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With an integrated development environment, multi-platform support, and a global cloud of multiplayer game servers that auto-scales to hundreds of thousands of concurrent players, ROBLOX is already one of the easiest and most opportunity-rich platforms on which to make games. But we’re not stopping there. The ROBLOX game developer is about to be able to create even deeper, more immersive experiences with the rollout of technology that redefines the ROBLOX game – that gives developers the fuel they need to create exactly the engrossing games they envision. The first example of this technology was showcased in the ROBLOX Winter Games, a 10-day gaming competition that ended earlier this week. While the Games comprised five very different events – from snowboarding to tank battling – created by teenage members of our development community, all of the pieces were wrapped together in a single universe. Players entered the Winter Games world via a ski lodge – handcrafted by asimo3089 – and used the ski lift out back to teleport to the event of their choice. There was no break in the immersion of the Winter Games. No matter where you were in the universe at any given moment, you always had a connection back to the ski lodge. That connection was fused using two methods. First, players could, at any moment, teleport from an event back to the ski lodge. Second, players’ performances in each of the events were tracked and saved in a centralized global database using our new framework for persistent data. This saving of data was always happening in the background, and it allowed a global leaderboard of the top competitors to be displayed in-game at the ski lodge using Surface GUIs. This represented a huge leap forward in the developer’s ability to reliably save data about their game and the players in it. If this structure sounds familiar, that’s because it is. A common parallel would be an MMO – something like World of Warcraft – where players spawn in a safe zone with shops and common social areas, and then teleport into the action when they’re ready. Epic moments, intense competition and unexpected results unfolded in the fun of the Winter Games; yet, they represented but a fraction of what’s possible. All of the features that were used to fuel the Winter Games will soon be publicly available, and we are anxiously anticipating what the most ambitious game developers will do to take this functionality further than we’ve even imagined. Create your own MMO? Totally possible. Allow players to add user-generated content to it? That too. Endless variety? When your game is fueled by ROBLOX, you can make it happen. Welcome to the future of game development: we give you a high-tech and robust infrastructure; you focus on making an amazing game. So far, two features integral to the Winter Games have released to all ROBLOX developers. Improved teleports Teleports have existed on ROBLOX for a while and serve to let players jump from place to place without having to exit the application. We’ve upgraded the teleport feature so that the transfers from one place to another are much faster. The biggest change to the new teleports is that they are not powered by LocalScripts (which are challenging to build because they must coordinate with the server), but by code that is run straight from the game server. This enables developers to create massive games out of a series of interconnected places, and let players jump between them quickly. We’ve released a new API for teleports, opening the doors to more possibilities. For more information on the TeleportService, see this ROBLOX Wiki entry. New data persistence Data persistence allows developers to save information about their game and the players in it. This, too, has existed for some time, but we’ve just released substantial upgrades: Reliable global data saving across servers Data covers not just players, but any game information (e.g., time of day, high scores, the state of resources in a place, etc.) Data persistence API Why is this important? Data is what lets players teleport between a game’s interconnected places (e.g., towns, levels, etc.) in a meaningful way. When players move between the sectors of a RPG, for example, they carry their character data with them. When players build their own content in someone else’s game, they can come back to it just as they left it during a later session. Our developers paid meticulous attention to the new DataStore API so it’s easy for game creators to realize the power of data persistence. The top ROBLOX games have thousands of people playing them concurrently at peak times. This creates a lot of overlapping data saving. We specifically elevated the DataStore API for developers facing this situation – for example, the Update function handles concurrent data updates automatically. We built in the logic so developers don’t have to worry about it and can focus on making a great game with a seamless player experience. For more technical information on developing using the DataStore, see this ROBLOX Wiki entry. The next piece of the puzzle is the ability to have multiple places contained within one game. This feature was recently made available to a select group of top developers and we anticipate it will be available for everyone by the end of this month. This is the first article in a series about ROBLOX’s expanding technology infrastructure and the compelling, large-scale games it enables developers to create. Next time, we’ll look closer at the types of games that are made possible with ROBLOX as your fuel. |
Microsoft announces Git Virtual File System to support very large repos Git is a distributed revision control system which is used in software development involving many people. Many teams at Microsoft are already using Git. Teams which have large codebases are facing performance issues with the current version of Git as it is not designed to work with really huge codebases. For example, the Windows codebase has over 3.5 million files and is over 270 GB in size. When you run “git checkout”, it takes up to 3 hours, “git clone” takes 12+ hours, or even a simple “git status” takes almost 10 minutes to run. To avoid these performance issues, Microsoft is working on a solution that allows Git client to scale to really huge repos. The new solution is called GVFS (Git Virtual File System). Here’s how it works, GVFS virtualizes the file system beneath your repo and makes it appear as though all the files in your repo are present, but in reality only downloads a file the first time it is opened. GVFS also actively manages how much of the repo Git has to consider in operations like checkout and status, since any file that has not been hydrated can be safely ignored. Since GVFS is managed at the file system level, your IDEs and build tools will support them as it is. While GVFS already offers significant improvements in performance, Microsoft is working to improve it even further. Microsoft is also open sourcing the client code. The GVFS source code is available under the MIT license. You can find the source code at Github here. Read more about GVFS here. Swipe to read more stories and follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook More Articles from MSPU |
Their upset win over Florida garnered the Hurricanes national attention and next season, Miami’s basketball team will have another opportunity to show the nation what it can do. The Hurricanes were one of eight teams selected to play in the 2015 Puerto Rico Tip-Off, the school and ESPN announced on Thursday. Joining Miami in San Juan will be Butler, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri State, Temple, Texas Tech and Utah. The showcase event is scheduled to be played Nov. 19-22. Miami has already played in the Puerto Rico event, last appearing there in 2007 when the Hurricanes defeated Maris, VCU and Providence to win the championship. It’ll likely be a special event for Hurricanes guard Angel Rodriguez, the hero of Monday’s win over Florida, who hails from Puerto Rico and lived there until moving to South Florida when he was 15. The Hurricanes will have several opportunities this season to play in showcase events as well. Miami opens play Thursday against Drexel in the Charleston Classic and will travel to New York in December to face Providence in the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational. *In football news, Miami will have defensive end Anthony Chickillo available Saturday when the Hurricanes face Virginia in Charlottesville. Chickillo, who has made 44 consecutive starts for the Hurricanes, injured his knee late in last week’s loss to Florida State and missed practice on both Monday and Tuesday while receiving treatment. Miami coach Al Golden said Chickillo participated in Wednesday’s practice and was expected to play against the Cavaliers. Thursday, the senior’s name did not appear anywhere on Miami’s ACC-mandated injury report. Safety Deon Bush (hamstring) was also hurt late against the Seminoles. He was listed as doubtful. |
