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Comment: Europe’s answer to Brussels bombs may be more damaging than ISIS March 24, 2016 by Joseph Fitsanakis In the past year, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for at least nine terrorist attacks on foreign capitals. The growing list, which features Jakarta, Tunis, Paris, Beirut, Ankara, and Kuwait City, now includes the Belgian capital, Brussels. At least 34 people died in the attacks that rocked Brussels’ Zaventum airport and Maelbeek metro station on March 22, while another 300 were injured, 60 of them critically. This week’s bombings officially constitute the bloodiest terrorist attacks in Belgium’s history, prompting the country’s government to declare three days of national mourning. Why did the Islamic State attack one of Europe’s smallest countries, with a population of just over 11 million? Some have suggested that Brussels was targeted by the terrorist group because it was an easy target. Observers noted that Belgium’s security and intelligence services are underfunded and demoralized —a “weak link in Europe”, in the words of one expert. There is no question that Belgium’s security apparatus is in need of serious overhaul; but the need is equally great in Amsterdam, in Athens, in Madrid, in Dublin, and elsewhere in Europe. In fact, the Islamic State could have struck any of these European capitals with the same ease that it attacked Brussels —and might still do so. In reality, the Islamic State’s decision to attack Brussels was carefully calculated and consistent with the group’s overall strategy. The primary reason that the Islamists attacked Brussels is that Belgium is one of 30 countries that actively participate in the Combined Joint Task Force, the international group behind Operation Inherent Resolve. Led by the United States military, the operation has been targeting Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria since October 2014. The Islamic State wished to send a message to Europeans that their military intervention in the Middle East will be costly at home. Secondly, Brussels was struck because it is the headquarters of the European Union, which last month declared the Islamic State’s campaign against religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and Iraq as an act of genocide. Third, and perhaps most importantly, Belgium was targeted because a significant percentage of its population —as much as 7 percent by some estimates— is Muslim. What is more, the degree of integration of Belgian Muslims in mainstream life is markedly limited and partly explains why so many of them —400 by some estimates, the highest per-capita number in Europe—have emigrated to Syria and Iraq in order to join the Islamic State. It is worth remembering that the Islamic State emerged as the de facto guarantor or Sunni Muslims by essentially provoking Iraq’s Shiites to attack and marginalize the country’s Sunni Arab minority. Following a series of Shiite attacks against Sunni communities in Iraq, which were part of a broader post-2003 sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, the Islamic State emerged as the protector of Sunni Arabs and has since fought against Syrian Alawites, Hezbollah, Iranian forces, Iraqi Shiites, and others. Its popular support in Iraq and Syria stems from the fear held by Sunni Arabs that, if the Islamic State is defeated, their communities will be exterminated by vengeful and unforgiving Shiites. Having gained from sectarianism in the Middle East, the Islamic State is now implementing the same tactic in Europe. It is thus targeting countries like France and Belgium, which have significant Muslim populations, in order to provoke aggressive reactions against domestic Muslim communities. In other words, it expects that attacks like those in Belgium will favor extremist ideologies throughout the European continent, and in turn further-marginalize European Muslims. The rise of Islamophobia, the strengthening of extremist political parties, and the disintegration of European values such as acceptance and tolerance, are likely to create a new generation of disaffected European Muslim youth, many of whom will be prime candidates for Islamic State membership. European societies must not allow the Islamic State to change the political identity of an entire continent through violence. Along with meticulous police and intelligence work, the bombs in Brussels must be answered with concerted attempts to deepen the social integration of European Muslims, and more broadly to promote cohesion between ethnic and religious groups in Europe. Anything short of that will provide the Islamic State with the same strategic advantage it has enjoyed in the Middle East for nearly a decade. * Joseph Fitsanakis is Assistant Professor in the Intelligence and National Security Studies program at Coastal Carolina University in the United States. Advertisements |
Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net Source: Center for Public Integrity The Pentagon, which previously warned that reliable military spending figures could not be produced until 2017, has discovered that financial ledgers are in worse shape than expected and it may need to spend a billion dollars more to make DOD’s financial accounting credible, according to defense officials and congressional sources. Hayden’s Note: To echo the editor of Cryptogon.com, I have to wonder if the Pentagon’s accountants and auditors will be blown up again by “terrorists.” On September 10th, 2001, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that $2.3 trillion – TRILLION – had gone “missing” from the Pentagon. What happened the next day? The accounting department was hit in a surgical strike by amateur pilots. I’m just sayin’…bit of a coincidence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU4GdHLUHwU Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a lot of faith in Government Accountability or the Budget Office to begin with, but coupled with past issues, it raises some flags. Experts say the Pentagon’s accounting has never been reliable. A lengthy effort by the military services to implement new financial systems at a cost so far of more than $6 billion has itself been plagued by overruns and delays, senior defense officials say. The Government Accountability Office said in a report last month that although the services can now fully track incoming appropriations, they still cannot demonstrate their funds are being spent as they should. Tiny URL for this post: http://tinyurl.com/43hahy3 |
Why There Will Never Be Another Walter Cronkite With the passing of Walter Cronkite, who died yesterday at age 92, we not only lose a major figure in broadcast journalism (and journalism period), but we see another nail being driven into the coffin of integrity and fairness. The acclaimed and award-winning reporter was once called “The Most Trusted Man in America,” known for his in-depth, insightful and impartial reporting. Reportedly demanding off camera, he was calm, likeable and authoritative on camera. He covered many of the major events of the 20th century, including the Moon Landing, Vietnam and the assassination of JFK, during the announcement of which he fought back tears. We felt like he was one of us. When I was young and watched Cronkite on television I never thought about politics. My parents never influenced me on that topic nor even discussed who they voted for, and I simply tried to interpret things in my own way, eventually developing my own set of beliefs as I grew older. Even though in later years Cronkite evidently became less shy about expressing his liberal opinions, he almost never brought them into his reporting, the lone exception being a rare editorial such as one about the futility of the Vietnam War that made President Lyndon Johnson exclaim: “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” The media has taken a lot of hits throughout the ’00s, for reasons that should be fairly obvious, but I’ll recap quickly: the War on Terror, corporate control and the gossip glut that clogs our media pipeline on a daily basis. Often times the factual, nonpartisan reporting of important news gets buried under a deluge of political propaganda, the nattering of dunderheaded pundits and the reporting of celebrity-focused non-items. In Cronkite’s day there weren’t vapid reality series, endless talk shows, relentless teaser trailers for mere 15 second news pieces, nor 24-hour news channels always hungry for content in any form. Back then people really did tune in to watch the news together and pay attention to what was going on in the world. And reporters like Cronkite were not easily bullied by politicians or their administrations, as Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew learned. One wonders what Mr. Cronkite must have thought of the ascension of online news, with its instantaneous delivery, lack of proper-fact checking and frequently erroneous information. Or the way that television news has become more personality driven and, in some cases, sexed up with many of “the beautiful people” serving in place of more qualified individuals. News has become a commodity for advertising revenue, not the public service it was between the years of 1962 and 1981, when Cronkite presided over the CBS Evening News. As an intellectual commodity the news has lost ground in the new millennium. We absorb things in sound bytes now rather than longer reports. Much of that has to do with the fact that the pace of American life has increased immeasurably. We don’t tend to congregate at the dinner table, the television or generally at home the way we used to. We’re too busy texting, chatting online or multitasking ourselves to death with numerous distractions. We have become impatient as a society and let our knee-jerk emotional responses override the rational choice to wait until all of the facts have been collected to make reasonable judgments on various issues and events. If we should learn anything from the life of Walter Cronkite, it is that one does not earn trust simply by being connected to a major television network, through the famous friends you have or how big of a mouth you shoot off. A newsman earns our trust through respect, which comes from doing his or her job well — taking it seriously by triple-checking facts, talking to multiple sources and taking time to do research, thus ensuring integrity and fairness. Of course, with all of the multi-corporate interests connected to television now, that golden standard has become harder and harder to uphold and may be impossible to retrieve without a complete separation of corporations and newsrooms. That is unlikely to happen. I believe that bias has always existed in the news, even to a small degree, but it has never been as strong as it is today. We live in an MSNBC versus Fox world now, and while that works if you always like your side’s opinion being expressed, that means there is less impartiality. It is truly sad that some of the best news one can get now comes from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”. While I think the show is hilarious and often quite insightful, there is rich irony to be found in the success and influence of an award-winning show that is at heart a satire. |
The era of evocative trim-level names for new cars may be drawing to a close – in Australia at least – if the ACCC gets its way. An anonymous source has told motoring.com.au that one of the more controversial findings in the ACCC's new-car retailing study indicates buyers are confused by the plethora of trim levels for new cars. The authors of the report have proposed just four mandated trim levels, applied universally across the entire new-car market. Information to hand suggests the four grades will be L, GL, GLX and GLXT. It's understood that the proposal was inspired by the Australian government's successful plain-paper cigarette packaging legislation. If accepted, the proposal will do away with well-known but opaque grade names such as Ambiente, VTi, Sport, GT and Highlander. According to the ACCC's person on the inside, the standardised grading system will clear up endless confusion as to which offers more kit (and enhanced social standing), rather than expecting consumers to understand the inherent value (or otherwise) of cars labelled 'Active', 'Trend', 'Allure' or 'Ultima'. The problem arising out of the proposal is that some model names/numbers implicitly include the level of trim. So where a BMW 320i is the base model to the upmarket 330i, the prestige brand may be called upon in Australia to rename those two cars as '3 Series L' and '3 Series GL' accordingly. Naturally, that would flow through to the entire BMW range, and could potentially spell havoc for additional trim and drivetrain identifiers such as 'sDrive25i'. Other brands affected along similar lines would be the other German prestige brands, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. And it would pose a further challenge for car companies that distinguish sport models from their luxury counterparts in a 'Y' structure. In another example of the syndrome, the Holden Evoke would be named Commodore GL, except it's understood the ACCC has no plans to introduce the new protocol until the remaining local manufacturing plants have closed. There's a real risk that the in-house counsel employed by the car companies (and the FCAI) will be very busy taking the ACCC to court. And with rumour flying around that limited-edition models would be exempt, expect the traditional model hierarchy to give way to a 'moving feast' range structure composed entirely of 'special value pack' models in future. This article was published on the morning of April 1, 2017 and is not to be taken seriously. |
This article is over 1 year old Global Times, controlled by the Communist Party, says reports of breaking of spy ring, if true, were a ‘victory for China’ An influential state-run newspaper has applauded China’s anti-espionage efforts after the New York Times said China had killed or imprisoned up to 20 CIA sources, hobbling US spying operations in a massive intelligence breach. The Chinese killed at least a dozen people providing information to the US Central Intelligence Agency between 2010 and 2012, dismantling a network that was years in the making, the New York Times reported on Saturday. China 'dismantled' CIA spying operations and killed sources – report Read more China’s Global Times, published by the official People’s Daily, said in an editorial in its Chinese and English-language editions that, if true, it was a victory for China. “If this article is telling the truth, we would like to applaud China’s anti-espionage activities. Not only was the CIA’s spy network dismantled, but Washington had no idea what happened and which part of the spy network had gone wrong,” the paper said. “It can be taken as a sweeping victory. Perhaps it means even if the CIA makes efforts to rebuild its spy network in China, it could face the same result,” it said. However the widely read paper, which is known for its strongly nationalist stance, said one part of the report was false. “As for one source being shot in a government courtyard, that is a purely fabricated story, most likely a piece of American-style imagination based on ideology,” it said. The Chinese government has yet to respond to the report. The ministry of state security, which oversees anti-spying operations, has no publicly available telephone number and no website, unlike other Chinese ministries. While the New York Times’ website is blocked in China, like those of many mainstream Western news organisations, the story has been widely discussed and its contents picked up in other Chinese media, especially by online news portals. The story has attracted thousands of comments on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, with many people expressing glee that the spy ring was broken. “Strike hard against spy traitors, protect the country’s security!” wrote one Weibo user. “Well done! Good on you China,” wrote another. |
Zunera Ishaq, the Pakistani woman who won’t back down on her right to wear the niqab in her citizenship ceremony, is proving to be a feisty spokesperson for her side of the debate. In an interview with the National Post, she has framed herself as someone merely wishing to follow her faith, and depicts the government’s position forbidding face cover during the swearing-in part of the ceremony as “a personal attack on me and Muslim women like me.” An equally feisty Prime Minister Harper, speaking for the government, forthrightly declares that hiding one’s identity at such a time is “offensive” and “not how we do things here.” Whose feist will win the day? I believe Ms Ishaq when she says she wears the niqab by choice, but she admits that other girls and women are forced to wear it by their families. So we are not getting a balanced public picture. The sophisticated, empowered niqab-wearers like Ms Ishaq have their public say, boasting about their empowerment to the media. The ones who are forced to wear it would never dream of complaining to the media – if they were allowed to, a fanciful notion. If one were brave enough to do so, I suspect we would see a more muted version of the support Ms Ishaq is finding amongst “progressive” and libertarian pundits. Although we have been over this ground many times before, I must once again protest the superficiality of the arguments I hear in favour of the niqab. The “religious faith” argument simply does not hold water. The niqab is worn in some devoutly Muslim regions and not in others. Some Islamic countries ban the niqab in voting, others do not. Virtually all Islamic scholars have noted that Sharia does not demand face cover, and that it is usually a regional custom or a diktat by a country’s rulers. Even if it were a religious demand, there are some religious demands that are incompatible with democratic principles of social reciprocity, and this is one of them. Freedoms are not absolute in any domain. Ms Ishaq quite disingenuously suggests she is speaking for others’ “distinguishing cultural practices,” pointing to the Sikh turban as the possible next area of restriction. But we already “did” the turban during the debate over whether Sikh RCMP members would be allowed to wear them, and that debate is over. In any case, a turban does not cover the face. It’s all about the face. Which renders completely irrelevant any attempt to parallel the niqab with the wimple of a nun, or the wigs and long skirts that Orthodox Jewish women wear. I personally find it sad that young girls in the Orthodox community wear full body coverage at all times; when I see them on hot summer days, with their brothers gamboling about in shorts and short-sleeved shirts, I feel very sorry for them. But I would never demand the government proscribe body coverage. Is it not clear that there is a world of difference between body coverage and face coverage? Then there is Natasha Bakht, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, who compares the niqab to western women wearing bikinis and getting cosmetic surgery, as though the niqab were an aesthetic or a fashion choice. Seriously, Ms Bakht? Is there anywhere in the world where women are forced to wear bikinis or get nose jobs and are whipped or have acid thrown in their face if they refuse? Please. Such an argument is an insult to the intelligence. But Ms Bakht’s specious parallel has the virtue that it can be turned against its perpetrator. If a woman were to turn up at her citizenship swearing-in ceremony in a bikini, would she be allowed to? I think not. And rightly so. Bikinis on a beach are one thing – in a solemn ceremony quite another. Indecency swings both ways. Face cover is also indecent in certain situations, such as the swearing-in of a woman to citizenship in a democratic country based on, amongst other principles, gender equality. (I consider the niqab indecent in all getting and giving of government services. If the federal government would pass a law requiring the face be uncovered in these areas, as Quebec soon will, Canadians would approve en masse.) Perhaps Ms Ishaq might give some thought to the reality that thousands upon thousands of Pakistani people wish to become citizens of Canada, but one does not see Canadians flocking to Pakistan to live. There are reasons for that. One of those reasons is that women here are equal to men, and nobody can tell a woman here that she must cover her face. One might think that Ms Ishaq would wish to honour that right, on behalf of her sisters who are forced to wear the niqab, by taking hers off for the five minutes it will take to accept the gift of great value our government wishes to confer on her. National Post |
Despite possessing an encyclopedic knowledge of professional wrestling, including the entire lineage of the WWE Intercontinental Championship, 29-year-old Jeremy McLennan is severely lacking in related knowledge, such as the names of Earth’s continents. The self-described “smart mark” knows, for instance, that Pat Patterson became inaugural Intercontinental Champion during a (fictional) 1979 tournament in Brazil, but mistakenly believes Brazil is located on the continent of “Amazonia.” More from Kayfabe News And while McLennan knows that Santino Marella defeated Kofi Kingston for the championship in April 2007, he thinks Marella is from “Italiamerica” and Kingston from “African Jamaica.” His geopolitical worldview includes other peculiar beliefs formed as a result of his fondness for wrestling, including: He believes Bulgaria is “a city in Russia” He thinks the Middle East has been peaceful ever since Muhammad Hassan disappeared He’s convinced every Samoan alive is a cousin of The Rock (only part-true) He believes real Americans fight for the rights of every man, which the current election calls into serious question McLennan is looking forward to the crowning of a new WWE Universal Champion, despite his mistaken belief that the universe ends at Pluto. |
From The TV IV The numbers or cursed numbers are a set of numbers that recur multiple times in Lost. These mysterious numbers have grown to become a prominent, recurring plot line on the show and is one of the more supernatural aspects of the series. The numbers are first mentioned in "Numbers", although they do appear on many occasions before that episode. Due to the numbers being one of the biggest recurring mysteries on Lost, criticism was pointed toward Damon Lindelof, who revealed in a TVGuide interview that the true nature of the numbers will never be revealed. This is one of the more persistent criticisms of the series. J.J. Abrams has used a similar non-disclosure technique with another recurring number, 47, which appears in nearly every episode of Alias. The Valenzetti Equation In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis resulted in the world coming to the brink of nuclear war. With their respective nations having just faced the very precipice of mutual assured destruction, the United States and Soviet Union — under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council — secretly sought Enzo Valenzetti out as a disinterested third party and charged him with the creation of an infalliable mathematical algorithm for the prediction of Armageddon. Valenzetti's result was the Valenzetti Equation, an equation that predicts the exact number of years and months until humanity extinguishes itself, whether through nuclear fire, chemical and biological warfare, conventional warfare, pandemic disease or over-population. Valenzetti gave numerical values to the core environmental and human factors in his equation: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42. It is felt by some, such as Alvar Hanso, that only by manipulating the environment and finding scientific solutions will these core factors be changed and thereby give humanity a chance to survive. The United Nations Security Council buried Valenzetti's findings, but the Valenzetti Equation was the catalyst for the creation of the DHARMA Initiative. The Numbers In 1988, slightly more than 16 years before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, Danielle Rousseau's science team picked up a mysterious short-wave transmission from the island. The transmission was merely six numbers repeated over and over again: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. She wasn't the only one who heard them. The same transmission was also picked up by a U.S. Navy long wave transmission monitoring station where Leonard Simms and Sam Toomey worked. Sam Toomey used the numbers to win a $50,000 (Australian) prize for guessing the exact number of beans in a jar — no one had come even close to the correct number in the 40 years the contest was running. After that, bad things started to happen to those around Sam Toomey. He moved to the middle of nowhere to try and limit the damage, but eventually he killed himself with a shotgun to make the bad things stop. Leonard Simms wound up at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, where he met Hugo "Hurley" Reyes. Leonard kept repeating the numbers over and over, and they eventually became ingrained in Hurley's mind. Hurley played the numbers in a lottery which hadn't had a winner for 16 weeks. He won 114 million dollars. After that, bad things seemed to happen to those around him too, but in a way that made him profit. Hurley became convinced that the numbers were cursed, so he went to see Leonard, and eventually he found Sam Toomey's house in Australia and learned about the transmission but nothing more. He headed back home to Los Angeles on Oceanic flight 815, which departed from gate 23 on what was planned to be a 16-hour long flight departing at 2:15 P.M. and landing in Los Angeles at 10:42 P.M. One interesting thing of note is that, when the numbers all appear together, they always appear in order. 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 The numbers are inscribed on the mysterious hatch in the jungle. The latitude 4.815 and longitude 162.342 are located in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia. Boone found a map of Africa on the smuggler’s plane. Latitude: 16° 23 Min.42 Sec, Longitude: 4° 8 Min. 15 Sec. will put you in Niger, pretty close to where the map showed. When Hurley's car is breaking down on his way to the airport, the numbers all show up on the dashboard. Hurley passed a girls sports team on the scooter in the airport that had all the numbers in order. Desmond enters the numbers into his computer terminal upon waking up. The bottles Desmond was using for injection have "CR 4-81516-23 42" written at the top. The bottles holding the 'medicine' for Claire's baby have "CR 4-81516-23 42" written at the top also. According to The Map in the Swan Bunker, there were system-wide outages of the Dharmatel Intranet on 4.08.00, 8.15.01, & 01.06.05. A notation near the center of The Map in the Swan Bunker gives x4, y8, z15 as the coordinates of a subterrainean conduit. A notation underneath the Flame Bunker on The Map in the Swan Bunker is for the square roots of 16, 64, & 225 (i.e. 4, 8, 15)> In the flashback for the episode "Two for the Road", three of the police cars are numbered 15, 16, & 23 and 42 (on the right side of the screen). The Cursed Number 4 The number of years before the crash on the island (B.I.) that Locke was paralysed. The number of years B.I. that Sam Toomey committed suicide. Number of years before Hurley's lottery win that his grandfather had a pacemaker put in. Leonard was playing Connect Four when Hurley visited him. The number of years B.I. since Sawyer made his birthday wish. Number of circles on the Oceanic "O" logo. The number of Aces (value 1) that were on Boone’s t-shirt. Also, Boone had another t-shirt with Asian letters that say 84. The number of refills Shannon had for her inhaler in Boone's luggage. Number of Oceanic planes on the mobile in Claire’s dream. Number of months Michelangelo stared at marble “working” in Locke’s story. Boone then asked if they were going to stare at the hatch for 4 months. Number of spots on Michael’s raft. Locke tied Boone up about 4 miles east of the caves. Jack's bride Sara had "44" on her pyjamas A speed that Hurley’s rental car displayed as it died. Number of guns in the Marshall's case. Number of months that passed between Claire's two visits to the psychic. When being lowered into the hatch, Kate counts to 5 to allay her fears. She gets up to 4 before the light comes on. Number of years of college that Sun took to get her degree in art history. After the alarm has sounded, the number of minutes available to enter the code into the computer. The Cursed Number 8 Number of years Michael worked in construction. Walt was born in August, the 8th month. He was born on the 24th of August. 