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LastPass is making its password manager a much better option for people who don’t want to pay. As of today, it’s opening up to everyone the ability to sync passwords between an unlimited number of devices — something that used to be available only to subscribers. Free users were previously limited to syncing LastPass to a single app, which is pretty limiting in a world where you very possibly need to access those passwords across multiple PCs, a phone, and a tablet. Now, there are no longer any big restrictions on the free version of LastPass (though it’s still offering a $1 per month subscription with some additional features). You should really be using unique passwords Like other password managers, LastPass can be used to generate strong and unique passwords, keep track of which sites and services they belong to, and then enter them when needed. LastPass stores all passwords in the cloud, making them accessible from anywhere. That makes syncing simple, though it also opens the service up to some security concerns (ones that its competitors face as well). Still, using LastPass or any other password manager is going to be a significant step forward for most people when it comes to security. We’ve seen a steady stream of hacks this year that have compromised usernames and passwords from major sites. Using a password manager lets you use a different password in every location, minimizing the potential fallout of a password leaking out. Password managers can be a bit of a hassle to use (compared to typing in a single memorized password), but it’s worth the effort. |
Millions of protesters around the world marched to promote women's rights this weekend in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday. Now, activists are looking to their next target — Trump's tax returns. Trump promised during the campaign he would release his tax returns after he was done being audited. But now, his advisor Kellyanne Conway says the president has no plans to release anything, according to The Washington Post. Trump is the only major party nominee to not release his tax returns since 1976. Protesters, looking to galvanize momentum after a successful weekend, called for anti-Trump demonstrations on April 15 — a day which is usually the filing deadline for U.S. tax returns (since it falls on a Saturday this year, taxes are actually due on April 18). Trump claims no one cares about his taxes. The next mass protest should be on Tax Day to prove him wrong. — Frank Lesser (@sadmonsters) January 22, 2017 I ENDORSE THIS 100%. This is the next march. This is the next demonstration. Please RT, everyone. Every city. https://t.co/lgVLknPnnG — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 23, 2017 Pssst. April 15 is a Saturday, and someone hasn't released his taxes yet. What do you think about marching again? #TrumpTaxesMarch — Tim Eldred (@TimJEldred) January 23, 2017 I totally support this: Next mass protest day is Tax Day. Now known as Show Us Your Taxes Day. — Ali Davis (@Ali_Davis) January 23, 2017 Beau Willimon, showrunner of the dystopian Washington drama "House of Cards," weighed in, offering tips on exactly how to ensure the protests happen. "The demand is clear-cut: hard- working, tax-paying Americans want Trump to release his tax returns. We want transparency," Willimon wrote. 2. Team up with a local organization in your area that will sponsor. Work with them to get proper permits to ensure a smooth, peaceful event — Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) January 23, 2017 Saturday's Women's Marches likely drew over three million participants in the U.S. alone, according to the statisticians at FiveThirtyEight. Trump responded to the protests on Twitter, first calling out celebrity protesters, before acknowledging the role of peaceful protest in democracy. Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017 Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017 Follow The Huffington Post Canada on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also on HuffPost |
November 24, 2016 – Annual budgets in most of Canada’s major cities are a mess – excluding key activities, using inconsistent accounting, burying crucial numbers where only experts can find them, and often voted well after the fiscal year has started, according the 2016 edition of the C.D. Howe Institute’s Municipal Fiscal Accountability report. In “Two Sets of Books at City Hall? Grading the Financial Reports of Canada’s Cities,” authors Benjamin Dachis, William B.P. Robson, and Jennifer Y. Tsao grade the financial presentations of major Canadian cities in their most recent budgets and financial reports. “In nearly all Canada’s larger cities, inconsistent and unclear presentations of key numbers in budgets and end-of-year financial reports hamper legislators, taxpayers and voters seeking to hold their municipal governments to account,” states Robson. “Simple questions like ‘How much does your municipal government plan to spend this year?’ or ‘How much did it spend last year?’ are hard or impossible for a non-expert citizen or councilor to answer,” he adds. The study’s report card gave Toronto and Winnipeg failing grades. Both received Fs for budgets that do not match their financial reports, approved weeks after their fiscal years had started. More happily, the cities of Calgary, Vancouver, Halifax, Brampton, and Halton did better, with grades of A-. The authors provide five recommendations to bring Canadian municipal accountability closer to an A grade: adopt the same accrual accounting cities use in their financial reports in their budgets as well; present the headline figures early and prominently in budgets and financial reports; show gross, consolidated, and city-wide spending in their budgets; show deviations from budget plans; and present budgets and year-end financial reports in a timely manner. Current defects in presentation matter on the ground, say the authors. Among other problems, city budgets tend to overstate the up-front costs of infrastructure, discouraging investments and biasing cities to finance projects with development charges. The authors also note that Canadian cities are in better fiscal health than other levels of government, and show surpluses more frequently than the distorted budget presentations lead people to believe. “Some cities have raised their games. But all can improve transparency and accountability by presenting better budgets that city council and citizens can understand,” note Dachis and Tsao. “Clearer, more consistent figures and better accountability for hitting or missing budget targets would bring the financial management of Canada’s municipalities better into line with their fiscal impact and their importance in Canadians’ lives,” conclude the authors. Click here for the full report. The C.D. Howe Institute is an independent not-for-profit research institute whose mission is to raise living standards by fostering economically sound public policies. Widely considered to be Canada's most influential think tank, the Institute is a trusted source of essential policy intelligence, distinguished by research that is nonpartisan, evidence-based and subject to definitive expert review. For more information contact: Ben Dachis, Associate Director, Research; or William B.P. Robson, President and CEO, C.D. Howe Institute: 416-865-1904 or email: amcbrien@cdhowe.org. |
The Interregnum was the period between the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649 and the arrival of his son Charles II in London on 29 May 1660 which marked the start of the Restoration. During the Interregnum, England was under various forms of republican government (see Commonwealth of England; this article describes other facets of the Interregnum). Politics [ edit ] The politics of the period were dominated by the wishes of the Grandees (Senior Officers) of the New Model Army and their civilian supporters. They encouraged (or at least tolerated) several republican regimes. From 1649 until 1653 executive powers lay with Council of State, while legislative functions were carried out by the Rump Parliament. In 1653 the Grandees, with Oliver Cromwell in the lead, dismissed the Rump, and replaced it with a Nominated Assembly (nicknamed the Parliament of Saints and Barebone's Parliament) made up of 140 nominees, 129 from England, five from Scotland and six from Ireland. It proved to be as difficult for the executive to work with this parliament as it had with the Rump, so, after sitting for five months, members friendly to the Grandees engendered its dissolution on 12 December 1653. The Instrument of Government was adopted on 15 December 1653 and the pre-eminent Grandee Oliver Cromwell was installed as Lord Protector on the following day.[1] The Instrument of Government granted executive power to the Lord Protector. Although this post was elective, not hereditary, it was to be held for life. It also required the calling of triennial Parliaments, with each sitting for at least five months. In January 1655, Cromwell dissolved the first Protectorate Parliament, ushering in a period of military rule by the Major Generals. The Instrument of Government was replaced in May 1657 by England's second, and last, codified constitution, the Humble Petition and Advice. However Oliver Cromwell died the next year and his nominated successor as Lord Protector, his son Richard, proved unable to govern effectively as various political parties strove to gain power. The Protectorate came to an end in May 1659 when the Grandees recalled the Rump Parliament, which authorised a Committee of Safety to replace Richard's Council of State. This ushered in a period of unstable government, which did not come to an end until February 1660 when General George Monck, the English military governor of Scotland, marched to London at the head of his troops, and oversaw the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. Life during the Interregnum [ edit ] After the Parliamentarian victory in the Civil War, the Puritan views of the majority of Parliament and its supporters began to be imposed on the rest of the country. The Puritans advocated an austere lifestyle and restricted what they saw as the excesses of the previous regime. Most prominently, holidays such as Christmas and Easter were suppressed. Pastimes such as the theatre and gambling were also banned. However, some forms of art that were thought to be "virtuous", such as opera, were encouraged. These changes are often credited to Oliver Cromwell, though they were introduced by the Commonwealth Parliament; and Cromwell, when he came to power, was a liberalising influence.[3] Jews in England [ edit ] Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel met Oliver Cromwell in 1655 in order to discuss the admission of Jews into England.[4] Cromwell did not agree to all the rights that Ben Israel requested, but the opening of Jewish synagogues and burial grounds was tolerated under Cromwell's Protectorate. The Jewish faith was still not practised openly in England, since Cromwell's move had been controversial and many in England were still hostile toward Jews. Life for Jews in England improved in that they could no longer be prosecuted if caught worshipping, yet discrimination continued. Radicals vs conservatives [ edit ] Parliament had, to a large degree, encouraged the radical political groups which emerged when the usual social controls broke down during the English Civil War. It had also unwittingly established a new political force when it set up the New Model Army. Not surprisingly, all these groups had their own hopes for the new Commonwealth. Levellers [ edit ] Led by John Lilburne, Levellers drew their main support from London and the Army. In the Agreement of the People, 1649, they asked for a more representative and accountable parliament, to meet every two years; a reform of law so it would be available to and fair to all; and religious toleration. They wanted a more democratic society, although their proposed franchise did not extend to women or to the lowest orders of society. Levellers saw the Rump as little better than the monarchy it had replaced, and they showed their displeasure in demonstrations, pamphlets and mutinies. While their numbers did not pose a serious threat to the government, they scared the Rump into action and a Treasons Act was passed against them in 1649. Diggers [ edit ] Led by Gerrard Winstanley, Diggers wanted an even more equal society than the Levellers. They advocated a lifestyle that bore many similarities to later understandings of communism and anarchism, with communal ownership of land, and absolute equality for males and females in law and education. They existed in only very small numbers and faced a very strong opposition, even from the Levellers. Religious sects [ edit ] The breakdown of religious uniformity and incomplete Presbyterian Settlement of 1646 enabled independent churches to flourish. The main sects (see also English Dissenters) were Baptists, who advocated adult rebaptism; Ranters, who claimed that sin did not exist for the "chosen ones"; and Fifth Monarchy Men, who opposed all "earthly" governments, believing they must prepare for God's kingdom on earth by establishing a "government of saints". Despite greater toleration, extreme sects were opposed by the upper classes as they were seen as a threat to social order and property rights. Catholics were also excluded from the toleration applied to the other groups. Conservatives [ edit ] Conservatives were still dominant in both central government and local government. In the former, the Rump was anxious not to offend the traditional ruling class whose support it needed for survival, so it opposed radical ideas. In the latter, that ruling class dominated through the influence of traditional regional gentry. Historical analysis [ edit ] The Interregnum was a relatively short but important period in the history of the British Isles. It saw a number of political experiments without any stable form of government emerging, largely due to the wide diversity in religious and political groups that had been allowed to flourish after the regicide of Charles I. The Puritan movement had evolved as a rejection of both real and perceived "Catholicisation" of the Church of England. When the Church of England was quickly disestablished by the Commonwealth Government, the question of what church to establish became a hotly debated subject. In the end, it was impossible to make all the political factions happy. During the Interregnum, Oliver Cromwell lost much of the support he had gained during the Civil War. Edward Sexby, previously a supporter of Cromwell's, felt disenfranchised by Cromwell's failure to abolish the aristocracy. In 1657, Silius Titus called for Cromwell's assassination in a co-authored pamphlet Killing No Murder under the pseudonym of William Allen. Sexby was captured when he returned to England and attempted to carry out the assassination described in Colonel Titus' book. Cromwell coerced Sexby into confessing authorship of the pamphlet and then imprisoned him in the Tower of London, where Sexby was driven to insanity, dying there less than a year later. High taxes required by the large standing army, kept due to the constant threats of Scottish and Irish rebellion, added to public resentment of Cromwell. Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ] |
For most people, wisdom teeth are not much more than an annoyance that eventually needs to be removed. However, a new study appearing in the September 17 Journal of Biological Chemistry shows that wisdom teeth contain a valuable reservoir of tissue for the creation of stem cells; thus, everyone might be carrying around his or her own personal stem-cell repository should he or she ever need some. Groundbreaking research back in 2006 revealed that inducing the activity of four genes in adult cells could "reprogram" them back into a stem-cell-like state; biologically, these induced-pluripotent stem cells are virtually identical to embryonic stem cells, opening up a new potential avenue for stem-cell therapy whereby patients could be treated with their own stem cells. However, despite their promise, making iPS cells is not easy; the reprogramming efficiencies are very low and vary among the cells that can be used for iPS generation and thus require good amount of "starter" cells - which might involve difficult extraction from body tissue (unfortunately skin cells, the easiest to acquire, show very low reprogramming efficiency). Now, a team of scientists at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology may have found an ideal source: third molars, commonly known as wisdom teeth. The soft pulp inside of teeth contains a population of cells known as mesenchymal stromal cells that are similar to cells found in bone marrow, a common stem-cell source. However, unlike bone marrow, tooth pulp is more easily obtained, especially in wisdom teeth, which most individuals have removed anyway. The researchers, led by Hajime Ohgushi, collected tooth samples from three donors and managed to generate a series of iPS cell lines following the similar procedure of activating three key genes (however, in another beneficial change they did not have activate the c-MYC gene which might lead the cells to become cancerous). The different cell lines displayed varying degrees of robustness but in some cases proliferated quite well, up to 100 times more efficiently than typical skin-cell-derived iPS cells. The molar-derived cells also could differentiate into many other cell types including beating cardiomyocytes (see an attached movie), as expected. The presence of a supply of MSCs in wisdom teeth could have meaningful therapeutic ramifications. As noted by the researchers and others, wisdom tooth extraction is a common medical procedure in developed nations and, thus, creates a perfect opportunity to remove biological material in a sterilized setting; the teeth subsequently can be frozen and stored for many years until needed. In the meantime, that also provides time for researchers to better understand the details of iPS creation to further increase the efficiency for clinical use. ### From the JBC article: "Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Human Third Molar Mesenchymal Stromal Cells" by Yasuaki Oda, Yasuhide Yoshimura, Hiroe Ohnishi, Mika Tadokoro, Yoshihiro Katsube, Mari Sasao, Yoko Kubo, Koji Hattori, Shigeru Saito, Katsuhisa Horimoto, Shunsuke Yuba and Hajime Ohgushi Article Link: http://www. jbc. org/ content/ 285/ 38/ 29270 Corresponding Author: Hajime Ohgushi, Health Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Amagasaki City, Japan TEL:81-6-6494-7806, E-mail: hajime-ohgushi@aist.go.jp The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with over 12,000 members in the United States and internationally. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, nonprofit research institutions and industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions. Founded in 1906, the Society is based in Bethesda, Maryland, on the campus of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. The Society's purpose is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through publication of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the Journal of Lipid Research, and Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, organization of scientific meetings, advocacy for funding of basic research and education, support of science education at all levels, and promoting the diversity of individuals entering the scientific work force. For more information about ASBMB, see the Society's Web site at www.asbmb.org. |
Frontman speaks about 'Don't Brother Me', which appears on new album 'BE' Liam Gallagher has admitted that a new Beady Eye song is about Noel Gallagher and that it features a couple of digs at his brother and former Oasis bandmate. The song, titled ‘Don’t Brother Me’, will feature on the new album ‘BE’, details of which were confirmed yesterday (April 10). Speaking to Shortlist about the song, Liam admitted that it is about Noel and that he does not care that it draws attention back to their relationship. Discussing the track title, Gallagher says: “Well it just sounds shit, ‘Don’t Sister Me’, doesn’t it? Especially when I haven’t got a sister. People will pick up on it, but I’m ready to go there. So yeah, it’s about our kid.” Gallagher adds: “The tune is the tune, I love the tune more than having to go and speak about it. I could’ve tried to call it something else but that’s what it is. It’s a lovely fucking song. I love the song. I’m not gonna change the title to make my life easier.” Going on to discuss the lyrics, Liam says: “It’s a bit contradictory. There’s a load of love in there and a load of fucking… There’s a lot of love in there but there’s also a couple of – humorous, I think – digs. There’s nothing malicious in there, ‘cos it’s not in my nature. I wish I could write a malicious one – you’d fucking know about it if I could – but I couldn’t.” Liam also recalled the last time he saw Noel, shortly after he performed at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2012. revealing what happened that night, Liam said: “I wasn’t that pissed actually. I’d only had like… four bottles of champagne. I thought I was pretty pleasant, you know what I mean? I said, ‘What do you make of that then, you fucker?’ And he went, ‘Uh yeah, it was alright.’ Then I said, ‘I seen your mates there, they said to say hello,’ and he went, ‘Who?’ and I said, ‘Take That,’ and he went ‘Urggh’. That was it and I turned me back and had a drink.” Beady Eye release ‘BE’ on June 10, with Liam Gallagher saying that the Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) produced album has “none of that crap from the ’90s” on it. |
Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. Rachel Hoff, a delegate to the Republican National Convention from the District of Columbia, begged her fellow delegates drafting the party’s platform in Cleveland this week to recognize the LBGT victims of “radical Islamic terrorism.” No such luck. The issue arose when a delegate from Rhode Island, Giovanni Cicione, proposed language that specifically noted terrorists’ targeting of LGBT people. Other delegates quickly suggested adding “Christians, Jews, and women” after LGBT. Hoff, who is a lesbian and had introduced a similar amendment in a subcommittee, spoke in favor of these changes. “This is about standing up for the basic human rights of gays and lesbians—in this country and around the world,” she said. “If you do support me and people like me, then can you not at the very least stand up for our right to not be killed along with these other groups by people who want to bring harm not only to our country but to people based on their identity?” She continued, “We saw that in the terrorist attack in Orlando—it was one month ago today—that was a targeted attack on the LGBT community for simply living in freedom as who they are. And it’s important that we as a party—that you stand with me now, that you stand up for basic human rights [for] the LGBT community, Christians, Jews, and women.” Most of her fellow delegates disagreed. The language pertaining to “LGBT individuals, Christians, Jews, and women” was struck and replaced with a condemnation of “the brutal assault on all human beings.” This is not the first time Hoff has tried to get her party to be more inclusive toward LBGT people. On Monday, Hoff, who is the first openly gay Republican to sit on the GOP’s platform committee, put forward language calling for a “thoughtful conversation” on same-sex marriage. “We’re your daughters, your sons, your neighbors, colleagues, and the couples you sit next to you in church,” Hoff said, close to tears. “Freedom means freedom for everyone, including for gays and lesbians.” That amendment was shot down by the platform committee, but it appeared to get enough support to put it to a vote before the full convention for next week. Also on Tuesday, Hoff, who works at a national security think tank, proposed language supportive of women serving in combat positions in the military. Again, her fellow delegates disagreed, voting to keep in place language that opposed women serving in combat—even though Secretary of Defense Ash Carter opened combat positions to women last year. |
CLOSE A Los Angeles jury has rejected a claim that the promoter of Michael Jackson's comeback concerts was negligent in hiring the doctor who killed the superstar with a drug overdose. The case was filed by Jackson's mother. (Oct. 2) AP Jurors have reached a verdict in the Michael Jackson wrongful death civil trial. Michael Jackson (Photo: Joel Ryan, AP) Story Highlights Jackson died in June 2009 of an overdose of the drug propofol Murray was found guilty in November 2011 of involuntary manslaughter in the death AEG Live contends it was pressured by Jackson to hire Murray as his personal physician LOS ANGELES – A jury ruled Wednesday in favor of concert promoter AEG Live, finding it was not liable in the death of singer Michael Jackson. Katherine Jackson, Michael Jackson's mother, brought the case against AEG Live LLC, the giant concert promoter that was producing the singer's comeback concerts, arguing that the promoter was negligent in hiring the physician who administered the drug that killed him. The jury of six men and six women returned their verdict on the third full day of deliberations after a bitterly contested trial that lasted five months in a Los Angeles courtroom. To reach a verdict, only nine of the 12 jurors needed to agree; A unanimous verdict was not required. Jackson died in June 2009 of an overdose of the drug propofol, which is intended for use in surgery at hospitals. Following a trial, Conrad Murray was found guilty in November 2011 of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death for giving the singer an overdose of propofol as a sleep aid. Just who was responsible for hiring Murray to take care of Jackson before his comeback concerts was at the heart of the family's negligence claim. The jury ruled that AEG did hire Murray, but also ruled that Murray was not unfit or incompetent to perform the job he was hired to do. Under a series of questions the judge presented to the jury as a way of arriving at a verdict, that finding led directly to a verdict in favor of the promoter. "Michael Jackson was used to getting his way,'' juror Kevin Smith said outside the courthouse after the verdict. "He could pretty much get what he wanted... Anybody that said 'no,' they were out of the mix and he'd find somebody else.'' AEG Live General Counsel Shawn Trell voiced relief at the verdict. "It's nice to have this in the rear-view mirror,'' he said. Marvin Putnam, attorney for AEG Live, said his client never considered trying to end the case by negotiating a settlement with the Jackson family because "They werent going to allow themselves to be shaken down.'' He said Jackson had a long struggle with addiction, and ultimately what he did in the privacy of his home was beyond the promoter's control. "What really happened behind those locked doors? That was between Michael Jackson and his physician,'' Putnam said. Kevin Boyle, attorney for Katherine Jackson, said they would consider a next step. "We, of course, are not happy with the result as it stands now," Boyle said. "We will be exploring all options legally and factually and make a decision about anything at a later time." Jackson's lawyers depicted the company as being more concerned with the profits a successful concert run could generate than the singer's well-being. Brian Panish, lawyer for Jackson's mother, urged the jury to find that defendant AEG Live LLC and Jackson shared responsibility for hiring Murray, who is serving a prison sentence. AEG Live contends it was pressured by Jackson to hire Murray as his personal physician. Attorneys for the promoter argued that Jackson and Murray deceived the promoter by concealing that Jackson, who complained of chronic insomnia, was receiving the anesthetic propofol nightly in his home as a sleep aid. Panish urged the jury to find that AEG hired Murray without considering whether he was fit for the job. "Propofol might not be the best idea," Panish said. "But if you have a competent doctor, you're not going to die." Panish contended that AEG executives including CEO Randy Phillips and co-CEO Paul Gongaware disdained Jackson and pointed to an e-mail in which an AEG attorney referred to Jackson as "the freak." "They're a money-making machine," Panish said. "All they care about is how much money is this freak going to make for them." Both executives were initially named as defendants but were dismissed from the case during the trial. Panish showed jurors details of a contract that was drafted by AEG Live but only signed by Murray. He said it proved that AEG wanted to control the doctor. AEG Live attorney Marvin Putnam told jurors that Jackson insisted on hiring Murray despite objections from AEG Live. The company told Jackson there were great doctors in London, where his concerts would be held, but the singer insisted, Putnam said. "It was his money and he certainly wasn't going to take no for an answer," he said. AEG attorneys showed the jury excerpts from the documentary film about the failed Jackson comeback, This Is It, to demonstrate that Jackson appeared in top form just 12 hours before he died. "AEG Live did not have a crystal ball," Putnam said. "Dr. Murray and Mr. Jackson fooled everyone. They want to blame AEG for something no one saw." He contended AEG would have pulled the plug on the concerts had it been aware Jackson was receiving the powerful drug. "AEG would have never agreed to finance this tour if they knew Mr. Jackson was playing Russian roulette in his bedroom every night," Putnam told jurors. Panish said AEG should pay $85 million in personal damages to each of Michael Jackson's three children, and $35 million to the singer's mother. But potential economic damages could be larger. Attorneys for the Jackson family argued that had he lived, the singer could have made as much as $1.5 billion from the concerts, music, endorsements and related revenue streams. Putnam, the AEG attorney, dismissed those calculations and presented expert testimony putting economic damages far lower, at close to $21 million. AEG also presented testimony showing Jackson had a history of erratic behavior and canceled shows. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1fJQZ8t |