For information on monthly tournaments, see here. 2013 Shawnee Open Final Results Main Qualifying Standings | Classics Qualifying Standings Big Daddy Enterprises will be sponsoring and Pizza West will be hosting the annual Shawnee Pinball Open tournament on November 8 – 9, 2013. The tournament is IFPA endorsed and will award full annual tournament points. Please check this page regularly as it will be updated with additional information. Additional updates will be posted on this site’s blog, and on Facebook. Quick Links: Tournament Games | Prizes | Qualifying Points Pizza West is located at 5436 Roberts St. in Shawnee, Kansas. View Larger Map Main Tournament Qualifying for the main tournament will begin Friday the 8th. Qualifying will resume on Saturday the 9th, the main tournament will start at 6 pm. Each game played must have a paid entry and counts towards your entry. No practice during qualifying. Only the highest score for each person on each game is entered. If you do not beat one of your previous scores it is a scratched entry. 6 machine bank for qualifying, best score on each machine counts towards your qualifying entry. See the Qualifying Points page for details. $10 for 6 entries, one for each game. $3 each additional single game entry The top 8 entries will advance to the A division, next 8 will advance to B division. Head to head, double elimination, best 2 out of 3. PAPA rules v16 and IFPA 11 rules regarding malfunctions and game settings will generally be adhered to. Tournament officials will make final decisions based on circumstances Games will not be free play, bring your quarters! Side Tournament There will be a “classic game” side tournament on Tri Zone. $1 each entry to qualify Top 8 scores advance to match up for first game: 1-4-5-8, second game 2-3-6-7 Final is two highest scores from first and second game above Tri Zone will not be on free play, 25 cents/play Friday Schedule: Friday qualifying from 2-5 pm, room is reserved for qualifying. 5-8 pm, break for dinner. Please allow table space for regular non-tournament dinner patrons (don’t camp out at tables in back). You can stay, eat, and play. Scores will not be counted for qualifying 8-11:30 pm qualifying resumes, back room is reserved for tournament use. Saturday Schedule, back room is ours starting at 1:00 Saturday qualifying from 1-5:30 pm B division begins play at 6:00 A division begins play after B division finishes Side “classic” tournament will run concurrent with B and A division finals Main tournament prizes will be awarded as follows, percentages are of the entire pot. 100% payout minus trophy expenses. |
England’s best-surviving medieval charnel chapel now accessible through new 3D model Archaeologists and computer scientists at the University of Sheffield have developed a new 3D model of the most complete remaining charnel chapel in the UK. The new 3D model, developed by researchers from the University’s Departments of Archaeology and Computer Science, allows people across the world to step inside Rothwell charnel chapel – a 13th century room which contains the bones of thousands of people who died in Britain between the 13th and 16th centuries. Charnel chapels Charnel chapels were built at some churches in medieval England to house bones that were disturbed while digging new graves. The chapels were generally well-lit and accessible, and most likely provided a location for pilgrims and locals to pray for the souls of the dead while among their physical remains. Charnel chapels were thought to be relatively uncommon in medieval England, however archaeologists from the University of Sheffield have identified up to 60 potential charnel chapel sites throughout the UK. Rothwell charnel chapel is the most complete surviving example with medieval remains, but analysis of the site is hampered by issues of access and preservation. Digital exploration Now, University of Sheffield researchers have used the latest digital humanities technologies, funded by Sheffield’s Digital Humanities Institute (DHI), to create a digital version of the site which researchers and members of the public with an interest in archaeology and history can use to explore the chapel. Dr Lizzy Craig-Atkins, who led the project from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Archaeology, said: “Rothwell charnel chapel is a site of major international significance. Surviving charnel chapels, with human remains still housed inside, are very rare in England. What is so fascinating about the Rothwell charnel chapel it is that it presents an ideal archaeological resource for researchers to use to advance our understanding of how the remains of the dead were treated during the medieval period. “This new digital resource provides an opportunity for people all over the world to explore the site and helps us to preserve this fascinating window into the past for future generations.” More to be discovered Dr Steve Maddock from the University’s Department of Computer Science, said: “This fascinating project presented us with some unique challenges in creating the model, with important lessons learnt for future cultural heritage projects.” The Rothwell Charnel Chapel Project has also been the subject of several student research projects at the University of Sheffield and the site is a core component of a recently-completed University of Sheffield PhD. The new digital resource, together with research on the chapel, will be fed into undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for archaeology students at the University of Sheffield. Archaeologists leading the project are also welcoming the input of researchers who might be interested in working with the model, which has been published via ORDA, the University’s file sharing platform. Click here to visit the Rothwell Charnel Chapel Project website Click here to read our 2016 article on the project Smartphone and Tablet users click here to sign up for our weekly email |
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We turn now to Mexico, where President Obama has traveled for a two-day visit to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Part of their talks are focused on immigration reform. AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, outside the U.S. embassy in Mexico City, protesters called on Obama to keep his promise to overhaul immigration laws. For more, we go to Mexico City, where we are joined by Marco Castillo, an organizer with Migrant Families Popular Assembly and Acción Migrante campaign, which is calling for human rights to be the focus of migration policy changes, joining us by Democracy Now! video stream. Welcome. Tell us what your actions that you have planned today. [no audio] We’re going to first go to a SOT— MARCO CASTILLO: OK, I’m sorry. Yes, yes, yes. AMY GOODMAN: Oh, yes, here. MARCO CASTILLO: I’m here. AMY GOODMAN: We hear you now. MARCO CASTILLO: OK. Good morning, everybody. AMY GOODMAN: So, if you could repeat what you said. MARCO CASTILLO: Yes, yes, I will. Today we’ll be protesting outside of the U.S. embassy, and then we’re going to march until—to create a memorial on all migrants who have been disappeared, killed. And, yes, that’s what we’re going to be doing today. AMY GOODMAN: And why are you protesting? MARCO CASTILLO: Yes, well, just two facts, very quick today. This morning, we have the news that 10 migrants, Central American migrants, on their way to the north border were pushed away from the train. Many of them are injured. Two of them are severely injured. And we’re going through a big humanitarian crisis on the borders of the U.S. and Mexico. And on the other hand, we have, between January and March, $41,000—million have been sent from Mexican workers in the U.S. to Mexico. So we have two realities. We have a reality of economic, social and cultural contributions of Mexicans and migrants in the United States; and on the other hand, we have a big criminalization that have been—put all human rights at stake on the border. So, what we are claiming is to put humans on the center of collaboration, any collaboration, between both governments, Mexico and the U.S. