two soldiers holding on to Jang, whose head is lowered. South Koreans say that his eyes were quite blue, that he was definitely beaten. Can you really make out anything like that in such a small picture? There are some things that are just imagined. Host: How did you feel after you heard the news that Jang had been executed? Zhang Liangui: Because we didn’t have any contact with Jang, I can’t really talk about feelings. But when an issue like this emerges in North Korea, and they use this sort of cruel method to solve the issue, I feel really shocked. Host: Some netizens have asked whether or not we could compare the Jang incident with the Lin Biao incident in Chinese history. After the Jang incident occurred, how are the North Korean people looking at this incident? Zhang Liangui: Because our contact with North Korea is quite limited, especially after this incident occurred, and because it’s quite difficult for most Chinese people to make contact with the average North Korean, we really don’t know what the average North Korean feels about this situation. What we do see is just what the Korean Central News Agency [朝鲜通讯社] reports. Host: After the Lin Biao incident occurred, there was a feeling amongst the people: They suddenly felt that if even the number two man in power could fall from power, then it would be difficult to believe state propaganda in the future. After the current Jang incident occurred, could a similar situation have emerged in North Korea? Zhang Liangui: That’s a possibility. And because this incident recently transpired, and because we don’t know what sort of impact it will have on North Korean society, the psychology of the North Korean people, and on the political direction of North Korea, we really need to keep watching. Host: Why is the official language of North Korea so “moody” [情绪化]? For example, in the judgement it was written that Jang was “a traitor whose death could not even atone for his crimes” [“罪不容诛的叛国贼”], “a dog no better than human scum” [“狗不如的人间渣滓”], and “the world’s number one eternal usurper and traitor” [“天下头号千古逆贼卖国贼”]. Zhang Liangui: This is one of the characteristics of North Korea, and it’s also part of their political culture. In order to express these moods, you have to come up with a special vocabulary [特色的词汇]. Looking at the essays of condemnation coming out of North Korea, like the judicial order, it reminds us of the big character posters of the Cultural Revolution period. The articles written then by the Red Guards were all written in fiery language. Chinese people who are slightly older and who lived through the Cultural Revolution, when they read these (North Korean) articles, won’t feel that they are all that unfamiliar. The North Korean Regime and North Korean Society Host: What is the domestic political structure of North Korea like? Zhang Liangui: North Korea’s political structure is quite special. Although the Party and the military each have their own hierarchy, it’s a leader-based system in practice. According to formal North Korean statements, the Party is good, the army is good, (but) it’s only a collective of limbs, hands, legs and feet—in reality, the brain is dominant [党也好，军也好，只是一个集体的胳膊和手、腿、脚，实际上起支配作用的是大脑]. Who’s the brain? The leader. So when we talk about North Korea’s single leader system, it’s the leader who decides everything. North Korea really emphasizes one’s background, which class one is from, what kind of family background one has, all of this will have a major role in determining that one’s future development. Especially those men who fought as guerrillas with Kim Il-sung, they are natural revolutionaries, and their descendants are revolutionaries, red descendants [红色后代]. This is the theory on [a person’s] social origins [这是出身论]. Then there is the system of descent. North Korea’s so-called Mt. Baekdu bloodline [白头山血统] is the bloodline of Kim Il-sung. According to the North Korean telling, in his early years Kim Il-sung carried out anti-Japanese resistance activities on Mt. Baekdu, and Kim Jong-il was born on Mt. Baekdu—this formed the Mt. Baekdu bloodline. Now every day the North Korean media talks about the Mt. Baekdu bloodline. That is to say, only those who are part of the Mt. Baekdu bloodline have the qualifications to be leader. Recently they have emphasized that the Mt. Baekdu bloodline can only have one leader, so after the Jang incident, Rodong Sinmun published a song, “We Only Recognize Kim Jong-un, We Do Not Recognize Any Others” [“我们只认金正恩，其他的人都不认”]. This gave further prominence to Kim Jong-un’s particular position. North Korea is just like that—although there are some cadres whose record of service may be longer, and there are some who have higher positions, while others’ (whose position) may be a little lower; while some are party cadres, and others are military cadres, the key to whether or not they can play a political role rests on whether or not they have the trust of the leader. If you have the trust of the leader, you have everything – you have power, you’ll have postings in any area. If a person doesn’t have the trust of the leader, he can’t do anything. Host: Give us a bit of an introduction to the history of the peak of Mt. Baekdu and its lake. Zhang Liangui: If you have an atlas of China printed before the 1960s, you’ll find that Mt. Baekdu’s Heaven Lake [长白山天池] was China’s. At that time, the China-North Korea border was about 20km south of Mt. Baekdu’s Heaven Lake. By the early 1960s, China and North Korea conducted border negotiations, and more than half of Heaven’s Lake was returned to North Korea. Of course, this was a complex process. Thus far, China has not officially announced this border treaty, so most of the precise details have not been well articulated. Host: What kind of system does North Korea have? What is the difference between their system and that of the Saudi monarchy? Zhang Liangui: It’s best not to compare them. Saudi Arabia has their own way of doing things, and North Korea has theirs. Host: The three-generation Kim dynasty [金家三代] doesn’t count as a monarchy? Zhang Liangui: They’ve put forward the following slogan in the media: “We must be the loyalists of the Baekdu lineage” [要做白头山血统世世代代的忠臣]. Host: Why, if North Korea was originally a country in the socialist camp, did it put into place the hereditary system [世袭] it has today? Zhang Liangui: This is a really complex question, and it’s a question that Chinese people aren’t able to explain. With North Korea’s particular historical background and with their particular socio-cultural environment, this sort of result was perhaps inevitable. Host: How should we look at a nominally Workers’ Party-led North Korea [朝鲜名义上是劳动党领导]? They say they have instituted a socialist system, but in actuality they‘re an autocratic country. Zhang Liangui: North Korea has said that it’s implemented a socialist system, and a lot of us believe that the system they’ve implemented is socialist. In reality there are a lot of different types of socialism. The Communist Manifesto lists a number of different kinds of socialism. So we can say that the term socialism has already been generalized, and sticking labels onto it doesn’t help to explain anything. We can only say that every country has own particular political system. Host: What kind of “-ism” has North Korea put in place [朝鲜实行的是什么主义]? Is it socialist? Zhang Liangui: I think it’s best not to give it a label, as no label is accurate. Host: What kind of authority has the North Korean regime depended on that has allowed it to continue on for so long? Zhang Liangui: According to North Korean statements, it’s because of the correct leadership of their three generations of great leaders [三代伟大领袖正确领导], because of their superior social system which has made their country so stable, and because in all areas they are developing. In reality North Korea’s economy is in bad straits, the people have maintained social stability under conditions of food shortages and starvation. North Korea has a set of practices that they use. The system that North Korea uses to maintain stability is quite thorough, and the role of the military in political life is quite large. For example, the military plays a really big role in maintaining social stability. Beyond them, there is also the armed police [武装警察] and public security personnel [公安人员] who maintain public order, as well as other intelligence agencies [其他情报系统] that help to maintain social stability. These various departments together form a network of social control, [对社会形成一张控制网] and are able to bring stability to North Korea. In a lot of areas, North Korea is really clever. Maintaining social stability through this kind of system, this kind of thinking, these kinds of methods, it’s relatively unique in the world. Source: Zhang Liangui, “Zhang Liangui: The Situation in North Korea and North East Asia following the Jang Sung-taek Incident” [张琏瑰：张成泽事件后的朝鲜及东北亚局势], Consensus Online, January 22, 2014. Translation by Emile Dirks.

Image caption Dr Raef Al Arouf says the situation for medical staff is tense Behind the front lines in the Libyan desert, the last safe place is now not safe. The tiny clinic at Brega, which has taken many of the wounded from the fierce fighting at Ras Lanuf, is being emptied out after it too started to come under fire. "If you are in Ras Lanuf you have to fight, or you will be killed," says Dr Walid El Rais. "So we had to leave, and now this!" He gestures to the sky to indicate air raids, which have become more frequent in the past few days. The atmosphere here has changed as Col Gaddafi's forces have started to use heavy artillery and tanks to attack rebels in the east of Libya. The rebels manning the anti-aircraft guns on the road west are jumpy and nervous. Straining to hear the noise of an incoming plane, they fire at the slightest noise. "I never imagined I'd be working under these conditions," says junior doctor Raef Al Arouf, as he sorts and packs surgical supplies. But like all of the people here in the east, he won't admit to any fear. "It's tense of course, but I'm not frightened. This is my work, this is my country and above all, these are my people." The sound of anti-aircraft guns in the distance stops our conversation. The hospital was bombed yesterday and the glances of the other medics are anything but relaxed. 'Not safe' "I don't know if the hospital was targeted deliberately but it's not safe," explains volunteer and surgeon Salem Langhi. "We take the injured and treat them - from both sides. This is where we stabilise them, then send them on to the safer cities. But we are closing this down now because we have to." Without a safe place for a hospital, the solution is to make treatment mobile. Ambulances carrying teams of up to four doctors travel as far as they dare towards the constant barrage of artillery and aerial bombardment to pick up wounded and treat them in the vehicle. However, we were told these ambulances too are now coming under fire from the air. Image caption Dr Walid El Rais says the injured from both sides of the conflict are treated Dr El Rais opens up his ambulance to show me. It is basic but he explains that they can stabilise patients and sometimes even operate. They are field hospitals on wheels and he is also keen to tell me that they treat the injured from both sides. Walid is not actually a doctor, he's a dentist. He came with his best friend, Ahmad - also a dentist - to work as an emergency medic, shuttling up and down to the front lines to collect the wounded. Yesterday, though, the ambulance team his best friend was working on did not come back. "When the planes come in they are now shooting even at ambulances and we have lost two," he said. "I tried and tried to get through to my friend yesterday and his phone just goes dead. Same with the other three doctors who were in the ambulance with him." He fiddles with his phone as we talk, as if it may ring at any time. Treating streams of war wounded has been hard, he said, but nowhere near as hard as having to phone his friend's family. "Of course I had to call his father. Ahmad is my best friend, we trained together. I spoke to him [the father] and told him what happened. But I also said I think he's alive still. He could be somewhere out there. I have to say that because that is what I hope." Ambulances and crews start to assemble for the day and move off. Past the clinic and along the desert road there are miles of nothingness up to the front line, and from there, chaos. "I'm praying for him," Walid adds.

Sponsored by the Free Software Foundation Power Users Guide From: Richard Murnane THE POWER USER'S GUIDE TO POWER USERS Power Users never read their software manuals; instead they get petty cash from their secretaries and use it to buy books which contain the phrase "Power User" on the cover. They then keep the receipt, to claim against tax. Software manufacturers write their manuals badly, and in computerese, in order to con Power Users into buying the manual ("XYZ for the Power User!") a second time. This extra revenue compensates the manufacturers somewhat for all the people who pirate their software and then buy Power User Guides to replace the manuals they never had... Power Users never read their "Power User's Guide to ..." books, for the same reason they didn't read the software manuals in the first place. They do however skim the first two chapters, in which they make copious annotations (e.g. underlining phrases like "to get a directory listing, type 'DIR C: <enter>'. Note do not type the word '<enter>', or the quotes.") Power Users get their companies to buy them 130MHz 80586 PS/4s with 100MB RAM and 5-gigabyte optical drives, which they bring home: - to run Lotus 1-2-3G spreadsheets, producing PostScript graphs of their mortgage repayments; - to DTP stern memos forbidding their Real Programmers from using unregistered shareware and PD utilities at work. For this task, they get their computer upgraded with a 4096x4096, 12 billion colour hyper-VGA video display, and the memo employs a minimum of seven different fonts, plus bolding and italics, with at least five revisions to correct spelling errors, and to order the Cc: list in the most politically acceptable manner), and - to play pirate copies of Tetris and PC-Golf which they haven't realised are infected with a virus. Power Users scold their children for referring to their machines as personal computers. "It's NOT a PC, Jimmy, it's my Professional Workstation, No Intergalactic Space Zombies for you tonight! Now, go to your room!" Power Users get an identically equipped PC at work, so they can do the work they would do at home, if only ten-year-old Jimmy would stop playing Intergalactic Space Zombies for five consecutive minutes. The money for this PC comes out of the Real Programmers' software tools budget for the next three years. Having worked out their mortagage repayments for the next 100 years, and having failed consistently to beat ten-year old Jimmy at Intergalactic Space Zombies, Power Users never touch their computers again; at work, they keep themselves occupied in meetings, so nobody will see them staring blankly at their PC screen. Meanwhile, the Real Programmers who work for them struggle by with aging IBM PCs (the originals ones, with a grudgingly-added Tallgrass disk drives - yuck!) Rather than read their "Real Users Guide to..." books, Power Users turn to their ten-year-old kids for technical advice ("yes, Jimmy, I understand that, but how do I get the directory on the _D_ drive?") Power Users get frustrated when they press the 'Print Screen' key and nothing happens: they thump it a dozen times before realising they've left the printer off-line. Power Users sneak their children in outside office hours to work out why their spreadsheet figures don't add up and the Chairman's end-of- quarter report is due tomorrow. In a strange twist of human psychology, the ten-year-old children of Power Users think that when they grow up, they'll become Real Programmers and make shit loads of money writing a game better than Intergalactic Space Zombies. (Sadly, they end up chugging out accounting software for Power Users.) Power Users could master any PC application, if only they could figure out how to start it ("Uhhhm, it must be on this menu somewhere..".) Power Users attend innumerable Power User courses, where they get a set of loose-leaf binders of notes they never read (but whose titles in genuine imitation gold leaf look impressive beside the "Power User's Guide to..." books which now accumulate a thick layer of dust on the shelf). They also drink a lot, and commiserate with each other how their Real Programmer subordinates are a bunch of overpaid, long-haired layabouts who can't be coerced into wearing shirts and ties, never mind a suit; and of course to swap Power Techniques like how to format a 360k disk in a 1.2MB drive and thus get more than 360k of data onto it ("I'll have my secretary call IBM Technical Support about all the bad sector things I'm getting on this disk.") Power Users carry a pocket calculator for working out the cell values in their Lotus spreadsheets ("Um, I guess I didn't get to the section on formulas yet in my 'Power Users Guide to Lotus 1-2-3'".) Power Users think "Your computer is stoned" is part of the DOS copyright banner. The ten-year-old children Power Users mischievously stick pieces of cheese into every crevice of their parent's mouse, not realising that this causes testicular problems later in life (for the MOUSE, twit!). Power Users don't think that last joke was funny. Power Users get their secretaries to call IBM Technical Support to fix their defective mouse, because they're too embarassed to asked any of their Real Programmer subordinates how to open it to remove the cheese. When nobody is looking, Power Users pretend their mouse is a toy car, and race it around the desk. Power Users keep a large box of tissues on their desk to wipe the saliva off the screen after playing Test Drive (BRRRRRM! BRRRRRM!) Power Users can't figure out how to make their modems stop auto-answering, so they alway lunge on their phone when it rings in an effort to beat it. They're never fast enough, and spend the first 30 seconds of the conversation apologising, while the modem auto-ranges, and they earnestly promise that they'll have their secretary call IBM Technical Support to have the problem rectified. Power Users panic when they lose those dumb keyboard templates that come with programs like Turd Perfect (which are too brain-dead to have a decent user interface). They invariably mix up the templates when switching between programs. Power Users have problems with Windows, when they have two or more applications running, but room for only one keyboard template. Power Users buy those dumb mice that have a nearly full ASCII keyboard built-in to them ("Swiss Army Mouse (tm)"). Power Users believe computer salesmen. Power Users will buy ANY program that makes wild promises on the box about increasing productivity. These boxes always look impressive on the bookshelf, beside the "Power User" books and course notes. Power Users use MicroJerk ProjectMeister to schedule their wife's pregnancy, and get confused when they can't work out how to assign tasks and set milestones. They try to persuade the obstetrician to induce labour when she's late. Power Users unreservedly believe their MicroJerk ProjectMeister when it says the project will be complete at 5pm on the last Friday in September next year, but eighteen months later, they won't believe the Real Programmer who says it'll be done "Real Soon Now (tm)". Power Users believe the ads for 4GLs and Application Generator packages, and think that in two weeks they'll be able to fire all their Real Programmers. (Ha ha ha... remember "The Last One"?) -- Selected by Brad Templeton. MAIL your joke (jokes ONLY) to funny@looking.ON.CA Attribute the joke's source if at all possible. A Daemon will auto-reply. Remember: PLEASE spell check and proofread your jokes. You think I have time to hand-correct everybody's postings? Other humor in the GNU Humor Collection.