- You are free to shoot into your own foot bundle JContainers. But it's not advisable to do it, as this will inflict your users, as the plugin gets updated quite often and JContainers version downgrade, version conflicts due to mods bundling different versions WILL cause issues. This is time-proven fact. - It's up to you to report to a user of incompatibility of installed JC API version and the version mod has been compiled for the best user's experience. Valid condition is `JC.APIVersion == hardcodedAPIVersion && JC.featureVersion >= hardcodedFeatureVersion`. - The files in this plugin are not to be modified under any circumstance as that could cause problems when a load order includes multiple mods that use the plugin and one or more mods have modified the files in this plugin. JContainers Dynamism Embeded Lua [New] Domains [New] Form Observing Links Special thanks Credits Mods that use JContainers (the ones, I was informed about) overslab Permissions shoot into your own foot The main goal of the project is to extend Papyrus with JSON-based data structures (arrays and maps).If you have some programming background, you'll notice that you can not simply instantiate a class (or a script) in Papyrus. Almost everything exists in a single exemplar, except aliases and magic scripts. Papyrus arrays aren't expandable, single array can hold a values of a single type only.JContainers brings JMaps so that you can use them the same way FO4 structures are used. Considering the ability of JArray, JFormMap, JIntMap structures to reference/contain each other - and you can build large graphs of structures.Ability to filter/search/modify data structures with Lua. Ability to write your own Lua scripts. Example:int obj = JValue.objectFromPrototype("[{\"magnitude\": -9},{\"magnitude\": 11},{\"magnitude\": 3}]")int eleven = JValua.evalLuaFlt(obj, "return jc.accumulateValues(obj, math.max, '.magnitude')")int minusNine = JValua.evalLuaFlt(obj, "return jc.accumulateValues(obj, math.min, '.magnitude')")The Domain is isolated, standalone sandbox, non-global (per-save file), personal storage of JC's data, created by a modder for personal (or non-) use. The feature enables automatic removal of the data stored in a domain once a mod linked to the domain gets uninstalled.Example of the mod that use domain - https://github.com/SilverIce/PosePicker/commit/38d09404bb8db6c8e07548650bb327a445c452fd Internal improvement. Mimics the way a script references a form - a form referenced by any of JContainers' containers won't be unloaded by the game (unless force unloaded). Once a form deleted, the FormObserver will receive a notification and form references to that form will be set to zero.- to Saerileth and Gooser, without your interest that project would be abandoned on very early stages- to Skwerlman and Alexdunn for documentation improvements- to Verteiron for feedback, bugreports- to RealAntithesis for feedback, object' identifier generation idea- to Djarb, specifically for default-return-values idea SKSE team - it would be impossible to imagine Skyrim modding without it boost framework authors - real treasure for any C++ programmerAkheron, who made jansson - nice JSON parsing library Lua and LuaJIT creatorsFeel free to add more mods here Nexus mods Legacy of the Dragonborn (Dragonborn Gallery) version 15 “persistent museum ” patchmods (there should be some adult content warning):- You are free tobundle JContainers. But it's not advisable to do it, as this will inflict your users, as the plugin gets updated quite often and JContainers version downgrade, version conflicts due to mods bundling different versions WILL cause issues¹. This is time-proven fact.- It's up to you to report to a user of incompatibility of installed JC API version and the version mod has been compiled for the best user's experience. Valid condition is `JC.APIVersion == hardcodedAPIVersion && JC.featureVersion >= hardcodedFeatureVersion`.- The files in this plugin are not to be modified under any circumstance as that could cause problems when a load order includes multiple mods that use the plugin and one or more mods have modified the files in this plugin. |
BEIJING, Aug 24 (Reuters) - A General Motors Co joint venture in China will invest 3 billion yuan ($470 million) to build a factory dedicated to green cars, a spokeswoman said on Monday. The plant will have annual capacity to build 200,000 “new energy vehicles,” a Chinese term used as a catch-all for electric and highly electrified cars, the spokeswoman said in an emailed response that did not say when the factory would be completed. SAIC-GM-Wuling, a three-way joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp Ltd and Wuling Motors Holdings Ltd, began construction of the plant on Friday in the southwestern province of Guangxi. Automakers in China are racing to build electric and hybrid cars to meet national fuel economy standards that will become increasingly strict to 2020, part of a broad effort to curb pollution that chokes many urban areas. ($1 = 6.4029 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Susan Fenton) |
A former friend of 'Canterbury Cannibal' Dale Bolinger last night told how 'she could have ended up as his dinner' after he tried to drug her with cleaning fluid. Bolinger used a chemical-soaked rag to overcome friend Urlene King, a mother of four from Tooting, south west London, when she visited his home. She reveals her story after the 58-year-old cannibal fetishist was yesterday jailed for nine years over a string of charges including a plot to behead and eat a girl he sexually groomed over the Internet. Jailed: NHS nurse Dale Bolinger, 58, who dubbed 'the Canterbury Cannibal', has been jailed for nine years after he was convicted of sexual grooming after plotting to behead and eat a girl Ms King and Bolinger had been friends for 17 years when he one day invited her to his home in Brockley, south east London, and tried to suffocate her with a rag soaked in noxious dry-cleaning fluid as she sat in his lounge. 'I was sitting on the couch with my back to the door when he attacked me,' Ms King told the Daily Mirror. I couldn't breathe and began to feel all giddy - I thought he was trying to rape me. 'I finally broke free and said, "What the f*** do you think you're doing?" 'He staggered back and said, "Oh my God what have I done." But he looked different, nothing like the Dale I knew.' Fearing for her life, Ms King made her escape. But afterwards Bolinger called her and pleaded with her not to tell police. She says she only decided not to report him after his wife Rosemary begged her not to. Rosemary Bolinger was unavailable to comment on the claims at the time of publication. But after Bolinger's arrest for travelling to meet a 14-year-old girl with the apparent intention to rape, kill and eat her, police told Ms King her former friend had hoarded hundreds of photos of her. Officers told her the perverted fantasist had spent hours on online fetish chatrooms talking about what her grandchildren looked like. Mugshot: NHS nurse Dale Bolinger, 58, dubbed 'the Canterbury Cannibal', who was convicted of sexual grooming after plotting to behead and eat a girl, has been jailed for nine years Ms King now admits some of Bolinger's behaviour should have set alarm bells ringing long before. A year before he attacked her, she claims, she left him alone with her granddaughter and he bit the girl hard on the finger. 'He said he did it to teach her a lesson because she did it to him,' Ms King told the Mirror. 'I can't get it out of my head that he may have been trying to eat her.' Bolinger, whose behaviour was described by a judge yesterday as 'abhorrent, shocking and dangerous', was arrested after his attempts to groom a teenage girl for a sick cannibal sex murder were detected by the FBI and details passed to UK police. He had even bought a large axe from a DIY store in Broadstairs, Kent, the day before he tried to meet the 14-year-old. He chatted with the teenager, a Mexican girl called 'Eva' said to be living in Germany, on a website called the Dark Fetish Network (DFN). In conversations, Bolinger described sex acts he wanted to perform on her and how he would murder her, which she said she wanted to happen. After a four-day trial at Canterbury Crown Court in July, Bolinger was found guilty of attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16 following sexual grooming. Before the trial, Bolinger admitted other charges, including administering a poison or noxious substance after he put a cloth soaked in dry cleaning fluid over Ms King’s mouth in July 2010. He also pleaded guilty to making indecent pseudo photographs of children, and seven counts of publishing an obscene article. As he was jailed today for the 11 offences, a judge said his behaviour was 'abhorrent, shocking and dangerous'. American national Bolinger was made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order (Sopo) to stop him using the internet without permission by judge Adele Williams, who said the case presented 'a unique set of facts'. Psychiatrists ruled that Bolinger, whose family have turned their back on him, was not suffering from any form of mental illness. Posed: Bolinger bought this axe from a DIY store in Broadstairs, Kent, the day before he tried to meet the 14-year-old, whom he groomed online Bolinger stood in the dock with his head bowed and hands clenched in front of him as Judge Williams told how he had had fantasies of cannibalism since he was a child. Jailing Bolinger, she told him: 'You demonstrated when giving evidence that you are an arrogant and manipulative man. 'You have shown no remorse and indeed cannot understand why anyone should find your behaviour in any way abnormal or perverted, let alone criminal. 'You lack any insight into your behaviour and fail to understand that right-minded people will find your behaviour abhorrent, shocking, repulsive and dangerous - dangerous because, by talking about these activities, there is always the risk that your fantasies will tip over into actions. 'There was always the real danger that you would inflame or incite people with whom you were discussing these activities to move from fantasy to action themselves.' Martin Yale, prosecuting, told the trial that internet chats involving Bolinger on the DFN site about beheading and eating women and girls were discovered by the FBI in New York. Investigators found that the email addressmeatmarketman@rocketmail.com was being used in Kent and Bolinger was arrested after the information was passed to Kent Police. In chats with other users, Bolinger - who used a picture of supermodel Naomi Campbell on his profile - claimed to have eaten a 39-year-old black woman and a five-year-old child. His profile, under the name Chris C, listed his interests as 'cannibalism, mainly the hunting and preparation of young but sometimes not so young women'. Search: Police searching Bolinger's home found indecent pseudo-images of children aged four to 16 which had been digitally manipulated, with titles including 'Dinner' and 'The BBQ' At his trial, chat logs were read out between Bolinger and users in which he referred to beheading a 14-year-old, eating children while their mothers watched, and cooking and eating a pregnant woman and her foetus. Bolinger told the court he did not believe 'Eva' - who used the surname 'Gonza' but later told him it was 'Nada' - was a 14-year-old girl. He told police he thought she was probably a man in his 30s 'surrounded by pizza boxes' who would be dead by his 40s. And he denied that he would ever decapitate someone in reality. But prosecutors said it was clear that Bolinger did believe 'Eva' was a 14-year-old girl, and he had bragged to others in chat logs about the proposed meeting in Kent with her. The court heard that Bolinger had taken his fantasies beyond chat rooms before. In July 2010, he put a cloth soaked in dry cleaning fluid over friend Ms King’s mouth. Following his arrest at the hospital where he worked after the emergence of the graphic chat logs, police found at his home indecent pseudo-images of children aged four to 16 which had been digitally manipulated. The titles for the pictures included 'Dinner', 'The BBQ', 'The BBQ2' and 'The BBQ3'. Mr Yale said these pointed to Bolinger’s sexual interest in cannibalism relating to children. At his trial, Bolinger was asked by defence counsel Paul Jarvis whether he had ever attempted to kill anyone, eaten human flesh or sexually assaulted a child. He replied: 'No, not in reality, just in fantasy.' In his closing speech, Mr Jarvis said it was 'quite clear that Mr Bolinger is far more Walter Mitty than Hannibal Lecter'. When questioned about the images, Bolinger, formerly from Canterbury, told police: 'I do not find children sexually attractive but I do find them interesting as a food source' He added: 'He is a fantasist and sometimes he goes too far and sometimes he stops, and sometimes - when the person encourages him - the fantasy continues.' The court heard that Bolinger told police he had bought the axe from Homebase to remove two tree stumps from the side of his house. He said he had only gone to Ashford International railway station to meet 'Eva' because he was concerned for her safety. He 'probably would have wet' himself if she had turned up and he would have called social services or the police, he added. Bolinger said he visited the DFN website out of curiosity and that the people he spoke to seemed 'willing to accept anything'. Case: Valle was convicted of plotting to kidnap, murder and eat women, although this was later overturned He told the jury: 'Initially, I was looking to find people with like minds and to see where they came from, but it soon spiralled down into trying to shock people enough that they would ask "Is this fantasy?"' In police interview, he said he started having fantasies about cannibalism at about the age of six, and he blamed his 'very domineering' mother for his 'weird' behaviour. He told officers: 'By the time I got to 14, I turned into the villain of the piece and I wondered what it would be like to eat a girl.' Bolinger told police he had never discussed his fantasies with his wife of 34 years, Rosemary, or their children, and said he felt ashamed. 'It was less to do with sexual gratification and more to do with anger,' he told officers. 'The people that do it (cannibalism) are seriously deranged, and I may be many things but I am not deranged.' He also admitted in interview that discs found in his home containing indecent images of children were his, the jury heard. Curious: Bolinger said he visited the DFN website out of curiosity and that the people he spoke to seemed 'willing to accept anything' Mr Yale said one image featured a girl aged between six and nine lying naked on a serving plate with an apple in her mouth, and others were of a similar nature. When questioned about the images, Bolinger, formerly from Canterbury, told police: 'I do not find children sexually attractive but I do find them interesting as a food source.' In mitigation today, Mr Jarvis said whoever 'Eva' was 'she was clearly a willing party for whatever was going to happen'. And he said that in relation to the offence against Ms King, it was Bolinger himself who stopped after he 'came to his senses'. Mr Jarvis said Bolinger’s family had deserted him, he faces severe difficulty ever working again and has 'little to look forward to bar advancing years'. Bolinger’s activities came to light during an FBI investigation into a former New York police officer, Gilberto Valle, who also used the online pseudonym 'Meatmarketman'. In March 2013 Valle was convicted of plotting to kidnap, murder and eat women and also was found guilty of accessing a national crime database. He was told he faced life in prison and had served 21 months when a federal judge overturned his conviction for a plot to kidnap, kill and eat young women because he believed it was 'role-play'. Judge Paul Gardephe ruled that insufficient evidence to support the conviction and his 'Internet communications about kidnapping are fantasy'. It led to Valle apologising for his views, but reiterated the argument of his legal team that 'ugly thoughts' are not a crime. Chat logs recovered by the FBI found online chats between the pair included discussions on how to kidnap women, kill and eat them. Bolinger also bragged about having access to anaesthetic gases - a reference to his job as a hospital nurse, detectives from Kent Police said. Detective Superintendent Tim Smith, of Kent Police, said: 'There is no doubt in my mind Bolinger represents a very real and great danger to the public and I welcome the news he will spend time behind bars, preventing him from causing harm. 'On the fetish chat rooms, Bolinger used a number of names to hide his identity, but my team of officers with specialist knowledge and equipment worked closely with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in America to reveal his true identity. 'From then on, officers left no stone unturned in searching for evidence both at Bolinger’s house and elsewhere to ensure we presented the very best case possible regarding his actions online and his very clear intentions with a young and potentially very vulnerable girl. 'This was clearly a lengthy, painstaking and complicated investigation with a significant amount of evidence recovered in the USA. 'I hope the conviction and sentencing should serve to highlight to those attempting to hide their identity online with the intention of carrying out criminal actions: there is no hiding place. |
Story highlights President Barack Obama said voters and reporters should scrutinize Donald Trump's record Obama made the comments during a White House press conference Friday afternoon Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama told reporters and voters Friday to look closely at the record of business mogul Donald Trump, who became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee this week. "He has a long record that needs to be examined," Obama said at a press conference on job growth. "I think it's important for us to take seriously the statements he's made in the past." The President stressed the impact the general election would have on the United States, urging candidates and voters to take the contest seriously. "I just want to emphasize the degree of which we are in serious times, and this is a really serious job. This is not entertainment. This is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States." Obama hit Trump indirectly on the lack of detail in his policy plans, and urged the media and voters to vet candidates' policies. Read More |
The idea of building apartments to house Charlotte’s most troubled homeless men and women – including those with addictions and mental disabilities – was controversial, if not ridiculed, when first proposed by the Urban Ministry Center in 2009. But a first-year impact report scheduled to be released Monday by UNC Charlotte shows the homeless apartment complex known as Moore Place has succeeded in fulfilling its many promises to the community, particularly in saving tax dollars. The study, conducted by the university’s Department of Social Work, found Moore Place saved $1.8 million in its first year by drastically reducing the amount of time its tenants spent in emergency rooms (447 fewer visits) and admitted to hospitals (372 fewer days). Statistics show tenants also stayed out of trouble more, with a 78 percent drop in arrests and 84 percent fewer days spent in jail. Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to The Charlotte Observer The report is being released at a time when the city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the Charlotte Housing Authority are offering incentives to encourage more permanent supportive housing projects for the chronically homeless. Charlotte’s Neighborhood & Business Services department is pledging up to $1 million for development, and the county’s Community Support Services Department will provide up to $800,000 in supportive services. Stacy Lowry, director of Community Support Services, says 10 proposals were submitted for review by the Feb. 28 deadline, suggesting Moore Place is just the start. The proposals are being reviewed, and results will be released by May. Meanwhile, Moore Place is expanding from 85 to 120 units. The Charlotte City Council unanimously decided in November to help by contributing $1 million from the Housing Trust Fund. Urban Ministry officials say they have so far raised $3.5 million of the $4 million expansion cost. Caroline Chambre, director of HousingWorks for Urban Ministry, said the UNCC report is proof that permanent supportive housing is worth the investment. Moore Place cost $6 million using a combination of government grants and private donations. That included the cost of the land in the Druid Hills community. “You can’t argue with the statistics,” said Chambre. “This approach was controversial at one time because of the stereotype of who the homeless are, and we had to change that stereotype.” It’s estimated there are more than 200 chronically homeless people in the county who qualify for the type of housing offered by Moore Place. Moore Place operates on a premise that it’s cheaper and more compassionate for the community to permanently house the chronically homeless, who are often mentally or physically disabled and vulnerable to dying on the streets. Many are addicted, too, but the Moore Place approach is to admit them anyway, and encourage drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Only 15 tenants have been asked to leave since the program opened for transgressions that included acts of violence toward fellow tenants. Four people taken in by the project have died since it opened in 2012, including Charlotte’s most famous homeless man: William Larry Major, better known as “Chilly Willy.” He was struck by a car in 2012 after living nearly eight months at Moore Place. “There were a lot of people that thought we’d be having to constantly give him a key to his apartment, because he’d be losing it,” Chambre said. “But he wore that key like a badge of honor and never lost it.” It costs about $14,000 yearly per person to house the tenants of Moore Place, who are required to contribute 30 percent of their income toward rent. That income typically comes from disability or veterans benefits. The rest of the operating money is provided by the Charlotte Housing Authority through rental assistance vouchers, as well as small grants and donations from individuals and churches. Among the current tenants of Moore Place is Michael Byrd, 55, a native of New Jersey who moved to Charlotte in the mid-1970s for a job and has been homeless off and on since the 80s. In the year before he moved into Moore Place, Byrd visited local emergency rooms 24 times for a variety of ailments, racking up $268,000 in medical bills. That fell to five emergency room visits during the year after he moved in, which cost about $9,600. “When I was on the streets, my worst night was trying to sleep bundled up in an abandoned car when it was below freezing. It scared me,” recalled Byrd, who is disabled. “I’ve dumpster-dived behind a restaurant for food, too. It was not a good way to live.” Moore Place has changed Byrd’s life to such a point that he is now dreaming of going fishing again, like he did as a boy. UNCC assistant professor Lori Thomas, who directed the study of Moore Place, says one of the unexpected findings is that tenants there skew older than similar housing projects in other cities. Most are over 50; the oldest is 66. Equally telling is the fact that half of them tested positive for post-traumatic stress disorder, which she guesses is connected to trauma or extreme acts of violence they were exposed to on the streets. Thomas says the study will eventually include data on Moore Place’s second year of operation to show whether the numbers hold up. She is confident they will, given the success of similar programs around the country. “For the longest time, we as a nation tried to manage homelessness instead of trying to end it,” said Thomas. “We as a community have got to focus on how to get them off the streets, rather than housing them in shelters Permanent supportive housing works and saves money.” |
A new Android RAT (Remote Access Trojan) detected under the name of GhostCtrl can lock mobile device by resetting their PIN and display a ransom note to infected victims. These ransomware capabilities have been observed in the source code of GhostCtrl, but not in real-world infections, where the RAT was mostly used for its data exfiltration capabilities. GhostCtrl RAT used to hack healthcare organizations The GhostCtrl RAT was discovered by Trend Micro researchers part of a wave of attacks against Israeli healthcare organizations. The campaign targeted primarily Windows computers with RETADUP, a combination of a worm, infostealer, and backdoor trojan. The group behind the campaign also targeted the Android devices of people involved with these organizations. The payload was the GhostCtrl RAT, which according to Trend Micro, is a heavily customized version of OmniRAT — a multi-purpose RAT and one of the few RATs that can target four major operating systems: Android, Linux, macOS, and Windows. OmniRAT is one of the top RATs on the market, and sold through a Malware-as-a-Service portal, allowing anyone to compile his own versions. GhostCtrl is a top-shelve Android malware All of OmniRAT's features are also included in GhostCtrl, making the latter a dangerous and very potent threat. Below is a summary of GhostCtrl's confirmed features, as per this Trend Micro report: ⬪ Ability to root infecte Android devices ⬪ Communicates with a remote C&C server ⬪ Control the Wi-Fi state ⬪ Monitor the phone sensors in real time ⬪ Set phone's UiMode, like night mode/car mode ⬪ Control the vibrate function, including the pattern and when it will vibrate ⬪ List the file information in the current directory and upload it to the C&C server ⬪ Delete a file in the indicated directory ⬪ Rename a file in the indicated directory ⬪ Upload a desired file to the C&C server ⬪ Download file ⬪ Download pictures as wallpaper ⬪ Create an indicated directory ⬪ Use the text to speech feature ⬪ Send SMS/MMS to a number specified by the attacker ⬪ Intercept SMS messages from phone numbers specified by the attacker ⬪ Delete SMS ⬪ Call a phone number indicated by the attacker ⬪ Record voice or audio, then upload it to the C&C server at a certain time ⬪ Delete browser history ⬪ Open apps ⬪ Control the system infrared transmitter ⬪ Run a shell command specified by the attacker and upload the output result ⬪ Collect call logs, SMS records, contacts, phone numbers, SIM serial number, location, browser bookmarks, Android OS version, username, Wi-Fi details, battery status, Bluetooth info, audio states, UiMode, service processes, activity information, clipboard data, wallpaper images, data from the camera, sensors, the browser, and searches, and many more. Furthermore, Trend Micro notes that it discovered the following features, which aren't commonly found in Android RATs, but where present in GhostCtrl: ⬪ Clear/reset the password of an account specified by the attacker ⬪ Configure the phone to play different sound effects ⬪ Set specific content in the Clipboard ⬪ Customize notifications ⬪ Control the Bluetooth to search and connect to another device ⬪ Set the accessibility to TRUE and terminate an ongoing phone call Overall, GhostCtrl is one of the most advanced Android RATs ever seen, with features that imply this malware was developed by a threat actor with extended expertise in Android development. Current evidence suggests this threat is used to pilfer data from healthcare organizations, either to sell on underground markets or to blackmail the hacked institutions. If all of these fail, GhostCtrl's ransomware feature could be used as a last ditch effort to obtain moeny from hacked devices. Image credits: LSE Designs, Jonathan Collie, Bleeping Computer. |
“Disjointed” is a burn out. Rotten Tomatoes compiled the 27 summer series premieres and events that had at least 20 reviews, starting in May, and ranked them by freshness. Despite talent like Kathy Bates, “Disjointed” is at the very bottom with an abysmal 13 percent out of 23 critic reviews. “Disjointed” follows a lifelong advocate for marijuana legalization (Bates) before getting the chance to open her own cannabis dispensary. Working alongside her are three “budtenders,” her son and a deeply troubled security guard. Everybody is high most of the time and most of the jokes revolve around pot. Also Read: Netflix Turns 20: How It Went From Kibble to Dreams of World Domination Ed Power from the Telegraph called it a “one-note chucklefest,” while Brian Lowry from CNN said it was “as stale as an unwashed bong.” Other rotten shows or events included TV movie “Dirty Dancing,” starring Abigail Breslin, the first season of the Netflix series “Friends From College” and “Gypsy,” starring Naomi Watts. You’ll notice that of all the “rotten” shows (with ratings less than 60 percent), three of them are Netflix shows. Amazon’s “The Last Tycoon” was the only other streaming service show in the bottom with 52 percent. On the opposite end you have the best-reviewed show premieres of the summer. In the top spot is Netflix’s “Master of None” Season 2 with a perfect 100 percent rating, followed by HBO’s “Game of Thrones” Season 7 and the new “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” season, also on Netflix. In the end, the streaming giant was able to make up for its spots in the bottom with more highly-rated shows. |