24 is 8 + 16. Number of years B.I. since Michael was hit by the car. The number of years Michael didn't see Walt. The number of people who died in a fire in Hurley’s shoe factory in Canada. The number of months Claire was pregnant when the plane crashed. Boone had a t-shirt with 84 on it in Asian letters. Number of months Locke was talking to Helen before the crash. Number of days Charlie went without his guitar before Locke returned it to him. Number of weeks Driveshaft was going to go on tour. Shannon’s age when her father married Boone’s mother. James Ford's (Sawyer) age when his family was destroyed by the original Frank Sawyer. The aisle for regulation footballs in Locke’s store. A speed that Hurley's rental car displayed as it died. The person Hurley bought the scooter from had a Crazy Eight’s hat. 8 O’clock was the position on the radar where the Others boat showed up. Number of the TV station that interviewed Hurley after his lottery win. Number of days Claire was missing after her abduction. The distance from the Environment Secretary's house that Jin was to ditch the assassin's getaway car. Sara, Jack's Wife, was supposed to be married 8 months after the car accident which introduced her to Jack. The number of a cart in Sara's room. Hurley was accused of eating an 8-piece Dark Meat combo the day he quit working at Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack. The call number of Ana Lucia's patrol car is 8A16. Number of Virgin Mary statues Charlie takes from the plane wreck (seven statues are shown in "The Long Con", and Charlie destroyed one of them earlier). Number of people the deck that collapsed was built to hold. The Cursed Number 15 The number of hours Boone spent on his flight to Sydney The aisle for Nerf footballs in Locke’s store. Number on the whiskey bottle that Sawyer and Christian drank from. A speed that Hurley’s rental car displayed as it died. Sun was supposed to slip away from Jin at 11:15 A.M. Also, all the digits add up to 8. 14:15 was the scheduled departure time for Oceanic 815. Sawyer was supposed to meet with an investor for one of his cons at 15:30. Michael’s estimate of how far out to sea they were when the detected the radar blip. In backgammon, each side starts with 15 pieces. The number of ribbons on Sam Austen's ribbon rack. Part of the number of the safety deposit box (1516) in which Locke's father had put $700,000 from a retirement con The Cursed Number 16 Number of years Rousseau has been on the island (after hearing the numbers transmission that brought her science team there). $160,000 was the amount of money Sawyer was planning to con from a family. When Jack tells Kate his story about fear as she sews him up, the patient in the story is 16 years old. Number of circles around the outside of the Oceanic Logo when it is part of Oceanic. Number of hours the flight to L.A. was going to take. Number of hours after the crash when the pilot was found. Number of weeks the lottery hadn’t been won before Hurley won it. Number of years since Boone’s nanny Teresa fell down the stairs and broke her neck. Number of years ago that Kate buried the time capsule A speed that Hurley’s rental car displayed as it died. Number in hundreds that Hurley paid an old man for his scooter. The speed Desmond was going on his exercise bicycle. Number of people in Locke's anger management group. Part of the number of the safety deposit box (1516) in which Locke's father had put $700,000 from a retirement con The Cursed Number 23 The sum of both parts of the plane's flight number. Number of the floor Hurley stayed on at a Sydney hotel. Number of the gate the plane took off from. Jack’s seat number on the plane was 23B. Rose and Bernard were sitting next to Jack in row 23, too. The reward for turning in Kate was $23,000 The morning of their departure from Sydney, Walt woke Michael up at 5:23 A.M. The temperature in Hurley’s rental car when it died. The initial total number of survivors from the plane's tail section. W is the 23rd letter of the alphabet, and W begins Walt's name. Mr. Eko recites the 23rd Psalm when he burns the plane that contains his brother's body Inman shows Sayid DIA video footage labeled 'Reel 23108-42' Number of people on the deck when it collapsed, in Hurley's accident. The Black Rock was bound for dock 23 in Portsmouth, Britain in 1881 The Cursed Number 42 Locke is playing Risk during his lunch break. In Risk, Earth is divided into 42 territories. Leonard was playing Connect 4. 42 is the number of spaces on a connect four game board. Rousseau wrote down the number sequence seven times, creating a matrix that totals 42. Ana-Lucia was sitting in seat 42F. Room number of Hurley’s room at the Sydney hotel. The distance Hurley’s rental car had travelled when it died. 10:42 was the scheduled arrival time of flight 815 in L.A. Scrawled on the wall as a part of the mural in the bunker. Since winning the lottery, Hurley increased his net worth by 42 million dollars. The letters A-L-E-X (the name of Rousseau's child who was also kidnapped by the others), when given numerical value based on their position in the alphabet, add up to 42. Shannon had revealed during the census that she was 20. Boone would've been 22 then, as their parents married when he was 10 and she was 8. They are the only two characters with flashbacks centered to themselves (not like the Marshall with just popping in at random points) to have died, and their ages equal 42 when added together. The prize for the boat race that Desmond entered was $42,000. The Sum of the Cursed Numbers: 108 108 is the sum of the numbers: 4 + 8 + 15 + 16 + 23 + 42. The number 108 is painted twice on a wall inside the hatch. The number of minutes in the countdown in the Swan bunker. CV III (Cerberus Vent Three) is 108 in roman numerals. A Special Combination: 48 There were originally 48 survivors in the main group. 48 days passed on the island until The tail section survivors encountered the main group. A Special Combination: 815 The flight number of the plane. The number of the safety deposit box Kate robbed. Charlie was trying to sell Copier model 815-C. The date of Kate’s time capsule is August 15, 1989, 8-15. The number on the building Sayid walked into in Sydney. Adam Rutherford was pronounced dead at 8:15 A.M. The real Henry Gale's house number. The Significance of The Numbers outside of Lost 23 & 42 are two 'random numbers' used by hacker tradition 23 is the gate number Ross waits outside of for his newly-wed and estranged wife in the Friends episode 5x01. 23 is one of the sacred numbers of Eris, Greek Goddess of Discord Author William S. Burroughs considered the number 23 to be very unlucky, and kept a notebook of the number's occurrences. 23 is referred to often in Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus Trilogy ; it is most often used as an example of a number that pops up in patterns and seems to have meaning, but only because one is looking for it to appear. ; it is most often used as an example of a number that pops up in patterns and seems to have meaning, but only because one is looking for it to appear. Some calculations place the end of the Mayan calendar on December 23, 2012, when an apocalyptic event is predicted to occur. The 23rd Psalm is arguably the most famous, the "Divine Shepherd" psalm. 23 is the number of individuals (16 female and 7 male) that the One is supposed to select from the Matrix to start a 'new Zion' after re-inserting the prime program (essentially re-booting the Matrix) in the Matrix trilogy, as revealed by the Architect in Matrix Reloaded. 42 is the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . . In Kabbalism, 42 is the number of characters in the unspeakable name of God. There are 108 stitches on a baseball. 4, 8, and 16 are all powers of two: 2 2 , 2 3 , 2 4 ; the same digits as in 23 & 42. , 2 , 2 ; the same digits as in 23 & 42. In Japan, 4 is considered an extremely unlucky number because it is pronounced "shi", which is the same pronunciation as "death". On the other hand, the number 8 is considered a lucky number. This is because of the shape of the kanji character for eight, whose two strokes are wider at the bottom, suggesting a better time or better things to come in the future. I-Ching 4 - Folly 8 - Grouping 15 - Humbling 16 - Providing For 23 - Splitting Apart 42 - Increasing In the movie Battle Royale, 42 students are brought to the island to compete in the death tournament. 108 is the traditional number of beads found on both Buddhist and Hindu mala, or rosaries. Each Hindu god has 108 names that are considered sacred and are recited during religious ceremonies. The number of sacred stars in Chinese astrology is 108. In The Odyssey, Penelope had 108 suitors. August 15, or 8/15, is the Orthodox feast of Dormition (the death of the Virgin Mary) and the Catholic feast of Assumption (the reception of the Virgin Mary in heaven). There are a number of other references to the Virgin Mary in "Lost", such the small statues with the heroin inside and Locke's mother claiming he was immaculately conceived. At position 176025488 of pi, the sequence of digits "48151623" occurs. At position 155209220, the sequence of digits "15162342" occurs. The complete sequence of numbers doesn't occur within the first 200 million positions. (of course neither one of these facts is remotely a coincidence -- if you randomly selected any 8 digit number you would expect to find it in the first 200 million digits of pi's decimal expansion) When a person is created, 23 chromosomes from each person are put into the cell. References to the Numbers in Other TV Shows, etc. Cover for Catwoman #51 At the end of the Veronica Mars episode "Donut Run," the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 appear as the lucky numbers on a fortune cookie message that Veronica hangs on her mirror. The numbers appear on the cover of Catwoman #51. (See image) In Dan Slott's The Thing #6 the Trapster uses the numbers as the deactivation code for bombs he is using to sabotage the Thing's good works. In Season 2, Episode 6 of British comedy show That Mitchell and Webb Look, a slightly altered version of the numbers is given as the test of a military computer's ability to calculate Numberwang. The numbers fed to the computer were 4, 8 ,15 ,162, and 3420. The numbers are, in fact, Numberwang. |
Rice plant engineered with a ‘tunable’ immune system could fight multiple diseases at once Farmers are constantly spraying pesticides on their crops to combat an array of viral, bacterial, and fungal invaders. Scientists have been trying to get around these chemicals for years by genetically engineering hardy plants resilient to the array of diseases caused by microbial beasties. Most attempts so far confer protection against a single disease, but now researchers have developed a rice plant that fights multiple pathogens at once—without loss to the crop yield—by hooking up a tunable amplifier to the plant’s immune system. “For as long as I have been in this field, people have been scratching their heads about how to activate a defense system where and when it is needed,” says Jonathan Jones, who studies plant defense mechanisms at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, U.K. “It is among the most promising lines of research in this field that I have seen.” Plants don’t have a bloodstream to circulate immune cells. Instead, they use receptors on the outsides of their cells to identify molecules that signal a microbial invasion, and respond by releasing a slew of antimicrobial compounds. Theoretically, identifying genes that kick off this immune response and dialing up their activity should yield superstrong plants. Plant biologist Xinnian Dong at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, has been studying one of these genes for 20 years—a “master regulator,” she says, of plant defense. The gene, called NPR1 in the commonly studied thale cress plant (Arabidopsis thaliana)—a small and weedy plant topped with white flowers—has been a popular target for scientists trying to boost immune systems of rice, wheat, apples, tomatoes, and more. But turning up NPR1 works too well and “makes the plants miserable, so it is not very useful for agriculture,” Dong says. To understand why, consider the human immune system. Just as sick people aren’t very productive at work when their fever is high, plants grow poorly when their own immune systems are overloaded. Likewise, keeping the NPR1 gene turned on all the time stunts plant growth so severely there is no harvest for the farmers. To make NPR1 useful, researchers needed a better control switch—one that would crank up the immune response only when the plant was under attack, but otherwise would turn it down to let the plants grow. Two papers published in Nature this week from Dong’s team at Duke, in collaboration with researchers at Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China, describe the discovery and application of such a mechanism. While investigating an immune system-activating protein called TBF1 in Arabidopsis, Dong discovered an intricate system that speedily instigates an immune response. It works by taking ready-to-go messenger RNA molecules that encode TBF1, and quickly translating these molecules into TBF1 proteins, which then kick-start an array of immune defenses. Dong quickly recognized that a segment of DNA, which she calls the “TBF1 cassette,” was acting as a control switch for this plant immune response, so she copied that TBF1 cassette from the Arabidopsis genome and pasted it alongside and in front of the NPR1 gene in rice plants. The result is a strain of rice that can rapidly and reversibly ramp up its immune system in bursts that are strong enough to fend off offending pathogens but short enough to avoid the stunted growth seen in previously engineered crops. The researchers demonstrated that their rice was superior compared with regular rice by inoculating their leaves with the bacterial pathogens that cause rice blight (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae) and leaf streak (X. oryzae pv. oryzicola), as well as the fungus responsible for blast disease (Magnaporthe oryzae). Whereas the infections spread over the leaves of the wild rice plants, the engineered plants readily confined the invaders to a small area. “These plants perform very well in the field, and there is no obvious fitness penalty, especially in the grain number and weight,” Dong says. The research could be a boon for farmers in developing countries someday, says Jeff Dangl, an expert on plant immunity at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the study. For instance, rice blast disease, which the plants effectively combatted, causes an estimated 30% loss of the annual rice crop worldwide. “In the developing world, when farmers that can’t afford fungicide get the disease in their fields, they can lose their whole crop,” Dangl says. Julia Bailey-Serres, a plant biologist at the University of California, Riverside, is excited about the study too. “They haven’t done large trials yet to show how robust it will be, but our back of the envelope calculation shows that this really could have a big impact,” she says. “It could easily be applicable to multiple species of crops,” she says, adding that “it is impressive that it worked across two kingdoms” of fungal and bacterial pathogens. But all are careful to note that it is still early days for immune-boosted crops. For one, the particular kind of uplift conferred by NPR1 is unlikely to provide protection against plant-munching insects. A second caveat is that the study only tested the rice’s response to microbes that parasitize living host cells; their defense against a different class of pathogens that kill cells for food is still untested. “I would keep the champagne on ice until there are a few more pathogen systems tested in the field,” Jones says. Still, Jones says he’s hopeful the work—and more like it—could eventually lead to the end of pesticides. “I like to imagine in 50 years’ time my grandchildren will say, ‘Granddad, did people really use chemicals to control disease when they could have used genetics?’ And I’ll say, ‘Yeah, they did.’ That’s where we want to get to.” |
With the recent collapse of several large financial institutions, such as AIG and Lehman brothers, followed by the shaky ground of banks, this single question arises: is my money safe? The question is actually have a simple answer, but the answer would only be the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps hiding your money under the pillow is safer these days These things always happens every time recession hits – people pulling their money from banks and other financial institutions, people do suicide attempts, people gone bankrupt, and so on. The Government in US and most other countries has a policy and a governing body to protect saving accounts, like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) of the US. There are also safe investment alternatives, such as money market account that is also insured by the FDIC (this is only applicable for money market account offered through a bank). But, there are a major caveat, despite all the protection and safer alternatives. The caveat is so big, that even hiding your money under the pillow is safer these days – you could take it literally or figuratively :) The biggest caveat: you and I Although FDIC or other similar organisation in other countries does a great job assuring the safety of your money, the bad things happening to you in recession times often, unfortunately and surprisingly, originates from you and I. Yes, you and I. You see, financial education and mindset have again and again prove themselves as the main detrimental factor in the ability for you and I to survive, even thrive in today’s recession. In my opinion, it’s too naive if you trust your money to others. You have to control your money – where will it be put, what will it be used, and how. Letting others to control your money will result in some horrible stories I read about the collapse of big financial companies. One of the story I read (I apologise, I forgot to cite the source) is evolving around a 72 years old man from Hong Kong that put his entire life saving into the hand of a broker. The Lehman Brothers’ collapse did only one thing to this unfortunate man – losing ALL of his hard earned money that he collected over the period of 50 years. The moral of the story: you can’t trust your money to others – it’s your money, not theirs! The key to ace the recession – knowledge, mindset, and opportunities These three, in my opinion, are the keys to ace the recession today. knowledge Financial education is the number one key people often neglect, even avoid. They said that they don’t have time to learn. Others said that there are others that will help them managing their money. Here’s the truth – If you are not continuously learn about your money and let others ‘manage’ it for you, you are risking your money yourself – don’t blame the recession! The education can be obtained for free – mainly through the Internet. There are also mentorship programs that will help you gaining better control over your wealth. Mindset Mindset – resilience and kaizen – or continuous learning are several important factors in aiding the knowledge to ‘glue’ to your mind. Opportunities Opportunities come and go, even in recession today. Your job is to identify one, and seize it! Perhaps it’s too late, but late is better than sorry Is there still time to fix my situation? Honestly, maybe it’s too late already, because we are already in a recession that some called the great depression part II. But being late is better than sorry! Stop feeling pity about yourself and start doing what you are suppose to be doing – take control of your money. Two recommendations – You need to invest and diversify. Remember, saving account is NOT an investment. Diversify your investment vehicles – stocks, real estates, business, etc to spread the risks. Last but not least, learn from others that have paved the road for you – learn from experts and mentors that have survived recession and bankruptcy before. Ivan Widjaya Kaizen Image by jenn_jenn. |
Joel Rosenberg, a New York Times best-selling and award-winning author who focuses on radical Islam, said presumptive Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton is the most corrupt and flawed Democratic candidate in history — but the Middle East expert isn’t too excited about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump either. “We’re in a strange moment where Hillary Clinton has the most foreign policy experience, but her judgment on the key foreign policy issues — especially radical — Islam is horrible,” Rosenberg, who is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, told Breitbart News during an exclusive interview on Thursday. “She’s the most corrupt and deeply flawed Democratic candidate that has emerged in history and it’s not clear that we have a candidate at the moment who is able to play against her weaknesses on the issue of foreign policy.” Rosenberg, who has authored 11 novels including five non-fiction books, has been widely read by American leaders and foreign officials including former CIA Director Porter Goss, former Delta Force Commander Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, Sen. Marco Rubio, former Sen. Rick Santorum, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky, and former Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. He spoke to Breitbart News about the threat of radical Islam following the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv in which four people were killed. “This is a pretty serious breach of Israeli security,” he said of the attack, noting it’s the first attack in three months in which civilians were killed. He also referenced a terrorist attack in Jordan earlier in the week, noting that he had previously met with King Abdullah II of Jordan. “We’re in this together.” “We are allies in a real war, a hot war, against radical Islam,” Rosenberg added. “We know that we are not in danger from all Muslims,” he said. “This is about a radical, violent subset, which is probably ten percent or less of the entire Islamic world according to a lot of survey data … it’s also true about seven to ten percent of Muslims will tell pollsters openly that they support suicide bombings.” “What’s stunning is that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama absolutely refuse to define the threat to Americans and our allies as radical Islam. The president of course for seven and a half years absolutely refused to use the term radical Islam,” Rosenberg criticized, saying one must fully understand the threat posed in order to not be blindsided. Although Rosenberg believes Clinton is an extremely flawed candidate for President of the United States, he isn’t supporting presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump either because he’s “deeply uncomfortable” with Trump’s rhetoric with regard to his proposed Muslim ban, in whichTrump suggested stopping Muslim immigration into the United States until an improved vetting system was in place. “Donald Trump will use the term radical Islamic threat,” he explained. “What gives me real caution about Trump is … first of all, he refuses to commit to ripping up the nuclear deal with Iran.” “To give them nuclear energy, ballistic missiles and a pathway to nuclear weapons is insane and Donald Trump won’t commit to scrapping that insane nuclear deal that President Obama and Hillary Clinton and John Kerry negotiated. That raises serious questions about whether Trump understands the threat or whether he’s just picked up the rhetoric of radical Islam,” He questioned. He also criticized the billionaire saying, “Trump has said we’re going to go kill women and children who are wives and children of terrorists. This plays directly into the hands of terrorists.” Although Rosenberg is critical of Trump’s rhetoric and his proposal to pause Muslim immigration, he says he doesn’t believe Syrian and Iraqi refugees should come into the United States. “I do not support opening the floodgates to allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees to flood into the United States. We do not have an ability to vet tens of thousands of refugees that are coming from countries where ISIS and other radical groups are completely infiltrated,” he stated. “Hillary Clinton’s proposal to bring 65,000 more Syrian refugees into the country is incredibly dangerous and we absolutely should not do that.” He said Trump’s mistakes come “when he says sweeping statements,” which are made “through inexperience and flawed instincts.” “What we need to be saying is that the vast majority of Muslims are not a threat and we need to focus on radical Islam,” Rosenberg said, suggesting Trump’s rhetoric “comes out of inexperience.” |