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in the 30 seconds we have left, President Obama is seen as a supporter of immigration reform, yet his administration has also deported tens of thousands of people to Mexico. How is it seen in Mexico? MARCO CASTILLO: Yes. Well, we always are hopeful for an immigration reform, and we always welcome any effort, but the truth is that we’re pretty disappointed on the kind of immigration reform that they are offering, where national security is in the center of it. We want human rights. We want humans to be put in the center of this immigration reform. AMY GOODMAN: Marco Castillo, we want to thank you very much for being with us from Mexico City. MARCO CASTILLO: Thank you very much. AMY GOODMAN: Organizer with Migrant Families Popular Assembly and Acción Migrante. We thank you so much for joining us. And that does it for our broadcast. I want to let you know that Democracy Now! does have a job opening, and you can go to our website at democracynow.org. And Juan González’s new film Harvest of Empire is premiering tonight in Houston, May 3rd, at the Sundance Cinema, playing through May 10th. And you’ll be next week, Juan, on May 10th at? JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In Philadelphia, where it’s playing there, as well, yes. AMY GOODMAN: The job, we’re hiring an annual giving manager to head up our individual giving program. Apply if you’re passionate about funding independent media and have experience with online fundraising, annual giving campaigns, donor relations and database management. You find out more at our website, democracynow.org. |
U.S. companies spend around $170 billion each year on expenses related to workplace injuries and illnesses. These expenditures come directly out of a company’s profits. When a business invests in improving safety, it may reduce costs associated with worker injuries and illnesses between 20 and 40 percent, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Savings like these can make the difference between a thriving business and one that’s floundering. Worker injuries and illnesses cost firms in the following ways: Workers’ compensation expenses Absenteeism Decrease in productivity Dip in employee morale Wages for temporary help Drop in profits Lawsuits and fines Cost of retraining Illnesses, injuries and fatalities cost manufacturers billions of dollars each year. Employers spend more than $1 billion every week for workers’ compensation to cover severe workplace injuries and illnesses according to a 2016 Workplace Safety Index by Liberty Mutual. OHSA Fines Increase Failure to comply with government standards can cost you. Beginning in 2016 OHSA fines have been adjusted for inflation for the first time in 25 years. As of late 2016, the estimate was up to $12,600 per regular violation, a mandatory $12,600 per serious violation, and up to $126,000 for each willful and repeat violation. The new penalties will continue to fluctuate. Beginning in 2016 OHSA fines have been adjusted for inflation for the first time in 25 years. As of late 2016, the estimate was up to $12,600 per regular violation, a mandatory $12,600 per serious violation, and up to $126,000 for each willful and repeat violation. Businesses that manage safety and health with an effective system can reduce the expenses associated with employee accidents. Gains come in the form of reduced workers’ compensation payments, better attendance, lower medical costs and an avoidance of fines and penalties. Hire a Safety Facility Contractor Your plant’s reputation is too important to leave to guesswork. If you don’t have internal safety experts, hire someone who can help you. Storee Construction is a leader in plant safety. Our facility safety contractors help you create a workplace that’s safe for workers and visitors. Our team has assisted companies in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. A company with a safety system can expect increased profitability. Employees are more productive when they work in an environment that supports health and safety. A business with a poor record for accidents can’t attract and retain top employees. Be Proactive With Safety You can avoid costly safety compliance missteps by conducting a review of your manufacturing plant. Safety upgrades have an outstanding return on investment according to OSHA. The agency estimates $1.90 reduction in costs per $1 spent on improvements. Storee Construction has helped businesses improve their manufacturing plants with the following upgrades: Installing safety guardrails and handrails in elevated areas Building catwalks, cross-overs and ladders to eliminate exposure to moving equipment Covering or restricting holes and openings Requiring use of proper fall protection devices Installing equipment safety shutoffs and equipment guarding Protecting pedestrian walkways from spills and industrial traffic A plant walk through can identify compliance risks. Storee’s facility contractors will help you prioritize improvements and work with you to ensure minimal disruption to production schedules. Manufacturers can contact Storee Construction for factory layout and industrial safety installations at 888-736-2032. www.storee.com. Updated December 16, 2016. Originally posted May 23, 2012. |
Bug Fixes -Case of light now goes away when the user dies or goes asleep -Bells can no longer be rung when you are dead or shackled -Fixed a minor typo when a bell is rung on another z level -The river in kingdoms no longer can be sailed on -Stone counters no longer glitch on a boat -You now need a sledge to bash a furnace -Strawberry and grape plants now have an empty icon state -Tilling and making a path can no longer freeze the player -The bell is now accurate -The antidote now works fine curing posion -Necklaces can now be laid on top of a statue -Login name check now only checks for player names -Bucket of water cannot be applied on a mob -Shuttered stone walls work now on a boat -Double Stacking stairs is fixed -Digging does not destroy walls anymore Changes -Cancel button added to custom vote -Eating fish is now done with a doubleclick -A canceled brand does not lower sleepiness -An animal will no longer pursue taken food -Clubs are nerfed -Eating delay increased -Eating is now shown in an emote |
The US Air Force is currently saddled with a quandary plaguing its air superiority capabilities. With fighter platforms aging rapidly without suitable replacements available, and with foreign nations quickly closing the technology gap which was once the biggest advantage the United States possessed over other countries (at least militarily-so), the USAF needs a fix, fast. Congress has even gone as far as to order the Air Force to explore the possibility of restarting the production line for the F-22, which ended in 2012 with only 187 units produced overall, a mere fraction of what the Air Force originally intended to buy to replace their F-15 Eagles en masse. Boeing says that it has a cheaper and more effective solution, in the form of a major fleet-wide overhaul of all combat coded F-15Cs. This upgrade, called 2040C or Advanced F-15, will incorporate technology from Boeing’s older Silent Eagle program, along with a few new gadgets, in order to give the USAF’s F-15Cs a brand new lease on life, turning it into an even deadlier air-to-air fighter than ever before. To help market their product, Boeing just released this awesome video of Eagles with 2040C upgrades. According to Flight Global, the 2040C upgrade features “quad packs” which fit onto standard under-wing and belly hardpoints (the F-15C has 11 combined), effectively doubling the Eagle’s current air-to-air loadout to 16 missiles. That’s also double the F-22 Raptor’s internal air-to-air loadout. Additionally, conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) similar to the FAST Packs used on F-15E Strike Eagles will help increase the 2040C Eagle’s range without tanking up pylon space for larger drop tanks, which are typically slung in pairs underneath the wings of the aircraft, or on its centerline pylon station (underneath the fuselage). 2040C will also equip the F-15C with the Talon HATE communications pod, allowing it to transfer and receive data to and from F-22s operating alongside Eagles in combat theaters on a secured high-speed link. Previously, the F-22 was unable to communicate in such a way with USAF F-15s and F-16 Fighting Falcons, precluding them from participating in combat ops over Libya. Boeing, in conjunction with BAE Systems, has already been contracted to the tune of $4 billion USD to replace the Eagle’s AN/ALQ-135 Tactical Electronic Warfare Suite with the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS). As part of the plan, all Eagles will receive Raytheon’s AN/APG-63(V)3 active synthetically scanned array (AESA) radar, which Boeing has already been contracted to install on Air Force Eagles since 2007. As part of the sensors upgrade, a long-range infrared search and track (IRST) system will also be included, allowing the 2040C Eagle a “first sight, first shot, first kill” capability against enemy fighter aircraft. A cockpit overhaul also comes along with the 2040C upgrade. Multifunction displays (MFDs) and gauges will be replaced entirely by a large area display (LAD) similar to the ones used on F-35 Lightning IIs. Thus far, the Air Force hasn’t made a definite statement on whether or not they’ll pursue the upgrade, though considering that restarting production on the Raptor, or buying brand new F-15s and F-16s will likely ring up a sky-high bill, the 2040C option seems like a fairly decent option to explore. |
Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps made a case for a government hand in media policy in a speech to the FCBA on Tuesday. "The commission can act now. It should have acted on the media before now. I am disappointed that it has not," he said. The decline of "real journalism" justifies federal involvement, according to Copps. "The news is suffering from a bad case of substance abuse," he said. The Democratic commissioner pointed to Fox News' Bernie Goldberg and Bill O'Reilly as examples of the problem with today's media landscape, saying the pair has taken his own words out of context. "What you and I are getting these days is too much opinion based on opinion and too little news based on fact," Copps said. The key going forward, according to Copps, is "making sure there is media about, and originating from, the local communities a station serves." Congress has given the FCC power to get involved in the Communications Acts, according to Copps. It may want to give the agency more power to promote media diversity and competition, he said. The commissioner also reiterated his call for a "Public Value Test" as part of the broadcasting license renewal, a process controlled by the FCC. |
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Genre: Fighting Developer: Probe Software Publisher: Acclaim Players: 1 Released: 1995 “FINISH HIM” is a phrase that made parents sweat and tremble in the early 90s. Such words had dominated arcades and home video game systems as violent fighting games like Mortal Kombat made the scene. By the time Sega of America’s 32X expansion had been released, the second game in the Mortal Kombat series was already out. The game was released to much fanfare and for good reason, every version before it of the game had played quite well. The 32X version was no exception, but there were symptoms of mediocrity in its release. The sound bites and the graphics were obviously recycled from other releases. The female characters had the same screams as the male characters during the fatalities, and many of the backgrounds showed obvious signs of poor coloring and blurriness. All these things were entirely unacceptable considering the raw power of the 32X. It was obvious this was a quick and rushed port of the game. In other versions of the game, particularly the Genesis and SNES versions, it was apparent that the developers put forth their best efforts to squeeze as much performance out of their respective systems as possible. Again, however, it’s clear that the same effort was not extended to the 32X. After fifteen minutes of play it’s pretty obvious this game was thrown together rather quickly, probably recycling graphics and sounds from the arcade, SNES and Genesis versions. The sloppiness and inconsistency in graphical quality and accuracy to the arcade original causes this game to seem much worse than it actually plays. Some of the animation is missing obvious frames, creating an inconsistency throughout the game. It’s a shame that they didn’t bother to raise the production value of this game. The game is plenty of fun to play, and quite lovely, but the little things can get irritating. This however shouldn’t matter much, considering it is the very best port of the game. The sloppiness, though irritating, doesn’t affect the awesome gameplay or the superior graphics of this version. Though many site the SNES version as the best port, it ultimately falls slightly short in comparison to the 32X release. This version combines the superior color palette of the SNES version, with the tight control of the Genesis version. The sound is also crystal clear, in comparison to both the Genesis and SNES games. Mortal Kombat II holds the same opportunities to kill your enemy at the end of a match, just like the original, but gives more variety in its options. Each character has at least two ways to end the fight, in addition to many other secret options. Many of these options add a level of silliness to the game, which is otherwise serious and violent. This adds a taunting effect when playing against your friends. It also plays much faster than the original, giving a vibe of increased intensity. All the characters have the same basic moves, but each of the twelve fighters has their own unique special moves and abilities. This adds a whole new level of strategy to the game as the player’s skill level increases with each of the characters. The replay value lies in mastering each of the twelve characters throughout different battles. This game alone doesn’t justify the purchase of a 32X. It’s a pity, because it could have easily been the sole reason for owning one. It may be better than the 16-bit incarnations, but it’s far below what you’d expect from the 32X. Again, the poor production values reduce the quality of the game significantly. It’s a really fun port of Mortal Kombat II, but it’s a sore disappointment for the 32X system. For 32X owners, however, it’s an additional title and an improvement over the limited Genesis. If you own a 32X, go ahead and get this version, it plays better than the Genesis version. Its smooth, fast, and clean. If you don’t, however, stick with the Genesis version. Even these days, where a 32X system runs about $15 USD, this game still doesn’t justify the purchase of the system/expansion. Ultimately, it serves as a little bonus for 32X collectors otherwise, stick with your system, the developers tried much harder elsewhere. SCORE: 8 out of 10 Discuss this review in our forum. |
Posted Friday, August 26, 2016 10:30 pm Authorities arrested a woman after she allegedly flashed drivers on Railroad Street Thursday afternoon. Wilson police responded to the 200 block of Railroad Street around 3:30 p.m. in reference to a report of indecent exposure, officials said. When officers arrived, they found 30-year-old Patrice Antwannette Wiley standing on the side of the road with her dress pulled up in the back, exposing her bare buttocks, according to police. As officers spoke to Wiley, she began to walk away and dance, further exposing herself, according to Sgt. Stuart Haste. Wiley had been “flashing” motorists, police said. Wiley was arrested and charged with one count of misdemeanor indecent exposure. She was placed in the Wilson County Jail under a $1,000 secured bond. Wiley has a criminal history dating back to 2002 in three counties including Wilson, Nash and Edgecombe. Those convictions include misdemeanor assault on an officer, misdemeanor prostitution, disorderly conduct and assaulting or threatening a government official, according to N.C. Division of Adult Correction. Olivia Neeley |
