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Metro recently released a summary of community feedback on its proposal to move a short segment of routes 3 and 4 from James St to Yesler Wy. As we’ve come to expect with proposals to change the oldest parts of Metro’s network, the feedback was deeply muddled. Metro’s Magic 8-Ball said: “Reply Hazy, Try Again.” Online survey respondents favored the change, 53 to 40 percent. Most of the few people who contacted Metro by email or phone opposed the change. Stakeholder organizations were split along geographic lines; First Hill Improvement Association and WHEEL (which operates a women’s shelter near 8th and James) opposed the change, while Yesler Terrace Community Council supported it. Supporters cited better reliability and improved service to Yesler Terrace, while opponents concentrated on potential difficulties accessing services on James for seniors and people with limited mobility. In keeping with this split feedback, Metro plans to study a variety of options using both James and Yesler. The agency will study transit priority measures on James, to see if there is any way to speed up buses despite the very high volume of I-5 traffic. Previous studies have found bus lanes on James infeasible because the volume of I-5 car traffic trying to use James would create gridlock on other streets (including 9th Avenue, which the current routes use), but Metro will have another look. At the same time, the agency will continue designing trolley overhead and other infrastructure along the Yesler route. Finally, the agency will look at putting another (presumably less frequent) route onto James to provide access while moving routes 3 and 4 to Yesler. By its nature, this feedback process could not include any voice representing the over 5,000 net new residents (including about 1,100 low-income residents) who will come to Yesler Terrace once redevelopment ($) is complete. Redevelopment will turn Yesler Terrace into one of the city’s densest areas, and no comparable development is proposed for the area around James Street. Yesler Terrace and downtown are currently connected only by infrequent route 27, which is obviously insufficient to serve the new population. As a regular route 3 rider, I think the combination of reliability improvements and Yesler Terrace redevelopment makes the move to Yesler the obvious best option for routes 3 and 4. Community feedback regarding access to the James/5th and James/8th stops, though, may warrant moving a low-ridership coverage route (the 27?) to James to serve those stops, despite the delays for riders that will certainly result. |
We Need Pakistan-Style Blasphemy Laws, and Public Floggings! If only our beloved Christian Right had a clue how cartoonish they look… In a new column posted on Matt Barber’s BarbWire website, Tristan Emmanuel calls for the reinstatement of blasphemy laws in order to punish Bill Maher for his recent comments about God. In a piece entitled “Does Maher Deserve A Whipping For Slandering God?,” Emmanuel says there was a time when people like Maher were publicly whipped and physically punished for saying such things and argues that it is time for Christians to demand the reinstatement of such laws before God releases His wrath upon the entire nation for tolerating such blasphemy. Transcript: There was a time when a generation of believers actually believed in defending the honor of God and would have done just that — condemn Maher. Back then Maher would have faced stiff penalties for his slanderous crimes against God and country. Here is an example of how America once dealt with the likes of Bill Maher. “Be it declared and enacted by the Lieutenant Governor, Council and Representatives, convened in General Assembly, and it is enacted by the Authority of the same, that if any person shall presume willfully to blaspheme the holy Name of God, Father, Son, or Holy Ghost; either by denying, cursing or reproaching the true God; his Creation or Government of the World: or by denying, cursing, or reproaching the holy Word of God… everyone so offending shall be punished by imprisonment, not exceeding six months, and until they find sureties for good behaviours; by sitting in pillory; by whipping; boaring thorow the tongue, with a red hot iron; or sitting upon the gallows with a rope about their neck; at the discretion of the court…” — Massachusetts General Laws. Mr Emmanuel might be interested to know that this was before such a thing as America as a country, and that the assholes who wrote the above law also banned the celebration of Christmas-but back to his obsession with torture and cruelty: But I gotta say, Maher’s comments are the most shocking and heinous public utterances of blasphemy on U.S. airwaves. And worse still, Christians — and especially Christian leaders — have said very little. America is hanging on by a thin thread of longsuffering divine justice. The pugnacious degenerate Bill Maher may think blasphemy is a laughing matter. The nation of America may think it can hide behind the First Amendment. And Christians may falsely think they are demonstrating Christlike love by remaining quiet in the face of profligate profanity. Whoever dares uphold the First amendment! In the meantime, in Mr Emmanuel’s paradise on Earth… A Pakistani Christian man has been sentenced to death for blasphemy, in a case which sparked fierce rioting in the eastern city of Lahore last March. The rioting that followed the incident lasted days and saw about 3,000 Muslims attack the Christian neighbourhood, starting fires. Two churches and dozens of bibles were also desecrated in the attack. Hundreds of Muslims attacked the city’s Christian Joseph colony, torching homes, when the allegations surfaced. Sawan Masih was convicted of using derogatory remarks against the Prophet Mohammed in a row with a Muslim friend. Allegations of blasphemy against Islam are taken very seriously in Pakistan, where 97% of the population are Muslim. Several recent cases have prompted international concern about the application of blasphemy laws. Critics argue that Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are frequently misused to settle personal scores and that members of minority groups are also unfairly targeted. Let’s usher in a new era of intolerance and persecution, frivolous accusations and mob “justice”! |
Steve Peregrin Took (born Stephen Ross Porter; 28 July 1949 – 27 October 1980) was an English musician and songwriter. He is best known for his membership of the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan. After breaking with Bolan, he concentrated on his own singer-songwriting activities, variously as a solo artist or as a frontman for several bands. Career [ edit ] Early life (1949-1967) and Tyrannosaurus Rex (1967–1969) [ edit ] Took was born Stephen Ross Porter in Eltham, London, on 28 July 1949, and attended Shooters Hill School. He took his name from the hobbit Peregrin Took in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. At the age of 17, having played drums for some months with a mod band named the Waterproof Sparrows (bass player John Rains), he answered an advert in Melody Maker for Tyrannosaurus Rex, the electric band that Marc Bolan was forming following his departure from John's Children. After one disastrous concert at the Electric Garden in London,[3] Bolan and Took reduced the band to a duo, busking in subways on acoustic guitar and bongos, Took having been obliged to sell his full drum kit to pay the rent until paying gigs started to come in. The flower-power unit, championed by John Peel onto the club and stage circuit and thence into the record shops, released three albums and achieved two top 40 hits. Took contributed harmony backing vocals, which are more noticeable in live recordings than on studio recordings, and provided bongos, African drums, kazoo, pixiphone, and Chinese gong. Took's arrangements contributed to transforming Bolan's music from the straightforward rock 'n roll it had previously been into an exotic brew of musical styles designed to appeal to Bolan's new audience of hippies. Towards the end of his time in the band, as Bolan began returning to the electric guitar, Took returned to a full drum set and also contributed some bass guitar parts.[4] The band’s producer Tony Visconti credited Took with much of the sound and success of Tyrannosaurus Rex. In an interview for the documentary “Marc Bolan: The Final Word”, Visconti opined that “Marc and Steve were a true 50:50 partnership. Steve was a remarkable musician, he could play many instruments. He played percussion, he could pick up a bass or a guitar. He would also sometimes play some cello parts. And then his backing vocals were great too.” [5] Took developed his own songwriting and in early 1969, with recording just complete on Tyrannosaurus Rex's third LP, Unicorn, Took suggested to Bolan that the duo could perform some of his own material; Bolan refused. By this time, their lifestyles were in direct conflict. Bolan was living quietly with wife-to-be June Child, while Took was rapidly forging links with "revolutionary" underground acts, such as The Deviants and The Pretty Things. The relationship was deteriorating badly—Bolan barely tolerated Took's drug use, and Steve Mann recalled that it was clear they "cordially detested each other".[6] In addition, Took's friendship with Bolan's idol Syd Barrett had also developed through their shared interests in both LSD and "strange musical noises". Mick Farren, in his memoir Give The Anarchist A Cigarette, recalled that Took would "drag a bemused Syd Barrett along" to events in Ladbroke Grove in the late 1960s; Took remained friends with Barrett well into the 1970s. Took worked with Syd Barrett on unreleased "Ramadan" tracks.[7] While in Tyrannosaurus Rex, Took also appeared as a backing vocalist on a session for David Bowie, the results of which can be heard on the BBC sessions album Bowie at the Beeb.[4][8] Eventually, Took donated two of his songs - Three Little Piggies and The Sparrow Is A Sign - to former Tomorrow and Pretty Things drummer Twink's 1969 solo album, Think Pink.[3] Consequently, before the first Tyrannosaurus Rex tour of America, Bolan and his management sacked Took. Another contributing factor was an incident at the launch party for the UK edition of Rolling Stone, where jugs of punch prepared for the event were spiked with the hallucinogen STP. Took had already earned himself the nickname "The Phantom Spiker" (in which he rejoiced) through previous similar pranks.[3] Bolan was severely affected by the spiked drink and considered Took to be the prime suspect.[4] Took was contractually obliged to go on the US tour, but his heart was not in it and he attempted to cope through taking drugs. Additionally, the acoustic duo were overshadowed by the loud electric acts they were billed with. To counter this, he drew from the shock rock style of Iggy Pop; as Took explained to the NME in 1972 "I took my shirt off in the Sunset Strip where we were playing and whipped myself till everybody shut up. With a belt, y'know, a bit of blood and the whole of Los Angeles shuts up. 'What's going on, man, there's some nutter attacking himself on stage.' I mean, Iggy Stooge had the same basic approach."[9] This allowed the management to claim subsequently that it was Took's behaviour on stage which had caused the sacking. Bolan replaced Took with Mickey Finn, and after one further album renamed the duo T. Rex, later expanding to a full band again.[4] Pink Fairies (1969–1970) [ edit ] After being sacked by Bolan, Took formed a prototype version of the Pink Fairies with Twink and Mick Farren, recently ousted from his own band, the Deviants. This band was named in honour of a drinking club of the same name the three had formed earlier that year, along with other leading lights of the underground scene. Together with Twink's girlfriend Silva Darling, they performed what Farren would later describe as "less of a gig than a protracted harangue" at the University of Manchester in October 1969, which rapidly dissolved into chaos. Took appeared prominently on Farren's first solo album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus (recorded December 1969, released 1970). Twink and the other ex-Deviants then formed a new band called the Pink Fairies (mark 2), without Took or Farren.[10] Shagrat (1970–1971) [ edit ] In February 1970, Farren and Took headhunted guitarist Larry (or "Lazza") Wallis and bassist Tim Taylor from their underground band, the Entire Sioux Nation. A month later, Farren dropped out, leaving Took in the role of bandleader for the first time in his career. With the addition of drummer Phil Lenoir, Shagrat was formed (named after an orc in The Lord of the Rings). They recorded three tracks, "Peppermint Flickstick", "Boo! I Said Freeze" and "Steel Abortion", at Strawberry Studios and played live at the Phun City festival, before Lenoir and Taylor left. Took and Wallis continued with drummer Dave Bidwell, rehearsing with various bass players and eventually forming an acoustic trio of Took on vocals and guitar, Wallis on acoustic bass and Bidwell on tambourine. This line-up recorded a set of (at least) four home demos, "Amanda", "Strange Sister", "Still Yawning Stillborn" and "Beautiful Deceiver", at Wallis's father's home studio in South London, which in the 1990s would be paired with the earlier electric studio session for limited edition vinyl release and later a CD album release in 2001.[10] Wallis would later take over the leadership of the Pink Fairies for their Kings of Oblivion LP, substantially transforming the sound and style of the band. He and Took would work together again at various intervals in 1972, 1975–76 and 1977.[11][12] Solo acoustic performer (1971–1972) [ edit ] With Wallis and Bidwell otherwise committed to UFO and Savoy Brown respectively, the acoustic Shagrat was effectively reduced down to just Took himself performing solo on an acoustic guitar, usually sitting on a stool interspersing his songs with jokes and other onstage monologues. In this format, Took made some headway as a live performer. "Tookie" appeared in frequent support slots for Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies, attracting some coverage in the UK music press and even performing a live session on Steve Bradshaw's Breakthrough programme on BBC Radio London.[13][14] In December 1971, he headlined a three-date mini-tour of southwest England.[15] He also performed at various benefit events, including the "Nasty Balls" benefits for the Nasty Tales magazine[15] (whose editors, including Farren, were on trial for obscenity) as well as the 1972 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament festival at Aldermaston,[15][16] Steve's account of which was reprinted by Charles Shaar Murray in his book Shots From The Hip.[13] Writing for the NME in 1972, Murray described Took and his stage act thus: "Most people know who Steve Peregrine Took is, but few people know what he does. A few more know him as a somewhat bizarre figure who materialises at concerts, armed only with an Epiphone guitar, and performs a freeform set of songs, raps, jokes and anything else that flashes through his mind."[17] During this time, Took could also often be seen participating in jamming sessions during encores at Hawkwind and Pink Fairies concerts. His contributions to these jams were in the role of third drummer, and he also once played bass guitar for the "Pinks", substituting for Duncan Sanderson.[13] Management of Tony Secunda (1972–1973) [ edit ] During 1972, Took was approached by Tony Secunda, recently fired as manager for T. Rex, with a view to recovering royalties owed to Took from the Tyrannosaurus Rex years. Emerging from these conversations, Secunda became Took's manager, with a view to leading him to stardom to spite Bolan. Initially, Took attempted to rerecord as a single the song "Amanda" from the 1971 acoustic Shagrat session (along with two other tracks, Blind Owl Blues and Mr Discrete) with the assistance of the Pink Fairies rhythm section of Sanderson and Russell Hunter, whose band was temporarily defunct following the departure of Paul Rudolph. During this session, former Junior's Eyes/Bowie guitarist Mick Wayne was recruited as guitarist.[11] However, none of these tracks were ever completed to Took's satisfaction, due to what Wayne later described as "dope-induced thinking" and consequently, Wayne, Sanderson and Hunter formed a new incarnation of the Pink Fairies. (Wayne was quickly supplanted by Wallis, leading to the Kings of Oblivion era as detailed above). Took and Secunda, meanwhile, embarked upon a different approach.[11] Took moved into a basement flat beneath Secunda's Mayfair offices, which he set up as a live-in recording studio to demo material at his own ease. The flat rapidly became a magnet for the cream of musicians on the underground scene, who would contribute to the recordings while visiting Took. As well as old colleagues from Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies, Secunda reported that Took received visits from Syd Barrett, who at the time was living in Cambridge, but would shortly relocate back to London. From Secunda's account, it would appear likely that Barrett is on the recordings done in the flat by Took and his friends.[11] Highlights of the session tapes were eventually released by Cleopatra Records in 1995, as The Missing Link To Tyrannosaurus Rex. A new version of the 1971 acoustic Shagrat song "Beautiful Deceiver" is tracklisted on the CD as "Syd's Wine" and a credit for guitar and other noises is given to one Crazy Diamond, an allusion to the 1975 Pink Floyd track "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", written in tribute to Barrett. Stripped down versions of the track "Syd's Wine" reveal a second guitarist in the room and audible vocal noises.[11] Various projects (1973–1976) [ edit ] After splitting with Secunda, Took worked with a number of Hawkwind members, most notably Robert Calvert, Adrian Wagner,[18] and Nik Turner. Took was scheduled to be the support act for Calvert's cancelled "Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters" tour. He and Bidwell formed at least two bands, the first with guitarist Eisuke Takahashi, the second with guitarist Hiroshi Kato and future Hawkwind bassist Adrian Shaw.[19] The latter line-up recorded a session of four tracks in summer 1974 including Flophouse Blues (previously recorded twice in the 1972 Secunda sessions)[20] For some time around 1975, Took lived in the Kent towns of Canterbury and Margate, where he took on local musician and promoter Les Best as his manager. While down there, Took formed a new band, Jolly Roger And The Crimson Gash, with Takahashi now on bass and two local musicians, Brian East on drums and a guitarist called Phil. This band gigged locally and recorded at least four tracks, produced by Turner at his home studio in Westgate on Sea.[21] Steve Took's Horns (1976–1978) [ edit ] By 1976, Took was back in London and using the bandname Steve Took's Horns, so called after a horned pendant which he habitually wore. By mid 1977, this had solidified into a steady line-up featuring, in what would be the first of several bands together over many years, Trevor Thoms and Ermanno Ghisio-Erba, later better known to Inner City Unit (ICU) fans as Judge Trev and Dino Ferari.[12] This group, managed by Turner's friend since adolescence Tony Landau, recorded a session of three studio tracks – It's Over, Average Man and Woman I Need – at Pathway Studios on 29 November 1977, before going on to perform a gig on 18 June 1978 at The Roundhouse, as part of "Nik Turner's Bohemian Love-In". Took felt the gig went badly, and decide to split up the band.[12] The Pathway Studios session would be released on CD by Cherry Red in 2004, as Blow It!!! The All New Adventures of Steve Took's Horns, with the CD also featuring out-takes, remixes and fresh recordings of two other Took songs – Ooh My Heart and Too Bad – which the Horns had been rehearsing.[22] Involvement with Inner City Unit (1979–1980) [ edit ] Despite the break-up, Steve Took's Horns had made a considerable impression on Took's circle of acquaintances. Consequently, Nik Turner, having first drafted Ghisio-Erba/Ferari into his band Sphynx for a live festival LP recorded that August, went on in 1979 to incorporate the Thoms/Ghisio-Erba partnership into his new Inner City Unit. Took guested with ICU a number of times, reuniting with his old Horns sidemen; the last recorded dates being 16 June 1980 at London's Music Machine and sometime around 21 June 1980 at the Stonehenge Free Festival in Wiltshire – a festival frequented by other 'Festival Bands', most famously Took's old Ladbroke Grove cohorts Hawkwind. Bootleg recordings exist of the above-mentioned Music Machine show and also an open-air performance on 6 May 1980[23] at Meanwhile Gardens in Notting Hill Gate, on both of which Took can be heard performing lead vocals on a cover of The Beatles' version of Larry Williams' "Slow Down"[23][24][25] Personal life [ edit ] Took had one son in the early 1970s with partner Lindsay Tunstall aka Lou, later the partner of Landau. Took also had relationships with, among others, Valerie "Sam" Billiet (1979-1980) drug baroness Gertrude de Freyne (1977-1978), a woman called Angie (1969-1971)[26] and Tracy Inder, the mother of Lemmy's son Paul Inder, to whom Took was a stepfather figure during the relationship (1974-1976.)[27] as he later also was to Billiet's daughter. Death [ edit ] Steve Took died on Monday 27 October 1980 at 14 Clydesdale House, 255 Westbourne Park Road, Notting Hill, London W11 1ED, aged 31, in the maisonette he shared with Billiet and her young daughter. As a consequence of intervention by Best, now once again Took's manager, royalty cheques for the Tyrannosaurus Rex 'Blue Thumb' American releases had been arriving periodically, and Took had received one that week. The day prior to his death, Took purchased morphine and hallucinogenic mushrooms for himself and Billiet, and the evening before Took died, they both injected themselves with the morphine.[24] Took's death certificate records the cause of death as being asphyxiation after inhaling a cocktail cherry. Drugs were not listed as a contributory factor,[28] even though Took's death is often listed as a "drugs misadventure".[29] He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery (Square 103, in the north-west quadrant of the infilled path around the Inner Circle).[30] Discography [ edit ] 1970 – Mick Farren – Mona – The Carnivorous Circus featuring Steve Took as 'Shagrat the Vagrant' (Transatlantic Records) featuring Steve Took as 'Shagrat the Vagrant' (Transatlantic Records) 1971 – Twink: Think Pink (LP feat. two Took songs, recorded summer 1969) (Sire Records) (LP feat. two Took songs, recorded summer 1969) (Sire Records) 1990 – Shagrat: "Amanda" (b/w "Peppermint Flickstick") 7" single (Shagrat Records, distributed by Pyg Track) 1992 – Steve Took's Shagrat: Nothing Exceeds Like Excess 12" EP, sleeve by Edward Barker (Shagrat Records, distributed by Pyg Track) 12" EP, sleeve by Edward Barker (Shagrat Records, distributed by Pyg Track) 1995 – Steve Peregrine Took: The Missing Link to Tyrannosaurus Rex CD (Cleopatra) re-released 2002 as Crazy Diamond CD (Voiceprint) CD (Cleopatra) re-released 2002 as CD (Voiceprint) 2001 – Steve Peregrine Took's Shagrat: Lone Star CD (Captain Trip) re-released 2016, credited to "Shagrat feat. Steve Peregrin Took & Larry Wallis" on CD, 300 copy limited edition vinyl & Bandcamp with bonus tracks taken from above "The Missing Link ..." release (Purple Pyramid - subdivision of Cleopatra) CD (Captain Trip) re-released 2016, credited to "Shagrat feat. Steve Peregrin Took & Larry Wallis" on CD, 300 copy limited edition vinyl & Bandcamp with bonus tracks taken from above "The Missing Link ..." release (Purple Pyramid - subdivision of Cleopatra) 2001 – Shagrat: Pink Jackets Required CD (Get Back) CD (Get Back) 2004 – Steve Took's Horns: Blow It!!! The All New Adventures Of Steve Took's Horns CD (Cherry Red Records) Concert Tours [ edit ] Headlining [ edit ] Community Music tour of Devon/Cornwall - three dates December 1971 (two as outright headline, one as co-headline with Stealers Wheel)[15] Opening act [ edit ] (Took, as a solo performer, was scheduled to have been the opening act on Bob Calvert's cancelled 1974 Captain Lockheed UK tour.) Equipment [ edit ] As a singer songwriter, Took's two main guitars were an Epiphone acoustic guitar decorated with stickers (including one of Eddie Cochran) used for solo work, last known to have been in the possession of Billiet, and an electric Rickenbacker used as a rhythm guitar with Took's electric bands, currently owned by Best. Both guitars feature prominently in Keith Morris' early 1970s publicity photographs of Took.[31][32] Previously as a member of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Took's percussion and other equipment included bongos, tabla, finger cymbals, African talking drum, kazoos, a Chinese gong and a Pixiphone (toy xylophone). As the duo reverted to electric music in early 1969, Took also played a Höfner 500/1 bass and a Chad Valley toy drumkit. In later years, when performing solo support gigs for Hawkwind, Took would often include his bongos as part of his equipment so that, later in the evening, he could guest with Hawkwind on a few songs in their set. |
The Foreword to The Battle for Iran lists sources used, including the "enthusiastic cooperation" of the Near East operations staff. It reconfirms that CIA officials destroyed the "great bulk" of internal correspondence about the coup in 1962. The author of the 1954 history (name excised) was Donald Wilber. The identity of the author of this report is unknown. The Foreword to The Battle for Iran lists sources used, including the "enthusiastic cooperation" of the Near East operations staff. It reconfirms that CIA officials destroyed the "great bulk" of internal correspondence about the coup in 1962. The author of the 1954 history (name excised) was Donald Wilber. The identity of the author of this report is unknown. Washington, DC, June 27, 2014 – During early planning for the 1953 Iran coup, U.S. Ambassador Loy Henderson warned not only that the Shah would not support the United States' chosen replacement for Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq but that the Army would not play its hoped-for leading role without the Shah's active cooperation, according to a newly released version of an internal CIA history of the operation posted today by the National Security Archive. The Archive, based at The George Washington University, obtained the latest release of this history — The Battle for Iran, written in the mid-1970s — in response to a Mandatory Declassification Review request. The document goes on to say that members of the CIA's station in Tehran and certain officials at agency headquarters sided with Henderson against some of the assumptions of American coup planners, who were working under "closely held" conditions in Washington during Spring and Summer 1953. Mainly through interviews with coup participants, scholars have known generally that disagreements existed (and eventually Henderson went along with Mosaddeq's overthrow), but freshly declassified portions of the document posted today provide a few more specifics about the nature of the differences and who held to which views. (An earlier internal CIA account downplayed Henderson's dissenting views, choosing to emphasize that he was "always thoroughly cooperative" and "absorbed in a search for constructive suggestions.")[1] A tank patrols a neighborhood in Tehran, soon after August 19, 1953. (National Security Archive collections) A tank patrols a neighborhood in Tehran, soon after August 19, 1953. (National Security Archive collections) The document also offers the most explicit declassified CIA references to-date to British participation in the operation. London's role — undoubtedly the worst-kept secret in Britain's relationship with Iran over the past 60 years — has never been formally acknowledged by either British or U.S. authorities. However, in this latest CIA release at least two references are tantamount to an official admission of the fact (see below). Furthermore, the CIA study concludes that the British "misjudged their adversaries badly" in several respects, and that their actions effectively forced the Mosaddeq government to adopt untenable policies. London's rash approach also risked a war with the Soviets, according to the author (see below). The Battle for Iran is one of three agency histories of the coup that are known to exist. Although heavily excised, it contains a number of interesting details as well as insights into U.S. thinking both in the 1950s and two decades later. It also contains evidence to support the conclusion that the participation of both outside intelligence agencies and Iranians themselves (from the Shah to Mosaddeq to his political opposition to the clerics, the military and finally members of the general population) contributed to the eventual outcome:[2] The document's author does not view the coup as an undiluted success, noting that it left considerable "debris" in its wake (p. 71) The history implies American coup plotters worked directly with certain Iranian clerics on the timing of the critical August 19 demonstration, noting "the mullahs wanted to hold it on Friday, 21 August, which was a religious festival day" but that this might be too late to stave off rumored plans by the authorities to hang a number of arrested officers on August 20 (p. 62). The previous and subsequent sections are excised, so it is not possible to tell how extensive the cooperation was or who the religious leaders were. The document gives a less belittling portrait of the deposed prime minister than many Western accounts from the 1950s. It mentions his "often bizarre behavior" but concludes "most of his actions, even his most emotional and apparently irrational ones, were probably well calculated" (p. B-2). The history repeats several of the generally negative characteristics of the Shah that many other U.S. and British accounts have noted. The author writes that "his indecision and susceptibility to bad advice were notorious," and he describes the monarch as a "mistrusting but gullible ruler" (pp. 47-48) Fazlollah Zahedi, the general picked by the U.S. to replace Mosaddeq, had a "career balance sheet" with "nearly as many minuses as pluses" (p.32), according to the author. The document also highlights some of the personal and political conflicts between Zahedi and the Shah. Contradicting published accounts that Mosaddeq was pinned down in his home on August 19, and that he was forced to escape over a garden wall, this version asserts, without sourcing, that the ousted prime minister "was not even in his house" but had gone next door and "taken temporary refuge" with none other than the head of the U.S. aid program Point Four - William Warne (p. 70). (The Wilber history speculates that Mosaddeq "had probably already left" his house by early afternoon [p. 70].) The New York Times and other accounts "grossly exaggerated" the number of casualties during the coup, according to the history, which disparages Times reporter Kennett Love's descriptions of events, including his use of the phrase "torn to pieces" to describe the fates of Foreign Minister Hossein Fatemi and Col. Ezatollah Momtaz, who led the defense of the prime minister's residence on August 19. (Love put the number of dead at over 300. By comparison, a British report in early September 1953, without attribution, gave an estimate of over 50 dead and 300 wounded.[3]) Shortly after the overthrow, Shaban Jafari, celebrated wrestler and political enforcer, leads a pro-Pahlavi procession through Tehran. Propped up in the backseat of the crowded Cadillac is a large portrait of the Shah. (National Security Archive collections) Shortly after the overthrow, Shaban Jafari, celebrated wrestler and political enforcer, leads a pro-Pahlavi procession through Tehran. Propped up in the backseat of the crowded Cadillac is a large portrait of the Shah. (National Security Archive collections) The CIA had first reviewed The Battle for Iran for release in 1981, but riddled it with exceptionally heavy excisions. A re-review occurred in 2011, and again in 2013 as the result of a National Security Archive request, leading to release of the version posted today. (The posting includes all three versions.) As a rough approximation, about 40 of the 150 pages include some amount of newly released material, sometimes the better part of a page, at other times only a few words. Most of the released text is in Sections III, IV and V, with about two-and-a-half pages newly available in Appendix D. Unaccountably, Appendix E, a chronology of events, has been withheld in its entirety. The remaining excisions are too extensive to allow a thorough evaluation of the document, but some additional, preliminary comments are possible. The earliest of the CIA's three internal histories of the 1953 coup was a 1954 "Clandestine Services History" prepared by coup operative Donald Wilber. The Battle for Iran was produced some two decades later, followed by "Zendebad, Shah!": The Central Intelligence Agency and the Fall of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq in June 1998. Both Battle and Zendebad were written by historians at the CIA. The agency has released portions of the latter two documents, albeit with heavy excisions. Only one sentence of Wilber's account has been officially declassified (see Archive posting) — although in 2000 The New York Times posted virtually the entire document on its Web site after an unnamed former official leaked it to reporter James Risen. It is important to note that this version of The Battle for Iran is a draft. Each page bears the stamp "Administrative — Working Paper," and typed and handwritten edits are visible throughout. There is nothing in the public record to indicate whether a final version ever appeared and, if so, what happened to it. Another important point, and a difference between this and the earlier Wilber report — other than the amount of time that passed between their writing — is that the author of this document was a member of CIA's History Staff, not a direct participant in the operation. The current author therefore theoretically would have had less of a stake in portraying the coup in a positive light (one of the criticisms of skeptics of the Wilber history). Beyond that, it is unclear why the agency would have commissioned another internal history on the subject — much less seek a third account 20 years later.