A History of the Palestinian People From Ancient Times to the Modern Era Assaf A. Voll Translated and adapted from the Hebrew by Alan Slater Vollume Publishing; undated This new book by the Israeli “publicist, editor and creative specialist” Assaf A. Voll, reduces three thousand years of Palestinian history and achievement to 132 bank pages — blank, except for a printed watermark of a Palestinian flag superimposed over Palestinian/Roman pillars. The book caused an avalanche of five-star ‘reviews’ on Amazon by gleeful Zionists, and outrage among others for its obvious intent as racist weaponry. When Amazon, responding to complaints, removed the book, there was new outrage at Amazon’s selectiveness. As the JewishPress.com put it, Hypocrisy: Amazon Removes ‘Palestinian History’ Book, Keeps Selling ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ Indeed the headline’s claim is correct: the infamous Protocols is readily available through Amazon. One might further argue that whereas a private, independent bookseller with a specific inventory must decide which books fit the shop’s criteria and deserve to occupy shelf space, Amazon is in reality a common utility, a portal for anything published and available. Amazon might instead have responded by placing a disclaimer on the book’s listing: Notice: In conflict with the publisher’s description, this book consists of 132 blank pages. There is no text. But instead it pulled the book while, as critics point out, selling acknowledged hate forgeries. The gimmick behind this blank ‘history’ book is not new. Most recently, in February a blank book entitled Reasons To Vote For Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide was smash hit, reaching the single-digits on Amazon’s sales ranking. The 2011 blank book Everything Obama Knows About the Economy was another big seller. On quite a different level, there is for example mention of a book conceived in the 1960s by the surrealist playwright H.M. Koutoukas, entitled The Great Book of Lesbian Humor, consisting of 7 blank pages — if it was ever made. If these four examples are identical in gimmick, they are vastly different in their human chemistry. The Democrats and Obama tomes can be easily dismissed as political cartoons, offensive only in their boringness. With Koutoukas’ apocryphal book, the intent of the author and the changing sensibilities of the audience and of society are at issue. But History of the Palestinian People is explicitly intended to reinforce the dehumanization of an entire people in order to grease the machinery of subjugation and ethnic cleansing. That it seeks to erase the history of a vibrant, ancient civilization is however, only its second-worse crime; foremost is its implicit mentality that the grandeur of one’s forebears’ history determines one’s ‘right’ to live one’s own life on one’s own land. Dehumanization has of course been a standard tactic of racial settler-colonialism for centuries — indeed, one can safely say, millennia — and has been an every-present feature of Zionism. It can take subtle-but-insidious form, like Ben-Gurion referring to the Palestinians as “Arabs who happen to be in Palestine,”* overtly grotesque forms, like this 1948 cartoon by the noted illustrator and political caricaturist Arthur Szyk — and allegedly benign, humorous, form, like the book at issue, likely to be defended by cries against ‘political correctness’, but in truth a gear in a brutal seventy year military campaign waged by a century-plus racial-nationalist movement. (* see Suárez, State of Terror, page 238) |
Alright so your mind is in the game, you have all your expenses counted, and you set up boundries. Now it’s time to do something with that extra money that you are gathering every month. What is it that you want? A vacation? A big screen TV? Nice. Anyways, if you really want that kind of thing then you need to save that extra money in a place you can’t get to so it will grow and expand. There are several places you can keep that money. I’d recommend a service that can help you keep your eye on the prize. I’d go with either ING Direct or Smarty Pig. Both of these have great abilities to set an account for a specific goal. Squeeze Fund This is the fund you need when the proverbial sh*t hits the fan AKA you’re in a squeeze. It goes by many names Emergency fund or oh sh*t fund are a couple but I wanted to be unique so I chose squeeze. Anyways, this is what you need and honestly if you can get this up to $500 you are on the way to happiness. Most people say $1000 but I say that’s a lot of money and I think it’s a lot more motivating once you actually get $500. So set up an account called Squeeze Fund in ING and try to build it up as fast as you can so if you get in a squeeze (haha like that?) you will be covered. End Of The Road The next thing you need to start saving for is your future. I recommend setting up an account in your ING savings account and call it Future. Then go and set up a ShareBuilder account and link them. Then once that’s all set up go and start an automatic investment once every couple of months and have the money taken out of your Future account. Just be sure to put money in the Future account every month so you’ll have the money to invest. It doesn’t have to be a lot. A $20 here and there and your future self will thank you. So that’s it. You are well on your way to Financial Freedom. If you want to continue to learn be sure to sign up for my Jump Start Your Financial Freedom eCourse and continue your education by checking back here each week for new knowledge for you. I hope you enjoyed this series. If you have any questions be sure to contact me and I promise I will get back with you soon. How do you invest in your future? P.S. Some of the links in this post I earn a little bit of money from so I can pay my bills. But I promise to never to intentionally lead you to a bad company and to never let the money affect my opinion. photo credit: Bonnie Woodson |
Image copyright Muhammad Roem Image caption This photograph of a cheeky gecko is the one Mr Roem describes as his favourite shot There are close-up images, and then there are the ones taken by Muhammad Roem, an amateur Indonesian photographer. From dancing frogs to cheeky geckos, there is little that escapes 28-year-old Mr Roem's camera. The full-time nurse started photography only three years ago as a part time hobby. Now the Batam-based photographer spends whatever free time he has chasing down his subjects in the wild. "I follow the insects in order to capture exact expressions. Sometimes from more than a dozen photos there will only be one photo with a good expression. Other days I don't get anything," he tells the BBC. Image copyright Muhammad Roem Image caption Some of Mr Roem's photos literally look out of this world You might also like: What is 'Om Telolet Om' and why are DJs sharing it? Debate over Bollywood couple's baby name Why young and old are being hit by China's smog Many people don't know or see much into specific parts of an animal," Mr Roem says. "I try to showcase one specific part, for example if you look at their eyes- it's awesome." Image copyright Muhammad Roem Image caption Blink once and you'll miss it - as with this close-up of an iguana's eye Image copyright Muhammad Roem Image caption Mr Roem is clearly a fan of frogs Image copyright Muhammad Roem Image caption He typically uses a 100mm macro lens, but an MP E 65mm when he goes for an extreme close-up shot Image copyright Muhammad Roem Image caption Amazing detail seen on a Red and Black Mason Wasp Image copyright Muhammad Roem Image caption You can almost feel the raindrops in this shot of a dragonfly "I first started learning photography by myself, then later started getting feedback from a teacher," Mr Roem says. "I mostly go around Batam taking photos, but when I have free time I try to travel around Indonesia." His busy work life means he has little time to take photographs, but when he does he spends up to a week editing a single shot. "I take around one full day to take one photograph," he says. "But up to a week to finish the photograph, including editing and processing." Pictures courtesy of Muhammad Roem. |
Canadian Luxury Home Listed for Sale on Beijing Craigslist for 1,075 Bitcoins An eight-bedroom luxury home in Canada has been listed for sale on the Beijing Craigslist website with an asking price of 1,075 bitcoins. Also Read: State-Funded Bitcoin Data Center Infuriates Montana Locals With an Asking Price of Nearly $3 Million USD and Such a Narrow Marketing Strategy, the Listing Immediately Aroused Curiosity Approximately one month ago an ad for a luxury Canadian home was listed on the Beijing Craigslist website. The up-market home features eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, and is located right by the Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club in Coquitlam. The listing features an asking price of 1,075 bitcoins – approximately $2.9 million USD. With an asking price of nearly $3 million USD and such a narrow marketing strategy, the listing immediately aroused curiosity following its discovery by local British Columbia-based news outlet, The Tri-City News. Although no information is listed pertaining to the property’s owner, the home is listed through Vallee Real State Agent Group, with Eric Vallee listed as the real estate agent to contact for inquiries. The Tri-City News attempted to make contact with Eric Vallee, only to be told that Vallee was out of the office for the week, however another employee called Val Petrov was to handle all inquiries in the mean time. Val Petrov refused to discuss the property with The Tri-City News – who reported that Petrov abruptly stated: “I have no comment” when asked about the property, before immediately terminating the phone call. The Emergence of Two Extremely Similar, Unusual Listings Seems an Unlikely Coincidence The property is not the first luxury residence situated in Coquitlam that has been advertised via an overseas Craigslist listing with an asking price quantified in cryptocurrency. Just last month, a five-bedroom, five-bathroom ‘executive-style’ 5,000 square foot property was discovered listed on the Hong Kong Craigslist website, with an asking price of 2,099 bitcoins – approximately $4 million USD at the time. The realtor handling the listing, Mario Figliola of Sutton Centre Realy, told The Tri-City News that the listing was a joke. A few days later The Tri-City News reports being contacted by the manager of Sutton Centre Realty, Derek Drew, who described the advert as an “honest mistake that never should have been made.” The emergence of two extremely similar, unusual listings advertising luxury Coquitlam homes on East Asian Craiglist websites seems an unlikely coincidence. The Real Estate Council of British Columbia told The Tri-City News that bitcoin cannot be held in trust during a real estate transaction, as virtual currency presently sits outside of the regulatory guidelines applied to banks and government institutions. As such, Canadian real estate sales in bitcoin could risk running afoul of the Financial Transaction and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) reporting requirements, bringing the legality of said property listings into contention. Would you buy or sell a house using bitcoin? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock and The Tri-City News Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. |
Hedge Fund Expert: Bitfinex Hack Shouldn't Deter Big Investors Following the devastating breach at Bitfinex, the CEOs of Vanda Securities and BitX sat down with CNBC for an interview. They both agreed that there is nothing wrong with bitcoin. Also read: Forex Expert: Bitcoin Should Be Taken More Seriously Vanda Securities CEO Would Personally Invest in Bitcoin Even After Bitfinex Hack Jason Ambrose is the CEO of Singapore-based Vanda Securities, an independent research house that provides tactical macroeconomic and investment strategy analysis to institutional investors and hedge fund managers. Formerly Head of Equity Trading at Ferox Capital LLP, Ambrose was previously an equity trader at Merill Lynch and JP Morgan before serving as a managing director at Morgan Stanley. After discussing the breach at Bitfinex, when asked whether he would personally trade bitcoin, he answered without hesitation, “Personally, I would.” On the other hand, he added that he would not recommend bitcoin to his institutional clients simply because “we don’t see the interest there yet.” However, he also said that the interest “will come” in the future. “It’s [bitcoin] like an emerging market. This is a new product. This is a new currency. It comes with inherent risk,” Ambrose told CNBC. “There is nothing wrong with the product. It’s just that, if you leave it in a bad place, it can be stolen.” BitX CEO Sees Interest From Institutional Investors Now Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of bitcoin exchange and wallet service BitX, revealed to CNBC that his company had seen interest from institutional investors over the past 2 to 3 months. He reported that he has worked with hedge funds and private wealth managers to put some assets into bitcoin. While he agreed with Ambrose that, for institutional investors, “we are not there yet,” Swanepoel also said that, in 6 to 9 months, he expected institutional investors to be in a very different position when it came to bitcoin. Ambrose disagreed on the time frame, stating his belief that institutional interest in bitcoin is “quite a bit further” away then Swanepoel’s prediction. However, both Swanepoel and Ambrose agreed that there is nothing wrong with bitcoin itself, even after the Bitfinex hack. “More than often the issue is not about bitcoin,” Swanepoel noted, “but about the people who provide services around bitcoin.” Correlation Between Bitcoin and Global Risks Ambrose claimed that the key reason it would take longer than 6-9 months for institutional investors to get serious investing in bitcoin was that “there is no correlation between bitcoin and global risks,” yet. He cited many factors that would slow down investing in bitcoin on the institutional level, including security, volatility, assets availability and exchange liquidity. Politely disagreeing with Ambrose, Swanepoel said institutional investors were already interested in bitcoin because it is uncorrelated to other assets, among other reasons. Based on his experience working with institutional investors, he said: “[Institutional interest] is predominantly driven by data that has come out to show that it [bitcoin] is a very uncorrelated asset, and it has also been one of the best-performing assets compared to other currencies and commodities.” Regardless of when institutional players will start seriously investing in bitcoin, whether it be 6 to 9 months or longer, both experts agree that bitcoin was not to blame for the hack at Bitfinex. Factors that will influence institutional investing in bitcoin are based on fundamental factors such as the demand to hold bitcoin as an uncorrelated asset in portfolios. Do you think institutional investors will be deterred from investing in bitcoin following the Bitfinex hack? Let us know in the comment section below. Images courtesy of Forbes, LinkedIn. |
About the Jaguar Jaguars are the largest of South America's big cats. They once roamed from the southern tip of that continent north to the region surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border. Today significant numbers of jaguars are found only in remote regions of South and Central America—particularly in the Amazon Basin. These beautiful and powerful beasts were prominent in ancient Native American cultures. In some traditions the Jaguar God of the Night was the formidable lord of the underworld. The name jaguar is derived from the Native American word yaguar, which means “he who kills with one leap.” Hunting Unlike many other cats, jaguars do not avoid water; in fact, they are quite good swimmers. Rivers provide prey in the form of fish, turtles, or caimans—small, alligatorlike animals. Jaguars also eat larger animals such as deer, peccaries, capybaras, and tapirs. They sometimes climb trees to prepare an ambush, killing their prey with one powerful bite. Behavior Most jaguars are tan or orange with distinctive black spots, dubbed "rosettes" because they are shaped like roses. Some jaguars are so dark they appear to be spotless, though their markings can be seen on closer inspection. Jaguars live alone and define territories of many square miles by marking with their waste or clawing trees. Females have litters of one to four cubs, which are blind and helpless at birth. The mother stays with them and defends them fiercely from any animal that may approach—even their own father. Young jaguars learn to hunt by living with their mothers for two years or more. |
Los Angeles Angels centerfielder Mike Trout is having an MVP-caliber 2015 season, and so is his Twitter account. Trout has added more than 200,000 followers since the All-Star break and is almost up to a million. One reason could be his love for airplane emojis. Before a team trip, Trout usually informs his fans of where the Angels are headed and accompanies the destination with a series of planes. Texas ✈️✈️✈️✈️!!! — Mike Trout (@MikeTrout) October 1, 2015 At times, Trout has forgotten, or perhaps chosen not to blast one of these tweets out. He’s also varied the amount of planes in the tweet. Here’s how Trout, and the Angels, have performed based on his pre-trip tweet. If a post was missing, it’s categorized under zero emojis. ✈️’s LAA W–L AVG ops hr rbi r sb 0 11–13 .355 1.077 9 17 15 1 3 11–8 .298 1.148 7 13 13 2 4 47–43 .292 .967 19 46 57 7 5 13–9 .260 .934 6 13 16 1 A few notes: If Trout tweeted before the team went back to Anaheim, I totaled the stats of the entire homestand. Once they went back on the road, he usually tweeted before each series. If a post was missing, it’s categorized under zero emojis. Trout has really found a groove this season with four emojis, but he certainly has deviated from time to time. He’s best when he decides to tweet just three emojis, posting a 1.148 OPS, though his average (.355) is higher when he forgets them altogether. Trout used four before the team’s upcoming series with the Astros, so according to this study, the Angels may be in trouble in grabbing a playoff spot. The more you know. • Extra Mustard study: Russell Wilson should tweet less before games |
The Scottish National Party announced Friday it may consider a second referendum vote on independence following Britain's vote to exit the European Union. Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party, made a statement assuring Scottish voters she intends to work to have their voices heard and remain in the EU, despite the overall outcome of the vote. Nicola Sturgeon says she will "take all possible steps" to keep Scotland in the EU. https://t.co/CV3ONUcWG9 #Brexit pic.twitter.com/qvsGN1qXur — CNN (@CNN) June 24, 2016 The Washington Post reported 62 percent of Scottish voters supported to remain the EU compared to England's 47 percent. In 2014, Scotland held a referendum vote to decide whether to stay within the United Kingdom or to leave the union after 307 years together. Unionists won with a 55 percent majority over the 45 percent of people voting to separate. Sturgeon said she intends to talk with EU leaders to reassure them of Scotland's desire to remain in the 27-nation union and declared it is "democratically unacceptable" for the country to be removed from it against its will. |
Dr. Chakrapani will be one of the speakers at the Stoicon 2017 Stoicism Conference in Toronto, on October 14th. Q: How would you introduce yourself and your work to our readers? I am a psychologist by training, and a data scientist by profession. I don’t approach Stoicism as a scholar, expert or philosopher, but as a student. A student sitting in the back row of Epictetus’ lectures, trying to figure what he is saying and (if it made sense), how to apply it to my own life. My view of Stoicism is that it contains some profound insights which, if applied to our everyday life, can change it for the better. And in short order. My work (besides to my day job) currently centers on making the Stoic writings accessible to anyone interested in them. My book Unshakable Freedom shows how Stoicism can be applied to your life, no matter who you are or what you do. The Good Life Handbook is a slightly rearranged plain English version of Enchiridion. The current blog series Discourses in Plain English re-expresses Epictetus’ Discourses in modern English. For the past year or so, I have been devoting 20 to 30 hours a week to reading and writing about Stoicism. Q: How do you currently make use of Stoicism in your work? This is a simple question. The way you do anything is the way you do everything. If I clearly see that “it is useless to worry about things over which I have no control” it applies equally to whether I get into a traffic jam or whether my presentation is received poorly by my colleagues. It is as useless to worry about a promotion that you did not get as it is to worry about a steak you already overcooked. Once you internalize some profound passages of Stoicism such as Marcus Aurelius’ “Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good…” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations II.1) it often short circuits your frustration when you find someone annoying, unjust, or unfair. From my perspective, the principles apply equally to your work and to the other parts of your life. Q: When and how did you first become interested in Stoicism? I have been involved in Stoic thought practically all my life. When I was still a nerdy high school kid, I picked up a book by Marcus Aurelius To Himself, also called Meditations. Marcus Aurelius seems to have a special appeal to people who, like him, governed countries – America’s Bill Clinton, Prussia’s Frederick the Great, China’s Wen Jiabao – to name a few. The version I read was also a translation by a governor of a country – C. Rajagopalachari, the last Governor General of India. To me, Meditations was just an emperor’s thoughts which I found interesting. Several years later, I picked up a copy of Enchiridion. I still didn’t know much about Stoicism and didn’t connect it to Marcus. Later still, I came across Discourses, and for the first time, realized that they all refer to the same philosophical system, Stoicism. Subsequently, I tried to understand it as system of philosophic thought. Q: What’s the most important aspect of Stoicism to you? The opening sentence of the Enchiridion. “Some things are in our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, our reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not our own doing.” (Epictetus, Enchiridion I.1. Robin Hard’s translation.) To me, this is the sword of wisdom that cuts through so much of our cluttered and confused thinking. For years I struggled with Niebuhr’s serenity prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.” I don’t know about others, but for me, “wisdom to know the difference,” wasn’t easy to come by. Epictetus defined it to me. Add to this the Marcus Aurelius quote I referred to earlier, and now we know the words and behavior of others don’t bind us either. All that is left for us is to enjoy the festival of life. These two passages contain more practical wisdom than one hundred self-help books. Don’t worry about things you have no control over and don’t be reactive to what others say or do. That’s it. If you fully internalize the meaning of these two passages, I believe your life will change dramatically for the better. Q: In what ways do you think Stoicism still matters today? Stoicism is timeless. When I read Epictetus, for example, I cannot help but wonder, “How is it that the same philosophy appealed to the least and the most powerful men living at about the same time? How is it that the thoughts of a slave, who lived two thousand years ago far removed in every respect from the world we live in today, resonate with me, are relevant to me, and make my days better?” We are psychologically the same. The form changes but the matter remains. So, it is not question of whether Stoicism matters today. I don’t believe there ever was a time when it did not matter. There were only times when people thought it did not matter. Q: How has Stoicism affected the way you live your life? Sometimes I describe myself as a “Stoic minimalist.” I don’t practice Stoicism as such but use a few principles of Stoicism that have the potential to change one’s life. I already mentioned two. There are two more. “Don’t grow peevish about trivialities: Vinegar is bad, it’s sharp; the honey is bad, it upsets my constitution; I didn’t like the vegetables.” (Epictetus, Discourses, IV.4.25. Robert Dobbin’s translation) The final one comes from these two quotes: “I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived – and dying I will tend to later,” and “You will be able to view each and every day as a festival.” (Epictetus, Discourses I.1.32 & IV.4.46. Robin Hard’s translation) As a Stoic minimalist, I just try to remember these four thoughts when I face any friction. Is this under my control or am I simply spinning my wheels? Am I reacting to someone without exercising my choice to act the way I want? Am I getting peevish about trivialities? Am I enjoying the festival of life that’s right in front of me? Sure enough, things get better. I don’t always remember, and I don’t always succeed. But I remember enough and succeed enough that I can say that my life is far better because of that. I am content to employ a few basic principles which, when practiced consistently enough, elevates the quality of my life and makes my life run smoothly. Maybe not all the time, but something like 90% of the time. And that is good enough for me. Q: What’s one of your favourite Stoic quotations and why? I am glad you asked, because Stoic philosophers, especially Epictetus, are so eloquent, there can’t be just one. My favorite is this by Epictetus: “I have this purpose: To complete you, to free you from restraint, compulsion, hindrance, to make you free, prosperous and happy…and you are here to practice these things.” (Discourses II.19.29). This is a breathtaking promise. It is audacious, uncompromising, unconditional, and unequivocal. Why is this my favorite? Not just because it is bold, but because Epictetus stood by it and never went back on that promise as long as he lived. Q: What advice would you give someone wanted to learn more about Stoicism? My advice would of course be biased. It would depend on why someone wants to learn about Stoicism. If they want to increase their general knowledge, I would perhaps refer them to someone like Massimo Pigliucci or Greg Sadler or Donald Robertson, who are far better qualified than I. But if advice-seekers want to better their lives, I would advise them to read something simple like the Enchiridion and reflect on the passages that particularly appeal to them. Apply them to their lives and internalize the principle. They don’t have to rush immediately to read Discourses, Meditations or Epistulae Morales There is time enough for that. A few profundities make one’s life far better than tons of trivialities. Q: Do you have anything else that you wanted to mention while we have the chance? I sometimes wonder if people make it more complicated than it need be to reap the benefits of Stoic thought. Isn’t it simple enough just to follow what makes sense to us, test it to see if it works? If it does, why does anything else matter? Why check if there is a god or not? Or even if you are virtuous or not? Maybe I am missing something. I don’t know. Chuck Chakrapani is the founder of The Stoic Gym and the author of Unshakable Freedom, A Fortunate Storm, and The Good Life Handbook Like this: Like Loading... Related |