In this episode I’ll: 1. Discuss an article about piperacillin-tazobactam pharmacokinetics in critically ill patients. 2. Answer the drug information question “How quickly must dantrolene be accessible to treat a case of malignant hyperthermia (MH)?” 3. Share a resource about false positive urine drug screens. The article for this episode recently appeared in a weekly literature digest for members of my Critical Care Pharmacy Academy. Every week I send Academy members a summary of the most important critical care pharmacy articles, including my analysis of where the article fits in practice. You can find out more at pharmacyjoe.com/academy. Article Repeated Piperacillin-Tazobactam Plasma Concentration Measurements in Severely Obese Versus Nonobese Critically Ill Septic Patients and the Risk of Under– and Overdosing Lead author: Boris Jung Published in Critical Care Medicine May 2017 Background There is a dearth of evidence regarding the use of piperacillin-tazobactam continuous IV infusion in critically ill obese patients. The authors of this study sought to compare the pharmacokinetics of piperacillin in severely obese and nonobese patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. Their hypothesis was that patients would experience both under and overdosing. Methods The study was a prospective comparative study performed in a single, 16 bed mixed medical/surgical ICU. Patients with a BMI >35 were counted as obese and those with a BMI < 30 were considered nonobese. A consecutive cohort of patients treated with 16 g/2 g/24 hr continuous piperacillin-tazobactam infusion was evaluated. Piperacillin plasma concentration was measured every 12 hours over a 7-day period. Free piperacillin plasma concentration and the fraction of time above 64 mg/L (4 times the upper end of sensitive MIC for Pseudomonas) were compared between the two groups. The authors then performed 5000 Monte Carlo simulations for various dosing regimens and MICs and calculated the probability to spend 100% of the time over 64 mg/L. Results 11 obese and 12 nonobese patients were studied with a total of 294 blood samples obtained. There was no difference in piperacillin plasma concentrations over time between groups. The fractional time over 64 mg/L was 64% and 93% in obese and nonobese patients, respectively. Five nonobese and two obese patients experienced potentially toxic piperacillin plasma concentrations. When a concentration of 64 mg/L was targeted, Monte Carlo simulations showed that 12 g/1.5 g/24 hr was inadequate in both groups and 16 g/2 g/24 hr was adequate only in nonobese patients. Conclusion The authors concluded: Using a conventional dosing of 16 g/2 g/24 hr continuous infusion, obese patients were more likely than nonobese patients to experience piperacillin underdosing when facing high minimal inhibitory concentration pathogens. The present study suggests that piperacillin drug monitoring might be necessary for the sickest patients who are at the highest risk of unpredictable plasma concentration exposing them to overdose, toxicity, underdosing, and treatment failure. Discussion In the pharmacokinetic analysis, the clearance of piperacillin nearly doubled in obese patients. Plasma levels were extremely variable despite the use of a continuous infusion. Most patients achieved at least 50% of the time above the MIC of 16 mg/L for Pseudomonas. Five non-obese and two obese patients experienced very high piperacillin levels that have been associated with toxicity. This study makes a good case for the use of therapeutic drug monitoring for piperacillin in critically ill patients. Unfortunately, the ability to check piperacillin levels for therapeutic drug monitoring is not commonplace. Does your hospital lab have the ability to get piperacillin plasma levels for use in therapeutic drug monitoring? — Pharmacy Joe 🇺🇸 (@PharmacyJoe) April 19, 2017 Drug information question Q: How quickly must dantrolene be accessible to treat a case of malignant hyperthermia (MH)? A: The entire dose of dantrolene should be able to be administered within 10 minutes of the decision to treat. The Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States (MHAUS) now recommends that: Dantrolene must be available for all anesthetizing locations within 10 minutes of the decision to treat for MH. Dantrolene must be available for all anesthetizing locations where MH trigger agents are used. This timeframe is a slight change from the previous recommendation of 5 minutes. This change was based on a consensus discussion taking into account that triggering agents for MH may be administered far away from the operating room where dantrolene is typically stored. I discussed the diagnosis and treatment of MH back in episode 40. Resource An article hosted on uspharmacist.com provides a listing of medications that can cause a false positive urine drug screen. Some common examples are sertraline causing a false positive for benzodiazepines, and ibuprofen or naproxen causing a false positive for barbiturates and THC. If you like this post, check out my book – A Pharmacist’s Guide to Inpatient Medical Emergencies: How to respond to code blue, rapid response calls, and other medical emergencies. <– Previous Post Next Post –> |
Last week I had an opportunity to travel to the San Francisco Bay Area and to give a “TechTalk” at Google. I chose to expand on some remarks that I had made earlier in the year at the ThEC2011 conference in New York about why the thorium molten-salt reactor wasn’t developed. I had done quite a bit of research on the political circumstances in the late 1960s and early 1970s that accompanied the decision by the US Atomic Energy Commission (USAEC) to end the research at Oak Ridge on the MSR. Much of the material that I found I incorporated into the “Nuclear Historical Timeline” that I have been maintaining. So last Friday, December 16, I gave this presentation on the Google campus: I greatly appreciate Iain McClatchie for shooting the video and Gordon McDowell for the editing. Why didn’t it happen? Short answer–because all of the political, technological, and financial focus was on the liquid-metal fast breeder reactor. Later on, due to fears about non-proliferation, the US cancelled plans to commercially reprocess spent nuclear fuel to extract plutonium, and the case for the fast breeder reactor was toast. Because there were no fast breeder reactors to take all the plutonium that had been generated from light-water reactors, in 1982 the US government passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and started collecting a tax that would be intended to pay for what would eventually become Yucca Mountain. |
iCircuit is the easy to use electronic circuit simulator and designer - the perfect tool for students, hobbyists, and engineers. iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch Mac OS X Windows 8 Store Windows Phone Its advanced simulation engine can handle both analog and digital circuits and features realtime always-on analysis. It is the perfect companion to students, hobbyists, and engineers. You use it as you would any CAD program: you add elements, connect them together, and set their properties. But iCircuit is unlike other CAD programs because it is always simulating. It's just like working with the real circuit. You do not stop to take a measurement or spend a lot of time configuring reports. Instead, you just play with the circuit as you normally would, with the power on! There are over 30 elements you can use to build your circuits. The app has everything from simple resistors, to switches, to MOSFETs, to digital gates. The app features a multimeter that you use to probe around the circuit to instantly read voltages and currents. If you want to see how a value changes over time, then you can add values to the built-in oscilloscope. The scope can simultaneously track many signals over time and features a touch interface to control the total time displayed and stacked and unstacked modes to easily compare signals. |
Get the biggest daily news stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Plane flights could get even more cramped if a proposed seating arrangement from Airbus gets the green light. The aerospace manufacturer has reportedly filed a patent for a dramatic, split-level cabin that could see customers stacked on top of each other. According to the designers, the higher seats would be able to recline into a lying-down position. (Image: United States Patent and Trademark Office) (Image: United States Patent and Trademark Office) (Image: Air Live) There would be stairs or a ladder for passengers to climb up to the higher level. It would also mean Airbus could fit even more passengers into a wide-body plane which currently seats six people in a line across the aircraft. Airlines, in turn, could then sell even more tickets. It's unclear whether this would have an effect on the storage bins currently above the seats. poll loading Do you find modern planes too cramped? 1000+ VOTES SO FAR YES NO The new seating arrangement was created by Airbus' designers in Germany and filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office. "In modern means of transport, in particular in aircraft, it is very important from an economic point of view to make optimum use of the available space in a passenger cabin," Airbus wrote in the patent filing. The company maintains that even with the additional seats, it will be able to maintain a "high level of comfort". Airbus proposes that it could put the new seats in the business class cabin, where there are no overhead storage bins. Whether or not it will actually make it into real-life aircrafts remains to be seen. Airbus have form when it comes to being inventive with design - check out their Beluga cargo plane here. And then once these mega-planes are up in the sky, you have to get them down on terra firma once again. Hats off to the pilot of this Airbus, who managed to find the runway despite very stormy conditions. |