[4] The Battle for Iran consists of five sections and six appendices. The 150-page document begins with a short introduction then 24 pages of background on Iran's history, population, economics, politics and government (reminiscent of the content of CIA's current "World Factbook"), more than half of which covers the Cold War period. After this section the agency, without identification or explanation, has inserted two pages of a handwritten outline of what may be the actual coup plan. The third section is entitled "Covert Action" and over the course of 45 pages discusses the operation's various stages, including planning, involving the Shah, putting the operation into play, the failure of the first attempt, and the recovery that finally produced success. A 9-page description of the aftermath follows, then the main body of the document ends with a one-and-a-half-page assessment of the coup's long-term effects. Again, much of this remains classified, despite the wide public availability of corroborating material originating from other CIA sources. Finally, seven appendices cover topics ranging from a history of the Anglo-Iranian oil dispute, to biographic information about key participants, to a set of talking points used with the Shah (heavily excised), to details about operational plans (entirely excised), and the trial of Mosaddeq. The document's overall perspective is interesting. On the one hand it accepts as given the standard precepts about the Cold War — primarily the threat of Soviet aggression, including the perception that Mosaddeq seriously intended to move closer to the Soviets. It also makes dubious assertions about the Iranian character — for example, "their tendency to be talkative was notorious" (p. 54) — that are of a piece with many Westerners' attitudes in the 1950s. On the other hand, 20 years after the fact, the author does not fall entirely in line with Eisenhower administration caricatures of Mosaddeq, pronouncing him "neither a madman nor an emotional bundle of senility" (p. 26; see also p. B-2). The matter of identifying Britain's role in the coup has become something of a poor joke. While the deletion of several passages in the text is clearly aimed at concealing the British role, at least two declassified references spotlight the issue. The first characterizes the operation as an "official admission by both the United States and United Kingdom that normal, rational methods of international communication and commerce had failed." The second notes that a few weeks before the operation a State Department office insisted that, if a coup were to go forward, London would have to provide a "firm commitment" to be "flexible" on any future oil settlement with "the new government." Shortly thereafter, the British cabled their acceptance of the conditions (pp. 39-40). In this connection, the State Department is reportedly close to publishing its long-awaited retrospective volume on the coup as part of its Foreign Relations of the United States series, which will apparently include much valuable new information. However, it seems unlikely Britain's role will be discussed. As mentioned above, the author freely criticizes the British approach. London's main misjudgment was to assume that the loss of revenue from the oil crisis would "bring the Iranians to their knees." Instead, it "merely forced them to take the risky steps that increasingly endangered their country's future" (p. 27). Moreover, if the British had "sent in the paratroops and warships," as earlier envisioned, it was "almost certain" the Soviet Union would have invaded, making the "danger of a third world war" seem "very real" (p. 27-28). As noted, the history does not see the overthrow as an unqualified good. It may have removed Mosaddeq and restored the Shah but "it left behind a good deal of debris [words excised] to clean up, plus not a few complications." (The next half page of detail is excised.) (p. 71) The coup changed Iranian history, but it "did not, as Churchill hoped, enable the West to turn things around in the Middle East" (p. 79). The author's characterization of the Shah may raise some eyebrows. He was "by no means a dedicated Western ally" even though he served Western interests by being staunchly anti-Soviet. His reforms brought important changes, according to the author, and the White Revolution is credited with having "solidified the foundations of the throne that seemed so shaky and insecure in the violent days of 1952 and 1953." At the same time, the history acknowledges the obvious, that "the Shah has a monopoly of political power ... although parliamentary elections and procedures may furnish the window-dressing of democratic government" (p. 79-80). In one particular respect, the document is a reflection of its time. Written in the mid or possibly late 1970s, it comes in the wake of the revelations of widespread CIA misconduct by journalists such as Seymour Hersh and official investigations, notably the Church and Pike congressional committees and the Rockefeller Commission on CIA abuses. This was the era when the agency was publicly pilloried as a "rogue elephant" operating without presidential authority or accountability. That is the background for the opening comments in Part III, which have a distinctly defensive tone. "The many chroniclers of Central Intelligence Agency misdeeds ... have long placed the August 1953 coup ... near the top of their list of infamous Agency acts ... The point that the majority of these accounts miss is a key one: the military coup that overthrew Mosadeq and his National Front cabinet was carried out under CIA direction as an act of U.S. foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government" (p. 26). THE DOCUMENT: The Battle for Iran, CIA History Staff, ca. mid-1970s For purposes of comparison, this posting includes all three releases of the document — each of which has very different excisions. Each version has been broken into segments for ease of viewing. The Battle for Iran, 2014 release A: Sections I and II (with attached handwritten outline of plans) B: Section III, IV, and V C: Appendixes The Battle for Iran, 2011 release A: Sections I and II B: Section III C: Appendixes The Battle for Iran, 1981 release A: Sections I and II B: Appendixes NOTES [1] Mark Gasiorowski of Tulane University has done the most extensive interviewing of former operatives. The leaked history is: Donald N. Wilber, CIA Clandestine Services History, Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran: November 1952 - August 1953 , March 1954, especially p. 18. When Wilber wrote this document, Henderson was still an active diplomat, and in fact still posted to Iran, necessitating some significant diplomacy on this point on Wilber's part. (See Archive EBB No. 435.) [2] This is the conclusion of the editors of the volume Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran, edited by Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne (Syracuse University Press, 2004). In recent years a handful of analyses, downplaying or dismissing altogether the evidence in certain American and British sources, have claimed neither the CIA nor British intelligence contributed meaningfully to Mosaddeq's actual overthrow. [3] "Persia: Political Review of the recent Crisis," origin unknown but likely Foreign Office or British Embassy in Washington, September 2, 1953. SeeForeign Relations of the United States, Vol. X, "Iran, 1951-1954," p. 786. Love evidently did not make up the phrase that Battle's author called "a favorite" of his. This same British document reports that pro-Shah forces announced from the radio station at 2:30 p.m. on August 19 that Fatemi had been "torn to pieces" (p. 785). [4] An attempt in June 2014 to contact a member of the CIA History Staff familiar with the background of the 1998 history received no response. |
MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, dismayingly blames post-Ferguson demand for police restraint as cause of spike in Chicago murders. (Photo: Talk Radio News Service) Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the head of the nation's third largest city, is standing by his deadly pronouncement that police officers need to return to "pre-Ferguson" non-transparent and "aggressive” policing. This is the racist policing style that not infrequently results in brutality, the targeting of people of color and law enforcement officers literally getting away with murder. As reported in The Chicago-Sun Times on October 9, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is blaming a record-setting bloodletting September in Chicago on police officers allegedly becoming less aggressive. Emanuel contemptuously - and puzzlingly - complains that the murder spike among citizens occurred in the wake of the video revelations of police around the nation murdering people of color and harassing them: Chicago’s police union is taking exception to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s description of Chicago cops as being “fetal” and not proactively policing because they’re afraid of getting in trouble when citizens post YouTube videos of their interactions with the public. Emanuel’s comments came as he urged support for police during a private meeting [last] Wednesday with big-city police chiefs, the U.S. attorney general, the head of the FBI and other law-enforcement and elected officials, according to a Washington Post reporter who was there. “We have allowed our police department to get fetal and it is having a direct consequence,” Emanuel told U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “They have pulled back from the ability to interdict . . . they don’t want to be a news story themselves, they don’t want their career ended early, and it’s having an impact.” Emanuel's pushback on the outrage over police harassing and brutally treating people of color is an astonishing and repulsive position. In trying to defend his own culpability for a rising murder rate in Chicago, he is blaming what he and his chief of police derisively call "a Ferguson effect." The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and Emanuel have previously referred to a “Ferguson effect,” a theory that suggests cops have stopped policing aggressively for fear of being disciplined. It refers to the August 2014 shooting death of a black teenager, Michael Brown, by a white officer in Ferguson, Mo. A grand jury investigated the shooting and did not find any criminal wrongdoing by the officer. Many of Chicago's Black alderpersons have a different outlook according to The Chicago Tribune: September was Chicago's deadliest month since 2002, with 60 homicides. Through Sept. 27, homicides and shooting incidents had risen 21 percent from the year-earlier period, Police Department numbers show. Most of the City Council's black aldermen last week called for Emanuel to fire police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, but the mayor said he supports his top cop. Make no mistake about the implications of Emanuel's taunting of the Chicago Police - known for its history of plantation policing in communities of color, including torture, beatings, killings and ongoing harassment. While so many advocates of justice and building safe spaces for people of color see the visual and audio recordings of police misconduct - including the use of lethal force - as a vehicle for building transformative change, Mayor Emanuel sees the revelations of police brutality as a negative development that has put police, as he hyperbolically stated, in a "fetal position." One needs to take a deep breath to comprehend the malicious, racist, violent and bullying implications of Emanuel's words. Instead of addressing the root causes of violence in Chicago, Emanuel is reverting to advocating policies of keeping vast swaths of economically distressed urban neighborhoods of color from exploding through feeding the mass-incarceration system and "aggressive" policing. "Aggressive" policing, as we know, is a euphemistic phrase that allows cops to take actions toward people of color knowing that the mayor, police chief and district attorneys will back them up. It implicitly includes a license to kill people deemed disposable by society. Take the recent “investigation” into the shooting of a Black youth by another Midwestern police force, this one in Cleveland. On October 10, The New York Times reported on "outside" studies issued on the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was playing with a toy gun, by Cleveland police: Two outside investigators looking into the death of Tamir Rice have concluded that a Cleveland police officer, Tim Loehmann, acted reasonably in deciding last year to shoot when he confronted the 12-year-old boy carrying what turned out to be a replica [i.e. toy] gun.... “The question is not whether every officer would have reacted the same way,” Kimberly A. Crawford, the retired F.B.I. agent, wrote in her report, which noted that Officer Loehmann had no way of knowing Tamir’s gun was fake. “Rather, the relevant inquiry is whether a reasonable officer, confronting the exact same scenario under identical conditions could have concluded that deadly force was necessary.” That language is so reassuring to the likes of Mayor Emanuel and dangerous proponents of "pre-Ferguson" policing. The New York Times emphasizes in its headline that the "reviews say Cleveland officer acted reasonably" in fatally shooting Tamir Rice, who was playing with a toy gun in a park in November of 2014. For proponents of a policing system that is inextricably intertwined with a corrosive mass incarceration system and institutional racism, the word "reasonable" provides a rational sounding justification of their policies. Leaders like Emanuel who are proponents of using the police to maintain white privilege see those who insist that Black lives matter and who expose the racism of our criminal legal system as agitators and alarmists. This past week, Emanuel has taunted the Chicago police, accusing them of cowardice. He's unleashed them to attack people whom the government deems disposable with impunity in order to maintain the status quo of white privilege. He has cravenly evaded any responsibility for the murder rate in Chicago due to his disdain for communities of color. That is a dangerous precedent, a high-profile big city mayor intimidating his police department to unleash the dogs of Hell on those whom the white power structure wishes to cast away. Not to be reposted withtout the permission of Truthout. |
SQLite WinRT allows Windows and Windows Phone developers to create and manipulate database objects through the SQLite Data Definition Language (DDL). SQLite supports DDL statements including CREATE, ALTER, and DROP to work with objects like Tables, Indexes, Triggers, and Views. This is complimented by simplified, dynamic data types including INTEGER, NULL, REAL, TEXT, and BLOB. Admittedly, this takes some getting used to by those of you who use database engines with static typing. Here’s a quick explanation: INTEGER : A signed integer that is flexibly stored in 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8 bytes depending on the size of the value you INSERT. : A signed integer that is flexibly stored in 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8 bytes depending on the size of the value you INSERT. NULL : Nothing to see here. : Nothing to see here. TEXT : A variable-sized text string stored using UTF-8, UTF-16BE or UTF-16LE encoding. : A variable-sized text string stored using UTF-8, UTF-16BE or UTF-16LE encoding. REAL : A floating point value stored as an 8-byte IEEE floating point number. : A floating point value stored as an 8-byte IEEE floating point number. BLOB: Stores whatever you INSERT into it. Lets cut to the chase so you can see how to create a new SQLite database: private async void OpenCreateDatabase() { var db = new SQLiteWinRT.Database(Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder, "Contoso.db"); try { await db.OpenAsync(); } catch (System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException ex) { var result = SQLiteWinRT.Database.GetSqliteErrorCode(ex.HResult); throw new Exception("Failed to create database " + result); } } Walking through the code above, you quickly notice that I created an async function. This is because I use await when opening the database asynchronously on a worker thread to keep things fast and fluid. The first line of code is flexible enough to either create new database called Contoso.db or use an existing one which make our lives easier. You’ll also notice that I’m placing the database in the LocalFolder used for storage by my Windows or Windows Phone app. SQLiteWinRTPhone is used for Windows Phone and SQLiteWinRT is used for Windows tablets, laptops, and desktops. I’m wrapping the aforementioned code to open the database in a try/catch block specifically designed to deal with COM exceptions since our WinRT code is interoperating with native C++ code from SQLite. You’ll use GetSqliteErrorCode in order to retrieve the HResult from SQLite and then throw the error up the stack using a standard Exception object. With your database created, the next thing you’ll want to do is create one or more tables. The structure for the CREATE TABLE statement can be found at http://www.sqlite.org/lang_createtable.html. Below, I’ll show you the code to create a typical Parent/Child table relationship between a Product and ProductDetails table: private async void CreateTables() { var db = new SQLiteWinRT.Database(Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder, "Contoso.db"); try { await db.OpenAsync(); string sql = @"CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS Products (ProductId INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL, Name TEXT)"; await db.ExecuteStatementAsync(sql); sql = @"CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ProductDetails (ProductDetailId INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL, Color TEXT, Quantity INTEGER, ProductId INTEGER, FOREIGN KEY(ProductId) REFERENCES Products(ProductId) ON DELETE CASCADE)"; await db.ExecuteStatementAsync(sql); } catch (System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException ex) { var result = SQLiteWinRT.Database.GetSqliteErrorCode(ex.HResult); throw new Exception("Failed to create tables " + result); } } In the code above, I use a sql string variable to create two different DDL statements. While they both start out with CREATE TABLE, we also have the luxury of using IF NOT EXISTS before the table name. This means if the table already exists, this DDL statement is harmless and no operation will be performed. The next part of the statement creates one or more columns and constraints. In both tables I create an integer-based Id column that serves as the primary key which enforces uniqueness. SQL Server DBAs and developers who like to use Identity columns will be happy to see the AUTOINCREMENT constraint that automatically increments the value of the integer each time a new row is inserted. Other columns and their data types are separated by commas. Last but not least, the ProductDetails Child table enforces a referential integrity constraint with the Products Parent table. FOREIGN KEY points to the local ProductId column and REFERENCES the ProductId in the Products table. ON DELETE CASCADE ensures that when a Product is deleted, associated ProductDetails are also deleted. Once you’ve created tables, you’ll want to speed up your queries by creating indexes, prepackage SELECT statements into views, and trigger various actions whenever an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE occurs: CREATE INDEX : http://sqlite.com/lang_createindex.html http://sqlite.com/lang_createindex.html CREATE VIEW : http://sqlite.com/lang_createview.html : http://sqlite.com/lang_createview.html CREATE TRIGGER: http://sqlite.com/lang_createtrigger.html Sometimes you need to make changes to an existing table. SQLite allows you rename tables and add columns via ALTER TABLE: http://sqlite.com/lang_altertable.html. If you find you no longer need certain indexes, views, triggers, and tables, you can drop them: DROP INDEX : http://sqlite.com/lang_dropindex.html DROP TRIGGER : http://sqlite.com/lang_droptrigger.html : http://sqlite.com/lang_droptrigger.html DROP VIEW : http://sqlite.com/lang_dropview.html : http://sqlite.com/lang_dropview.html DROP TABLE: http://sqlite.com/lang_droptable.html No matter which DDL operation you need to perform, you’ll follow the same pattern I showed you in the CREATE TABLE code sample above. You’ll piece together the appropriate statement in a string variable and then call the ExecuteStatementAsync() method. Now that you know how to use SQLite WinRT to work with SQLite’s Data Definition Language, you can build any data structure that you mobile app needs. In my next article I’ll show you how to work with SQLite’s Data Manipulation Language (DML) to bring you database and app to life. – Rob Sharing my knowledge and helping others never stops, so connect with me on my blog at http://robtiffany.com , follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RobTiffany and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/robtiffany Sign Up for my Newsletter and get a FREE Chapter of “Mobile Strategies for Business!” Subscribe to my Newsletter Leave this field empty if you're human: Share Post LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email Reddit |
If you like some granular control over synced accounts, you probably ran into a little roadblock with Android 5.0. If you wanted to manually sync items in one of your accounts, the button to do that was missing. Well, at least, sort of. In its place was "cancel sync," even though there was nothing to cancel. That should have only been present after initiating a sync manually with the "sync now" option. None of that worked in 5.0. With Android 5.1, though, everything is back to normal. Above, you can see things working properly on Android 5.1. In the first screenshot, you can see the menu options for initiating sync. In the second, it has begun syncing, and the "cancel" option appears to stop it if you so desire. A lot of folks probably didn't notice the bug in Android 5.0 because sync otherwise worked correctly. The most common reason for needing/wanting to sync manually is when you have disabled certain items. For example, if you have disabled Calendar and Contacts from the sync options for your Google account, the method above is how you would bring your device up to date without activating automatic sync. No matter the reason you might be using the feature, Android 5.1 should tidy up this problem. |
Jean Marie Jules Leotard Born in Toulouse, France in August of 1838, his father owned a gymnasium. In Leotard's early years, he had studied to become a lawyer. Leotard worked out in his father's gymnasium becoming very proficient on the parallel bars. He eventually hung a bar in the gym, suspended by two ropes, this was the birth of the trapeze. November 12, 1859, at the Cirque Napoléon, Leotard introduced to the world his new act on "The Trapeze". In 1867 the artistry of Leotard was commemorated in a song "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze” written by lyricist George Leybourne and composer Gaston Lyle. In 1870, while performing in Spain Jean Marie Jules Leotard died of smallpox. More Information NEW: Visit our Circus Book Store |
For the first time since the early 1980s, Alberta is expected to have an economic slump that lasts for two years as low oil prices persist and the province's Finance Minister warns of a "once-in-a-generation" challenge reflected in a provincial deficit that could top $10.4-billion next year. After years of Alberta's energy-fuelled economy leading Canada's growth, the province's challenges have become a national burden, with unemployment mounting, banks reporting losses on loans and the federal government sliding into a deeper deficit. "There is no minimizing the impact that low oil prices are having on people's jobs, on the economy and the government's fiscal situation," Finance Minister Joe Ceci said on Wednesday. "This is a once-in-a-generation challenge." Story continues below advertisement As the Prairie provinces continue to bleed jobs, Doug Suttles, chief executive of oil and gas producer Encana Corp., on Wednesday called the situation "as severe as I've ever seen in 33 years." The Canadian energy giant will cut its work force to half of what it was in 2013. The troubles show no sign of abating. Saudi Arabia's Petroleum Minister ruled out production cuts on Tuesday, dashing hopes that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could begin to reverse a plunge in prices for a barrel of oil drop of more than 70 per cent in the past year, to slightly more than $30 (U.S.). As energy prices remain depressed, damage is spreading through the Canadian economy and markets. Big banks are paying closer attention to the protracted period of low crude prices, joining other affected segments of the national economy. Sectors from beer producers to retailers to airlines have reported a drop in revenue from oil-producing provinces. Alberta's office-vacancy rate shot above 18 per cent last year, but jittery markets have contributed to office vacancies going up across the country. In Edmonton on Wednesday, Mr. Ceci said next year's deficit could hit $10.4-billion – and there is no hope for a balanced budget before the end of the decade. "This is the steepest and most prolonged slide in oil prices in recent history," Mr. Ceci told reporters during a fiscal update. "Projections for a quick recovery have proven wrong." When asked about the deficit projection for the 2016-17 fiscal year, Mr. Ceci was blunt: "It's a lot. It's a helluva lot of money." Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement Lenders are watching debtors in the energy sector with unease. On Wednesday, the Royal Bank of Canada reported higher loan losses tied to crude prices, and said money set aside for bad loans has been increased by more than 50 per cent over last year. RBC bank executives said the major source of potential new loan losses is the impact of low oil prices on its corporate loan portfolio – but also smaller consumer loans, due to higher unemployment and the end of severance packages in "oil-exposed" areas. "There is no question that the persistently low oil prices are tough for clients in the affected regions, and are driving an increase in credit provisions in our portfolio," RBC chief executive officer David McKay said. But the rest of Canada is far from immune. The federal government said this week low oil prices mean its deficit will be $18.4-billion next year, even before new infrastructure spending that was to bring deficits up to $10-billion a year. In Alberta, the third quarter fiscal update showed that lower energy royalties and reduced tax revenue are expected to increase the provincial government's deficit from $6.1-billion to $6.3-billion for the fiscal year ending next month. The figure would have been higher save for $250-million in emergency federal funding and lower-than-expected spending on disaster assistance after a summer of record drought. Alberta's GDP is now projected to contract by 1.1 per cent in the 2016 fiscal year, after a decline of 1.5 per cent in 2015. The government's forecast is now more pessimistic than that put out by ATB Financial, a provincially owned institution. The last time Alberta experienced two consecutive years of economic decline was in 1982-83, at the end of a deep oil slump. University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe said global oil prices move in unexpected ways, and as much as possible, politicians need to focus on what they can control, and the long-term policy levers at their disposal. Story continues below advertisement "It's best to view this as a wealth shock," he said. "We're certainly poorer as a result of lower oil prices. But we shouldn't think that low economic growth [in Canada] is somehow going to remain for a long time to come – even if oil prices don't recover." However, the current pain for the oil and gas sector is unambiguous. In reporting its earnings on Wednesday, Calfrac Well Services Ltd. eliminated its dividend, reported a 62 per cent decrease in revenues during the last three months of 2015, and said it has cut 60 per cent of its U.S. workforce and 40 per cent of its Canadian employees. From the early onset of the oil price drop in mid-2014, companies such as Calfrac – which carry out drilling and other service jobs as contractors for oil producers – have been among the hardest hit as North American activity has slowed and customers seek major discounts. "The company's customers have further scaled back capital spending plans for 2016 – which marks the first time since the late eighties that ... exploration and production spending has decreased for two consecutive years," said Calfrac CEO Fernando Aguilar in the conference call, noting some of his company's competitors are now bidding at below break-even levels. The Alberta government expects investment in the oil and gas sector to decline by a further 20 per cent in 2016, after a steep decline in 2015. The province's unemployment rate is also expected to average 7.4 per cent in 2016 – the highest rate in two decades. |
That Walking Dead spinoff series has finally found its female lead. Deadline reports that after quite the lengthy casting process (AMC apparently tested a number of actresses for the role), actress Kim Dickens (Deadwood, Lost, Gone Girl) has been tapped to play the as-yet-unnamed female lead, a guidance counselor working with a divorced teacher named Sean Cabrera and played by Cliff Curtis (Gang Related). She’s being described as looking “like the girl next door but has a darkness to her, a troubled past that will come back to haunt her.” Don’t they ever? That’s what makes for great TV viewing. Dickens’ character also has two children, played by Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and Alycia Debnam Carey (Into the Storm). Dillane’s character is battling drug addiction, while Carey’s is being described as “ambitious.” Code-named “Cobalt,” the upcoming Walking Dead spinoff will take place in Los Angeles. We’re definitely looking forward to seeing the undead and our new gang of zombie apocalypse survivors navigate the City of Angels. The new spinoff was created by Robert Kirkman himself (the guy who wrote all those awesome Walking Dead graphic novels on which both shows are based) and Dave Erickson. Adam Davidson is set to direct the pilot. What do you guys think of Kim Dickens as the female lead? (via Deadline) |
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton released an open letter on Tuesday to Wells Fargo customers who were the victims of “widespread illegal practices,” saying she was “deeply disturbed” by revelations earlier this month that bank employees created sham accounts for personal gain. “Our economy depends on a strong and safe banking system to help keep it moving. But even after Americans spent years working hard to recover from the Great Recession, the culture of misconduct and recklessness that preceded that crisis too often persists,” Clinton wrote in the letter. Related: Wells Fargo Fined $185 Million on Phony Accounts, Fires 5,300 Staff The gesture comes ahead of Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf’s testimony before Congress on Tuesday. “He owes all of you a clear explanation as to how this happened under his watch,” Clinton wrote, adding: “There is simply no place for this kind of outrageous behavior in America.” Play Facebook Twitter Embed Wells Fargo Executive Walked Away with $125 Million Retirement Package 1:39 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog In the letter, Clinton also lays out her plan for addressing this type of misconduct. Specifically, she wrote that she would defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and “enhance accountability” on Wall Street. “Executives should be held individually accountable when rampant illegal activity happens on their watch,” she argued. “Their compensation should take a hit if their companies pay major fines. And they must face appropriate legal consequences if they break the law.” Related: After Wells Fargo Settlement, Questions About the Scandal Emerge Finally, she reiterated her call to ensure that no bank is “too big to manage” by implementing safeguards. “If any bank can’t be managed effectively, it should be broken up,” Clinton wrote. The move comes also as Clinton makes a renewed pitch to millennial voters, whom her campaign admits is an essential voting bloc that it “must do more” to win over. Related: Clinton Losing Millennial Support Nationally and in Key States Clinton’s once-rival, now-surrogate Bernie Sanders put out a press release on Monday saying he asked regulators if any criminal referrals had been filed with the Department of Justice. |