In July, Dallas cornerback Morris Claiborne acknowledged that 2013 was humiliating. “It’s definitely embarrassing,” Claiborne said, “especially when you know the type of talent you have on the team, but it’s just not showing up.” Tuesday, Claiborne delivered a crushing hit on Oakland tight end Mychal Rivera in a joint practice. The hit led to a brawl that nearly spilled over into the stands, featuring a Raiders fan swinging a helmet at a Dallas player. Given the outlook of the upcoming season, this likely won’t be the last time you’ll hear concern emanating from the franchise’s defense. “You can’t be ranked 32nd defensively and expect to win games.”-Antonio Pierce on the Cowboys pic.twitter.com/FQeGt9iBVL — NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) July 23, 2014 In October 2013 the Denver Broncos absolutely dismantled the Dallas Cowboy defense: 34 first downs, 9-13 third down efficiency, 517 total yards. Quarterback Tony Romo’s 506 yards and five touchdowns weren’t enough; neither was the 48 points they recorded. It wasn’t all that noteworthy, though, because this type of performance became habitual for Dallas in nearly all of their matchups. The 2013 Cowboys’ defense finished last in the NFL in total defense for the first time since 1994, allowing 415 yards and 27 points per game. Defensive Coordinator Monta Kiffin (demoted to assistant head coach/defense in January) couldn’t manage to keep his unit above No. 27 in the NFL in either opponent rushing yards (128.5 per game) or opponent passing yards (286.8 per game). They gave up a franchise-worst 6,645 total yards (third-worst in NFL history), set records for futility and had one of the eight easiest schedules in the league. This season, they have a daunting NFC East schedule and their non-division opponents include the 49ers, Saints, Seahawks, Bears and Colts. Defensive end DeMarcus Ware—the man who likely will be remembered as the greatest pass-rusher in franchise history—was cut in March, and is now playing for Denver. He didn’t warrant the money he was requesting but his six sacks a season ago, still good for third-most on the team, will surely be missed. Defensive end Jason Hatcher the 2013 team leader in sacks (11) is gone, as are Jarius Wynn and Everette Brown. Most notably, linebacker Sean Lee, who registered the second-most tackles (68), most interceptions (four) and highest WPA (1.69) on the team in 2013—had season-ending surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in June. Rather than fixing the fulcrum of their franchise, Dallas responded by drafting Notre Dame’s Zach Martin at tackle in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft, waiting till the second round to pick a defensive player. Their second round choice, Boise State linebacker Demarcus Lawrence, promptly broke his foot in late July and is out for eight to 12 weeks. On Tuesday, cornerback Orlando Scandrick was suspended for four games for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Every game in the NFL season matter, but the four Scandrick’s missing seem particularly daunting: San Francisco, St. Louis, Tennessee and New Orleans. In the first four games next season, Dallas will be missing 61.8 percent of its sack total and five of the 11 players who accrued 28 or more tackles a season ago. The unit looks destined to give up more than 30 points per game. Here are some projections merely based on what’s happened since 2010: After a 2.4 percent decrease in allowed yard production from 2010 to 2011 (this was the year DeMarcus Ware posted 19 1/2 sacks and the Cowboys still went 8-8), the numbers begin to nosedive: 3.6 percent percent increase from 2011 to 2012, 16.8 percent increase from 2012 to 2013. Obviously this is heavily manipulated by last season’s travesty on the defensive end, but since 2010 this averages out to a 6 percent increase in allowed yard production each season. If Dallas were to continue the trend, they’d eclipse the New Orleans Saints worst defense of all-time by a single yard. Since 2011, they Cowboys have also allowed opponents into the end zone exponentially more: 21.7 points per game in 2011, 25 points per game in 2012 and 27 points per game in 2013. “We were last in the league in defense and we’re trying to be number one,” Claiborne said. “That’s our goal. We’re not shying away from it.” This season’s unit is comically bare and the team hasn’t won more than eight games since 2009—in large part because of their defense. With a ransacked roster, no back end or starter-quality safeties and a difficult schedule, Dallas very well could be looking at the worst defense in the history of football in 2014. Josh Planos has had his work featured at the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune’s RedEye Chicago, Rivals, Denver Post, CBS Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and ESPN Radio, and is currently a columnist for the ESPN TrueHoop Network and The Cauldron. He loves interacting with readers via Twitter (@JPlanos).

iPhone jailbreaker Comex is starting an internship at Apple. (Laura J. Gardner/AP) Allegra tweeted the news on Thursday, saying that he’d been pretty bored lately and that he’ll start at Apple in two weeks. Jailbreakers say that they want to have more control over their phones, and programs like those Comex produces help iPhone users circumvent some of the strictures of Apple’s iOS system. The programs also can cause security issues if programmers with more sinister intentions use them. From that angle, it’s a great idea for Apple to take Comex on board. He definitely knows the holes in Apple’s systems and, in theory, how to protect them as well. Related stories: More technology coverage from The Post Facebook hires PlayStation hacker George Hotz, aka GeoHot Sony settles with PS3 hacker

Yes, yes, yes, I know there are a billion kooky subcultures floating around out there on the internet, most of which are incredibly offensive to human beings with clear eyes and full hearts, and ripping them to shreds on a widely read blog is the very easiest of all pickins. And I knooooooooow we shouldn't give horrible people attention for their horrible ideas because it only validates them and makes them feel more justified in being horrible and then the horribleness continues unabated. And I know that as important as it is to call out hypocrisy and dog-whistle xyz-isms in mainstream media, it's pretty gratuitous and pointless to harp on the musty, marginal blogs of unhinged narcissists. HOWEVER, once in a while a thing comes along that's sooooooooooooo exceptionally kookoonanners that I can't not tell everyone I've ever met about it. Like now! Watch out for nanner peels! We're goin' in! I came across this guy here via a tip about this article, which instructs frightened little boys on how to meet "shy girls," which is frightened-little-boy-speak for "silent, submissive, affectless bone-hole." It's pretty typical fare for the modern anti-feminist bro whose "ideal woman" isn't a woman at all but rather a meatloaf-wrapped Fleshlight in a bonnet. Par for the course. Nothing to see here. But then I started poking around and shit got weird. And I got sad. Advertisement Dude wrote a list of the "32 Things Every Man Should Do," most of which are variations on his obsessions with boldness and determination (it's in the URL so you know he's srs). And it's...amazing: Physically build something—Nothing says girly man like an inability to build even the most simplest of objects. If you can't build a bookshelf or a nightstand it's high-time you get to building. Then he talks about how his grandpa made him a bookshelf and he honors it above all other bookshelves. Fine, Franz. Your bookshelf really pumps you up. But I just have to ask, what's more "girly man"—not being able to build a nightstand, or using the word "nightstand"? Real men call it a "that table thing." Build a business - Working for someone else is a soul-killer. Taking orders is for order-takers. Advertisement Setting aside the remarkable phrase, "taking orders is for order-takers," let's break this down a little. Doesn't leading encourage following? So if working for oneself is the only manly option, because men are supposed to be leaders, then aren't you deliberately undermining other males? What does this dude think of his employees? Are all of his male employees insufferable girly-men who wouldn't know a nightstand if it davenported them right in the credenza? So does that mean that he only hires female employees in the name of male empowerment? Because that's actually pretty progressive. Nice work, bro. Full circle. Take privacy seriously - It's a new world, boys. All that seemingly harmless information you give to the internet can and may come back to haunt you. Your name here, your address there, your date of birth here, your social security number there and pretty soon a social engineer has all your information and will take you to the cleaners. And, as everyone knows, ONLY GAY GUYS GO TO THE CLEANERS. No. The real subtext of this one is, "Maintain your anonymity at all cost so nobody finds out that you're just some kid named Kevin and not really an oiled warrior in gladiator sandals exulting in the lamentation of your rival warlord's concubines." You have them fooled for now, Kevin. Keep it that way. Just say no – Forget the excuses after you say "no". Punk version: Someone: Do you want to help me take care of my sick grandma? Punk: Oh, well, I would but you know, I have this and that to do and I just don't have the time… Man version: Someone: Do you want to help me take care of my sick grandma? Man: No. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA SICK BURN, BRO. Like, legit sick. Like, sick as that guy's dying grandma sick. Shake hands - The hand shake is how men greet and address each other. The ‘fist bump' and other assorted bullshit is how lower forms of life greet each other. A firm handshake is an indicator of strength and respect. Respect for yourself and respect for others. The fist bump shows a clear lack of respect for tradition, strength and pride. Fist bumpers deserve a fist bump to the face. Advertisement Pretty sure that's racist. Own you car outright – Debt is slavery...If you have the dough, go ahead and splurge on a luxury car. If you don't have the dough, work and build until you do have the dough. Until then, drive something cheaper. Remember, if you can't afford it in cash you don't deserve it. LIVE LIKE A SPARTAN. YES. AS HERODOTUS TELLS US, THE SPARTANS ALWAYS PAID CASH FOR THEIR USED TOYOTA CAMRYS. Eat meat – Meat is what produces testosterone, testosterone is what makes men. All those vegetarian dweebs you see are effeminate for a reason. Advertisement Science!!!!! As all doctors know, when a man fills his mouth with beef chunks, the magic beef seeds travel down the swallow-pipe, through the foody-sack, and directly into the dong receptors, packing the penis with the TESTOSTERONI POWER OF 1000 COWS. This, actually, is the section that convinced me I had to write about Professor Bold 'n' Determined and his incredible mind-menagerie of life-smarts. Because, turns out, he's not writing into a vacuum here—he has readers. Real readers who share his concerns about muscles, whores, nightstands, meatloaves, and not being faggy. And one of those readers left a comment about this meat thing. It starts out almost human: I like it. My only gripe is with he meat-eating part; I know personally some manly vegetarians. If you think about it, renunciation shows will-power and manliness. Advertisement Um, okay. I guess I see what your saying about "renunciation," although I'm pretty sure women are capable of coping with deprivation too (you know, like living for thousands of years without autonomy or respect!). So, not exactly sure where manliness fits in. But then who cares because oops there's more: I understand that 99% of veggies are fags. What separates my friends apart from them is the fact that they are 100% continent, chaste. Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Wait...what? Continent? Chaste? ...Something's...something's afoot here. I'm not...I can't...I smell something. Follow the 30 Days of Discipline bootcamp for winners - Discipline is the mark of a man. A man can control himself. A man sets goals and follows through. A man does what he aims to do. A man does not let baloney get in his way of achievement. Where on earth are these people encountering large enough volumes of baloney to actually hinder their progress in life? GET OUT OF MY WAY, BALONEY. I'M TRYING TO BE A WINNER. (Pro tip: If too much baloney is getting in your way, just eat your way free—for your sperms!!! [See: meat thing.]) Keep a Positive Mental Attitude – Read motivating works and listen to motivating music. Despair art and sad music can easily put us into a depressed mood. Uplilfting art can uplift you and put you in a positive state of mind. Just say no to despair blogs, sad music and whiny bullshit. Say yes to high energy art. Advertisement Like...this part is kind of cute, right? Misguided, but cute. He looks at art to stay in a good mood! I guess if the imagery on his site is any indication, by "art" he means medieval illuminations of monks fighting lions superimposed with inspirational slogans like "DEATH TO BALONEY" and "NO BALONEY BALONEYS AS GOOD AS MUSCLES FEELS." You know, high-energy stuff like that. Be loyal to blood - The thing about lowlife liberals is that they hate everything about their race and culture and wish to destroy it. They hate the strength and pride of tradition. Nonsense, embrace the traditional and embrace your blood. When push comes to shove all you have is your blood. No one else will ever do for you in times of need. Blood first, everything else a very, very distant second. Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF Advertisement Okay, here's where shit gets rill. HERE IS WHERE THE SHIT IS ABOUT TO BE GETTING RILL, PEOPLE. Ordinary anti-feminist meatheads are just a little meaty in the head, and maybe a little short-sighted in the getting-women-to-touch-their-penises department, but generally they are human beings who think inside of the box. But THIS special flurry of snowflakes seem to have pooped in the box (meat-poop; fiber is for fags), thrown the box into the garbage, thrown the garbage into the ocean, set the ocean on fire, and then squeezed through a tesseract to another dimension where everyone's absurd paranoias come true. Hold my hand, Calvin: Stop watching porn - Heavy porn watchers are always Low-T having, light avoiding, pussy repellent boys. It's embarrassing to be a masturbater and it is shameful. No matter what the degenerate liars on tv say, it is nothing to be proud of. If someone walked in on you masturbating you would feel righteous shame. When you give up the porn you have time for more important things, like building a business, having more energy, attracting women, and being a damn man. Advertisement :-\| Line. Mouth. This section takes a turn because it's where dude and his followers reveal that they literally believe in witchcraft. Oh, never break bread with a blacksmith's widow on the full moon, or the stag god of the harvest will steal your seed to fertilize his crops moste sinistre! It's pretty darling, actually. You know, life is scary and complicated. Being a man, I have no doubt, is scary and complicated in about as many ways as being a woman is scary and complicated, and these are just young guys searching desperately for a path. A way to feel safe and human and important and worthy of life. Alchemical potions like "meat" and superstitious rituals like "don't touch your pants-dagger or you'll jizz out your soul" are simple, comforting attempts to impose order and stability on a chaotic world. They're shortcuts, of course—fruitless shortcuts—to avoid dealing with the real stuff, the hard stuff. Pretty much all of them could be undertaken without throwing non-whites, non-straights, and non-males under the bus (things like "stay out of debt" and "get some exercise" are fundamentally good advice that transcends politics). But that's what fear gets you. Isolationism. Advertisement They're just little boys looking for a magic spell to solve all their problems. Never supplicate to women – Men are the rightful leaders. When you give your power over to a woman you are truly a vile little specimen. Women don't deserve undo praise and they certainly do not deserve everything men deserve. You've got to be the leader of your woman. If you aren't the leader of your women you are her follower. A follower is also known as a chump or a cuckold. Don't be a chump, be a champ! Again, there's something cute about the cheery sloganeering and childlike optimism of this dude's philosophy. I want to not be a chump, but be a champ! I totally want that! The only parts I don't want are literally all of the other parts. Take cold showers – Cold showers will turn a sissy into a man. Cold showers are the best. Cold showers refresh you. They make you feel alive. Cold showers get your blood pumping and your lungs working. Cold showers are how a man should start his day. Advertisement Again with the magic spells. Don't talk too much - Talking too much about your future plans fools your mind into thinking you've already accomplished it...Before you accomplish you're just a talker, after you accomplish you're a walker. Again with the rhyming. Okay, I can't even bother with the rest. Sorry (not sorry) if I didn't make it to 32. Advertisement I know there's nothing new here, really. But what's so interesting to me about this community is that it's incredibly hateful and violent, but so vulnerable at the same time. It completely lacks self-awareness. It has dorky slogans. And superstitions. It's dripping with obvious anxiety about women and gays and anything foreign. It breaks my heart. I can't think of anything less masculine (whatever "masculine" even means) than worrying frantically about your masculinity, nor anything more masculine than not being fucking bothered. It's only the people with the most insecurities who spend this much time thinking up ways to pave over those insecurities. If you're this terrified of losing something, you probably don't have it in the first place. And as much as these dudes hate me for being a fat loudmouth liberal feminist whore, I don't want to give them a punch in the mouth. I want to give them a hug. Because life is scary, I know. But it'll all be okay, little bros. It'll be okay.