When a little birdie dropped the End Game memo through my window, its content was so explosive, so sick and plain evil, I just couldn't believe it. The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak’s fantasy: that in the late 1990s, the top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation across the planet. When you see 26.3 percent unemployment in Spain, desperation and hunger in Greece, riots in Indonesia and Detroit in bankruptcy, go back to this End Game memo, the genesis of the blood and tears. The Treasury official playing the bankers’ secret End Game was Larry Summers. Today, Summers is Barack Obama’s leading choice for Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, the world’s central bank. If the confidential memo is authentic, then Summers shouldn’t be serving on the Fed, he should be serving hard time in some dungeon reserved for the criminally insane of the finance world. The memo is authentic. I had to fly to Geneva to get confirmation and wangle a meeting with the Secretary General of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy. Lamy, the Generalissimo of Globalisation, told me, “The WTO was not created as some dark cabal of multinationals secretly cooking plots against the people... We don’t have cigar-smoking, rich, crazy bankers negotiating.” Then I showed him the memo. It begins with Larry Summers’ flunky, Timothy Geithner, reminding his boss to call the Bank bigshots to order their lobbyist armies to march: “As we enter the end-game of the WTO financial services negotiations, I believe it would be a good idea for you to touch base with the CEOs…” To avoid Summers having to call his office to get the phone numbers (which, under US law, would have to appear on public logs), Geithner listed the private lines of what were then the five most powerful CEOs on the planet. And here they are: Goldman Sachs: John Corzine (212)902-8281 Merrill Lynch: David Kamanski (212)449-6868 Bank of America: David Coulter (415)622-2255 Citibank: John Reed (212)559-2732 Chase Manhattan: Walter Shipley (212)270-1380 Lamy was right: They don’t smoke cigars. Go ahead and dial them. I did, and sure enough, got a cheery personal hello from Reed – cheery until I revealed I wasn't Larry Summers. (Note: The other numbers were swiftly disconnected. And Corzine can’t be reached while he faces criminal charges.) It's not the little cabal of confabs held by Summers and the banksters that’s so troubling. The horror is in the purpose of the "end game” itself. Let me explain: The year was 1997. US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin was pushing hard to de-regulate banks. That required, first, repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act to dismantle the barrier between commercial banks and investment banks. It was like replacing bank vaults with roulette wheels. Second, the banks wanted the right to play a new high-risk game: “derivatives trading”. JP Morgan alone would soon carry $88 trillion of these pseudo-securities on its books as “assets”. Deputy Treasury Secretary Summers (soon to replace Rubin as Secretary) body-blocked any attempt to control derivatives. But what was the use of turning US banks into derivatives casinos if money would flee to nations with safer banking laws? The answer conceived by the Big Bank Five: eliminate controls on banks in every nation on the planet -- in one single move. It was as brilliant as it was insanely dangerous. How could they pull off this mad caper? The bankers' and Summers' game was to use the Financial Services Agreement (or FSA), an abstruse and benign addendum to the international trade agreements policed by the World Trade Organisation. Until the bankers began their play, the WTO agreements dealt simply with trade in goods – that is, my cars for your bananas. The new rules devised by Summers and the banks would force all nations to accept trade in "bads" – toxic assets like financial derivatives. Until the bankers’ re-draft of the FSA, each nation controlled and chartered the banks within their own borders. The new rules of the game would force every nation to open their markets to Citibank, JP Morgan and their derivatives “products”. And all 156 nations in the WTO would have to smash down their own Glass-Steagall divisions between commercial savings banks and the investment banks that gamble with derivatives. The job of turning the FSA into the bankers’ battering ram was given to Geithner, who was named Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation. Bankers Go Bananas Why in the world would any nation agree to let its banking system be boarded and seized by financial pirates like JP Morgan? The answer, in the case of Ecuador, was bananas. Ecuador was truly a banana republic. The yellow fruit was that nation’s life-and-death source of hard currency. If it refused to sign the new FSA, Ecuador could feed its bananas to the monkeys and go back into bankruptcy. Ecuador signed. And so on – with every single nation bullied into signing. Every nation but one, I should say. Brazil’s new President, Inacio Lula da Silva, refused. In retaliation, Brazil was threatened with a virtual embargo of its products by the European Union's Trade Commissioner, one Peter Mandelson, according to another confidential memo I got my hands on. But Lula’s refusenik stance paid off for Brazil which, alone among Western nations, survived and thrived during the 2007-9 bank crisis. China signed – but got its pound of flesh in return. It opened its banking sector a crack in return for access and control of the US auto parts and other markets. (Swiftly, two million US jobs shifted to China.) The new FSA pulled the lid off the Pandora’s box of worldwide derivatives trade. Among the notorious transactions legalised: Goldman Sachs (where Treasury Secretary Rubin had been co-chairman) worked a secret euro-derivatives swap with Greece which, ultimately, destroyed that nation. Ecuador, its own banking sector de-regulated and demolished, exploded into riots. Argentina had to sell off its oil companies (to the Spanish) and water systems (to Enron) while its teachers hunted for food in garbage cans. Then, Bankers Gone Wild in the Eurozone dove head-first into derivatives pools without knowing how to swim – and the continent is now being sold off in tiny, cheap pieces to Germany. Of course, it was not just threats that sold the FSA, but temptation as well. After all, every evil starts with one bite of an apple offered by a snake. The apple: the gleaming piles of lucre hidden in the FSA for local elites. The snake was named Larry. Does all this evil and pain flow from a single memo? Of course not: the evil was The Game itself, as played by the banker clique. The memo only revealed their game-plan for checkmate. And the memo reveals a lot about Summers and Obama. While billions of sorry souls are still hurting from worldwide banker-made disaster, Rubin and Summers didn’t do too badly. Rubin’s deregulation of banks had permitted the creation of a financial monstrosity called “Citigroup”. Within weeks of leaving office, Rubin was named director, then Chairman of Citigroup – which went bankrupt while managing to pay Rubin a total of $126 million. Then Rubin took on another post: as key campaign benefactor to a young State Senator, Barack Obama. Only days after his election as President, Obama, at Rubin’s insistence, gave Summers the odd post of US “Economics Tsar” and made Geithner his Tsarina (that is, Secretary of Treasury). In 2010, Summers gave up his royalist robes to return to “consulting” for Citibank and other creatures of bank deregulation whose payments have raised Summers’ net worth by $31 million since the “end-game” memo. That Obama would, at Robert Rubin’s demand, now choose Summers to run the Federal Reserve Board means that, unfortunately, we are far from the end of the game. Special thanks to expert Mary Bottari of Bankster USA www.BanksterUSA.org without whom our investigation could not have begun. The film of my meeting with WTO chief Lamy was originally created for Ring of Fire, hosted by Mike Papantonio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Further discussion of the documents I laid before Lamy can be found in “The Generalissimo of Globalization,” Chapter 12 of Vultures’ Picnic by Greg Palast (Constable Robinson 2012). Follow Greg on Twitter: @Greg_Palast Previously – 'The Con' Is Leaving a Trail of Blood Across the Planet More from VICE: Calling Bullshit On the Government's Claim That Spies Could Target the Guardian with Lasers Some Credible Scientists Believe Humanity Is Verrrrrry Close to Destruction The Man Who Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again is Probably Going to be a Billionaire Soon Psytrance Rave in a Forest Private Landlords Taught Me How to Get Rich Exploiting the Poor |
Sam Warburton has made 75 appearances for Wales British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton will miss Wales' 2018 Six Nations campaign after having knee surgery. The 29-year-old flanker, who also has a neck injury, will be out for between four and six months, according to the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). "In consultation with the WRU and Cardiff Blues we decided it would be proactive to have surgery," he said. The operation was to correct an existing problem, not a new injury. The recovery period is likely to mean Warburton will not play a game for region or country this season. He captained the Lions on their 2013 tour to Australia, when they won the series 2-1, and on the drawn series against New Zealand this year. Warburton has not played since the third Test in Auckland in July, missing the whole of Wales' autumn Test series. His injury means Wales are already without two frontline players for the Six Nations, which they begin on 3 February with a home game against Scotland. Centre Jonathan Davies - the Lions' man of the series in New Zealand - is out for the season after surgery on an injured ankle suffered playing for Wales against Australia on 11 November. Second row Jake Ball has had surgery on a dislocated shoulder and is unlikely to be available for the start of the tournament. Warburton's career has been punctuated by injuries, with his place on the 2017 Lions tour in jeopardy until the last minute because of a knee injury suffered playing for Cardiff Blues in April. He is employed jointly by the Blues and the WRU, which pays 60% of his national dual contract. In addition to his two stints as Lions captain, Warburton has led Wales on a record 48 occasions, though relinquished the captaincy to Alun Wyn Jones in January. A statement by the WRU said the surgery was to ensure Warburton would be fully fit on his return. |
Wargamers! MadDog here with my first Battle Report! I’ve got tons of cool pictures of my favorite personal army (Blitzkrieg Germans) that I used at World at War and Duane’s Finnish army. Check it out! Last night, we played a REALLY cool scenario that Lee Schmitz came up with and he will be coming up with new weekly scenarios for everyone to play. If you’re in the Chicago area and are looking for an awesome group of Bolt Action players, definitely check out the Chicago Bolt Action page. And if you’re already on the page, make sure you get up to Draxtar on Thursday nights for these scenarios! Here are the armies! Duane’s Finns, looking fabulous. And here are my Blitzkrieg Germans. I’m very proud of this army. This is my deployment area, and Duane’s was opposite mine which forced him to use the road to approach. Deployment zones in this scenario were table quarters, which is always dynamic in any game of Bolt Action. Duane rolled high and elected to attack. So I picked the table quarter in which I could utilize roads to funnel in the attackers and had some cover and line of sight blockers. In this scenario, the building only counted as soft cover, but I still used it to my advantage as best as I could. Very straight forward so far. I positioned two full half tracks facing the road. All of my units deployed on ambush on turn one. Which was intimidating to approach. I also positioned my Skdfz222, AKA Siegfried, facing the road on ambush. The Light Autocannon here and on my Panzer II were my only heavy hitters. Having our lists at 800 points left me without my Pak36 ‘door knocker’. So I left my Panzer II and an extra unit of infantry somewhat behind the action, to come in as an improvised reserve unit later in the game. (Which paid off late in the game). Starting off with Turn One, all of my units were on ambush, so General Zoldak had free reign on his entire unit. Right away, his T-28 moved up to meet the Germans head on. This was my far my biggest obstacle as I had a difficult time answering the front armor on a Light Tank (8+) with only one autocannon. As he finished his move up the road, I did the best I could to slow his advance with an ambush order from ‘Siegfried’. The Autocannon hit, but was unable to penetrate the front armor. With all of its MMGs and one Light Howitzer, the T-28 promptly passed an orders check and went to work. Laying out pins on the Germans, but thankfully missing the Machine Gun team in the building with an artillery shell. Behind the T-28, the infantry advances forward. I keep my half tracks on ambush and wait for the advancing infantry to come into range. With a mostly quiet back and forth on Turn One, Turn Two begins with haste. Most of my units are still on ambush and biding their time. Plenty of targets are working their way closer to the teeth of German Machine Guns. The T-28 gets the first order die and deals out more pins. The amount of machine guns on the T-28 were very difficult to contend with and having open topped half tracks gave him plenty of opportunity to bog my units down. The Red Dice denote my pins and the T-28 was quite generous in doling them out. More infantry continued to move forward across the bridge and a squad was finally in range. My first half track ambushed and put a pin on an advancing unit, but caused no wounds. My second half track ambushed Duane’s advancing Officer, causing a pin and killing the assistant. I got my hopes up for the Officer failing his required orders check, but he stood his ground. More infantry advanced forward and a unit of Riflemen came up from the river bed and put a pin on Siegfried (Skdfz 222). At this point, my defenders are getting heavily pinned, but standing their ground. Until I attempt to activate Siegfried. My plan was to advance forward and fire on the side armor of the T-28. With 3 pins and out of Command Range, Siegfried failed the check and had to fall back from cover. One of my half tracks follows suit, failing an activation check and falling back. Things are looking rough for the defenders. “Pinning enemies out” is proving to be quite a formidable tactic here. My Panzer II moves forward in the river bed, poised to strike, but still out of range. The Finns answer by moving a tank hunting squad into the river bed, opposite the bridge. The tension is building and things are about to get bloody. The Finn sniper and Anti-Tank Rifle team move forward to attempt to get better position and keep up with the rest of their unit and Turn Two comes to a close. Now, things are starting to heat up at this little crossroads. Turn Three begins with the T-28 activating first again, ridding itself of its own pins and distributing more to my Germans and being very generous about it. This time, the howitzer is fired into the building and kills the Machine Gun Team that was still lying in wait, on ambush orders. My Panzer II moves out of the river bed and is in range of the T-28. It hits and pins, but does no damage. This T-28 is resilient. Hoping to pincer the T-28, Siegfried activates and moves on the opposite side and fires! But misses its shot and is left in the open. I’m on a roll with my order die and grab a third in a row. Issuing a “snap to”, I issue orders to my half track to rally (which is successful) and to my infantry to move forward into the building and take the place of the Machine Gun Team. The Finn anti-tank squad move forward and out of the river bed completely, lining up against the back of a building, telegraphing their next move. The Finn Anti-tank Rifle team and sniper are still out of range and their shots are blocked by crowded streets. They advance closer to the fight. Look who stopped by! Every game has a FUBAR right? If you play me, there’s usually a couple. I tried to rally the infantry unit inside of the half track and… These pins are truly wearing my defenders down. At this point, I start to think that I may need to fall back further and hopefully be able to get shots onto the infantry to slow their advance. The dice are simply not with me today! The Finn infantry move forward and place more pins on Siegfried, as he’s now very exposed and doesn’t have cover. I am able to remove a pin from my half track and return fire on an advancing unit, causing a pin and one wound. Not enough to stop the unit, but hopefully the pin will help slow them down. As Turn Three comes to its end, I issue a rally to the infantry unit inside the half track, which is successful and all pins are removed. Turn Four begins and the crossroads are heating up! My Panzer II moves forward again to get an optimal shot on the T-28 and destroys it. The Panzer’s move forward wasn’t enough to get it out of range of the Anti-Tank unit, which was a calculated risk. The unit rushes forward and assaults the Panzer II in the street! Their attack proves fruitless, and they’re left in the open. My Germans took this opportunity to answer and assaulted the Finns in the street. Street Fight! The Germans had ‘tough fighter’ for this scenario and swiftly destroyed the Finn unit. They then consolidated back into the cover of the building. The Finn infantry is out of the small wooded area and moves to assault Siegfried! I was left with a choice; open fire with a Medium Machine Gun and take as many infantry down as I could to slow their inevitable advance further into my table quarter, or recce further backwards into my own deployment area. I chose to open fire, which proved fruitless while only eliminating a single infantry unit. The assault was successful and Siegfried was quickly dispatched to a burning hulk of twisted steel. Poor Siegfried! The battle is very close quarters now as another assault is ordered on one of my half tracks. The infantry unit inside dismounts and meets the Finns for more hand-to-hand fighting. The Finns were outnumbered and pitted against Tough Fighters. The Germans consolidated further up the street to continue the fight. The remaining German unit in the half track dismounts and opens fire on the exposed Finns that took away our beloved Siegfried! Coming up on the end of the Turn Four, the Finnish sniper and ATR team are still lagging behind and out of range. They move forward to get into the fight late in the game. The beginning of Turn Five had the potential to completely turn the game. “Titan of Industry” was a special rule written into this scenario, which allowed the attacker (Duane) to bring any destroyed units from the previous turn onto the table as reserves. This had me concerned. To start Turn Five, I got the first order and promptly opened fire on the exposed Siegfried killers, eliminating the unit and finally bringing swift justice to the awful invader. The Germans inside the building fire at the unit across the street and end up wounding two Finns. The Finns’ numbers are dwindling after the close fighting in the streets. The Panzer II opens fire on the same unit and wounds three more and the unit is forced to take the aptly named “check your pants check” when losing 50% of the unit (thanks for that, Chris). But this particular Finn is quite brave and stands his ground against the mighty Panzer. In an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the unit, the half track moves up and puts more fire onto the brave Finn. In true Batman Begins style, the half track surrendered sure footing for a killing blow. The Finn ATR team was on the bridge, just waiting for the opportunity to fire on the half track. The shot hit, but did not cause any damage. The lone sniper advanced again and attempted a shot at an exposed infantry unit, but failed. This brought an end to Turn Five and a wonderful beginning to a truly humble and respectable concession speech by the attackers’ General. In the typical Chicago Bolt Action fashion, both players shook hands, smiled and congratulated each other on a hard fought and VERY fun game. This was a very fun game with a very dynamic rules set that set it apart from any of the main rule book missions; which is always a welcomed change of pace. Thanks, Duane! Many thanks to Dan at Draxtar games! This was my first battle report so please feel free to let me know how you liked it! Until next time, Wargamers! MadDog, out! |
When it comes to large screen indoor video walls & displays, one technology has ruled them all: LCD flat screen panels. However, that may be about to change. With the introduction of new, more affordable fine-pitch direct-view LED screen displays (and new high-ambient-light screens coupled with new solid-state laser projectors – which we’ll cover in another blog post), large LCD panels (above 100″) and video walls may have met their successor. Let’s take a look at what’s happening. Traditional Video Walls First, let’s look at why traditional video panels, made up of several LCD panels with thin bezels and frames, have become popular. The main reason is simple: they have been the lowest cost, reasonable-quality way to do video and information displays in large sizes. You can see them as backgrounds in almost every newscast, in shopping mall displays, as command and control center dashboards, lecture halls, and even in some hotel lobbies.The newer video walls use LED panels as the light source behind the LCD glass – so they are reasonably reliable and their bezel thickness or window frame is rather thin(and they keep getting smaller). So why the need for a better solution? Let’s look at their disadvantages. Downsides of Traditional Video Walls: 1. Smaller video walls like a 2 x 2 panel configuration can now be done with a single, cost effective LCD panel 2. Each panel in the video wall must be calibrated and re-calibrated on a regular basis to maintain even brightness and color uniformity (see picture above) 3. No matter how small the bezel width between the panels, it is still a break in the image and a visual distraction to the message 4. As soon as you go larger than a 3 x 3 panel configuration, the fine pitch of the panel is not able to be utilized nor is it generally even needed – because most video walls are designed to be viewed from a distance 5. Most video walls are very directional – color, contrast and brightness falls off unless you are directly in the front and center of the display New Cost-Effective Alternatives to video Walls Fine-Pitch Direct-View LED Video Displays Direct-view LEDs have been around for quite a few years. However, it has only been recently that fine-pitch indoor-viewing LED panels have become more affordable. Outdoor direct-view LED screens are familiar to everyone – most have seen them as electronic billboards, very large stadium replay screens, and those really large video screens in Times Square and the Las Vegas strip. However, that is not what we are talking about here – but they are related. The outdoor direct-view LED screens are bright, colorful, and have great contrast, but if you get close to one, they are very pixelated and annoying. That’s because the outdoor direct-view LEDs are designed to be seen only from a distance, like 75′, 100′ or 200′ or more. But instead of talking about those, we’re talking about fine-pitch (a pitch of 3mm or smaller) direct-view LED displays . Here’s a great example to help you understand: LEDs are Not Always LEDs! Before we go into this next part we need to clear up a little confusion. The ads you may see for 4K flat screen TVs often just say 55″ or 75″ LED 4K TV. Those are not direct-view LED screens – those are LCD screens using white or blue LEDs as a light source for the LCD screen. That is also what is used to make most video wall11s – but those are special versions with very thin bezels. One of the challenges with LED/LCD TVs is that it is very difficult to get really high contrast (their blacks appear milky) and high light output (nits). The LED screens we are talking about here are red, green, and blue self-emitting Light Emitting Diodes or direct-view LEDs. We now have direct-view LED screens (indoor, fine-pitch) that have dot pitches under 1 mm. When the individual LEDs are off, they can have almost perfect blacks – unlike LCD which always has some back light scatter which displays as imperfect blacks. That means that LED screens can now have very high resolution, very high contrast, and very close viewing distances. Advantages of Fine-Pitch Direct-View LED Displays: 1. Excellent contrast that far exceeds the best LCD technology 2. Extreme brightness that exceeds even the brightest LCD displays 3. No visible bands or bezel edges in the image – just full clear images 4. Long life – typically 70,000 hours to half brightness 5. Available in 3 mm to less than 1mm – for almost any indoor viewing application 6. New LED panel screen sizes, of up to 54″, simplify large video display projects 7. New production and volume manufacturer of LEDs has made this technology competitive with some video wall12 projects starting this year Conclusion We are finding that many in the industry (traditional AV dealers) are not aware of this new trend of migrating to new fine-pitch direct-view LED displays – or are not even aware of the new price levels that are now available from some core LED manufacturers. It seems that almost every major manufacturer of flat screen panels is very aware of this migration – hence the presence of these displays in almost all of their booths at the Digital Signage Expo (DSE) this year. Unfortunately, those same manufacturers are the ones that could be left with a lot of LCD inventory if they do not keep up. |
We present a method for the exfiltration of data through the movement of a CD-ROM drive. The movement of such drive is monitored through the use of a Raspberry Pi and camera. We make use of manchester encoding to represent data. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_code for more information. Grayscale and processed images Transmitting the text ‘hello’ emit.py – Transmits data through the medium of a CD-ROM drive We make use of a 4 second delay for both the closed & open CD-Drive state, potentially a lower value could be used, but I was keen to avoid damaging the drive #!/usr/bin/python import os import time # Start with CD tray closed os.system("eject -t") time.sleep(15) os.system("eject -T") time.sleep(15) os.system("eject -t") time.sleep(15) prev = 0 def emit(str): global prev for b in str: for i in range(0,8): bit = (ord(b) >> i) & 1 if bit == 0: manc = [0,1] else: manc = [1,0] for bv in manc: print(bv) if bv == 1: if not prev == 1: os.system("eject -T") time.sleep(4) else: os.system("eject -t") time.sleep(4) prev = bv emit("AZhello") cditter.py – capture and decode the output from the CD-ROM drive #!/usr/bin/python import math from picamera.array import PiRGBArray from picamera import PiCamera import time import cv2 import numpy as np from itertools import tee def window(iterable, size): iters = tee(iterable, size) for i in range(1, size): for each in iters[i:]: next(each, None) return zip(*iters) def emit(str): global prev out = [] for b in str: for i in range(0,8): bit = (ord(b) >> i) & 1 if bit == 0: out.append(0) out.append(1) else: out.append(1) out.append(0) return out preamble = emit("AZ") def process(x): m = [sum(y) / len(y) for y in zip(*x)][1] for i in range(0,len(x)): v1=x[i:len(x)] new = [] for v in v1: if v[1] > m: new.append(v[0]) new.append(v[0]) else: new.append(v[0]) if new[0:len(preamble)] == preamble: mdec = mancdec(new) print("Data: ",tobytes(mdec[0:len(mdec) - (len(mdec) % 8)])) break def binary(arr): m = 0 s = 0 for o in arr: s = s +(o * (2**m)) m = m + 1 return s def mancdec(arr): out = [] for i in range(0,len(arr),2): if arr[i:i+2] == [0,1]: out.append(0) elif arr[i:i+2] == [1,0]: out.append(1) return out def tobytes(arr): out = "" for i in range(0,len(arr),8): bits = arr[i:i+8] out += chr(binary(bits)) return out camera = PiCamera() camera.resolution = (320, 240) camera.framerate = 30 rawCapture = PiRGBArray(camera, size=camera.resolution) # allow the camera to warmup time.sleep(0.1) bits = [] # from http://www.pyimagesearch.com/2014/09/15/python-compare-two-images/ def mse(imageA, imageB): # the 'Mean Squared Error' between the two images is the # sum of the squared difference between the two images; # NOTE: the two images must have the same dimension err = np.sum((imageA.astype("float") - imageB.astype("float")) ** 2) err /= float(imageA.shape[0] * imageA.shape[1]) # return the MSE, the lower the error, the more "similar" # the two images are return err def extract(data): out = [] x = [0,0] c = 0 old = None for d in data: c += 1 x[d] += 1 if (not old == None and not d == old) or c == len(data): if c == len(data): out.append((d,x[d])) else: out.append((d^1,x[d^1])) x[d^1] = 0 old = d nout = [] for o in out: if o[1] > 3: nout.append(o) return nout old = None trained = False imgl = [] trainv = [] for frame in camera.capture_continuous(rawCapture, format="bgr", use_video_port=True): image = frame.array gray = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY) gray = cv2.adaptiveThreshold(gray,255,cv2.ADAPTIVE_THRESH_GAUSSIAN_C,cv2.THRESH_BINARY,11,2) if not old == None and trained == False: #print(chr(27) + "[2J") print("Training...") count = 0 simid = -1 simv = float("inf") for img in imgl: s = mse(gray,img[0]) if s < simv: simid = count simv = s count += 1 print("Similarity: ",simv) if simv > 2600: imgl.append([gray,1]) simid = len(imgl)-1 else: imgl[simid][1]+=1 imgl[simid][0] = gray trainv = [] for i in range(0,len(imgl)): if imgl[i][1] > 20: trainv.append([imgl[i][0],imgl[i][1]]) if len(trainv) == 2: break if len(trainv) == 2: print("Trained...") trained = True elif trained: simid = -1 simv = float("inf") count = 0 for img in trainv: s = mse(gray,img[0]) if s < simv: simid = count simv = s count += 1 trainv[simid][0] = gray trainv[simid][1] += 1 print(chr(27) + "[2J") print("Current bit: ",simid) bits.append(simid) d = extract(bits) if len(d) > 8: process(d) else: imgl.append([gray,1]) old = image rawCapture.truncate(0) Raspberry Pi The following libraries are needed for the program to run sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install python-opencv sudo apt-get install python-pip sudo pip install picamera sudo pip install numpy Improvements I’m sure the time to transmit data could be substantially reduced by decreasing the delays used for the CD tray eject/close commands and also possibly using an alternative technique to manchester encoding. Additionally the initial 15 second delays used for the training period could likely be reduced. It might be nice also to properly packetise the data like so: |preamble|packet length|packet contents| At the moment I’ve only tested with a single preamble with data following it Repository https://github.com/anfractuosity/cditter/ – the latest version of code is hosted here |