This video is no longer available This video was hosted on Vidme, which is no longer in operation. However, you might find this video at one of these links: Video title: Epic Push Upload date: February 2 2017 Uploaded by: Random_Strategy Video description: Blue team decide to ignore a 3 strong droid wave on bottom lane close to their turret, which starts snowballing. Red team is back at base so the droids are completely unassisted, facing down the enemy turret as well as the blue droids. Unable to turn back, they have only one option: they'll have to SMOrc the turret! And they make such a heroic attempt at it! Their excellent teamwork allowed them to shelter damaged droids from attacks, while heathy droids tanked. This allows them to continue pushing, and pushing and pushing! They are true heroes... Moral of the story is: always kill the 3-droid waves! (actually it turns out that the droids' heroism was completely irrelevant to the outcome of the game since red team managed a wipe, and then attacked via top lane but never mind) Music is "Epic Cinematic Battle Trailer" by Steve Raphael. Total views: 849 |
Mr. Li, who was set to officially join FIFA’s powerful executive committee this weekend, went peacefully, and the entire sequence was so low-key that a guest in a room next door might easily have slept through the events. After directing Mr. Li through the bowels of the hotel, the officials led him out a side door that opened onto a narrow street. Hotel staff members wearing suit coats with tails were there to meet him, holding up white bedsheets in an effort to obscure the view of curious pedestrians or members of the news media. He was hustled into a waiting hatchback car — not a marked police vehicle — which drove through a red light as it pulled away from the curb. Shortly after, another official was quietly led out of the lobby. He and his escorts passed by a large oil painting and two tapestries hanging from the wall as hotel cleaning crews polished chandeliers and vacuumed in the background. The executive pulled his luggage behind him while the officers carried two plastic bags that appeared to contain evidence. |
The Town That Was Poisoned February 28, 1985 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE THE TOWN THAT WAS POISONED The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Oregon [Mr. WEAVER] is recognized for 60 minutes. Mr. WEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I have a strange and terrifying tale to tell the House. It is about a town that was poisoned. This town has a population of 10,000. When the poison struck, over 700 were taken violently ill. There were, in fact, 715 confirmed cases of poisoning. Another 117 had severe symptoms. Over 45 hospitalized. A pregnant woman and her husband were poisoned; her baby born soon after had the effects of the poison. Fortunately, no one died. The poisoning was investigated thoroughly by county, State and Federal health authorities. The investigation pointed directly to the food from salad bars in eight restaurants in the town. Another two restaurants without salad bars were implicated, although fewer cases from these two restaurants were reported. The poisoning occurred n two waves in September of 1984, with an astronomical 450 cases reported on the weekend of September 23. The poison was salmonella typhimurium. The town was The Dalles, OR. To dramatize for you how unusual this outbreak of poisoning was, let me cite some figures: The Dalles has not had a single case of reported Salmonella poisoning since 1978. Before 1978, only one or two cases a year were reported. The entire State of Oregon has reported salmonella cases ranging from 250 to 400 a year. The Dalles outbreak had 715. Figures from the Federal Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA, for the entire country for the years 1979, 1980 and 1981 show only one outbreak of Salmonella larger than that in The Dalles, and that of 1,200 cases stemming from pork eaten at a festival in Georgia. The CDC figures include only those outbreaks investigated by the CDC. Most of the outbreaks listed by the CDC run about 20, with the range between 10 and 200. There are an average of 40,000 cases of reported salmonella in the United States each year. The small town of The Dalles had about 2 percent of such cases in 1 year. Most significant of all – highly significant – The Dalles outbreak did not come from one food source from one site nor did it occur at one time. The sources of The Dalles outbreak were eight salad bars. And the outbreak came in waves. Salmonella is not easy to catch, like the common cold or flu. It is difficult to pass from one person to another in ordinary encounters. It almost always occurs from eating food that has been contaminated, improperly cooked, or left out of the refrigerator too long. Salmonella feeds on protein and usually occurs in meat, poultry, eggs, fish, milk or cheese. Not green lettuce salad. Salmonella typhimurium is one of the most common types of salmonella. It can cause typhoid fever in mice. In humans, it is extremely discomforting and can be dangerous (it can kill, but most often does not). Salmonella does not like the acid in our stomachs but it thrives in our intestines where it erupts and causes diarrhea, fever, chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, fainting, hematochezia and abdominal cramps. It is a bacteria that can grow at room temperature but reproduces at a most rapid rate at body temperature. Let me now relate to you the horror ridden story of the town that was poisoned. The Dalles is the county seat of Wasco County, OR. It is situated on the Columbia River about 60 miles east of Portland. It is a farm town, surrounded by orchards, with wheat and cattle ranches in the dry southern reaches of the county. The big aluminum smelter in The Dalles was recently closed. Directly across the river is the State of Washington. It s a quiet, conservative town. On September 17, the Wasco County Health Department received a call from a person who complained of gastroenteritis after eating in a popular restaurant in The Dalles. In the next 4 days the local health authorities received at least 20 more complaints involving two restaurants. On September 21, salmonella typhimurium was isolated from a stool sample of one of these restaurant patrons. The resultant publicity in the local news media caused hundreds of others to report their illness. State health investigators were called in and the Federal Center for Disease Control was contacted and asked to participate. A full-scale investigation was on. The health authorities interviewed and checked the hundreds of people who complained of salmonella symptoms; and they interviewed and checked hundreds who did not. The statistics began to show that those who had eaten at salad bars in eight restaurants were far more likely to have become infected; in fact, the salad bars seemed the only common denominator. Few of those who had not eaten at the salad bars suffered from the illness. With that lead, the Food and Drug Administration investigators and other officials began checking the sources of supply for the salad bars. They found no common source for any of the food articles on the various salad bars. The lettuce came from different suppliers, as did the other vegetables. The salad dressings were from different wholesalers. Each item was traced back, some even to the growers. The puzzled investigators even checked the kale that was used decoratively on one salad bar. A shipment of cantaloupe from a farm across the river in Washington was suspected but nothing was discovered. There were no other similar outbreaks of salmonella in other communities either in the vicinity of The Dalles or, for that matter, in all of Oregon or Washington. I think that bears repeating. This huge outbreak of salmonella was isolated in one town, and it had no common food source. Indeed, the outbreak had no common site. It