Dr Ahang Rabbani: A translator in good faith or a Baha’i whitewasher You are here: Home>Articles> Dr Ahang Rababni: A translator in good faith or a Baha’i whitewasher Dr Ahang Rabbani, a well-known Baha’i academic and translator who left behind a wealth of translations for the Baha’i community, passed away in late 2013. According to an article on the website of the Wilmette institute –which is “an agency of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, operates as a center of learning offering academic, professional, and service-oriented programs related to the Bahá’í Faith,”– Ahang Rabbani served at the Baha’i World Center in the 1980’s and has “translated numerous … historical accounts from Persian into English, greatly enriching English-language literature about the history of the Iranian Bahá’í community.” In fact, Ahang Rabbani had created a website, that amongst other works, was dedicated to the translation of the memoirs of trusted Baha’i eyewitnesses who had lived, conversed, or socialized with Baha’i leaders such as Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi (see Witnesses to Babi and Bahá'í History) While investigating how Baha’is censor and hide problematic matters in their scripture which had been inadvertently exposed by Dr Rabbani (the case has been documented in another article here), it was realized that Ahang Rabbani himself had distorted a number of very problematic statements while translating the volumes that he had been working on. In two cases, these distortions are amended by footnotes which state the translations are approximate/not precise, while in fact they are neither but an outright twisting of the truth. In this article we will analyze the distortions introduced by Dr Rabbani in the work A Lifetime with Abdu'l-Bahá: Reminiscences of Khalil Shahidi. Also, a single quote from another one of his translations which is worthy of mentioning will be presented. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to read through all the book (or his other translations) and only sections were double checked that had been marked for editing/censoring in the original manuscript by the Baha’i publishing committee that Dr Rabbani had inadvertently exposed. It is most likely that the same trend of distorting translations can be found in the other volumes translated by Ahang Rabbani. 1- Abdu’l-Baha: The Jewish inhabitants of Tiberius look like monkeys! Pay attention to the following quote from Abdu’l-Baha: “If you ask about Tiberius, know that its stones are black, its inhabitants are Jewish and their appearance is basic.” (Ahang Rabbani, A Lifetime with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Reminiscences of Khalíl Shahídí, p. 68) Dr Rabbani writes a footnote at the end of this statement: “The narrator gives this statement in both original Arabic and translation in Persian. Translation of the final phrase is not precise.” (footnote no. 74) Ahang claims that the “translation of the final phrase is not precise.” Thanks for the honesty. An unsuspecting Baha’i reader would most probably ignore this statement and read on. Someone who independently investigates the truth would scrutinize. So what has Dr Rabbani distorted? Here is the image of the original manuscript in Farsi: The two arrows point to two sentences: one in Arabic and the same sentence again in Farsi: " وجوههم کالقرد" " صورتهایشان مانند میمونان است" The translation of these statements is this: “their appearance is like monkeys/apes”! So this is what Abdu’l-Baha had said about the Jews of Tiberius: “If you ask about Tiberius, know that its stones are black, its inhabitants are Jewish and their appearance is like monkeys/apes.” This is how it was translated by the professional Baha’i translator who is no longer amongst us: “If you ask about Tiberius, know that its stones are black, its inhabitants are Jewish and their appearance is basic.” 2-Abdu’l-Baha: Baha’i niggers are better than non-Baha’i nymphs According to Ahang Rabbani, this is how Abdu’l-Baha had compared Baha’is with non-Baha’is: “‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “The least of the friends is better than the fairest of the nonbelievers.” Moreover, He used to say, “The worst of the friends is better than the best of the nonbelievers.”” (Ahang Rabbani, A Lifetime with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Reminiscences of Khalíl Shahídí, p. 81) This statement is utterly against the “Oneness of Humanity” that Baha’is pride themselves in. For now we will ignore this discrepancy for there is a more severe fault here. This is the image if the original Farsi manuscript: The section marked in red that has been uttered by Abdu’l-Baha reads: “یک کاکاسیاه احباب بهتر از یک حوریه اغیار است” Which translates to: “A Baha’i nigger is better than a non-Baha’i nymph”! Apologies for using the n word! The original Farsi word Abdu’l-Baha used is ‘kaka siah’ (کاکا سیاه) which is the equivalent of ‘nigger’ in English. Compare with Rabbani’s translation: “The least of the friends is better than the fairest of the nonbelievers.” What is more shameful is the fact that the word ‘least’ has been used as an equivalent for ‘nigger’! 3- Abdu’l-Baha: That covenant breaker looks like a donkey with a broken neck Pay attention to the following quote: “One of the pillars of the Covenant-breakers was named Muhammad-Javád Qazvíní. When he strolled, he held his neck exceedingly straight, particularly if he came upon the friends or His blessed Temple [‘Abdu’l-Bahá]. ‘Abdul-Bahá would say, “He is like someone with a back injury, and forced to hold his neck straight to ease the pain.” (Ahang Rabbani, A Lifetime with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Reminiscences of Khalíl Shahídí, p. 91) What was so special about the last sentence that needed to be mentioned in the memoirs: “He is like someone with a back injury, and forced to hold his neck straight to ease the pain.” It will become clear in a few moments. This is the image of the original Farsi: The section underlined in red reads: “این مثل الاغی می ماند که کمرش زخم شده باشد و از شدت درد گردنش را شق نگه دارد.” Which translates to: “He is like a donkey with a back injury, and forced to hold his neck straight to ease the pain.” Abdu’l-Baha has compared a covenant-breaker with a donkey. This isn’t strange from Abdu’l-Baha. After all he is the son of Baha’u’llah who would refer to his deniers and enemies as donkeys, pigs, and dogs. Now, compare with Dr Rabbani’s translation: “He is like someone with a back injury, and forced to hold his neck straight to ease the pain.” Dr Rabbani writes in the footnote that this is “an approximate translation”. Apparently, in the Baha’i teachings, ‘donkey’ is an approximate translation for ‘someone’! 4- Abdu’l-Baha: Jews are an ugly people/race According to Ahang Rabbani this is how Abdu’l-Baha responded to a Jew he was debating: “‘Abdu’l-Bahá immediately responded back with the lines, This faith is true, that a delight! and yet the mob, an ugly sight, Protested it with all their might! I wish I knew which one was right! However, while He was saying, “and yet the mob, an ugly sight,” He was pointing to him with His blessed hand, meaning, “You are that ugly sight who denies these two Dispensations.” (Ahang Rabbani, A Lifetime with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Reminiscences of Khalíl Shahídí, pp. 23-24) The original words (see image below) that Dr Rabbani has translated as “yet the mob, an ugly sight” read as: "و لکن القوم القبیح" These words translate to: “But the ugly people/race.” This is the first distortion in the translation. The second distortion occurs in the sentence: “You are that ugly sight.” In the original Farsi, the word translated as ‘You’ has been used in the plural form (shoma-ha) which means Abdu’l-Baha was referring to all Jews not just the person he was conversing with. Abdu’l-Baha directly calls the followers of Judaism an “ugly people/race.” This statement has been clearly distorted in the translation. Ironically, Dr Rabbani states that he has made great effort to translate this work precisely and in the style and manner of the original text: “Since the account is a primary source document, every effort was made to translate it precisely in the style and manner of the original, in hope that by so doing it would convey a flavor of the original text.” (Ahang Rabbani, A Lifetime with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Reminiscences of Khalíl Shahídí, p. 8) We’ll leave it to the readers to Judge Dr Rabbani on this statement. Before we conclude this article one final quote will be mentioned here. This quote is from another one of Dr Rabbani’s translations: 5- Baha’u’llah: That man announced my arrival; bash his mouth “One day when Bahá’u’lláh had returned from Sulaymáníyyih, He was walking in the street with the late Áqá Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí. A kabob-maker had whispered, “Once more the Bábís have come into the open.” The Blessed Beauty told Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí, “Rebuke him appropriately!” Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí grabbed his beard and punished him. The Kabobí took a complaint to the constable, but was thrown in jail and told, “Obviously you must have grievously insulted them for the Bábís to have punished you in such manner!”” (Eight Years Near Abdu'l-Bahá: The Diary of Dr. Habib Mu'ayyad, p. 276) The three underlined sections have been distorted by Dr Rabbani. Baha’u’llah had not said: “Rebuke him appropriately!” He had said: “Hit him in the mouth.” The original Farsi of the second section reads as: “grabbed his beard and started hitting him in the head” not “grabbed his beard and punished him.” Finally, the third section reads as “hit you” not “punish you.” Below is an image of the original Farsi document for comparison: Ahang Rabbani shamelessly distorts Baha’ullah’s orders to bash a poor man’s head for merely announcing his arrival. Amazingly, contrary to multiple Baha’i and non-Baha’i sources that show the true violent face of Baha’u’llah, Baha’is relentlessly go about claiming that their leader was a peaceful man and against violence. These actions are only a handful of Baha’i distortions, censoring, and information control techniques. Such methods can also be found in the writings of other Baha’i authors. For instance, in the book “An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam” authored by the Baha’i Scholar Moojan Momen, a Shia narration about the year that the Mahdi (who Baha’is believe was the Bab) will appear has been mentioned. According to Moojan Momen the narration states that “He will NOT COME in an odd year” (see image below). This means that the Mahdi will come in an even year. This prophecy conforms with the Bab who made his claims in the Islamic year 1260 AH. Unfortunately, a closer inspection of the original narration exposes a bitter truth. The narration mentions the exact opposite of how it has been cited by Moojan Momen and clearly states the Mahdi “will COME in an odd year.” This is the original Arabic text of the narration: " لا يخرج القائم ع إلا في وتر من السنين سنة إحدى أو ثلاث أو خمس أو سبع أو تسع" Which says: “The Mahdi will not come but in an odd year [that ends with a] 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9.” Moojan Momen fixed this dilemma by distorting the translation of the narration. This distortion has subsequently been used by other Baha’i authors to prove that Babism has fulfilled the prophecies of Shia Isam (e.g. Fazel Naghdy, A Tutorial on the Kitab-i-iqan: A Journey Through the Book of Certitude, p. 392) Apparently, these attitudes have been inherited by Baha’i translators from Baha’u’llah himself who forged/distorted a number of Shia traditions in the Book of Iqan to prove his claims. For instance he claimed that the year of the arrival of the Bab had been clearly prophesized in Shia traditions: “Consider, that even the year in which that Quintessence of Light is to be made manifest hath been specifically recorded in the traditions, yet they still remain unmindful, nor do they for one moment cease to pursue their selfish desires. According to the tradition, Mufaddal asked Sadiq saying: “What of the sign of His manifestation, O my master?” He made reply: “In the year sixty, His Cause shall be made manifest, and His Name shall be proclaimed.” How strange! Notwithstanding these explicit and manifest references these people have shunned the Truth.” (Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 253–254) This is while in the original narration that Baha’u’llah has distorted, it has been clearly mentioned that no date has been set for the arrival of the Mahdi: “From Mufaddal ibn Umar who said, “I asked my Master (Imam) Sadiq is there an appointed time (for the appearance) of the assigned waiting Mahdi that the people know about?” He replied, “God forbid, that He appoint a time for his appearance . . .” Mufaddal said, “How will the beginning of his appearance be and how will (they) submit to him?” He replied, “O Mufaddal, he will appear during (a great) doubt to dispel it. Then his name will be proclaimed and his cause shall be made manifest.” (Al-Majlisi, Bihar al-anwar (Beirut: Mu’assisat al-Wafa, 1404 AH), vol. 53, p. 1–3) Abdu’l-Baha too followed his father’s footsteps and even distorted/forged verses from the Quran when trying to prove his false statements. For instance, when trying to prove his beliefs about minerals having a spirit and life he removed parts of a verse of the Quran and twisted its meaning: “As to the existence of spirit in the mineral: it is indubitable that minerals are endowed with a spirit and life according to the requirements of that stage. This unknown secret, too, hath become known unto the materialists who now maintain that all beings are endowed with life, even as He saith in the Qur’an, ‘All things are living.’” (`Abdu’l-Baha, Tablet to August Forel, p. 9.) The original verse says"...We made out of water every living thing..." (Quran, 21:30) which is a different meaning and concept altogether. In another instance, he uttered a statement and attributed it to the Quran to silence a critic: “This time, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá added, “O Shaykh Mahmúd, have you not read the Qur’an, ‘Honor thy guests though they be infidels’?” As soon as the Shaykh heard this verse, his anger subsided.” (Ahang Rabbani, A Lifetime with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Reminiscences of Khalíl Shahídí, pp. 31-32) This verse too does not exist in the Quran (other instances have been documented elsewhere). Anyway, we will leave it to the readers to judge for themselves whether Dr Rababni was a translator in good faith or a Baha’i whitewasher. UPDATE: Apparently, Ahang Rabbani has been found making these kinds of distortions in some of his other works too including sections from one of the Bab's works called Panj Sha'n. See the seven documents here. “A Baha’i nig*er is better than a non-Baha’i nymph” “A Baha’i ni*ger is better than a non-Baha’i nymph” “A Baha’i ****** is better than a non-Baha’i nymph” |
Frankie Warren Knuckles Jr. (January 18, 1955[1][2] – March 31, 2014), was an American DJ, record producer and remixer.[3] He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music in Chicago during the 1980s, when the genre was in its infancy. In 1997, Knuckles won the Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical. Due to his importance in the development of the genre, Knuckles was often known as "The Godfather of House Music."[4] Career [ edit ] Born in The Bronx, Knuckles and his friend Larry Levan began frequenting discos as teenagers during the 1970s. While studying textile design at the FIT, Knuckles and Levan began working as DJs, playing soul, disco, and R&B at two of the most important early discos, The Continental Baths and The Gallery.[5][6] In the late 1970s, Knuckles moved from New York City to Chicago,[7] where Robert Williams, an old friend was opening what became the Warehouse. When the Warehouse club opened in Chicago in 1977, he was invited to play on a regular basis, which enabled him to hone his skills and style. This style was a mixture of disco classics, unusual indie-label soul, the occasional rock track, European synth-disco and all manner of rarities, which would all eventually codify as "House Music."[8] The style of music now known as house was named after a shortened version of the Warehouse.[citation needed] Knuckles was so popular that the Warehouse, initially a members-only club for largely black gay men, began attracting straighter, whiter crowds, leading its owner, Robert Williams, to eschew membership.[8] He continued DJing at the Warehouse until November 1982, when he started his own club in Chicago, The Power Plant.[9] Around 1983, Knuckles bought his first drum machine to enhance his mixes from Derrick May,[10][11] a young DJ who regularly made the trip from Detroit to see Knuckles at the Warehouse and Ron Hardy at the Music Box, both in Chicago.[12] The combination of bare, insistent drum machine pulses and an overlay of cult disco classics defined the sound of early Chicago house music, a sound which many local producers began to mimic in the studios by 1985. When the Power Plant closed in 1987, Knuckles moved to the UK for four months and DJ-ed at DELIRIUM!, a Thursday night party at Heaven (nightclub) in London.[13] Chicago house artists were in high demand and having major success in the UK with this new genre of music.[14] Knuckles also had a stint in New York, where he continued to immerse himself in producing, remixing, and recording.[12] 1988 saw the release of Pet Shop Boys' third album, Introspective, which featured Knuckles as a co-producer of the song "I Want a Dog." Work with Jamie Principle [ edit ] In 1982, Knuckles was introduced to then-unknown Jamie Principle by mutual friend Jose "Louie" Gomez, who had recorded the original vocal-dub of "Your Love" to reel-to-reel tape. Louie Gomez met up with Frankie at the local record pool (I.R.S.) and gave him a tape copy of the track. Knuckles played Gomez's unreleased dub mix for an entire year in his sets during which it became a crowd favorite. Knuckles later went into the studio to re-record the track with Principle, and in 1987 helped put Your Love and Baby Wants to Ride out on vinyl after these tunes had been regulars on his reel-to-reel player at the Warehouse for a year.[12] As house music was developing in Chicago, producer Chip E. took Knuckles under his tutelage and produced Knuckles' first recording, "You Can't Hide from Yourself".[15] Then came more production work, including Jamie Principle's "Baby Wants to Ride", and later "Tears" with Robert Owens (of Fingers Inc.) and (Knuckles' protégé and future Def Mix associate) Satoshi Tomiie.[12] Frankie Knuckles in 2006 (on the left) Knuckles made numerous popular Def Classic Mixes with John Poppo as sound engineer, and Knuckles partnered with David Morales on Def Mix Productions.[16] His debut album Beyond the Mix (1991), released on Virgin Records, contained what would be considered his seminal work, "The Whistle Song",[17] which was the first of four number ones on the US dance chart.[18] The Def Classic mix of Lisa Stansfield's "Change", released in the same year, also featured the whistle-like motif. Another track from the album, "Rain Falls", featured vocals from Lisa Michaelis. Eight thousand copies of the album had sold by 2004.[19] Other key remixes from this time include his rework of the Electribe 101 anthem "Talking with Myself" and Alison Limerick's "Where Love Lives". When Junior Vasquez took a sabbatical from The Sound Factory in Manhattan, Knuckles took over and launched a successful run as resident DJ.[20] He continued to work as a remixer through the 1990s and into the next decade, reworking tracks from Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Diana Ross, Eternal and Toni Braxton. He released several new singles, including "Keep on Movin'" and a re-issue of an earlier hit "Bac N Da Day" with Definity Records. In 1995, he released his second album titled Welcome to the Real World. By 2004, 13,000 copies had sold.[19] Openly gay, Knuckles was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1996.[21] In 2004, Knuckles released a 13-track album of original material – his first in over a decade – titled A New Reality. In October 2004, "Your Love" appeared in the videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on house music radio station, SF-UR.[22] Death [ edit ] In the mid-2000s, Knuckles developed Type II diabetes.[23] He developed osteomyelitis after breaking his foot snowboarding, and had it amputated after declining to take time off for treatment.[24] On March 31, 2014, he died in Chicago at age 59 of complications from diabetes.[25][26] Legacy [ edit ] In April 2015, a year after his death, Defected Records released a retrospective compilation, House Masters Frankie Knuckles; Knuckles had selected the track list before his death. Also, the same month, as a tribute to Knuckles, a version of his song "Baby Wants to Ride" was released by Underworld and Heller and Farley to mark the year anniversary of his death. It went straight to number one on the UK's first ever Official Vinyl Singles Chart. All proceeds went to the Frankie Knuckles Trust/Elton John AIDS Foundation.[27] A year after his death, on April 4, 2015, In Memoriam Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 was played, containing two, previously unreleased Knuckles mixes.[28] Knuckles was featured in the documentary films Maestro (2003), written and directed by Josell Ramos,[29][30] The UnUsual Suspects: Once Upon a Time in House Music (2005), directed by Chip E.[31] and Continental (2013) about the Continental Baths. Awards and honors [ edit ] [32] A section of Jefferson Street in Chicago near the site of Warehouse was renamed the Honorary "The Godfather of House Music" Frankie Knuckles Way in August 2004 In 1997, Knuckles won the Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical.[33] In 2004, the city of Chicago – which "became notorious in the dance community around the world for passing the so-called 'anti-rave ordinance' in 2000 that made property owners, promoters and deejays subject to $10,000 fines for being involved in an unlicensed dance party" – named a stretch of street in Chicago[34] after Knuckles, where the old Warehouse once stood, on Jefferson Street between Jackson Boulevard and Madison Street.[35] That stretch of street, called Frankie Knuckles Way, "was renamed when the city declared 25 August 2004 as Frankie Knuckles Day. The Illinois state senator who helped make it happen was Barack Obama.[33] In 2005, Knuckles was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his achievements.[33][34] In popular culture [ edit ] In October 2004, "Your Love" appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on house music radio station, SF-UR.[22] He was referenced in the song "Back to the Grill" by MC Serch ("I saw you eating pig knuckles with Frankie Knuckles. In a club called "Chuckles" wearing nameplate belt buckles") and in "Knuckles" by The Hold Steady ("I've been trying to get people to call me Freddy Knuckles"). Discography [ edit ] Beyond the Mix (1991) (1991) Welcome to the Real World (1995) See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] |
This November’s election will be here before we know it, and while there aren’t many high-profile races or hot-button issues in the off-year election, there is one big-ticket item on the ballot: a nearly $300 million bond to build a new Travis County Civil and Family courthouse. While nearly everyone seems to agree that Travis County needs a new courthouse – the existing Civil and Family Courthouse on Guadalupe Street was built in 1931, when Travis County had just 77,000 residents – some are concerned about the price tag for building a new one. “For one thing, I don’t think it needs to be as big as what they have planned,” says Bill Oakey, a former accountant and affordability advocate in Austin. “They know themselves it’s going to be a tough sell for this courthouse.” Oakey served on the citizen’s advisory committee to review the project. He has since resigned that position because, he says, the project is too expensive, with the bond coming in at $291,600,000 and that similar courthouse projects in other parts of the country cost less. Oakey says he thinks the project could be constructed for nearly $100 million less than what is being proposed. Genevieve Van Cleve of the Community for Civil and Family Courthouse, a campaign group pushing for the bond, says the project would help alleviate the caseload that’s grown in tandem with Austin’s population. “There are over a million people that live in Travis County. The CPS docket and the family court docket are exploding,” she says. "About every hundred years, counties do have to invest in new buildings. The current courthouse cannot be expanded. It's overwhelmed and unsafe.” Another argument for the new courthouse’s size, she says, is to have enough room to separate survivors from their alleged attackers before court hearings. While Oakey agrees the old courthouse is outdated, dilapidated and unsafe, he says that "this giant building [proposed] seems to me like it's pretty big for what we have [in the court system], and the new courts being created." "That's a really big question that I think the community will want to think about," Oakey says. "They're planning on gradually building out all the courtrooms, so they're not going to the whole building filled with courtooms on the day it opens, they're going to gradually phase them in as they're needed." The proposed courthouse would be 14 stories and built on what’s now a surface parking lot at 4th and Guadalupe Streets, which was purchased by the county for $21,750,000 back in 2010. The proposed courthouse would occupy the northern half of that lot, while the southern half could be leased out for retail and commercial development. The bond is set to go before voters this November. If approved, it is estimated that the bond would raise property taxes some $40 a year for a home valued at $325,000. |
The water system on a Scottish island has shut down and a branch of Tesco has completely run out of ice thanks to the Ice Bucket Challenge. Demand for water escalated on Colonsay when the charity craze took off on the Inner Hebridean island, which has a population of around 135. Meanwhile a branch of Tesco in Simonside, South Shields, admitted running out of ice with fundraisers rushing to buy bags of it to take part in the challenge. Scroll down for video... Demand for water escalated on Colonsay, pictured, when the Ice Bucket Challenge took off on the Inner Hebridean island The Tesco in Simonside, South Shields (pictured) ran out of ice on Saturday amid a rush of fundraising In Colonsay, the water system stops automatically as part of moves to cut wastage on the eight mile-long isle and needs to be turned back on afterwards. David Johnston, from the Colonsay Brewery told The Sun that water engineers had to come out five times over the weekend. The 60-year-old told the newspaper: 'The challenge spread round the island like wildfire. It hit a peak on Sunday evening. 'The water system must have thought there was a burst main.' Engineers were called out five times on one weekend after the water system shut off with large numbers of islanders taking on the Ice Bucket Challenge (file picture of someone taking on the charity challenge) A spokesman for Scottish Water said water had been shut off during the weekend but added that residents were still able to use stored supplies on the island. Staff at a Tesco in Simonside, South Shields, admitted selling out of ice on Saturday. Daniel Smith, duty manager of Tesco, said: 'We sold out on Saturday and we nearly did on Sunday as well. 'We don't usually sell so much ice at this time of year - it's usually only this popular when big events like the World Cup are on. 'It seems like everyone is taking part in the challenge and getting behind the charity to raise money and quite a few of our staff have taken part too. 'It's great to see so many people taking part, but before the next big craze, we'd love a bit of warning so we can stock up on whatever it is people need.' The Ice Bucket Challenge involves dumping iced water on someone's head before the participant nominates another person to have a go. In Britain, people take part in the challenge to support the Motor Neurone Disease Association. |
Wendy�s fans, your long local nightmare is almost over. Nearly 18 months after closing its four Eugene locations and one in Springfield, the fast food chain plans to reopen one of its shuttered restaurants this summer, at 2401 W. 11th Ave., according to a building permit application filed with Eugene�s Planning and Development Department. The new franchisee wants to start an extensive remodel of the building in the next few days, in hopes of opening in early or mid-July, said Jennifer Robson, a spokeswoman for Spokane-based Wenspok Companies. The franchise group operates more than 40 Wendy�s restaurants in Oregon, Washington, California and Wyoming. All the regular selections will be available, from burgers and French fries to chicken sandwiches and the company�s trademark Frosty shakes. But it will also include healthier options introduced since the last Wendy�s franchisee left the Eugene area, such as apple pecan and Mediterranean chicken salads, Robson said. Wenspok has no relationship with Jeff Vogel, the former franchisee of the Eugene and Springfield Wendy�s restaurants, she said. The Wendy�s corporate office abruptly closed Vogel�s restaurants in January 2015, saying at the time he �failed to meet certain basic obligations of his Wendy�s franchise agreement.� The building remodel will replace one of the walls, add new glass windows and install new signs, while adding a TV, lounge area and Wi-Fi connection. The permit filed with the city earlier this week values the renovation at $20,000. The reopened Wendy�s will employ about 40 people, Robson said. Vogel�s eight restaurants � four in Eugene and one each in Springfield, Albany, Corvallis and The Dalles � employed about 200 full- and part-time workers. Each of the local Wendy�s buildings are separately owned. A San Diego-area development group owns the West 11th Avenue location that�s set to reopen, according to Lane County property recrods. Eugene resident George Wingard owns the River Road building that housed a Wendy�s, just south Randy Pap� Beltline Two of the closed Wendy�s have reopened as Starbucks coffee shops: the Franklin Boulevard and Villard Street location near Matthew Knight Arena, owned by a Los Angeles-area group; and the Willamette Street and East 28th Avenue building, owned by the local Chambers family. The former Springfield Wendy�s, in the Mohawk Shopping Center, is owned by Eugene investor Steven Yett. Wenspok could open additional Wendy�s restaurants in the Eugene-Springfield area, but is focused on the West 11th Avenue location for now. �We don�t want to overextend ourselves, we want to ease back into the market,� Robson said. But eventually �we will start looking for additional locations.� Follow Elon on Twitter @EGlucklich . Email elon.glucklich@registerguard.com . |