Linda Greenhouse on the Supreme Court and the law. Three years ago, after Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. led the Supreme Court to the brink of overturning a few precedents but then blinked, a frustrated Justice Antonin Scalia accused the chief justice of “faux judicial restraint.” It was foreseeable then that something would have to give: either the faux or the restraint. Now we know. Goodbye to restraint. Whether the court’s exaltation of corporate speech in its decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission will “open the floodgates for special interests,” as President Obama said in the State of the Union speech, or whether the impact will prove more modest is not my focus here. As I previously noted, I was no great fan of the now-invalidated McCain-Feingold provision that prohibited corporations and labor unions from spending money from their treasuries (as opposed to money from their political action committees) to buy television time to advocate for or against a candidate for federal office during the weeks leading up to the election. It had always struck me as a ham-handed measure that accomplished too little at too great a cost to the First Amendment. But while I’m unsure of the decision’s impact on the political system, I have no doubt about its impact on the Supreme Court itself: the Roberts court has lost its virginity. The question now is what the Roberts majority’s next target will be — where will the court’s raging judicial hormones lead it next, now that it has experienced the joy of overturning? The Roberts court in fact had previously overturned several precedents and cast doubt on several others. Nonetheless, there was a first-timer’s clumsiness in the way the 5-to-4 majority finished off Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, a 20-year-old precedent that the Rehnquist court had invoked just over six years ago when it upheld the McCain-Feingold statute. (Austin held that the government could require that corporations spending money on politics do so only through their political action committees – money raised for political purposes — and not from the general treasury.) “In this case, we are asked to reconsider Austin,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote in the second paragraph of his 57-page majority opinion in Citizens United. Well, not exactly. It was the court itself that put Austin in play, with its surprise order on the final day of the last term. Rather than issue the expected decision, the justices told the lawyers to reargue the case and to address whether the court should overrule both Austin and the relevant portion of the 2003 decision that upheld the McCain-Feingold corporate speech limitations. In more genteel times, the court waited, like a girl at the senior prom, to be asked to dance. It contented itself with answering the questions posed by the parties, and didn’t order them to make more sweeping arguments. The first 19 pages of Justice Kennedy’s opinion – and nearly all of the concurring opinion that Chief Justice Roberts filed – explain defensively why the court sped past every available off-ramp on its way to its desired destination in this case. The court’s own norm of “constitutional avoidance” requires that if possible a statute should be interpreted in a way that avoids the need to invalidate it on constitutional grounds. There were obvious ways to follow that rule in this case: decide that the provision did not apply to nonprofit advocacy groups like Citizens United, or that the film it wished to show was not the type of broadcast that the provision covered. But Justice Kennedy insisted that these avoidance mechanisms were not available because in order to use them, the court would essentially have to rewrite the statute. Horrors! No matter that last June, the court avoided a politically disastrous invalidation of the Voting Rights Act by engaging in an even more implausible rewriting exercise. It offered a Texas sewer district that had challenged the Voting Rights Act an opportunity to “bail out” of the law’s coverage – even though the law makes such districts expressly ineligible for a bailout. Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the four dissenters in Citizens United, pointed this out in a footnote. The majority’s decision in Citizens United sheds retrospective light on that shameless performance in the Voting Rights Act case. There is an unresolved debate over whether the court’s punt was an exercise in judicial restraint by Chief Justice Roberts, who wrote the opinion, or whether, to the contrary, it resulted from his failure to round up sufficient votes to declare the challenged section of the act unconstitutional – the path the court seemed to be on when the case was argued. Citizens United fortifies my belief that a failure of nerve, and not ambition, led to the result in the voting rights case. Which brings me back to the question of what’s next. I don’t believe it’s Roe v. Wade, although I suspect that four members of the court, Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Scalia, and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., would toss the abortion case over the side in a heartbeat. But for Justice Kennedy to join them, he would have to renounce his own vote in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in 1992, which reaffirmed the right to abortion. There are few things a justice dislikes more than repudiating a prior vote. (Justice Kennedy dissented in the Austin campaign finance case, so the outcome of Citizens United was a validation and not a repudiation.) A target that does bear watching is the heavily freighted civil rights issue that the court raised and then skirted last June in the New Haven firefighters case, Ricci v. DeStefano. The issue in that case was whether the city engaged in a prohibited act of employment discrimination when it discarded the results of a promotion exam on which no black test-taker scored high enough to win a promotion. White firefighters who believed they were entitled to promotion sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race. The original Title VII, in 1964, prohibited “disparate treatment” on the basis of race. In 1991, Congress amended the law to prohibit employment policies that have a “disparate impact” as well. The question for the Supreme Court last June was whether, in trying to avoid the racially disparate impact of the exam, New Haven had made the successful white firefighters the victims of disparate treatment. The court ruled against the city; Justice Kennedy wrote for the 5-to-4 majority that New Haven’s concern about liability for the racially disparate impact of the exam was overblown and insufficient to justify withholding promotions from the successful white test-takers. The decision avoided a tricky question: suppose the racially disparate impact of a municipal employment policy is so grave that the Civil Rights Act requires a remedy that itself takes race into account – in other words, a remedy for disparate impact that requires disparate treatment. The court’s current majority has made clear that for the government to count individuals by race for almost any purpose is a violation of constitutional magnitude. So how could a statute that could require such an outcome be constitutional? In the New Haven case, Justice Kennedy left it to Justice Scalia to observe sarcastically in a concurring opinion that the court’s resolution of the firefighter dispute “merely postpones the evil day on which the court will have to confront the question” of the Civil Rights Act’s constitutionality. Finding the law unconstitutional would be an astonishing step, all the more so because the Civil Rights Act’s current form is a Congressional response to a series of Supreme Court decisions in the late 1980’s that gave the law a reading that Congress thought was too narrow. The 1991 amendment codified a unanimous opinion of the Burger court, which in 1971 interpreted the original Civil Rights Act to bar employment policies that had a racially disparate impact, such as education requirements that were unrelated to the actual job. It would not surprise me if Justice Scalia’s “evil day” arrives, and when it does, the court will find itself at war not only with Congress but with its own earlier self. |
One week. That is how long it took for our engineers, who had all (but one) worked with Rails for a few years, to be productive on a new Phoenix client project. I had assigned each of them to read Part 1 of Dave Thomas’ Programming Elixir book which was only 160 pages of material. Part 1 introduces early Functional Programming concepts and the Elixir standard library. In my mind, this is enough to make the switch. “It was cool being able to contribute to a Phoenix app without prior experience with the framework thanks to the similarity in structure with Rails. Elixir is the biggest hurdle, but a quick read through the key concepts is enough to make you productive - not to mention learning a new language is fun!” Romina Vargas, DockYard Engineer At the higher level of writing actions, routes, tests, models, queries, etc… there is so much overlap with the concepts that exist in Rails that it was simply a matter of syntax that had to be learned before a Rails engineer could make contributions back to Phoenix applications. There is no doubt that Phoenix borrows a lot of concepts and structure from Rails. For good reason, Rails nailed the MVC app pattern. The benefit here is that a lot of that domain knowledge on how to build Rails apps can be transferred over to building Phoenix apps. “Ruby on Rails had a pretty steep learning curve. Not only did I have to study a new programming language, I had to master the MVC framework as well. But with RoR under my belt, the learning curve for Elixir and Phoenix was significantly reduced. Plus pattern matching makes everything way easier!” Marin Abernethy, DockYard Engineer Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not suggesting that after this one week that you should be ramped up on the complexities of Elixir and the Erlang ecosystem. I think there is enough to Erlang that could take years to fully absorb. But that’s not the point. The best way to write a faster Rails app is to write it in Phoenix. Get in touch with us if you’d like to move from Rails to Phoenix. We can help! |
Team led by Scripps Research Institute Scientists Finds Atomic Structure of Molecule that Binds to Opioids in the Brain The Findings Open the Door to the Development of Better Medicine for Pain, Depression, and Other Conditions March 21, 2012 LA JOLLA, CA – March 21, 2012 – Scientists have for the first time determined the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human opioid receptor, a molecule on the surface of brain cells that binds to opioids and is centrally involved in pleasure, pain, addiction, depression, psychosis, and related conditions. Dozens of legal and illegal drugs, from heroin to hospital anesthetics, work by targeting these receptors. The detailed atomic structure information paves the way for the design of safer and more effective opioid drugs. “This finding is going to have a major impact on understanding the fundamental principles of opioid receptor recognition and evolution,” said Raymond Stevens, PhD, a professor at The Scripps Research Institute. Stevens is the senior author of the new study, which appears online in the journal Nature on March 21, 2012. A Symphony of Activity Opioid receptor subtypes in the human brain work together in a symphony of activity that is still not fully understood. The “mu” opioid receptors mediate feelings of pleasure and pain-relief; they are the prime targets of the body’s own endorphin neurotransmitters as well as heroin, morphine, and most other opioid drugs. By contrast, “kappa” opioid receptors are bound by neurotransmitters known as dynorphins, and when activated can depress mood and produce dissociative, psychedelic experiences. The plant Salvia divinorum, which was originally cultivated by Mesoamerican societies for religious ceremonies and is now used widely as a recreational drug, has an active ingredient, Salvinorin A, that binds selectively and with high affinity to kappa opioid receptors. “We don’t know why kappa receptors evolved, but we know that they have been around for a long time in evolutionary terms; even frogs have them,” said Bryan Roth, a professor of pharmacology and an opioid receptor expert at the University of North Carolina, whose group teamed with the Stevens lab for the new study. If their psychedelic and mood-darkening effects could be avoided somehow, kappa opioid receptor activators, or “agonists,” could be very useful medically. In animal studies, they act as mild and non-addicting pain-relievers, weaken the addictive effects of other drugs, and reduce irritable bowel signs. “Antagonist” compounds that block kappa opioid receptor activity also show promise as treatments for depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric conditions. Even the psychedelic effects associated with kappa receptor activation could be useful in providing insights into perception and consciousness. “This is a receptor that is important for how we see reality,” said Roth. In Pursuit of Missing Information Not knowing the structural details of the kappa opioid receptor has made it hard for scientists to understand how the receptor works naturally and to design drugs that target it in the right ways. There are currently no FDA-approved drugs that bind selectively to kappa opioid receptors, either as agonists or antagonists. To get these structural details, Scripps Research graduate student Huixian Wu, who was first author of the paper, first produced kappa opioid receptors in insect cells and used special techniques to keep the fragile receptor molecules stable in a single conformation. Working with Scripps Research Assistant Professor Vadim Cherezov, PhD, Wu was then able to crystallize and collect x-ray data that eventually led to the structure. An essential part of this stabilizing process involved the attachment of a suitable “ligand,” a pharmacological molecule that binds the receptor tightly. “We tried a lot of different ligands, and Bryan suggested that we try JDTic, an experimental kappa opioid receptor antagonist,” said Stevens. “It worked well in stabilizing the receptor, and once we discovered that, everything else quickly fell into place.” By X-raying such a crystallized protein complex from various angles, researchers can calculate a detailed three-dimensional model of its atomic structure. In this case, the X-ray data yielded a model with a resolution of about 2.9 angstroms, or 290 trillionths of a meter. The Stevens and Roth labs then designed and performed site-specific mutagenesis analyses in which they altered various residues of the receptor to better understand how its structure related to its function. Scripps Research Assistant Professor Seva Katrich, PhD, together with colleagues at Research Triangle Institute and Virginia Commonwealth University, then performed molecular modeling and docking analyses to further the understanding of the receptor-ligand interactions. “This receptor’s binding pocket is much bigger and deeper than any other we’ve studied; that may explain why so many different types of ligands bind to this receptor. A lot of work remains, though, in understanding opioid selectivity. As with the other receptor structures, this is just the beginning and we will see follow up studies take the understanding even further,” said Stevens. He and his colleagues used their structural model to learn new details about the kappa receptor binding characteristics of Salvinorin A plus an array of experimental drugs. With the publication of the receptor structure, scientists and drug companies also will be able to use the data to improve existing kappa-targeting compounds and design entirely new ones. “I can tell you, from e-mails and other conversations I’ve had recently, that people in the pharma industry are very eager to see this structural data,” said Roth. The Power of Collaboration The kappa opioid receptor structure is the latest product of two interlinked, National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded networks of laboratories, both based at Scripps Research. The Joint Center for Innovative Membrane Protein Technologies, supported by the NIH Common Fund, develops improved techniques for the expression, purification, and structural characterization of membrane proteins and then disseminates those technologies rapidly to the broad scientific community. The GPCR Network, part of the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI:Biology) supported by the NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), uses those techniques to determine the structures of human G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) in close collaboration with the scientific community. GPCRS are the largest family of cell receptors and the one that includes opioid receptors. Of the nearly 800 human GPCRs for which scientists hope to develop atomic structural models, the kappa opioid receptor is only the eleventh published so far, but that number is rapidly changing. Last month, the Stevens laboratory published the structure of the S1P1 lipid receptor and the NMR characterization of the beta 2 adrenergic receptor, both in the journal Science. “PSI:Biology promotes collaborative research between structural scientists and biologists to address important biological problems,” said Jean Chin, PhD, who helps oversee PSI:Biology at the NIGMS. “The determination of the human kappa-opioid receptor structure bound to a compound with potential therapeutic value may lead to the design of more effective pain killers and anti-addiction medicines, demonstrating the value of these collaborations.” In addition to NIGMS and the NIH Common Fund, the study was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health Psychoactive Drug Screening Program in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the NIDA Drug Supply Program for supplying opioid ligands. In addition to Stevens, Roth, Wu, Cherezov, and Katrich, authors of the paper, “Structure of the human kappa opioid receptor in complex with JDTic,” included Daniel Wacker, Mauro Mileni, Gye Won Han, Wei Liu, and Aaron A. Thompson of Scripps Research; Eyal Vardy and Xi-Ping Huang of Roth’s laboratory at UNC; F. Ivy Carroll and S. Wayne Mascarella at the Research Triangle Institute in Research Triangle Park, NC; and Richard B. Westkaemper and Philip D. Mosier of Virginia Commonwealth University. |
Hybrid A Star search algorithm. With that algorithm you will be able to find a drivable path to the goal. Let's say you are standing somewhere in a room and would like to find the shortest path to a goal. You can see a few obstacles, such as a table, that you would like to avoid. The easiest way to solve the problem (if you are a computer) is to divide the room into squares and then use the common A* (A Star) search algorithm to find the shortest path. But what if you are a car and can't turn around like a human. Then you have a problem! Well, at least until you learn the. With that algorithm you will be able to find a drivable path to the goal. The reason I wanted to learn the Hybrid A* algorithm was that I took a class in self-driving cars, where the teacher showed a really cool video with a car that drove around in a maze until it found the goal: The problem was that the teacher didn't explain the Hybrid A* algorithm - he just explained the normal A* algorithm, so I had to figure it out on my own. A few days later, I had found the pieces I needed and could build it. Because no-one else had really explained the algorithm, I decided to write this short summary. Before you begin, you really have to learn the normal A* algorithm, so if you don't know how you should do that, I suggest that you take the same class as I took: Artificial Intelligence for Robotics - Programming a Robotic Car . It's free to take it, so don't worry. You should also read the sources I used to figure out the algorithm, mainly the following reports: While those reports above will explain the more complicated algorithm that will be a little faster and maybe produce a better result, I will explain the very basic idea so you can get started. And when you can understand the basic idea behind the Hybrid A* search algorithm you can always improve it. First of all you will need to be able to build a simulated vehicle that you can drive with the help of math. These types of vehicles are called skeleton vehicles and you can learn how to build one by watching this video from the class I took (I had to replace the sin with cos and vice versa when I converted the math to from Python to Unity, so you might have to experiment a little): Next step is to watch this video where the teacher Sebastian Thrun is explaining the basic idea behind the Hybrid A Star algorithm. The video is actually from the basic course in Artifical Intelligence , which is funny because he didn't explain it in the more advanced course. The problem with the video is that Sebastian Thrun is just drawing one line from the first square, even though he should have drawn several lines (one for each turning angle). According to the reports from above, the resolution is 5 degrees, so I believe you should simulate a skeleton car with steering angles that are going from the lowest possible steering angle to the largest possible steering angle (so -30, -25. -20, ...). When I did that I thought it took too long time, so I'm just simulating three angles: [-35, 0, 35] (but converted to radians). The driving distance (d) is the same as the width of one square. But I realized that the driving distance should be a little longer, such as 1.05 m if your square is 1 m if you want to get a better result. But you have to experiment a little. When you have expanded the first node by simulating all these three angles, you should close the squares they have arrived to, so another path from another node can't arrive to the same square (as he explains in the video). But it is important that you are closing the squares after you have simulated all possible angles from one node, not just after one simulated car arrives to the square, because we want to save all possible new nodes for later, so we can find the one with the lowest cost. As you add these new nodes, you also have to calculate the cost and heuristic. The self-driving car Junior used a more complicated heuristic, but I realized that you can use the traditional Euclidean distance as the heuristic before you begin calculating something more advanced. You also need a few extra costs. According to the reports, you should add an extra cost to those nodes that change steering angle compared with the previous node, so you have to save the steering angle in each node. You should also add an extra cost if the node is close to an obstacle, or if you are reversing. By the way, reversing is easy if you are using the same skeleton car as explained above. If that is the case, just use a negative distance to reverse. That's it! If you add the ideas from above you will be able to make something that looks like this: |
Uefa has given a 10-match ban to a Belgian futsal player who made a "quenelle" gesture like the one made by West Brom striker Nicolas Anelka. Omar Rahou was celebrating a goal during a group game in Uefa's Futsal Euro 2014 tournament in Antwerp. What is a quenelle gesture? It is a hand gesture devised by French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala, who says it is an anti-establishment symbol However, many view it as an anti-Semitic gesture, reminiscent of the Nazi salute People have been photographed making the sign at synagogues and Holocaust memorial sites Read the full details on BBC Magazine Monitor Anelka was banned for five games for making the gesture during the 28 December draw with West Ham. The "quenelle" was devised by French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala and has been linked with anti-Semitism. European football's governing body Uefa - which also governs futsal, a variant of the sport played on smaller, indoor pitches - said in a statement: "The fight against racism and other discriminatory conducts is a high priority for Uefa. "The European governing body has a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and discrimination on the pitch and in the stands. "All forms of racist behaviour are considered serious offences against the disciplinary regulations and are punished with the most severe sanctions." |
Savon Huggins could have gone almost anywhere in the country to play college football. Instead, he'll simply head south on the Turnpike. The standout running back from St. Peter's Prep, rated the state's No. 1 player by Rivals.com, announced he is Rutgers-bound at a press conference this afternoon at the library of his high school in Jersey City. The 6-0, 190-pounder had taken official visits to Notre Dame, national champion Auburn, Michigan State, North Carolina and Rutgers, with the latter two emerging as his finalists. Savon Huggins decides to take his talents to Rutgers Huggins said the arrival of new offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti and head coach Greg Schiano's efforts to shore up the offensive line played a major role in his decision, which was played out before a packed crowd that included current Rutgers players Mohamed Sanu, Chas Dodd, Jeremy Deering, Brandon Coleman, Andre Civil and incoming quarterback recruit Mike Bimonte. "I saw what he did with Dion Lewis and Ray Graham at Pittsburgh," Huggins said of Cignetti, who was the Panthers' offensive coordinator before coming to Rutgers. In addition, Rutgers received a commitment earlier in the day from defensive tackle Max Issaka of Woodbridge, rated the state's No. 15 player by Rivals.com. That brings the school's recruiting class — which could wind up as the best in program history — to 23 heading into national letter of intent signing day on Wednesday. Of those, three are ranked in the top 10 in the state by Rivals.com and eight are rated among New Jersey's top 18 prospects. Huggins, who rushed for 1,891 yards and 35 touchdowns as a senior, is the first player ranked No. 1 in the state by Rivals to commit to Rutgers. Rivals.com also rates him the No. 7 running back in the country. It's expected that Huggins will immediately compete for playing time at tailback after Rutgers rushed for just 1,211 yards last season — with more than half of it coming out of the "Wildcat" formation. Huggins' commitment gives Rutgers two recruits from perennial powerhouse St. Peter's Prep, a school that has traditionally sent its top players out of state. Offensive lineman Keith Lumpkin has also given Rutgers a verbal commitment. Tom Luicci: tluicci@starledger.com St. Peter's Prep head coach Rich Hansen says he has confidence in Greg Schiano and trusts that Savon Huggins' decision to play at Rutgers is 'well-informed' |
A Toys R Us store is seen in Hayes, Britain, on Dec. 2. (Peter Nicholls/Reuters) With the holiday shopping season approaching and bankruptcy proceedings underway in federal court, Toys R Us went to its creditors in November with an unorthodox request. To boost sales, the insolvent company asked: Let us pay out millions of dollars in bonuses to our top executives. On Tuesday, a bankruptcy judge approved the request. Under the plan, Toys R Us will pay 17 executives about $14 million in incentive bonuses, as long as the company hits its target of $550 million in earnings. It must hit a minimum of $484 million in adjusted earnings before any bonuses are awarded, as USA Today reported. Attorneys for the company argued in court papers that the bonuses would help encourage executives to focus on driving up sales as the holidays approach. “Timing, of course, is everything,” they wrote in a Nov. 14 filing. “Now more than ever the senior management team must be properly motivated and incentivized to handle the panoply of responsibilities attendant to their two full-time jobs of leading the Debtors through this restructuring and, at the same time, implementing a worldwide strategy to increase sales following a near shut-down of operations just eight short weeks ago. The task at hand cannot be underestimated.” [Toys R Us files for bankruptcy, the latest victim of the ‘retail apocalypse’] But Judy Robbins, a Justice Department lawyer representing the interests of creditors, contended that the bonuses were excessive, given the company’s financial situation. “It defies logic and wisdom, not to mention the Bankruptcy Code, that a bankrupt company would now propose further multi-million dollar bonuses for the senior leadership of a company that began the year with employee layoffs and concludes it in the midst of the holiday season in bankruptcy,” she wrote. “Apparently, this Christmas, Toys ‘R’ Us intends to deliver not only ‘children their biggest smiles of the year’ but the insiders, too,” her Nov. 28 objection read. She added later that some executives already receive other perks, including personal drivers and private planes. In court, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Keith Phillips noted that none of the company’s creditors or lenders had raised objections — a silence that he said he found “particularly striking,” according to USA Today. “On the contrary, I see the committee and any creditors who have addressed this court are asking the court to approve this plan and I think that’s telling,” he said. He gave the bonus plan the green light after a five-hour hearing in Richmond. The company’s attorney, Joshua Sussberg, assured the judge that the company is “laser-focused on the holidays,” according to Reuters. There is still time, he said, to spur shoppers to “buy as much as they can.” Sussberg also argued that the financial goals are challenging. “These are not layups,” he said, according to USA Today. “These are half-court, backwards, with a blindfold.” Toys R Us, headquartered in Wayne, N.J., has 1,600 stores globally and about 64,000 employees. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September with plans to restructure $5 billion in long-term debt. It bought out one of its biggest competitors, FAO Schwarz, in 2006. Sussberg said the retailer hopes to have a business plan ready by July, and aims to be out of bankruptcy by the 2018 holiday season. More from Morning Mix: Alan Dershowitz’s new reality: Tweeted by Trump, shunned by liberal friends Pathologist of ‘Concussion’ fame accuses Calif. sheriff of mutilating corpses, meddling with investigations They bragged about their 1983 ‘heinous’ racial killing for years, prosecutors say Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi,’ which sold for $450.3 million, is bound for the Louvre Abu Dhabi |