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Chancellor Angela Merkel said just a few days ago in her New Year address that the most difficult test Germany faces is Islamist terrorism. But terrorism in Germany is not exclusively Islamist. It can also come from the political left or - as the National Socialist Underground (NSU) has recently demonstrated - from the right. The interior ministry said in a December response to a parliamentary interpellation from representatives of the Left Party that just under 600 arrest warrants for neo-Nazis were still outstanding. Some 403 arrest warrants were issued in the first 10 months of 2016 alone. In total, warrants were issued against 454 individuals who, in the official jargon, "have been deemed on account of relevant police information to belong to the category 'crime motivated by the political right.'" Not all of these right-wing extremists are being sought for politically motivated crimes, but in 92 cases the arrest warrant does indeed relate to a politically motivated offense. The right-wing 'Oldschool Society' has been banned since 2015 Going underground encourages radicalization According to Matthias Quent, a Jena-based researcher into right-wing extremism, the number of neo-Nazis who have gone underground increases the risk of creating new right-wing extremist terrorist structures. In an interview with DW, Quent emphasized that going underground could lead to further radicalization and to political aims being pursued more determinedly, with violence. This corresponds with the interior ministry's latest annual report on the defense of the constitution, which talks about an "exorbitant increase in right-wing extremist violence." The authors go on to say that "anti-asylum agitation creates a sounding board for right-wing extremist ideology fragments. Right-wing extremism gains connectivity," with the result that violence and crimes motivated by right-wing extremism and directed against asylum-seekers' accommodation increased more than five-fold in 2015 compared to the previous year. The report also found that after years in decline, the right-wing extremist scene is now attracting members again. The number of right-wing extremist-oriented people is estimated at just under 23,000. Uninhibited discourse Just as in France, where mosques were targeted in the aftermath of the Islamist terrorist attacks, the deadly attack on Berlin's Breitscheidplatz, where a truck was driven into a Christmas market, may inflame sentiments in right-wing circles. Matthias Quent says he has already observed on social networks that the threshold for verbal violence has fallen. "The discourse is incredibly uninhibited," he told DW. "If the perception is that the state is no longer capable of protecting its borders, or its people, from terrorism, there is an increase in the perceived legitimacy of forming one's own organizations, of resorting to violence oneself, of arming oneself." One can, for example, arm oneself online. A Russian-registered German-language website with the name "Migrantenschreck" ("Scourge of Migrants”) offers items such as crossbows or weapons that shoot hard rubber bullets. A gun costing 749 euros ($791) is described as follows: "An incredible 130-joule muzzle velocity speaks for itself, guaranteeing the successful use of this product." Weapons with cynical descriptions are sold illegally on the 'Migrantenschreck' website The operator of this illegal internet shop, Mario Rönsch, belongs to the circle of neo-Nazis who have gone underground. Several German public prosecutors have already had dealings with him: He was wanted, for example, on suspicion of incitement and exhorting people to commit crimes. Rönsch is now believed to be living in Hungary, where he is selling weapons. The weapons Rönsch offers on his site are legal in Hungary, but it is forbidden to export them to Germany. It can hardly be assumed that Rönsch's intentions are peaceful: The website has videos demonstrating how to use the weapons in which photos of leading German politicians are shot to pieces. Europe-wide increase Europol's anti-terror unit observes that right-wing extremist groups all over Europe have been trying to instrumentalize the refugee crisis for their own ends. The Europol officials have also registered a significant increase in right-wing extremist websites across the European Union. As with other forms of extremism and radicalization, social networks also play a key role in right-wing extremism. "The support that potential violent criminals get for their subsequent acts of violence very often comes from social media," Ulrich Wagner, a social psychologist from Marburg, told DW. This support, he said, comes either from interactive platforms or, quite simply, from the repeated viewing of particular acts of violence. "Violent perpetrators also learn by example how to do these things," says Wagner. "And the images are there on the internet for everyone to access."

Statistics Blog > Same Birthday Odds It stands to reason that same birthday odds for one person meeting another are 1/365 (365 days in the year and your birthday is on one of them). But consider this: If you get a group of 30 people together, two of them will almost definitely have the same birthday. This blew my mind when I was a student. There were 30 students in my undergrad statistics class and the professor said the odds of two of us having the same birthday were very high. In fact, two people in the class did have the same birthday. This didn’t seem to make sense to me, as there are 365 days in a year. My Initial (Incorrect) Reasoning The odds are 1/365 that I will meet another person with the same birthday. But we’re not talking about just me in a class. We’re talking about every student having those odds. It’s like if I had a 1/10 chance of winning the lottery and I meet another person who also has a 1/10 chance of winning the lottery, then combined we have a 2/10 chance of winning the lottery. The odds of a “coincidence” increases with each person: Me meeting a person with the same birthday: 1/365 Me and one other friend meeting someone with the same birthday: 1/(365/2) = 183 Three of us meeting someone with the same birthday: 1/(365/3) = 1/122 … Twenty nine of us meeting someone with the same birthday: 1/12. Those are pretty good odds, but not high enough to account for all those coincidences. That left me with a peculiar puzzle. The odds are actually much higher (over 100 percent for a class of 30). The reason takes into account all of the possible combinations. Why the Odds are Actually Much Higher! One person has a 1/365 chance of meeting someone with the same birthday. Two people have a 1/183 chance of meeting someone with the same birthday. But! Those two people might also have the same birthday, right, so you have to add odds of 1/365 for that. The odds become 1/365 + 1/182.5 = 0.008, or .8 percent. Four people (lets call them ABCD) have a 1/91 chance, but there are 6 possible combinations (AB AC AD BD BC CD) so the probability becomes 1/91 + 6/365…and so on. You can see how it isn’t quite as easy as just x/365! An Easier Way to Calculate Same Birthday Odds! If there are 30 students in a class, there are 435 ways two students can be paired. The odds of a “match” become 1/12 + 435/365…which is much greater than 100 percent. Seeing as the odds are 1/365 that any two students will match birthdays and there are 3 possible matches, it’s no surprise that two of those students share the same birthday. (Use the combinations calculator to figure the combinations out. It will also list all the possible name combinations if you really want to!). Should I Perform This Experiment in Class? I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t used this in class for the main reason that with 25 students in a class, the odds are a bit over 50/50 that this experiment will work. A second reason is that the above math is over simplified to be somewhat understandable. Even third or fourth year math majors will struggle a bit with the “true” probabilities behind why this works. Figuring out same birthday odds is very complex for many reasons including: More people are born weekdays than weekends; mostly due to C-sections and induced births happening during the week, when doctors prefer to work. Seasonal trends mean that more people are born in the summer than the winter. Figuring out the true probabilities involves Bayesian logic; hop over to this Stanford University page for a more detailed explanation on Bayesian logic and same birthday odds. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Need help with a homework or test question? With Chegg Study, you can get step-by-step solutions to your questions from an expert in the field. Your first 30 minutes with a Chegg tutor is free! Comments? Need to post a correction? Please post a comment on our Facebook page. Check out our updated Privacy policy and Cookie Policy

Infographics on the web are so bad and so broken. They are everywhere, yet few actually do a decent job of conveying information (click on the one at left to see what I mean). Some even argue that they are ruining the Internet. They tend to be formulaic and overreaching, often cobbling together too much information instead of focusing on the one or two nuggets that are truly useful. (How much better would most infographics be if they pulled out the most salient chart or set of stats and discarded the rest?) There are many reasons why they suck. Primary among those is that they take too long to make, and the underlying data is difficult to assemble. Today, they are driven more by marketing budgets than editorial discretion. Most of them are created by companies and distributed for “free” to blogs and media outlets as a form of PR and viral marketing. The publishers eat them up because it is free content that would otherwise be expensive to produce. Design shops sometimes charge a few thousand dollars to create a single infographic. I know we can do better, which is why I’ve applied for a grant from the Knight News Challenge on Data to build a data visualization platform to address some of these shortcomings (please like it or reblog it on Tumblr). You can also learn more in this Q&A about the project I did with Jeff Davis. As I note in my Knight News application: Infographics are very popular on the web, but most of them aren’t very good. The information inside them is trapped. They tend to be flat files, unsearchable, and most are not interactive. And yet people love them because humans are visual creatures. We can absorb more data more quickly by glancing at a chart than scanning the same numbers in a table, or reading through a few paragraphs. Publishers love infographics because readers can’t stop themselves from clicking on them. (A whole sub-meme exists for infographics about infographics, including the one below by Think Brilliant, which is actually a rare example of an effective infographic). Infographics are the scourge of the Internet. Discuss. — Erick Schonfeld (@erickschonfeld) June 8, 2012 What publishers need is a better way to create and present visual data. We need a tool to produce well-designed infographics on our own—quickly, efficiently, and cheaply. And not just one-size-fits-all infographics—all kinds of data visualizations, from simple bar charts to interactive maps and timelines. But wait. Aren’t there a growing number of startups already tackling this infographic-creation problem? Yes, companies like Visual.ly, Infogr.am, Vizualize.me, Tableau Software, and iCharts are creating tools in this general area. And that’s great. If they can do a better job creating these visualizations, I’d love to work with them. However, all of them currently embrace a bring-your-own-data approach. Producing a great interactive chart is only half the battle. A platform that taps into existing data and makes it instantly chartable is what is missing. Finding the right sources of data in a chartable form is the hard part. There is lots of compelling data all over the Internet: social data (Facebook and Twitter), company data (CrunchBase), financial data (SEC, Yahoo Finance), geo data (Foursquare, Factual), government data (data.gov), product data (Amazon). It all exists in various silos, and most of it cannot be browsed visually. The big idea here is to create a data visualization platform where data providers can plug into one end and data visualizers can plug into the other. It will be open in that anyone will be able to import or create their own infographic and charting templates. Some of the data and charts will be free, and some will be for sale. But the more open, the better. Initially, the platform will be geared towards bloggers and news organizations, but could expand to other industries and types of data. Again, from my Knight News Challenge proposal: We are solving this problem for publishers. First, we will create a library of interactive chart templates, which can be expanded and contributed to by others. By creating templates, we will make it possible to produce high-quality data visualizations in an efficient, repetitive fashion which can be embedded anywhere. We will also connect existing databases and work with data providers to offer a growing menu of chartable data sets geared towards journalists. Journalists will be able to bring their own data, but over time they will be able to find more of what they need baked into the platform. The best data visualizations out there today are bespoke and almost hand-crafted. That doesn’t scale for web publishing in terms of either economics or speed. Most blogs and web news organizations don’t have an art department. A platform for creating decent looking interactive infographics is certainly something I would use, and I suspect other bloggers and news publishers would embrace it as well. If you think it’s a good candidate for the Knight News Data Challenge, please support it by “hearting” the application or reblogging it. If you are a data provider or a company creating data visualizations, let me know what is the best way to work with you. And if you are a programmer or information designer and would like to get involved, please contact me (erickschonfeld at gmail). We are awash in data, but we can’t even see it. The data visualization platform I envision would be a step towards fixing infographics so that they actually tell us something new.