The psychostimulants methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta), amphetamine (Adderall), and modafinil (Provigil) are widely used in the treatment of medical conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy and, increasingly, as "cognitive enhancers" by healthy people. The long-term neuronal effects of these drugs, however, are poorly understood. A substantial amount of research over the past two decades has investigated the effects of psychostimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines on gene regulation in the brain because these molecular changes are considered critical for psychostimulant addiction. This work has determined in some detail the neurochemical and cellular mechanisms that mediate psychostimulant-induced gene regulation and has also identified the neuronal systems altered by these drugs. Among the most affected brain systems are corticostriatal circuits, which are part of cortico-basal ganglia-cortical loops that mediate motivated behavior. The neurotransmitters critical for such gene regulation are dopamine in interaction with glutamate, while other neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin) play modulatory roles. This review presents (1) an overview of the main findings on cocaine- and amphetamine-induced gene regulation in corticostriatal circuits in an effort to provide a cellular framework for (2) an assessment of the molecular changes produced by methylphenidate, medical amphetamine (Adderall), and modafinil. The findings lead to the conclusion that protracted exposure to these cognitive enhancers can induce gene regulation effects in corticostriatal circuits that are qualitatively similar to those of cocaine and other amphetamines. These neuronal changes may contribute to the addiction liability of the psychostimulant cognitive enhancers. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Hello! John reached out to me last week about doing an interview for the great community we have here. Ironically, I had the same idea but he reached out first. Anyway, big thanks to him for his time and thanks also to Jocelyn for her editing assistance. Hope you enjoy! -RY ----------------------- Richard Young: I know the new album is still a work-in-progress, but what are you most excited for about it at this juncture? John Mayer: That’s a great question. I’m excited that I have the songs I have already and that it’s such a solid start. I know it’s going to go to that level of all-killer-no-filler because I’ve got the time now to make two separate runs out of it. And that’s what happened with Continuum — and Born and Raised, too, but not as much as Continuum . I think the reason people kind of gravitate (no pun intended) toward Continuum so much is because it really has a distilled essence of creativity throughout it. One of the disadvantages of being just one guy is that I don’t have four or five other people throwing ideas in. As a solo artist, I’m kind of at the mercy of it just being me and trying to come up with as many interesting ideas as I can. And the way album cycles work, I normally have to do it in six months or so. I can’t get in six months what I can get in 18 months with a six-month break in the middle. That’s what happened with Continuum . I went on tour with the Trio in the middle of that record and came back and did the other half. I’m at that state where I have about six songs I would never take off. And to get those six, I had to write 24 and not even finish them. I’m really excited to take the break from writing now — it’s so good for me because I was probably writing too much. When I go back and put the two sides together, I think it’s going to be one of those records that will last for a really long time. RY: I know on Periscope you said that you think the album will come out in 2016. What are some things that you can tell me about the album that you haven't previously mentioned anywhere? JM: It really is what I said it was. It’s a combination of all these different elements, but only the strongest version of each thing. There’s a song on the record called In the Blood . I can’t think of another one of my songs that more distinctly affects people — where you could put it on and no matter what kind of music you like, no matter your philosophy, you’d still say, “I have to hear that again.” It’s really big and when I say that, I’ll never mean commercial. I mean people will want to talk to me about it and people will say they felt something there. I think I have a very big fish with it. I think I have a couple of very big fish. And I think my sense of calm and patience about what I’m going to do in the next few months comes from knowing that when I return to the record, it’s really going to be there. RY: Which is the perfect segue into my next question. Since your new album is in a holding pattern, how would you expect your time with Dead & Co. to impact the album or the songs yet to be written for the album? JM: Great question. You ask better questions than most people in journalism. RY: Thank you! JM: Y’know, I don’t know yet. I know that the Trio tour delivered a bit more of that R&B/Soul kind of thing to Continuum . I feel like there is a freedom to this Grateful Dead music. Y’know, sometimes I swing for the fences a little too hard to try to get a message across. There’s something about the Grateful Dead music — the message just floats across. I think it would relax me into thinking: just play. Just play. I think everybody on MyStupidMouth.com knows me well enough to know that I have a pretty intense left brain as well as the right brain. Sometimes, the left can kind of stop the right from doing its thing. That’s not to say there is zero left brain in Grateful Dead music because it is devilishly complex when it comes to learning the music and playing it. It could allow me to play some more guitar — and I’m actually, to be quite honest, finding more confidence as a guitar player. A big part of the reason that I never played a lot of guitar on things is because I never really had the confidence. It’s hard to explain. I know there are probably going to be people who are going to be like, “There is no way you lack confidence.” But no, I really do. And also I’m just playing guitar right now so that’s making me a guitar player . All I’ve been since April is a guitar player. So if I’m predicting things, I think you’re going to hear more of a guitar-centric thing on the next record. RY: I do think there is a contingent of your fan base that prefers Continuum and the earlier sound. Born and Raised and Paradise Valley and the Dead and Co. work is a bit of a shift from that. Do you ever think about that, and does it shape any of the music you create? JM: No it doesn’t, and I can explain it in a heartbeat and when I’m done explaining it everybody will go, “Oh, right.” A lot of my life has been reconciling what I thought artists did with becoming an artist and realizing what artists really do. We’re not playing hide and seek with our audiences. We’re not purposefully playing games. We’re not going, “I know you like that but I’m not going to give it to you!” I’m looking for new feelings making music. Technically, I could go make another record like Continuum with the same people. But it wouldn’t be exactly the same. Because the thing that made Continuum was going into a new situation and bringing all of my inspiration and all of my energy and all of my ideas right up to the edge of not knowing — and then trying to make something out of it. And hopefully I can make another one that makes people feel that way. When I’m in my 60s and hopefully doing strings of Madison Square Garden dates, and I go from a Continuum song to a Paradise Valley song to a Heavier Things song to a cover, I hope fans will appreciate songs that maybe they didn’t appreciate in real-time. That they look back on it and realize there are all of these different places we can all go in these songs. If you look at most artists, and the lineage of their records, most artists have one that everybody agrees is the one that did it for them. There aren’t a bunch of artists that have four of them. Everybody kind of gravitates toward one record because for whatever reason, it’s that artist’s time or the music matches the culture. I’d rather make music with a pure heart than try to make another record that tries to calculate where lightning is going to strike again. All I’ve ever been is true to the music that excites me to want to make. I don’t know if anybody would actually want a Continuum Part II because I think it would be a little inauthentic. I think if you wait for the next record, there is a song called Still Feel Like Your Man that is Continuum Part II all the way. There’s a song called Movin’ On and Gettin’ Over that if you’re waiting for a Continuum thing, it sounds like it fell of the Continuum hayride. The whole thing is in falsetto, it’s got a kick drum, it’s electric guitar, it’s crazy bass, it’s all of that. And then there are some sad ones on this record. Brutally sad. There’s a song called Never on the Day You Leave that is just the saddest song I ever wrote. It’s about guys and how guys work in regret and it’s never on the day you leave and you can figure out the rest from the title. I’ve never tried to taunt anybody, and I’ve never tried to get anybody to think I’m going left but now I’m going right. That’s not the art form for me. I’ve tried to give people what they wanted while also trying to give them what they didn’t know they wanted. And I did that with Continuum — remember, critics didn’t think it was anything when it first came out. The thing got Cs across the board. It was just another “whatever.” So because I know the randomness of that thing catching fire, I also know the randomness of the next one catching fire and the next one and the next one. And I’d rather win with two different records than two similar records. It’s a bigger risk but it’s a bigger reward, so there you go. RY: And you never know what time will tell. JM: Yeah. I mean I know that most of those Born and Raised songs don’t age. They don’t oxidize. People say they love Continuum , but are they listening to Waiting on the World to Change ? I don’t know. But that’s what it took to have a hit — to have one song on the record where you go, “Nah, skip that.” Born and Raised , I know what that record is. I know because I was there and I listened to it and I felt it. It may not be the music that got people into me first, and that in and of itself can be confusing and it can divide an audience a bit. If that was my first record, only the people that would have dug that kind of music would have come into it. So I understand that I’m kind of shuffling up the audience a little bit when I’m saying, “Well, inside of this audience that’s been created because of my initial music, there is this other thing that other people might like but aren’t going to find because they already align themselves with not being fans of mine.” If Born and Raised had come out first, I’d have a whole different career. Probably smaller. But a whole different career. I’d be on tour with Wilco. There’s a little cognitive dissonance where I’m putting out a record that could be great in a different artist’s repertoire but because the walls come down on you and they go, “Oh, you’re this guy!” it probably got listened to by certain people who didn’t dig it and not listened to by certain people who would have dug it. But I can’t concern myself with it because I know when I go onstage, I can pull out something from Born and Raised or other deep cuts anytime I want. It’s all a fun ride. RY: And now that the word is out about the upcoming Dead & Co. shows, I wanted to ask you, what can a John Mayer fan expect if they buy a ticket to see you? I think you can expect to hear some music and have an experience. Perhaps I don’t have as much to do with that experience, but when you get there, and you feel what it is, you’ll be glad that you wanted to see what I was doing. You have to be there to understand it. I just don’t see anybody standing in that room when that music is playing and not understanding it. So that’s most of it. And the other thing is — if you’re familiar with my guitar playing, maybe there’s a way that I’m communicating a certain idea, even just during a solo, that is in a language you understand more easily because you’re used to my guitar playing. If that serves as a bridge for people who are familiar with my music and like it to like this other music because there is a familiar sound in there, then I think that’s awesome. I think that’s almost artistic public service. To put the guitar playing in a certain dialect so the fans can understand and be introduced to the music. That’d be great. RY: How much of their extensive catalog will you be learning? JM: I’m learning as much as I can, obviously starting with the ones that are the most iconic and the ones that are the real bedrock of the live shows. I have my own system of layers to familiarize myself with each song — just listening to it, just putting it on in the car, just having it, then picking it up, and finding out where it lives on the guitar. Then learning how the arrangement goes, then learning how the solo works — basically, the theory on the guitar for each song — and then learning how to sing over it and do that at the same time. I’m moving through on an X/Y vertical/horizontal level. Just because I know how the song goes doesn’t mean I fully understand the song. But if I can understand it and where it comes from, then I can understand how to communicate it in a way that it’s a little bit deeper than simply reciting it. If I can understand the theory of it, then I can expound on the theory of it. There are songs that I’ve known how they go for four months but I’m still going deeper and deeper and deeper into them. And I think that’s a testament to that band and Jerry Garcia and those songs that you can just keep peeling away the theory behind them. It’s a real master class. RY: You seem really excited for this chapter. What is it about the music and the band members that brings that out of you? JM: The first thing that excited me about it was that it felt to me like what musicians used to experience in the jazz world in the ‘50s and ‘60s — when they would do time in other people’s bands and they would come up through those bands. To me, this is no different as a guitar player in this band than it would be for any instrumentalist to be in Miles Davis’ band. If you were in Miles’ band, you got your own band after that. It meant something. You became a better musician forever because you learned from Miles. That’s the way I see this. I can learn from these musicians and then always have that on any other project. It feels almost like taking a year off to go to school or taking four years off to go to college. It’s another lesson. When this is said and done, I can’t imagine not being a better musician, whether it’s technically or philosophically, and that really inspired me. As a solo artist, I have my pretty set paint colors to work with. And this guarantees that the palette that I have to make my own music will keep widening and diversifying. And that’ll mean I can keep putting records out where I don’t repeat myself because I have new vocabulary to work with. I don’t ever want to get to that place where it’s the same vocabulary, just in a different order. And with this band, oddly enough, there’s a real youthful energy to this right now. It’s really youthful. Everybody is sort of putting on their parachutes and we’re going to jump. For my whole career, I’ve only wanted to do that — I’ve only wanted to take the thrill ride part of it. Now I also want to go through my career in the scenic view. I want to go up the coastline and look at the water and I want to take extra time to do it because it’s really all about that trip. It’s not about getting records out on time. It’s not about making sure that the cycles fall where they’re supposed to. It’s really about a journey and I can’t think of a better journey to take right now. I’ll always remember how to make John Mayer records. I don’t think I’ll forget [ laughs ]. That’s always going to happen, so that’s why it was very easy to follow this path wherever it leads. Nobody’s quite sure where the future is going to take us and that’s all I ever wanted to do when I made music. Ever. I want to be reliable but I don’t want to be predictable. How about that? Reliably unpredictable is exactly where I want my career to live. You don’t know where I’m going to go, but you’re sure I’m going to give my all to you. RY: Jerry Garcia's guitar playing was different from yours and obviously you’re not trying to replace him. I'd love to hear more about your approach to his sound and his playing, as he was an exceptional improviser with a deep-rooted knowledge of scales. JM: It would take six guitar players to cover a show to come even close to being able to cover all of the influences that Jerry Garcia was drawing from. There’s nothing else like it. I think the way I can approach it so that I don’t completely panic is to find the balance between where the guitar lives under my hands, what these songs dictate, and where Jerry Garcia’s playing melded into the composition of the songs. I’ve tried more than a couple of times to play stock “me” over these songs and it doesn’t work. They sort of die on the vine. I’m doing this with the utmost respect also because this is a respect thing and not just a science. It’s a very spiritual thing where I’m respecting these notes because they won’t ever die. That’s Jerry Garcia’s genetic code in all of these songs and in all of that playing. It’s really interesting how his music can do that. It’s so expressive. I’m learning how he thought and how he felt and where he was coming from, so I want to deeply respect that and also not hyperextend myself to try to go for something I can’t get. It’s a lot of playing and listening. Because I want to be authentic, I want to sound alive and organic but I also want to respect what those compositions were and that guitar playing has so much to do with the feeling that it gives the audience. I’m learning new things about it all of the time. It’s one of the most intense pursuits musically I’ve ever been on, maybe the most because there’s so much to look at and there’s so much to dissect. How do I build using the pieces that I have here and some pieces that I can build based on practice and study? How do I put together this thing that in its own way is vital but respectful and authentic and true to what that music is? So it absolutely is one of the most fascinating, frightening, rewarding experiences of my life. I am 100% online as a musician right now. All of my brainpower and soul power is devoted to music. And I thank Bob, Billy, Mickey, Oteil, and Jeff for giving me that opportunity to put all of my energy into music. To make me care this much. It keeps me on my toes and it makes me listen to more music than I’ve listened to in a decade, honest to God. It’s its own amazing study. I’m already on the journey. The journey doesn’t begin October 31st. I’ve been on the journey and there’s nothing else like it. It’s going to be great. All I’ve ever wanted out of music is to look forward to waking up the next morning and seeing what’s going to come out of the guitar and what I’m going to figure out and what I’m going to create. RY: It seems like you're in an interesting spot because you have your own fan base, there is the Dead fan base, and then you have the Dead & Co. band members, all of whom may be expecting different things from you come show time. It seems like a lot of pressure, too! How do you find that balance of trying to please everyone while being yourself? JM: One day at a time. One day at a time. If I looked at the whole thing at once then I would get too scared to leave the house. I have pretty good instincts. I care a lot and I like to make cool stuff and I usually don’t settle for less than cool stuff. I just work harder to make sure it’s cool. No pun intended, I trust myself to figure it out. And here’s the thing about being in a band — you have these other guys to help you. Everybody can help each other and that’s what is so great. Everybody is going to take a corner of the couch. I’ve always wanted to be in a tribe where everybody can work together and you can rely on other people. You can go, “WE will make it happen” and I am one part of “we”. That is all I’ve wanted, man, for the longest time. I want a diverse experience in my life as a musician and I am only guided by the stuff that I love. I don’t think anybody could deny that I’ve been trying to get this feeling in my own music in the past couple of years. It’s proof that I’m pure of heart in wanting to play this music and cover these songs during my shows — trying to access some of that spirit for my own music because I love it so much. And now, to be able to go straight to the source is a whole other story. I have no idea how that happened. I am along for the ride and it can only be great for me. |
The UFC rolls into its second single-day doubleheader in the past month on Saturday as UFC Fight Night 43 marks the organization’s debut fight card in New Zealand. Auckland’s Vector Arena will play host to the first of two UFC events in a 24-hour stretch as UFC Fight Night 43 goes down in the wee hours of the morning for Stateside fans before the latter offering, UFC Fight Night 44, happens in Texas during the evening. Headlining the event will be two athletes in desperate need of a victory as Kiwi fighter James Te Huna (16-7 MMA, 5-3 UFC) looks to snap a two-fight skid with a drop to the middleweight division against former Strikeforce champion Nate Marquardt (32-13-2 MMA, 10-6 UFC), who is moving up to 185 pounds after a four-fight stint at welterweight. Marquardt has proven to be a far more successful fighter at middleweight through his career, and his statistics reflect that point. For more on what kind of numbers “The Great” and the 19 other participants on the card will bring into the event, check out 50 pre-fight facts for UFC Fight Night 43. MAIN EVENT Te Huna vs. Marquardt is the first main event in UFC history where both fighters enter the contest with back-to-back losses inside the octagon. Te Huna drops to the middleweight division for the first time in his 23-fight career after suffering back-to-back losses to top 205-pound contenders Mauricio Rua and Glover Teixeira. Te Huna enters the event on the heels of his first career knockout loss at the hands of Rua. Te Huna’s average fight time of 6:49 is the fifth shortest among active UFC fighters outside of the heavyweight division. Te Huna leaves the light heavyweight division with a 51.8 percent significant strike accuracy, the sixth highest rate in divisional history among fighters with at least five bouts and 350 significant strike attempts. Te Huna’s 122 significant strikes landed against Joey Beltran at UFC on FUEL TV 4 stand as the fifth-most by a light heavyweight in a single fight. Marquardt returns to the middleweight division for the first time since defeating Dan Miller by decision at UFC 128 in March 2011. “The Great” had a record of 1-3 in four fights at welterweight. Marquardt enters the contest on the first three-fight losing streak of his 47-fight career. He suffered defeats Hector Lombard, Jake Ellenberger and Tarec Saffiedine during that stretch. Marquardt has suffered back-to-back first-round knockout losses at the hands of Lombard and Ellenberger. Those defeats were just the second and third knockout losses of Marquardt’s 47-fight career. Marquardt will compete in his 15th UFC middleweight contest. That will tie him with Michael Bisping and Anderson Silva for the fourth most appearances in divisional history behind Chris Leben (22), Yushin Okami (18) and Ed Herman (16). Marquardt’s has earned 10 victories in UFC middleweight competition. That’s tied for the fourth most in divisional history behind Silva (13), Okami (13) and Leben (12). Marquardt’s six total finishes as a UFC middleweight are tied for the third most in divisional history behind Silva (11) and Leben (nine). Marquardt’s eight knockdowns landed in 185-pound competition are tied with Jorge Rivera for the second most in divisional history behind Silva (12). Marquardt owns the single-fight middleweight record for most knockdowns with four landed against Dean Lister at UFC Fight Night 8. His four knockdown performance is also tied for second largest in UFC history, behind only Forrest Petz’s five knockdowns of Sammy Morgan at UFC Fight Night 6. Marquardt’s 21-second knockout of Demian Maia at UFC 102 stands as the fifth fastest knockout in UFC middleweight history. Marquardt absorbs just 1.35 strikes per 15 minutes of fighting at middleweight, the best rate among active 185-pound fighters and the third best overall in divisional history. Marquardt’s 73 percent takedown accuracy in middleweight competition is the highest rate in the division’s history and second highest rate all-time in UFC history behind Georges St-Pierre (73.7 percent). His 27 takedowns landed as a UFC middleweight are tied for the fourth most in the division’s history. Marquardt has committed to thirteen submission attempts as a UFC middleweight, a tally tied for third most in divisional history. Of his thirteen attempts, eleven are guillotine attempts, the fifth most in UFC history. REMAINING MAIN CARD Soa Palelei’s (21-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) three-fight UFC winning streak is tied for fourth longest winning streak in the heavyweight division behind Cain Velasquez (four), Fabricio Werdum (four) and Andrei Arlovski (four). Palelei has earned all 21 of his professional victories by knockout or submission. “The Hulk” has defeated his past 11 opponents by knockout. Palelei has recorded three UFC knockout victories from mount position. That’s tied with Evan Tanner and Matt Lindland for the most knockout finishes from the position in company history. Palelei competes in his second UFC bout in a 49-day span. He defeated Ruan Potts by knockout at UFC Fight Night 40 on May 10. Jared Rosholt (10-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has earned all of his UFC victories by decision. Rosholt is a member of one of 15 pairs of siblings to have competed under the UFC banner. His brother, Jake, is a three-fight veteran of the organization. Hatsu Hioki (27-7-2 MMA, 3-3 UFC) has fought to a decision in all six of his UFC appearances. Hioki’s average fight time of 15:00 under the UFC banner is tied for the second longest in featherweight history behind champion Jose Aldo (20:20). Hioki has never been finished in MMA competition; all seven of his professional losses have come by decision. Hioki owns a takedown accuracy of 54.2 percent, which is the highest in UFC featherweight history among fighters with at least five bouts and 20 takedown attempts. Hioki has landed 209 significant strikes in UFC competition, 33.5 percent of which strikes have been body strikes, the largest proportion of significant body strikes in UFC featherweight competition among fighters with at minimum of 300 attempts. Charles Oliveira (17-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC) has earned all five of his UFC victories by submission. Oliveira is 3-2 in five fights since dropping to the UFC featherweight division in January 2012. Oliveira’s average fight time of 6:28 through his UFC career is the sixth shortest among active fighters with at least five bouts. It’s also the second shortest among active fighters outside of the heavyweight division behind Erick Silva (5:22). Oliveira averages 2.3 submission attempts per 15 minutes of fighting, the highest rate of any fighter in featherweight history with at least five bouts. Oliveira has earned five submission victories under the UFC banner since his debut on Aug. 1, 2010. No other fighter has registered as many or more UFC submissions in that time period. Oliveira has earned five tap-outs in twelve submission attempts for a submission accuracy of 41.7 percent, the third highest in modern UFC history among fighters with at least 10 submission attempts. Oliveira’s 41-second submission of Darren Elkins at UFC on VERSUS 2 stands as the fourth fastest submission in UFC lightweight history. His submission of Eric Wisely at 1:43 of Round 1 at UFC on FOX 2 stands as the fifth fastest submission in UFC featherweight history. Oliveira is one of just two fighters in UFC competition with one of the top-five fastest submissions in two different weight classes (Rousimar Palhares). Oliveira submitted Wisely at UFC on FOX 2 with the only calf slicer submission finish in UFC history. Oliveira is one of just two fighters to earn a triangle choke submission victory under the UFC banner in 2014. He accomplished the feat against Andy Ogle at UFC Fight Night 36. Oliveira has won six fight-night bonuses since his UFC debut on Aug 1, 2010. Only Donald Cerrone (eight) and Joe Lauzon (seven) have earned more fight-night bonuses in that time frame. Robert Whittaker (11-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) enters the event on the first two-fight losing streak of his career. PRELIMINARY CARD Jake Matthews (5-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), 19, makes his promotional debut as the youngest active fighter on the UFC roster. Dashon Johnson (9-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his UFC debut with an undefeated record against opponents with a combined professional MMA record of 13-41. Richie Vaculik (9-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has earned all of his career victories by knockout or submission. Chris Indich (5-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) and Vik Grujic (6-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) fight each other after both representing Team Australia on “The Ultimate Fighter: Nations.” Vik Grujic (6-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) drops to the welterweight division after losing his UFC debut to Nordine Taleb at middleweight. Grujic has earned just one victory in his past four MMA fights. Neil Magny (10-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) has earned all of his UFC victories by decision. Magny competes in his second UFC bout in a 49-day span. He defeated Tim Means by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 40 on May 10. Ian Entwistle (8-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has earned all of his career victories by some form of stoppage. Sean O'Connell (15-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has served as an injury replacement in both of his UFC appearances. For more on UFC Fight Night 43, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site. FightMetric research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript. * * * * * Check out the pre-fight news conference for UFC Fight Night 43: |