Text Sep. 9, 2014 Overcoming Social Anxiety for Veganism soycrates: I know that I’m not the only vegan who has ever had to deal with social anxiety. I see posts about it on the daily, and occasionally I’ll hear people talking about wanting to go vegan but having the fear of social interactions limiting them from taking that crucial step. Part of it may be because we know the stereotypical image of veganism: to announce you’re vegan in public is to be the punch line of the “How can you tell if someone is vegan?” joke (which isn’t a very good joke in the first place, but it still has an effect on us). With social anxiety, calling attention to your veganism can often feel like an invitation for others to see you as an elitist, a wuss, a snob, picky, over-emotional, or any of the other derogatory associations that those who dislike veganism might make. People with social anxiety make it through the day by flying as low on the social radar as possible. Having a set of moral beliefs that change your lifestyle does place you just a little higher on the “necessary social interaction” ladder. But veganism and social anxiety do not have to violently clash, and in fact the social interactions we have to make to sustain veganism could actually build a bridge towards further success in overcoming social anxiety. Here’s a list of tips for those trying to juggle a motivation to live ethically with a fear of social situations: When ordering food, it may not be necessary to use the word “vegan” to make sure you’re getting animal-free food: asking your servers different questions, like “is this dairy free?” (when the only possible animal product in what you are ordering is dairy, such as some smoothies) or “does this have animal products?” or “What are the allergens in this?” can sometimes do the job equally well, or better. Your server may have never heard of the term “vegan”, your server may have strong sympathies for people trying to eat-out with allergies, it may stress to them the stronger importance of ordering animal-free food. This way, you don’t have to worry that they started freaking out or judging you for being “vegan”, and you still get your plant-based meal. This tip is for those with especially strong social anxiety, or those who live in areas where veganism is extremely unpopular. asking your servers different questions, like “is this dairy free?” (when the only possible animal product in what you are ordering is dairy, such as some smoothies) or “does this have animal products?” or “What are the allergens in this?” can sometimes do the job equally well, or better. Your server may have never heard of the term “vegan”, your server may have strong sympathies for people trying to eat-out with allergies, it may stress to them the stronger importance of ordering animal-free food. This way, you don’t have to worry that they started freaking out or judging you for being “vegan”, and you still get your plant-based meal. This tip is for those with especially strong social anxiety, or those who live in areas where veganism is extremely unpopular. When at a social gathering and someone offers you non-vegan food, a quick smile and a no thanks are enough: a “thanks, but I can’t eat that”, or “thanks, but I’m vegan” is the easiest way out of a sticky situation. This time it might be necessary to mention that you won’t eat it (on ethical grounds), otherwise they may further prod you to try it, leaving you scrambling to try and subtly explain why you’re not interested. People appreciate short and to-the-point, and if you’re among good friends just remember that even though they may not understand veganism fully, they likely respect you enough not to make open judgements or immediately tease you. Offering to bring your own snacks can help avoid these situations. Some party hosts may react negatively knowing that they didn’t bring anything you can eat or you can’t seem to eat anything at their party. Be open with them: let them know it doesn’t bother you, or let them know the onus to bring vegan food was your responsibility, not theirs. a “thanks, but I can’t eat that”, or “thanks, but I’m vegan” is the easiest way out of a sticky situation. This time it might be necessary to mention that you won’t eat it (on ethical grounds), otherwise they may further prod you to try it, leaving you scrambling to try and subtly explain why you’re not interested. People appreciate short and to-the-point, and if you’re among good friends just remember that even though they may not understand veganism fully, they likely respect you enough not to make open judgements or immediately tease you. Offering to bring your own snacks can help avoid these situations. Some party hosts may react negatively knowing that they didn’t bring anything you can eat or you can’t seem to eat anything at their party. Be open with them: let them know it doesn’t bother you, or let them know the onus to bring vegan food was your responsibility, not theirs. Keep in mind that you may have a social encounter with a vegan, vegetarian, or sympathizer without even knowing it: I used to dance around the subject of veganism, trying to be as coy and indirect about it as possible, until I stopped by a smoothie bar and meekly asked, “Does this, um… have… milk… in it?” to which the woman working there smiled and informed me of the wide range of animal-free options on the menu. She further asked whether I was vegan or not and was beaming at my response of “yes”, sharing similar sentiments herself. Here I was, trying not to offend a vegan by asking if they had anything vegan on the menu. Even if not everyone you meet will be a vegan, the image of veganism and its popularity is changing and increasing each year. People everywhere are becoming more knowledgeable and open to the idea of animal-free living. I used to dance around the subject of veganism, trying to be as coy and indirect about it as possible, until I stopped by a smoothie bar and meekly asked, “Does this, um… have… milk… in it?” to which the woman working there smiled and informed me of the wide range of animal-free options on the menu. She further asked whether I was vegan or not and was beaming at my response of “yes”, sharing similar sentiments herself. Here I was, trying not to offend a vegan by asking if they had anything vegan on the menu. Even if not everyone you meet will be a vegan, the image of veganism and its popularity is changing and increasing each year. People everywhere are becoming more knowledgeable and open to the idea of animal-free living. If someone asks you questions about why you are vegan: 1. take a deep breath, straighten up your posture, and smile. Slouching, frowning, shallow breathing, these are bodily signs that psychologically force us further and further into anxious, defensive, uncomfortable and undesirable mindsets. In essence: fake confidence about being asked about veganism, and eventually you’ll have that confidence. 2. Be totally honest. Even if you think they’ll think it’s dumb to be vegan “for the animals”, “for ethics”, “for the environment”, say it anyway - if you lie (like saying it’s about health or just a fad because you think they’ll be okay with that) and they ask further about the lie, you’ll be stuck again scrambling for some way out of the conversation. If you stick to what you know, you’ll have more control over the flow of conversation than you otherwise would have. Stick to easy-to-explain concepts and try not to imagine that your conversational partner is automatically rejecting everything you say. Social anxiety has a nasty habit of making the individual believe everything they say is being ridiculed, and with veganism so widely ridiculed in popular culture we can feel doubly so. 1. take a deep breath, straighten up your posture, and smile. Slouching, frowning, shallow breathing, these are bodily signs that psychologically force us further and further into anxious, defensive, uncomfortable and undesirable mindsets. In essence: fake confidence about being asked about veganism, and eventually you’ll have that confidence. 2. Be totally honest. Even if you think they’ll think it’s dumb to be vegan “for the animals”, “for ethics”, “for the environment”, say it anyway - if you lie (like saying it’s about health or just a fad because you think they’ll be okay with that) and they ask further about the lie, you’ll be stuck again scrambling for some way out of the conversation. If you stick to what you know, you’ll have more control over the flow of conversation than you otherwise would have. Stick to easy-to-explain concepts and try not to imagine that your conversational partner is automatically rejecting everything you say. Social anxiety has a nasty habit of making the individual believe everything they say is being ridiculed, and with veganism so widely ridiculed in popular culture we can feel doubly so. Don’t feel like you have to be the “perfect vegan spokesperson” whenever someone brings up the topic: it’s stressful knowing that you are probably the only vegan a lot of your acquaintances might ever meet, and as such you sort of embody what veganism is in their eyes. You are the vegan emissary, and it’s a tough job. But you don’t always have to be on the job - if someone asks you about veganism and you don’t feel like you can be the top notch educational ethical guru, just talk about how veganism makes you feel, how veganism changed your life. Talk about why veganism makes you happy rather than why others should follow suit. This doesn’t make you a “bad vegan emissary” because it might turn out that they’ll hear why veganism makes you happy and want to try it out themselves. it’s stressful knowing that you are probably the only vegan a lot of your acquaintances might ever meet, and as such you sort of embody what veganism is in their eyes. You are the vegan emissary, and it’s a tough job. But you don’t always have to be on the job - if someone asks you about veganism and you don’t feel like you can be the top notch educational ethical guru, just talk about how veganism makes you feel, how veganism changed your life. Talk about why veganism makes you happy rather than why others should follow suit. This doesn’t make you a “bad vegan emissary” because it might turn out that they’ll hear why veganism makes you happy and want to try it out themselves. Even if you screw up, nobody will remember it forever: if your voice goes all high pitched and sniffly when you talk about slaughterhouses, if you have to send back a meal because they put cheese all over it, if you stutter when someone asks about veganism, it’s easy to feel like, “Well, I fucked up, I have cursed veganism for a thousand years. I have brought a plague unto our tofu fields and a pox on our plant-based pizzas. I have made myself and veganism look silly and now everyone will laugh at me whenever they see me”. But social anxiety has a hand in making us feel that way. When the fact is, most people, if they don’t forgive mistakes, easily forget mistakes. The person most likely to dwell on our mistakes… is us. Not them. Even if this rational thought doesn’t automatically get us out of the thick of social anxiety, it can help us calm down in our worst moments. if your voice goes all high pitched and sniffly when you talk about slaughterhouses, if you have to send back a meal because they put cheese all over it, if you stutter when someone asks about veganism, it’s easy to feel like, “Well, I fucked up, I have cursed veganism for a thousand years. I have brought a plague unto our tofu fields and a pox on our plant-based pizzas. I have made myself and veganism look silly and now everyone will laugh at me whenever they see me”. But social anxiety has a hand in making us feel that way. When the fact is, most people, if they don’t forgive mistakes, easily forget mistakes. The person most likely to dwell on our mistakes… is us. Not them. Even if this rational thought doesn’t automatically get us out of the thick of social anxiety, it can help us calm down in our worst moments. It’s okay to have social anxiety, and it’s great to be vegan. Never blame yourself for having anxiety and never give up fighting for veganism. We can’t change the world in one day, we can’t change ourselves in one day. But every day we put in a little more effort, with a little more support, and we do see results. (via fuckyeahfatvegans) notes Show more notes Loading... Older Newer |
Veterinarian Valerie McDaniel from Houston, who was charged with taking a hit out on her ex-husband, hurled herself to her death from her seventh floor luxury apartment She should have been standing in court this morning. Instead, less than 24 hours before she was due to appear, charged with taking a hit out on her ex-husband, Valerie McDaniel, a mother-of-one and a once respected, well-liked veterinarian from Houston hurled herself to her death from her seventh floor luxury apartment. It was a final desperate act that made no sense to the friends and family who thought they knew her. But then little has made much sense to those close to McDaniel recently. It has been less than three weeks since McDaniel and her lover Leon Jacob were arrested and charged with solicitation of murder; she, of her ex-husband Marion ‘Mack’ McDaniel, he of his ex-girlfriend, who has not been named. Theirs is a tale of revenge, deception and a breathtaking sting that would seem far-fetched were it not documented in court records and a police operation that culminated with the lovers’ intended victims cooperating with cops to stage their own murders in order to catch their would-be killers. Pictures of the ‘murder scenes’ were used to convince Jacob, 39, and McDaniel, 48, that their hired ‘assassin’ had carried out the job. She left two notes, neither of which police have made public. It has been less than three weeks since McDaniel and her lover Leon Jacob were arrested and charged with solicitation of murder McDaniel and Jacob are accused of hiring a hit man (who was actually an undercover cop) to kill her ex-husband Marion ‘Mack’ McDaniel and Jacob's ex-girlfriend, who has not been named Jacob was shown pictures of his ex bound and gagged and supposedly about to be killed. He had originally wanted her to be abducted and brought to him so that he could administer a lethal injection of potassium. Meanwhile McDaniel was shown the ‘lifeless’ body of her ex-husband whom, she was told, had been shot in a car jacking. Each had offered $20,000 in cash - half the money up front - and two Cartier watches, by way of payment for the crimes. Now an investigation by DailyMail.com has shed new light on McDaniel and Jacob, their backgrounds and how they came into each other’s lives with such devastating consequences. It would be hard to imagine a less likely perpetrator of such a heinous crime than Valerie McDaniel, whose successful practice has long been part of the landscape in the upscale West University area of Houston, Texas. And it would be hard to imagine a more unfortunate collision than her world with failed transplant surgeon Leon Jacob’s. Because though Jacob is a man who has looks, intellect and all the opportunities of wealth, he squandered his own fortune over and over and, in the brief span of their relationship, his influence seems to have derailed McDaniel completely. Court records seen by DailyMail.com show that Jacob has left a trail of debt, broken relationships and crime across Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and now Texas. McDaniel’s blemishless record stood in stark contrast. Attractive and blonde, Dr Valerie Busick McDaniel was born and raised in Houston and graduated from the Episcopal High School. Pictures of the ‘murder scenes’ of their respective significant others were used to convince Jacob, 39, and McDaniel, 48, that their hired ‘assassin’ had carried out the job McDaniel was shown the ‘lifeless’ body of her ex-husband Marion McDaniel (pictured) whom, she was told, had been shot in a car jacking She got her undergraduate degree from the University of St Thomas and studied veterinarian medicine at Texas A&M University. She qualified in 1997 and married Marion ‘Mack’ McDaniel that August. The couple started the Montrose Veterinarian Clinic three years later. Neighbors of their last marital home, in a wealthy suburb of Houston, remember them as an apparently happy couple and the proud parents of a now eight-year-old girl. A Mercedes wagon and BMW 750 sat in the driveway, and they spoke of buying a boat to enjoy at their $720,000 second home: a waterfront property an hour or so away in Galveston. But while McDaniel may have seemed to have an enviable life, the truth was that all was not well with her marriage. In February 2015, she filed for divorce on grounds of her husband’s infidelity. In her divorce petition she sued for sole custody of their daughter, accused her husband of ‘committing fraud on the community estate’ and, among other things, petitioned for him to be ‘restrained from threatening or communicating with her in vulgar, profane, obscene or indecent language or in a coarse or offensive manner.’ The divorce attorney who filed McDaniel’s petition was her immediate next-door neighbor, Leon Jacob’s mother, Golda. The divorce was settled last year and though McDaniel got the veterinarian business and Houston home, while her ex took Galveston and their pet cremation business, she was left owing him $1.25 million to settle the estates. It would be hard to imagine a less likely perpetrator of such a heinous crime than Valerie McDaniel, whose successful veterinary practice has long been part of the landscape in the upscale West University area of Houston, Texas. Pictured, McDaniel with a colleague The McDaniels first started the Montrose Veterinarian Clinic together three years after they got married in 1997 This debt has been offered as a possible motive for her decision to enter into the plot to have her ex-husband killed. It is not clear whether McDaniel had already met Jacob at the time she filed for divorce, but their paths had certainly crossed by the time it was finalized. And her crippling debt was something with which he could empathize. Jacob moved back in with his parents in December 2015 and filed for bankruptcy in August 2016. In the papers, he listed his assets as totaling $62,688.81 and his outstanding debts at $249,610.39. His debts followed him throughout the years. He owed $95,500 in attorney fees across Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania. By then a divorced father of two, he also owed $2,285 in disputed childcare expenses and a staggering $21,847.67 to Rivers Casino, Pennsylvania. Some might have thought he had reached rock bottom, but Jacob had further still to fall. Jacob married his first wife, Annie, in Wilmette, Illinois in December 2001. He was at medical school in Grenada at the time and graduated in 2005. From there, he was admitted into the residency program at the University of Texas in Houston but left in 2010. His Texas physician in training certificate was terminated. He then moved to Ohio, where he entered the surgical residency program at Northside Hospital in Youngstown with the aim of specializing in renal transplant. But he quickly ran into trouble and, after warnings and a period on probation, he was fired in 2011. According to legal documents, he failed to meet the ‘respectful, altruistic, ethical’ skills expected of a surgeon. Supervisors found that he had left a patient unattended post surgery, lied about treatment of another who contracted gangrene post surgery and when one of his superiors asked him to seek psychiatric evaluation, he refused. Meanwhile, father-of-two Jacob has left a trail of debt, broken relationships and crime across Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and now Texas Residents expressed ‘concerns about his unavailability, tardiness, lack of communication and misrepresentations.’ He logged more hours in the operating room than others on the program, but fell short on his study and ignored instructions to cut back on operating and work towards improving his knowledge and skills by studying for vital upcoming American Board of Surgery exams. Ultimately, he was found to be ‘an immediate threat to patient safety.’ He appealed the hospital’s decision to let him go but lost and was charged the following year with burglarizing the home of an hospital administrator who had testified against him. His wife filed for divorce in 2013, having acquired a protective order against him. Her attorney stated: ‘Leon is guilty of extreme and repeated mental cruelty without cause or provocation.’ Their children were aged two and 15 months at the time. In behavior that would echo and escalate three years later in Houston, Jacob was charged with aggravated stalking, cyber stalking and intimidation of his former wife in 2014 - in direct violation of the active Illinois Order of Protection. The following year, Jacob moved back to Texas into his parents’ West University home right next door to McDaniel, who was by then in the throes of her own divorce. And by then he was already with the woman who would become the intended victim of his ‘hit’. He split from the successful hospitality industry executive at the beginning of the year, following an alleged assault on her on January 12. In 2015, Jacob moved back to Texas into his parents’ West University home, right next door to McDaniel, who was by then in the throes of her own divorce Once a seemingly happy couple, with a Mercedes wagon and BMW 750 in the driveway and a $720,000 second home, the McDaniels had filed for divorce over reports of Marion's 'infidelity'. Pictured, their home in the West University village The divorce attorney who filed McDaniel’s petition was her immediate next-door neighbor: Jacob’s mother, Golda. Pictured, Jacob's parent's home Court records state that she had returned home from work to the luxury apartment block in which they briefly lived, and that Jacob ‘became upset and stated, “He was tired of her attitude and pissy face.”’ He began yelling at her and throwing dishes. She claimed that when she walked away he followed her into the bathroom, threatened that his family would ‘ruin her,’ grabbed her face when she started to scream, bust her lip and told her to ‘Shut up you dumb c***.’ A small amount of amphetamine was found on Jacob at the time he was charged with this assault, but he was found to have a valid prescription for the substance. Two weeks later, Jacob was charged with stalking when his ex reported that on one occasion he drove his car across hers as she left work and yelled, ‘You are throwing away the best thing you ever had!’ He also texted and emailed repeatedly. In one communication, he boasted that he had ‘got back on top’ and was ‘making over $7,500.00 a week.' He hid in shrubs near her work place and on February 11, he emailed her asking for a painting they had purchased together, saying: 'This was one of my favorite nights of my life.’ It is unclear whether Jacob was sincere in his attempts to reconcile with his ex, or simply attempting to dissuade her from testifying against him in the assault case. Certainly, the latter has been suggested as his motive for wanting her dead less than a month after sending that final email and after the stalking charge was added to that of assault. It was Jacob who reached out to an associate on March 8, unaware that the man in question was a police informant, and asked him to put him in touch with a hit man. On March 9, both he and McDaniel met with the supposed hit man - an undercover cop - in an Olive Garden near the Buffalo Speedway. When DailyMail.com visited Marion McDaniel’s imposing clapboard house in Galveston last week, it was deserted. Newspapers dating from March 18 - the day that his ex-wife was granted bail - had accumulated in the driveway, suggesting that he may have quit his home there and then A neighbor who witnessed their subsequent arrests and knew them in passing expressed his shock when DailyMail.com visited the complex last week. He recalled: ‘I saw all the police and everything that day and I heard about what happened later. 'I knew them to talk to. They had a dog and you used to see them walking it. They were just regular people. She came back a few days later and took all her stuff from the apartment.’ Unlike Jacob, who was denied bail, McDaniel’s was set at $50,000. Reacting to the decision last week, her former husband’s attorney expressed concerns for his client’s safety. When DailyMail.com visited Marion McDaniel’s imposing clapboard house in Galveston last week, it was deserted. Newspapers dating from March 18 - the day that his ex-wife was granted bail - had accumulated in the driveway, suggesting that he may have quit his home there and then. According to his attorney, McDaniel feared what his ex-wife might be capable of, given she had ‘little to lose.’ The sad truth, now evident from her suicide, is that she clearly felt she had absolutely nothing left to lose that she hadn’t already squandered. She left two notes, neither of which police have made public. And now, as her family tries to come to terms with the latest shattering turn of events, Jacob alone will face trial and, it is hoped, make some sense of all that has happened. He is currently being held in Harris County jail after being denied bail and is due back in court on Wednesday. However, Jacob’s request to attend McDaniel’s funeral has been denied. When approached by DailyMail.com, family members of both the accused and their victims declined to comment. Neither Harris County Prosecutor nor Houston Police Department responded to requests for comment. |
© The Associated Press Corrections deputies prepare to enter a cell in the psychiatric unit of the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma, Washington. A federal court last month held Washington state in contempt for holding mentally ill inmates without evaluating or treating them. This story has been updated to correct a typo. Georgia has fewer beds than in 2010, not than in 2016. Across the country, a critical shortage of state psychiatric beds is forcing mentally ill patients with severe symptoms to be held in emergency rooms, hospitals and jails while they wait for a bed, sometimes for weeks. Mental health advocates, attorneys and judges say the practice, known as psychiatric boarding, prevents patients from getting the care they need. Instead, such patients are sometimes strapped down or held in isolation, and often receive little or no mental health services. Several states are moving to increase the number of beds, and to increase crisis services — to help keep a mentally ill person from spiraling out of self-control and ending up in emergency rooms and jails. But the problem, which many blame on budget cuts and a shortage of psychiatrists and nurses, won’t be easy to solve. By one count, the nation needs an additional 123,300 psychiatric hospital beds. The crisis is drawing particular scrutiny in Washington state, where two court rulings — one in the state Supreme Court in 2014 and the other in federal court last year — determined that it is illegal for the state to warehouse mentally ill patients and prisoners in emergency rooms, jails and regular hospitals. The state reacted swiftly, increasing the number of psychiatric beds and boosting spending on community mental health services. But the courts are impatient with the pace of state action. Last month the federal judge who ruled that the Washington Department of Social and Health Services was violating the constitutional rights of prisoners held the department in contempt and ordered it to pay fines of $500 a day for each inmate waiting more than a week for a bed and $1,000 a day for each inmate waiting more than two weeks for a bed, until the problem is fixed. The problem extends far beyond Washington: In a 2014 survey, 19 of 38 state mental health directors said their states had been threatened with or found in contempt for failing to admit jailed inmates found mentally incompetent into mental health facilities in a timely manner. The U.S. now has 37,679 state psychiatric beds, down about 13 percent since 2010, according to a June report from the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit working to improve treatment for severe mental illness. The loss of those beds has left “the sickest of the sick” without treatment, said John Snook, the center’s executive director. The Promise of Deinstitutionalization The introduction of effective psychiatric medicines and a growing preference to keep the mentally ill close to home and in less restrictive settings led to a steady decline in the number of state psychiatric beds, which peaked at nearly 560,000 in 1955. Mental health advocates assumed public spending on community mental health would rise as institutions closed, but the increases have fallen short of the need. The recession made the situation worse: States cut $4.35 billion in public mental health spending between 2009 and 2012, though some states have made modest increases since 2012. “It’s not like the patients have gone away. It’s the treatment resources that have gone away,” said Renée Binder, the immediate past president of the American Psychiatric Association. Failure to treat severe mental illness can result in worsening symptoms and increase the likelihood that inpatient services will be needed, mental health advocates say. “Fewer beds and no more community services is a lethal combination,” said Ron Honberg, a senior policy adviser at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Yearslong Shortage Many states have faced shortages of psychiatric beds for years. A 2008 report for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that psychiatric boarding was routine in many states, including California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts and Nevada. One 2012 study found that 70 percent of emergency rooms had had to board psychiatric patients for more than 24 hours and 10 percent for a week or more. The Treatment Advocacy Center recommends 40 to 60 psychiatric beds for every 100,000 people. The national average is 11.7, and the group estimates that the country needs an additional 123,300 state psychiatric beds, though it is urging the federal government to do its own assessment. Georgia has 9.3 beds for every 100,000 people, and 233 fewer beds than it did in 2010. The state has boosted mental health crisis services, but lacks the manpower to prevent the mentally ill from ending up in emergency rooms and hospitals, said Andrew Johnson, a spokesman for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. “We would probably be able to bring more beds on line but for a workforce challenge,” Johnson said. “The shortage of psychiatrists and nurses is our No. 1 problem.” South Carolina, which has 493 state hospital beds, 67 more than in 2010, has increased mental health spending under Republican Gov. Nikki Haley. Most of the new money has gone toward crisis intervention and services to stabilize patients during an emergency, said Tracy LaPointe, a spokeswoman for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health. LaPointe said the psychiatric boarding continues because there aren’t enough beds. Several states, including Georgia and Virginia, have or are building online registries that can identify open psychiatric beds using up-to-date information. Virginia launched its online registry after several high-profile incidents, including the 2013 stabbing of a state senator by his son, who then shot himself to death, all after an open psychiatric bed could not be found. A January report by the state’s inspector general found the registry’s information wasn’t being updated in a timely fashion. An Imminent Risk In Washington state, the number of state psychiatric beds declined 40 percent from 2010 to 2016, leaving just 729 beds — or 10.2 beds for every 100,000 people. During some of this time, the state reduced its spending on mental health, which mental health advocates say increases the need for inpatient beds even as those beds are evaporating. In the case that reached the state Supreme Court, 10 people were deemed an imminent risk to themselves or others as a result of a mental disorder. Under state law, they should have been sent to state-contracted evaluation, stabilization and treatment centers within 72 hours, where doctors would determine if they needed to be committed. But, because there was no room at the centers or at state psychiatric facilities, the patients were held for much longer in emergency rooms or acute care hospitals — weeks, in some cases. “Hospital emergency departments are a uniquely inappropriate place for someone in psychiatric crisis,” said Eric Neiman, who represented two hospital systems that took the case to court. “It’s loud, chaotic, and they don’t have psychiatric professionals.” |