Increase the duration of your Caltrops, Marked for Death, Spike Trap, and Sentry by 100%. Increase the maximum number and charges of Sentries to 2 and number of Spike Traps to 4. Increase damage of rockets by 100%. In addition, you have a 20% chance to fire a homing rocket for 150% weapon damage when you attack. When you receive fatal damage, you instead vanish for 2 seconds and regenerate 50% of maximum Life. This effect may occur once every 60 seconds. Cooldown: 90 seconds Turn into the physical embodiment of Vengeance for 20 seconds. Side Guns: Gain 4 additional piercing shots for 60% weapon damage each on every attack. Homing Rockets: Shoot 2 rockets at nearby enemies for 80% weapon damage each on every attack. Vengeance: Gain 40% increased damage. Cost: 14 Discipline Cooldown: 1.5 seconds Vanish behind a wall of smoke, becoming momentarily invisible for 1 second. This ability does not start its cooldown until after its effects expire. Active: Your wolf howls, granting you and your allies within 60 yards 15% increased damage for 10 seconds. Passive: Summons a wolf companion that attacks enemies in front of him for 150% of your weapon damage as Physical. Cooldown: 30 seconds Active: Your raven deals an additional 500% damage on its next attack. Passive: Summons a raven companion that pecks at enemies for 100% of your weapon damage as Physical. Instead of releasing grenades, release up to 3 rockets at nearby enemies that each deal 450% weapon damage as Cold. You gain 2% Life per enemy hit. Cost: 40 Hatred Fire a cluster arrow that explodes for 650% weapon damage as Fire into a series of 4 additional grenades that each explode for 250% weapon damage as Fire. Cost: 20 Hatred Summon a turret that fires at nearby enemies for 280% weapon damage. Lasts 30 seconds. You may have 2 turrets active at a time. You gain a charge every 8 seconds and can have up to 2 charges stored at a time. While standing still, damage dealt is increased by up to 100%. While standing still, damage dealt is increased by up to 100%. While standing still, damage dealt is increased by up to 100%. While standing still, damage dealt is increased by up to 100%. The build im using is a Non-Generator m6, with the compass rose and traveler pledge set bonus and using the elusive ring for damage reduction. The cloak of Garwulf can be swapped for the Visage of gunes. Dawn for 65% cdr on vengeance. Build Guide Without a generator im using the Vengeance "seethe" rune to generate 10hatred per second and also the preperation "punishment" rune to gain 75 hatred. With enough CDR on gear you will have this up 90% so that its possible to just spam clusterarrow. Also with the compass rose/traveler pledge it allows a ring slot for the elusive ring with shadow power gaining upto 60% dmg reduction permanently. Reapers wraps are chosen as with not using a generator we dont need the dmg reduction from the wraps of clarity, and gaining resource from the globes is a nice sustain when have to reposition turrets without having to worry about the cost of hatred.

LUCKNOW: Ahead of the Narendra Modi-Nawaz Sharif meeting in Russia, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today rejected his Pakistan counterpart's warning on use of nuclear weapons asserting that India is "capable of defending itself".Asked to comment on Khawaja Asif 's statement that use of nuclear weapons was an option if need arises, Parrikar said, "Answer to every question is not necessary. I am the defence minister of India. I know my job very well. And, let me tell you that India is capable of defending itself."Asif had said in a television interview that if Pakistan needed to use nuclear weapons for "our survival, we will"."We should pray that such an option never arises, but if we need to use them (nuclear weapons) for our survival, we will," he had said.On China blocking a proposal for action by the UN against Pakistan on release of Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Parrikar parried a direct reply but said "the matter is related to the External Affairs Ministry and the Prime Minister."During his 90-minute meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Russian city of Ufa, Prime Minister Modi yesterday "strongly" and "clearly" conveyed India's concerns in this regard.To a question on cross-border terrorism, the Defence Minister, who was here to inaugurate an orientation programme for newly-elected Cantonment Board Members, said, "It has come down."As compared to the previous regime, there has been a drop in the number of ceasefire violations, he said.Parrikar refused to comment on the possibility of Myanmar- like strikes along the Pakistan border to flush out militants."The question is based on certain assumptions...," he said, adding, "Secretive/covert actions of the government are not meant to be revealed. Such things are secret and cannot be shared."Hitting back at rebels who had killed 18 soldiers in Manipur, special forces of the Army had carried out a surgical strike inside Myanmar last month. The strike was conducted by commandos on specific intelligence input in coordination with Myanmarese authorities.

“Brutal and ruthless” Muslim, and “violent” Roma gypsy gangs are terrorising the streets of dozens of major European cities, as they vie for control of lucrative black market trade. Running drug rings and pimping prostitutes, as well as owning legitimate street businesses can be worth tens of millions of euros a year – and more – to the immigrant criminal gangs of Europe. Having influence over territory is key to making this business model work, and as well as fighting each other the vast ethnic gangs are also fighting themselves, as influential families compete. German magazine RP Online reports the scene at a Dusseldorf hospital this past weekend, which was turned into a fortress by state police to prevent what they feared were to be serious riots. A number of members of the same family had been admitted for treatment after a mass brawl and officers feared a siege as others attempted to finish the job. Reports indicate that much of the infighting between the Roma gangs are over the ownership of women, while the Arabs are much more profit-motivated. Even in areas where gypsies have seized control of the prostitution rackets, they are still forced to pay protection money to the Muslims who rule the city, reports the Berliner Kurier. Focus.de reports a theme often repeated in relation to these gangs, that they are ruthless, violent and exist entirely independently of national law. Running whole neighbourhoods of Germany’s largest cities, the Arab gangs operate their own parallel legal system, where the punishment for treason is death. For Muslim shopkeepers who aren’t even part of the gangs, keeping a restaurant or hookah bar on the wrong street can mean enormous liabilities in protection money paid to one of the influential Arab gangs. Sustained non-payment of this money is punished with death. Likewise, anyone who “betrays his own people to the Germans, risks his life”, wrote hard-line judge Kristen Heisig before her mysterious death in 2010. Her apparent suicide happened only days after she had submitted a manuscript for her latest book to her publishers, in which she warned without serious reform and a more hard-line attitude to gangs, Germany would “lose the struggle”. In the five years since, the situation has spiralled out of control as mass migration has provided re-enforcements for the gangs. Berlin police estimate of the 30 criminal Muslim family clans in Berlin, each of which has up to 500 members, one tenth of all members are engaged in serious criminal activity at any given time. And they dominate the criminal landscape: a German senate report found that between 2011 and 2014, the majority of all gang crime suspects in the country were of “Arab origin”. These conflicts are not without victims outside the Muslim and Gypsy communities. Only last month, a bloody shoot-out in Berlin last week between rival Muslim families caught a civilian in the crossfire. A 62-year-old artist was rushed to hospital in critical condition after she was struck in the thigh by a stray bullet as she rode by on her bicycle. German police say the gangs are hard to crack because the national law enforcement system is not set out to deal with the problem. When individuals are arrests for gang crime their family structures aren’t recorded, so it becomes difficult for officers to build up pictures of who is related to whom, and how gangs operate. Officers and prosecutors are crying out for new tools to fight the clans. A recent suggestion, taken from the Italian efforts to shut down the Mafia, to require suspected criminals to be able to prove large reserves of cash and hoardings of valuable assets are acquired through legitimate business has been mooted.

Arthur Quirk Bryan (May 8, 1899 – November 18, 1959) was an American actor, voice actor, comedian and radio personality, best remembered for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr. Gamble on the radio comedy Fibber McGee and Molly and for creating the voice of the Warner Brothers cartoon character Elmer Fudd.[2] Early career and Looney Tunes [ edit ] Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Bryan sang in a number of churches in the New York City area and had plans to be a professional singer.[3] He sang tenor with the Seiberling Singers and the Jeddo Highlanders on NBC radio.[4] He grew up with a deep desire to go into show business, stumbling through the industry for several years before finding steady if unsatisfying work as a bit player and occasional film narrator in Hollywood. Bryan came to prominence in the late 1930s as the voice of Egghead and Elmer Fudd at Warner Bros. Cartoons headed by Leon Schlesinger. Along with several characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, or Porky Pig, all voiced by Mel Blanc, one of Warner's early big stars was Bryan's Elmer Fudd. The slow-talking, slower-witted, enunciation-challenged Mr. Fudd is a game hunter whose Brooklynesque speech (courtesy of Bryan's own childhood upbringing in the borough) was exaggerated for memorable effect by his habitual substitution of W for the letters L and R, an effect further immortalized by the tongue-in-cheek screen credits of the 1941 Bugs Bunny short Wabbit Twouble. When watching him perform, director Bob Clampett (or "Wobert Cwampett" in the screen credit) thought Bryan's girth added to the hilarity of his dialogue, and redesigned Fudd as a short, stocky fat man patterned after Bryan's real-life appearance. After a few shorts, Clampett decided it was a mistake, and Fudd returned to his classical form. But fat or slimmed, Bryan's Fudd was sufficiently popular for the character's shorts to be used to create and develop the character of Bugs Bunny, with the first official (released) Bugs Bunny appearance coming in the Fudd cartoon A Wild Hare.[citation needed] Radio [ edit ] In the late 1920s, Bryan was an announcer at WOR radio in New York City.[5] Contemporary radio listings in a daily newspaper indicate that he was still at WOR as late as September 13, 1931.[6] In October 1931, he began working as an announcer at WCAU in Philadelphia,[4] and in 1933 he moved to Philadelphia's WIP[7] By 1934, he was heard on WHN in New York.[8] In 1938–1939, he was a regular on The Grouch Club on the CBS Pacific network[9] and was featured in some short-subject films made by the group.[10] Bryan's work in animation did not go unnoticed by radio producers. Although his first forays into that medium were accompanied by instructions that he use the Fudd voice, Bryan soon came to the attention of Don Quinn and Phil Leslie, the production and writing team responsible for Fibber McGee and Molly and their supporting characters, two of whom spun off into their own radio hits, The Great Gildersleeve and Beulah. The Gildersleeve character, played by Harold Peary, became series broadcasting's first successful spin-off hit; that plus the onset of World War II (which cost Fibber McGee & Molly their Mayor La Trivia, when Gale Gordon went into the Coast Guard in early 1942, and "The Old Timer" Bill Thompson was drafted almost a year later) nabbed nearly every other remaining male voice. Bryan was first hired for the new Great Gildersleeve series, to play the part of Cousin Octavia's secretary/assistant, Lucius Llewellyn (using the Elmer Fudd voice), and later one of Gildersleeve's cronies, Floyd Munson, the barber. His work on the series (in Bryan's natural voice) so impressed Quinn and Leslie, that Bryan was added to the cast of their main show, Fibber McGee and Molly, in 1943. On Fibber, Bryan found himself in the unusual position of being smarter than, more educated than, and generally superior to his foil, titular braggart McGee. Playing Doc Gamble, Bryan was a polar opposite of the Fudd character—Gamble was well-spoken, even-tempered, and usually got the better of McGee, which Elmer could never do with Bugs. In the early 1940s, Bryan played Waymond Wadcliffe on the Al Pearce & His Gang program on CBS.[11] Bryan starred as Major Hoople (from June 22, 1942 to April 26, 1943) in The Charlotte Greenwood Show.[12] and played Lt. Levinson on radio's Richard Diamond, Private Detective (from September 6, 1950 to June 29, 1951). In the mid-1940s, he had the role of Duke on Forever Ernest.[13] Films [ edit ] Bryan first became involved with the movie industry when he moved to Hollywood in 1936 to become a scenario writer for Paramount Pictures.[14] Bryan's live action work remained largely in uncredited cameo roles, usually employing the Fudd persona, or minor supporting roles in B-movies (like the apoplectic newspaper editor in the Bela Lugosi thriller The Devil Bat). In the 1940 Charley Chase short South of the Boudoir, he speaks in his normal voice, but at one point slips into his Fudd voice while coming on to Chase's wife. He did work steadily, appearing in dozens of films over the years, in such successful releases as Samson and Delilah; two Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road" films, Road to Singapore and Road to Rio; and the Ozzie and Harriet feature Here Come the Nelsons. He appeared frequently in live-action short-subjects for Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures.[citation needed] Bryan continued as the Fibber show's secondary male lead, even after Thompson and (for a time) Gordon returned to the show, and he stayed as Dr. Gamble all the way through its final incarnation on the NBC Monitor series in 1959, as well as playing Floyd on "Gildersleeve" through its conclusion in 1954. Bryan's final original work as Fudd came in the Warner Bros. Edward R. Murrow spoof Person to Bunny. Television [ edit ] Bryan was a panelist on the early TV quiz show Quizzing the News (1948–49). He would be found in numerous productions in the early 1950s predominantly in 1-episode bit parts, such as in the early filmed for television comedy, Beulah. He also landed a minor television role in 1955, as the handyman Mr. Boggs in the short-lived CBS sitcom, Professional Father, starring Stephen Dunne as a child psychologist and family man. On The Halls of Ivy, Bryan played Professor Warren, head of the college's history department, a role he also had on the radio program of the same name.[3] Death [ edit ] Bryan died of a sudden heart attack on November 18, 1959 in Hollywood. Hal Smith assumed the voice of Elmer Fudd in 1960s Looney Tunes productions, and beginning in the early 1970s Mel Blanc would voice this character for various special television appearances. Bryan is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery. Legacy [ edit ] The DVD specials for some cartoons such as What's Opera, Doc?, in Looney Tunes Golden Collection, includes bits of conversation between Bryan and Mel Blanc, affording a rare opportunity to hear them working together, and to hear Bryan's natural voice. Bryan's natural voice is also heard as the tired hotel guest in A Pest in the House, in which Bryan "talks to himself", Elmer Fudd being the hotel manager.[citation needed] Selected filmography [ edit ]

Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersSenate Dems seek to turn tables on GOP in climate change fight Bernie Sanders Town Hall finishes third in cable news race, draws 1.4 million viewers Woman to undecided Biden: 'Just say yes' to 2020 bid MORE (I-Vt.) argues in a new op-ed that Democrats need to "change direction" following recent electoral defeats to President Trump and other Republicans across the country. "Republicans now control almost two-thirds of governor’s offices and have gained about 1,000 seats in state legislatures in the past nine years. In 24 states, Democrats have almost no political influence at all," Sanders wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday. "If these results are not a clear manifestation of a failed political strategy, I don’t know what is," Sanders wrote. "For the sake of our country and the world, the Democratic Party, in a very fundamental way, must change direction." ADVERTISEMENT Pointing to Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party's recent success in the United Kingdom's snap election, Sanders argued that by fighting for a progressive platform that appeals to workers and young people, the Democratic Party can rebound from its defeats. "There is widespread agreement that momentum shifted to Labour after it released a very progressive manifesto that generated much enthusiasm among young people and workers," Sanders argued. "One of the most interesting aspects of the election was the soaring turnout among voters 34 or younger." Arguing that low turnout will be devastating for Democrats down the road, Sanders argued that the party needs to speak to the "pain" of demographics that have historically low levels of voter turnout. "The British elections should be a lesson for the Democratic Party," Sanders wrote. "We already have among the lowest voter turnout of any major country on earth. Democrats will not win if the 2018 midterm election turnout resembles the unbelievably low 36.7 percent of eligible voters who cast ballots in 2014." "The Democrats must develop an agenda that speaks to the pain of tens of millions of families who are working longer hours for lower wages and to the young people who, unless we turn the economy around, will have a lower standard of living than their parents," he wrote. Sanders has maintained a relatively high profile following his defeat to Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE last year. In April, a survey found that Sanders was the country's most popular active politician. This past weekend, Sanders headlined The People's Summit, a progressive gathering in Chicago.

This article is over 2 years old Magnitude 3.4 quake caused rockfalls hundreds of metres below the surface at Europe’s largest copper mine The final death toll of an earthquake in Poland that caused rockfalls deep underground at Europe’s largest copper mine stood at eight, operator KGHM said on Wednesday. The quake hit the Rudna copper mine just after 9pm on Tuesday. A search followed through the night and Wednesday, with five bodies initially found, then another three. “Thus the outcome of this tragic tremor is eight casualties,” state-run news agency PAP quoted the Rudna mine director Paweł Markowski as saying. “The rescue operation lasted for 24 hours. We have done everything to save the miners, unfortunately we lost,” Markowski added, calling the tremor KGHM’s biggest tragedy in the past 55 years. The epicentre of the tremor was 1,500 metres below the surface, with a magnitude of 3.4, PAP reported. Sections of tunnels hundreds of metres below the surface were blocked by rocks, hampering rescue efforts. Markowski said it was the first time in KGHM’s history such a distant tremor had caused such extensive damage. State-run KGHM said the Rudna mine, in operation since 1974, had 11 shafts reaching a depth of 1,244 metres. “We are all shocked by the scale of this tragedy, which occurred in a place we had assessed as exposed to a moderate level of risk,” said the KGHM chief executive officer, Radosław Domagalski-Łabędzki. Domagalski-Łabędzki said nine people working in the mine had suffered spinal and head injuries and five were in hospital. KGHM’s spokeswoman said none were in a life-threatening condition. Officials at KGHM said some of the underground tunnels still blocked by debris were eight metres wide and four metres high. Poland’s prime minister, Beata Szydło, cancelled the government’s weekly cabinet meeting to visit the mine. A KGHM spokeswoman said: “After the rescuing operation is finished a special commission with the representatives of the state mining authority and KGHM experts will be convened. Only the part of the mine where the accident took place will be halted.” KGHM is one of the biggest copper and silver producers in the world. Its copper output stood at almost 700,000 tonnes in 2015. With Reuters

It seems like all commentary on the situation of America today is put into the context of post-WWII. That's like studying the history of Rome, but ignoring the 500 years of history that happened before Ceasar's armies crossed the Rubicon. If you intentionally limit your vision of the world then you will eventually be caught off-guard by larger trends. This problem is especially true in the field of economics. The fact is that the financial system, as it was structured in 1944, was an experiment. No one knew if it was sustainable, and it certainly wasn't intended to last forever. That world has been slowly, and increasingly, breaking down for the last several decades, but because no one looks more than 65 years into the past no one can imagine a different world. Everyone is terrified of the "unknown", when in fact is isn't unknown at all. It's just different. If we took off our blinders and looked at the history that existed before 1944 we would not only stop fearing the past so much, but we would actually learn valuable lessons that we could apply to the economic crisis of today. "Although capitalism is not a Ponzi scheme, credit-based economies, sic capitalism, and Ponzi schemes share the same fatal flaw. Both must constantly expand or they are in danger of collapse." - Darryl Robert Schoon British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned the world today. "Unless we come together to address these problems in a coordinated way, the world is at risk of a damaging spiral of de-globalizing. It is fueled by a combination of deleveraging and national-only policy solutions," Brown said. That sounds pretty darn scary, doesn't it? Except that globalization isn't either a good or bad thing, so it retreating isn't necessarily something to be afraid of. Historically the world goes through cycles, and it being more or less globalized is based on factors unrelated to trade itself. For instance, world trade as a percentage of global GDP hit a peak in 1913 that wasn't reached again until the 1970's, but the 1950's and 1960's aren't considered some sort of Dark Ages. Sometimes people's timeframes get so small that they are largely useless. For instance, today EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia had this to say about rumors of a break-up in the Eurozone. "I am not worried at all by those who have announced for 10 years in a row that the euro area will split. Honestly, I don't think that this is a real hypothesis," he told reporters in Brussels. This is called " the official denial". The reason why this is being discussed is because the sovereign debts of Spain and Greece just got downgraded, with Italy, Ireland, and Portugal in the queue. What Mr. Almunia is ignoring is that the Euro currency was an untested concept currency and it is only now getting its first real test. It will probably survive, but not in its current form. Another problem with ignoring the facts of history is that people tend to invent "history" to fill in the blanks. The best example of this is the free trade fundamentalists. To them all trade is good, and the fewer the barriers to trade the better off everyone will be. The reality, OTOH, is that trade is largely unrelated to the overall welfare and health of an economy. There are just as many example of lower trade barriers hurting a nation as helping it. The free trade fundamentalist like to point to Smoot-Hawley as some sort of biblical decree against all trade barriers, in the same way that neocons look at Chamberlain's Munich Agreement as a sign of how all foreign policy should be conducted. Choosing to focus on only one example and ignore all contrary data is called dogmatic, and it will always get you into trouble. Debt and forgiveness through the ages Speaking of biblical decrees, I was surprised to read this today. There is no guarantee that the measures will succeed. The vast scale of government borrowing may exhaust the stock of global capital. Markets are already beginning to question the credit-worthiness of sovereign states. The Fed may find it harder than it thinks to disengage from colossal intervention in the bond markets. In the end, the only way out of all this global debt may prove to be a Biblical debt Jubilee. Jubilee is an interesting tradition that hasn't really been practiced for centuries, but for thousands of years it was an accepted part of middle east tradition. In today's world the idea of a periodic wholesale canceling of debts and the restoration of land to the poor seems utopian and anachronistic. Unlike today's world, the ideas of morality and religion wasn't excluded from economics. In fact, unlike today, morality and religion was infinitely more important than profit and personal property. What was radically disturbing in archaic times was the idea of unrestrained wealth-seeking. It took thousands of years for the idea of progress to become inverted, to connote freedom for the wealthy to deprive the peasantry of their lands and personal liberty. "Land must not be sold in perpetuity, for the land belongs to me and you are only strangers and guests. You will allow a right of redemption on all your landed property." - Lev. 25:23-28 I first got interested in the concept of Jubilee, not for religious reasons, but for economic reasons. The person who introduced me to the idea was my favorite economic historian, Michael Hudson. “First they ignore you, then they denounce you, and then they say that they knew what you were saying all the time,” said Gandhi. The same might be said of today’s overhang of debts in excess of the economy’s ability to pay. First the policy makers pretend that they can be paid, then they denounce the pessimists as spreading panic, and then they say that of course students have been taught for four thousand years now how the “magic of compound interest” keeps on doubling and redoubling debts faster than the economy can squeeze out an economic surplus to pay. What has ended is the idea that “the magic of compound interest” can make economies rich without having to work and without industry. I hope we have seen the end of derivatives formula seeking to make money by playing in a zero-sum game. A debt overhang always ends either in foreclosure of the debtor’s property, or in a debt annulment to preserve the economy’s overall freedom and equity. This means that the postmodern economy as we know it must end – either in financial polarization and debt peonage to a new oligarchic elite, or in a debt cancellation, a Jubilee Year to rescue society. But when the government says that it is reviewing “all” the options, this reality is not one of them. The Federal Reserve has attacked the current financial crisis as if it were a problem of liquidity (not enough money is available to borrow and loan). In fact the problem is the levels of debt in the world today. To put it another way, it's not the financial system is illiquid. It's that the world's banks are insolvent. Some officials recognize this to be the case. "This biggest worldwide economic crisis arose by getting into debt," Josef Proell, Austria's new finance minister, said. "You can't fight a debt crisis by getting into more debt." Which brings us to the root of our problem today - debt. Understanding peonage "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." - Proverbs 22:7 "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." - Romans 13:8 In my personal opinion the average American's attitude towards debt is probably the most bizarre disconnect from reality in society today. I find myself amazed and incredulous every election when the voters will consistently turn down a one-cent sales tax to fund their schools, but approve each and every school bond measure that makes it to the ballot. Do people not understand that they end up paying more than twice as much for the same services by doing it this way? It's the same irrationality people have over their credit cards. With all the problems of privacy, usery interest rates and charges, and the immoral business practices of the credit card companies themselves, shouldn't people be more concerned with learning to live without their plastic? What it basically comes down to is a widespread ignorance of how debt works. Let's start with Michael Hudson explaining compound interest. The eighteenth-century philosopher Richard Price identified this miracle of compound interest and observed, somewhat ruefully, that had he been able to go back to the day Jesus was born and save a single penny—at 5 percent interest, compounded annually—he would have earned himself a solid gold sphere 150 million times bigger than Earth. This should demonstrate in no uncertain terms that a debt-based economy, with the compounding interest that comes with it, cannot exist permanently. The world simply doesn't have the resources to cope. Something has to break. Either the debt is defaulted on, the debt is forgiven, or the most popular method in recent years is for the debt to be inflated away through monetary inflation. Inflation generally acts as an instrument to transfer wealth from those removed from the source of money creation to those close to it. Banks are always close to the source of money creation, while the working class is always removed from the source. Yet the world exists on a debt-based currency right now. Every dollar created was loaned into existence and has no value other than the ability to pay off that debt. This is not a situation that existed in world history before this past century. We pay interest on those dollars by creating more dollars, which also must be loaned into existence. In theory its possible to grow an economy faster than the debts accumulate. However, in practice this doesn't work. Any significant recession will push an economy behind the curve, and with the magic of compounding the economy can never catch up. Once the interest rate curve goes parabolic the debts become unpayable. We have passed that point. Odious debt Another concept of debt that I recently discovered is the concept of Odious Debt. In international law, odious debt is a legal theory which holds that the national debt incurred by a regime for purposes that do not serve the best interests of the nation, such as wars of aggression, should not be enforceable. Such debts are thus considered by this doctrine to be personal debts of the regime that [are] incurred [by]them and not debts of the state. In some respects, the concept is analogous to the invalidity of contracts signed under coercion. While odious debt is not as widely found in industrialized nations, it is widespread and almost universal in the developing nations of the world. Throughout modern history those debts are almost always held by 1st world banks, and enforced by the armies of 1st world nations. This is particularly true for British and American history, where the poor of the 1st world are used against the poor of the 3rd world for the benefit of the ruling class.