There has been considerable criticism over Trump’s description of the bombing of Syria over a dinner with Chinese President Xi where he seemed to have as much recollection of the chocolate cake as he did the decision itself. (“I was sitting at the table. We had finished dinner. We’re now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen, and President Xi was enjoying it.”) That comment now looks decidedly presidential in comparison to the comment made by his dinner mate at Mar-a-Lago, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that the bombing of Syria: “It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment.” Even as a joke, speaking of acts of war like they are versions of the Roman games is distasteful. Even missile strikes involve American sailors or soldiers and airman placing themselves into harm’s way. Having them referred to as “entertainment” at a conference by a wealthy Commerce Secretary to his well-heeled friends is insulting to those who must pay the price of wars. Ross spoke at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in California and added “The thing was, it didn’t cost the President anything to have that entertainment,.” In actuality, it cost a bit more than a mariachi group . Just replacing the $59 million Tomahawks missiles will exceed $60 million and that is not counting the other costs associated with the attacks. Putting aside the whole business of attacking another country without congressional authorization , attacking another country is no form of entertainment unless your dinner mates are Loki and Hades. Clearly, Ross was making what he viewed as a humorous or perhaps a macho aside. However, war is no trivial matter, particularly when a president acts without congressional authority. With critics raising the danger of a president ordering attacks on an arbitrary or casual basis, Ross decided to dismiss an act on a foreign government as just so much entertainment for a party at a ritzy resort. At a minimum, it shows a continued lack of control over messaging in this Administration and at worse a casual attitude toward some of the most serious and weighty decisions of our government. Share this: Twitter Reddit Facebook |
DARMSTADT, GERMANY—The comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which the Rosetta spacecraft is now orbiting, is by all accounts a fascinating chunk of dust and ice. This week, scientists using the spacecraft’s high-resolution camera presented some staggering images of the duck-shaped comet at a planetary science conference in Tucson, Arizona. They showed the first color images of the comet. They showed dust grains being ejected from the surface, arcs that could be traced back, presumably, to geysers of sublimating ice. And they showed brightness variations less than 10 centimeters apart—which could indicate that they have found sparkling bits of ice peeking through a black crust of dust. But Rosetta’s operator, the European Space Agency (ESA), has released none of these images to the public. Nor have any of these images been presented in Darmstadt, Germany, where scientists at ESA’s mission control are preparing to drop the Philae lander to the comet surface on Wednesday. Project scientist Matt Taylor was reduced to learning about the new results at the Arizona conference by thumbing through Twitter feeds on his phone. For the Rosetta mission, there is an explicit tension between satisfying the public with new discoveries and allowing scientists first crack at publishing papers based on their own hard-won data. “There is a tightrope there,” says Taylor, who’s based at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. But some ESA officials are worried that the principal investigators for the spacecraft’s 11 instruments are not releasing enough information. In particular, the camera team, led by principal investigator Holger Sierks, has come under special criticism for what some say is a stingy release policy. “It’s a family that’s fighting, and Holger is in the middle of it, because he holds the crown jewels,” says Mark McCaughrean, an ESA senior science adviser at ESTEC. Allowing scientists to withhold data for some period is not uncommon in planetary science. At NASA, a 6-month period is typical for principal investigator–led spacecraft, such as the MESSENGER mission to Mercury, says James Green, the director of NASA’s planetary science division in Washington, D.C. However, Green says, NASA headquarters can insist that the principal investigator release data for key media events. For larger strategic, or “flagship,” missions, NASA has tried to release data even faster. The Mars rovers, such as Curiosity, have put out images almost as immediately as they are gathered. ESA has a different structure from NASA’s. It relies much more on contributions from member-states, whereas NASA pays for most instrument development directly. On Rosetta, for example, ESA hasn’t paid for very much of the €100 million camera, called OSIRIS, and therefore has less control over how its data is disseminated. “It’s easier for [NASA] to negotiate [data release] because we’re paying the bills,” Green says, whereas ESA has to do it “by influence.” Prior to Rosetta’s launch in 2004, an embargo of 6 months was set for all the instrument teams. McCaughrean points out that mission documents also stipulate that instrument teams provide “adequate support” to ESA management in its communication efforts—but that term has been debated by the camera team. “I believe that [the OSIRIS camera team’s support] has by no means been adequate, and they believe it has,” McCaughrean says. “But they hold the images, and it’s a completely asymmetric relationship.” So far, OSIRIS has not released any images from its closest orbits at 10 kilometers above the comet. The vast majority of publicly released images have come from navigation cameras, engineering instruments that ESA management has more control over. OSIRIS has about five times better resolution than the navigation cameras. Sierks, of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen, Germany, feels that the OSIRIS team has already been providing a fair amount of data to the public—about one image every week. Each image his team puts out is better than anything that has ever been seen before in comet research, he says. Furthermore, he says other researchers, unaffiliated with the Rosetta team, have submitted papers based on these released images, while his team has been consumed with the daily task of planning the mission. After working on OSIRIS since 1997, Sierks feels that his team should get the first shot at using the data. “Let’s give us a chance of a half a year or so,” he says. He also feels that his team has been pressured to release more data than other instruments. “Of course there is more of a focus on our instrument,” which he calls “the eyes of the mission.” Another reason why Rosetta instrument teams have been slow to release information is that some of them have submitted papers to Science, which, upon acceptance, carries an embargo that forbids public discussion of specific results in the papers. But some ESA officials think that team members have become too fearful about disclosing everyday discoveries. Because of concerns over embargoes, the team has only reluctantly disclosed the dimensions and volume of the comet, for instance, and it has yet to publicly describe the comet’s albedo, or reflectivity. At a press briefing on Tuesday in Darmstadt, a reporter asked Fred Jansen, the project manager, if the Wednesday landing event would include any new images from Sierks’s OSIRIS camera. “We definitely intend to squeeze these out of him,” Jansen said. “There is an agreement that we’ll get pictures tomorrow.” To read more Rosetta coverage, visit our Rosetta collection page. |
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – Republican legislative leaders said Tuesday they do not plan to appeal a judge’s ruling that struck down Florida’s congressional map but want lawmakers to be able to redraw the disputed districts after this fall’s elections. House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, contend it’s too late in the current election cycle to redraw the districts, as ballots have already been sent to overseas voters in advance of the Aug. 26 primaries. “The election process is in full swing,” the state argued in a motion filed Tuesday that seeks a quick decision from Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis. “Candidates have collected petitions and qualified for the ballot. Campaigns have been conducted. Ballots have been printed.” Lewis ruled last week that lawmakers failed during the 2012 redistricting process to follow the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts constitutional amendments, approved by voters in 2010. Groups challenging the congressional map, including the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause, declined to comment Tuesday, awaiting a decision from their legal team about how to respond to the legislative leaders’ request. In a joint statement, Gaetz and Weatherford noted that more than 63,000 military and overseas voters have been sent ballots, with the first batches of in-state absentee ballots going out next week. “Any attempt to change the districts at this late stage of the 2014 elections process would cause chaos and confusion and would threaten the rights of our deployed military voters,” Gaetz and Weatherford said in the statement. Lewis’ ruling specifically took aim at the districts represented Congresswoman Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat, and Congressman Daniel Webster, a Winter Garden Republican. Brown’s District 5, which winds its way from Jacksonville to Orlando, has been criticized for years as one of the worst examples of gerrymandering in the nation. But any changes to the two districts could have a domino effect on surrounding seats and ripple through the rest of the map, given that all congressional districts must have virtually equal populations. Lewis rejected challenges to the lines for eight other districts. Weatherford and Gaetz took that as a sign that Lewis upheld “25 of 27 congressional districts statewide and (left) intact the vast majority of the actions taken by the Legislature.” However, Lewis’ ruling last week wasn’t clear on when lawmakers might have to redraw the districts. Delaying the redrawing until after the fall elections would leave the work to new legislative leaders. Rep. Steve Crisafulli, a Merritt Island Republican, is scheduled to become House speaker in November, while Orlando Republican Andy Gardiner is slated to become Senate president. According to Lewis, lawmakers and staff members charged with the once-a-decade redistricting process tried to shield the map drawers from political influence, even as Republican political consultants tried to find a way to manipulate the process. Lewis also found fault with explanations offered by the Legislature for some of the damaging evidence at the trial. For example, one key email featured Kirk Pepper, an aide to then-House Speaker Dean Cannon, asking a political consultant whether some unstated issues with Webster’s Orlando-area district related to “performance or geography.” On Monday, attorneys for the groups challenging the maps asked Lewis to schedule a conference to decide how the state should proceed with trying to redraw the congressional district boundaries. The Supreme Court already invalidated the Legislature’s first draft of a state Senate plan, which was then redrawn before the 2012 elections. This report is by Jim Turner with The News Service of Florida. RELATED CONTENT: |
If someone called your sister a whore or threatened her with violence at work or in the pub, you would make it crystal clear that such comments were completely unacceptable, wouldn’t you? But online, some people seem to think they can get away with this kind of behaviour. For women MPs, celebrities, journalists and media commentators, campaigners, and many others who use social media, this kind of misogynistic abuse and threats of rape or violence have become a depressing part of our everyday life. Some women receive hundreds of violent threats in a single day. Many have been driven off Facebook and Twitter or have been left worrying about their personal safety in the offline world, for fear that abusive trolls will act out their online threats. This is a constant worry for MPs in the aftermath of the murder of our colleague Jo Cox. This is intolerable for ALL women – and the Labour Party will not put up with this kind of abuse. Last week, Diane Abbott MP and I joined Jeremy Corbyn to launching his blueprint to advance women’s equality, including policies to tackle misogynistic online abuse and threats, both within our Party and in wider society. The abuse that myself and Diane regularly receive, and the disgusting online abuse that J.K. Rowling has received from some self-professed Jeremy supporters just this week, shows why tough policies are desperately needed. Disagreements within any political party are inevitable and should be welcomed as a healthy sign of debate. But that debate must be conducted with mutual respect, in which everyone is able to participate and express their opinion, free from harassment or intimidation. Abuse against disabled people, or which is misogynist, racist, anti-semitic, homophobic, or based on someone’s religion is completely unacceptable and violates the fundamental principles of equality, social justice and human rights which are at the heart of our Labour values. Just because this abuse is taking place online, doesn’t mean it exists within a vacuum, somehow separate from the rest of society. The growing culture of misogynistic online harassment and abuse has real consequences. It creates an environment in which any woman who expresses her opinion is attacked for daring to do so. Unfortunately, this can silence some women and deter them from ever speaking publicly about issues that matter to them. The voice of women is in danger of being stilled by the trolls. And those women who continue to speak out can pay an emotional price, experiencing constant fear and distress. How can we hope to increase women’s representation in politics and society when those who dare to stick their head above the parapet can be hounded and harassed? Some of this online behaviour is criminal and should feel the full force of the law. But Labour also needs to take action to end online abuse of women within our party and in wider society. That’s why we are adopting in full the recommendations of the Shami Chakrabarti Inquiry to consult and introduce a comprehensive equal opportunities policy for our party and to develop training and guidance for party members and staff. This will embed principles of equality, diversity and respect within our Party and ensure there is zero tolerance towards all forms of discrimination and abuse. Labour will also conduct a wide-ranging consultation with women’s and other relevant organisations on how we can strengthen the law and its implementation to tackle sexual harassment and misogynistic online abuse and threats. The consultation will look at ways to increase any organisations’ responsibility for creating safe online spaces through the promotion of “community standards”. Strengthening legal protections and improving organisations’ and employers’ responsibility is essential in making online spaces safer for women, ensuring that we can all participate fully in public life and debate without fear of abuse and intimidation. Labour must come together to eradicate all forms of abuse within our party both online and off-line as part of our crusade to eradicate sexual harassment, misogynist abuse and gender inequality throughout society. |
We Know which Team You’re Most Likely Reading About before The Big Game [Infographic] Super Bowl LI is approaching, and as it does, hoards of fans around the globe prepare—they stock up on junk food, send out invitations for parties, and of course, read up on their favorite teams and events before the big game. Here at Taboola, we wanted to know who fans were reading about the most. We took a look and found the data-backed trends—we know the most popular team based on reader interest and article sentiment. More people are reading more about The Patriots by a landslide. Based on the number of unique readers that were interacting with articles about the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons, we built a heat map that’s clear—the Patriots are more interesting across the nation even before the final teams were determined. Not only were the Atlanta Falcons the least popular team once they made it to finals, they were the least popular team going into the championship round—even though they are ranked with a leading offense by the NFL. During the AFC and NFC championship games, the Patriots and the Packers took the lead in the number of unique readers, while the Steelers came in third. The Falcons came in last with interest only generating in Georgia, their home state. After the Conference Championship games, interest in the Patriots really took over. Although the Falcons have the leading offense in the league, and their quarterback is a strong candidate for the regular season Most Valuable Player (MVP), most of the states in the US are more interested in the AFC champions than the NFC Champions. See the Datawrapper below for a deeper dive into the data: People are reading more positive articles about the Falcons than the Patriots. Although 3x more fans were reading about the Patriots than the Falcons, football fans read a larger percentage of positive articles about the NFC champions. Even though at first glance it looks like the Patriots are the fan favorite based on the sheer number of articles, the articles that are generating the most interest about them tell a different, negative, story. For the Falcons, the articles that are generating more interest are positive, which possibly puts a different spin on choosing a fan favorite for this game. Bonus: The popularity of the NFL Commissioner correlates to that of Tom Brady After we took a look at data representing the two final teams overall, we broke it down one step further to reveal some interesting insights regarding the NFL’s commissioner, Roger Goodell. We compared readership of articles about Tom Brady, Quarterback for the New England Patriots, to Matt Ryan, Quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. The graph below shows popularity by week throughout the season, with the blue line representing the Patriots and the red line representing the Falcons. We saw the same trend—Tom Brady had much wider readership than Matt Ryan, but when we compared the favorite, Tom Brady, with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, we found that his popularity rose and fell with Brady’s. Every time there was a spike in interest regarding Goodell, there was a spike in interest regarding Brady. The line graph below shows popularity week by week throughout the season, with the blue line representing Brady and the yellow line representing Goodell. While we can’t definitively say who’s the favorite team this year, or who’s going to win, we can tell you that people are paying more attention to the Patriots than to the Falcons heading into the big game. But the game isn’t over yet. The two teams still have yet to face off this coming weekend—interest in their team, following and sentiment will depend on the outcome. Taboola is the world’s leading content discovery platform, serving 360B recommendations to over 1B unique visitors each month on the web’s most innovative publisher sites. To find out how we can support your video marketing strategy, contact us or start your campaign now. |
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman once commented derisively on Ireland’s ongoing economic recovery: “It seems obvious to me that Ireland keeps being proclaimed a success because it’s supposed to be a success: they did the austerity thing forcefully, with a minimum of complaints, so there must be a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow, right?” The answer, according to recent data, is “Yes, there was a pot of gold—or at least broad prosperity—at the end of that rainbow.” Undoubtedly, the Celtic Tiger is making a roaring return. Credit for the recovery goes to the very policy choices derided by Krugman—downsizing of a bloated public sector and efforts to reduce the fiscal deficit and public debt. As a result, Ireland has regained its fiscal health and become the first country to exit a European Union bailout. According to the latest economic data, Ireland has become Europe’s fastest-growing economy, attracting jobseekers from all around Europe. In fact, as documented in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, over the past two years the Celtic Tiger has reversed six years of decline in its economic freedom and reclaimed a place as one of the world’s 10 freest economies. With the economy buttressed by institutional strengths such as strong protection of property rights, efficient business regulations and competitive tax rates, the government’s fiscal restraint has been just what was needed to unleash faster growth. Even the International Monetary Fund has joined in the praise, saying in a recent report that the Irish recovery remains strong and the economy is “starting to fire on all cylinders.” In an International Monetary Fund economic conference entitled “Ireland—Lessons from Its Recovery from the Bank-Sovereign Loop,” a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank remarked that “the Irish economy has been an outstanding success over the last years and months.” The official warned against complacency but lauded the flexibility that has become the key component in Ireland’s success and helped it cope with shocks. Perhaps it is time for Krugman to reconsider his claim that “the repeated invocation of Ireland as a role model has gotten to be a sick joke.” It looks like the joke is on him. |
An as yet unnamed 29-year-old pleaded guilty on Friday to charges relating to the hijacking of more than 1.25 million Deutsche Telekom routers, according to reports in the German press. German news agency DPA and others quoted a court spokesman as saying the accused, who pleaded guilty to "attempted computer sabotage", had "registered under the names 'Peter Parker' and 'Spiderman'". Deutsche Telekom's routers became infected with a modified version of the Mirai IoT malware late last year, causing over a million pounds' worth of damage, the firm said at the time. The man reportedly told the court (through a translator) that he'd been hired by a Liberian ISP to take out local competition in the African country for the relatively modest fee of $10,000 for a “good start into married life”. He claimed the ISP hadn't asked him to hack Deutsche Telekom, but rather to create a botnet that would cripple a competing business. The self-taught programmer had been "studying computers since childhood", but had not had any specialist training, the DPA reported. In practice, his efforts had knocked DT's routers offline, creating net outages in German homes and businesses in the process last November. The Deutsche Telekom attack came a month after Mirai source code leaked online. The suspect was arrested in a London airport at the end of February by police acting on an international arrest warrant and extradited to Germany. His sentencing hearing before a Cologne court is scheduled for this Friday, 28 July. ® |