1. DNA sequencing: Over the next decade gene sequencing prices are expected to continue to decline by over 50% per year. That means that by the end of the decade we should probably know the genomes of a large fraction of the developed world population; of all important species of animals, plants and fungi; and of the microbial ecosystems in all sorts of natural environments. This should enable everything from GATTACA style genetic analysis of adults and embryos to improved flavors of cheese via better bacterial fermentation, as well as very advanced personalized medicine. The biggest questions relate to privacy and consent issues. Will knowledge of one’s own genome be tightly regulated? Will drugs ever be FDA approved for a market of one, and if not, how will personalized medicine work? Stay tuned to find out. 2. Regenerative Medicine: Already people are growing fingers from their own stem cells and growth factor infused protein scaffolds. Soon decellularized organs and directed stem-cell differentiation should enable the replacement of most major organs. Beyond that, such technologies could eventually lead to the creation of whole new synthetic organisms, though not, presumably, in the next decade. Still, by 2020, while we may not yet be able to build werewolves, healthy people who receive rapid emergency responses should be almost as durable. Shame to give up those dreams of bionic arms, but I’m pretty sure most people want flesh instead. Eventually any desired enhancement gadgetry can be built into the protein scaffold, but the killer app — replacement — will be taken. 3. Wireless broadband: Don’t you wish your cell phone sounded more like, you know, a phone? Reallocation of wireless spectrum and continued expansion of cellular infrastructures should make this possible, via the allocation of more bandwidth to each phone call, The continued replacement of voice by text, better technologies for compression and decompression and the like will accelerate the trend. By the end of the decade, expect voice and video quality as good as you might expect from HDTV. 4. Better energy storage: Tired of running out of battery power? Of batteries becoming worthless after too many discharges? Of your skateboard not having a kilowatt motor to keep up with traffic? In a decade these problems will be things of the past. Work on nanostructured batteries, ultracapacitors and fuel cells looks ready to enable high power machinery to operate everywhere and low power machinery to be ready for more after a few seconds of recharge time. 5. Robotics comes of age: The US military has funded robotics research extremely aggressively, and that research seems to be paying off. While today’s drones are mostly for recon, plans already exist for adding firepower. The civilian implications are tremendous. Facial recognition software will go from airports to eyewear while continuing to accelerate in the progress curve for its development. A bit further out, think widespread useful household robots, aerostats, and ultimately, the commercial robotic car. 6. Ubiquitous sensing and data: Science used to largely consist of meticulously gathering data and then using it to test hypotheses. By 2020, not so much. As HD cameras migrate from cell phones to always on line-of-site video (due to better energy tech and signal processing software as much as cheaper CCDs and better lenses) and radio tags shift from cars to inventories, the data to evaluate almost any macroscale hypothesis will already be available and recorded. Asking the right questions and translating them into statistical algorithms won’t necessarily be easy, but it sounds a lot more fun than lab work. 7. Cloud computing: Want a wearable supercomputer but don’t know what to do with the megawatt of waste heat? No problem, just borrow one for a second when you need it. Throw in some human intelligence while your at it. By 2020, Jeopardy playing AI won’t be a cool marketing gimmick, it will be a readily available servant you can talk to through your headset. No need to spend a fortune on the hardware, just ask it your questions when you feel curious. 8. The real social network: See that cute girl or boy sitting over there? Imagine seeing what you have in common at a glance. Social connections, common interests, whatever’s public. Want to try a new candy bar? People who like the things you like say you probably won’t enjoy it. Want a loan? Someone you know wants a 6% return, and based on your friends (evaluated by frequency of email exchange, not ‘friending’), they consider you trustworthy. Want to go skiing? It’s been one year since Jake, Ann and Alex last did so. They all like to go at least twice a year most years and they all have open calendars today. Did your friends really enjoy that party? Yes, but based on their proximities to one another they split into 3 groups with little overlap. Maybe try to have separate parties next time, or set up some icebreakers. The following games and exercises have worked in similar occasions in the past. Sally has done some of them before so maybe she can organize. 9. Augmented Reality: The killer app for most of the above. Want to talk with someone? Their Aura tells you how busy they probably feel as assessed by skin conductance, sleep history, and inbox content. Where did you put your necklace? Seems you last saw it on the kitchen counter. Feel like playing Pac-Man in Central Park with CGI ghosts? Totally doable. You can even dial in detailed rendering for more elaborate VR by renting out some computing clusters in Iceland. 10. Political-Economic reorganization: The good news is, as far as I can tell, none of these technologies is going to cost much. The bad news is that this means that they aren’t going to bring back much in the way of jobs, or even profits. I don’t really know what that’s going to mean, but the word Cyberpunk comes to mind. Importing oil may get quite a bit more difficult, but computer assisted ride sharing, VR, and to a lesser extent new energy and efficiency technologies should help. There’s plenty of food, cheap Chinese manufactured goods too cheap to meter via Ebay and Walmart and plenty of housing, so I’m sure that people will muddle through and figure out some way to distribute it equitably… that or elect jackbooted thugs to figure it out for them. A lot really depends on what the American middle class decides to believe once its totally clear that they aren’t going to be able to retire the way they expected, afford ever more expensive health-care, etc. The recent story with Bernie Madoff gives me some hope. No pograms. That’s progress! Michael Vassar is the president of the Singularity Institute and is on the board of Humanity Plus. He has been writing and presenting futurist material with organizations such as Humanity Plus, Futurist.com and the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology and IEET since 2003. |
Light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights often draw moths and other insects into small areas at night, setting a buffet for nocturnal predators, but certain aspects of the lights themselves might be rendering insects vulnerable in even more sinister ways, new research suggests. Many cities and towns are upgrading their streetlights from power-hungry gas-vapor lamps to LEDs as a cost-saving matter. In a 4-night study conducted at sites near Bristol, U.K., researchers mimicked one of these newfangled streetlights by placing an array of LEDs inside a streetlight housing on top of a 4-meter-tall tripod far from other sources of artificial light. Then they used a speaker system to broadcast the feeding calls of Nyctalus noctula, a common bat (pictured) that feeds on beetles and moths. Analyses of videos showed that only 24% of moths that heard the bat signals under the LED lights took evasive action, whereas 60% dove erratically when exposed to such chirps when the lights were off, the researchers report online today in Royal Society Open Science. The reasons aren’t clear, the researchers note, but they may stem from the broad range of wavelengths emitted by LEDs: Some moth species shut off their bat-avoiding behavior in the daytime, so the floodlit insects may be interpreting LED streetlights as daylight. Such behavioral changes, besides being potentially fatal to individual moths in the short term, may over the long term cause insect populations to drop dramatically—which in turn may decrease the food supply for furry flyers. Although some of these moths or their caterpillars are noted agricultural pests, a decline in other insects in these groups could decrease the pollination of certain plant species with nectar-rich flowers. Presumably, insects that can’t discern the ultrasonic calls of foraging bats—and therefore can’t avoid the predators—won’t be directly affected by a shift to LEDs. |
Each day in the U.S., nine people are killed and 1,153 people are injured in crashes that involve a distracted driver, according to the CDC. (Photo11: Getty) Texting and driving. We know it's a stupid idea, yet despite all those campaigns against it, some people still think they can handle the demands of a vehicle and their text messages at the same time. And if they're going to continue to do it, there might as well be a product that makes it safer. In an apparent case of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," the RayGo lets you keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road — while talking, texting or even Facebooking. It's a navigation control that mounts to your steering wheel and connects to your smartphone via a free app (Android only, for now), which automatically enables your favorite apps with voice feedback. "Drive Mode" works with Gmail, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, just to name a few. Simply press on the five-way control with your thumb and listen as the Siri-esque RayGo voice provides options such as "Select action," "Next," and "OK." Nintendo fans will feel right at home. More OZY stories you may like: Headphones get a juicy boost Would you commute on a self-balancing unicycle? Track your stuff anywhere in the world, without GPS The RayGo didn't start out as an anti-distraction device. Initially, Tel Aviv-based co-founders Michael Vakulenko and Boaz Zilberman devised Project RAY as a way to give vision-impaired people full access to their smartphones. After realizing that their eyes-free technology had much wider applications, the pair began to develop the RayGo. But it needed to do more than just let you use your phone while driving, it also had to be smart enough to know when you shouldn't be using it at all. So it uses your smartphone's GPS sensors and an embedded accelerometer to detect your speed and direction. If you're driving quickly, the voice responses get slower and more pronounced. If you're in the middle of making a turn and you receive a message, the RayGo will hold it. "You won't even know it came in [until the turn is complete]," says Arielle Tayar, RayGo's community and social media manager. As clever as this all sounds, consider some potential drawbacks before you buy ($55, on Indiegogo). Having anything mounted to your steering wheel — even something small — could compromise your ability to control your car by preventing you from gripping the wheel properly. It could also interfere with the safe deployment of the airbag. The device has its critics. Dan Wagner, founder and president of Teen Driving Solutions School of North Carolina, thinks any distraction for teen drivers is one too many, and that "devices like this still require some level of cognitive focus." Accident lawyer Jennifer Ashley, a partner with Illinois-based Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., agrees, and says it also poses a risk of causing an accident. "In my opinion, a device such as RayGo should not be legal," she says. For those who still want to stay connected while driving, at least it takes the phone out of your hands. RayGo starts shipping in October, with an iPhone version of the app available by the end of the year. Just remember, it might minimize distractions, but it can't eliminate them … drive safely! OZY is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1GRdaUR |
Francis Slakey has climbed the world's tallest peaks and surfed its seven seas. But now he's set his sights on an even bigger goal: encouraging American cities to ramp down – way down – on their use of BTUs and kilowatt hours. Dr. Slakey is executive director of the new Georgetown University Energy Prize, a $5 million prize that will be awarded to the US community of between 5,000 and 250,000 residents that shows the greatest ability to cut energy use. "The goal is to transform the way America uses energy," Slakey says. Using quarterfinal, semifinal, and final rounds, he hopes to make the competition into "the Super Bowl of energy efficiency." Slakey, who teaches physics at Georgetown in Washington D.C., has written a book ("To the Last Breath") about his other life as an athlete-adventurer. He is the first person to both reach the summit of the highest mountain on every continent and surf every ocean. "There was a time in my life when all I cared about was climbing and surfing," he says in a recent telephone interview. But seeing the effects of climate change as he traveled began to redirect his life goals. "I used to look at a map of the world, and I would just see places to conquer, mountains to climb and oceans to surf," he says. But "as a result of traveling around the world I came to realize there are global challenges out there. For me, as a physicist, it was the energy challenge that rose to the top of the list.... I came out of it deciding that I could actually contribute to the world in a more significant way." In May 2012 he decided to host a brainstorming session at Georgetown on how to increase energy efficiency. The group could have moved in a variety of directions, such as asking for more government action. Instead, it proposed offering an energy prize to the cities who need the most help – smaller cities that have fewer resources but also are home to almost 70 percent of the US population. Today (April 23) opens the official two-month period for cities to enter the contest. More than 50 already have, from Fremont, Calif., to Atlantic City, N.J. Some cities are coming to the contest wanting to address climate change, he says. But others simply want to save money on energy costs. Oberlin, Ohio, has a green goal: It "has pledged that as a city they're going to try to be carbon neutral," Slakey says, while Fairbanks, Alaska, faces high energy costs and just wants to save money. Addressing climate change or cutting energy costs "are both perfectly valid reasons" to enter the competition, he says. How will the winner be determined? After a two-year competition the cities will be judged on their total electricity and natural gas usage per capita, adjusted for local climate. The final criteria also will consider what was done to engage community members and whether it can be replicated nationwide. Slakey is reluctant to talk about specific steps cities might take to win the competition. "We're expecting innovation … and it can come in a variety of ways," he says. Some cities might combine known energy-saving technologies in a novel way. Others might find new ways to finance energy efficiency in homes and businesses or new ways to persuade people to be more energy efficient. "The excitement of the prize is in not knowing what the winner will look like," he says. The $5 million figure came as a result of a suggestion from the mayor of Dubuque, Iowa. "Make it a dollar figure that will be transformative for a community of my size," the mayor urged Slakey. While $5 million might not be a transformative amount for New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, it can make a huge difference in a city the size of Dubuque, Slakey says. Georgetown University is hosting the prize competition, but the prize money will come from a variety of other benefactors, some yet to be named. Slakey is confident that the funds will be raised. "I've been overwhelmed by the interest not only among the communities themselves but among the sponsors." Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy If they raise more than $5 million, Slakey says, "We'll have additional prize money attached to category winners," such as the best city at addressing the energy needs of low-income people. "That's a tough nut to crack for energy efficiency." • To learn more visit www.guep.org or search @GUEnergyPrize on Twitter |
The leadership and accountability vacuum at Kensington and Chelsea council was perfectly illustrated during today’s Victoria Derbyshire show when a dog took the place of one of two Tory council leaders who refused to show up. Council leader Nick Paget Brown (right) and deputy leader and cabinet member for housing Rock Feilding-Mellen (left) refused to take part in the programme with Grenfell residents despite “repeated requests” for their participation. In response to their snub to survivors, two empty chairs with photos of the pair were set out at the social club in the shadow of Grenfell Tower where the show was filmed. Luna, the dog of one of the residents taking part in the live show, completed the cowardly Tory councillor’s humiliation on national TV by taking the place of Feilding-Mellen. Local Labour MP Emma Dent Coad said: “It’s no surprise to me at all that you have an empty chair there. Having worked on the council for 11 years, the depth of incompetence is absolutely mind boggling. Mind boggling.” Tory London Assembly Member Tony Devenish and Housing Minister Alok Sharma were decent enough to turn up, but were reprimanded by residents for talking to them in platitudes: ‘We want permanent accommodation, not platitudes’ Grenfell residents challenge housing minister Alok Sharma. pic.twitter.com/GLPQb76i6u — Victoria Derbyshire (@VictoriaLIVE) June 28, 2017 If you’ve been replaced by a dog, you know it’s time to go… |
0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard Republicans in the U.S. Senate are planning to vote on a repeal of the Affordable Care Act as early as next month, according to The Hill, citing a top Republican. GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said that the Senate will take a vote on Obamacare repeal legislation by April 7, before a two-week Easter recess. The only problem? Republicans still have no credible plan to replace it. The only problem? Republicans still have no credible plan to replace it As The Hill noted on Wednesday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will move to repeal the law even sooner than the Senate, as early as next week. But the only replacement legislation that has surfaced from the House faced an immediate backlash from the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party. While Cornyn said that the leaked bill wasn’t the “current” version of the legislation, there are still clear and so far unrepaired divisions among Republicans, who have had seven full years to come up with a replacement plan that wouldn’t pull the rug out from under tens of millions of people. It’s not just Congressional Republicans that can’t get on the same page. The Hill also notes that the White House isn’t on the same page as GOP lawmakers. Ultimately, the only thing Republicans seem to be in agreement on is that they want to dismantle a law that has provided health insurance to millions of people and provided protections to millions of others. In Donald Trump’s speech to Congress on Tuesday, he recommitted to repealing the health care law but offered no detailed or credible solution. While the White House and Congressional Republicans squabble over dollars and cents in their effort to repeal and “replace” the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans remain on edge that they will have to return to the days when one illness could put them in financial ruin. If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: |
Romney is hiding Bain abortion profits in his tax returns, says Tampa foe August 22, 2012 MMD NewswireTAMPA, FL (MMD Newswire) August 16, 2012 — Republican spokesmen for a rising "DUMP ROMNEY" rebellion today charged that Mitt Romney is "hiding Bain abortion profits in his tax returns" from investments that "would make Herod blush."Steve Baldwin, former Republican Whip of the California State Assembly, said recent journalism about the actual date of Romney's departure from Bain Capital "has almost certainly revealed the real reason Romney refuses to release any more than two years of personal IRS data: Bain's craven investment in Stericycle corporation — a vendor to Planned Parenthood — lined Romney's pockets with profits from the incineration of aborted human fetuses. Mitt, it's time to disclose your tax returns and everything else about Stericycle."Baldwin, also former Executive Director of the Council for National Policy (CNP), an influential conservative organization in Washington, said, "Tampa's GOP delegates will shame themselves if they don't conscientiously abstain from Romney on the first ballot to derail the worst nominee in our party's history. We're convinced Mitt Romney is hiding Bain abortion profits in his tax returns." Baldwin cited the following facts and sources to back up his charges:- Despite claiming to have quit Bain in early 1999, Romney evidently controlled Stericycle via Bain for years thereafter: In July, The Boston Globe reported evidence that Romney maintained control of Bain and its investments for years after the date he claimed to have relinquished it. The Globe cited a June, 2012 federal filing by Romney's campaign which said, "Since February 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way.'' That, however, contradicted the findings of a July 2, 2012 Mother Jones investigation: "Citing SEC documents, the magazine said Romney had control of Bain Capital's shares in Stericycle, a medical waste company, in November 1999. Talking Points Memo reported this week on additional SEC filings listing Romney's position with Bain in July 2000 and February 2001."- Bain joined a $75 million investment in Stericycle: The Mother Jones story (entitled "Romney Invested in Medical-Waste Firm That Disposed of Aborted Fetuses, Government Documents Show"),cited prior reporting by Huffington Post during the early 2012 presidential primaries to show that Romney "had been part of an investment group that invested $75 million in Stericycle, a medical-waste disposal firm that has been attacked by anti-abortion groups for disposing aborted fetuses collected from family planning clinics....But Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney founded, tamped down the controversy. The company said Romney left the firm in February 1999 to run the troubled 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and likely had nothing to do with the deal. The matter never became a campaign issue. But documents filed by Bain and Stericycle with the Securities and Exchange Commission — and obtained by Mother Jones — list Romney as an active participant in the investment. And this deal helped Stericycle, a company with a poor safety record, grow, while yielding tens of millions of dollars in profits for Romney and his partners. The documents — one of which was signed by Romney — also contradict the official account of Romney's exit from Bain."- Stericycle was handling fetal remains years before Bain and Romney took control: Two days after the Mother Jones story, the pro-life website LifeNews.com oddly defended Romney by arguing that because a 2011-12 pro-life "Campaign to Stop Stericycle" documented no Stericycle waste disposal contracts with abortion clinics prior to 2003, Romney therefore could not have profited from Stericycle's abortion-related activities. The Mother Jones story itself, however, cited public OSHA violations by Stericycle from 1991 — well before the Bain investment — which included improperly keeping "body parts, fetuses, and dead experimental animals in unmarked storage containers, placing workers at risk."- Romney personally signed for "voting and dispositive" control over Stericycle, the abortion disposal firm: According to the Mother Jones investigation:Here's what happened with Stericycle. In November 1999, Bain Capital and Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, filed with the SEC a Schedule 13D, which lists owners of publicly traded companies, noting that they had jointly purchased $75 million worth of shares in Stericycle, a fast-growing player in the medical-waste industry. (That April, Stericycle had announced plans to buy the medical-waste businesses of Browning Ferris Industries and Allied Waste Industries.) The SEC filing lists assorted Bain-related entities that were part of the deal, including Bain Capital (BCI), Bain Capital Partners VI (BCP VI), Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors (a Bermuda-based Bain affiliate), and Brookside Capital Investors (a Bain offshoot). And it notes that Romney was the "sole shareholder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of BCI, BCP VI Inc., Brookside Inc. and Sankaty Ltd."The document also states that Romney "may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to" 2,116,588 shares of common stock in Stericycle "in his capacity as sole shareholder" of the Bain entities that invested in the company. That was about 11 percent of the outstanding shares of common stock. (The whole $75 million investment won Bain, Romney, and their partners 22.64 percent of the firm's stock — the largest bloc among the firm's owners.) The original copy of the filing was signed by Romney. Another SEC document filed November 30, 1999, by Stericycle also names Romney as an individual who holds "voting and dispositive power" with respect to the stock owned by Bain. If Romney had fully retired from the private equity firm he founded, why would he be the only Bain executive named as the person in control of this large amount of Stericycle stock?- Stericycle is just one more immoral Bain/Romney investment: "Rusty Leonard, president of Stewardship Partners, says Romney ... — who is aggressively courting "religious right" voters — owns stock in at least a dozen companies with active ties to abortion... and pornography." ( http://www.danburrell.com/?p=442 Although media have suggested that Romney's alleged early 1999 Bain departure was mainly to avoid being tied to the outsourcings and bankruptcies of firms in which Bain invested thereafter, Baldwin of the "DUMP ROMNEY" campaign argues that personal profiting from Bain's later stake in Stericycle — the nation's leading incinerator of aborted fetuses and other medical waste — is by far the most explosive reason for Romney to want to keep his tax returns secret from voters and especially, from delegates to the August 27 Republican National Convention in Tampa.Baldwin said, "Sure, lying on federal SEC or FEC forms is a felony, but that overlooks the elephant in the room and undoubtedly hiding inside Romney's tax returns: Through Bain, Romney bought shares in the leading immolator of aborted babies."Delegates to the GOP Convention began receiving a strategy memo last week entitled, "DUMP ROMNEY: Why Tampa's Republican Delegates must Dump Romney to Defeat Obama." It contends that no delegates are actually "bound" by law or GOP rules to vote for Romney and that, to win the White House and toss-up Senate seats, delegates must exercise their right to "conscientiously abstain" from Romney on the crucial first ballot, aiming for a stronger ticket leader in subsequent convention voting rounds. Also the title and core of a hard-hitting new 80,000 word book , the entire 9-page "DUMP ROMNEY" memo to GOP delegates can be read free online via Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader.Dr. Gary Cass, a Presbyterian minister and Baldwin's co-spokesman in the "DUMP ROMNEY" push said, "It seems the Republican Party is on the very brink of nominating a man who's hiding a bloody record of such Biblical proportions, it would make Herod blush. We fear that Mitt Romney's secret tax returns will show that he has financed and profited, like some ancient priest of Moloch or Baal, from the burning of human babies, from child sacrifice. If that's so, could the GOP sink any lower than to nominate this man?" |
Written by Mike Hall, AFL-CIO Even for Newt Gingrich, this is bizarre. The Republican presidential candidate says child labor laws are “stupid.” But that’s just the start. He says schools should “get rid of unionized janitors” and hire low-income kids to clean the schools. He also says that age nine is a good time to get a job. Wow. Gingrich was speaking at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government last week when he suggested that putting scrub brushes and floor sanders in the hands of kids and firing school maintenance workers would “lift up the poorest neighborhoods.” In fact, he says poor kids and their parents should look at the lives of successful people, “they all started their first job between nine and 14 years of age.” He says child labor laws “entrap poor children into poverty.” Of course most of us know that child labor laws prevent kids from getting trapped on assembly lines or by moving machine parts. This post was originally published on the AFL-CIO’s blog. Related Stories: Gingrich Made $1.6 Million “Advising” Freddie Mac And Then There Was Newt Santorum Opposes Early Childhood Education Photo from Gage Skidmore via flickr |
More Galway related news. Irish game developers, 9th Impact (based in Galway) have this week launched the official Biker Mice from Mars game on iPhone and Android. The game is based on the smash hit 90’s animated TV series of the same name which was a staple of “The Den” programming on Network 2 from 1993 to 1996. The Galway-based company won the licence to develop the game following a competitive selection process during which they beat off larger international game studios to clinch the deal. The show’s creator, Rick Ungar, is confident that the game will be well received by the large fan base of the cult classic series. “I think Biker Mice Fans will enjoy the snappy banter, classic catchphrases and irreverent satire that they would expect from the series, in addition to the non-stop action.” Players choose one of the Biker Mice characters and ride through the streets of Chicago, following trails or battling enemies. Each level completed reveals the next instalment of the story of that episode. There are currently 2 episodes available, one clearly poking fun at a recent movie franchise and the other featuring a billionaire character running for President. There is an endless mode available for each episode to compete for highscores or to earn coins which can be spent on upgrades. Biker Mice from Mars uses the usual swipe and tap controls from the endless runner genre but the lazer shooting, pursuits, boss fights and heavy use of story throughout make it a richer experience than the typical endless runners. The producers, artists and developers behind the game were all fans of the show since childhood. “I think the fact that we are huge fans is evident in the attention to small details throughout the game” says producer Mark Quick. Players unlock cards, trivia and mini-games as they complete levels or certain objectives in the endless mode. These cards are rich in detail from the show which will appeal to fans or newcomers seeking to learn what all the nostalgic fuss is about. About Biker Mice from Mars Biker Mice from Mars is an animated series created by Rick Ungar which first aired in 1993. The series features 3 motorcycle-riding mice who escape a war on their home planet of Mars and arrive on Earth, crash landing in Chicago. Earth is in danger from the same fish-like race who destroyed Mars. One of the Plutarkian race, Lawrence Limburger, is disguised as a human business magnate and is trying to steal Earth’s resources but the Biker Mice are on hand to foil his evil plans. The show was hugely popular in many countries at the time of broadcast and gained a dedicated worldwide cult following over the years. The series spawned two previous games – one on the Super Nintendo console (1994) and the other on Play Station 2 (2006). About 9th Impact 9th Impact is an award winning independent game development studio based in Galway, Ireland. The team of artists, engineers and producers are huge fans of Biker Mice from Mars and dreamed about building an awesome endless runner game for mobile. In 2014 the studio secured the licence to make the official Biker Mice from Mars game for mobile. The studio is currently working on new episodes to extend the action runner game and intends to develop an adventure style game based on the same series in 2016. Biker Mice from Mars is available on App Store and Google Play: http://onelink.to/cpy4k8 |
For an event promoting an active lifestyle, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Olympics are encouraging us to take the car. The Environmental Transport Association (ETA) has looked into the regulations on the "Games lanes" – the 30 miles of road in central London exclusively reserved for use during the event by the "Games family" of athletes, officials and sponsors – and found that 95% will be off-limits to cyclists. The limit works on the basis that it is safer for cyclists to stay beside the pavement, making the Games lanes, which will be positioned in the centre of the road, a no-go area. The situation is made even more troubling by the fact that bus lanes, which the ETA says offer "a refuge from London's busiest traffic", will be removed from roads with Games lanes. "The decision to ban bicycles from almost every Games lane is as baffling as it dangerous – on a busy London road with slow moving or stationary vehicles a cyclist riding on the outside of traffic for reasons of safety faces a £130 fine," said Yannick Read, a spokesman for the ETA. "It's unacceptable that the chauffeured journeys of competitors will be at the expense of London's cyclists in this way." TfL explained that the heavy flow of "Games family" traffic is estimated to be 1,300 vehicles an hour. "It's not going to be one VIP every 20 minutes," explained a spokesperson for Transport for London. The Games lanes aren't the only routes causing trouble for cyclists in the capital. Provisions for bike users during the Olympics are more than a little lacking. Now Lea towpath, a bike-friendly "greenway" running alongside the canal opposite the Olympic Park from Bow to Homerton in east London, and a key route to the main venue from the south, has been closed and will remain so until September. A group of protesters, Open Our Towpath, have set up on Facebook and Twitter, and staged a demonstration against the closure over the weekend. An enquiry to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) returned the same statement we were given last week, citing security concerns and advising cyclists "to arrive at Victoria Park to access the Olympic Park during the Games and this is unaffected by the security closure", though it failed to offer any further information on why the closure will need to last so long. It's not only in the capital that cyclists are feeling the effects of red tape. A number of train operators, listed in this National Rail leaflet, are restricting the carriage of full-size bikes (folding bikes are still allowed), for the duration of the 2012 Games. Sue Childs, a cyclist from Kent, had planned a bike ride from Land's End to John o' Groats, and purchased advance tickets to Penzance to start the trip. Unfortunately, as her train journey went via London Paddington, she fell foul of Southeastern Trains' Olympics bike policy, and has had to re-book tickets for another route, costing her an extra £75. A spokesperson said their restriction is aimed at decreasing congestion, with the company expecting an additional 110,000 passengers using their trains for the Olympics period. This doesn't make the policy any less frustrating for cyclists, especially regular commuters or those who have already booked. "I am sure I am probably not the only person to be caught out like this," said Sue. "In fact I imagine there will be a number of furious people turning up at Southeastern stations not having realised about the ban and who will have their holiday plans upset." It's hard to avoid feeling there's some irony in London 2012's attempts to encourage cycling, both in the capital and beyond: rather than enabling Games-goers to cycle to the venues, it seems its regulations will leave people with little choice but to dismount. As Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator for the national cyclists' organisation, CTC, said: "Although we hope the Games will prove inspirational, it is sad that it is proving such an obstacle to everyday cycling, with the effects being felt across the country. So much of the Games appears to be predicated on the need to provide high-speed car transport at the cost of provision for cyclists. Instead of a sustainable and equitable Games, local people and their travel needs are being obstructed, often completely unnecessarily." |