You need QA, but how much? In the world of software there are two big types of risk: death by 10,000 papercuts and death by catastrophic failure. QA is a hedge against risk. Both types of failure are grim, so most folks hedge against both when making their investment. We’ll dive into specific differences between cuts and catastrophe in a later blog. For now, how much should you invest in QA? Planning your hedge How much time, money, and energy should you spend? There are a lot of factors, but a small handful really determine your investment. Consider your industry, your market (B2B or B2C), and the size of your business. Since a lot of this advice is specific, we’ve created a handy table for you to choose your own adventure. Find where you fit, and read on! Stage B2C B2B Seed stage Series A – C IPO!!! (Pro-tip: Click on your stage to jump to that section on the page) A caveat about our recommendations: we’re listing quality processes that you’ll want to do every release. Exploratory testing, for instance, is a great tool at any part of your app’s lifecycle. However, only at a certain point is it worth doing Exploratory testing every release. B2C Seed Coverage: Testing Stack: Headline cases Unit tests Regression cases Dogfooding Edge cases Integration testing Exploratory + Informal Acceptance testing Load testing Penetration testing If you’re just starting out, your target customers tend to be early adopters. That’s great, because early adopters are generally tolerant of quality issues. This is true as long as your product delivers on it’s core promise. Speaking of core promises, what is it that you’re making? Early stage products are liable to change rapidly. As a result, a lot of ‘best practices’ around testing either don’t apply. That, or you’ll need to do some translation before you see real benefits. For instance, it might sound a little crazy to forsake integration testing. No integration tests? It’s hard to get a lot out of integration testing when your product is amorphous. So, what should you do instead? The highest quality yields are likely to appear in the form of better engineering practices. That is, code review, TDD, a smooth build pipeline, etc. At this stage, you’ll also probably want to delay hiring QA. Caveat: This advice primarily applies to startups developing novel products. If you’re in a saturated market, your quality bar is slightly higher. Think of dating, social, and messaging apps. We’re much less forgiving of the new when comparing them to glossy products like OkCupid and Facebook. If you have a higher bar to hit, consider a higher investment in quality. B2B Seed Coverage: Testing Stack: Headline cases Unit tests Regression cases Dogfooding Edge cases Integration testing Exploratory + Informal Acceptance testing Load testing Penetration testing Getting a foothold in the B2B space is a bit more demanding. The early adopter is still your main customer, but faults in your product can lead to faults in their product. Tolerance for risk is low. That said, a lot of the same wisdom of B2C applies in B2B. Companies in this segment still need to iterate quickly to find their ideal fit, so investments in integration testing (and the ilk) are likely to be more hindrance than help. The need for quality is still a bit higher here. The cheapest and quickest way to get a little more quality in each release is exploratory testing. This might mean using a testing service. This might mean using your peers as informal QA. Delaying your first QA hire is recommended, if you can swing it. B2C Series A to C Coverage: Testing Stack: Headline cases Unit tests Regression cases Dogfooding Edge cases Integration testing Exploratory + Informal Acceptance testing Load testing Penetration testing Yay! As a company raising your A-round of funding, you’ve probably found a solid customer base. You have a good idea who your customer is, and what kind of revenue you can pull in from each on average. The amoeba like lack of definition disappears. You’ve defined the shape of your product. As a result, iterations will probably be less radical. Good integration tests will save you real time. Your organization is also bigger now. That means there’s a lot more room for miscommunication. Combat it directly with acceptance testing. Here is where most consider their first QA hire. There are two schools of thought on how to do this. The first is having developers own testing. This is the Netflix / Amazon / and Facebook approach. If your product and culture are amenable, then engineers own test writing. That means QA fills the role of bug triage + building frameworks to support dev testing efforts. Your head count is likely 1 to 18 for QA to Developer. Having a strong enough engineering culture can make that hard to pull off. The alternative is if you’re hiring manual or manual/automated hybrid to support your team. Then your head count is probably more in the range of 1 to 3-6 for QA to Developer. B2B Series A to C Coverage: Testing Stack: Headline cases Unit tests Regression cases Dogfooding Edge cases Integration testing Exploratory + Informal Acceptance testing Load testing Penetration testing In addition to all of the B2C notes above, B2B adds additional reasons to be risk averse. You’re selling up market now, which means selling to the big dogs in the enterprise field. The word ‘enterprise’ has certain connotations for quality and polish. As part of your sale, you might even begin to make a few quality guarantees. That means solid uptime. That means high polish. That means load testing and solid test infrastructure. B2C IPO!! Coverage: Testing Stack: Headline cases Unit tests Regression cases Dogfooding Edge cases Integration testing Exploratory + Informal Acceptance testing Load testing Penetration testing Think of Facebook, Twitter, and other giants in the space. These are your peers. Privacy is a big concern. Up-time is a big concern. There’s still some tolerance for bugs, but overall your product needs to be bright and shiny. Weird edge cases? Sure, those are fine. Maybe the submit button stops working if you have cookies off + refresh the page. No biggie. Failure on an every day actions? Unacceptable for customers at this stage. You’re serving hundreds of millions at this point. A failure that affects a small percent of your customers still means millions are affected. Rubbing salt in the wound, your failures are also publicly reported on. Big name news journals like Forbes, BusinessWeek and others love the schadenfreude. In short, minor edge cases that only affect a few hundred customers are quite fine. Anything else is tomorrow’s News headline. B2B IPO!! Coverage: Testing Stack: Headline cases Unit tests Regression cases Dogfooding Edge cases Integration testing Exploratory + Informal Acceptance testing Load testing Penetration testing Space agencies, banks, and airlines. In each, even the smallest details can lead to catastrophic failure. As an enterprise B2B company, you can expect any failure to cascade similarly. Remember the Challenger disaster? The O-rings (rubber like seals) failed when subjected to both pressure and sub-freezing temperatures. The tiniest product defect can cost serious dollars. The stakes here are livelihoods, and depending on your market, lives. With that context, investigating edge cases becomes a core part of every release. **Want to learn how companies like Etsy and Facebook scaled up without spending a fortune on QA? Check out our ebook on Scaling QA without Scaling Your QA team for the inside scoop on smarter testing strategies for growing orgs. |
Former Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz has signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the club announced Monday, his fourth organization in the past year. The fourth overall pick in the 2008 draft, Matusz also was invited to Arizona's major league camp. Matusz appeared in seven games for the Orioles last season, allowing eight earned runs in six innings of relief while walking seven batters and striking out one. In May, the Orioles sent Matusz along with their competitive-balance pick (76th overall) in the 2016 draft to the Atlanta Braves for minor league right-handed starter Brandon Barker and minor league left-handed reliever Trevor Belicek. The Braves immediately designated Matusz for assignment and released him shortly thereafter. In June, the Chicago Cubs signed him to a minor league contract. He made one spot start for the team in the big leagues, giving up six earned runs in three innings in July. Over eight seasons in the big leagues, Matusz has a 4.92 ERA in 280 games (69 starts) and a career 3.47 ERA in relief. With a good showing this spring, Matusz could break camp with the Diamondbacks, who have only two experienced left-handers on their 40-man roster in Andrew Chafin and Steve Hathaway. |
And here goes the video from Rubyconf Portugal – which was a blast! This talk mainly focuses on the latter explicit part of the title and how Elixir and Phoenix help with readable and maintainable code. It is also an introduction, quickly glancing at several topics that could also be topics of separate talks. This was at a ruby conference and I’m a ruby programmer, so parts of it are tailored to compare with Ruby, Object Oriented Programming and Functional Programming as well as likenesses and differences between Rails and Phoenix. Hope you enjoy! You can also have a look at the slides right here or as PDF, speakerdeck and slideshare. Abstract Elixir and Phoenix are known for their speed, but that’s far from their only benefit. Elixir isn’t just a fast Ruby and Phoenix isn’t just Rails for Elixir. Through pattern matching, immutable data structures and new idioms your programs can not only become faster but more understandable and maintainable. This talk will take a look at what’s great, what you might miss and augment it with production experience and advice. Advertisements |
On Sunday, January 26, Chancellor Phyllis Wise of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sent out notice that despite below-freezing temperatures, classes at the University would resume according to schedule on Monday morning. The prospect of attending class in these conditions upset many students at Illinois, prompting an uproar on Twitter reported by BuzzFeed and the creation of the phony @ChanPhyllisWise twitter handle as well as the #FuckPhyllis hashtag. As evidenced by a dozen or so embedded tweets, the #FuckPhyllis trend contained despicably racist and sexist insults directed at the Chancellor. Buzzfeed also reported that students turned to change.com to produce a petition calling for classes to be cancelled, which garnered over 7,000 signatures over night. According to social media analytics service Topsy, the #FuckPhyllis hashtag only included some 2,000 tweets at the height of its activity. And while there is no disputing how reprehensible the conduct of these students is, we should look closer at this trend: who is tweeting, when, about what, and in agreement or to echo whom? BuzzFeed calls as much attention to the hate speech as possible (seemingly implicating every petition signer in the social media hate-fest), but to whom did this hashtag, now effectively dead, ultimately belong? When considering the scale of Twitter, 2,000 tweets is a very small number of communications. But the reason #FuckPhyllis is so interesting (and likely the reason Buzzfeed paid attention) is how rapidly it trended: Today the hashtag sees barely any activity at all. But in the lifespan of this particular social media spike there may be some interesting patterns surrounding the network topology of different communities of tweeters. It’s important to suspect that many of the offensive tweets have since been removed by their authors, but many do remain. Still, this is a hole in our data. Assuming many of the most vile things are now gone, all we can do is examine hostile vs. corrective communication networks rather than a deep look at racist tweets of unknown quantity and verbiage. What follows is a quick look into the #FuckPhyllis hashtag, the twitter activity surrounding the topic on January 26, 2014, starting at around 10pm CST all the way up to 5pm CST the following day. I used NodeXL to pull tweets that used the #FuckPhyllis hashtag, and so the limitations of the Twitter API are present: not every tweet is included in this analysis. Also, embedded tweets appear to refer to UTC rather than CST (making tweets from the 26th appear to be dated on the 27th of January) Still, there are some general trends in the hashtag that are illuminating. First, lets take a look at a graph of the tweets and retweets from the two hours of the life of the hashtag: In this graph, lines or edges indicate a retweet, and loops indicate tweets that are likely responses to tweets by the same user. Thus, the appearance of many loops lumped together shows people holding conversations by replying to their own tweets. Each node is a tweet. Node colors are determined by a modularity algorithm (Girvan-Newman) that groups nodes by shared connections. What is shocking about this graph is how many tweets are actually reacting against the original negativity of the #FuckPhyllis trend. The node highlighted in red, with by far the most retweets, is @suey_park’s retweet about white privilege from U of I student Briana Walker (who is synthesizing comments made by Park earlier on): what does #fuckphyllis have to do with the cheif? white supremacy’s blind quest to defend itself. (pro-@suey_park, anti-racist for life) — Brianna Walker (@bwalkerLIS) January 27, 2014 In fact, nearly every tweet that has a truly graphical property–retweeted by overlapping communities of agents who in turn are retweeted–rather than a simple hierarchal layout (see the red subgroup in the lower left of the above graph) contains or retweets a message of anti-racism. This sentiment ranges from simple eye rolling to more sophisticated thoughts on white privilege at U of I. Within a few hours of the first hateful tweet, social media conversation was dominated (centered on) by reprimands and anit-racist commentary. The graph demonstrates that it is the anti #FuckPhyllis tweets that have a high Eigenvector centrality (used in network analysis as one way to study influence), or in other words a high number of retweets and mentions that also happen to be retweeted and mentioned. The influence of anti-racist tweets appears to outstrip that of anti-Wise tweets. One of the most popular remaining anti-Wise tweets (although this contains zero racist overtones) is represented by the aforementioned red subgroup demonstrates several retweets of the following: One for NIU, two for you ISU. You go ISU. ….And none for U of I #fuckphyllis — Bridget Anselmo (@bridget_elyse02) January 27, 2014 Even though the above tweet was retweeted a total of 64 times in its total lifespan, the network reveals that it has little influence over the general social media conversation as it evolves. Now in the upper left of the next graph, this particular tweet remains marginal in the following 17 hours worth of tweets: The dark blue component in the middle of this second graph continues to feature @suey_park (although this time for a different but similarly anti-racist tweet). @suey_park’s tweet again has the most mentions and retweets by those who are also retweeted and mentioned. As before, the graph is predominantly an anti-racist backlash, and the most retweeted of the anti-Wise messages is not overtly racist or sexist. By comparison, here is a graph of tweets that include “ChanPhyllisWise”, the title of the now deleted bogus twitter account used to mock the Illinois Chancellor: Similarly, this graph has been clustered by modularity. The majority of tweets shown on this graph demonstrate the kind of vitriol reported by Buzzfeed, and here are the two central dark blue and light blue tweets that rest in a pair at the middle of the graph: I don’t even go to U of I and I find @ChanPhyllisWise hilarious You guys have support here in Minnesota #fuckphyllis — Adam Cox (@agregcox) January 27, 2014 Both of these tweets demonstrate a relatively high total degree centrality (retweeted more than peer tweets) but a comparatively low Eigenvector rating (retweeted, but not by those who were themselves retweeted). Furthermore, we can see the topology of this graph to be markedly different from the first two. Where as the first two showed resonance around a small set of tweets, the third shows significantly more isolated conversations or tweets that were not retweeted at all. The conversation that was significantly more sexist, racist, and hostile in tone is also one that features more fractured conversations, less information exchange, and lower connectivity among all nodes. Conclusions I’m tempted to hypothesize that conversations that feature this kind of hostility in social media have a performative quality to them, and users appear to want to one up one another. The network topology of the third graph, for what little information we have, suggests self interest and not very much consensus beyond using the same hashtag and adopting an insulting tone. The first two show preferential attachment to @suey_park and some consensus about who is “right.” It would be interesting to listen in on similar (and sadly inevitable) Twitter trends as they emerge and again compare the topology of hostile and corrective social media networks and see how they stack up. From their networks of communication, we can see a difference between principle and anger as motivating principles for social media use. As Christopher Simeone put it when presented with this case, “principled actors who see themselves as part of a bigger cause or purpose behave differently than those whose only uniting principle is rage and self interest.” Or perhaps we don’t have enough information to tell yet. What’s interesting, however, is that the BuzzFeed article, while calling attention to the racist, sexist, and hateful things U of I students tweeted, greatly over-represents the salacious portions of this social media trend. We’ll never know exactly how many tweets were deleted out of shame, but analysis of this tend shows a swift and harmonic response that obliterated anti-Wise sentiment and replaced it with a new conversation about white privilege. Yes, U of I students filled out a petition that got 7,000 signatures, but that does not equal 7,000 racists. Clicking a bubble that tries to get one out of class is very different from taking to social media to spread hate. The real A missing piece of the story is the response and unity of response to #FuckPhyllis. Source files from NodeXL: fuckphyllis hashtagfuckphyllis ChanPhyllisWise Update 1/28/2014 9:50 MST: I want to encourage everyone to see Kevin Hamilton’s comments below, as they raise some important concerns, and I feel the need to clarify. I do not believe that the University of Illinois is a place free of racism and white privilege or a place where anti-racism somehow excuses acts of racism. I do, however, see the data discussed above as showing a contrast in approaches to communication that may map on to angry vs. principled tweeting, and, crucially, how divided the University can be when it comes to issues of race. While there is persistent and unjust quarter given to racial intolerance on campus (highlighted below by Kevin’s comments), this should not obfuscate that there are principled actors at U of I, and that the story of the place is deep and storied division on racial issues, not thorough moral decay. Oh, and 1/28/2014 11:20 MST: I’m a U of I alum (2011) Update 1/29/2014 4:32 MST: The joint statement published today by U of I President and Board Chairman Update 2/3/2014 11:12pm MST: Part 2, pertaining to social media stories and where they go wrong Advertisements |
The car, which flew for the first time last year, has lost 90lb of useful payload, down from 550lb to 460lb. This means that with a full tank of fuel (120lb) it can carry just 330lb - 23 stone - including pilot, passenger and luggage. It has, however, gained an emergency parachute, meaning that it can land safely even if its wings were to fall off. Its "canard" nose-plane has been lost, while its old single vertical tailplane has been swapped for twin booms with two fins. According to Terrafugia, the redesign is in response to "lessons learned" in the car's first "proof of concept" flight in March 2009, and has included essential road-safety equipment. The vehicle was originally intended to be delivered last year. However, the redesign - its second - has put it back, and Terrafugia say that it is now expected in late 2011. Lewis Page, an analyst at the technology site The Register, fears that the delay could be longer, and that incurred costs could even stop the project altogether. In June this year the Transition received a significant boost when the Federal Aviation Administration allowed it to qualify as a "light sport" aircraft, despite it being 110lb above the weight limit for that class. This allows pilots to qualify for it after just 20 hours' flying time, significantly less than for a standard private pilot's licence. |
2 O 3 . For other uses, see This article is about aluminium(III) oxide, Al. For other uses, see Aluminium oxide (compounds) Aluminium oxide (IUPAC name) or aluminum oxide (American English) is a chemical compound of aluminium and oxygen with the chemical formula Al 2 O 3 . It is the most commonly occurring of several aluminium oxides, and specifically identified as aluminium(III) oxide. It is commonly called alumina and may also be called aloxide, aloxite, or alundum depending on particular forms or applications. It occurs naturally in its crystalline polymorphic phase α-Al 2 O 3 as the mineral corundum, varieties of which form the precious gemstones ruby and sapphire. Al 2 O 3 is significant in its use to produce aluminium metal, as an abrasive owing to its hardness, and as a refractory material owing to its high melting point.[7] Natural occurrence [ edit ] Corundum is the most common naturally occurring crystalline form of aluminium oxide.[8] Rubies and sapphires are gem-quality forms of corundum, which owe their characteristic colors to trace impurities. Rubies are given their characteristic deep red color and their laser qualities by traces of chromium. Sapphires come in different colors given by various other impurities, such as iron and titanium. Properties [ edit ] Aluminium oxide in its powdered form. Al 2 O 3 is an electrical insulator but has a relatively high thermal conductivity (30 Wm−1K−1)[2] for a ceramic material. Aluminium oxide is insoluble in water. In its most commonly occurring crystalline form, called corundum or α-aluminium oxide, its hardness makes it suitable for use as an abrasive and as a component in cutting tools.[7] Aluminium oxide is responsible for the resistance of metallic aluminium to weathering. Metallic aluminium is very reactive with atmospheric oxygen, and a thin passivation layer of aluminium oxide (4 nm thickness) forms on any exposed aluminium surface.[9] This layer protects the metal from further oxidation. The thickness and properties of this oxide layer can be enhanced using a process called anodising. A number of alloys, such as aluminium bronzes, exploit this property by including a proportion of aluminium in the alloy to enhance corrosion resistance. The aluminium oxide generated by anodising is typically amorphous, but discharge assisted oxidation processes such as plasma electrolytic oxidation result in a significant proportion of crystalline aluminium oxide in the coating, enhancing its hardness. Aluminium oxide was taken off the United States Environmental Protection Agency's chemicals lists in 1988. Aluminium oxide is on the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory list if it is a fibrous form.[10] Amphoteric nature [ edit ] Aluminium oxide is an amphoteric substance, meaning it can react with both acids and bases, such as hydrofluoric acid and sodium hydroxide, acting as an acid with a base and a base with an acid, neutralising the other and producing a salt. Al 2 O 3 + 6 HF → 2 AlF 3 + 3 H 2 O Al 2 O 3 + 2 NaOH + 3 H 2 O → 2 NaAl(OH) 4 (sodium aluminate) Structure [ edit ] Corundum from Brazil , size about 2×3 cm. The most common form of crystalline aluminium oxide is known as corundum, which is the thermodynamically stable form.[11] The oxygen ions form a nearly hexagonal close-packed structure with the aluminium ions filling two-thirds of the octahedral interstices. Each Al3+ center is octahedral. In terms of its crystallography, corundum adopts a trigonal Bravais lattice with a space group of R3c (number 167 in the International Tables). The primitive cell contains two formula units of aluminium oxide. Aluminium oxide also exists in other phases, including the cubic γ and η phases, the monoclinic θ phase, the hexagonal χ phase, the orthorhombic κ phase and the δ phase that can be tetragonal or orthorhombic.[11][12] Each has a unique crystal structure and properties. Cubic γ-Al 2 O 3 has important technical applications. The so-called β-Al 2 O 3 proved to be NaAl 11 O 17 .[13] Molten aluminium oxide near the melting temperature is roughly 2/3 tetrahedral (i.e. 2/3 of the Al are surrounded by 4 oxygen neighbors), and 1/3 5-coordinated, very little (<5%) octahedral Al-O is present.[14] Around 80% of the oxygen atoms are shared among three or more Al-O polyhedra, and the majority of inter-polyhedral connections are corner-sharing, with the remaining 10–20% being edge-sharing.[14] The breakdown of octahedra upon melting is accompanied by a relatively large volume increase (~20%), the density of the liquid close to its melting point is 2.93 g/cm3.[15] Production [ edit ] Aluminium hydroxide minerals are the main component of bauxite, the principal ore of aluminium. A mixture of the minerals comprise bauxite ore, including gibbsite (Al(OH) 3 ), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH)), along with impurities of iron oxides and hydroxides, quartz and clay minerals.[16] Bauxites are found in laterites. Bauxite is purified by the Bayer process: Al 2 O 3 + H 2 O + NaOH → NaAl(OH) 4 Al(OH) 3 + NaOH → NaAl(OH) 4 Except for SiO 2 , the other components of bauxite do not dissolve in base. Upon filtering the basic mixture, Fe 2 O 3 is removed. When the Bayer liquor is cooled, Al(OH) 3 precipitates, leaving the silicates in solution. NaAl(OH) 4 → NaOH + Al(OH) 3 The solid Al(OH) 3 Gibbsite is then calcined (heated to over 1100 °C) to give aluminium oxide:[7] 2 Al(OH) 3 → Al 2 O 3 + 3 H 2 O The product aluminium oxide tends to be multi-phase, i.e., consisting of several phases of aluminium oxide rather than solely corundum.[12] The production process can therefore be optimized to produce a tailored product. The type of phases present affects, for example, the solubility and pore structure of the aluminium oxide product which, in turn, affects the cost of aluminium production and pollution control.[12] Applications [ edit ] Known as alundum (in fused form) or aloxite[17] in the mining, ceramic, and materials science communities, aluminium oxide finds wide use. Annual world production of aluminium oxide in 2015 was approximately 115 million tonnes, over 90% of which is used in the manufacture of aluminium metal.[7] The major uses of speciality aluminium oxides are in refractories, ceramics, polishing and abrasive applications. Large tonnages of aluminium hydroxide, from which alumina is derived, are used in the manufacture of zeolites, coating titania pigments, and as a fire retardant/smoke suppressant. Over 90% of the aluminium oxide, normally termed Smelter Grade Alumina (SGA), produced is consumed for the production of aluminium, usually by the Hall–Héroult process. The remainder, normally called speciality alumina is used in a wide variety of applications which reflect its inertness, temperature resistance and electrical resistance.[18] Fillers [ edit ] Being fairly chemically inert and white, aluminium oxide is a favored filler for plastics. Aluminium oxide is a common ingredient in sunscreen and is sometimes also present in cosmetics such as blush, lipstick, and nail polish. Glass [ edit ] Many formulations of glass have aluminium oxide as an ingredient.[19] Catalysis [ edit ] Aluminium oxide catalyses a variety of reactions that are useful industrially. In its largest scale application, aluminium oxide is the catalyst in the Claus process for converting hydrogen sulfide waste gases into elemental sulfur in refineries. It is also useful for dehydration of alcohols to alkenes. Aluminium oxide serves as a catalyst support for many industrial catalysts, such as those used in hydrodesulfurization and some Ziegler–Natta polymerizations. Water purification [ edit ] Aluminium oxide is widely used to remove water from gas streams.[20] Abrasive [ edit ] Aluminium oxide is used for its hardness and strength. It is widely used as an abrasive, including as a much less expensive substitute for industrial diamond. Many types of sandpaper use aluminium oxide crystals. In addition, its low heat retention and low specific heat make it widely used in grinding operations, particularly cutoff tools. As the powdery abrasive mineral aloxite, it is a major component, along with silica, of the cue tip "chalk" used in billiards. Aluminium oxide powder is used in some CD/DVD polishing and scratch-repair kits. Its polishing qualities are also behind its use in toothpaste. It is also used in microdermabrasion, both in the machine process available through dermatologists and estheticians, and as a manual dermal abrasive used according to manufacturer directions. Paint [ edit ] Aluminium oxide flakes are used in paint for reflective decorative effects, such as in the automotive or cosmetic industries. Composite fiber [ edit ] Aluminium oxide has been used in a few experimental and commercial fiber materials for high-performance applications (e.g., Fiber FP, Nextel 610, Nextel 720).[21] Alumina nanofibers in particular have become a research field of interest. Body armor [ edit ] Some body armors utilize alumina ceramic plates, usually in combination with aramid or UHMWPE backing to achieve effectiveness against even most rifle threats. Alumina ceramic armor is readily available to most civilians in jurisdictions where it is legal, but is not considered military grade.[22] Abrasion protection [ edit ] Aluminium oxide can be grown as a coating on aluminium by anodizing or by plasma electrolytic oxidation (see the "Properties" above). Both the hardness and abrasion-resistant characteristics of the coating originate from the high strength of aluminium oxide, yet the porous coating layer produced with conventional direct current anodizing procedures is within a 60-70 Rockwell hardness C range [23] which is comparable only to hardened carbon steel alloys, but considerably inferior to the hardness of natural and synthetic corundum. Instead, with plasma electrolytic oxidation, the coating is porous only on the surface oxide layer while the lower oxide layers are much more compact than with standard DC anodizing procedures and present a higher crystallinity due to the oxide layers being remelted and densified to obtain α-Al2O3 clusters[24] with much higher coating hardness values circa 2000 Vickers hardness. Aluminium oxide output in 2005 Alumina is used to manufacture tiles which are attached inside pulverized fuel lines and flue gas ducting on coal fired power stations to protect high wear areas. They are not suitable for areas with high impact forces as these tiles are brittle and susceptible to breakage. Electrical insulation [ edit ] Aluminium oxide is an electrical insulator used as a substrate (silicon on sapphire) for integrated circuits but also as a tunnel barrier for the fabrication of superconducting devices such as single electron transistors and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). For its application as an electrical insulator in integrated circuits, where the conformal growth of a thin film is a prerequisite and the preferred growth mode is atomic layer deposition, Al 2 O 3 films can be prepared by the chemical exchange between trimethylaluminum (Al(CH 3 ) 3 ) and H 2 O:[25] 2 Al(CH 3 ) 3 + 3 H 2 O → Al 2 O 3 + 6 CH 4 H 2 O in the above reaction can be replaced by ozone (O 3 ) as the active oxidant and the following reaction then takes place:[26][27] 2 Al(CH 3 ) 3 + O 3 → Al 2 O 3 + 3 C 2 H 6 The Al 2 O 3 films prepared using O 3 show 10–100 times lower leakage current density compared with those prepared by H 2 O. Aluminum oxide, being a dielectric with relatively large band gap, is used as an insulating barrier in capacitors.[28] Other [ edit ] In lighting, transparent aluminium oxide is used in some sodium vapor lamps.[29] Aluminium oxide is also used in preparation of coating suspensions in compact fluorescent lamps. In chemistry laboratories, aluminium oxide is a medium for chromatography, available in basic (pH 9.5), acidic (pH 4.5 when in water) and neutral formulations. Health and medical applications include it as a material in hip replacements[7] and birth control pills.[30] It is used as a dosimeter for radiation protection and therapy applications for its optically stimulated luminescence properties.[citation needed] Insulation for high-temperature furnaces is often manufactured from aluminium oxide. Sometimes the insulation has varying percentages of silica depending on the temperature rating of the material. The insulation can be made in blanket, board, brick and loose fiber forms for various application requirements. Small pieces of aluminium oxide are often used as boiling chips in chemistry. It is also used to make spark plug insulators.[31] Using a plasma spray process and mixed with titania, it is coated onto the braking surface of some bicycle rims to provide abrasion and wear resistance.[citation needed] Most ceramic eyes on fishing rods are circular rings made from aluminium oxide.[citation needed] See also [ edit ] |