Payday 2 fans are still ticked off at the microtransactions the heist-job shooter introduced about two weeks ago, and some have registered their continued disapproval with a biting parody of the official page for the game's recently concluded "Crimefest" event. "The Road From Greedfest" mimics all the details of Overkill Software's site for the annual promotion, which this year introduced "drills," at a cost of $2.49 each, to open "safes" taken on a job and get at the loot inside. The weapon skins players collected increased the attributes of their arms, leading some to accuse the drills-and-safes setup as a pay-to-win scheme. The community rebelled furiously against the microtransaction scheme, noting earlier comments by developers that Payday 2 would never implement them. Overkill relented last week, adding "drills" into the random, free loot drops players can receive, while still offering them for sale. That apparently did little to quiet its disappointed gamers. Yesterday, Overkill's Almir Listo held a Reddit AMA on Payday's subreddit, where microtransactions were the No. 1 topic. Asked how Overkill squared promises that all content would be free with the introduction of the drill microtransactions on Crimefest's first day, Listo replied: We thought — and still think — that this is a great addition to the game. We have a system that everyone can participate in, where players can earn actual money while playing Payday 2. If you don't want to purchase anything, that's completely fine, as you can just sell what you get and continue focusing on the core experience of Payday 2. Meanwhile, the added funds allow us to continue making the game better and better all the time. That answer didn't go over well. In a lengthier reply, Listo complained of "people in positions of power in media and elsewhere making uninformed, clickbait articles ... instead of doing some serious legwork to get their facts straight." He said that Overkill's development team has tripled in size since Payday 2 was launched in 2013, and that six months ago Overkill cut prices on Payday 2 DLC by one-third or more to attract sales, but wasn't successful. "We understand that there is a lot of fury, anger and disappointment with us adding this," Listo wrote. "From an economical standpoint however, completely based on statistics, we can already see that the Black Market update is working as we intended Going forward, we hope we can convince the parts of the community that resist this change that this was the right decision to do to ensure the stability of Overkill as an independent developer and the future growth of Payday 2." Redditors responded with a nearly universal rejection of that rationale. "I hope you realize that Starbreeze's financial statements have been posted on this subreddit and that trying to pretend like you weren't making enough to support continued development isn't going to work," one shot back. "You're supporting Payday, multiple other games and a VR headset. ... [D]on't pretend you're not making a profit on Payday as is." "The Road From Greedfest" drips with the same resentment. The top of the page cycles through unflattering or contradicted comments by Overkill. In an interactive map of goals mocking CrimeFest unlocks on the official site, it lists objectives such as lowering the game's concurrent users on Steam and bombing PayDay 2's Metacritic user score and Steam rating with negative reviews. Worldmap is Polygon's Friday podcast recapping the week's top video game and pop culture news, with staff writers adding perspective and commentary. Check it out here: |
TOKYO — It's among the biggest of Japan's many New Year holiday rituals: Early on Tuesday, a huge, glistening tuna was auctioned for about 14 million Japanese yen (US$118,000) at Tokyo's 80-year-old Tsukiji market. Next year, if all goes as planned, the tradition won't be quite the same. A photo posted by TSUKIJI COOKING (@tsukijicooking) on Jan 4, 2016 at 4:58pm PST The world's biggest and most famous fish and seafood market is due to move in November to a massive complex further south in Tokyo Bay, making way for redevelopment of the prime slice of downtown real estate. The closure of the Tsukiji market will punctuate the end of the post-war era for many of the mom-and-pop shops just outside the main market that peddle a cornucopia of sea-related products, from dried squid and seaweed to whale bacon and caviar. A photo posted by Selin (@selinmotion) on Jan 3, 2016 at 9:02am PST The auction is typical of Japan's penchant for fresh starts at the beginning of the year — the first visit of the year to a shrine and the first dream of the year are other important firsts — and it's meant to set an auspicious precedent for the 12 months to come. Image: Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press Sushi restaurateur Kiyoshi Kimura has prevailed in most of the recent new year auctions, and he did so again this year in the bidding for a 200-kilogram (440-pound) tuna. In 2013, a bidding war drove his record winning bid to 154.4 million yen (at today's exchange rates about US$1.3 million) for a 222-kilogram (490-pound) fish. That drew complaints that prices had soared way out of line, and the winning price in 2014 was dramatically lower. Last year, a 180.4-kilogramme (380-pound) tuna caught off Japan's northern region of Aomori fetched a winning bid of 4.51 million yen ($37,480). Image: Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press Japanese eat about 80 percent of all bluefin tuna caught worldwide, and stocks of all three bluefin species — the Pacific, Southern and Atlantic — have fallen over the past 15 years amid overfishing. But while the new year and daily tuna auctions are Tsukiji's best-known events, the market is about much more than just tuna. On a recent year-end day, shop owners in rubber boots and aprons were rushing to clean up and sell off the last of their inventory, as the last few hundred shoppers milled around hunting for bargains. Already, some shops outside the market have been razed and a new building that will house a smaller "outer market" is under construction. Conceptual drawings from the Tokyo city government show the 23-hectare (nearly 57-acre) market site that fronts the Sumida River's outlet into Tokyo Bay being transformed into an open waterfront park surrounded by greenery, with a wide shopping plaza and a passenger terminal for tourist ferries traversing the bay and river. A photo posted by Malcolm Lee (@malcolmleejy) on Jan 4, 2016 at 5:13am PST "We are contributing with all our efforts to the revitalization of our historic Tsukiji," said a banner emblazoned with the logos of the architect and other contractors hanging from scaffolding of the new building. Tsukiji's predawn auctions are a fixture on the tourist circuit, and since it was not set up to accommodate large crowds the management has gradually limited access for safety's sake. Image: Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press Planning for the move began nearly 20 years ago. But the shift was delayed for years due to toxins found in the soil at the new location, the former site of a coal gasification plant run by Tokyo Gas. The city announced in 2001 that the market would be moved by 2012. But cleanup work dragged on, and in 2013, Tokyo Gas disclosed it had found more toxins at the site. Critics of the move said city authorities were swapping worries over cramped and some say unhygienic conditions in Tsukiji for a new set of health problems: unsafe levels of lead, arsenic, hexavalent chromium and other toxins. Cleanup of the tainted site required the removal and replacement of 2 meters (6 feet) of topsoil, construction of retaining walls, pumping out of polluted ground water and an injection of fresh water. |
Image caption Marcus Hutchins wanted to remain anonymous after the WannaCry outbreak, but his identity was revealed US prosecutors say a British computer expert has admitted to creating software that harvests bank details. But Marcus Hutchins' own lawyer says he denies six charges of creating and distributing the Kronos malware. The 23-year-old from Ilfracombe, Devon, who helped stall the WannaCry cyber-attack which hit the NHS, was arrested on Wednesday in Las Vegas. He was granted $30,000 (£23,000) bail, but will spend the weekend in prison after not being able to pay on Friday. As he left the courtroom Mr Hutchins was ordered to walk with his hands behind his back but he was not shackled. No members of his family were present, but defence lawyer Adrian Lobo presented the judge with a bundle of letters. She said they were from friends and relatives showing support for a client who had never been in trouble with the law in the US or the UK. Mr Hutchins' mother, Janet Hutchins, has said her son's involvement is "hugely unlikely" because he has spent "enormous amounts of time and even his free time" combating malware. Defence lawyer Ms Lobo told the BBC: "He's pled not guilty. He is standing by that and he fights the charges and we intend to fight the case in Wisconsin." She described the federal indictment against him as "pretty flimsy, it's pretty slim compared to what we normally see in a United States indictment." Prosecutors told a Las Vegas court on Friday that Mr Hutchins had been caught in a sting operation when undercover officers bought the code. They claimed the software was sold for $2,000 in digital currency in June 2015. Dan Cowhig, prosecuting, also told the court that Mr Hutchins had made a confession during a police interview. "He admitted he was the author of the code of Kronos malware and indicated he sold it," said Mr Cowhig. The lawyer claimed there was evidence of chat logs between Mr Hutchins and an unnamed co-defendant - who has yet to be arrested - where the security researcher complained of not receiving a fair share of the money. At the scene By James Cook, BBC North America correspondent There was no missing Marcus Hutchins as he was brought into courtroom 3C of the US District Court in Las Vegas. The "surfer who saved the world" was wearing a bright yellow custody-issue T-shirt and trousers along with luminous orange socks and sandals. Judge Nancy Kobbe was sympathetic to the defendant's plea to be released on bail, waving away a claim from a government lawyer that the cyber-security expert posed a risk to the public because he had gone shooting on a gun range popular with tourists. Mr Hutchins was so softly spoken that several times Ms Kobbe had to ask him to raise his voice. Ms Lobo said Mr Hutchins denied he was the author of the malware and said he would plead not guilty to all of the charges, which date between July 2014 and July 2015. "He has dedicated his life to researching malware, not trying to harm people," she said. "Use the internet for good is what he has done. "He was completely shocked, this isn't' something he anticipated. He came here for a work-related conference and he was fully anticipating to go back home and had no reason to be fearful of coming or going from the United States." Mr Hutchins came to prominence in May this year after finding a "kill switch" to stop the WannaCry ransomeware attack that hit the NHS, as well as other organisations in 150 countries. Also known as "MalwareTech" online, Mr Hutchins was hailed as an "accidental hero" after registering a domain name to track the spread of the virus, which actually ended up halting it. Mr Hutchins, who works for Los Angeles-based computer security firm Kryptos Logi, had been in Las Vegas to attend the Black Hat and Def Con cyber-security conferences. He was arrested at Las Vegas airport minutes before he was due to fly home. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Technology explained: what is ransomware? District judge Nancy Koppe, who was presented letters of support from Mr Hutchins' cyber-security colleagues, ordered his release on bail as he had no criminal history and because the allegations dated back two years. However, friends and family were unable to raise the bond money before the court closed on Friday, so he will not be released until Monday. The conditions of his bail include him not being allowed to access the internet and to stay in Clark County, Nevada, and within the Eastern District of Wisconsin, where he will appear in court on Tuesday. He must also be monitored by GPS and surrender his passport. What is Kronos? Image copyright Getty Images Kronos is a type of malware known as a Trojan, meaning it disguises itself as legitimate software. It is thought to be named after a mythological creature. Kronos first came to light in July 2014, when it was advertised on a Russian underground forum for $7,000 (£5,330) - a relatively high figure at the time. It was marketed as way to steal logins for banking websites and other financial data. Its vendor boasted it could evade existing anti-virus software and said it worked with the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome web browsers. In an unusual step, the developer promised free upgrades and bug fixes and the option of a $1,000 one week trial. After much publicity it faded from view until October 2015, when IBM researchers reported that Kronos had been spotted in attacks on UK and Indian bank websites. Kronos then struck again in Canada in May 2016, and in November reports surfaced that it had been spotted being distributed via emails. IT security consultant Robin Edgar said Mr Hutchins' own code had been incorporated into the malware, but he had not done anything wrong. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Mr Hutchins posted a tweet saying, 'look, this Kronos thing has taken my code, stolen my code and used it in it'. "He was very unhappy his code had been stolen and used within Kronos. He didn't write Kronos, it looks like, but he wrote a little piece of code which was used in the malware." Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption IT professor: Proving code ownership a 'fundamental challenge' Mr Hutchins' local MP in North Devon, Peter Heaton-Jones, said he shared the "shock" of the local community over the charges. The Conservative politician has written to Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan to seek assurance that Mr Hutchins is receiving adequate consular assistance. Whilst Mr Heaton-Jones acknowledged the UK cannot interfere with court proceedings in the US and said he has made no judgement about his constituent, adding: "People who know him in Ilfracombe, and in the wider cyber-community, are astounded at the allegations against him. "This is particularly so given his role in helping to protect the NHS and many other institutions from what could have been a devastating cyber-attack just a few months ago. "I will continue to monitor his case carefully and to seek the necessary assurances from the government that the UK is doing everything in its power to assist Marcus and his family at this very difficult time." Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation said it was "deeply concerned" with his arrest, whilst Naomi Colvin, from civil liberties campaign group Courage, said Mr Hutchins "did the world an enormous service" when he stopped the WannaCry attack. Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning |
VPNs Can Bypass Verizon's New Video Throttling System Verizon this week announced that the company would be throttling all video over its wireless network moving forward, banning 4K streaming entirely, and only dedicating 10 Mbps of bandwidth to any traffic its network determines to be video. When Verizon was testing this throttling recently many users noticed that use of a VPN managed to avoid the restrictions, and with the throttling now live, companies like NordVPN tell us that VPNs still work, for now. "Since the news spread that Verizon might be throttling streaming speed, we at NordVPN have received some customer inquiries, asking if using a VPN would allow them to stream at regular speed,” said Marty P. Kamden, CMO of NordVPN in an e-mail. “While a VPN can slow down Internet traffic in some cases, it’s a good option to use when an ISP interferes with normal streaming speeds," Kamden adds. "Without a VPN, a user will more likely get limited speeds from their ISP, which creates buffering, delays and lower quality videos. A VPN allows to stream videos with fewer interruptions.” To be clear, most users won't really care that Verizon is now throttling all video by default, given the difference between 720p 1080p and 4K is negligible on the small screen of a smartphone. That said, the real worry here among consumer advocates and many consumers is in the precedent Verizon is setting. Verizon has a long-thirty year history of anti-competitive behavior, and is now demanding additional money just to stream videos at speeds many customers believe should be determined by the end user and the server they're accessing. They're not alone; Sprint already opened the door to this behavior by charging users a premium to avoid the throttling of videos, games and music. And while banning 4K and charging more to avoid throttling isn't the end of the world, with Verizon at the vanguard of killing net neutrality protections, anybody remotely familiar with the company's behavior should be asking themselves what kind of limits, caveats, or other value-killing restrictions will be coming down the pike. If you're on Verizon Wireless, share your experiences with whether a VPN helps dodge the company's new throttling in the comment section below. If you're on Verizon Wireless, share your experiences with whether a VPN helps dodge the company's new throttling in the comment section below. News Jump Tuesday Morning Links Monday Morning Links TGI Friday Morning Links Thursday Morning Links Wednesday Morning Links Tuesday Morning Links Friday Morning Links Thursday Morning Links - Valentines Edition Wednesday Morning Links Tuesday Morning Links ---------------------- this week last week most discussed Most recommended from 45 comments F100 join:2013-01-15 Durham, NC Alcatel-Lucent G-010G-A (Software) pfSense Pace 5268AC 9 recommendations F100 Member AT&T fiber + psSense + open VPN With fiber speeds now, I'll gladly run my my own VPN from home that no one can block as it will be your home IP address if you use Open VPN on something like pfSense or one of the consumer routers. With AT&T Fiber's 300Mbps and 1Gbps upload, it's more than enough to max out VZW's over taxed network. I did this when T-mobile started doing the same to traffic back before the current plans. And yes, if you use Watch ESPN and you work with Video, you can tell the difference in 480p and HD resolutions even on a Nexus 5x. The best example is to toggle WiFi on and off while streaming and watch the picture quality get better and then worse again. It's the detail that is lost at lower resolutions so sports is a good example of how compression kills detail on fast moving images. ILikeTech join:2015-03-09 3 recommendations ILikeTech Member Dont all of the other wireless providers do the same thing? T-Mobile is limiting video to 480P, Verizon limiting to 10mbps (which is likely going to be a good bit better than 480p) yet T-Mobile is always the hero and Verizon is the worst. what am I missing? rocKeNC join:2010-10-30 Pasadena, CA 2 recommendations rocKeNC Member Not for Netflix This is true but unfortunately, Netflix blocks most VPNs. tshirt Premium Member join:2004-07-11 Snohomish, WA 2 recommendations tshirt Premium Member 720p 1080p and 4K is negligible on the small screen of a smartphone If you can lie about where you are and what you are doing, there is a good chance you can spoof the device type too or at least tether to a much larger screen. For now at least, they let you get away with it, but you can comprehend why they won't commit to a more net neutral policy because a relatively few users could bring any given cell to it's knees. |
Apollo 14: Science instruments (circled left) and the lunar module descent stage (circled right) are connected by a footprint trail A US spacecraft has captured images of Apollo landing sites on the Moon, revealing hardware and a trail of footprints left on the lunar surface. The release of the images coincides with the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the Moon. The descent stages from the lunar modules which carried astronauts to and from the Moon can clearly be seen. The image of the Apollo 14 landing site shows scientific instruments and an astronaut footpath in the lunar dust. It is the first time hardware left on the Moon by the Apollo missions has been seen from lunar orbit. The pictures were taken by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which launched on 18 June. The Apollo 11 mission touched down on the Moon on 20 July 1969 The spacecraft is carrying three cameras on board: one low-resolution wide-angle camera and two high-resolution narrow-angle cameras mounted side-by-side. These are known collectively as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument. "The LROC team anxiously awaited each image," said the instrument's principal investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University. "We were very interested in getting our first peek at the lunar module descent stages just for the thrill - and to see how well the cameras had come into focus. Indeed, the images are fantastic and so is the focus." Astronaut trail The camera instrument was able to capture five of the six Apollo sites, with the remaining Apollo 12 site expected to be photographed in the coming weeks. Future LROC images from these sites will have two to three times greater resolution. Long shadows from a low sun angle make the locations of the lunar modules' descent stages particularly evident. A long shadow is cast by the Apollo 11 descent stage The image of the Apollo 14 landing site had a particularly desirable lighting condition that revealed additional details. The Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package, a set of scientific instruments placed by the astronauts at the landing site, is discernable, as are the faint trails between the module and instrument package left by the astronauts' footprints. The LRO satellite reached lunar orbit on 23 June and captured the Apollo sites between 11 and 15 July. Though it had been expected that LRO would be able to resolve the remnants of the Apollo missions, these first images were taken before the spacecraft had reached its final mapping orbit. HAVE YOUR SAY I am 63, at 23 watched spellbound as it happened W A Froud, Letchworth, Herts "Not only do these images reveal the great accomplishments of Apollo, they also show us that lunar exploration continues," said LRO project scientist Richard Vondrak of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, US. "They demonstrate how LRO will be used to identify the best destinations for the next journeys to the Moon." Although the pictures provide a reminder of past lunar exploration, LRO's primary focus is on paving the way for the future. Data returned by the mission will help Nasa identify safe landing sites for future explorers, locate potential resources, describe the Moon's radiation environment and demonstrate new technologies. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version |
It’s early in the federal election campaign but there are plenty of good races emerging as the battle for Quebec picks up where it left off in 2011. The New Democratic Party wants to hang on to as many seats as it can since almost sweeping the province in the orange wave in the 2011 election. The Bloc Québécois is seeking to redeem itself, while the Liberals, Conservatives and Greens are struggling to get traction in the race. But elections are won and lost in individual ridings, so here is a look at some of the more interesting races underway in the lead up to the Oct. 19 vote. In some cases the races are tight, in others former defeated MPs are looking to get back in the game while in others star candidates are giving politics a try for the first time. Mount Royal The Conservatives have been chasing this traditional Liberal riding (it was once former prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s) for the last few campaigns, but it has always eluded them. It may have been symbolic, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off his campaign in the riding on Aug. 2. He was introduced to the crowd of 300 by candidate and former Equality Party leader Robert Libman, a former provincial MNA. The riding could be due for change sparked by the decision of former Liberal MP Irwin Cotler to not seek re-election. The Liberal share of the vote has also been slipping over the last few elections. Anthony Housefather, the current mayor of Côte-St-Luc, is running for the Liberals. The NDP candidate is Mario Jacinto Rimbao. The Conservatives do not currently have any seats on the island of Montreal. Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount As surprising as it sounds for the NDP in Quebec, six candidates are vying for the party nomination in this new riding, created as a result of voter re-distribution. The nomination meeting is Aug. 16. Among the six vying for the nomination are Montreal city councillor Peter McQueen, former Montreal Gazette journalist Sue Montgomery and James Hughes, former head of the Old Brewery Mission. Ultimately, the man they hope to beat is Liberal incumbent Marc Garneau. Canada’s first man in space, Garneau was first elected in 2008 when the riding was called Westmount—Ville Marie. In 2011 he was one of the few politicians in Quebec to resist the orange wave, squeaking out a win by a mere 658 votes. The new riding now encompasses parts of Westmount and Montreal West, all of N.D.G. as well as parts of Snowdon. Ahuntsic-Cartierville Turfed out of the Bloc Québécois in a dispute over the Parti Québécois’s now defunct charter of values, incumbent MP Maria Mourani is fighting back and trying to retain her seat, running for the NDP. As if that was not dramatic enough, the Liberals have yet to pick their candidate for the riding. There are four in the running including former Montreal mayoral candidate Mélanie Joly, a friend of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. The Liberals will pick their person Aug. 23. It should be a good fight. As a result of voter re-distribution, Mourani has lost a significant part of her old Bloc base and the new riding has more of a Liberal profile. Mourani has renounced her interest in sovereignty. Honoré-Mercier Former Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez is hoping to take back his old riding lost in 2011 to the NDP. Rodriguez is also responsible for the Liberal election campaign in Quebec. Given the riding’s Liberal roots, this campaign is seen as a test of the NDP’s long term ability to represent Quebec in the House of Commons. The NDP candidate is incumbent MP Paulina Ayala. Longueuil-Saint-Hubert After being almost wiped off the electoral map in 2011, the Bloc Québécois has been struggling to come up with good candidates in 2015. One of them is Denis Trudel, a well-known actor and president of the Mouvement Montréal français, a language lobby group. He is one of the Bloc’s most high profile candidates. Drummond After failing to bag the nomination in the riding of Mount Royal, Conservative star recruit Pascale Déry, one of a series of former journalists recruited by the party to run in this election, has landed in this rural francophone riding east of Montreal. She will face NDP incumbent MP François Choquette, one of the orange crush NDP MPs who unexpectedly swept to victory in 2011. Déry is considered one of the Conservative’s star candidates. Richmond—Arthabaska André Bellavance, a former Bloc MP who quit to sit as an independent after losing his bid to become Bloc leader to Mario Beaulieu, has opted to not run again in this riding, which has voted Conservative in the past. The Conservatives believe it could be due for a return to its roots and have recruited the high-profile mayor of Victoriaville, Alain Rayes, as their candidate. Louis-Saint-Laurent The Conservative power base in the province is along the south side of the St-Lawrence River and the greater Quebec City area, which includes this riding once represented by former Tory cabinet minister Josée Verner. In 2011, an unknown student running for the NDP, Alexandrine Latendresse, defeated Verner. For this campaign, the Conservatives have recruited former Coalition Avenir Québec MNA Gérard Deltell to bring the riding back into the fold. Latendresse is not running this time. The NDP candidate is the former Canadian ambassador to Ukraine, Daniel Caron. Deltell is rumoured to be a potential minister should the Conservatives win the election. Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis One of Quebec’s best-known environmental activists, André Bélisle, has decided to make the plunge into politics, hooking up with the Green Party. Bélisle was the president of l’Association québécoise de lutte contre la pollution atmosphérique. It’s an ambitious plan. He faces Conservative MP and cabinet minister Steven Blaney. Berthier—Maskinongé NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau became the poster person of the surprise orange wave of 2011 when she won this riding after having barely set foot in it. Stories were written about her being away in Las Vegas for part of the campaign. Four years later and much more seasoned, she is being profiled as one of the NDP success stories and says she wants to prove her election was no fluke. But given the riding’s 20-year history of voting Bloc before 2011, the Bloc is focused on getting it back. A battle royale looms. pauthier@montrealgazette.com twitter.com/philipauthier For the record: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story reported that eight candidates are running for the NDP nomination in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount. Six candidates are running. The Montreal Gazette regrets the error. |