Clutch performances abounded in Week 14. There was LeSean McCoy's scamper to bury the Colts in a morass of white cotton candy. The Jags' pass rush put Russell Wilson in a malaise trying to get the ball out with the game hanging in the balance. Brett Hundley rolled out the red carpet for his mentor with on-point throws late in Cleveland. Matt Prater was money in Tampa. Antonio Brown is always money. But my two favorite moments defined the unpredictability of this season, albeit in different ways ... With his team trailing by a point to the top offense in the NFL -- and his team's potential league MVP having been done in for the season minutes earlier -- Chris Long might have delivered home-field for the Eagles. After a decade in the NFL trenches, the veteran pass rusher had Jared Goff in his sights. Feeling him move up in the pocket, Long made the extra effort of leaving his feet to lunge for the ball -- not easy, 50-some odd minutes deep into a game. Goff coughed it up, Philly recovered and went on to kick a go-ahead field goal. Long could have merely kept running toward Goff, yet something in him decided to sell out to reach the football -- the same extra something that causes a wide receiver to go up and get a ball rather than let it come to him. Deonte Thompson, let go of by the Bears in October, did anything but let go of his opportunity Sunday. With the Bills tied in overtime, Joe Webb lobbed a ball down the right sideline (if you can call it that in the snow) in Thompson's direction. The former Bear lunged for the ball, then grasped it for dear life so it would not hit the ground when his body did and squirt out of his wet paws. Incredible. Buffalo's third-string QB chucked it to a guy picked up off the street, saving the Bills' playoff hopes. This is an actual photo from the middle of an NFL game, and we still can't believe it. #GoBills Top snow photos from yesterday's game: https://t.co/RFmeT5do3u pic.twitter.com/i6PYs6idHr â Buffalo Bills (@buffalobills) December 11, 2017 Can't believe it either, man. For more analysis on the Eagles, Bills and everyone else, see below. You'll notice that several losing teams did not move down this week. The league's pecking order is taking shape, as it usually does at this time of year. Your timely take is welcome: @HarrisonNFL is the place. Let the dissension commence! PROGRAMMING NOTE: For more in-depth analysis on the updated league pecking order, tune in to NFL Network every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. ET for the "NFL Power Rankings" show. Want to add YOUR voice? Provide your thoughts at the bottom of this page or tweet @HarrisonNFL, and your comments could be featured on air. EDITOR'S NOTE: The lineup below reflects changes from our Week 14 Power Rankings. RANK 1 11-2 STEELERS 3 The Steelers jump up into the top spot on the heels of another ridiculous three hours of football with the Ravens. The Pittsburgh offense took over late -- kinda like this new Antonio Brown-for-MVP discussion, which is late because, well, it's a topic I broached years ago. Back when everyone thought J.J. Watt was the top defensive player in football -- many felt he should've won the MVP in 2014 -- I believed Brown was the premier offensive player. In that '14 campaign, Brown led the NFL in catches and receiving yards while notching 13 touchdowns. OK, so Aaron Rodgers was a very deserving MVP winner that season -- I just wanted Brown to be in the discussion. And in 2015? Well, I thought the Steelers wideout deserved serious consideration for the hardware. I mean, dude posted over 1,800 yards receiving with Michael Vick and Landry Jones throwing him the ball for a solid chunk of the season. Brown's on pace for 1,857 yards this season. And while many tout Julio Jones as the most gifted player at the position, Brown has been the far more consistent and productive receiver. Oh, but nowwwww he's an MVP candidate. Got it. RANK 2 10-3 PATRIOTS 1 Not the Patriots' night in Miami. Tom Brady was off. Three core players were out (and sorely missed). Hard for Brady to start feeling it on some of his throws when, too often, he felt the pass rush first. The left side of the line got beat repeatedly in the second half, with Ndamukong Suh pestering Brady from the inside and the edge rushers collapsing the pocket regularly. Also problematic: The absence of New England's own outside pass rush. Uh, that might be an issue vs. the Steelers' passing attack. P.S., Brandin Cooks still isn't open. RANK 4 11-2 EAGLES 2 There will be those who think the Eagles should move down further, with Nick Foles taking over at quarterback in the wake of Carson Wentz's season-ending injury. Those same folks should consider that Foles has enjoyed success -- darn-near historic success -- as a starter before. Teams have gone all the way with their backup before, too. Everyone knows about Tom Brady and the 2001 Patriots, but that's certainly not the only example. The '71 Cowboys started the season with Craig Morton ... and ended it with Roger Staubach and a Lombardi Trophy. The next year, the perfect Dolphins went most of the regular season with Earl Morrall at quarterback. He started in the Divisional Round, as well, but not the Super Bowl. In 1980, the Raiders turned to journeyman Jim Plunkett after starter Dan Pastorini got hurt. They won it all -- vanquishing Philadelphia on Super Bowl Sunday, as a matter of fact. Doug Williams became the Super Bowl XXII MVP in January of 1988, despite starting just two regular-season games during the '87 campaign. Then there were the 1990 Giants, who hoisted the hardware with Jeff Hostetler filling in for Phil Simms. How about Kurt Warner, who only got the opportunity to start on what would become "The Greatest Show on Turf" because Trent Green went down in the 1999 preseason? Not to mention Trent Dilfer, who won the Super Bowl the next year by riding the Ravens' defense. While the Eagles might no longer be favorites, they're far from out of it. This was a really long blurb. Free football. RANK 7 9-4 JAGUARS The Jaguars might not be wowing everyone at this point, but they are as sturdy a top-10 team as any other. While the defense racks up sacks and turnovers and Leonard Fournette closes in on a 1,000-yard rookie campaign (he's only 77 yards shy with three games to go), the undercurrent of truth to this team's playoff narrative is the steadier hand of Blake Bortles. Don't look now, but the oft-critiqued quarterback (that's putting it rather nicely) has strung together a couple of quality starts in a row. Also, he's only tossed eight interceptions all season. The last time Bortles turned the ball over was Week 12 in Arizona, where he more than made up for that giveaway with two rushing touchdowns. That road loss was actually more on the defense. RANK 9 7-6 CHARGERS 1 Philip Rivers was slinging it all over the ballpark for the better part of Sunday's game. That is, until the win over the Redskins got so out of hand that Anthony Lynn pulled his franchise quarterback in the fourth quarter. Even with the major slamming of the brakes on offense, Rivers departed eaaarrlllly, with more than 300 yards passing. More impressively, Rivers averaged 10.3 yards per throw. Media and statniks alike pay far too much attention to the "Cmp %" section on the stat line and not enough to the "Y/A." Rivers is hovering around 7.8 for his career, ranking fifth highest among active passers. More impressive: He's also led the NFL in that category three times. Tom Brady can't say that. Nor can Aaron Rodgers. RANK 11 8-5 SEAHAWKS 3 It's become increasingly clear that the Seahawks can't go on the road against quality teams and pull games out with a frantic push at the end, much less impose their will. They're too depleted on the back end, which Blake Bortles (of all people) shoved in their collective face on Sunday. Russell Wilson tried his darndest to pull yet another game out of his rear end, but being down 17 points with 10 minutes left was too steep a hill to climb for the NFL's best fourth-quarter player. That last-gasp pass attempt to Doug Baldwin -- you know, where Wilson was swarmed in about 2.3 seconds -- looked like a Jags jailbreak. Otherwise known in football circles as Seattle offensive-line play. RANK 13 7-6 RAVENS No move for the Ravens, who hung with the Steelers for 60 minutes on Sunday, or at least 59:17. That last drive was rancid (can't use the right word to actually describe it). Yet, Baltimore showed it can manufacture more than a morsel of offense. Alex Collins was one heckuva independent contractor in the second half. Joe Flacco, on the other hand, is flummoxing. He's so cool that when your team's going against him, you don't know whether to be scared silly ... or relieved that he's clearly about to deliver a three-and-out drive-by. The fumble out of bounds -- with the abrupt ending it induced -- dotted what was such a frustrating loss for Ravens fans. RANK 14 7-6 PACKERS 3 (UPDATE: Aaron Rodgers has been cleared to return, and NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday that Rodgers will start Sunday at Carolina.) Praise abounds for Brett Hundley following his fine rendering late on the road in Cleveland. Right when you start feeling bad for the Browns, you realize the Packers' win means Rodgers could be dropped back into the playoff race like a smooth Jager shot in a breezy cold beer ... Like Luke Skywalker's cameo in "Force Awakens" -- except not with a Michael McDonald beard. Maybe they were setting up the next movie. Rodgers' return is a gift for all football fans -- especially with Deshaun Watson and now Carson Wentz gone till 2018. If the Packers sneak in and No. 12 starts rocking, they can beat anyone. RANK 15 8-5 TITANS 3 Titans fans have been quite upset with yours truly of late for a perceived low ranking. They weren't much happier when your hack writer predicted Tennessee would lose in Arizona. While the record is still impressive -- something many readers pointed out when Tennessee won six of seven -- even the most nutso Tennessee fan with a Keith Bulluck alternate road jersey and Blaine Bishop bobblehead will tell you the team has been wildly inconsistent. Marcus Mariota's play has dipped, if not taken nosedive -- his late interception Sunday was the latest in a subpar anthology for the franchise leader. Not to mention, 159 passing yards on 31 attempts is unacceptable production. Give Mariota credit for putting that ball right on Delanie Walker during Tennessee's final offensive stanza, however. The Cards were playing kickball out there. That's OK: The Titans threw to a defensive back -- their own -- with the game on the line. RANK 16 7-6 LIONS 2 Playoffs are still the talk in Detroit for now. The Lions are conveniently ignored around the league, yet can still navigate their way toward January football, with two very winnable games on tap: vs. Chicago and at Cincinnati. Then the Packers come to town. Whether Aaron Rodgers will be on that bus is the key. Well, he'll be on it, but whether he's a cheerleader or trying to push the Pack into their own postseason slot is the question. Either way, Detroit could be 9-6 for the second year in a row, playing the Packers in a high-stakes Week 17 game for the second year in a row. ... And then 9-7 for the second year in a row. RANK 19 5-8 REDSKINS 3 Kirk Cousins can't do it by himself. While the Redskins are apparently still evaluating Cousins, perhaps they can pull out a compass, protractor and TI-81 graphing calculator and find that scant pass rush early in the game. You know, the same pass rush (pass deliberation?) that let Chargers QB Philip Rivers uncork a couple of let-me-double-clutch-and-take-a-javelin-step-before-I-uncork-the-hell-out-of-this-throw deep balls to Tyrell Williams and Keenan Allen on Sunday. The stat sheet said two sacks for Washington. That was misleading. As were a few throws by Cousins, who was trying to escape real pressure. RANK 21 6-7 DOLPHINS 3 Hat pulled low, arms folded, Adam Gase revealed little during the game Monday night. His team finally looked like the playoff outfit from a year ago, piecing together a complete game against the mighty Patriots on offense, defense and special teams. The ferocious hits from the latter could be heard all the way out of the stadium and through flat screens everywhere. Xavien Howard made Brandin Cooks disappear faster than Sean Payton. And as far as Kenyan Drake is concerned ... The stoic Gase didn't look like a man with buyer's, er, trader's remorse. Miami looked fantastic all the way around Monday night. RANK 23 3-10 49ERS 6 Jimmy Garoppolo is now a local legend in San Francisco. He's 4-0 as a starter in the NFL. He surpassed 300 yards passing in the win over the Texans, making him the first 49ers quarterback to pull that off since John Brodie. So maybe that's an exaggeration -- but Garoppolo is the first Niners quarterback to do that since Brian Hoyer in Week 5. Maybe this flurry of wins (yes, two in a row counts as a flurry for this 49ers group) will result in San Francisco missing out on a top-five pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Fine. Picking sixth or seventh ain't so bad when you aren't desperate for a quarterback. Just a thought. RANK 24 4-9 BEARS 2 Not sure where that showing in Cincinnati came from, but this Bears team continues to play for its embattled head coach. Heard much speculation about John Fox, whose 13-32 record in Chicago isn't bringing back memories of Mike Ditka, much less George Halas. Dave Wannstedt was destroyed for compiling a much better catalogue in the 1990s. But Fox's players compete. They didn't fold their tents up after the Eagles' electric-slid them in Week 12. And Chicago is building something with Mitchell Trubisky, Jordan Howard and that front seven. RANK 26 4-9 BUCCANEERS 1 Late loss for the Bucs, who are not only playing out the string but should be in full eval mode over the last three games. Look for rookie tight end O.J. Howard to get even more involved in the offense. Running back Peyton Barber, too, as Doug Martin has endured a massively frustrating year. The secondary as a whole will be addressed in the offseason, after Matthew Stafford became the latest quarterback to complete ball after ball (36, in fact). There's no quit in this Tampa team, however. Also worth noting: Heard coach Dirk Koetter on the radio this week reminding fans that Jameis Winston is only 23 years old. Expectations are a bit high in the NFL. Agreed. RANK 27 4-9 BRONCOS 3 After eight straight Denver losses, the Broncos' defense delivered on Sunday. Following three quarterback switches, Trevor Siemian did enough against the Jets to stay in the saddle for now. That included a quick start in the first quarter, in which Siemian and the offense took advantage of gracious field position, driving the ball into field-goal range. Siemian then made an absolutely ridiculous back-shoulder throw off the back foot ( Jay Cutler style) to Demaryius Thomas for a touchdown. Denver would climb into field-goal range yet again in the opening period, only to see Brandon McManus hook it from 29 yards out to start the second quarter. Well, maybe the botched kick was important -- it confirmed these guys were the Broncos after all, and not imposters. RANK 31 2-11 GIANTS Ugly loss, but beautiful unis, man. The Eli Manning era resumed, sparking a sparkling one-game consecutive start streak. Manning was so-so on Sunday, although third-down drops on consecutive second-half drives didn't help. Nor did Evan Engram not getting the benefit of a PI call on another third down in the fourth quarter. The Giants hung in, but they simply don't have the personnel offensively to vault themselves out of the basement (or past the 50-yard line). Those unis, though. Reminded me of the first time the Bill Parcells Giants pasted the Cowboys, back in Week 2 of the 1984 season. It was a huge win for the Tuna, who got swept by Dallas during his frustrating 3-12-1 rookie season as head coach in the year prior. New York would go 9-7 in '84, make the playoffs, and take off from there. The rest, as they say, is history. RANK 32 0-13 BROWNS Guess it goes without saying that DeShone Kizer can't unload that ball in overtime. At least not like he did, with his pass looking more like a Roman candle than any ball Brian Sipe put up. Chris Spielman nailed it in on the broadcast, saying that Kizer simply panicked. The Packers caught Kizer's toss (punt?), and another loss was soon in the books. More significant than Kizer's blunder was another viable outing from the Browns' defense, which couldn't hold Brett Hundley down in the end but has overcome being kept on the field all season by a non-existent Browns offense. More -- much more -- significant: the hiring of John Dorsey, a football man, as GM. This signals a departure from Moneyball and a departure from meddling. Having recently watched Brad Pitt in track suits play Billy Beane in "Moneyball," I'm a fan of sabermetrics. That said, the Browns aren't the 2002 A's, and Bill James isn't walking through that door. Follow Elliot Harrison on Twitter @HarrisonNFL. And be sure to tune in to the "NFL Power Rankings" show on NFL Network every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. ET. |
The pylon is slowly inched out of Victor Buyck’s fabrication yard in Ghent, Belgium. Credit: Friend Productions The centrepiece of Sunderland’s new bridge – the impressive A-frame pylon – has begun its slow journey to the North East. The 100m steel structure has been loaded out of the fabrication yard in Belgium this week and transported to the Port of Ghent in a carefully orchestrated operation that took several days to complete. Victor Buyck Steel Construction, which is working with Farrans Construction to build the New Wear Crossing on behalf of Sunderland City Council, has spent the last year fabricating the pylon at its yard in Ghent. The pylon is prepared for its slow journey to Sunderland. Made with more than 1,000 tonnes of steel and 550 tonnes of concrete, the structure is so big that the final stages of the fabrication process had to be completed in the open air, and it had to be loaded onto two barges before it could be transported along the canal to the port. Sarens, a world leader specialising in heavy lifting and engineered transport, is working with Farrans and Victor Buyck (FVB) to bring it to Sunderland. The pylon travels along the canal from the Victor Buyck fabrication yard to the Port of Ghent. Credit: Friend Productions Jim Kilcar, Bridge Supervisor for Atkins, which is supervising the New Wear Crossing project for Sunderland City Council, said the operation had gone extremely well. “The loading out of the pylon from Victor Buyck’s fabrication yard was a major milestone and something we have been planning for a long time,” said Jim. The pylon travels along the canal from the Victor Buyck fabrication yard to the Port of Ghent. Credit: Friend Productions The New Wear Crossing is on track to open in spring 2018. With dual 2-lane carriageways for vehicles and dedicated cycle and pedestrian routes, the New Wear Crossing will enhance public transport as well as significantly improve transport links to the city centre and Port of Sunderland from the A19 and A1. It will create 2.8km of new road, connect Castletown to the north of the River Wear with Pallion to the south, and will open up land along the River Wear for regeneration and development, as well as help to create up to 6,000 new jobs and improve journey time around the city. The pylon travels along the canal from the Victor Buyck fabrication yard to the Port of Ghent. Credit: Friend Productions |
We're currently going through a bikeshedding discussion about the log format that our microservices will generate. Developers without Ops responsibilities want the logs to be as readable as possible to aid their development process (traditional timestamp, severity, component, action and a quick description in a single line and, depending on the type of event, maybe a JSON object in many lines with details about the request, possibly with blank lines and indentation to make everything very easy to read). Ops people want the files to be easily parseable for injection into ElasticSearch. They want to avoid complex configuration and want more flexibility to generate reports. If logs were generated in a single line in JSON format, they would be happy. It seems there is no way to please everybody. Are there any standard formats that microservices-oriented architectures are using these days? Is there a standard at all? How to approach this? |
Historical Motorsports Stories writes: "The 1956 NASCAR Race at Road America" Posted by nascarman on August 25, 2017 Viewed 1244 times Tweet Believe it or not, only Martinsville, Darlington, and Richmond are current tracks that appeared on a NASCAR schedule before Road America. On August 12, 1956, the Cup Series raced for the very first time at the four-mile Wisconsin track. After its first event in 1956, it would be another 54 years before a second race was held. That first race was only the third time that Cup cars had turned right in a race, and an important race for NASCAR at the time. The race program (courtesy of Motor Racing Programme Covers) When the first NASCAR race was held at Road America, I Love Lucy was the most popular television show in America. Released one month earlier, Elvis Presley's Hound Dog was on its way to the top of the charts and President Eisenhower was on his way to reelection. Only a week before the Road America event, NASCAR had one of its oddest moments. The prior Saturday night, on a poorly lit, dusty dirt track in Tulsa, OK, Lee Petty stopped his car on the track, ran up to the flag stand and waved the red flag himself. The race was cancelled, a refund was given to fans, and the race never counted in NASCAR record books. The next week was spent in anticipation of a race that had much more importance than most. While it may be a footnote now, the Road America race was a huge deal for NASCAR at the time. For the first time, a Cup event was listed on the FIA international calendar of events. In addition, the Secretary General of FIA, Hubert Schroeder, flew from Paris to Wisconsin to watch the race. While not officially sanctioned by the organization, it signaled cooperation between the two series and allowed drivers with an FIA license to compete at Road America. Bill France was thrilled that eight years into its existence, NASCAR was recognized by the world leader of motorsports. "This really is great news as it verifies that all holders of FIA cards in the U.S. are eligible to compete and it is another long stride toward European recognition of NASCAR sanctioned races and speed trials." The 12 Hours of Sebring was the only event sanctioned by the FIA in the United States at the time, and by having the Road America races on the FIA calendar, that was the first step toward NASCAR being affiliated with the FIA. If NASCAR was affiliated with the Paris-based organization, their events would have credibility worldwide and perhaps draw European factory teams like Ferrari and Jaguar to compete in races at the Daytona International Speedway which was under construction at the time. The race also had special meaning to Carl Kiekhaefer, the Rick Hendrick of the 1950s who fielded cars in 1955 and 1956, won 52 races and two championships in the only two years he was in the sport. As a businessman, Kiekhaefer manufactured outboard motors for boats and was from right down the road in Wisconsin. The Road America crowd was in support of him as well, most of his factory employees were in attendance. Wanting to spoil the party was his former driver, Tim Flock. After winning the 1955 Cup Championship for Kiekhaefer, Flock left the team in April 1956, tired of his owner's overbearing nature. For this event, Flock drove a Mercury for Bill Strope, teammates with Billy and Bobby Myers. When practice started, the fastest lap times were around three minutes and six seconds. In comparison, last year's pole speed for the Xfinity race was two minutes and twelve seconds. And perhaps most surprisingly, the drivers who were used to racing short dirt tracks in the south loved the Wisconsin road course. "Boy, this course is just what I've been looking for in racing," Curtis Turner raved to the Daytona News-Journal. But of course, the 1950s stock car technology was a concern for reliability. Most importantly, would the brakes hold under the very heavy cars? "The way I figure it," Lee Petty said in a Sports Illustrated article, "this race will be won by the driver who can go the fastest the slowest." The Sunday afternoon test of speed and endurance was delayed by 45 minutes due to heavy rain. Once the race went green on a damp but drying track, Kiekhaefer's driver, Buck Baker, ran off to the lead. On lap 6, Flock passed him for the top spot. Seven laps later, Marvin Panch raced to the lead. On lap 20, trouble struck Baker when he ran out of fuel a mile from the pits. His teammate, Speedy Thompson came to Buck's assistance and pushed him around the track. On lap 22, Curtis Turner lost his brakes in the final corner and embedded himself in a hay bale. "Get me a pitchfork and let me dig it out!" Turner yelled to a corner worker. Despite his demand, his race was over. On lap 36, Marvin Panch too ran out of gas. Coming to his help was Fireball Roberts who pushed him back to the pits. About a lap later, Panch fell out of the race with a broken differential. Inheriting the lead was Speedy Thompson, Kiekhaefer's last chance for the win. With ten laps to go, the engine in Speedy's Dodge blew up, returning Tim Flock to the lead. Flock, the NASCAR Hall of Famer, took the victory by 17 seconds over his teammate, Billy Myers. The cars driven by the top two finishers had added reliability because of a brake duct system cooling the brakes, something on all racers today. Flock Takes the Checkered Flag "This is certainly one of my biggest wins," Flock said. "To come up here in Kiekhaefer's back yard and win this race is special to me. This was one he wanted badly, and I won it." From victory lane, Tim Flock gave his stamp of approval on the day's action. "This road racing is all right!" ---- References: Daytona News-Journal 40 Years of Stock Car Racing - Greg Fielden Sports Illustrated - August 20, 1956 ----------- Follow me on Twitter @nascarman_rr for more articles and other old pictures. Or email me at nascarman_rr@yahoo.com Opinions expressed in blogs are those of the individual bloggers and do not necessarily represent the views of racing-reference.info. |
Though it has been available for preorder since Microsoft's Build 2017 developer conference in May, Acer's Windows Mixed Reality Headset Developer Edition is now generally available through the Microsoft Store (via Neowin). HP's developer headset is also available as of today and previous orders are shipping, but it is currently listed as out of stock on the Microsoft Store. As far as specs are concerned, each headset features two 1440 x 1440 LCD displays with a 2.89-inch diagonal display size. Each headset also covers a 95-degree horizontal field of view and a 90 Hz native refresh rate. Part of what makes Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality efforts interesting, inside-out tracking, is also on board, eliminating the need for the types of external sensors that you see with VR headsets that are currently on the market. |