Leading scientists have been questioning the existence of God a lot lately. As a lapsed Catholic turned agnostic and scientific materialist, I applaud this trend. But I am disturbed that some atheistic scientists are also questioning the existence of free will. “It is hard to imagine how free will can operate if our behavior is determined by physical law,” the physicist Stephen Hawking writes in The Grand Design, his latest bestseller, co-written with Leonard Mlodinow, “so it seems that we are no more than biological machines and that free will is an illusion.” Similarly, the neuroscientist Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith, contends in his new book The Moral Landscape that “no account of causality leaves room for free will.” He adds, “Our belief in free will arises from our moment-to-moment ignorance of specific prior causes.” Researchers have certainly raised intriguing questions about the link between our choices and actions. Harris cites experiments by the physiologist Benjamin Libet, in which subjects pushed a button whenever they chose while noting the time of their decision as displayed on a clock. The subjects took 0.2 seconds on average to push the button after they decided to do so. But an electroencephalograph monitoring their brain waves revealed that the subjects’ brains generated a spike of brain activity 0.3 seconds before they decided to push the button. The conscious choice seemed to follow rather than initiate the action. More recent experiments have detected neural precursors of decisions as many as nine seconds in advance. There is also evidence that the neural circuits underlying our conscious sensations of intention are separate from the circuits that actually make our muscles move. This disconnect may explain why we so often fail to carry out our most adamant decisions. This morning, I vowed to write all afternoon rather than watch football, but somehow I ended up watching the end of the Jets game. These experiences recall Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Imp of the Perverse,” about a man who feels possessed by an evil other. Brain disorders can trigger much more dramatic experiences of this kind. Schizophrenics perceive their very thoughts as coming from malevolent external sources. People who have sustained damage to the corpus callosum, a neural cable that transmits signals between the brain’s hemispheres, may be afflicted with alien-hand syndrome, in which one hand reaches out and grabs things (including other people) without any conscious intent on the part of its mortified owner. Neurosurgeons preparing the brain of an epileptic before surgery can make the patient’s arm pop up like an eager student’s by electrically stimulating the motor cortex. The patient often insists that she meant to move the arm and even invents a reason why: She was waving to that nurse walking by the door! Neurologists call these erroneous, post-hoc explanations confabulations. Some scientists argue that whenever we explain our acts as the outcome of our conscious choice, we are engaging in a kind of confabulation, because our actions actually stem from countless physiological causes of which we are completely unaware. In his book The Illusion of Conscious Will, the psychologist Daniel Wegner notes that we think of will as a kind of force that initiates action. But according to Wegner, will is “merely a feeling.” One moment I think, “I’m going to watch the Jets instead of writing this essay.” A moment later, I press the button on the TV remote. My thought seems to have caused my action, but correlation does not necessarily equal causation. Both free will and the concept of a unified self (which is a necessary precondition for free will) are illusions, according to Wegner. He quotes the science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke’s remark that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Because we cannot possibly understand how the fantastically complex machines in our skulls really work, Wegner contends, we explain our behavior—and that of others—in terms of such primitive, magical concepts as “the self” and “free will.” I choose to reject this conclusion. Yes, the mind can be hideously complicated, and divided, often working at cross-purposes. Ancient Greeks like Homer and Sophocles told us that. Yes, researchers have demonstrated that all our thoughts and actions are underpinned by physiological processes, but what else could they have found? Evidence of an immaterial soul? Science has discovered nothing that contradicts free will. To deny free will’s existence is to deny that our conscious, psychological deliberations—Should I ask my girlfriend to marry me? Should I major in engineering or art?—influence our actions. Such a conclusion flies in the face of common sense. Of course, sometimes we deliberate insincerely, toward a foregone conclusion, or we fail to act upon our resolution. But not always. Sometimes we consciously choose to do something and we do it. Correlation does not necessarily equal causation, but it often does. Moreover, free will must exist, if some creatures have more of it than others. My teenage daughter and son have more free will—more choices to consider and select from—than they did when they were infants. They also have more than our dog Merlin does. I have (on my good days) more free will than adults my age suffering from schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Try telling prisoners or paraplegics that there is no free will, and that choices are illusory. “Let’s change places,” they might respond, “since you have nothing to lose.” We also need the concept of free will, much more than we need the concept of God. Our faith in free will has social value. It provides us with the metaphysical justification for ethics and morality. It forces us to take responsibility for ourselves rather than consign our fate to our genes or God. Free will works better than any other single criterion for gauging the vitality of a life, or a society. Choices, freely made, are what make life meaningful. When people doubt free will, they are more likely to behave badly. After reading a passage from a book that challenged the validity of free will, students were more likely to cheat on a mathematics exam. Others were less likely to let a classmate use their cell phone. “Some philosophical analyses may conclude that a fatalistic determinism is compatible with highly ethical behavior,” the psychologist Jesse Bering comments in an article on these studies, “but the present results suggest that many laypersons do not yet appreciate that possibility.” Theologians have proposed that science still allows faith in a “God of the gaps,” who dwells within those shadowy realms into which science has not fully penetrated, such as the imaginary time before the Big Bang banged. In the same way, maybe we can have a free will of the gaps. No science is more riddled with gaps, after all, than the science of human consciousness. I don’t believe in God—at least, not a God described in any text I know of—but I do believe in free will.

The number of Manitoba Housing tenants making $100,000 or more per year has nearly tripled since the Selinger government first promised to look into the issue three years ago. Fourteen social housing tenants had salaries topping $100,000 in 2015, including two who cleared more than $200,000, according to documents obtained by the Manning Centre, a Calgary-based thinktank, via a freedom of information request. That’s up from five only three years earlier, when the issue was first broached in Manitoba, and nine in 2014. The revelation made for fodder on the campaign trail, with both the Tories and the Liberals seizing on the issue to attack the Selinger government. “It is totally unacceptable that a family struggling to get by is left waiting while more than a dozen people making six figures are allowed to remain in Manitoba Housing units,” said Ron Schuler, the Progressive Conservatives’ candidate in St. Paul, in a press release. “We’re disappointed to hear that,” said Liberal leader Rana Bokhari, in a written statement. “Manitobans are better than that. It’s the kind of deception that is taking away opportunities from those who need it most.” In September 2013, then-Manitoba Housing CEO Darrell Jones said housing options in northern communities could skew the numbers to make it seem like high-income tenants are taking homes away from lower earners. Less than a year later, the NDP government tigtened up the rental housing policy to ensure it is only offered in communities where there is a need. But the government also said it can’t move high-income residents from Manitoba Housing, citing rules in the Residential Tenancies Act. If that’s the case, then the rules should be changed, said Manning Centre spokesman Colin Craig, who first brought the issue to light three years ago. Craig saidMonday that the real issue is that high-income earners are receiving subsidized housing in places like Winnipeg and Brandon, while low-income earners are placed on a waiting list. “For some reason, the NDP doesn’t seem to think this is a problem,” Craig said. The Department of Housing is in the process of adjustent rents to reflect an individual or family’s ability to pay while avoiding sudden changes to their housing costs, an NDP spokesman said, adding the party’s affordable housing programs are flexible for low-income families. — With files from Joyanne Pursaga THE $100,000-PLUS CLUB The top salaries of people living in Manitoba Housing units, by the numbers” 14 Number of social housing tenants making $100,000 or more in 2015 2 Number of social housing tenants making $200,000 or more in 2015 $244,544 The top salary of a social housing tenant in 2015 — Source: Manning Centre, via freedom of information requests

Earliest mentions of the term “bitcoin” in patent titles and abstracts date back to around 2009, while the term “blockchain” begins to appear in patent titles from around 2011. As of June 22, 2016, there were 492 published patent families directed to the theme of blockchain and 192 relating to bitcoin. Patent applications filed over the last year and a half would not be visible in these statistics, and it is expected that significant numbers of new patent applications connected to these themes have been filed in that period. The numbers we are seeing likely represent the tip of the iceberg. It’s tricky to say exactly who’s filing these patents, but, anecdotally, the early-stage business community is out-innovating the incumbent banking organizations by some measure, and are likely to be responsible for much of this innovation. A recent Reuters piece, for example, drew attention to Craig Wright’s holding company EITC Holdings limited, suggesting a total of 400 or so new patent applications in the pipeline. The patent applications are alleged to focus on mechanisms ranging from paying securely online to operating systems for implementing blockchain on the Internet of Things. Given that this evolving technology is widely anticipated to disrupt the banking sector, patent filings at these levels are not at all surprising. Indeed, it is likely that a number of geographically diffuse technology clusters, such as the fintech community in London, are busily designing blockchain architectures and will be independently building intellectual property portfolios in these areas. Does this herald a democratization of (previously jealously guarded) banking sector tech? The banks see the potential for increased efficiencies; for example, higher transaction speed and volume, as well as audit trail and potential security benefits. Banks are not historically averse to paying for access to technologies, but it will have been a significant period of time since one so fundamental to their existence has come along in the hands of others. There are analogies in the telecom sector, where operators relying on later evolutions of the telecom standards (such as 4G or LTE) found themselves implementing technologies that were no longer controlled exclusively by traditional incumbent partners, and they needed to solve technology access challenges to implement the functionality mandated by the standards. In this case, it is possible that a type of de facto blockchain standard will materialize over time and that those wishing to use it will need to pay the key IP holders for the privilege. There is a tension between economic valuation of IP assets and valuations derived from speculative investing in the businesses that hold them. There are likely to be real technical challenges requiring technical solutions in implementing blockchain architectures. For example, public blockchain architectures run the risk of abuse by users hiding behind pseudonyms. Private blockchain architectures are challenged by multi-jurisdictional transaction mechanisms, requiring data to be transferred among participants holding distributed ledgers in different countries. Without the need for a trusted third party, there is less supervision of transactions, and with that comes a need for algorithmic detection of suspicious or fraudulent transactions. The data persistence in the blockchain is both a benefit and a challenge, particularly where data authorities require the blockchain to be updated after the event in order to protect the privacy of a connected party. Security solutions are numerous, but architectures implemented by a combination of tokenization and hashing (or more conventional encryption) are likely technical in nature. Without doubt, these and many other areas will present opportunities for patenting as blockchain technology continues to be implemented. What’s it all worth? There is a tension between economic valuation of IP assets and valuations derived from speculative investing in the businesses that hold them. In early-stage technology companies, it can be difficult to get accurate benchmarks or make concrete predictions about future income derived from patents. The value of a patent depends on the scope of its claims, whether it covers something important and, ultimately, whether it is valid and enforceable in practice. It also depends on the availability of alternative technologies. Clearly, generic blockchain architectures will be difficult to protect; in large part because they have been widely published, patents to non-technical aspects are also likely to fail. Further, the process of patent examination will lead to patent claims being narrowed; in such cases, the prospect of alternate technologies being able to solve the same technical problem (without infringing the claims) increases materially. The inherent pace of development and disruptive nature of blockchain makes the patenting opportunity interesting, but valuation of individual patent assets will remain difficult in the short term. External influences like changes in regulatory environments could, and probably will, materialize suddenly, as the legislative system attempts to keep up with progress. When valuing IP that otherwise looks good, it is important to consider the commercialization risks carefully. It is useful to look, among other things, at the size of company, the pace of change, rival technologies, access to capital, stability of regulatory environment and the barriers to market that the IP actually provides. Setting the standard with savvy patent procurement Innovators necessarily prioritize their time and resources, but all too often, failures to get to grips with patenting prospects means opportunities are missed or potential risks aren’t managed effectively, and therefore develop into material risks. This risk of losing control of a technology is very real when SMEs or scale-up businesses are dealing with much larger target customers for their technologies. Of the many patents being filed today, some will doubtless survive the rigors of the process and the regulatory regime, and also turn out to cover aspects of widely implemented platforms in the financial services sector. Banks are risk averse and have historically been willing to pay to access third-party technologies; it is likely the surviving patents will be very valuable. Banks and other businesses seeking to access blockchain technology should be monitoring the evolving landscape and investing to procure access to the technology best suited to their needs. The banks need their own IP and technology access strategies, irrespective of whether or not they are doing their own R&D or paying others to do it for them. No doubt the banks will use the technology as they need it, but the smart ones will seek to minimize their exposure to patents likely to surface in years to come.