I was sitting at my desk working when I hear a rather loud sound outside. I headed upstairs to peek out the door, expecting something exploded or crashed but turns out it was just a snowplow. As I was closing the door I noticed that there was an Amazon box sitting on the porch below my mailbox addressed to me with my reddit name on it! I brought it inside, took some pictures of the gift, the tag and then tore into it. The Amazon wrapping elves are getting better at their job - they really love tape too. My Santa gifted me Allie Brosh's book Hyperbole & a Half. I've been wanting this book since Allie first announced she was publishing it. Like many out there on the Internet, Allie's drawings and blog posts resonate with me and I look forward to reading all the stories. So THANK YOU RedditSanta!i |
What started out as a heartbreaking Christmas Day for a Sault Ste. Marie family ended up a joyful one, thanks to a group of compassionate Sault Ste. Marie Police Service officers and the Sault Canadian Tire store. Doris Thompson of Sault Ste. Marie told SooToday.com her daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren, after visiting her home on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, returned to their own centrally-located residence and found they were victims of a break-in. “Someone had broken into their home and unwrapped their gifts, stole what they wanted, and went into their bedrooms and also stole articles from there,” Thompson told us. “They were devastated that someone would do that to them at any time, let alone Christmas Eve. Their Christmas was ruined.” The thief - or thieves - went through her grandchildren’s Christmas stockings and stole toys, along with other items such as frying pans, work socks, even a Bible. Thompson told us: “On Christmas Eve (after the break-in) the officers took time to assure the grandchildren they were safe. They came in and they stayed and spoke with them. The youngest grandchild (a four-year-old boy) was really upset.” Police told them they were going through the entire house to make sure everyone was safe. “The police were really good with the family. One police officer told the grandchildren about how they can’t let bad people scare you like that. My youngest grandchild took it the hardest. He couldn’t understand why somebody would come in the house and do that.” However, the family was pleasantly surprised on the evening of December 25. Six police officers, one dressed as Santa Claus, brought gifts to the family home. Five police cruisers outside the house put on a show with their lights. “That was my youngest grandchild’s favourite part,” Thompson said. Family friends had also arrived Christmas morning with gifts. Police had gone to Canadian Tire after asking management to open up the store on Christmas Day, obtained gifts from the retailer, wrapped them and delivered them to the family’s home. Police purchased gifts for the children, while Canadian Tire contributed gifts for their parents. Thompson said: “There were gift cards, Lego toys and remote control toys for the grandchildren, and for the parents a coffee maker, and a soap-making kit.” It is not known if a suspect, or suspects, have been found. The family’s father stated: “For the police, the main focus was on the kids, but they focused on all of us. I broke down and cried when I saw the gifts.” “We’re grateful to the Police and to Canadian Tire for their involvement, they deserve to be recognized, along with friends of the family who brought gifts Christmas morning,” he continued. As Thompson describes it: “On Christmas Eve the family had tears of sorrow, and on Christmas night they experienced tears of joy, they were so overwhelmed. They’re all very grateful for the compassion, we’ll never forget the kindness. This was above and beyond the call of duty. This family will never forget Christmas 2012.” |
Twitter has announced that it is restoring the access to blasphemous content in Pakistan that it had blocked last month on the request of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. Twitter had blocked the access to blasphemous content in Pakistan which was inline with its Country Withheld Content tool that Twitter announced in 2012. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had written to Twitter to block several tweets and certain twitter accounts. These tweets involved blasphemous content, anti-Quran tweets and messages against Islam from anti-Islam bloggers and an American porn star. Twitter had then said that it blocked the access to such specific content after thoroughly investigating the type and nature of tweets. But today, Twitter took a U turn as said that it is restoring the access to such tweets. “We have reexamined the requests and, in the absence of additional clarifying information from Pakistani authorities, have determined that restoration of the previously withheld content is warranted. The content is now available again in Pakistan,” Twitter stated in an email response that is produced on ChillingEffects. Pakistani internet activists have shown their satisfaction over restoration of blasphemous content in the country. They believe that the procedures in place for determination of blasphemous content is inappropriate and that government or no-one else should be given a right to get any content blocked. |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption LJ Rich spends a week trying to earn a living from casual crowdwork. Crowdworking is growing fast. Companies can now call on workers from all over the world to collaborate on huge tasks while simply sitting at their home computer. So how much money can you make at your keyboard? I'm not averse to a bit of hard graft, so I decided to sign up to some sites to try micro-working through the internet. I've decided on two rules. Any cash earned goes to charity. And I don't want to be paid for anything I wouldn't be happy doing on daytime television. In order to preserve the BBC's reputation, I warned my social media network that I was conducting an experiment and they should expect some strange status updates. Day 1: Surveys and Videos First up, InboxPounds, a site providing surveys and odd jobs to casual clickers. Image caption That's my first 20p under my belt I've been given a £1 bonus for signing up. Answering a 15-minute survey about an advert gets me 25p. I watched a video for 1p, and "liked" a certain brand of mobile phone on Facebook for 1p. Yes, you heard right, I got paid for a "like" - I'm not proud. Seems promising, but no cash in hand till I earn £20. Total amount earned - £3.06. Day 2: Games Swagbucks is a site offering points, which eventually add up to money that is paid either through Paypal or as vouchers. I watched a selection of videos, played casual games and earned - though the amount was negligible. A day's casual gaming and video-watching earns 102 swag bucks - roughly working out to 50p, depending on the offer used to convert them. Payout is at £5. Total amount earned - £0.50. Day 3: Transcription Next up, CastingWords. I've joined an army of transcribers, listening to audio and typing out the words. Sounds simple enough for a fast typist - so I unwisely jumped straight in with a transcription challenge. It wasn't easy - just one assignment took me nearly an hour - and my promised pay was docked heavily for not fitting house style. I was demoted, and can now only review other people's work for a few cents apiece until my score improves. Payout is at $1. Total amount earned: $0.58 (37p). Day 4: Microworking Microworking sites, such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk, pay for so-called human intelligence tasks (Hits). These can be for creative writing, coding, or more. Sadly my registration did not come through in my assigned work week. Amazon said: "Mechanical Turk works on an invitation-only registration process for workers. "Workers are asked to start the registration process and then receive an email invitation in order to complete the registration process. "This process is in effect for all workers, regardless of country. "Invitations are extended to new workers based on a number of factors including the demand within each country." Image caption Here's my work on mail-order catalogues I was able to sign up to an alternative site, Clickworker. First I passed an English test and a creative-writing test. Thanks to my 100% score I have landed a plum assignment - creative writing for mail-order catalogue entries - for tennis clothing, based on translated German text. It is a comparatively lucrative 1.25 euros (£1.05) for just over 100 words, although you're at the mercy of whoever marks your assignment. If they're not impressed, they give you nothing. This happened on my last three tasks - so much for my 100% score. Paid weekly. Total amount earned - 5.85 euros (£4.95). Day 5: Creative microworking Finally I turned to Fiverr, a site where the crowd advertises services as "gigs" for $5 (£3.20). Some services are frankly mystifying, for example - $5 to find something in a watermelon, or $5 to draw and roast a picture of a chicken. Encouraged by this, I used my existing musical and writing skills to offer paying customers poetry, music composing, and bad pun headline writing. The inevitable witty Facebook friend asked me for something virtually impossible - 30 seconds of a Miles-Davis styled piano theme. For $5 - in 4 days. Oh well, his money is as good as anyone else's. I found the horror of the countdown on my seller's page combined with the promise of $5 to be good motivation. Although these assignments took the longest to complete, I found this approach by far the most fun and enterprising. Job done - but Fiverr takes a healthy 20% cut. Leaving me with - $4 (£2.57). And the payment process is positively glacial, it takes 14 days. Total amount earned - $16 (£10.28). Conclusion So, working week over, how did I do? Total amount earned - £19.16. Total hours worked - 37 hours. Clearly not as much as I was hoping. Much of my working week was spent researching which websites paid the best- if at all. Many sites I tried to earn money through turned out not to be worth the time or effort. I learned to beware of scam websites thanks to searching the company name for worker reviews before signing up to a site. Out of the many tasks available, I thought the low-paying ones seemed the least efficient. Like the offline world, specific abilities like touch typing, fast creative writing, or something unique, such as composing, gave a better return on time spent. Anyone thinking of quitting their offline job might like to bear the following in mind - with what I have learned this week, the potential over time to earn a reasonable wage requires a lot of effort. Serious crowdworkers understand which tasks fit them, they work long hours for a number of weeks and are prepared to wait a while to get paid. So, yes, there is some money in crowdworking - but for now it looks like I'll be at my Click day job for a while longer. All the money raised will be donated towards the BBC's Children in Need appeal. |
A hookah is a waterpipe that is used to smoke tobacco, mostly containing flavors. The popularity of hookah (also known as “waterpipe” or “shisha”) in the United States has increased over the past decade. There are misconceptions about hookah. For example, may hookah smokers think the practice is less harmful than cigarette smoking.1 THE ISSUE In 2013, 42.1 percent of high school students in Florida said that they believed that hookah smoking was less harmful compared to cigarette smoking.2 But the fact is hookah smoking carries many of the same health risks as cigarettes.3 Hookah smokers may be at higher risk for oral cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, cancer of the esophagus, reduced lung function, and decreased fertility.4,5 Hookah tobacco and smoke contain many toxic agents that can cause clogged arteries and heart disease.3,5 Because of the way a hookah is used, smokers may even absorb more of the toxic substances also found in cigarette smoke than cigarette smokers do.3 The amount of smoke inhaled during a typical hookah session is more than 100 times greater than the amount inhaled when smoking a cigarette.5 The charcoal used to heat the tobacco can raise health risks by producing high levels of carbon monoxide, metals, and cancer-causing chemicals.3,5 Even after it has passed through water, the smoke from a hookah has high levels of these toxic agents.5 Experimentation with hookah among Florida’s young people has increased in recent years. Between 2012 and 2016, there was a 42.2 percent increase in high school students who reported having ever tried hookah, from 16.6 percent to 23.6 percent.6 ADVOCACY Get involved in your community. 1 Aljarrah K, Ababneh Z, Al-Delaimy WK. Perceptions of hookah smoking harmfulness: predictors and characteristics among current hookah users. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 2009, 5:16. 2 Florida Youth Tobacco Survey (FYTS), Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Epidemiology, 2014. 3 American Lung Association. An Emerging Deadly Trend: Waterpipe Tobacco Use. [PDF–222 KB] Washington: American Lung Association, 2007 [accessed 2016 Nov 21]. 4 Akl EA, Gaddam S, Gunukula SK, Honeine R, Jaoude PA, Irani J. The Effects of Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking on Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Epidemiology 2010;39:834–57 [accessed 2016 Nov 21]. 5 Cobb CO, Ward KD, Maziak W, Shihadeh AL, Eissenberg T. Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking: An Emerging Health Crisis in the United States. American Journal of Health Behavior 2010;34(3):275–85 [accessed 2016 Nov 21]. 6 Florida Youth Tobacco Survey (FYTS), Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Epidemiology, 2016. |
George Sterling (December 1, 1869 – November 17, 1926) was an American poet and playwright based in California who, during his lifetime, was celebrated on the Pacific coast as one of the great American poets, although he never gained equivalent success in the rest of the United States. Life and career [ edit ] Sterling was born in Sag Harbor, New York, the eldest of nine children. His father was Dr. George A. Sterling, a physician who determined to make a priest of one of his sons, and George was selected to attend, for three years, St. Charles College in Maryland. He was instructed in English by poet John B. Tabb. His mother Mary was a member of the Havens family, prominent in Sag Harbor and the Shelter Island area. Her brother, Frank C. Havens, Sterling's uncle, went to San Francisco in the late 19th century and established himself as a prominent lawyer and real estate developer. Sterling eventually followed him to the West in 1890 and worked as a real estate broker in Oakland, California. With the publication of his small volume of poetry in 1903, The Testimony of the Sun and Other Poems, he quickly became a hero among the East Bay literati and artists, some of whom included Joaquin Miller, Jack London, Xavier Martinez, Harry Leon Wilson, Perry H. Newberry, Henry Lafler, Gelett Burgess, and James Hopper. In 1905 Sterling moved 120 miles south to Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, an undeveloped coastal paradise, and soon established a settlement for like-minded Bohemian writers and other children of the counterculture.[3] A parallel colony of painters was also developing in this enclave. Carmel had been discovered by Charles Warren Stoddard and others, but Sterling made it world-famous. His aunt Mrs. Havens purchased a home for him in Carmel Pines where he lived for nine years.[citation needed] In addition to the Bay Area residents mentioned above, Sterling managed to attract, as either visitors or semi-permanent residents, the satirical iconoclast Ambrose Bierce, novelist Mary Austin,[4] art photographer Arnold Genthe, writer Clark Ashton Smith, and poet Robinson Jeffers. When a firestorm of controversy followed Sterling's publication of A Wine of Wizardry in the Cosmopolitan magazine of September 1907, other rebels flocked to Carmel, including Upton Sinclair and the MacGowan sisters. What attracted so much attention in the press were the stories (both fictional and true) of nude beach parties, free sex (including homosexual), wife swapping, opium dens, and the spate of suicides.[citation needed] The most notorious was the painful and prolonged suicide by poison of the popular poet Nora May French in Sterling's own home. Reports of French's nymphomania and the numerous male lovers just prior to her death scandalized the public.[5][6][7][8] The suicide of Sterling's wife by cyanide only added fuel to the flames. Sterling's own diaries and correspondence reveal a more sedate, but still Bohemian community.[9] He often volunteered at Carmel's Forest Theatre and once played a starring role in Mary Austin's play The Fire.[3] He is depicted twice in Jack London's novels: as Russ Brissenden in the autobiographical Martin Eden (1909) and as Mark Hall in The Valley of the Moon (1913). Sterling, posing with caricatures of himself at the Bohemian Grove , 1907 Kevin Starr (1973) wrote: The uncrowned King of Bohemia (so his friends called him), Sterling had been at the center of every artistic circle in the San Francisco Bay Area. Celebrated as the embodiment of the local artistic scene, though forgotten today, Sterling had in his lifetime been linked with the immortals, his name carved on the walls of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition next to the great poets of the past.[citation needed] Joseph Noel (1940) says that Sterling's poem, A Wine of Wizardry,[10] has "been classed by many authorities as the greatest poem ever written by an American author." According to Noel, Sterling sent the final draft of A Wine of Wizardry to the normally acerbic and critical Ambrose Bierce. Bierce said "If I could find a flaw in it, I should quickly call your attention to it... It takes the breath away." Sterling joined the Bohemian Club and acted in their theatrical productions each summer at the Bohemian Grove.[11] For the main Grove play in 1907, the club presented The Triumph of Bohemia, Sterling's verse drama depicting the battle between the "Spirit of Bohemia" and Mammon for the souls of the grove's woodmen.[12] Sterling also supplied lyric for the musical numbers at the 1918 Grove play.[11] Bierce, who acclaimed Sterling's poem The Testimony of the Suns, in his "Prattle" column in William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner, arranged for the publication of A Wine of Wizardry in the September 1907 number of Cosmopolitan, which afforded Sterling some national notice. In an introduction to the poem, Bierce wrote "Whatever length of days may be according to this magazine, it is not likely to do anything more notable in literature than it accomplished in this issue by the publication of Mr. George Sterling's poem, 'A Wine of Wizardry.'" Bierce wrote to Sterling, "I hardly know how to speak of it. No poem in English of equal length has so bewildering a wealth of imagination. Not Spencer himself has flung such a profusion of jewels into so small a casket". Sterling fell into drinking and his wife departed. Noel, a personal acquaintance, says that when he began the poem, Sterling "was persuaded that there was another world than that we know. He repeated this to me so frequently that it became a trifle tiresome. Of the means he employed to get a glimpse of that other world, I am not so sure." He observes that "many before Sterling had used narcotics to this end;" that "George, a doctor's son, had always had access to whatever drugs he fancied;" says that Sterling's wife said "that George had purloined a great quantity of opium from his brother Wickham," and speaks of "internal evidence in the poem" in which "Sterling writes his Fancy awakened with a 'brow caressed by poppybloom.'" Despite all this, Noel makes a point of saying "there is no direct evidence that Sterling used narcotics." Sterling also wrote for children The Saga of the Pony Express. Despite such famous mentors as Bierce and Ina Coolbrith, and his long association with London, Sterling himself never became well known outside California. Sterling's poetry is both visionary and mystical, but he also wrote ribald quatrains that were often unprintable and left unpublished. His style reflects the Romantic charm of such poets as Shelley, Keats and Poe, and he provided guidance and encouragement to the similarly-inclined Clark Ashton Smith at the beginning of Smith's own career. Sterling carried a vial of cyanide for many years. When asked about it he said, "A prison becomes a home if you have the key".[13] Finally in November 1926, Sterling used it at his residence at the San Francisco Bohemian Club after not receiving an expected visit from H.L. Mencken. Kevin Starr wrote that "When George Sterling's corpse was discovered in his room at the Bohemian Club... the golden age of San Francisco's bohemia had definitely come to a miserable end." Sterling's most famous line was delivered to the city of San Francisco, "the cool, grey city of love!".[14] Memorials [ edit ] Sterling Road in Berkeley is named for George Sterling. It is thought that Sterling Avenue in Alameda is named for George Sterling. A stone bench was dedicated to Sterling on June 25, 1926 at the crest of Hyde Street on Russian Hill. In 1982, the park the bench was originally located in was named "George Sterling Park".[15] Selected works [ edit ] Poetry volumes [ edit ] The Testimony of the Suns and Other Poems (San Francisco: W. E. Wood, 1903; San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1904, 1907) (San Francisco: W. E. Wood, 1903; San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1904, 1907) A Wine of Wizardry and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1909). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1909). The House of Orchids and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1911). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1911). Beyond the Breakers and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1914). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1914). Ode on the Opening of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1915). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1915). The Evanescent City (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1915). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1915). The Caged Eagle and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1916). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1916). Yosemite: An Ode (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1916). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1916). The Binding of the Beast and Other War Verse (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1917). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1917). Thirty-Five Sonnets (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1917). (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1917). To a Girl Dancing (San Francisco: Grabhorn, 1921). (San Francisco: Grabhorn, 1921). Sails and Mirage and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1921). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1921). Selected Poems (New York: Henry Holt, 1923; San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1923). (New York: Henry Holt, 1923; San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1923). Strange Waters (San Francisco: Paul Elder [?], 1926). (San Francisco: Paul Elder [?], 1926). The Testimony of the Suns, Including Comments, Suggestions, and Annotations by Ambrose Bierce: A Facsmile of the Original Typewritten Manuscript (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1927). (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1927). Sonnets to Craig, Upton Sinclair, ed. (Long Beach, Calif.: Upton Sinclair, 1928; New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1928). Upton Sinclair, ed. (Long Beach, Calif.: Upton Sinclair, 1928; New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1928). Five Poems ([San Francisco]: Windsor Press, 1928). ([San Francisco]: Windsor Press, 1928). Poems to Vera (New York: Oxford University Press, 1938). (New York: Oxford University Press, 1938). After Sunset , R. H. Barlow, ed. (San Francisco: John Howell, 1939). , R. H. Barlow, ed. (San Francisco: John Howell, 1939). A Wine of Wizardry and Three Other Poems, Dale L. Walker, ed. (Fort Johnson: "a private press," 1964). Dale L. Walker, ed. (Fort Johnson: "a private press," 1964). George Sterling: A Centenary Memoir-Anthology, Charles Angoff, ed. (South Brunswick and New York: Poetry Society of America, 1969). Charles Angoff, ed. (South Brunswick and New York: Poetry Society of America, 1969). The Thirst of Satan: Poems of Fantasy and Terror, S. T. Joshi, ed. (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2003). S. T. Joshi, ed. (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2003). Complete Poetry, S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, eds. (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2013). Plays [ edit ] The Triumph of Bohemia: A Forest Play (San Francisco: Bohemian Club, 1907). (San Francisco: Bohemian Club, 1907). with Hugo Hofmannsthal: The Play of Everyman (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1917; Los Angeles: Primavera Press, 1939). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1917; Los Angeles: Primavera Press, 1939). Lilith: A Dramatic Poem (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1919; San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1920; New York: Macmillan, 1926). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1919; San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1920; New York: Macmillan, 1926). Rosamund: A Dramatic Poem (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1920). (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1920). Truth (Chicago: Bookfellows, 1923; San Francisco: Bohemian Club, 1926). Songs [ edit ] with Lawrence Zenda (Rosaliene Travis, pseud.): Songs (San Francisco: Sherman, Clay, 1916, 1918, 1928). (San Francisco: Sherman, Clay, 1916, 1918, 1928). with Lawrence Zenda (Rosaliene Travis, pseud.): You Are So Beautiful (San Francisco: Sherman, Clay, 1917). (San Francisco: Sherman, Clay, 1917). We're A-Going (San Francisco: Sherman, Clay, 1918). (San Francisco: Sherman, Clay, 1918). with additional verses contributed by Jack London, Sinclair Lewis, Ambrose Bierce, Gelett Burgess, and undetermined others: The Abalone Song (San Francisco: Albert M. Bender [Grabhorn Press], 1937; San Francisco: Windsor Press, 1943; Los Angeles: Tuscan Press, 1998). Prose [ edit ] Robinson Jeffers: The Man and the Artist (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926). Letters [ edit ] Give a Man a Boat He Can Sail: Letters of George Sterling, James Henry, Ed. (Detroit: Harlo, 1980). James Henry, Ed. (Detroit: Harlo, 1980). From Baltimore to Bohemia: The Letters of H. L. Mencken and George Sterling, ed. S. T. Joshi (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2001). ed. S. T. Joshi (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2001). Dear Master: Letters of George Sterling to Ambrose Bierce, 1900-1912, Roger K. Larson, ed. (San Francisco: Book Club of California; 2002). Roger K. Larson, ed. (San Francisco: Book Club of California; 2002). The Shadow of the Unattained: The Letters of George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith, David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi, eds. (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2005). Edited volumes [ edit ] Although uncredited, Sterling was co-editor of this volume and wrote "A Memoir of Ambrose Bierce" for it. References [ edit ] Notes |