Twitch Plays Pokémon (TPP) is a social experiment and channel on the video game live streaming website Twitch, consisting of a crowdsourced attempt to play Game Freak's and Nintendo's Pokémon video games by parsing commands sent by users through the channel's chat room. It holds the Guinness World Record for having "the most participants on a single-player online videogame" with 1,165,140.[1] The concept was developed by an anonymous Australian programmer and launched on 12 February 2014, starting with the game Pokémon Red. The stream became unexpectedly popular, reaching an average concurrent viewership of over 80,000 viewers (with at least 10% participating). On 1 March 2014, the game was completed after more than 16 continuous days of gameplay; Twitch estimated that over 1.16 million people participated, with peak simultaneous participation at 121,000, and with a total of 55 million views during the experiment.[2] On 5 December 2014, Twitch Plays Pokémon received a Game Award in the "Best Fan Creation" category.[3] The experiment was met with attention by media outlets and staff members of Twitch for its interactivity, its erratic and chaotic nature, the unique challenges faced by players due to the mechanics of its system, and the community and memes developed by participants. Twitch as a company used the experiment to explore how they could make streaming more interactive for viewers and expanding their offerings. Following the completion of Red, the broadcaster continued the channel with many other games in the Pokémon series along with unofficial ROM hacks. The broadcaster has plans to continue with other Pokémon games as long as there remains interest in the channel. The success of the experiment led to a number of similar Twitch-based streams for other games, and led Twitch to promote more streams with similar interactivity with watchers. Premise [ edit ] Inspired by another Twitch-based interactive game, Salty Bet (a website where users could wager on the outcome of randomized M.U.G.E.N. matches)[4] and described as a social experiment, the system used by the stream was coded by an anonymous Australian programmer, colloquially known as the "Streamer", consisting of an IRC bot written in Python and the Game Boy emulator VisualBoyAdvance. The script captures specific messages (directional commands, "B", "A", "select", and "start") sent into the stream's chat room by users, and sends them to the emulator as button input, thus controlling the game. An additional web app coded using JavaScript is used to display a live tally of moves that are shown within the stream. The Streamer chose Pokémon Red and Blue for the project, citing nostalgia for the early games,[5] the fact that "Even when played very poorly it is difficult not to make progress in Pokémon",[6] and because its current control structure "[wouldn't] work with any genre that isn't a JRPG", particularly targeting its "forgiving" turn-based structure and lack of reaction-based gameplay, compensating for the large amount of input lag between the game and the stream. The Streamer used an edited version of the game, which claims to make all the original 151 Pokémon accessible, in hopes of making completion of the Pokédex a possibility. However, the edited version used was unfinished and has no gameplay differences when compared to the original game.[5][7][8][9][10][11] The erratic nature of the control scheme has made the game longer and harder to play than under normal circumstances; an Ars Technica writer commented that "(Red) gets stuck in corners. He walks in circles, compulsively checking his Pokédex and saving over and over again. Commands stream in from the chat channel faster than the game can possibly process them, making progress difficult-to-impossible even without the lag factor or the 'help' of gleeful trolls." Recurring difficulties have occurred with areas of the game involving mazes and ledges (areas with the latter taking as long as several hours to navigate due to users intentionally sending "down" commands to jump off the ledges), the accidental release of several Pokémon (including an incident referred to as "Bloody Sunday," where a total of twelve Pokémon were accidentally released whilst trying to manipulate the character's party),[12] and users repeatedly sending "start" commands to open the pause menu, often followed by opening the character's inventory to select random items.[4][13][14] A system to throttle inputs on the Start button was added to mitigate this particular effect.[15] Despite the seemingly erratic process of playing the game, players have attempted to collaborate and strategize through various means, including infographics and a user script which hides command messages from the chat window to allow conversation. This was necessary for the players to progress as several areas of the game require coordinated actions to gain Pokémon with a specific skill needed to clear obstacles in Red's way, and earlier attempts without such coordination resulted in missing out on specific opportunities early on in the playthrough. In essence, the majority of players have attempted to counteract trolls trying to impede progress.[4][13][16] A computer program was even created to automatically identify these trolls.[17] The Streamer has since collaborated with others to continue preparing tools for the games for the Twitch channel. This group had added live commentary on the games as they were played. As a result of intra-group hostility from some of the collaborators, the Streamer will step down from his role as lead for Twitch Plays Pokémon on November 22, 2017, and give control to another collaborator.[18] Progression and further games [ edit ] On 18 February 2014, after encountering major difficulties with a puzzle in the Team Rocket hideout, a new mechanic was introduced in an effort to make the game easier to play. Initially, all movements became subject to a vote: all inputs received over a period of time (usually 30 seconds) were tallied, and the winning command would be executed at the end of that time. Users could also append their movements with numbers to specify the length of the motion, such as "right3" to mean three consecutive "right" inputs. Many people were outraged over this new system and protest broke out in the Twitch chat, many of them using the command "start9" (which would open and close the pause menu nine times to slow down progress) to fight the system. The broadcaster later reworked the mechanic so that users could vote to switch between two modes: "Anarchy", the previous default, and this new mode "Democracy."[19][20] However, a change to Democracy mode requires a supermajority vote, while a change to Anarchy mode requires only a majority vote, as indicated by an on-screen meter. This change was considered divisive by players, who believed that Democracy mode conflicted with the original concept of the stream and eliminated the potential for randomness which had helped to drive the elaborate narrative and mythology that had built up around the playthrough.[4][5][15][20][21][22] Following the completion of Pokémon Red, a new game began on 2 March 2014, this time with the second generation game Pokémon Crystal.[23] The developer set a deadline for the completion of Crystal with the plan to start Pokémon Emerald on a fixed date, though the players were able to complete Crystal well before this point.[24] With the change to Crystal also came a change to the voting system; the Democracy mode was automatically activated at the top of each hour.[25] By 14 March 2014, players had reached a major battle on Mt. Silver against Red, a trainer representing the player-character from Red and Blue; however, the game was also modified so that Red's team would consist of the same Pokémon that were used to beat the Elite Four in the Twitch Plays Pokémon playthrough of Pokémon Red earlier.[26] The developer stated that he intentionally changed the game data of Crystal to behave in this way, as it was Game Freak's original intent when creating the game that the player would face Red in Crystal using the Pokémon they had finished Red with.[24] Crystal was beaten on 15 March, with more than 13 days of playtime.[27][28] The developer stated that even though fewer viewers watched Pokémon Crystal compared to Pokémon Red, he will continue the stream with other Pokémon games as long as there remains interest in the experiment.[24][29] Pokémon Emerald was started on 21 March 2014. With the shift to Emerald, the Democracy mode was initially disabled entirely.[30] Emerald was repeatedly restarted due to its soft reset ability, but was later fixed by the broadcaster.[31] The shift to Pokémon X—the 1st installment in the franchise for the Nintendo 3DS, brought changes to the stream's setup. As there was no PC-based emulator for the 3DS at the time, the stream was conducted on actual 3DS hardware using a hardware modification known as the 3DS Streaming Console with External Control Interface (3xtDS); developed by Reddit user dekuNukem, also known as Twitch_plays_3ds (who has also designed an automated rig for "chaining" and detecting "shiny" Pokémon),[32] the mod allows direct control of inputs on the device via an USB-based interface, and added the video output required for capturing the screens' content. The change to native hardware also allowed the stream to use the Wi-Fi capabilities of the device; other players of Pokémon X and Y could directly interact with the stream's player via Nintendo Network and the game's internet-enabled features, such as online battles, trades, and O-Powers.[33] Following its release, Pokémon Omega Ruby was also played in the stream.[34] In honour of the one-year anniversary of the original run, a new playing of Pokémon Red began in February 2015. The goal was to complete the game's main storyline and to catch all 151 Pokémon, the latter which they did in around 39 days.[35][36] To celebrate the project's fourth anniversary, the channel started a new playthrough of both Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue simultaneously. Players in the Twitch channel can specify which game their command is for, but otherwise commands are issues alternating between the two games, and when the game's democratic mode is on, the command voted on is used in both games.[37] As the experiment moved into its fifth year, having exhausted all the official Pokémon games, the channel began using fan-created mods of the Pokémon games.[38] Viewership [ edit ] Launched on 12 February 2014 as a "proof of concept", the stream was relatively inactive for the first day and a half of playing.[6] However, the stream quickly went viral after that, reaching a total viewership of around 175,000 by 14 February (when players managed to beat the first of eight Gym leaders).[39] By 17 February, the channel had reached over 6.5 million total views. By 20 February, the channel had over 17 million total views, and was averaging concurrent viewership between 60 and 70 thousand viewers with at least 10% participating. By then, the players had managed to catch 12 different species of Pokémon, and made it past the fourth gym.[9][10][11] On the completion of Red, the channel had reached 36 million total views, with a peak concurrent viewership of 120,000, and an estimated 658,000 had participated.[40][41] The Red stream was eventually recognized by the Guinness World Records for having "the most participants on a single-player online videogame" with 1,165,140.[1] The large amount of activity on the stream resulted in "enormous (and unforeseen) stress" on Twitch's chat system, requiring the site's engineers to move the stream's chat to a higher-capacity server normally used during major e-sports events, while working on improving the infrastructure's scalability.[42] The developer himself said, "I didn't think it was going to be this popular, I thought it would gain only a small group of dedicated viewers and many others would check it out briefly before moving on to other things. It's overwhelming how popular it has become."[6] Community [ edit ] "Bible" published by community members An active community of players also emerged on communities and social networks such as Reddit, which have liveblogged the proceedings and developed memes and other works around occurrences in the game. One item in Red's inventory from the start of the game was the Helix Fossil, which was used later in the game to revive Omanyte, but is otherwise functionless. The Helix Fossil was selected so frequently that it became an inside joke among players, and at times humorously calling it a deity which the player-character was constantly consulting for advice, and it quickly became the players' "religion". Players went as far as treating the fossil as a symbol representing a sect which supports Anarchy mode, while treating its counterpart, the Dome Fossil (which revives Kabuto), as a deity to those who support Democracy mode.[4][13][22][40] Fans even published "bibles" for the Helix religion.[43][44] Certain Pokémon captured by Red during the gameplay have also gained fan followings. Two Pokémon that were obtained early in the game, and then later accidentally released were the Charmeleon and Rattata, "ABBBBBBK(" and "JLVWNNOOOO", further nicknamed "Abby" and "Jay Leno".[4][13] The team's Pidgeot, one of the highest level Pokémon in the group and often successful in battles, was named "Bird Jesus" by the community; concurrently, the team's Zapdos was nicknamed "AA-j" but referred to as "Archangel of Justice" or "Anarchy Bird".[4][13][45] Their Flareon was dubbed the "False Prophet", as players had accidentally obtained it instead of Vaporeon, which was needed so they could teach it the "Surf" move needed to travel on water, and it had later caused the release of the Charmeleon and Rattata.[46] During the eleventh day of the event (23 February), which fell on a Sunday, the players inadvertently released a dozen of the captured Pokémon, effectively deleting the creatures from the game, an event that later became known as "Bloody Sunday".[47] The practice of nicknames continued into Crystal, which included a new Pidgeot nicknamed "Brian", and a Feraligatr nicknamed "Lazorgator".[45] Reception [ edit ] Media outlets have described the proceedings of the game as being "mesmerizing," "miraculous," and "beautiful chaos," with one viewer comparing it to "watching a car crash in slow motion."[4][13][14] Ars Technica felt that it encapsulated "the best and worst qualities of our user-driven, novelty-hungry age," providing hours of arguable time-wasting entertainment through a word-of-mouth viral distribution.[4] The stream has been compared to the infinite monkey theorem in that effectively random input to a game still ultimately comes out with forward progress in the game.[48][49] Twitch vice president of marketing Matthew DiPietro praised the stream, considering it "one more example of how video games have become a platform for entertainment and creativity that extends WAY beyond the original intent of the game creator. By merging a video game, live video and a participatory experience, the broadcaster has created an entertainment hybrid custom made for the Twitch community. This is a wonderful proof on concept that we hope to see more of in the future."[9] Legacy [ edit ] Twitch Plays Pokémon has also inspired imitators with other video games, such as Pokémon Blue, QWOP, Tetris (including one which used the actual command inputs from the original Twitch Plays Pokémon stream),[6][50] Street Fighter II,[9][10][13][21][51] Halo: Combat Evolved (itself made significantly difficult by its nature as a first-person shooter),[52] Metal Gear: Ghost Babel,[53] Dark Souls,[54] Fallout 3,[55] PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds,[56] and Pokémon Go (which used location spoofing to simulate the movement of a real person in response to viewers' commands).[57] Similar Twitch Plays have been used for taking care of a virtual pet Tamagotchi,[58] and installing Arch Linux onto a virtual machine through text commands entered one letter at a time.[59] Inspired by this last application, another experimental "Stock Stream" was started in May 2017 to allow Twitch viewers to vote every five minutes on the trading of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange from an initial $50,000 fund provided by the stream's developer, placing some rules to avoid triggering any financial regulations.[60] The term "crowdplay" has been ascribed to similar games where the actions of the crowd directly influence the gameplay.[61] tinyBuild used the "Twitch Plays" model to release Punch Club, holding back release of the game until either a preset date or completion of the game running via a public "Twitch Plays" stream.[62] Punch Club later added the ability for viewers to bet on in-game fights using virtual Twitch.tv currency, following a similar betting model used by Oxeye Game Systems for Cobalt.[63][64] Telltale Games premiered a new "crowd play" feature for its adventure games starting with its 2016 Batman game, allowing stream viewers to vote on selected decisions within the game.[65] In January 2016, Twitch created a specialized directory for various "Twitch Plays" streams, with their VP of Developer Success Kathy Astromoff stating that the company has recognized the growth of similar experiments, and enabling such experiments to be easily found by its userbase.[66] Further, in March 2016, Twitch announced a new "stream first" initiative to help developers create games that are aimed for integration of streaming and chat atop more traditional gameplay, basing the format on the prior success of Twitch Plays Pokemon streams.[67] Amazon.com, which acquired Twitch in 2014, developed the Amazon Lumberyard game engine that includes direct support for Twitch streaming to allow viewers to influence games via the associated chat, taking cues from the popularity of "Twitch Plays".[68] Another homage, Fish Plays Pokémon, surfaced in August 2014 as part of a HackNY hackathon. The stream, which consists of a fishcam in which the position of a betta fish in a fish bowl is used to control Pokémon Red, peaked around 20,000 concurrent viewers.[69][70][71] A Helix Fossil emote with the shortcut "PraiseIt" was later made available as a Twitch chat emote in celebration of the original Pokémon Red run.[72] Game completion [ edit ] From Platinum to Black 2, the stream showed a second game, Pokémon Stadium 2, alongside the main game. Unlike other games, inputs for Stadium 2 were chosen at random and were not controlled by the chat. Instead, players on the chat were given virtual currency that could be used to place bets on the outcome of Stadium 2 matches.[78] After Pokémon X concluded on 1 August 2014, a similar system was implemented, with Pokémon Battle Revolution taking the place of Stadium 2, as it added more features such as better graphics. This time, instead of inputs being entirely random, players who bet on the current match could vote on which move would be used by their team each turn; the system would randomly choose one of the bettors' choices, but players who had placed higher bets had a higher chance of their move being chosen.[citation needed] The developer has created a modded version of Pokémon Battle Revolution known as Pokémon Battle Revolution 2.0. It is meant to fix glitches and add various improvements such as additional battle arenas.[citation needed] During the interim, the stream showed Harvest Moon GB, Pokkén Tournament, EarthBound, Robopon Sun, and save states of the first four runs in reverse order. See also [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ] |
Lots of ordinary people are into sex with a dash of voyeurism, fetishism and masochism - all habits classified as deviant in the manual doctors use to diagnose mental health disorders, a survey of Quebec residents suggests. Researchers focused on what the manual calls paraphilic disorders - sexual behaviors labeled as abnormal, illegal or inducing suffering or impairment - and so-called normophilic, or typical, activities. Most people have probably never heard of the guidebook in question, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). But this book that once called homosexuality a deviant act can still help create and reinforce negative stereotypes for perfectly healthy sexual behavior, said lead study author Christian Joyal, a psychology researcher at the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres. "The adjective `abnormal' is judgmental," Joyal said by email. "I don't think it should appear in a psychiatry manual." "Paraphilic disorders are rare because people who practice kinky or atypical sex are virtually all happy with it," Joyal added. Researchers surveyed 1,040 adults in Quebec to see how often they desired or practiced eight sexual behaviors defined as outside the norm in the manual - fetishizing objects, wearing clothes from the opposite sex, spying on strangers, displaying genitals to unsuspecting strangers, rubbing against a stranger, pedophilia, masochism and sadism. Overall, almost half of the respondents expressed interest in at least one of these eight sexual behaviors that the manual labels as deviant, researchers reported in the Journal of Sexual Research. Roughly one third of the people surveyed said they had experienced one of these behaviors at least once, the survey found. Participants either practiced or fantasized about four behaviors so often that it's difficult to consider them outside the norm, the authors point out. Slightly more than one third of people were interested in voyeurism, while 26 percent expressed interest in fetishism or rubbing up against strangers, and 19 percent liked masochism, the survey found. People interested in submissive sex were also significantly likely to be interested in a more diverse variety of sexual activities, the study found. One limitation of the study is that people who respond to sex surveys may be more open-minded in their thinking about sexual behavior than individuals who decline to participate, the authors note. It's also possible that the online survey drew respondents who are not representative of the broader population. Even so, the research is part of a growing body of work focused on debunking outdated social and psychological assumptions about sexuality, said researcher David Ley, author of The Myth of Sex Addiction. "For years, the field of mental health believed masturbation and homosexuality were unhealthy, and that interest in fetish was statistically rare and usually unhealthy," Ley, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email. "It turns out we've been wrong on all counts." It's possible that mental health providers look at common sexual behaviors as abnormal because they tend to see a rare subset of people who have problems related to their sexuality, Ley added. "It's tragic that so many people are unnecessarily shamed about their sexualities, because it is such a core part of our human experience and identity," said Michael Aaron, a sex therapist in New York City who wasn't involved in the study. "This shame permeates society, even down to the level of mental health and medical providers, most of whom have never had any sexuality training at all," Aaron added. "As long as the sexual behaviors are consensual and coming from a place of intentionality, they are healthy, but often people get the wrong idea from authority figures that should know better, but don't." |
Scrumdiddlyumptious and other Roald Dahl language also included in dictionary to celebrate centenary of his birth Moobs, gender-fluid and yolo are among more than 1,000 words and terms recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Moobs, a term for unusually prominent breasts on a man; gender-fluid, describing a person who does not identify with a single fixed gender; and yolo, the acronym for the phrase “you only live once”, made the cut in the OED’s quarterly update. Food-related terms including chefdom and cheeseball will appear in the new edition alongside yogalates, the combination of yoga and pilates, and Westminster bubble, an insular community of politicians. To celebrate the centenary of Roald Dahl’s birth, the OED is also publishing new and revised entries for words the author used in his writing, including Oompa Loompa, scrumdiddlyumptious and human bean. Michael Proffitt, chief editor of the OED, said: “The inclusion in OED of a number of words coined by or associated with Roald Dahl reflects both his influence as an author and his vivid and distinctive style. For many children Roald Dahl’s work is not only one of their first experiences of reading, but also their earliest exposure to the creative power of language.” The gender-fluid generation: young people on being male, female or non-binary | Sarah Marsh and Guardian readers Read more Moobs – a contraction of the expression man boobs – first appeared in the young adult novel The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants in 2001. Gender-fluid was first recorded in 1987. Other interesting additions include fuhgeddaboudit, a US colloquialism reflecting an attempted New York or New Jersey pronunciation of the phrase “forget about it”. The OED describes itself as “an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over 829,000 words, senses, and compounds – past and present – from across the English-speaking world”. There have to be several independent examples of a word being used, as well as evidence it has been used for a reasonable amount of time, before it can be included. |
When RTÉ journalist Cian McCormack unearthed a 20-year-old clip from Nationwide last week featuring a baby supping a pint of Guinness it quickly went viral on social media. The 16-second clip is from a 1997 report about single women being scarce in Co Kerry, and rather incongruously, at one point it cuts to a baby on a mother's lap gulping away from a pint. Almost immediately the hashtag #PintBaby began to trend on social media and the search began to track down Pint Baby in 2017. Well, the good news is that he's finally been located. McCormack tracked down the now 20-year-old 'Pint Baby' Stephen Barron and his mother Caroline in Prosperous in Co Kildare, where he found out the story behind the footage and discovered their reaction to their new found notoriety. Caroline first told the RTÉ reporter how they ended up being part of the Nationwide report in 1997, saying: "There was filming going on in Daly's pub in Ennistymon. Nationwide were there to talk to Willie Daly the matchmaker. "We were there and there was great fun and atmosphere and craic going on and Stephen was sitting on my knee and took a shine to a pint of Guinness and had a drop out of it." Speaking on the News at One on RTÉ Radio 1, McCormack said the report is "very much of its time" and although "a child drinking alcohol is something that shouldn't be condoned" what is interesting is that the two-decade old clip has become an internet sensation. Stephen added "I suppose everyone can relate to it, I'm sure I'm not the only one, I'm just the only one who got filmed doing it." When asked if she looks at the clip differently 20 years on, Caroline answered: "God I don't look at it differently at all, it was only a drop of Guinness and there's plenty of parents even to this day that will dip a doody into a pint of Guinness, there's no harm in it. "He's turned out perfectly fine and healthy and happy. There's no bother on him at all!" Pint Baby is all grown up - but would rather be called Stephen After McCormack pointed out that it's not good for a child to be drinking alcohol, Caroline replied: "It wasn't an everyday occurrence or a weekly occurrence or anything, it was just the situation we were in at the time and he had a drop and a camera happened to be there at the time." Overall, Caroline said the reaction "has been very good, a lot of people have been commenting 'Ah sure we were all reared like that' and there's been a lot of positive comments. "It's the last thing we were expecting to come to the door!" So does Stephen object to being called Pint Baby? I don't really mind, but I'd rather be called Stephen now than Pint Baby And what is Pint Baby up to now? "I work part-time and any of the other time I'm usually doing hobbies and stuff, blacksmithing, fishing - things like that," Stephen said. "[I make] pokers, knives, I might try the odd gate, it's a nice craft and I'd like to keep it going, it's after dying out." |
After new reports that the U.S. government allegedly cheerfully spied on Google’s data centers, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt—otherwise known as the one who wears computerless glasses—came out swinging at the National Security Agency, claiming that the government’s surveillance was “outrageous” and potentially illegal. “The steps that the organization was willing to do without good judgment to pursue its mission and potentially violate people’s privacy, it’s not O.K.,” Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal, later adding: “The NSA allegedly collected the phone records of 320 million people in order to identify roughly 300 people who might be a risk. It’s just bad public policy. . . and perhaps illegal,” he said. Come on, N.S.A.! Everyone knows that the only time it’s O.K. to collect the records of 320 million people is if you need to identify the 300 of those people who are interested in a discounted chocolate tour around New York City. That, and to track the 400 to 600 people who have repeatedly returned to the Rag & Bone Web site to see if that pair of boots they like are on sale yet. (Spoiler alert: They’re not.) Then you can torment them with ads of the boots on every other Web site they visit. The Google executive has filed official complaints with Congress, the N.S.A., and president Obama himself. While he’s waiting for their response, we’d like to offer a few avenues of research for Schmidt—straight from the algorithms of his company’s own search engine—who no doubt would like to learn more about his company’s relation to citizens’ privacy. The more you know! |
0 11 7 0 0 Don't be shellfish... We’ve updated our Guide to Spring for 2016! If you want to know the best places to go this spring, we’ve come up with a list of our top five. If you want to learn more about events this spring, give our Guide to Spring Events a look. Also remember to check out our Guides to Summer, Fall, and Winter! We’re now about a week and a half into spring. Outside the flowers are blooming, the grass is lush and green, and the trees are beginning to show some signs of awakening from their winter hibernation. So pull out your bike and, after months spent hidden inside, allowing your body to lie fallow, rediscover how nice it is to be outside in Champaign-Urbana. The criteria for our selection of the top 5 places are the following: Any location selected is within biking distance of C-U. Locations selected are not just nice, but offer something that will help you to enjoy spring. 1. University of Illinois Arboretum The word arboretum refers to a collection of trees, but here at U of I, it’s essentially a botanical garden. Not only does it have a beautiful pond, walking trails, and a number of different gardens, it’s also home to the UIUC’s Japan House. The purpose of the Japan House is to give C-U some exposure to Japanese culture and foster intercultural understanding. They have a lot of interesting events that are scheduled regularly including Ikebana (the art of Japanese flower arrangement), tea ceremony, and calligraphy, as well as occasional workshops on meditation and Japanese cooking. Check out their calendar to see what activities are lined up this spring. They tend to have 2-3 events a week. It’s also home to various Japanese gardens open from dawn ’til dusk. On April 9th, they’ll be holding an open house. Among scheduled activities are multiple tea ceremonies, a presentation on traditional Kokeshi dolls, as well as a guided tour of the gardens. Fans of cherry blossoms should keep an eye on their Facebook page to know when the cherry blossoms in the Sen Cherry Tree Allée are at their peak. That way you don’t have to travel to Tokyo or D.C. 2. C-U Neighborhood Parks: Clark Park, Noel Park, and Carle Park So maybe we’re cheating by including this as just one entry, but I see these three parks as three examples of the same phenomenon: quiet parks, nestled between low-traffic streets and beautiful houses, that are well integrated within the community around them. Some of these parks are lesser known—particularly to students—but they’re well worth the ride. So why are these parks places that are especially interesting during the spring? It’s because they’re each a part of a neighborhood and not a separate entity. They’re meeting places for people. These are locations where people don’t just play sports or have some contact with the natural world, but spaces that allow for the strengthening of a sense of community that’s missing in so many American neighborhoods. As spring marks the season when people again start to frequent parks, you can see the restoration of these processes, with new connections being built and old ones being reawakened. Clark Park Situated in Champaign between Daniel and Charles, a few blocks west of Prospect, Clark Park has everything. It has tennis courts, a basketball court, a picnic area, tree-covered areas, open spaces, playground equipment, and a sandbox full of toys provided by local residents. It’s been around since 1909 and provides the perfect space to spend some time with your friends or family. Noel Park Noel Park, located southwest of Windsor and Prospect, is a 10-acre park nearly entirely circumscribed by houses, barely connected to any street. No park in C-U is better integrated physically into its community, with many backyards blending in seamlessly with the park. Other houses, not located directly on the park are connected by a series of paved footpaths, emerging from the park like wooded tendrils and embracing the neighborhood. To me, Noel Park is the kind of park that you dream of existing but never find. There are facilities for soccer, picnicking, and a children’s playground. If you want to fly a kite, this is the place to go. Carle Park Carle Park is better known than the other two parks. Situated west of Urban High School, Carle Park boasts some of the most impressive trees you’ll see in C-U. If you’re interested in knowing what types of trees they have, there’s a tree map showing which type of tree is where. It could be a great activity to take your kid to Carle Park and talk about how and when different types of trees cycle out of winter dormancy. They also have a soccer field and a really great set of playground equipment. If you’re interested in architecture, check out the Erlanger House, at 303 W. Indiana Ave on the south edge of the park . Designed in the International Style, the Erlanger House now hosts UIUC’s artists-in-residence. Honorable Mention: Mayfair Park – Though relatively small, it’s a great neighborhood park with open space, playground equipment, and a picnic area. Located in residential Champaign, east of Mattis, it’s a favorite place of mine to stop for water while on a ride through Champaign (often ending in Noel Park). 3. Plant Biology Greenhouse, University of Illinois Not every day in spring will be ideal for activities outdoors. Sometimes it’ll be cold. Sometimes it’ll be rainy. But thanks to to the Plant Biology Greenhouse, that doesn’t mean that you can’t use those days to enjoy the flourishing of plant-life that spring brings. The greenhouses are located in the Plant Sciences Laboratory, east of the South Quad, and open to the public Monday-Friday, from 8:30-4:30. In their main greenhouse, you’ll find coffee and banana trees amongst the lush tropical vegetation. Moving beyond this, you’ll find themed rooms with—among other plants—orchids, desert plants, and carnivorous plants. Yep, here you can see pitcher plants and venus fly traps! Moving on, you can go into greenhouses used for scientific research by the university. You can’t enter these rooms, but you can see them from hallways and the central corridor. 4. Allerton I’ve written about Allerton in the past in Neutral’s Guide to Fall. Allerton is certainly great in every season. I’ve been there both when covered by almost a foot of snow as well as on sweltering July days. While those times were nice, I think Allerton is at its best during the transitional seasons. In spring, Allerton offers a great venue to see the blooming of local wildflowers. Allerton’s peony garden is another reason to go; they’ve got loads of different species and cultivars that allow you to see the massive variety in blooms that this plant produces. Generally the height of the blooming is during the end of May. Check their calendar to see when it’s going to happen this year. If you have the time and inclination, I suggest that you take a few trips to Allerton during spring to see how the season develops. You can see the changes in the flora as they slowly come back to life, listen to the birds on one of the hiking trails, and enjoy the relatively temperate weather. It’s about 30 miles away from C-U, meaning that Allerton provides the perfect day trip for a bike. Bike there in the morning, enjoy it during the afternoon, and bike home in the evening. You can bring your own food—they have grills—or stop for a bite to eat in Monticello, a picturesque example of a small Central Illinois town. If you’re biking—or even if you’re driving, plan a route off of the main highways and you’ll get a lot more out of the experience. There are county roads crisscrossing the entire area between C-U and Allerton. One reason is that you’ll have less traffic to deal with. More importantly, though, you’ll get to see what Champaign and Piatt counties look like away from major roads and urban centers. You’ll see farms, fields, homesteads, groves, and small settlements. The best part, though, I think, is the quietness you can find in these places. It’s nice to be able to hear nothing but the wind once in a while. 5. Busey Woods Between the Urbana Country Club, Crystal Lake Park, Woodlawn Cemetery, and northeast Urbana neighborhoods, you’ll find Busey Woods, a 59-acre plot of land boasting trees, trails, wildflowers, and a small body of water. A large portion of it is subject to seasonal flooding, but this is no issue for interested visitors because these areas are covered by a boardwalk, ensuring that, even in the wettest of times, you won’t have to worry about water-sodden shoes. Nearby is the Anita Purves Nature Center, is worth a visit by both adults and children alike. Just please remember to not ride your bikes on the trails! 8609 Total Views 2 Views Today Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit Google Tumblr Pinterest Print Email |