sprang up and then erupted simultaneously from eight different restaurants and from the salad bars of those restaurants. Even so, both water systems serving The Dalles were thoroughly checked and no evidence of salmonella was found. The food handlers were suspected. Most of the perplexed health authorities involved in the investigation continue to believe that in some way, somehow – no one knows how – the food handlers were the cause. Almost all of the 325 food handlers employed in the 10 restaurants were interviewed and later interviewed again. About 100 had been infected. The 26 food handlers who showed positive salmonella culture in their stools denied having been ill. I can understand the health officials turning to the food handlers as the source; there s no other place to look. Everything else has been investigated and nothing found. But the food handlers came down with salmonella poisoning at the same times the patrons of the restaurants did. One or two handlers came down a day or two before patrons became ill in one or two restaurants, but the figures are imprecise. And at one restaurant the patrons became ill before the food handlers. And no one has been able to discover how all the food handlers got salmonella in the first place. There were food handlers in almost all the restaurants who became ill about the same time. How did all of them happen to get salmonella? They were the victims of the poisoning just like the patrons. They ate at their restaurants, and they were poisoned too. And why was it only the salad bars which were almost the entire sources of the poisoning? As an incubator, raw vegetables are not ideal for salmonella. Salmonella feeds on protein. Health authorities can remember only one instance of an epidemic arising from a vegetable, some sewage contaminated celery back in 1974. But records list few other instances not occurring in protein sources. So salad, lettuce salad, would be a most unlikely source for any Salmonella development, certainly not one that poisoned 715 people. Yet no statistical evidence could be found to implicate other foods more commonly associated with salmonella. In one restaurant involved n the first wave 49 patrons of the period September 11 to 15 were interviewed. Seven reported becoming ill within 1 week after they had eaten there. All seven had partaken of the salar [sic] bar; but only 17 of the 42 who denied being ill had eaten salad. And two heads of lettuce from that restaurant were analyzed and no salmonella was found. Actually there were a number of suggested sources of the salmonella. In one restaurant, people who ate the lettuce were unaffected but the macaroni and potato salads at the salad bar apparently were contaminated. In another restaurant, salmonella was found in the blue cheese dressing, but none in the mix used to make the dressing, pointing to contamination in the rest during preparation; or after preparation. The fruit garnish in one restaurant was associated with the poisoning. And two restaurants which had no salad bars were implicated, though with few confirmed cases. The first wave of the outbreak occurred on September 10 and 15 percent of the cases emanated from a 3-day period; it was the second wave that was explosive and just like an explosion, it hit hard and was quickly over; but about 600 confirmed cases of salmonella poisoning occurred in that terrifying second wave which began September 21 and ended a few days later. The epidemic in The Dalles is one of the largest outbreaks of salmonella poisoning in our history for the size of the population in which it occurred. A proportional outbreak in Los Angeles would have 350,000 people ill! If there had been one source, hot dogs at a high school football game, chicken at a big country barbecue, then it would have been explainable though most unusual. But there was not a single source. All evidence pointed to contamination on the premises of the eight restaurants. But the natural place to find salmonella – poultry, eggs, milk, meat, fish – were never implicated. The interviews of affected persons never traced back to such foods; if food handlers had infected salad bars, why had they not infected the more likely foods? Of course food handlers came down with salmonella in larger numbers than the rest of the population: almost all of them ate in the restaurants they worked in. And they were investigated far more intensely than the general population. But one startling fact sends all this conjecture spinning. One restaurant, the Portage Inn (which was one of the first two restaurants implicated) had banquet facilities and frequent large private banquets were given there. These banquets had salad bars all of their own in their private banquet room; the same foods and dressings were provided the banquets as the regular salad bar in the main restaurant. The same food handlers prepared and served the food, including salad bars, for the banquets as for the main restaurant. But no person who ate at the restaurant only as a banquet patron came down with salmonella. Let me repeat that. Banquet guests in the private banquet room, eating from a salad bar prepared by the same food handlers who prepared the salad bar in the main restaurant, and serving the same food as the main restaurant salad bar, did not come down with salmonella while patrons of the main restaurant at the same time did come down with salmonella. In large numbers. If, during the periods of the outbreaks, you had turkey or a ham sandwich, you did not get salmonella. Hundreds of people who ate at the salad bars did. If you had a pizza from Shakey’s or Pietros, you did not get salmonella. But if you ate at their salad bars you had a good chance – dozens did – of coming down with salmonella poisoning. But if you ate at the salad bar in the main restaurant you had a very good chance of severe illness. If you were an employee of one of the implicated restaurants you had a very good chance of getting salmonella infection. But even the health authorities who assumed that the food handlers were the cause could find no evidence of any kind to determine how the food handlers got salmonella in the first place. Except by eating at the salad bars. Consider the outbreak. Eight salad bars in one small town within a 2-week period were the primary source of 715 confirmed cases of salmonella. Indeed, in the second wave when, within a few days, about 600 people were poisoned. The salad bars accounted – according to the best statistical evidence – for most of the infections. Then consider that there are about 50,000 salad bars in restaurants in the United States according to the National Restaurant Association and none of them have been pinpointed as the cause of any salmonella outbreaks. They all have food handlers just as likely or unlikely to contract and pass on salmonella as the food handlers in The Dalles. But only eight salad bars in the United States – out of those 50,000 – caused one of the largest eruptions of salmonella in our history. All in one small town within a 2-week period. The Dalles is not in my congressional district but it is a town I particularly like. When I first read of the salmonella outbreak and the investigation it appeared so strange I became most interested. I talked with the health authorities involved in the investigation almost daily. I poured over the statistics as I received them. I analyzed them thoroughly. I rechecked my facts with the authorities. I talked with other people in The Dalles, including several of the restaurant managers. I came to the conclusion that the town had been poisoned. I have nothing but the highest commendations for the health authorities involved. They were courteous and patient. They were extremely careful and thorough. They never violated confidences and I was given, by them, only statistical data and no names. Their feeling – that the food handlers are the cause – is understandable. I believe they can point to nothing else. For there is no direct, concrete evidence that the salad bars were deliberately contaminated. It is not [sic] job of the health authorities to postulate answers from circumstantial evidence. Because I believe the crime is so horrendous, and the dangers so great, I believe it is my job to do so. Let me repeat. There is no direct, concrete evidence of deliberate sabotage of the food in The Dalles. But the circumstances are so overwhelming in pointing to such deliberate contamination that – though I have agonized over the decision – I can only conclude, and very positively conclude, that sabotage did take