The Home Office in the UK has reportedly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain to routinely hack into people's personal computers without a warrant, allowing police or MI5 officers to covertly examine the hard drive of someone's PC at his home, office or hotel room -- all from a remote location. The pronouncement comes after a decision by the European Union's council of ministers in Brussels expanding the implementation of a statute permitting warrant-less surveillance of private property. Material gathered by "remote searching" includes the content of all emails, Internet browsing history and instant messaging. Civil liberty groups and opposition MPs describe the hacking as a sinister extension of the surveillance state which "drives a coach and horses" through privacy laws. (Source: timesonline.co.uk) French, German and other EU forces will be allowed to ask British officers to hack into someone's UK computer and pass on any information gathered. Under the plan, a remote search can be granted if a senior officer says he "believes" that it is "proportionate" and necessary to prevent or detect "serious crime," which is defined as any offense punishable by a jail sentence of more than three years. Given this, authorities would be able to break into a suspect's home or office and insert a key-logging device into an individual's computer that could collect, and if necessary, transmit the suspect's keystrokes. Key-logging hardware, by the way, is very easy to detect. Authorities could also send an email to a suspect containing a virus that, if opened, would covertly install the remote search facility. Another option might be to park outside a suspect's home and hack into their computer through a wireless network. Germany's highest court has ruled that spying on personal computers violates privacy, but governments across Europe are under pressure to help their security services fight terrorism and organized crime. (Source: bbc.co.uk) Broadening such intrusive surveillance powers should be regulated. Furthermore, powers that astringent should not be granted based on an officer's "belief," unless it's backed by verifiable suspicion or evidence. Police say that such methods are necessary to investigate suspects who use cyberspace to carry out crimes, including pedophiles, Internet fraudsters, identity thieves, and terrorists. Exercising such intrusive power raises serious privacy issues and there must be safeguards in place to prevent abuse. It's becoming painfully evident that there is a fuzzy line between 'preventing crimes and acts of terrorism' and paranoia. One has to wonder why that type of intrusion is even necessary when Britain plans to monitor a super-database of every one of its citizens. (Source: infopackets.com) Visit Bill's Links and More for more great tips, just like this one! |
Dianne Macaulay sits at a picnic table in front of the brand new, $42-million St. Joseph’s Catholic High School at the northeastern edge of Red Deer. Across the road, new tracts of suburban housing and retail centres gradually take over slow-rolling farmland. Built to accommodate 900 students, the school will open to about 500 students this September, alleviating a crush in the local separate school board. St. Joseph’s is a beautiful facility and much needed because of Red Deer’s steady growth, but Macaulay, a trustee with the public board and the mother of three children who have been through the public system, says the school is also a flash point in a long-simmering debate about education in this province. The Catholic school sits on a 56-acre site that will also eventually house high schools for the public and francophone boards too. A plan hashed out in 2014 between the city, the province and the three boards would have seen gyms, libraries, theatre stages and science labs shared. Instead, in the fall of that year, the Catholic board pulled out, citing a policy forbidding its students from sharing facilities with other children, a policy that had been in place since 2003 but which has frequently been breached. “It turned from a joint-use facility to a campus with three separate schools, all within three months,” says Macaulay, her voice rising. As a result of the decision, the two other boards are altering plans for their as yet unbuilt schools, adding their own gyms, libraries, stages and labs—each costing more than they would have had resources been pooled. As Pieter Langstraat, a former superintendent of Red Deer Public School District, told the Red Deer Advocate when the deal fell apart in November 2014, Red Deer could have had a world-class science lab but instead will get two average labs 500 metres apart. “If we were to pool all of our funds and share the space, we could build a state-of-the-art facility,” he says. “That was the idea.” Every community with public and separate schools has two boards of trustees. Two superintendents. Two head offices. To Macaulay, the Catholic board’s stance wastes public resources. To others, the situation in Red Deer is just one of many issues that cast doubt on whether separate school boards can continue to be justified in Alberta. Why, in our democratic society, does one religious group have its own, publicly funded school system? Our secular society often clashes with Catholic theology, and religious public schooling would seem at odds with the broader aims of civil society. “When kids play school sports, they come from all boards,” Macaulay says. “If they can play a sport together or go to the playground together, why can’t they go to a school and all be together?” And separate schools may even be unconstitutional. A recent court case from Saskatchewan held that spending public money for non-Catholics to attend Catholic schools breaches two provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It’s a discussion fraught with controversy and therefore one that politicians avoid. But that may change soon. It’s impossible to put an exact dollar figure on the cost of having two publicly funded school systems, but areas of duplication are obvious. Every community with public and separate schools has two boards of trustees. Two chief superintendents. Two sets of deputy superintendents. Two board head offices. Beyond spending on the instruction of children in 2015–2016, Catholic boards in Alberta spent $229-million on operations and maintenance, $64-million on transportation and $59-million on administration. Much of these costs would be eliminated in a single system—for example, in rural communities where neither the public nor the Catholic school is at capacity and where one school building could do the job currently done by two. Luke Fevin is a St. Albert father of three and a cofounder of Alberta Parents for Unbiased Public Inclusive Learning. He estimates the waste from running duplicate systems may go as high as $200-million per year. “That’s more than 1,000 more teachers in Alberta classrooms, or eight brand new schools every single year,” he says. “And for what? There’s no educational advantage. If you’re a fan of education or you give a damn about your tax money, does this make sense?” Fevin became active in the education debate in 2010, when parents in Morinville, north of St. Albert, were lobbying the local Catholic board to provide a secular option. At the time, the town had only Catholic schools. The families pushed for a secular school, eventually turning to the media and the courts to press their case. After two years of petitions and legal wrangling, Morinville Public School opened in fall 2011. Since then, attendance has gone from 65 to 790 students and the school has added 15 modular classrooms. A new, bigger school is in the works. David King, a former Alberta education minister who is leading a campaign for a single system, highlights professional development focused on Catholic teaching as an example of extraordinary spending by separate boards. Catholic boards, for instance, support teachers to take a master’s in religious education. “If you’re a science or math teacher, a master’s in religious education is not directly related to refining your pedagogical skills,” he says. Secular society clashes with Catholic theology. Religious public schooling is at odds with the broader aims of civil society. King was education minister under premier Peter Lougheed from 1979 to 1986 and then spent two decades as the executive director of the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta. He says the dual system has a particularly disruptive effect in small communities and rural Alberta, places generally suffering from declining enrolment. “They can’t [adjust to] fragmentation as well as a growing urban community can,” he says. In other words, if a community has only 100 school-aged children, dividing them between parallel school systems strains the resources of both. But his greatest concern is for civil society. “Public school education exists to be a deliberate model of a civil democratic community,” he says. “It’s the way in which we draw students into an understanding of what it means to be a citizen in our community. Separate-school education is to be a deliberate model of a faith community. Sometimes, being a deliberate model of a faith community contradicts what we want children to understand about living in a civil, democratic community. Gay–straight alliances are a good example. By the time a child is in high school they should be able to form a club if they want to, and they shouldn’t be educated in an environment where the clergy has a right to tell you what you cannot do, even though what you want to do is legal and accepted in the larger community.” Beyond issues of cost and civic cohesion, Alberta’s Catholic schools have lately played host to morality-influenced scandals. At Red Deer’s École Secondaire Notre Dame, for example, a representative from a local pro-life group recently showed a video to a Grade 10 religion class in which abortion was compared to the Holocaust. Catholic schools across the province have opposed gay–straight alliances, abortion and the HPV vaccination, which health boards across the country promote as a way to prevent cervical cancer. The Catholic Church has taken the position that giving the vaccine encourages premarital sex. Bishop Fred Henry, the leading Catholic authority in Calgary for 19 years, took conservative, faith-based positions on issues of same-sex marriage, gender identity and assisted suicide. Last year he took a stand against gay–straight alliances, calling them “highly politicized ideological clubs” and the NDP government’s new LGBTQ policies “totalitarian.” Such stances raise the issue of the role of the Catholic Church in the design and implementation of policies and curriculum at Catholic schools. The policy that prevented much of the planned sharing at St. Joseph’s in Red Deer is based on the concept of “permeation.” This is defined by Catholic boards as the ability to profess the faith throughout the school day and throughout the school’s facilities, including regular prayer, liturgical services and symbols of the faith on the walls. St. Joseph’s website, for example, says students will be “called to grow spiritually” through a “Gospel view of life,” adding “Our Catholic faith will be nurtured and experienced in all classes, celebrations and prayer.” It wasn’t always like this. King remembers a time before “permeation.” He says when he was minister of education, separate boards hired non-Catholics as teachers. “Separate school boards had non-Catholics as superintendents,” he adds. “You didn’t have things like the recent controversy over the establishment of gay–straight alliances or vaccinations. When I was minister, joint school facilities were being built—before [Catholic boards] were opposed to joint facilities.” How far can permeation go in a publicly funded institution? Adriana LaGrange, the president of the Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association, says the bishops weigh in on religion classes and permeation issues but are not involved in the classroom. “Bishops have a duty to protect the faith, and as Catholic educators we share the faith,” she says, “but the bishops are not there on a day-to-day basis overseeing Catholic schools. They do not develop policy.” Proponents of the Catholic school system point to its historical foundation and to parental choice as reasons to maintain Catholic schooling. LaGrange says some non-Catholic parents want to send their children to Catholic schools. “Some choose to align with faith-based schools,” she says. “There’s always been a percentage who want that fully permeated Catholic school experience.” Fevin says LaGrange’s definition of choice is too restrictive. He envisions one public system that contains far more than two choices. “Faith options can be provided by any school district that has a local market that wants it,” he says, “but there shouldn’t be any preference given to Catholicism any more than to Hinduism or atheism.” The existence of separate school systems in Canada is the result of a bargain made at Confederation. Sectarian tension between Catholic and Protestant communities in 1867 had both groups concerned about assimilation. Each faith had built its own system of education and was concerned about losing influence over this important pillar of the growing country. So a compromise was reached. The Constitution Act, 1867 guarantees, in s. 93, public funding for the religion-based separate schools that existed at the time. In practice this allowed for Protestant schools in Quebec and Catholic schools in Ontario. No other provinces were affected, since Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Manitoba and BC didn’t have separate schools. (Newfoundland and Labrador didn’t join Confederation until 1949; its separate schools system was abolished in 1997 following a public referendum.) When Alberta and Saskatchewan were carved out of the Northwest Territories in 1905, political expediency ensured that the protection for Catholic schools was extended into the new provinces. The previous year, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier had been struggling to secure Quebec’s Catholic vote in a close federal election. To build support, Laurier agreed to enshrine the right to publicly funded Catholic education for people living in western Canada, where the population was growing. Most of the people settling the West wanted a single, secular school system, however, and the move led to the resignation of Laurier’s minister of the interior—and his western lieutenant—Winnipeg’s Clifford Sifton. Today, a publicly funded religious school system would not even get off the ground. It would fail labour laws, because Catholic boards’ hiring practices discriminate against non-Catholic teachers. It would not get past human rights legislation, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion. In fact, in 1999, the UN Human Rights Committee found that Canada’s separate school system is discriminatory, concluding that if a state chooses to make public funding available for religious schools, it must do so equally for all religions. The constitutional, legal and ethical issues raised by separate school boards were brought into stark relief in April 2017 in a decision of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench. In 2003 a public school board had decided to close a K–8 school in the village of Theodore because the cost of keeping it open could not be justified by the low enrolment. A group of Catholic parents petitioned the minister of education to form a Catholic board to keep the school open. The minister consented and the same school reopened in the fall as a Catholic school with 42 students, only 13 of whom were Catholic. The public board sued, arguing that the constitutional protection of separate schools does not include the right for the school to receive government funding for non-Catholic students. In the Theodore decision—a case officially known as Good Spirit School Division No. 204 v. Christ the Teacher Roman Catholic Separate School Division No. 212 and Government of Saskatchewan—Justice Donald Layh wrote that the community both saved its school and prompted one of the most significant lawsuits in Saskatchewan’s history. The court confirmed constitutional protection for separate schools but found that the protection is not unlimited and doesn’t include the right for a Catholic board to receive public money for non-Catholic students. Khurrum Awan, one of the lawyers for the public school board, says the court’s ruling was just the gateway issue. “If that protection had been found to exist, the funding of non-Catholics in Catholic schools would have been sheltered from scrutiny under the Charter,” Awan says. “[But] the judge ruled that the constitutional protection for Catholic schools doesn’t extend to non-Catholics and their funding.” The court held that the current funding arrangement breaches both the equality provisions of the Charter and the state’s duty to remain neutral in matters of religion. “As a simple truism, when a government body provides direct payment to any religious group… to the exclusion of all other religious groups, a Charter violation is axiomatic,” Justice Layh wrote. He relied on earlier decisions of the Supreme Court which found that separate school funding for only certain faiths is “unfair” and “unequal,” and would not be permitted but for the protection offered by s. 93: “In today’s Canada, no newly enacted legislation would be constitutionally permissible if it provided benefits to Roman Catholics and Protestants but no other religious groups.… Allowing one faith group the opportunity, at public expense and incommensurate with rights of other faiths, to model the virtues of its religion to non-members is an advantage that offends the state’s duty of neutrality.” Will the Supreme Court rule against public money for non-Catholic students in separate schools, thus forcing Alberta’s hand? The court considered the demographic changes Canada has experienced since 1867 and since the creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan, citing a study which found that in 1861, more than 99 per cent of the population of the original four confederating provinces was either Catholic or Protestant. By the time the prairie provinces joined Confederation, the proportion was 93 per cent in Saskatchewan. By 2011, the time of the latest National Household Survey, the combined percentage of self-identified Catholics and Protestants in Saskatchewan was about 65 per cent. “Put another way,” wrote Justice Layh, “in 1901 the allocation of rights and privileges to protect Catholics and Protestants excluded only 7.25 per cent of the population; in 2011 that protection excluded 34.8 per cent of the population.” The Theodore decision made waves in the three provinces that still have separate school boards: Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario. Alberta in particular has legislation virtually identical to its neighbouring province’s. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has vowed to fight the decision, and should it be upheld by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, the case will likely end up in the Supreme Court of Canada. Its potential impact on education in Alberta can be reflected in the student population. This year 470,000 children will attend public schools in Alberta, and 166,000 will attend separate. Non-Catholics make up 70 per cent of the student body at some Catholic schools (the court in the Theodore school case found the Saskatoon and North Battleford averages were between 25 per cent and 30 per cent). Denying public funding for those students would throw the school system into disarray, as thousands of students would migrate from Catholic to public boards. Some schools would empty out; others would stretch beyond capacity. Last May, in response to the breakdown of the shared-facilities plan in Red Deer, Dianne Macaulay tabled a motion at a meeting of her Red Deer Public Board colleagues calling for a single, publicly funded school system. While purely a symbolic gesture, the motion passed by only a 4–3 margin—an indication of how divisive the issues are. In an interview with the Edmonton Journal, Guy Pelletier, chair of the Red Deer Catholic board, said it’s “a bit difficult not to take a motion like this personally.” Macaulay insists it’s not personal—and it’s not about religion. “It never should be anti-Catholic and it’s unfortunate that it’s viewed that way,” she says. “Continue with your faith, but my job is education. If we can bring faith into the schools and use it as a way to educate our students, I’m all for that.” Ironically, the province for which Catholic schools were initially granted, Quebec, eliminated separate schools and opted for a single public system in 1997, the same year Newfoundland and Labrador did. The changes were not universally supported and caused considerable angst during the transition, but they have endured. Few Quebecers argue publicly for a return to the old days. Not so in Saskatchewan, where Premier Wall has threatened to use the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to override the Theodore school decision, should it be upheld. “This simply cannot stand,” he told the Regina Leader Post in April. “Consider the implications here. If this has to be implemented by June of 2018, in that subsequent fall, you could have massively overpopulated public schools and empty or near empty separate schools. You actually risk the viability of community schools.” Alberta’s minister of education, David Eggen, said the decision changes nothing—for now. “Any student in Alberta can enrol in the school of their choice, provided there is sufficient space and resources. Our government is focused on making life better and preparing students for success in all Alberta schools.” LaGrange argues that restricting funding for non-Catholics who nonetheless choose separate schools would cause inequity. “The judge [in the Theodore case] has said parents who are non-Catholic are no longer allowed the choice unless they can pay $10,000 per student, which is roughly the cost of educating a child in Saskatchewan.” The governments of Alberta and Ontario are no doubt following the progress of the Theodore decision closely, as are the various school boards. It seems inevitable the case will go to the Supreme Court, a process that will take years. Local politicians may stay on the sidelines for now. But if the Supreme Court rules against public money for non-Catholic students in separate schools, thus forcing Alberta’s hand, expect the myriad other arguments against Catholic schooling to surge to the fore. Michael Ganley is the former editor of Alberta Venture. He lives in Edmonton with his wife and three children. |
Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter March 22, 2016, 11:56 AM GMT / Updated March 22, 2016, 2:09 PM GMT / Source: TODAY By Scott Stump Donald Trump tells TODAY's Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer if he were president, he'd react to the Brussels attacks by being "very, very tough on the borders" and by using torture of suspects if necessary to try to obtain vital information. "Brussels is a total mess,'' the GOP front-runner said in a live phone interview Tuesday. "They're just a city that used to be one of the finest and one of the most beautiful and one of the safest cities in the world, and now it's a catastrophic, very dangerous city where the police have very little control." Blasts rocked the check-in zone of Brussels Airport and the Belgian capital's subway early Tuesday, killing dozens of people and injuring scores. According to sources, at least one and possibly multiple "suicide bombers" were involved in the attacks. epa05224807 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks at the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington, DC, USA, 21 March 2016. AIPAC is an American pro-Israel lobby group. EPA/SHAWN THEW SHAWN THEW / EPA The attacks came just days after a raid in Brussels captured Europe's most wanted man, Salah Abdeslam, who is suspected of plotting the Paris terror attacks. If Trump were president and Abdeslam was a suspect in U.S. custody, he said he would use any technique necessary to extract information from him about any other potential attacks. "Frankly, the waterboarding, if it was up to me, and if we changed the laws or had the laws, waterboarding would be fine,'' Trump said. "If they could expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding. You have to get the information from these people. Trump added that he believes torture would be effective in obtaining information in a case like this, whereas experts are divided on whether it produces positive or false information. "I am in the camp where you have to get the information and you have to get it rapidly,'' Trump said. RELATED: 'Unrealistic' to shut borders, Hillary Clinton says Trump attributed the turbulence in Brussels to the effects of immigration from the Middle East. "Belgium is no longer Belgium,'' he said. "Belgium is a horror show right now. This all happened because frankly there's no assimilation. They are not assimilating for whatever reason. They don't want laws that we have, they want Sharia Law, and you say to yourself, at what point, how much of this do you take? "What we're doing is we're allowing thousands and thousands of these people into our country, and we're going to have nothing but problems, as sure as you're sitting there." In a phone interview on TODAY Tuesday, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said closing the U.S. borders is "unrealistic" in the wake of the attack. She also opposed using any type of torture methods in trying to obtain information from suspects, saying military leaders have stated that it's not effective. Follow TODAY.com writer Scott Stump on Twitter. |