Donald Cerrone turtled up as Rafael dos Anjos rained down punches to his head. Some of them were blocked by Cerrone's gloves and "Cowboy" appeared like he was about to get up. Then, referee Herb Dean came in to end the fight. Dos Anjos retained his lightweight title with a TKO win at 1:06 of the first round Saturday in the main event of UFC on FOX 17 in Orlando. But some fans felt like Dean stopped the fight prematurely. What does Cerrone think? "I don't have any control of it," Cerrone told Ariel Helwani on the FOX Sports 1 post-fight show. "They stopped it. [It's] whether I should have been intelligently defending myself, I guess. He had my back. I don't know. It doesn't matter." Cerrone (28-7, 1 NC) had won eight in a row coming into the fight, finishing five of those men. A title shot had been a long time coming for "Cowboy." But, unfortunately for the fan favorite, it didn't last very long. Dos Anjos landed a hard left hand, a knee to the body and then "overwhelmed" Cerrone with punches. "It sucks," Cerrone said. "I don't have words for it. The unfortunate part about this job is if you don't show up to work and the other guy does, you end up getting your ass whipped, don't you?" Helwani asked him what went wrong and Cerrone replied "everything." -- from his warmups on. "Cowboy" said he couldn't even find his gear earlier in the afternoon. It was just one of those days. "He showed up, I didn't," Cerrone said. "Nature of the beast in this game. Hey, what are you gonna do?" Cerrone, 32, likes to keep a high pace when it comes to taking fights. He fought four times in each of the last three years. But as for what's next, the usually boisterous "Cowboy" didn't have a clear answer. "I have no idea how that'll work," he said at the post-fight press conference. "I don't even know if they want to call me after that ass whoopin'. That's what I do is fight. Sometimes you just don't show up. I don't have an excuse. I just wasn't there. He did a great job. He showed up and did what he had to do." |
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Cops arrested 41 people following a three-day college house party in Massachusetts, including resident Andrew Juckett, 21 Police have arrested 41 people after a three-day raging house party near a college campus lead to a property being condemned. Renter Andrew Juckett, 21, who appears to be a student of Bridgewater State University, Massachusetts, and housemate Juan Perez, also 21, were among those detained by police. Officers said they were called to the property at 1am on Sunday to reports of a disturbance at a property in Bridgewater, before discovering the massive house party. Once inside, police said they discovered a large amount of alcohol, several drinkers who were obviously under the age of 21, and a large amount of road signs. Cops said while breaking up the party several people tried to flee by jumping out of windows on the first floor, but they were still able to arrest dozens of party goers. Records show that the 1,748sqft house, which was built in 1908 and has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, was last sold in 2009 for $269,676. At the time, it was described as a 'fully restored' Victorian property with a large living room with a fireplace, dining room and bedrooms with maple and cherry floors. The owners boasted that it contained a new eat-in kitchen, appliances, ceilings, windows, electrical, plumbing, and two new heating systems. According to the police report, cops were initially unable to get inside the building but could see people destroying furniture and heard the sound of breaking glass from inside. Most of those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and being a minor in possession of alcohol. Juckett (pictured left with friends) has been charged with disturbing the peace, providing alcohol to minors, obstructing justice and keeping a disorderly house along with fellow resident Juan Perez, also 21 Police were called to a two-story home near Bridgewater State University at 1am on Sunday to find dozens of 'college-aged' people drinking and smashing furniture (pictured) Police did not say how many of those arrested were students at Bridgewater, though described several of the revelers as 'college-aged'. In addition, Juckett and Perez were charged with keeping a disorderly house, supplying alcohol to minors, and obstruction of justice. All of those arrested will be arraigned this week in Brockton District Court, police said. Bridgewater Inspectional Services and fire officials responded to the scene to inspect 'several safety hazards' in the home, according to police. An orange note posted on the front door of the property reveals it has since been condemned, according to Fox 25. Images of the property show a large amount of broken furniture, couches, a mattress and even a bicycle piled in the front yard. Once officers managed to get inside the home they found a large amount of alcohol, a collection of street signs and underage people drinking Some people attempted to flee out the first floor windows of the property, police said, but 41 were arrested Residents told reporters that the furniture had been inside the house, but was taken outside after the property was condemned and Juckett and Perez were told to vacate. While the exact extent of damage to the property is unknown, a note tacked to the door appeared to show it had been deemed unsafe due to a lack of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Bridgewater police chief Christopher Delmonte said: 'This is not the typical result of a police response to a loud party. 'The number of people arrested and the charges levied against each of them should underscore the burden a few can place on neighborhoods and the amount of municipal resources required to restore order. 'We have developed a comprehensive plan for dealing with these types of situations, which requires tenants and landlords to be held accountable. 'Our residents should not have to put up with this. It is a quality-of-life issue.' |
Story highlights Ted Nugent agrees to plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor count Nugent violated Alaska state law by killing a bear, just days after he wounded another one He was charged with a federal count for transporting the dead bear Nugent agrees to pay a $10,000 fine and serve two years probation Rocker and avid hunter Ted Nugent has agreed to pay a fine, serve probation and record a public service announcement as part of a deal to plead guilty to transporting an illegally killed black bear in Alaska, according to court documents. The plea deal, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, stems from federal allegations that arose during a bear hunt in May 2009 that was filmed for Nugent's television show, "Spirit of the Wild," on the Outdoor Channel. News of the plea deal broke a day after Nugent was questioned and cleared by the Secret Service over comments he made at an annual meeting of the National Rifle Association where he said he would be "dead or in jail" if President Barack Obama were re-elected. In the plea agreement, Nugent admitted to shooting and killing a bear using a bow and arrow during a hunt on Sukkwan Island in southeast Alaska, just days after he wounded another bear. Alaska limits licensed hunters to the bagging of one bear per hunting season. Under the law, the wounding of a bear counts toward the season's bag limit. "Nugent failed to locate and harvest the wounded bear," the plea agreement said. Where the federal charge against Nugent -- a misdemeanor count of violating the Lacey Act -- comes in to play, according to court documents, is that he left the island by boat with the dead bear and "knew or should have known, in the exercise of due care, that the black bear was taken, possessed or transported in violation of a law or regulation of the United States." Neither the federal complaint nor the plea agreement revealed how federal authorities found out about the violation, though scenes from the hunt aired on Nugent's show. Nugent nor his attorney, Wayne Anthony Ross, immediately responded to a CNN request for comment. News of the plea deal comes as Nugent is promoting another bear hunt, this time in Quebec, Canada, on his web site. As part of the plea deal, Nugent has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine, not to hunt or fish within Alaska or on any other U.S. Forest Service lands for one year. The deal also includes two years probation. Additionally, according to the agreement, Nugent agreed to create a public service announcement that promotes the importance of a person's responsibility in knowing the rules and regulations of their hunting activities. The televised announcement, which must be approved by federal prosecutors in Alaska, must be at least 30 to 60 seconds in length and be broadcast every second week on his television show for one 12-month period, according to the plea agreement. A federal judge still must sign off on the agreement. Under federal sentencing guidelines, the maximum penalty is one year in prison and $100,000 fine. Nugent's attorney told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that his client, who has previously hunted in the same area, was unaware of the law, which was introduced less than five years ago. He told the newspaper he watched the video clip from Nugent's show and the arrow "touched" the bear and stuck in the ground. "There wasn't any blood trail that they could find," Ross said. "There was a little blood apparently at the spot, but nothing that indicated the bear was hard hit." On Thursday, the Secret Service said it resolved questions regarding comments that Nugent, a conservative activist and gun rights advocate, made about President Obama during a speech at an NRA convention in St. Louis, Missouri. "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year," Nugent said, according to a video that the NRA posted on YouTube. "If you can't go home and get everybody in your lives to clean house in this vile, evil, America-hating administration, I don't even know what you're made out of." The video has since been removed. Many have questioned whether Nugent was alluding to violence against the president. Earlier Thursday, Nugent issued a statement confirming his meeting and describing it as a "good, solid, professional meeting concluding that I have never made any threats of violence towards anyone. The meeting could not have gone better. I thanked them for their service, we shook hands and went about our business. God bless the good federal agents wherever they may be." Nugent, the self-styled "Motor City Madman," gained musical fame in the 1960s as a member of the psychedelic band The Amboy Dukes, then as a solo act in the 1970s and later as a member of the 1980s supergroup Damn Yankees. He is probably best known for the1977 rock anthem, "Cat Scratch Fever." |
CHICAGO -- Police say a South Side man was laughing as they arrested him on animal cruelty charges after witnessing him kick a kitten between 15 and 18 feet into the air, then signal a "field goal" with his arms. Percy Love, 22, told officers that his cat, Nightmare, who is less than a year old, "is tough, we play like that all the time," according to the Chicago Sun-Times, later adding: "It's just a cat." Officers witnessed the incident at 4:20 p.m. on South Campbell Avenue and immediately took Love into custody. Officers attended to the kitten at the scene before he was taken to the city's Animal Care and Control agency, where he's being treated for injuries, none of which are life-threatening, the Chicago Tribune reports. Spokeswoman Cherie Travis told the Tribune that the cat is very friendly, and will hopefully be up for adoption soon. |
The latest US Census Bureau numbers show that 49.1 million Americans were living in poverty in 2010, Reuters reported. This was a record breaking number, indicating 16 percent of the American population lives in poverty. This recent number released Monday contrasts with an official poverty measure released in September which said 46.2 million people, or 15.1 percent, lived in poverty in the country, Reuters reported. Read more at GlobalPost: US poverty rate hits record high: about 1 in 6 poor The number released today, the Supplemental Poverty Measure, is higher than the figure reported in September because it is based on the everyday costs of families-- food, clothing, shelter, and utilities, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported. This is a shift from the method the bureau has been using since the 1960s, which determined the poverty line by tripling a family’s annual food budget. Monday’s numbers also raised the poverty line to an annual income of $24,343 for a family of two adults and two children, as opposed to $22,113, the official standard, Reuters reported. The rising out-of-pocket medical expenses in the country, which contribute to everyday costs, were not factored into the data, the Washington Post reported. Americans 65 or old saw the steepest poverty increase of 15.9 percent as opposed to 9 percent under the official formula. The supplemental measure made it 18.2 million Americans under 18 living in poverty, a drop from the 22.5 percent official rate, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported. Read more at GlobalPost: Report: America's poor at historic high The Hispanic poverty rate rose to 28.2 percent, affecting 14.1 million people, surpassing the number of impoverished African Americans for the first time, Politico reported. A huge number, 9.9 million, of African Americans still live in poverty, however, which is a rate of 25.4 percent. According to Politico the Asian poverty rate was 16.7 percent, or 2.4 million people. Non-Hispanic whites had a poverty rate of 11.1 percent, or 21.9 million people, Politico reported. |
“We wanted to be able to offer the best product at the best price,” Mr. Rutter said, “and a big part of the cost is energy.” As cannabis has increasingly gone legitimate — about two dozen states had already legalized it in some form before several others eased restrictions on Election Day — electric utilities have struggled to cope with the intensive energy demands of the proliferating industry. Besides blown transformers and blackouts for utilities in some places, the ascent of Cannabis Inc. has also raised clean-air concerns in parts of the country where fossil fuels are still the main source of electric power. Even in many places where growing marijuana is legal, cultivators are required to keep their crops out of public view. And in any case, many growers prefer having the ability to control the environment by raising the plants indoors. Traditionally, indoor producers — formerly relegated to basements, garages and shadowy warehouses — relied on hot, high-intensity lights. When air-conditioning and ventilation were included, the energy used to grow a single marijuana plant would run seven refrigerators for the same period, according to one estimate. |
A former "Quiverfull" adherent who managed to escape the movement against her husband's wishes has developed some pretty cogent thoughts about evangelical extremism and Christian patriarchy: Both lines of thinking turn men into "assholes." Vyckie Garrison, an evangelical-turned-atheist who previously associated herself with the religious movement made famous by the Duggar family, has become an outspoken critic of Quiverfull thinking, calling out the belief system's deeply ingrained sexism and subjugation of women. The founder of No Longer Qivering, a blog where she describes her experiences with evangelical extremism, Garrison recently elaborated on her views about Christian patriarchy in an interview with the Friendly Atheist -- and she got straight to the point about the level of indoctrination she believes Quiverfull followers experience. Advertisement: "It’s a very gradual progression," Garrison explained. "You take one step and then the next one makes sense. And then you kind of have to do the next...It took a while, but we totally drank the Kool-Aid to the very bottom of the glass." The former fundamentalist also said that in his efforts to conform to a more Biblical style of living, her then-husband became a harsher version of himself -- a trend she's seen among other evangelical men. "It turns these guys into assholes," Garrison said. “What makes it really insidious is, as wives, we know in our hearts that this guy, deep down, he’s actually a nice caring, loving ... He’s trying his damnedest to fit into that box that God says he has to live in this way, he has to rule his home in this way. And so he’s trying, but it goes completely against the grain." Garrison said she believes men behave in sexist or even cruel ways because they are faithful, and she emphasized the role religion plays in guiding their actions. "He’s doing it because ... this is right, this is biblical," she explained. "And the next thing you know, it just is this downward spiral..." Listen to Garrison's entire interview with the Friendly Atheist below: Advertisement: (h/t Raw Story) |
David Cameron has axed standard assessments used to gauge how policies affect different social groups as part of a drive to get rid of the "bureaucratic rubbish" that gets in the way of British business. Cameron also vowed to slash three-month consultation periods on future government policy proposals, signalling that the public may not get a say at all on some proposals, with the final decision left to individual ministers. Other measures include reducing the time limit for bringing judicial reviews, hiking up the legal charge involved, and halving the number of possible appeals. The prime minister outlined plans to axe equality impact assessments at the CBI conference, saying new government measures needed to be "tough, radical and fast" to help British business compete in the global race. He said "faster government" was one of the key steps Britain needs to take to thrive – "in this global race you are quick or you're dead", he said. Cameron said that while "massive steps" had already been taken to make government leaner and faster, further measures were needed because government "can still be far too slow at getting stuff done. "Consultations, impact assessments, audits, reviews, stakeholder management, securing professional buy-in, complying with EU procurement rules, assessing sector feedback … this is not how we became one of the most powerful, prosperous nations on Earth. It's not how you get things done. As someone once said, if Christopher Columbus had an advisory committee he would probably still be stuck in the dock. So I am determined to change this." Cameron said the Equality Act was "not a bad piece of legislation", it was just the way it had been interpreted – with equality impact assessments on every policy, "way beyond" what was required, he said. Speaking in central London, Cameron said it could be left instead to "smart people in Whitehall" to consider equality issues while making policies. "Let me be very clear. I care about making sure that government policy never marginalises or discriminates," he said. "I care about making sure we treat people equally. But let's have the courage to say it – caring about these things does not have to mean churning out reams of bureaucratic nonsense. We have smart people in Whitehall who consider equalities issues while they're making the policy. We don't need all this extra tick-box stuff. So I can tell you today, we are calling time on equality impact assessments. You no longer have to do them if these issues have been properly considered." The prime minister also announced measures to clamp down on the "massive growth industry" of judicial reviews, which he said had almost tripled over a decade. He claimed many of them were "completely pointless" and had delayed major projects. "Of course some are well-founded, as we saw with the west coast main line decision," he said. "But let's face it: so many are completely pointless. Last year, an application was around five times more likely to be refused than granted. We urgently needed to get a grip on this." He announced a reduction on the time limit for bringing cases, charging more for reviews "so people think twice about time-wasting", and halving the number of appeals for "hopeless cases" from four to two. He also vowed to end the three-month consultation period "on everything and I mean everything, no matter how big or small" that the coalition had inherited. "So we are saying to ministers: here's a revolutionary idea – you decide how long a consultation period this actually needs. If you can get it done properly in a fortnight, great; indeed, the Department for Education has already had a consultation done and dusted in two weeks. And we are going further, saying, if there is no need for a consultation, then don't have one." Cameron told the conference that the country was mired "in the economic equivalent of war" and that the spirit evoked in the 1940s needed to be applied to the current economic challenge. "We need to forget about crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' and we need to throw everything we've got at winning in this global race." He added: "You know what the global race means because you're living it. And I'm here today to tell you this government gets it. We get that the world is breathing down our neck. And we get what British business needs. You need us to deal with our deficit. To cut business taxes so we can compete. "To have a proper industrial strategy to get behind the growth engines of the future. To reform education so we turn out the brightest graduates and school-leavers. To reform welfare so it pays to work. These are the key steps to Britain thriving in this global race. But it's not just about policies, it's about attitude." |
NEWARK — A four-alarm in Newark late Saturday night that severely damaged two houses and affected two others has displaced dozens of residents, officials said. Newark Fire Department spokesman John Brown said the blaze on the 200 block of Lafayette Street started just before 10 p.m. Saturday night. He said the fire was under control in roughly two hours. Nobody was injured in the fire, Brown said, but more than 40 residents have been forced out of their homes. Brown said the cause of the fire is not yet known. The Red Cross posted on social media that the organization was helping the displaced families. Disaster Action Team responding in #Newark to help families affected by #fire. — RedCrossNorthJersey (@RedCrossNorthNJ) November 16, 2014 Diane Concannon, a spokeswoman for the North Jersey region of the American Red Cross, said at least nine families were affected by the fire. She said the Red Cross opened a reception center nearby and "we had 33 people in the center as of late last evening." "We were preparing to open a shelter, but many people left to stay with friends and family," she said. "A shelter was not needed." She said the Red Cross provided emergency assistance and comfort kits to 10 people from two families who were in need of temporary lodging. Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter NJ.com on Facebook. |
BROSSARD – Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin announced on Friday that the team has agreed to terms on a two-year contract (2016-17 and 2017-18) with free agent defenseman Zach Redmond. Redmond, 27, appeared in 37 games with the Colorado Avalanche in 2015-16, registering six points (2 goals, 4 assists). He maintained a +5 differential, served 10 penalty minutes and averaged 11:47 of ice time per game. The 6'02’’ and 205 lbs defenseman added seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) and six penalty minutes in 11 games with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. Since making his NHL debut with Winnipeg in 2012-13, Redmond has played 114 regular season games, contributing 33 points (9 goals, 24 assists). He has scored two goals on the powerplay, with a +5 differential and 46 penalty minutes. In his career, he suited up with Winnipeg and Colorado. In five seasons with Chicago, St. John’s and San Antonio (AHL), Redmond collected 82 points (25 goals, 57 assists) in 164 games. A product of the CCHA’s Ferris State University Bulldogs, Redmond amassed 90 points (22 goals, 68 assists) in 141 games at the college level. He added 50 points (12 goals, 38 assists) in 108 contests with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede, helping his team win the Clark Cup in 2007. On the international stage, Redmond helped Team USA earn the bronze medal at the World Championship in 2015. A native of Traverse City, Michigan, Redmond was selected in the seventh round, 184th overall by the Atlanta Thrashers at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. |
Paramount Pictures has signed a deal with BBC Worldwide to feature the British network’s shows and characters in a planned U.K .theme park. As part of Paramount’s London Paramount Entertainment Resort, the theme park would have the rights to all of the BBC’s beloved characters and brands, including popular shows like Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Top Gear. While no specific rides have been revealed, we’re happy to speculate about what happy visitors might get to stand in line to see: Top Gear’s Controversial Driving Course: Jetting around the track in souped-up go karts with inflammatory license plates, amateur drivers will have to dodge around obstacles representing the various problems host Jeremy Clarkson’s brand of comedy has created for the series. Meanwhile, drivers will be pursued by the faceless, helmeted Stig, who drags anyone he catches back to his subterranean lair, never to be seen again. Sherlock’s Rollercoaster Of Homoeroticism: Fans of the blossoming, tender, and ambiguously erotic love between Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick John Watson will have their hopes slowly brought up by the coaster’s gently rising track, before being plummeted into darkness by dismissive comments from the show’s staff. This cycle is then repeated until whiplash sets in. The Thick Of It Spin Chamber: This is just a small room that spins violently while an angry Scottish man screams “FUCK!” thirty times in your ear. The Office’s Haunted House Of Dead Dreams: Audience members will be led through the spooky confines of the Slough branch of paper manufacturer Wernham Hogg, where they will be accosted by dead-eyed holograms of Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis mournfully bemoaning their endless lives of drudgery. American visitors who complain that the ride should be “warmer, more slapstick, and ten times longer” will be captured and musically tortured by David Brent (Ricky Gervais, in permanent residence at the park). Advertisement Mocking descriptions of a Doctor Who ride are unavailable, due to a Doctor Who theme park ride being a legitimately awesome idea. The London Paramount Entertainment Resort is set to open in Kent in the U.K. in 2020. |
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