For the band, see M.I.R.V. The MIRV U.S. Peacekeeper missile, with the reentry vehicles highlighted in red. Technicians secure a number of Mk21 reentry vehicles on a Peacekeeper MIRV bus. A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is a missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying thermonuclear warheads, even if not strictly being limited to them. By contrast, a unitary warhead is a single warhead on a single missile. An intermediate case is the multiple reentry vehicle (MRV) missile which carries several warheads which are dispersed but not individually aimed.[citation needed] Only the United States, Pakistan, Russian Federation, France and China are currently confirmed to possess MIRV missiles while India and Israel are known or suspected to be developing or possessing same. The first true MIRV design was the Minuteman III, introduced in 1970,[2] which held three smaller W62 warheads of about 170 kilotons in place of the single 1.2 megaton W56 used in the earlier versions of this missile. The smaller power of the warhead was offset by increasing the accuracy of the system, allowing it to attack the same hard targets as the larger, less accurate, W56. The MMIII was introduced specifically to address the Soviet construction of an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system around Moscow; MIRV allowed the US to overwhelm any conceivable ABM system without increasing the size of their own missile fleet. The Soviets responded by adding MIRV to their R-36 design, first with three warheads in 1975, and eventually up to ten in later versions. While the United States phased out the use of MIRVs in 2014 to comply with New START,[3] Russia continues to develop new missile designs using the technology.[4] The introduction of MIRV led to a major change in the strategic balance. Previously, with one warhead per missile, it was conceivable that one could build a defense that used missiles to attack individual warheads. Any increase in missile fleet by the enemy could be countered by a similar increase in interceptors. With MIRV, a single new enemy missile meant that multiple interceptors would have to be built, meaning that it was much less expensive to increase the attack than the defense. This cost-exchange ratio was so heavily biased towards the attacker that the concept of mutual assured destruction became the leading concept in strategic planning and ABM systems were severely limited in the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to avoid a massive arms race. Purpose [ edit ] The military purpose of a MIRV is fourfold: Enhance first-strike proficiency for strategic forces. [5] Providing greater target damage for a given thermonuclear weapon payload. Several small and lower yield warheads cause much more target damage area than a single warhead alone. This in turn reduces the number of missiles and launch facilities required for a given destruction level - much the same as the purpose of a cluster munition. [6] With single warhead missiles, one missile must be launched for each target. By contrast, with a MIRV warhead the post-boost (or bus) stage can dispense the warheads against multiple targets across a broad area. Reduces the effectiveness of an anti-ballistic missile system that relies on intercepting individual warheads.[7] While a MIRV attacking missile can have multiple warheads (3–12 on United States and Russian missiles, or 14 in a maximum payload shorter-range configuration of the Trident II now barred by START), interceptors may have only one warhead per missile. Thus, in both a military and an economic sense, MIRVs render ABM systems less effective, as the costs of maintaining a workable defense against MIRVs would greatly increase, requiring multiple defensive missiles for each offensive one. Decoy reentry vehicles can be used alongside actual warheads to minimize the chances of the actual warheads being intercepted before they reach their targets. A system that destroys the missile earlier in its trajectory (before MIRV separation) is not affected by this but is more difficult, and thus more expensive to implement. MIRV land-based ICBMs were considered destabilizing because they tended to put a premium on striking first.[8] The world's first MIRV—US Minuteman III missile of 1970—threatened to rapidly increase the US's deployable nuclear arsenal and thus the possibility that it would have enough bombs to destroy virtually all of the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons and negate any significant retaliation. Later on the US feared the Soviet's MIRVs because Soviet missiles had a greater throw-weight and could thus put more warheads on each missile than the US could. For example, the US MIRVs might have increased their warhead per missile count by a factor of 6 while the Soviets increased theirs by a factor of 10. Furthermore, the US had a much smaller proportion of its nuclear arsenal in ICBMs than the Soviets. Bombers could not be outfitted with MIRVs so their capacity would not be multiplied. Thus the US did not seem to have as much potential for MIRV usage as the Soviets. However, the US had a larger number of Submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which could be outfitted with MIRVs, and helped offset the ICBM disadvantage. It is because of their first-strike capability that land-based MIRVs were banned under the START II agreement. START II was ratified by the Russian Duma on 14 April 2000, but Russia withdrew from the treaty in 2002 after the US withdrew from the ABM treaty. Mode of operation [ edit ] In a MIRV, the main rocket motor (or booster) pushes a "bus" (see illustration) into a free-flight suborbital ballistic flight path. After the boost phase the bus maneuvers using small on-board rocket motors and a computerised inertial guidance system. It takes up a ballistic trajectory that will deliver a reentry vehicle containing a warhead to a target, and then releases a warhead on that trajectory. It then maneuvers to a different trajectory, releasing another warhead, and repeats the process for all warheads. A). 2. About 60 seconds after launch, the 1st stage drops off and the second-stage motor (B) ignites. The missile shroud (E) is ejected. 3. About 120 seconds after launch, the third-stage motor (C) ignites and separates from the 2nd stage. 4. About 180 seconds after launch, third-stage thrust terminates and the post-boost vehicle (D) separates from the rocket. 5. The post-boost vehicle maneuvers itself and prepares for reentry vehicle (RV) deployment. 6. While the post-boost vehicle backs away, the RVs, decoys, and chaff are deployed (this may occur during ascent). 7. The RVs and chaff reenter the atmosphere at high speeds and are armed in flight. 8. The nuclear warheads detonate, either as air bursts or ground bursts. Minuteman III MIRV launch sequence: 1. The missile launches out of its silo by firing its first-stage boost motor (). 2. About 60 seconds after launch, the 1st stage drops off and the second-stage motor () ignites. The missile shroud () is ejected. 3. About 120 seconds after launch, the third-stage motor () ignites and separates from the 2nd stage. 4. About 180 seconds after launch, third-stage thrust terminates and the post-boost vehicle () separates from the rocket. 5. The post-boost vehicle maneuvers itself and prepares for reentry vehicle (RV) deployment. 6. While the post-boost vehicle backs away, the RVs, decoys, and chaff are deployed (this may occur during ascent). 7. The RVs and chaff reenter the atmosphere at high speeds and are armed in flight. 8. The nuclear warheads detonate, either as air bursts or ground bursts. The precise technical details are closely guarded military secrets, to hinder any development of enemy counter-measures. The bus's on-board propellant limits the distances between targets of individual warheads to perhaps a few hundred kilometers.[9] Some warheads may use small hypersonic airfoils during the descent to gain additional cross-range distance. Additionally, some buses (e.g. the British Chevaline system) can release decoys to confuse interception devices and radars, such as aluminized balloons or electronic noisemakers. Testing of the Peacekeeper reentry vehicles: all eight (of a possible ten) were fired from only one missile. Each line shows the path of an individual warhead captured on reentry via long-exposure photography. Accuracy is crucial, because doubling the accuracy decreases the needed warhead energy by a factor of four for radiation damage and by a factor of eight for blast damage. Navigation system accuracy and the available geophysical information limits the warhead target accuracy. Some writers believe[weasel words] that government-supported geophysical mapping initiatives and ocean satellite altitude systems such as Seasat may have a covert purpose to map mass concentrations and determine local gravity anomalies, in order to improve accuracies of ballistic missiles. Accuracy is expressed as circular error probable (CEP). This is simply the radius of the circle that the warhead has a 50 percent chance of falling into when aimed at the center. CEP is about 90–100 m for the Trident II and Peacekeeper missiles.[10] MRV [ edit ] A multiple reentry vehicle payload for a ballistic missile deploys multiple warheads in a pattern against a single target (as opposed to multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle, which deploys multiple warheads against multiple targets). The advantage of an MRV over a single warhead is that the damage produced in the center of the pattern is far greater than the damage possible from any single warhead in the MRV cluster; this makes for an efficient area attack weapon. The number of warheads makes interception by anti-ballistic missiles unlikely. Improved warhead designs allow smaller warheads for a given yield, while better electronics and guidance systems allow greater accuracy. As a result, MIRV technology has proven more attractive than MRV for advanced nations. Multiple-warhead missiles require both a miniaturised physics package and a lower mass reentry vehicle, both of which are highly advanced technologies. As a result, single warhead missiles are more attractive for nations with less advanced or less productive nuclear technology. The United States deployed an MRV payload on the Polaris A-3, as did the Royal Navy with the Chevaline upgrade. The Soviet Union deployed MRVs on the R-36 Mod 4 ICBM. Refer to atmospheric reentry for more details. MIRV-capable missiles [ edit ] Ababeel (launcher demonstrated, MIRV demonstration pending) See also [ edit ] References [ edit ]

Harder, Better, Faster, Deader We're generally not big fans of autotuning, but it'd be super-creepy to hear the word "brains" coming out of an autotuned zombie. These guys had the right idea. When you're cornered and out of ammo, a good helmet is your brain's last line of defense against zombies. We just don't know how much good it's going to do you when the LEDs light up. It's like a landing strip for zombies leading to the tasty goodness inside. If zombies are attracted by motion and noise, imagine what's going to happen when the rave goes off on top of your head. Which is probably how these two ended up like this. After a point there's only so many situations your Moog synthesizer can get you out of. And zombie apocalypse isn't one of them. A certain electronic music duo's helmets broken to reveal the sinister lurking underneath on this black, 100% cotton shirt. Imported.

Guns and Groping: A Tough Week for TSA So the TSA is back doing what they do best – finding guns and groping passengers. TSA Week in Review: Record 65 Firearms Discovered In Carry-on Bags (54 Loaded). And then there are the week’s groping allegations. Looking under the hood. Why are the TSA still even groping? Everybody knows that your privates are the first place they’ll look. Nobody would hide anything there. So pick a gun. Any gun. 9 mm. 38 caliber. 22. (Strapped to a passenger’s prosthetic leg.) Until now, the TSA’s record for a week was 50 guns confiscated. Last week alone they got 54 loaded guns in carry-ons, plus razor blades hidden in shoes and sewn into the lining of “undergarments.” (What are people thinking?) Nineteen guns had rounds chambered. But guns tailed in tragedy compared to the Jessica pat-down video that went off like a pistol May 26 on YouTube. The über-exuberant agent just totally decent-seeming about the whole thing; explaining everything before she did it. Jessica having the fight she wanted to have, which was no small gift for the rest of us. And all those odd little unexpected yowzah moments going viral. (And therein lies the rub, the incalculable horror, like a hankering for some strip mall sushi on the part of the agent. A long road ahead of them.) We saw it. Thank you Ashley Jessica and mother who opted for full physical pat-downs at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field and then filmed each other in the process. If you don’t live your dream, why live? Ashley Jessica is a 27-year-old Ph.D. student in Toronto. News reports describe her as an anti-TSA activist. In November 2012, she went to Buffalo Niagara International Airport as part of the “Opt Out And Film The TSA” campaign to “help raise awareness about intrusive and invasive TSA procedures.” It was all reported by Alex Jones’ InfoWars.com ‘Because There Is A War On For Your Mind,’ a conspiracy-theory site. They see pat-downs as a betrayal not just of you, but of your decency. Last year, Jessica’s brother filmed her and her mother opting for a pat-down at the Norfolk airport. But not so fast Batman. “You just touched my boob. I would rather you not touch my boobs in any capacity,” says Jessica in the video, looking like somebody out of a Munch lithograph. MORE FROM THE TARMAC

This is part of a series of blog posts from chapters of Designing Positive Psychology, a book edited by Dr. Ken Sheldon, Dr. Michael Steger, and myself. Modern leaders have become enamored of the idea of using character strengths at work. Business consultants and coaches are making a living off of this enterprise. This obsession received a kickstart from the recent taxonomy of strengths assembled in positive psychology. Starting with research by Drs. Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson, the core idea in the practice of is to use assessment instruments to identify a person's most highly endorsed strengths and to help them organize a life around them. Here is a quote from Seligman's 2002 bestselling book Authentic : When you read about these strengths, you will also find some that are deeply characteristic of you, whereas others are not. I call the former your signature strengths, and one of my purposes is to distinguish these from strengths that are less a part of you. I do not believe that you should devote overly much effort to correcting your weaknesses. Rather, I believe that the highest success in living and the deepest emotional satisfaction comes from building and using your signature strengths. (p.13) And further...I believe in building the good life around polishing and developing your strengths, and then using them to buffer against your weaknesses and the trials that weakness brings. (p. 160) This is a reasonable life plan if you live in a Western culture (e.g., America, Canada, Western Europe), but this is unlikely to be an ideal plan, regardless of where you reside. The reason is that content is what supposedly separates character and virtue from other major domains (e.g., the Big Five: agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, emotional stability, and extraversion). Character strengths are supposed to morally uplift those who witness them in use. Character strengths are supposed to be culturally valued, irrespective of any benefits. The advice to build on one's strengths is in direct opposition to the aphorism that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. What is lost by ignoring this aphorism? In the Western world, we are obsessed with superstars who master a single domain. There's Wilt Chamberlain, a dominant player in the history of . Perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time but far less skilled when it comes to being respectful to women, with his claim to having with over 20,000 of them, and probably not nearly as skilled at driving in snow, cooking a steak, caring for children, or writing a compelling letter. Same probably goes for Al Pacino when off stage, Frank Lloyd Wright away from his construction sites, and Barbara McClintock out of the laboratory. In the Western World, there is no Hall of Fame for the jack of all trades, master of none. The question is whether the superstar ideal should be the cultural norm, especially when the focus is assessing and using strengths. Does an emphasis on equanimity and balance lead to more desirable psychological, social, and physical outcomes? A good case can be made that moral character is only as strong as its weakest link. Moral failings are potent. A violent altercation during adulthood, a few hits of crack behind the neighborhood dumpster, a few petty cash thefts at work are taken to be diagnostic of a strong tendency to commit other moral errors. Should we be satisfied with a person who endorses bravery, social , curiosity, perseverance, and hope as their top 5 signature strengths? Should outstanding performances (at work) with these strengths offset a lack of kindness and ? A person who exemplifies the strength of being highly capable of both loving and being loved but lacking in wisdom might be considered less worthy than someone with a modest level of both strengths. This empirical question has been ignored; assumed to be irrelevant and unimportant. A quick Google search offers insight into the endless journal articles, books, and workshops that deal almost exclusively with signature (or top five) strengths instead of a deep consideration of balance. Balance in talents and abilities might be less important than possession and mastery in a singular domain - think of Nikola Tesla or Katharine Hepburn who were wise to specialize. In stark contrast, balance in character and virtue might be critically important. I am inclined to hire people who show a vested interest in becoming wiser, braver, curious, trustworthy, and self-regulated, regardless of where they stand on these dimensions. I suspect I am not alone. There is much to celebrate with a strength-based approach to . Now it is time to pay to the larger world, beyond Americans and Europeans, to embrace different perspectives on where self-improvement might occur, and how it might be achieved. Much of this post is drawn from Chapter 29, that almost nobody read, authored by Gordon Bermant, Charu Talwar, and Paul Rozin, in Designing Positive Psychology. For more on strengths, see prior posts on: Psychological Strength Research That Everybody Needs to Know 10 Psychological Strengths, Including the Most Valuable 2 Dr. Todd B. Kashdan is a public speaker, psychologist, and professor of psychology and senior scientist at the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University. His new book, The upside of your dark side: Why being your whole self - not just your “good” self - drives success and fulfillment is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble , Booksamillion, Powell's or Indie Bound. If you're interested in speaking engagements or workshops, go to: toddkashdan.com