The police were out in full force during Donald Trump’s Inauguration. Clinton partisans, who spend their days sensationalizing and exaggerating perceived threats from Trump’s election, used their platforms in the self-proclaimed “resistance” movement to scold protesters. Hypocritically, these figures are the ones culpable for creating the current political atmosphere. First, they anointed and blindly defended a weak, highly unpopular presidential candidate who was under an FBI investigation, then they attacked any perceived threats to their political power and privilege when Clinton’s candidacy backfired. “Nothing is more unAmerican than protesters who are not peaceful,” Sen. Claire McCaskill tweeted on January 20. “Disgusting.” On January 12, she tweeted that chaos is coming. On January 19, she tweeted a Game of Thrones themed fear-mongering video, again stating—in big, bold letters—“chaos is coming.” Clinton partisans shouldn’t be feigning surprise over property destruction and violence when they contribute to manipulating people through fear mongering claims of impending chaos. “Whether you’re a fan of Trump’s or not, please don’t damage our city,” tweeted Center for American Progress CEO Neera Tanden, who was listed as a likely cabinet member in Hillary Clinton’s administration. Hours later Tanden tweeted the unsubstantiated, fear mongering claim that, “US enemies are plotting with Trump,” a sentiment she has reiterated since Election Day. If Tanden truly believed enemies were plotting with Trump, she wouldn’t be chastising and scolding others for destruction of property in response to this claim. “Of course they would. They’d also be smashing windows if Bernie Sanders or the desiccated corpse of Emma Goldman had won,” tweeted Think Progress’ Ian Millhiser, who attacked Sanders‘ supporters by inferring the violence and property destruction during the Inauguration was being carried out by them. However, Sanders supporters’ resentment is directed more toward the Democratic Party’s own corruption. Millhiser also fails to acknowledge the lack of property destruction and violence during the Democratic National Convention in July 2016 that Sanders’ supporters peacefully protested. Hours before, Millhiser tweeted the self-important fear mongering claim, “I have not been arrested by anyone in Donald Trump’s government. This tweet will repeat tomorrow if it remains true.” Even if there was a modicum of truth to Millhiser’s conveyed fear that Trump would arrest journalists, he would be very far down the list of considered dissenters. In fact, Donald Trump should be thanking Clinton partisans, especially in the mainstream media, for handing him the presidency. They provided Trump with nearly $2 billion in free media coverage, nearly three times as much as Hillary Clinton, and five times more than Bernie Sanders. They were either complicit in the Clinton campaign and DNC strategy to elevate Trump as a “pied-piper” candidate to provide Hillary Clinton with a weak general election opponent. Despite evidence that the DNC and Democratic Party anointed Clinton as their preferred nominee, the Democratic Party has refused to acknowledge the undemocratic nature of the primaries. When Wikileaks released DNC emails confirming former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her staff were working on behalf of Hillary Clinton, in violation of the DNC Charter, they scolded and shamed Sanders’ supporters to “get over it,” while constantly denying it ever happened. Now facing a Trump presidency, Clinton partisans switch back and forth between cries that the sky is falling to praising the conservatism inherent in some ofTrump’s transition decisions. “Some of Trump’s cabinet picks have been good, others… terrible,” tweeted Sen. Claire McCaskill, without citing which cabinet picks she thought were actually good. The Democratic Party turns the nomination hearings into political theater without acknowledging that they don’t have the votes necessary to prevent any of Trump’s nominees from being confirmed, thanks to the disastrous leadership of the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s Vice Presidential running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, praised Trump’s pick for Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao, in November and recently voted in favor of Trump’s pick for Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly. He also affirmed support for Trump’s Secretary of Defense General James Matthis. This is hardly the opposition one would expect from someone who claimed that Trump acts like Vladimir Putin’s defense lawyer. Bloomberg reported on January 19 that billionaire investor Warren Buffet “overwhelmingly” supported Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees, as have several other Clinton supporters from Wall Street. Hillary Clinton touted Buffett’s support during her campaign and had Buffett introduce her at rallies. Another Clinton campaign surrogate, billionaire Mark Cuban, praised Trump’s Secretary of Treasury nominee, Steve Mnuchin, stating “I hire people like that.” For several prominent Clinton supporters, criticizing and attacking Trump has devolved into a novelty, where they freely make outlandish statements to incite outrage and rally establishment support. Simultaneously, they abandon the polarizing partisanship they induce when it suits the interests of the corporate and wealthy donors that preside over the establishment. |
A consortium of independent film producers is hitting a stumbling block in its plan to simultaneously sue thousands of BitTorrent users for allegedly downloading pirated movies. Time Warner Cable is refusing to look up and turn over the identities of about a thousand of its customers targeted in the lawsuits, on the grounds that the effort would require three months of full-time work by its staff. The brouhaha dates to March, when the U.S. Copyright Group launched its mass-litigation campaign, suing thousands of BitTorrent users by the IP addresses they used when feeding and seeding films like Steam Experiment, Far Cry, Uncross the Stars, Gray Man and Call of the Wild 3D. Unlike the similar music-industry lawsuit campaign, which spread its lawsuits out over years, the filmmakers hit ISPs around the country with subpoenas for hundreds of customers at a time, demanding Time Warner Cable comb through its records to identify past users by IP address. Court filings suggest that none of the broadband providers is happy about servicing the mass subpoenas, but Time Warner Cable is fighting them in court, arguing that serious law enforcement requests for information could fall by the wayside if the company is forced into becoming the research arm of the independent film producers. "Given its current staffing, it would take TWC nearly three months of full-time work by TWC's subpoena compliance group, and TWC would not be able to respond to any other request, emergency or otherwise, from law enforcement during this period," the company said in a court filing. "TWC has a six-month retention period for its IP lookup logs, and by the time TWC could turn to law enforcement requests, many of these requests could not be answered." Time Warner says it can only reasonably forward the names of 28 account holders per month. Given that there are about a thousand IP addresses linked to Time Warner, that process could take years to learn the identities of the account holders, the filmmakers complain. The filmmakers are now threatening to sue Time Warner for allegedly facilitating copyright infringement by fighting the demands for subscriber information in court. The U.S. Copyright Group cites the Supreme Court's 2005 Grokster decision, in which the justices cleared the way for lawsuits targeting companies that induce or encourage file sharing piracy. "To the extent TWC's tactics are just that –- letting the public know that TW is a good ISP for copyright infringers, because TWC will fight any subpoenas related to infringers' activities –- TWC exposes itself to a claim for contributory copyright infringement," (.pdf) Thomas Dunlap, the Copyright Group's lead counsel, said in a federal court filing Tuesday. Dunlap said Time Warner "is more intent on trying to avoid compliance, while currying favor with its subscribers and potential subscribers." The Grokster decision paved the way for a federal judge two weeks ago to declare file-sharing-software maker LimeWire liable of facilitating copyright infringement on a massive scale, because it did not take "meaningful steps" to mitigate infringement. The Grokster ruling, though, has never been interpreted as barring an ISP from challenging subpoenas in court. Time Warner told the District of Columbia judge presiding over the case that responding to 28 IP address lookups per month "is the outer limit of what TWC can reasonable handle" (.pdf). Any more would be "excessively burdensome and expensive." Neither Dunlap nor Time Warner immediately responded for comment. Comcast has tentatively agreed to forward the account holders' names, but reserved the right to object. CableVisions Systems, according to court records, is working on a "resolution" to the same issue faced by Time Warner Cable. All targeted ISPs were given until May 31 to file a motion to object to disclosing account holders' names. The indie filmmakers are taking a different tactic from their commercial counterparts. The Motion Picture Association of America, for the most part, has limited its lawsuits to BitTorrent sites themselves — like The Pirate Bay, TorrentSpy and Isohunt. The RIAA's lawsuits against 20,000 alleged music pirates were focused on old-school file sharing systems like Kazaa and Limewire. BitTorrent file sharing is more complicated, with downloaders and uploaders collecting in transient swarms of so-called seeders and leechers. In the Indie cases, the offending IP address were sniffed out by Guardaley IT, a German peer-to-peer–surveillance firm. Hat tip: Hollywood Reporter See Also: |
Scorpions land big name with Toyota sponsorship The Scorpions' new facility, under construction next to Heroes Stadium, will now be called Toyota Field. The Scorpions' new facility, under construction next to Heroes Stadium, will now be called Toyota Field. Photo: For The Express-News Photo: For The Express-News Image 1 of / 54 Caption Close Scorpions land big name with Toyota sponsorship 1 / 54 Back to Gallery The Scorpions announced a presenting sponsorship with Toyota on Tuesday that is the first of its kind in the revamped North American Soccer League. Scorpions owner Gordon Hartman declined to discuss specifics but described the sponsorship with the Japanese automobile giant as a multiyear, multimillion-dollar agreement. “It's a major, major commitment,” team president Michael Hitchcock said. “We couldn't be happier.” Toyota also will sponsor Morgan's Wonderland, the amusement park Hartman built to service special-needs individuals. Hartman, whose daughter Morgan was born with physical and cognitive challenges, has pledged all profits from the Scorpions to the park and other special-needs organizations. It is believed to be among the largest corporate sponsorships ever signed by a San Antonio professional sports franchise outside of the Spurs. The Houston and Philadelphia franchises in Major League Soccer recently signed naming-rights deals averaging $2 million per year. The deal includes naming rights for the Scorpions' soccer-specific stadium, now known as Toyota Field. The venue is in construction adjacent to Heroes Stadium, where the Scorpions are in the midst of their inaugural season in the NASL. Hartman said the stadium, slated to be completed for next season, will initially hold 8,000 with the capability of expanding capacity up to 18,500. Hitchcock recently said the Scorpions, who expect to clear a small profit this season, are projecting revenues to triple at Toyota Field. Only one other NASL franchise, the Carolina RailHawks, has sold the naming rights for its stadium, WakeMed Soccer Park. (Sources said Tampa Bay, which plays at Progress Energy Park, does not net any income from that sponsorship.) But while WakeMed Health and Hospitals is a small regional company, Toyota is a global brand with $18.6 billion in revenues last year and numerous assembly plants in the United States, including San Antonio. Toyota owns the naming rights for at least two other soccer-specific stadiums, occupied by the MLS' Chicago Fire and Nagoya Grampus of the Japanese J-League. The company is also a title sponsor for numerous major soccer tournaments, including the 2014 World Cup. Hartman said talks with the company began before the Scorpions took the field this spring. They've since surprised even themselves, leading the NASL in attendance and atop the standings, where they sit in first place by six points with five matches remaining in the regular season. How much money from the Toyota sponsorship will be funneled back into the team remains to be seen. Manager Tim Hankinson said he hopes to increase the player payroll, now at roughly $400,000, by up to 30 percent for next season. “We'd like to keep as much of the core together as we can,” he said. “We'd also ... like to add quality as well as depth. And that takes money. We've had preliminary discussions on what our budget would need to look like to do that. But I don't know if that has anything to do with how these funds are used.” dmccarney@express-news.net |
How Many Lego Bricks to Build a Mind? How many Lego bricks would it take to build a conscious, rational mind? This may sound like an absurd question. Lego bricks don’t seem like the sort of thing that you could build a mind out of. (At least, I’m assuming that artificial intelligence researchers aren’t currently tinkering away in their state-of-the-art labs with a “Build Your Own Mind!” Lego set.) But the question shouldn’t, in principle, be absurd for a physicalist. There is a sense in which it should be a perfectly reasonable question to ask. The Relevant Difference for Physicalism: Arrangement of Parts The physicalist already believes that the mind is entirely made up of individually non-conscious, non-rational physical parts. (I am not counting panpsychism as a form of physicalism, so rest easy Galen Strawson.) Physicalism, as I am defining it here, requires that the most basic constituents of reality are non-conscious and non-rational—not to mention without teleology (goal directedness), without purpose, and without meaning (intentionality). Although Lego bricks and brain cells are made up of different elements on the periodic table, the different atoms that make up those respective elements are themselves made up of the same sub-atomic particles. So both Lego bricks and brain cells, at the most basic level, are made up of identical physical parts. The only difference between the two, assuming physicalism is true, is the arrangement of the constituent particles. What Is It about Arrangement that Explains Consciousness and Rationality? Suppose we could create built-to-scale models of every sub-atomic particle using Lego bricks. An accurately scaled Lego model of a single atom might end up being the size of an entire planet, or even a solar system. Could we then arrange these Lego brick atoms to form a conscious, rational Lego brain (perhaps the size of the universe)? And if not, why not? When we imagine arranging sub-atomic particles to form an actual brain (in parallel to arranging Lego bricks to form a Lego Brain), stacking them one-by-one until the overall structure is complete, what is it about the arrangement of individual parts that could possibly be responsible for consciousness and rationality? This question becomes more formidable when you consider that consciousness is an ON/OFF type thing—you either have it or you don’t. At some point in the assembly of a brain (or a complete body—or whatever collection of parts is taken to be conscious) out of individual, unconscious subatomic parts, consciousness would suddenly appear with the addition of a single sub-atomic particle. If we cannot say what it is about the arrangement of particles in the actual brain that causes consciousness and rationality, we cannot say with any justification that it is impossible for a certain arrangement of Lego bricks to cause consciousness and rationality to arise. Although physicalists can point to plausible reasons for why it is unlikely than any Lego model would ever become conscious or rational, they cannot rule out the possibility until they point to what, precisely, it is about the arrangement of particles in the brain that generates consciousness and rationality. Image Source A Difference in Kind, or a Difference of Degree? The Lego Brain thought experiment draws out, for me, the central problem of any form of physicalism: pointing to the arrangement of physical parts doesn’t seem, in principle, to be able to explain consciousness or rationality. Consciousness and rationality (according the very common intuition that many people share) seem to consist of something fundamentally different than a particular arrangement of particles. The difference between conscious minds, for instance, and non-conscious physical objects appears to be a difference in kind, not just a difference in degree of the complexity of arrangement of particles. The challenge to the physicalist, then, is to answer this question: What is it about the arrangement of individually non-conscious particles that causes consciousness and rationality? Without an answer to that question, physicalism would seem to offer no explanation at all. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. |
UPDATE: Prime: Special Edition - Wave 1 Inserts Released! By SWCT Team on 2017-06-09 16:00:00 UPDATE: A new pack has been added to this release! Prime: Special Edition Ultra Bundle Pack (via Direct Purchase): -Includes 3 GUARANTEED Prime: Special Edition Brown Variant inserts -Includes 1 GUARANTEED Prime: Special Edition Purple Variant insert -You will receive 250,000 Credits when you grab the associated bundle! ORIGINAL: Who's ready for some exclusive high-end Prime inserts? Set Information: 8 Inserts (2 variants) + 2 Award Cards (2 variants) -There will be 2 waves: wave 1 will include 4 inserts (2 variants) and wave 2 will include 4 inserts (2 variants) -There will be 1 brown variant wave 1 award card, 1 purple variant wave 1 award, 1 brown variant wave 2 award card, and 1 purple variant wave 2 award card 2 Variants: -Brown -Purple This wave's inserts do not have a pre-determined card count but instead will sell-out when packs will expire on Friday, June 16 at 12:00 PM ET. This wave's brown variant award card and purple variant award card will also be part of a one time give out at that time. Prime: Special Edition Bundle Pack (via Direct Purchase): -Includes 1 GUARANTEED Prime: Special Edition Brown Variant insert -Includes 1:10 chance at pulling a Prime: Special Edition Purple Variant insert -You will receive 7,500 Credits when you grab the associated bundle! Prime: Special Edition Mega Pack: -Includes 1 GUARANTEED Prime: Special Edition Brown Variant insert NOTE: The Prime: Special Edition Mega Pack, specifically, is available only to registered users who have made at least 1 "Credits & Special Offers Store" purchase since signing up. NOTE: None of these inserts are part of the criteria for any Prime - Series 1 Marathon or Prime - Series 2 Marathon Award Cards! Head to the Cantina! Head to the Cantina! |
The first six months of 2017 haven’t been kind to Toronto’s homeless. From January through June, 46 homeless people have died across the city, according to new information released Wednesday by Toronto Public Health in an ongoing initiative to monitor these deaths. Street nurse Cathy Crowe is calling for the public release of information such as gender and cause of death for the homeless. ( David Cooper / Toronto Star file photo ) Read more: Mississauga library receives federal funding to help fight homelessness Second-quarter data from an expanded tracking program, led by Toronto Public Health and supported by about 200 health and social service agencies, reported that 19 deaths occurred from April 1 through June 30. The median age for the deceased during this period was 48.5. “The numbers are shocking and deeply disturbing,” said Councillor Joe Cressy (Trinity-Spadina). “If the test of a city is how well it cares for the most vulnerable, these deaths show we are failing.” Article Continued Below While the city collects a broad range of information about the deceased, such as gender, unofficial cause of death, and location of death, it only makes public the number of homeless dead and the median age. Advocates for the homeless say more data should be made public so that citizens have a better understanding of who is dying and why. “It’s like the city has put this (death tally) up there without fanfare, without any data to help anyone understand it except for the (median) age,” said long-time Toronto street nurse Cathy Crowe, also a distinguished visiting practitioner at Ryerson University’s department of politics and public administration. She said she believes sharing other category information with the public “would help put a picture out there of who’s homeless” in Toronto. “I don’t think we want names but I think we want gender breakdown, I think we want to know some categories of cause of death; how many opiate overdoses? How many suicides? How many trauma-related? Were any related to weather?” Crowe continued. “We know zero.” In the initiative’s first-quarter statistics, collected from January to the end of March, 27 homeless deaths were reported via the city-wide data network. The median age during that time was 51. The total of 46 deaths — from January through June — produced an average rate of 1.8 deaths per week, with a median age of 50 over the first half of the year. Article Continued Below “Life expectancy in Toronto is approximately 80 years. While these are early results, the age at death for the homeless population represents a serious health inequity,” said Paul Fleiszer, manager of surveillance and epidemiology at Toronto Public Health. He said research and “lived experience” have shown that factors such as unaffordable and poor-quality housing, and housing instability, are associated with a range of poor mental and physical health outcomes, including injuries, and chronic and communicable diseases. “As a result, homelessness represents a major contribution to the loss of potential years of life,” Fleiszer said. Crowe said that the median age of the deceased “means that some very, very young people died and that’s not normal.” “It’s scary,” she said. Advocates for the homeless have long protested that previous attempts to accurately count the dead have underreported the extent of the tragic situation. Previously, the city has recorded deaths only in city-administered shelters; that number for all of 2016 was 33. The new initiative’s third-quarter results are scheduled for release in October, with the 2017 report finalized by January 2018. The tracking of homeless deaths across the city, which began on Jan. 1, 2017, was spurred in part by a 2016 Toronto Star investigation that found the province and most Ontario municipalities have no mandate to track homeless deaths comprehensively, if at all. Volunteers with the Toronto Homeless Memorial, at the Church of the Holy Trinity, next to the Eaton Centre, have been compiling an unofficial list of homeless people in the GTA who have died since the 1980s. There are now more than 850 names on the memorial. Its highest annual toll was 72 in 2005. “These numbers should be a wake-up call to politicians of all stripes,” said Cressy, referring to the new Toronto Public Health data. “With increased supports we know that many of these deaths are preventable.” |
Please enable Javascript to watch this video GREENSBORO, N.C. -- A group of homeless men and women in Greensboro have been asked to leave the place they've called home for years. Jesse Franklin is one of those in the homeless population who belongs to a tent encampment in a wooded area near East Washington Street. "I've been living there three and a half years," Franklin said. "We don't bother anybody. All we do is come and go." But the reason the group has been asked to leave, according to Greensboro police, is because of one person's complaint. Greensboro Police Public Information Officer Susan Danielsen said that three or four weeks ago, they got a complaint from a member of a church nearby. That caller said that members of the encampment were panhandling near his church and making the congregation uncomfortable. Because of that complaint, GPD contacted the owner of the property. The property's owner then asked police to require the homeless population, now about six of them, to move. Michelle Kennedy, executive director of the Interactive Resource Center, a nonprofit that assists the homeless, called this situation a tragedy. "They literally have nowhere to go," Kennedy said. "This closure is particularly painful because it is hands down the safest and most secure location that anyone experiencing homelessness would want to be in." Franklin denied claims that anyone in his tenting community had panhandled church members. He said he and the others stick to themselves and maintain a safe community. "Nice and quiet," he said. "Peaceful, away from trouble. We look out for each other like one big, happy family." Franklin said he and the others have not been given a timeline for when they will be forcefully removed from the property, but "no trespassing signs" went up Jan. 28, so they are now at risk of being ticketed. FOX8 attempted to contact the owner of the property but never heard back. |
If you follow any parents on Instagram or Facebook, you’ve seen something like the snapshot Wyatt Neumann posted last year. His 2-year-old daughter, Stella, completely naked, jumps on an unmade motel bed, joy blooming across her face. You may have even posted a photo just like it of your own kid. Chances are, though, you didn’t get comments like the ones Neumann did: “This guy is a class A d–k.” Or this one: “PEDOS CAN EASILY FIND THESE PICTURES AND JACK OFF TO THEM.” Or maybe you shared a snapshot of your little one, frolicking outside, lifting her dress — in that unselfconscious way every toddler does. Neumann, a professional photographer, posted these and more on Instagram. Many of the ensuing comments were profanity-laced. One said: “I want to puke. The nude photos are gross and disturbing.” These photos, and more like them, are the centerpieces of Neumann’s latest solo show at the Safari gallery in Soho, New York, which runs through the end of the week. Titled “I Feel Sorry For Your Children,” the exhibit documents a 12-day road trip he took with Stella last year, from Zion National Park to New York City. He accompanies each photo with his original Instagram caption — usually with the hashtag #dadlife — and a comment from a complete stranger. It is an extreme iteration of the more judgmental and moralistic strains we encounter in modern parenting. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now And yet, the photos raise an interesting question about how much we share about our kids on social media. Neumann happens to be an award-winning fine art photographer with commercial clients like Reebok and Visa. But you wouldn’t necessarily have that context if you were to stumble upon his photos online somewhere for the first time. Pictures like the one of his daughter sitting between his legs in a bathtub might trigger a twinge of discomfort for the candidness and intimacy they capture. It’s a beautiful image, but does it belong in a public venue frequented by perverts and prudes alike? Here’s where I land: However uncomfortable a given photo may make me feel, I would be even less comfortable telling someone they can’t post it. The roadtrip photos — Stella in her carseat; Stella using a portable training potty at a roadside pitstop; Stella eating barbeque — were first posted to his Instagram account. His friend Claire Bidwell Smith, author of the best-selling memoir “The Rules of Inheritance,” told her own Instagram followers to check them out. From there the images made their way to the online message board Get Off My Internets. And then came the hate: Parenting trolls descended with a vengeance, flagging so many of his pictures that his account was suspended mid-roadtrip — 6,000 photos gone — but not before flooding his posts and inbox with hate speech and insults. It was clearly too much for some to stomach. I wonder if these people — protected by the anonymity the Internet provides — would have been less quick to assault the parent’s character if it was Stella’s mother who posted the photos. And maybe there is something slightly tragic to be said about the Internet having conditioned us all to look at things through smut-colored glasses. “The Internet is for porn,” goes the famous line from the Tony-winning musical Avenue Q–and most of the time I’m the last person to complain about it. But there are multiple references to pedophiles in the Instagram comments to his photos. In the worst instances, commenters have accused Neumann of trading in kiddie porn. “What they wanted me to do was stop posting photos,” he told me at his exhibit which opened last month. “They wanted to take away my ability to do that. The more this conservative, puritanical, fundamentalist ideology starts to permeate our culture [the more] it’s compressing our ability to express ourselves. Rather than retreat, I pushed forward and turned it into a beautiful art show.” Anyone with a child has hundreds of these kinds of snapshots on a smartphone. I do. We all have our own rules about how much we’ll share of our kids’ lives online. I certainly don’t post any photos of mine undressed or, for that matter, doing anything I think they’d find compromising in the future. But they’re older than Stella. When they were younger I might have shared a bathtub shot or two, or one of them copping a potty-training squat. Harmless stuff. But even then, it would have most likely been on Facebook where at least I am given the illusion that I can control who has access to the pictures. These days, whenever I take a photo of my kids, ages 6 and 9, they invariably say “Don’t put that on Facebook!” or “Let me choose the filter before you put it on Instagram.” I let them call the shots, most of the time. Neumann, whose own father died before he could get to know him, errs on the side of openness. He’s creating an archive for his kids and who am I to judge him for sharing it? “I was raised on a hippie commune,” he says. “I grew up naked. My life with my father is something I lived through in photos. I got to know him through the artifacts he left.” It’s painfully obvious that Neumann not only loves his children, but is also a present, involved and nurturing father. Author Bidwell Smith thought she had made that point when she shared her friend’s pictures. “People box parenthood into such a small realm of what we’re supposed to be with our children,” she told me. “Wyatt blows that up. His work is brilliant and gorgeous–the way he captures childhood in this fleeting way. Kids are free and magical and not inhibited by the cultural boundaries we all are. It made me sad that that distinction wasn’t made in their minds.” The photos he shares of Stella are striking in their intimacy and universality. His wife, Jena Cordova, told me that she would feel lucky to have one such picture from her own childhood; Stella and her older brother Takota have thousands. (I am granted an interview with Stella, but she is feeling shy and buries her face into her Dad’s neck. Also, there is a smartphone nearby streaming cartoons.) Like the comic who says what everyone is thinking but too scared to utter out loud, Neumann makes photographs of his kids as timeless as they are personal: his daughter looking tired, his daughter ecstatic, sultry, bored, human. “It’s very confusing to me,” says Cordova. “Even when I didn’t have children, my mind wouldn’t have gone there. It makes me sad for a lot of people that it would even cross their minds.” In that respect Neumann’s photos are something of a Rorschach test: You see in them what you want to see. I see a doting dad who happens to be a photographer with a killer eye — and, yes, a desire to share. Haters, as they say on the Internet and playgrounds everywhere, are gonna hate. Contact us at editors@time.com. |
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