There’s a moment early on in LOSE, the third album from Cymbals Eat Guitars, that immediately leaps out. Frontman and lyricist Joe D’Agostino describes his best friend looking like David Bowie on Soul Train, a reference that’s strikingly similar to one of the many memories recounted on Sun Kil Moon’s Benji. On Soul Train, Bowie sang “Fame,” the final song on Young Americans, the album Mark Kozelek references near the end of Benji — and despite vast differences in their respective ages, upbringings, and musical styles, both D’Agostino and Kozelek use that pop culture time-stamp to help navigate larger reflections on death and dying. It’s just a coincidence, really, but that’s what makes it so great. Just as so many of us imagine a personal significance in the same songs and artists (how many times have you heard someone say, “This song is about me”?), our relationship with loss and grief is not unique, and that gives it a universal power. That power is present on LOSE, an album that says so much about the way we grow, and change, and most importantly, how we remember. D’Agostino is smoking an American Spirit while we walk around Williamsburg, Brooklyn, trying to find a quiet place to sit. He mentions he’ll have to quit things like alcohol and smoking to make sure his voice is at its best on his band’s upcoming tour with Bob Mould. He talks enthusiastically about an adolescence spent loving Zen Arcade, the Wrens, and Yo La Tengo, but it’s tougher to get that feeling from music these days (with a few exceptions, including Titus Andronicus’ The Monitor which he calls the best album of the last five years) and that leads to us talking about this new album, which means we have to address a difficult subject. When an artist does an interview for an album, in some ways he’s sharing his feelings with the hopes that the middle man doesn’t fumble the details too much delivering a story that will ideally lead to some general interest. But when the subject matter of that album is as sensitive and painful as that of LOSE, those stakes become even higher and those artistic intentions become harder to share. “I feel apprehensive about using this tragedy as, like, a press angle, but a record needs context for people to really get inside of it,” D’Agostino says. Much of LOSE’s subject matter is about by Ben High, D’Agostino’s high school friend and bandmate, who died in 2007. But this life-changing event becomes a jumping-off point: back to memories of adolescence and forward to his present, addressing things that D’Agostino had been unable to, until now. “Our first record in particular, I hadn’t had any life experience, I was 18, 19 when I was writing, and so … I had a general feeling that I wanted to express to people but no real specificities of life lived,” he says. LOSE is full of specificities, particularly New Jersey landmarks: The (literal) emotional roller-coaster opener, “Jackson,” is named after the town to which many flock in the summer to go to Six Flags; Cape May and Mystic Island are both mentioned in “Place Names”; in “XR” he namechecks Vintage Vinyl, a place that holds fond memories for D’Agostino, who used to make trips to the Fords, NJ-based store to pick up CDs, then drive around listening and smoking cigarettes — that song includes the lyric, “I wanna wake up wanting to listen to records again, but those old feelings elude me.” It’s a sensation that D’Agostino is chasing throughout LOSE. “‘Laramie’ came all at once,” he says of the album’s eight-minute centerpiece which acts as something of an emotional eye to the storm, but after that moment LOSE opens itself up even wider in its second half. D’Agostino reaches back to early teenage years on “2 Hip Soul,” a song inspired by a time when he was around 12 and heard about some older kids from his school broke into the Popcorn Park Zoo and beat several animals to death. “Chambers” meanwhile pushes forward to his present living situation in Staten Island, dealing with the loneliness and alienation that comes from living in that part of New York, and the anxiety of watching your family grow older. “My grandparents are still here, my mom’s parents. We live together, my grandparents live downstairs, my parents live upstairs, I live with my parents. I still have really elderly dogs from my childhood that are hanging around since I was 10. They’re like 16 years old now, black labs. And [I’m] just worrying about when the other shoe is gonna drop … because it’s all coming down the pipe,” he says. It’s a sensation he captures near the end of the song, creating a time capsule of that pain and isolation: “Here’s what it felt like when I was 25. Still had my family.” Taken at once, LOSE, feels like culmination of everything yet accomplished by Cymbals Eat Guitars, the moment where everything is being expressed and revealed. It’s immensely brave, and more than anything, it sounds like a beginning. “It’s been like this dark undercurrent in everything that I’ve written in my life so far,” says D’Agostino. “And now it’s not an undercurrent, it’s totally explicit. And it’s all out there. And I do feel like I can begin to write about other things in an equally honest and forthright way. Which is really liberating. I’ve kind of said my truth at this point. So we’ll see what that becomes.” // LOSE is out 8/26 via Barsuk and 8/25 in Europe via Tough Love. Pre-order it here. Check out their tour dates below. 08/20 New Haven, CT @ Bar Night Club 08/21 Kingston, NY @ BSP Kingston 08/22 Rockville Centre, NY @ Vibe Lounge 08/24 Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes 08/26 Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 09/05 Philadelphia, PA @ TLA * 09/06 Washington, DC @ 930 Club * 09/10 New York @ Bowery Ballroom * 09/11 New York @ Bowery Ballroom * 09/12 Boston, MA @ Paradise * 09/13 New York, NY @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg * 09/14 Pittsburgh, PA @ The Smiling Moose 09/15 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom * 09/16 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick * 09/17 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Ballroom * 09/18 Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme 09/19 St Louis, MO @ Old Rock House * 09/20 Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern 09/23 Seattle, WA @ Neptune * 09/24 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom * 09/26 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore * 09/27 LA, CA @ The Roxy * 09/28 LA, CA @ The Roxy * 10/02 Visalia CA @ Cellar Door 10/03 San Diego CA @ Soda Bar 10/04 Phoenix AZ @ Last Exit 10/05 Tucson AZ @ The Flycatcher 10/07 Denton TX @ Dan’s Silver Leaf 10/08 Austin TX @ Red 7 10/10 Tallahassee FL @ Club Downunder 10/11 Orlando FL @ Will’s Pub 10/12 Atlanta GA @ The Earl 10/13 Carrboro NC @ Cat’s Cradle – Backroom 10/14 Baltimore MD @ Metro Gallery * — With Bob Mould |
The New York Times was a little schizophrenic today. One headline said the Paris climate talks were going great: "High Hopes For Accord As Second Week Starts." On the facing page sat tidings of doom: "Pledges On Climate Will Be Useless Without Action and Funding." I sympathize. As The Times was finishing up these stories the day before, I was trudging down to the lobby of my Paris hotel carrying a bag heavy with pieces of hope–flyers from hundreds of dreamers and business people who gathered in the "solutions" section of the U.N.'s conference center to show off their carbon-eating grass and carbon-soaking char, 3D-printed electric sports cars and futuristic solar systems. Maybe somewhere in there we would find a magic bullet or an accumulation of little successes that would add up to some magic. At the least, the pile of flyers was an encouraging reminder of all the millions of tinkerers and builders who are, in the absence of meaningful government action, trying to take personal responsibility for the planet. Humanity can be beautiful that way. But down in the lobby, I sat down near a very serious-looking woman staring somberly at her laptop through thick horn rimmed glasses. "I'm thinking of leaving myself," she said. "I'm booked through Thursday, but it's just so discouraging. I might as well go home and learn how to knit socks." Her name is Dr. Makere Stewart-Harawira, and she's a professor who studies the impact of climate change on indigenous communities at the University of Alberta, Canada. To her, the "high hopes for accord" were better described as "hammering out a text everyone can agree on," followed by "ridiculous statements of celebration." Suddenly she looked very tired. "We've already passed one degree," she said. "We can't absorb any more carbon." But like the Times, she also tried to look on the bright side. There were some good things being done, like progress on "mechanisms of carbon procurement" and other things that were too technical for me to understand. At least virtually everyone now agrees on the science, she said. Like most on the scientific, economic, and environmental-activist side of the issue, Dr. Stewart-Harawira said the only real mechanism for change is a global carbon tax that could harness the power of capitalism to drive innovation in alternative energy; this has been the position of The Economist since 1989. Now, 26 years later, Senator Bernie Sanders became the first and only American presidential candidate to adopt this position, issuing a characteristically uncompromising statement: "Right now, we have an energy policy that is rigged to boost the profits of big oil companies like Exxon, BP, and Shell at the expense of average Americans. CEO's are raking in record profits while climate change ravages our planet and our people—all because the wealthiest industry in the history of our planet has bribed politicians into complacency in the face of climate change." With a carbon tax, Dr. Stewart-Harawira said, "We can fix all this tomorrow." As it happens, Dr. James Hansen is staying in the same small hotel. He is the retired climate scientist from NASA who has become legendary for his historic testimony to Congress in 1988. For years now, he's been traveling the planet and meeting with global leaders in an effort to promote the idea of a carbon tax, which he calls the carbon "fee and dividend" instead of a tax, because he thinks the carbon money should immediately be returned to every citizen to lessen the pain of the change (and because they're breathing the air that fossil fuels have fouled). Dr. Stewart-Harawira is a little star-struck. "I agree with Jim Hansen on everything." Except, that is, on the question of nuclear power. Hansen is the rare advocate for drastic action who includes nuclear power among the solutions. To most of his allies on the left, that's as unthinkable as climate change itself seems to be to so many on the right. "I think he lost his brains there," Dr. Stewart-Harawira said. But if climate change is such a serious problem, an existential problem, wouldn't an ugly but practical solution be better than another futile stab of niceness? Don't we fight cancer with deadly toxins? Especially when renewable electricity is still just 21 percent of the global energy mix and shows no sign of scaling up fast enough to solve the problem–and if it did, the heat-generation of all the resource extraction and manufacturing necessary would just add its own risky burden of deadly gases. To say that climate change is an existential problem and then draw the line at an ugly solution, isn't that the same as saying you don't think climate change is that big a problem? At this, Dr. Stewart-Harawira looked pained. "I agree with you," she said. "It's a very fair comment." But still, she just couldn't accept the idea of nuclear power. She mentioned Chernobyl and Fukushima. "But those are local problems," I said. "Local?" she said, a little shocked. "I live in New York. Chernobyl and Fukishima don't affect me at all." "So who do we sacrifice?" she asked. "Where are the sacrifice zones?" If we had the time and expertise, the conversation might have gone on to new nuclear technology like sodium-cooled fast reactors and passive safety mechanisms and modular construction and international inspections and the possibility of global cooperation on safety and construction. Or the millions of people who are actively dying right now of cancers and lung diseases because of fossil fuel pollution, as opposed to the dozens killed and thousands sickened by Chernobyl and Fukishima, the only significant accidents in 60 years of carbon-free nuclear power. But her distress seemed so genuine, I didn't have the heart. Add exhaustion and the human urge to find agreement in times of trouble and the even more human urge to shrug off the world and get on with your little private life—I had promised my wife a gift of some French lingerie, an errand far more pleasant than yet another bleak conversation about climate change—and the dilemma of the world leaders had settled in beside us on the lobby's red velvet chairs. Dr. Stewart-Harawira seemed to sense it. "Things are changing much more rapidly," she said. "We have less and less time." At the climate conference, she added, one word kept coming up. It had become a default expression, a kind of verbal shrug, the simplest way to sum it all up without getting into all the details: interesting. As in the old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. "Interesting," she repeated, rolling the syllables around in her mouth. "What a shocking word that is." |
I was two years old when my activities first came to the attention of MI5. In 1952, nothing if not thorough, a security service officer carefully filed a copy of an article written by my father in the Daily Worker about the books good Communists should encourage their children to read. The answer, my father wrote, was complicated by the age factor. "My son (aged 2½) adores Tootles the Train [see footnote] but would scarcely enjoy Kidnapped yet." And there the truth about Tootles and me might have remained. But someone in MI5 decided last year it was time to place 12 files of surveillance records on my father, covering the years 1938 to 1960, in the public domain. Why his files were released, I have no way of knowing. But they are in the National Archives and I have read them. They reveal lots about my parents. But they also say lots that is freshly topical this week about the logic and limits of attempts to monitor political threats. It was never a secret that my father, Arnold Kettle, was a Communist. He joined the Communist party in 1936 as an undergraduate at Cambridge and he was still a member when he died 50 years later. He spent most of his life as a university English teacher, wrote Marxist books on the novel, and was on the CP's inner executive committee. All this was public knowledge. But my father was also a member of the 1930s Cambridge Apostles, along with the spies Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess, both of whom he knew, and he made occasional visits behind the Iron Curtain after the war. Was there, perhaps, more to his political activites than he ever admitted? Was he even in some way a spy? Arnold was certainly a secretive man. And a disciplined one. His loyalty to the Communist party rarely wavered. Only after he died, for example, did I discover that, as a member of the CP executive in 1956, he had voted in a minority of two to condemn the Soviet invasion of Hungary. But the vote went against him and, as he believed in party discipline, he never referred to it again. But the most striking aspect of the MI5 records on him is paradoxical. They are simultaneously thorough and inadequate, a point echoed in recent criticisms of the service today. Arnold's files are full of carbon copies of innumerable memos and reports. But he was a medium-sized target in a huge operation. By 1952, according to Christopher Andrew's history, MI5 knew the names of 90% of the CP's 35,000 members — not least by bugging the party's Covent Garden headquarters, but above all because they had acquired the party membership lists. My father first crops up in MI5's files in 1938 in what now seem romantic circumstances, a member of a student delegation to Barcelona during the Spanish civil war. During the second world war, he applies to work in intelligence, but is rejected as "highly undesirable". When he goes for officer training , MI5 keeps in touch with his officers. "I have observed no evidence of anything subversive in his conduct ... Kettle is not a striking figure physically," one of them writes back. After the war, his marriage to my mother is noted – "she is an ardent communist and seems to be present when anything of note is taking place in the left-wing world in London" – and they move to Leeds. His mail is opened, and there are phone intercepts whenever he contacts the CP headquarters or stays with prominent Communists during London visits. His bank accounts are monitored. In 1952, with Doris Lessing and others, he visits the Soviet Union. An MI6 report describes him as "an intellectual with a clever approach to communism when talking to the unconverted, in that he appears to ask searching or suspicious questions concerning the regime in the USSR but sees that the answers are always favourable to the Soviet side". That gets it about right. Sometimes the reports widen into less conventional subjects. Cambridge police report to MI5 about a meeting "at which Dr Arnold Kettle will speak on Hamlet". An intercepted letter, carefully filed for posterity, asks for Arnold's views on Shelley. A note reveals that Arnold has defended EP Thompson's views on William Morris in a party meeting. A party official asks why Arnold's new book is "imbued with the Leavis critical approach" and contains "nothing approaching Marxist criticism". In 1958, Arnold writes a letter to the party urging them not to denounce Boris Pasternak's Dr Zhivago, "a work of great genius by a man of extraordinary intelligence and honesty". John Berger writes back, intercepted again, to congratulate him. Occasionally, there is something more serious. An invitation from party HQ to take part in a meeting on "the development of automation and automatic devices which are substituting larger numbers of clerical and accounting workers" leads to him being tailed across London by the legendary Jim Skardon, interrogator of Kim Philby. Then, during a 1958 visit to Leeds, the Communist party leader John Gollan, who is being tailed, gives him a box, thought by MI5 to contain money, which he places in his bank for a year, before giving it back to Gollan. It looks as though Moscow gold passed through our house. Certainly many Indian and African students did so; "they all appeared to be intellectual types", a watcher reported. On a personal level, these 12 files are of course hugely fascinating to me. But what wider lessons, if any, do they contain? I think MI5 was right to try to monitor the Communists. At least in its early days, the CP wanted to overthrow capitalism and transform the British state – and it was being financed by a hostile power to do so. MI5 could hardly look in the other direction, even when it was clear, as it certainly was by the 1950s, that the CP wasn't going anywhere as a revolutionary force and was increasingly looking for democratic and liberal legitimacy. My father was a small part of that, not a spy, but some monitoring of our lives made sense. Maybe there are more damning files elsewhere. In their absence, though, the picture in these documents is of someone who was not so much wicked or threatening as wrong. "Nobody any longer believes socialism won't work," Arnold is reported to MI5 as saying in 1959. Half a century on, plenty of people believe the opposite. My father got a lot of the individual issues – Spain, Hungary, Stalin, Pasternak and certainly Hamlet – right. But he and his comrades got the big call very wrong indeed. Reading these files does not make me shocked so much as sad. Ironically, my father did have a real secret. His family have known it for years. Doris Lessing wrote about it in her autobiography. And MI5 knew about it too. "It has been suggested from a somewhat doubtful source that Dr Kettle may have homosexual tendencies," they noted in 1953. The source was right. Five years later, the watchers reported: "Kettle attends meetings of the political committee in London on the second Saturday in each month, following which he makes contact with homosexual friends in St Martin's Lane and Soho." Half a century on, much of the technology of surveillance has changed out of recognition from those distant days. So have the threats. But the pressure to monitor the potentially dangerous is just as great as it was in the cold war era. I want MI5 to protect us from bombers like the 7/7 jihadis or butchers like the Norwegian racist. I'd like to think they have become better at sorting out the lethal from the harmless and the public from the private. "It is a wonder that you can pick as many locks leading into the hearts of the wicked men as you do," Oliver Cromwell's son wrote to England's spymaster John Thurloe. Then as now, the effort comes at a high price. • This footnote was appended on 29 July 2011: Tootle, the story of a young locomotive, by Gertrude Crampton was published in 1945. Tootles the Taxi by Joyce B Clegg was first published in 1956 with a revised edition by Lynne Bradbury published in 1984. |
The Summer of Love 1967: John Lennon was tired of Britian, tired of living a life in public, tired of the relentless clamor of fans, and the dreary British weather. The Beatles had stopped touring in 1966 and were now focusing their energies on being a studio band. Lennon wanted some peace and quiet—somewhere he could have a life of privacy. At a meeting The Beatles held to discuss plans for their next film The Magical Mystery Tour in July 1967, Lennon raised the suggestion of the band buying a Greek island for them all to live on. As Lennon said at the time: We’re all going to live there, perhaps forever, just coming home for visits. Or it might just be six months a year. It’ll be fantastic, all on our own on this island. There some little houses which we’ll do up and knock together and live communally. They would build four villas on the island to provide accommodation for The Beatles and their families. An entertainment complex and a recording studio would be built in the middle, and there would also be homes for staff and friends. Amusingly, the idea may have been inspired by Gerry Anderson’s kids puppet series Thunderbirds, where the fictional Tracy family lived on a specially altered island from which they operated. The Beatles had lived together before when learning their trade in Hamburg, and of course, memorably on screen in Help!, where they shared a home in four connected houses. According to Beatles publicist Derek Talyor in his autobiography 20 Years Adrift: The four Beatles would have their network at the centre of the compound: a dome of glass and iron tracery not unlike the old Crystal Palace over the mutual creative/play area, from which arbours and avenues would lead off like spokes from a wheel to four vast and incredibly beautiful separate living units. In the outer grounds, the houses of the inner clique: Neil (Aspinall), Mal (Evans), Terry (Doran) and Derek, complete with partners, families and friends… Lennon may also have been talked into it by Yanni Alexis Mardas, better known as Magic Alex, the Greek electronics whizzkid who impressed Lennon with his Kinetic Light Sculptures at the Indica Gallery. As Paul McCartney later said in a biography by Barry Miles’ Many Years From Now: Alex invited John on a boat holiday in Greece, and we were all then invited. There was some story of buying a Greek island or something. It was all so sort of abstract but the first thing we had to do is go to Greece and see if we even liked it out there. The idea was get an island where you can just do what you want, a sort of hippie commune where nobody’d interfere with your lifestyle. I suppose the main motivation for that would probably be that no one could stop you smoking. Drugs was probably the main reason for getting some island, and then all the other community things that were around then… it was drug-induced ambition, we’d just be sitting around: “Wouldn’t it be great? The lapping water, sunshine, we’d be playing. We’d get a studio there. Well, its possible these days with mobiles and…” We had lots of ideas like that. The whole Apple enterprise was the result of those ideas. The plan was serious enough for Alex to strike a deal with Greek government giving The Beatles diplomatic immunity—this allowed the band to carry drugs into the country. As part of the deal to obtain diplomatic immunity, the Fab Four had to pose for pictures for the Ministry of Tourism, this was arranged without the band’s knowledge. July 1967, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, his wife Pattie, and Neil Aspinall left on the 22nd. John Lennon, his wife Cynthia, their son Julian, Paul McCartney and his girlfriend Jane Asher, Pattie’s 16-year-old sister Paula, Magic Alex, Mal Evans and Beatles’ assistant Alistair Taylor traveled out on the 23rd. MV Avi a 24-berth luxury yacht, with full crew, was hired. The Beatles and their entourage spent several days island-hopping, sunbathing and consuming large quantities of LSD, as Paul later reported: We went on the boat and sat around and took acid. It was good fun being with everyone, with trippier moments. For me the pace was a bit wearing. I probably could have done with some straight windows occasionally, I’d have enjoyed it a bit more. Harrison, meanwhile, enjoyed the holiday: It was a great trip. John and I were on acid all the time, sitting on the front of this ship playing ukuleles. Greece was on the left, a big island on the right. The sun was shining and we sang “Hare Krishna” for hours and hours. From 1967 until 1973, Greece was under the rule of a right-wing military junta, following a military coup led by Brigadier General Stylianos Pattakos and Colonels George Papadopoulos and Nikolaos Makarezos in April 1967. In other words, The Beatles were having their jollies and planning to set up home in a fascist state. When questioned about this, Lennon, ever the self-centered conciliatory diplomat when facing criticism said: I’m not worried about the political situation in Greece, as long as it doesn’t affect us. I don’t care if the government is all fascist, or communist. I don’t care. They’re all as bad as here; worse, most of them. I’ve seen England and the USA, and I don’t care for either of their governments. They’re all the same. Look what they do here. They stopped Radio Caroline and tried to put the Stones away while they’re spending billions on nuclear armaments and the place is full of US bases that no one knows about. The prickly problem of politics dismissed, the search for a perfect island continued. According to The Beatles Bible: [Alex] Mardas flew to Greece and found an island, often cited as Leslo, although such an island appears not to exist. The island is said to have had around 80 acres surrounded by four habitable islands, a small fishing village, beaches, 16 acres of olive groves, and was priced at £90,000 [equivalent of $216,000 in 1967]. This is where the story becomes cloudy—perhaps the problem of too many drugs? Firstly the name of the island has never been correctly established—Lelso? Leso? While, George later recounted a visit to one island: Eventually we landed on a little beach with a village, but as soon as we stepped off the boat it started pouring with rain. There were storms and lightning, and the only building on the island was a little fisherman’s cottage - so we all piled in: ‘‘Scuse us, squire. You don’t mind if we come and shelter in your cottage, do you?’ The island was covered in big pebbles, but Alex said, ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ll have the military come and lift them all off and carry them away.’ But we got back on the boat and sailed away, and never thought about the island again. Of course, this may be a different island from the one The Beatles instructed NEMS employee Alistair Taylor to buy on their behalf. Taylor was sent back to London to organize the purchase. Special export dollars had to be purchased before the Greek government would authorize purchase of the island—which has been described as “guitar shaped” with islands around it. By the time Taylor had negotiated the purchase, The Beatles had moved onto their next pet project, as McCartney recalled: It came to nothing. We didn’t buy an island, we came home. We were great at going on holiday with big ideas, but we never carried them out. We were also going to buy a village in England - one with rows of houses on four sides and a village green in the middle. We were going to have a side each. That was what happened when we got out. It was safer making records, because once they let us out we’d just go barmy. However, the failure to buy an(y) island made The Beatles a profit, as the exchange rate had risen, as Harrison explained: It was about the only time The Beatles ever made any money on a business venture. To make the purchase, we’d changed the money into international dollars or some currency. Then, when they changed the money back, the exchange rate had gone up and so we made about twenty shillings or so. Well, slightly more than shillings George. When the original £90,000 ($216,000) were sold back to the Greek government, the more favorable exchange rate meant the band picked up $27,360 in profit. The Beatles returned from their Greek holiday at the end of July. H/T Beatles Bible & All Things Beatles |