A Michigan man who bought a used copy of the book co-written by BTK serial killer Dennis Rader says he discovered one of Rader’s drawings tucked inside. It features what appears to be a bondage rack and ropes. Now the man has a question: Why was a serial killer known for binding and torturing his victims allowed to draw a picture of what may be a torture device and send it out to the public? The Kansas Department of Corrections says it monitors mail being sent and received by an inmate. It would not comment specifically on the drawing or whether and when it might have been sent from Rader’s prison cell at El Dorado Correctional Facility. But department spokesman Samir Arif said that “inmates are allowed to send and receive mail as long as it’s not security or sexually related.” Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to The Wichita Eagle Rader is fond of sketching and coloring and typically puts his hand-drawn seal on outgoing correspondence. The drawing the Michigan man found has Rader’s seal on one side and what appears to be a modified wooden St. Andrew’s Cross, a restraining device sometimes used in sexual situations, on the other side. It’s unclear when the 4 1/4 -by-5 1/2 -inch crayon-and-ink drawing was made. But it has Rader’s name, initials and a date — 7/2016 — on the side with the bondage rack and ropes. The other side has the date July 16, 2017, written on it. SHARE COPY LINK Dennis Rader was a husband, a sexual pervert, a Boy Scout volunteer, a murderer, church leader, child killer, stalker. He terrorized Wichita for 31 years. The Department of Corrections considers material sexually explicit if its purpose is sexual arousal or gratification and it contains nudity or anything related to intercourse, according to its website. Anyone who receives unwanted mail from an inmate can contact the agency and ask that it stop coming to their address, KDOC says. The Michigan man who discovered the drawing says he sent it to a crime memorabilia authentication company to verify that it is real. Research scholar Katherine Ramsland also said the artwork appears to have been made by Rader. She co-wrote the book “Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer” with him. It was published last year. Ramsland said the drawing looks like one of the so-called bookplates Rader sends to his pen pals and others who’ve bought copies of the book. Rader started creating the bookplates after he sent her a drawing for their book that was too large, and she asked him to make it smaller, she said. “He has like 40 people who write to him,” Ramsland said. “It was my impression they were for people who were friends (of Rader’s) or correspondence for people who specifically asked for them,” she said of the bookplates. She has one, too, she said. She did not know how many bookplates Rader has drawn. But, Ramsland said, “I haven’t seen any that’s overtly about murder.” Rader — who calls himself BTK for Bind Torture Kill — murdered 10 people between 1974 and 1991. Many were bound and strangled. About the drawing found by the Michigan man, Ramsland said: “It’s no secret that he (Rader) likes ropes, but the meaning of the image is ambiguous, because he liked self-bondage, too.” SHARE COPY LINK A new book prompts Dennis Rader's daughter, Kerri Rawson, to balance evil out with forgiveness, hope and compassion. (video by Jaime Green) The Michigan man contacted The Eagle in late September to find out more about the drawing and to pose the questions about how Rader is able to send them out of prison. He did not want his name used for security reasons. He said he bought the book on Ebay in early September for $3 or $4 after hearing that Rader had co-written one. He doesn’t recall where the book was shipped from but said it arrived in a white envelope with bubble wrap a couple of days after he paid for it. The drawing slipped out of the bottom of the dust jacket when he sat down to read it, he said. The man said he immediately glanced at the drawing but didn’t realize that it might be one of Rader’s until the next day. “I had a bad feeling,” he said. “You could tell. It said ‘Dennis Rader’ on it and that’s what got me.” The drawing made him feel uneasy, he said. “That fact that it was a torture device – just that in general just didn’t sit well with me.” The man said he contacted a company that advertises authentication services online, paid $50 and sent the drawing in to verify that it is real. About a week later, True Crime Authentication responded. The drawing was real the company told him. There is a market for Rader’s letters and drawings. On one website that sells crime memorabilia, his letters were being sold for $100 to $375 apiece. Parts of envelops scrawled with his initials went for $50 each. The Michigan man says he still feels uneasy about the drawing and isn’t sure what he’ll ultimately do with it. “I like true crime stuff. But not like that,” he said, referring to Rader’s drawing. “For right now, I’ll probably just keep it in the book. I really don’t know what else to do with it. I don’t want to fuel a market for stuff like that.”

It seems as if everybody is trying to be the “Uber” of X. In the last couple of weeks I’ve come across apps claiming to be the Uber of doctors, pizza delivery, massages, grocery shopping, and pharmaceuticals. It’s as if every service-based business is trying to apply the principles behind Uber to disrupt their particular industry. Disruption is a buzz word I hear a lot. By definition, disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up an industry, or a ground-breaking product that creates a completely new industry. When we think about disruptive technology we think about smart phones and cloud computing, but the truth is that there have always been disruptive technologies. Think about how the printing press democratized information or how gun powder changed the way wars were fought (and more to the point, how they were won). The industrial evolution of human history can be plotted on a timeline based on disruptive technologies. Disrupting a market with an innovative technology can be extremely lucrative, and for that reason start-ups from Silicon Valley to Silicon Beach are eager to claim they’re developing a product that’s going to change the way X is done. Companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, and Tesla have all successfully created disruptions in their industries, which have in turn had a trickle-down effect, disrupting related industries. However, it wasn’t done with a single innovation, but rather a stacking of several innovations applied in the right way and at the right time. Youtube is another good example of this—they were able to forever change the way video was shared, but this disruption was born out of several technological breakthroughs including inexpensive cameras, the reduction of storage costs, and the explosion of mobile devices. The promise of an electric car has been the pursuit of a generation, but it was the 20 years of advances in Lithium-ion cell technology, stacked with modern materials, advanced manufacturing principles, and mobile computing that allowed Tesla to make the vision a reality. Whether a start-up or an established company, innovation is the lifeblood of longevity. As we look at opportunities to disrupt, either by shaking up an existing industry or creating an entirely new one, it’s essential that we look forward to what’s coming. Emerging technologies such as predictive analytics, machine-to-machine communication, and 3D printing will continue to create new opportunities the same way social, mobile, and cloud have in recent years. It’s important to remember that very few disruptions occur based on a single innovation, but rather at the intersection of several technologies. Keep an eye on the next wave of technology and consider how it can be applied to your industry. Taking a page from a company like Uber and applying it to parallel industries is not a bad thing, but true innovation comes from looking ahead and applying what we’ve learned from the past, not looking at the past and trying to apply it to the future.

If the pro-immigration Denk Party has its way in the next election, the Netherlands will receive a “Racism Police” to go after thought and speech crimes. Denk Party, founded a couple of years ago by two former-socialist politicians of Turkish origin, already sits in the Dutch parliament and is banking on the support of country’s growing Muslim population, currently at about 7 percent, in the parliamentary elections held early next year. Denk Party, dominated by members of Turkish and Muslim origin, often piggybacks on progressive and leftist issues to expand its support base. The party wants stricter sentences for “racist and discriminatory behaviour”, and treat so-called offenders much like child molesters by listing them on a nationwide “Racism Register”. The Muslim-dominated party promises to create a 1,000-men strong force to go after “Dutch racists”. The Left-wing German newspaper TAZ reports Denk Party’s latest proposals: Denk Party, funded recently in 2015, is causing a stir in the Netherlands with its plans to combat racism and discrimination. The published plan contains proposals such as renaming of streets and tunnels that are reminiscent of Dutch colonial and slave trading history. Furthermore [the party] wants to the term “foreigner” replaced with “Turkish and Surinamese Dutch person” and create a thousand-man strong “Racism Police”. The plan is a precursor to the election program of the political party formed in 2015. The prominent Denk-member Farid Azarkan appeared on Dutch TV saying the theme would “certainly be central” to the election campaign. With less than half a year to go for the election, integration and migration are emerging as the dominating questions — especially as the [Geert Wilders’] anti-immigration Party of Freedom (PVV) had been lead the polls for months in the wake of European refugee crisis. (Author’s translation) Ironically, this new champion of European multiculturalism has close ties to Erdogan’s Turkish-Islamist AKP party and it refuses to recognise the genocide of Armenian Christians. According to a recent Dutch poll, nearly 90 percent of young Turkish-Dutch sympathise with Islamic State — the very demographic that Denk Party calls its political base. Denk Party stands in the tradition of George Galloway’s Respect Party in UK, a new mutant ideology taking root in Europe that fuses leftist “social justice” issues with political Islam, dipped in fierce hatred for Israel and Western heritage. Last month, the Denk Party attracted media attention when party’s leader and Dutch MP Tunahan Kuzu refused to shake hands with the visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu. What should worry the freedom-loving people — on the either side of the Atlantic — is not just the outrageous nature of Denk Party’s proposals, but the determined effort already underway in Europe to criminalise “undesired” speech and political dissident. Germany’s Justice Minister, Heiko Maas, continues to put pressure on Facebook and other social media platforms to curb free speech, while German police carries out raids to arrest people making hateful online comments. The E.U. has long been pressuring its media to omit mentions of Islam when Muslims are involved in terrorism. With Liberals in the U.S. borrowing heavily from the European Left, it’s only a matter of time before similar political alliances emerge in the United States as well. Video: Denk Party’s leader and Dutch MP Tunahan Kuzu refuses to shake hands with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu [h/t Israellycool] [Cover image courtesy Politie Amsterdam, YouTube]

Shamir has surprise released a new album, Hope, which he says was recorded this weekend as he considered retiring from music. The follow-up to Ratchet is available to stream and download for free on Soundcloud; check it out below. Shamir wrote, played, produced, and mixed the record, which includes a cover of Blake Babies’ “Rain.” “Im not gonna lie, this album is hard to listen to, but it was even harder for me to share,” he writes in the Soundcloud description. “I love pop music, i love outsider music, and i love lofi music, this is my way of combining all 3.” Read more of his explanation below. Revisit Pitchfork’s feature “The Charmed (and Charming) Life of Shamir Bailey.” I was gonna quit music this weekend. From day 1 it was clear i was an accidental pop star. I loved the idea of it, i mean who doesn't? Still the wear of staying polished with how im presented and how my music was presented took a huge toll on me mentally. I started to hate music, the thing i loved the most! When i would listen to immaculate recordings with my friends their praise over the quality of the art as opposed to the art itself made me feel really sad for music as a medium in general. My music only feels exciting for me if its in the moment, and thats what this album is. I made this album this past weekend stuck in my room with just a 4 track feeling hopeless about my love for music. ... I played, wrote, produced, and mixed everything and big thanks to Kieran Ferris for Mastering an album with an hours notice! its free! Enjoy! Love Yall! Still more 2 come!!!!!!! Watch Shamir on Pitchfork.tv’s “Over/Under”:

E-Cigarette Battery Explodes in Man's Pants at Owensboro Gas Station Copyright 2019 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Video We've heard reports of exploding e-cigarettes before, but surveillance video from a gas station in Owensboro caught the event on camera. The incident happened this weekend at the Shell gas station on New Hartford Road. You can see a man, Josh Hamilton, standing at the counter, when all of a sudden his pants burst into flames, sparks shooting across the store. Hamilton then runs outside and takes off his pants. Bystanders tried to help, when someone finally uses a fire extinguisher. Hamiltion posted on his Facebook he suffered third degree burns. He tells Eyewitness News it was a spare battery that burst into flames.

1st 2nd 3rd F Bemidji State 0 0 0 0 No. 1 Minnesota 0 1 4 5 5 Stats 0 Mar. 1, 2013 Scoring Summary Second Period Team Time Scored by Assisted by MINN 3:50 Jalosuo (9) Bona, Brandt Third Period MINN 4:45 Bozek (16) Menefee, Kessel MINN 8:31 Terry (8) Ramsey, Davis MINN 11:19 Bona (14) Brausen, Gillanders MINN 16:47 Bozek (17) --- Team Statistics MINN BSU Shots on Goal 46 20 Power Play 1-4 0-2 Penalties 3-6 4-8 Gopher Hockey Online Â• Hockey Home \| Hockey Blog \| Â• Twitter: @MNWomensHockey Â• Gophers on Facebook Senior goaltender Noora Raty recorded her NCAA career record 40th shutout to aid the University of Minnesota women's hockey team to a 5-0 win over Bemidji State in the opening game of their best-of-three series in the WCHA playoffs. Fellow senior Megan Bozek matched a single game career-high two goals to lead the Golden Gophers' offense, which exploded for four goals in the third period. After being held to a 1-0 lead in the first two periods, Bozek led a Minnesota surge that netted four goals in the final period. The team captain extended the team's lead at 4:45 when she skated around three BSU players and slipped the puck under Jessica Havel's glove. The 2013 Patty Kazmaier Award Top-10 finalist also tallied another goal at 16:53, which pushed the Gophers' lead to 5-0. The Maroon & Gold, who have won 43 consecutive games, also received goals from junior Kelly Terry and sophomore Rachael Bona in the third stanza. Terry's goal was recorded at 8:31 as she tipped a Rachel Ramsey shot through Havel's five-hole. Bona's 14th goal of the season was notched at 11:19 as she snuck it by Havel's glove side. Bona tallied two points in the game as she also assisted Mira Jalosuo on the game-winning goal, which came on a slap shot from the blue line at 3:50 in the second period. Minnesota bombarded the Beaver's senior goaltender with 46 shots, while RÃ¤ty faced only 20. With the shutout tonight, RÃ¤ty takes sole possession of the NCAA career shutouts record with 40. She surpasses former Wisconsin goaltender Jessie Vetter. The shutout also gave the Patty Kazmaier finalist 14 shutouts on the season, which matches Vetter's NCAA single season record. Minnesota is now one win away from punching their ticket to the WCHA Final Face-Off, which is held at Ridder Arena March 8-9. Saturday's matchup against BSU begins at 4 p.m.

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