In the wake of Betsy DeVos’ widely panned performance in her January 17 confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), and committee chair Lamar Alexander’s decision to postpone her confirmation vote until January 31, education expert Diane Ravitch posted an open letter to Alexander, calling on him to “do the right thing” and vote against Donald Trump’s Education Secretary nominee. From 1991 to 1993, Ravitch worked for then-Secretary of Education Alexander in the George H.W. Bush administration as an Assistant Secretary. In her open letter on Huffington Post, Ravitch writes that DeVos is “unprepared, unqualified and unfit” for the office, and “would be the first Secretary of Education in our history to be hostile to public education.” These are pretty strong words from one of the nation’s most respected education experts. But Ravitch knows that through their many foundations, non-profit organizations and political organizations, DeVos’s family has spent countless millions pushing school vouchers and other policies that privatize public schools throughout the nation, but particularly in Michigan where the result has been disastrous. “Since Michigan embraced the DeVos family’s ideas about choice, Michigan has steadily declined on the National Assessment of Educational Progress,” Ravitch wrote. Michigan has gone from a middle-of-the-pack state to the bottom tier in just 12 years. The state’s NAEP ranking on fourth grade reading has dropped from 28th in 2003 to 41st in 2015, the latest results. The fourth grade math ranking has dropped from 27th in 2003 to 42nd, writes Ravitch. The Detroit Free Press runs down the numbers here. And in-depth reporting by state and national newspapers paints a bleak picture. Michigan “a public education fiasco that is perhaps unparalleled in the United States” Senators questioning DeVos only got one round of questions, five minutes each. Little time was spent on the actual performance of the Michigan school system that the DeVos family has spent so much time “reforming” over the last few decades. One in-depth look at Michigan school performance by the New York Times reported that Michigan’s 23-year experiment with school choice has created in Detroit “a public education fiasco that is perhaps unparalleled in the United States.” Michigan taxpayers spend about $1.1 billion per year on charter schools, 80 percent of which are operated by for-profit companies, more than any other state. The result, confirming the finding of the Center for Media and Democracy’s investigative report The Charter School Black Hole, is a fiercely competitive market for school student dollars in which almost all of the choices stink. The Times interviewed one mother who enrolled her son at the charter school across the street from her family home. The student earned all A’s and, the summer before seventh grade, endeavored to enroll in a science program at the University of Michigan where he struggled to keep up with students from Detroit Public Schools who were the same age. They knew the human body is made up of many cells and he had never learned that. When his school stopped assigning homework his mother removed him and found another school where he struggles to earn ‘D’s. The New York Times reported that a 2015 federal review of Michigan’s charter schools found an “unreasonably high” number of charters among the worst-performing 5 percent of public schools statewide. The number of charters on the “worst performers” list had doubled in just four years. “People here had so much confidence in choice and choice alone to close the achievement gap,” Amber Arellano, the executive director of the Education Trust Midwest, told the Times. “Instead, we’re replicating failure.” Arellano’s organization issued a report last year titled Accountability for All 2016: The Broken Promise of Michigan’s Charter Sector. The report rated Michigan’s charter school operators “devastatingly low.” Similarly, a yearlong investigation by the Detroit Free Press found that the state’s nearly nonexistent oversight fostered a raft of abuses not nearly as common in other states that permit charter schools: “Wasteful spending and double-dipping. Board members, school founders and employees steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders. Schools allowed to operate for years despite poor academic records. No state standards for who operates charter schools or how to oversee them.” “And a record number of charter schools run by for-profit companies that rake in taxpayer money and refuse to detail how they spend it, saying they’re private and not subject to disclosure laws. Michigan leads the nation in schools run by for-profits.” The Free Press uncovered a startling variety of violations of the public trust in charter schools throughout the state: A Sault Ste. Marie charter school board gave its administrator a severance package worth $520,000 in taxpayer money. A Bedford Township charter school spent more than $1 million on swampland. A mostly online charter school in Charlotte spent $263,000 on a Dale Carnegie confidence-building class, $100,000 more than it spent on laptops and iPads. Two board members who challenged their Romulus school’s management company over finances and transparency were ousted when the length of their terms was summarily reduced by Grand Valley State University. National Heritage Academies, the state’s largest for-profit school management company, charged 14 of its Michigan schools $1 million or more in rent — which many real estate experts say is excessive. A charter school in Pittsfield Township gave jobs and millions of dollars in business to multiple members of the founder’s family. Charter authorizers have allowed management companies to open multiple schools without a proven track record of success. It is no wonder that the Free Press, the state’s largest newspaper, has editorialized against DeVos: “Donald Trump has made a number of controversial cabinet nominations already. But none seems more inappropriate, or more contrary to reason, than his choice of DeVos to lead the Department of Education. DeVos isn’t an educator, or an education leader. She’s not an expert in pedagogy or curriculum or school governance. In fact, she has no relevant credentials or experience for a job setting standards and guiding dollars for the nation’s public schools. She is, in essence, a lobbyist.” DeVos “Basically Runs the State” Throughout the January 17 HELP hearing, Democrats on the committee lobbied in vain for more than one round of five minutes each to ask the nominee questions. If the HELP senators had been allowed more time, they might have asked more than one question about DeVos’s role in creating the fiasco in Detroit via lobbying and electing extremist candidates. The DeVos family pumped more than $44 million into Michigan Republican campaign committees and candidates between 1997 and 2012, and followed that up with another $8.3 million in Michigan’s 2014 and 2016 elections. And that’s just what was disclosed. They spent millions more on special interest groups, like American Federation for Children, that do not report their spending to influence elections and legislation. “Their influence can be seen in just about every major piece of education-related legislation in Michigan since the 1990s. That includes the 1993 law that permitted charters in the state and a 2011 vote to lift a cap on the number of charter schools in the state,” says Politico. The Detroit Free Press reported last summer that Betsy DeVos and her husband Dick DeVos gave $1.45 million to Republican legislators in Michigan during just a seven-week period after which they reversed themselves on a charter school accountability bill that DeVos opposed. Ravitch put the DeVos’s influence more succinctly when she was interviewed by Chris Hayes on MSNBC on the night of the DeVos confirmation hearing: “She basically runs the state. They do whatever she wants.” After nearly a quarter century of political pressure from DeVos and her family, Michigan taxpayers spend $1.1 billion a year on charter schools while state laws regulating charters are among the nation’s weakest, and the state demands little accountability in how taxpayer dollars are spent and how well children are educated. When asked by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) at the HELP hearing if she will hold charters to the same standards as public schools, DeVos refused to answer. “If confirmed, will you insist on equal accountability for any K-12 school or educational program that receives federal funding, whether public, public charter or private?” Kaine asked. But DeVos dodged “I support accountability,” she said repeatedly before saying no. Calls Flood Congress Politico and The Hill are reporting today that calls against DeVos are flooding Congress. At the moment there appears to be more push back on her nomination than any other. Film maker and Michigan native Michael Moore is calling for her defeat “our first nationwide action since the March!” Teachers and parents are pushing back as well. The National Education Association is calling on people to add their voices to the 800,000 who have already contacted Congress and the American Federation of Teachers is also calling on the public to take action. The Democrats on the HELP committee have officially requested that Alexander hold an additional hearing with DeVos. |
There is a term used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church: "making reparation". It's required before a sin can be forgiven. But the four orders of nuns whose members used, abused and exploited for profit hundreds of other women over generations, seem not to be aware of it. The women who had the power, the all-powerful authority figures in the headquarters of the religious orders, and their "sisters", who had less but perhaps even more dangerous power, and stalked the Magdalene Laundries like the jailers they were, denied their prisoners hope, justice and charity. And they made a nice little (actually a very large) financial profit from it. There is a term used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church: "making reparation". It's required before a sin can be forgiven. But the four orders of nuns whose members used, abused and exploited for profit hundreds of other women over generations, seem not to be aware of it. The women who had the power, the all-powerful authority figures in the headquarters of the religious orders, and their "sisters", who had less but perhaps even more dangerous power, and stalked the Magdalene Laundries like the jailers they were, denied their prisoners hope, justice and charity. And they made a nice little (actually a very large) financial profit from it. The crimes for which their victims were imprisoned were poverty, loneliness, bereavement, abandonment, and in the cases of those who were pregnant, innocence betrayed. The money the victims' unpaid sweated labour made for the orders who had power over them amounted to vast wealth: assessed at €1.5bn in 2009. And now the inheritors of that huge wealth, the current heads of the religious orders of nuns whose names struck terror into the dispossessed of past generations, are arrogantly and yes, wickedly, refusing to hand over a penny piece to make reparation for years of profitable and cruel exploitation. It's that glaring and that simple. Equally simple, it seems, is the fact that neither the legal system, the parliamentary system, nor the judicial system can do anything about it. Once again our utterly inadequate and flawed Constitution has failed to make provision for justice. Because that is what it means if the Dail is unable to pass laws to rectify this glaring injustice. And I certainly give the Taoiseach enough credit on the Magdalene issue to accept that he has taken advice before telling the Dail that he can only appeal to the hard-faced, financially cold-hearted money-grabbing religious orders of nuns to do their "moral and ethical duty", in the phrase used by the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter. The Roman Catholic Church's power and wealth is constitutionally protected at every turn: the original Constitution was drafted to ensure it, as was the current document dating from 1937. And these terrible, faceless women, who are refusing even to come into the light of day to be questioned concerning their greed and arrogance, can hide behind deeds of trust, and other acts of financial sleight of hand to ensure that they cannot be touched. The "saintly simple sisters" made damn sure that their wealth was beyond the reach of the helpless women they betrayed and destroyed over the generations, and is still beyond the reach of the taxpayers who are footing the bill for their cruel injustices. (Not that any taxpayer that I have spoken to begrudges the share of the national take that is going to set up the redress scheme for the surviving Magdalene victims. The State, after all, was complicit, again due to the nefarious influence of religious brainwashing.) But most of them are incensed at our national helplessness in pursuing the perpetrators of the daily vicious cruelties and humiliations suffered by the victims. I am haunted to this day by a very early reporting experience when I covered the Children's Court. Yes, there were young thugs brought before it from time to time. But since it pre-dated the heroin scourge, it seemed to be a more innocent place than it is now. I certainly thought it was both innocent and sad as I watched two skinny (and filthy) little girls, who were 13 and 14 years old respectively, on a charge of being abroad without visible means of support. They were sentenced to a Magdalene Laundry, and fool that I was, I breathed a sigh of relief on their behalf, reared as I had been to believe the church was a just and caring institution (although I was already beginning to doubt it, and had never seen any evidence that it was a gentle one). I was talking to the clerk later and he said: "If you ask me, it should have been the two married men they were caught with who should be up here." The little girls were working prostitutes. And I was told that it was a rule that newspapers didn't report on child prostitution. Copy spiked. I shudder to imagine what they would have been put through when the holy nuns got their hands on them. I hope they escaped. I even hope they were ill enough to die before they had to suffer the hellhole for too long. We have the power under the Constitution to put people in Mountjoy for not paying their TV licence. And we do. We have the power to put people in Mountjoy for not paying parking fines. And we do (admittedly only after they've been sneering at their fellow taxpayers for years). But we don't have the power to incarcerate women who subjected others to slave labour over years. And we don't have the power to confiscate the obscene wealth that accrued because of the slave labour. Religion is supposed to be based on morality: the church teaches (or is supposed to teach) the difference between what is legal and what is moral. It's damn good at doing that when its power over lay women's bodies is threatened, as we've seen recently. But the proof of the hold the religious orders and the overall Catholic Church still have is that the most severe measure being called for on the Magdalene issue is merely that the orders involved should be stripped of their charitable status. (Even that, of course, is not possible under the laws in place in accordance with the Constitution, as the Taoiseach has had to tell us.) He also told us that the victims do not have time on their side to allow the Government to pursue the orders. There is a solution: let the taxpayer pay; we won't object. And then let the Government, and all future governments if necessary, pursue these orders of nuns, relentlessly and mercilessly, up to and including bankruptcy if necessary, until they have made full financial, if not moral, reparation. What we should be calling for, and I make no apology for writing it, is that any members of the religious orders who were responsible for the shameful behaviour highlighted by Martin McAleese in his report into conditions in the Magdalene Laundries (in itself found to be inadequate and lacking in rigour by some survivors' representatives) who are still alive, any authority figures within the orders at the time of the laundries' operation still alive, should individually be required to serve a six-month internment under exactly the conditions imposed on their victims in the past. They should be under lock and key 24 hours a day, receive inadequate, unhealthy food, work 12 hours of hard labour daily, not be permitted to speak to each other, sleep in filthy bedding, and be regularly verbally abused and humiliated, while receiving vicious physical punishment for any infringement of the rules. For the record, the religious orders who should be so subject are: the Mercy Sisters, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Sisters of Charity and the Good Shepherd Sisters. These dreadful cold-blooded women shame Ireland; they shame religion; they shame womanhood; and they shame the God they profess to serve. Irish Independent |
76 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2005 Last revised: 22 Jun 2009 Abstract United States law extensively regulates corporate participation in the political process. The rationale for this regulation is a concern that corporate political activity, particularly campaign contributions, will corrupt the political process and enable corporations to obtain rents at societal expense. Regulators, the media and the public generally view corporate political activity as illegitimate and distinguish it from operational business decisions. Critics of corporate political activity advocate ever-increasing regulatory restrictions and support their analysis with empirical studies that purport to demonstrate the ability of corporate donors to buy favorable legislation by making political contributions to members of Congress. This Article challenges the prevailing characterization of corporate political activity as a distortion of the political process. Using a case study methodology, the Article examines the political involvement of one company, FedEx, in a series of regulatory reforms over a forty year period. Drawing upon the business context, the legislative record, campaign finance materials and interest group analysis, the Article demonstrates that political activity has been an integral component of FedEx's business growth and operations. FedEx has successfully used its political influence to shape legislation, and FedEx's political success has, in turn, shaped its overall business strategy. Moreover, in identifying the specific components of FedEx's political activity, the Article highlights the range of mechanisms that corporations use to engage in politics, revealing that the exercise of political influence is far more complex than the purchase of political favors in a spot market. Regulation is becoming an increasingly important factor for United States businesses. As a result, corporations must integrate political activity into their overall business strategy and must develop and manage their political capital in the same way that they manage other business assets. The FedEx story demonstrates the importance of politics to business and explains the growing investment by corporations in political capital. It further explains how the business world has responded, and will continue to respond, to regulatory restrictions by developing alternative mechanisms for exerting political influence. By understanding how and why corporations participate in politics, policy-makers can better address concerns about the effect of corporate political influence. |
Following the surprise announcement of a Shenmue 3 crowdfunding campaign, that pretty much broke the internet on its inception, it is clear that there’s more to this than a simple crowdfunded game but this situation is by no means a new one. As Paul Tassi has already pointed out, the original Shenmue cost several orders more than the campaign’s $2 million goal. So this has helped to highlight a long running issue in crowdfunding, in that it’s not really funded by the crowd at all. What’s more Sony have come out and openly stated that they are supporting the game in terms of publishing costs. So what is this campaign for then? Good question and this goes back to the origins of crowdfunding, as initially it was indeed meant as a democratized form of investment where anyone who backed a project could have a say. In reality what quickly happened was that a slew of venture capitalists used the service as an audition for prospective pitches, underwriting their investment to reduce the risk. This meant the crowdfunding campaign was used to show potential interest and then the investors would then decide on its success in order to inject the actual capital to get the project off the ground. Unfortunately this situation wasn’t often disclosed and it’s only until recently when backers have begun to ask questions about this that people have come to realize the system is flawed and being misused. In Sony’s defense they have at least been transparent as to their involvement. Though it would be even better if we knew what the actual budget was and proportionally how much of that the backers have contributed to. However, this situation is similar to lots of other crowdfunded games. Sony wanted to gauge interest before they invested fully. This was likely due to the fact that the prior Shenmue games had cost a small fortune to make and Sony was wary when it came to the game’s risk profile. That said if they’d come out and said that this was what the crowdfunding campaign would be used for it is arguable whether fans would have supported it. As ultimately the point of crowdfunding is to cut out the middle man and give financial control to the backers, rather than a group of unaccountable executives in a games publisher. With any other investors involved, other than the backers, then crowdfunding can never truly work. There still needs to be a true crowdfunding platform out there, as game developers definitely need it to be creatively emancipated from publishers, it’s just that the current setup has been clearly hijacked. In the case of Shenmue 3, I am of course happy it’s happening I just wish there was more transparency in terms of these kinds of crowdfunding campaigns as well as greater honesty as to how much games really cost to make. Follow me on Twitter and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii. Read my Forbes blog here. |
Wendy Davis, a Texas state senator, got national attention last week for her marathon filibuster against an extremist package of abortion restrictions. Ms. Davis’s dramatic gesture is unlikely to stop the hard-right Texas Legislature from passing the bill, and there are many similar measures around the country that are part of a nonstop attack on women’s reproductive rights by Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion groups. But her uprising, which shot around the country on Twitter and the rest of the social Web, showed that Democrats can fight back against the anti-abortion-rights campaign. It is already showing signs of revitalizing a somnambulant Texas Democratic Party, and it should inspire abortion-rights advocates everywhere. Last Tuesday, talking for more than 11 hours, Ms. Davis actually blocked passage of the new abortion restrictions by essentially running out the clock on a special legislative session. Her victory may prove to be short-lived. Texas’s Republican governor, Rick Perry, has called another special session beginning on Monday to try to resurrect the bill. The measure, a grab bag of constitutionally dubious ideas from other places, would give Texas one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, and that is saying a lot these days. If enacted, it would ban abortions at 20 weeks post-fertilization; there would be no rape exception, and a narrow physical health exception would jeopardize women’s lives by requiring risk to a “major bodily function” before a woman could terminate a pregnancy. |
Photosynthesis Munich, 07/10/2013 Photosynthesis takes place in specialized membrane systems, made up of stacked disks linked together by unstacked planar leaflets. An LMU team has now identified a protein that tucks the membrane in at the edge of each stack. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrograph of a chloroplast in maize (Zea mays) showing thylakoids (green) and assimilation starch granules (grey). (Prepared by freeze fracturing; micrograph is pseudo-colored.) (Source: G. Wanner LMU) By making use of sunlight to generate molecular oxygen and other energy-rich chemical compounds that other organisms can utilize as nutrients, photosynthesis provides the basis for almost all life on Earth. Radiant energy from the Sun is captured by pigment-protein complexes embedded in specialized membrane systems called thylakoids. The thylakoids of green plants reside within organelles called chloroplasts, membrane-bounded compartments in the cell cytoplasm that serve as self-contained reaction vessels. Thylakoids are made of stacks of 5 to 20 flat membrane sacs called grana, and extended planar membrane sheets that serve to interconnect them, so that all thylakoids in a chloroplast form a continuous network. To form the stacks of appressed sacs, the membrane must be bent into a tight fold at their edges. This implies that the thylakoid membranes forming the grana stacks must somehow be induced to curve at regular intervals. “The origin of the stacked organization of the thylakoids and the local alterations in membrane curvature has been a complete mystery up to now,” says LMU biologist Professor Dario Leister. Leaning into the curve with CURT1 Leister and his group have now identified a new family of proteins, whose members spontaneously cause membranes to bend. The researchers call them CURT1 proteins (for CURvature of Thylakoids). “Without CURT1 proteins, there are no stacks,” Leister reports. Using the model plant Arabidopsis, he and his colleagues have been able to show that the concentration of CURT is directly correlated with the number of thylakoid stacks in chloroplasts. CURT1 itself is primarily localized at the edges of the grana, exactly where the membrane is maximally curved. In addition, the researchers have shown in the test-tube that isolated CURT1 molecules spontaneously assemble into larger complexes that can alter the curvature of membranes. “It is therefore likely that the aggregation of several CURT1 molecules plays an important role in the formation of thylakoid stacks in the chloroplasts,” Leister concludes. In the longer term, the new findings could contribute to the optimization of photosynthesis. The grana stacks in the thylakoids are enriched for the antennal proteins that gather and channel light energy and the reaction centers known as Photosystem II. They are therefore, in many respects, more efficient energy converters than the single-layered membrane sheets that connect them together, which harbor Photosystem I. Understanding how CURT1 functions might therefore allow one to increase the degree of stacking and enhance the efficiency of photosynthesis – and perhaps increase yields from crop plants. In cooperation with the Edmund Mach Foundation (Trento, Italy) and the University of Trento, the authors of the new study have applied for patent protection for the use of CURT1 in this setting. The study was carried out in the context of Collaborative Research Center SFB-TR 1 (Endosymbiosis: From Prokaryotes to Eukaryotic Organelles), and was financed by the DFG. (Plant Cell 2013) göd |
By Terence Dooley The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) has revealed that Liverpudlian rivals Callum Smith, 25, and Rocky Fielding, 27 have been pencilled in for a September showdown. The Super middleweight contenders face Christopher Rebrasse and Brian Vera respectively at the city’s Echo Arena on June 26, an Eddie Hearn-promoted bill, then face the prospect of fighting each other later this year. Hearn won the rights to stage the contest after agreement was ‘reached between the parties’ and a date of September 26 has been set. The venue is yet to be confirmed, but both men will be confident of bringing a lot of supporters with them if the fight takes place in their home city. Smith is one of four boxing brothers, he holds a 16-0 (12) record and steps up in class against the Frenchman. Fielding is also undefeated, 20-0 (11), and will hope to prove his credentials against Vera, who has twice gone the distance with Julio Cesar Chavez. A fight between the two for the British title vacated by Paul Smith would be warmly welcomed by British boxing fans. Please send news and views to @Terryboxing |
Xbox One Exclusive Quantum Break Is Close to Finished, Won’t Have Spanish Voice Overs Giuseppe Nelva January 8, 2016 3:26:32 AM EST Remedy Entertainment officially confirmed today on Twitter that the upcoming Xbox One Exclusive Quantum Break, won’t have voice overs in Spanish, and will instead come with Spanish subtitles and voices in English for the local market. To clarify @Xbox_Spain statement, yes, Spanish version of #quantumbreak will have Spanish subtitles and English VO. — Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames) January 8, 2016 The studio also apologized to the Spanish fans, mentioning that the decision is out of Remedy’s hands, while they understand the disappointment of the Spanish fans. We realise this is disappointing and we apologise to our fans in Spain. These sorts of decisions are not ours to make. — Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames) January 8, 2016 Remedy Head of PR Thomas Puha elaborated further on the reasons behind the decision, mentioning that it has been taken by Microsoft according to market size and local marketing budgets. @ComunidadRemedy @KyroxSP @remedygames @SamLakeRMD I dont think we have announced the full localisation plans. Market size dictates this. — Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) January 7, 2016 Unfortunately, the team is not aware of what other localization options will be included with the game, nor when they will be announced. We cannot confirm or tell you what localisation there is in the game. Not sure when that information will be announced. — Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames) January 8, 2016 In other news, Puha also mentioned that the game is very close to finished, and the team is getting quite tired due to the final crunch, but the camaraderie he sees is “inspiring.” Not too much time left. #quantumbreak is So close to being done. Team is getting pretty tired, but inspiring to see the camradrie. — Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) January 7, 2016 Personally, I can’t wait to see how Quantum Break will turn out. On April 5th we’ll all be able to enjoy the fruit of Remedy’s hard work. |
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