place. Is it possible to use salmonella for mass poisoning? It certainly is. Salmonella is quite easy to culture. Under the right conditions it grows quite rapidly. It can be transported easily in liquid. However, culturing salmonella and storing it and determining the proper mix for transporting it would best be done by a medical laboratory with trained lab technicians. If one wanted to undertake a mass poisoning with salmonella, where would one go? The obvious places, where a customer of a restaurant comes in contact naturally and without suspicion with the food many of the other patrons will eat; the salad bars. A small vial of salmonella culture could be used to sprinkle the liquid in the salad dressings or salad mixes or on the lettuce or other foods on the salad bar as one helped themselves. Who would do such a terrifying thing? Who would poison a whole town; or at least 715 of its citizens? Whoever did could not have known how many people they would poison, or whether someone might die from the poisoning. But the massive assault on the people of The Dalles was that: a massive assault, almost a war on the town. Who would want to do it? And who would have the capability to do it? Is there a madman lurking in The Dalles? The poisoning was an insane act, an act of violent hatred, carried on with subtle means. There must be such a person or persons with the motive and ability to assault this town, for it actually happened. RAJNEESHPURAM A group of people arrived in Wasco County in 1981. They are the followers of a native of India who calls himself the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. This man has attracted a worldwide following. They bought a 70,000-acre ranch in the southern end of the county, built a town called Rajneeshpuram, and began developing the property. There are now about 2,000 adherents living in the town. They call themselves Rajneeshees. The relations between the Rajneeshees and the adjoining ranchers has not been very good. There have also been conflicts between the Rajneeshees and the Wasco County authorities over such things as building permits and sanitation facilities. These and other conflicts have caused the establishment of the Rajneeshees to become a statewide issue. Beginning in early September 1984 the Rajneeshees began recruiting from throughout the United States down and outers who lived on the skid roads of major cities. These street people began showing up, transported in buses by the Rajneeshees, around September 5. On the next day Rajneesh officials announced details of their program to bring 1,000 homeless to Rajneeshpuram. As the street people poured in, other residents of Wasco County became aroused. Among other thngs [sic], they feared that the Rajneeshees would attempt to register and vote the street people in the coming election; possibly even elect county commissioners favorable to the Rajneeshees. Large protest meetings were held in The Dalles and other places. The issue became very hot and heavy, with both Rajneeshees and other Oregon citizens saying some very harsh things about each other. The person who spoke for the Rajneeshees most frequently was a woman called Ma Anand Sheela, the personal secretary of the Bhagwan. On September 18 press reports quoted Ma Anand Sheela saying to a rally: You tell your Governor, your attorney general and all the bigoted pigs outside that if one person on Rancho Rajneesh is harmed I will have 15 of their heads, and I mean it. You have given me no choice. Even though I am a nonviolent person I will do that. Ma Anand Sheela has been photographed wearing a holster with a revolver in it. On the next day, September 19, Ma Anand Sheela was again quoted in newspapers: “Wasco County is so bigoted it deserves to be taken over.” There were a number of reports of people who threatened to come to Rajneeshpuram with shotguns. But there were no reports of people who actually did. Nor were there reports of any Rajneeshees who were harmed by outsiders. Nor were there any reports of Rajneeshees harming anyone else. One of the things that first aroused my concern about the Rajneeshees was a statement I saw the Mayor of Rajneeshpuram make on a TV program. He said: “If we are forced to we will take over Oregon. If we are forced to.” Recently the same man, Swami Krishna Deva, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: “If we need to take arms to battle bigotry, we will.” The Rajneesh Medical Corporation has a well equipped medical laboratory at Rajneeshpuram. A final story. This story was told to the Subcommittee on Mining, Forest Management and BPA which I chair at a hearing I conducted in Portland, OR in December 1984. It is related by County Judge William Hulse of Wasco County. On August 29, a few weeks before the salmonella outbreak, the three county commissioners of Wasco County drove down to Rajneeshpuram to make an inspection. They drove into Rajneeshpuram where they were stopped and asked to continue their inspection in a Rajneesh vehicle. As they got in, Ma Anand Sheela came to the van and said to them: “Snakes should sit in the back seats.” Judge Hulse continued: When we returned to our car, a tire was flat. The Rajneesshees agreed to fix the tire and as we waited by the car, someone from the Rajneesh medical laboratory bought us out a pitcher of water and three cups. We thanked her and drank the water. The tire was fixed and we drove back to The Dalles. Within about 8 hours I became violently ill, with some sort of stomach and bowel upset. Later I went to the hospital. I was in the hospital 2 days. The doctor said I might have died. Another county commissioner came down with what appeared to be the same thing, though he was not hospitalized. The third commissioner was considered by us to be sympathetic to the Rajneeshees. He did not get sick.” Mr. Speaker, I conclude my story by calling for an intensive police investigation of the salmonella outbreak in The Dalles. |
Remember when Lil Uzi Vert told Zane Lowe on Beats 1 Radio that he was working on a Hayley Williams-influenced rock record? Well, now another icon of rock is stanning for Uzi and possibly even working with him. This icon? A certain Marilyn Manson. Manson told Zane Lowe about meeting the young rapper, “So, I’m at this hotel and I’m having dinner with Rick Ross, who said his dream is to work with me. He ghosted me a bit. But the same night, I hung out with Lil Uzi after we had talked. And we talked a lot. He ghosted me also. I don’t know if by the time this airs, he will have still ghosted me.” Y’all rappers gotta stop ghosting Marilyn Manson! Besides ghosting him, it’s clear that modern rappers have an affinity for Manson, which is kind of weird on the surface, but makes sense when you really think about it. Manson told Lowe about appealing to the new generation of rappers because of his authenticity, “There’s a lot of bands that do things and they try to seem authentic, but you can’t fake real. You can’t. I mean, I can fake it pretty good, but I don’t have to. But I think that’s where my relationship with a lot of these hip-hop artists is. Because they’re hardcore and they have a different lifestyle that’s unlike mine. I’m white from the midwest. They’re from a different lifestyle. But people know real when they see it. And real scars show it. Mental, physical, musical, all of them.” Marilyn Manson is real as fuck, that is for damn sure. But Manson sees Lil Uzi Vert as a possible heir to the rocker’s throne of weirdness. He knows of Uzi’s plans to work on a new rock album and Manson wants to facilitate it. Speaking to Consequence of Sound, Manson spoke of Uzi’s rock aspirations, “[Uzi] wants to do a rock album next, and I would love to see that happen because I think that he could make a new thing. Not some rock/rap type of thing, something special and new that I think needs to be created just to fuck the world up more.” Manson went further to find some comparisons to Uzi in the hardcore realm and the similarities between Uzi and himself, “I think that if I had to pick what Lil Uzi Vert should be, if he’s involved in rock, it’s an early Bad Brains or Faith No More, but with a catchier element. I think he has punk rock in him. He’s a little crazy motherfucker. And good. Smart as fuck. He has an attitude like I did, and I like that about him.” I don’t really see the Bad Brains comparison but I think Uzi could make some fire pop punk, in fact it seems like his calling. If Manson helps him on this album shit could truly be legendary, I am officially here for this weird new era of music in which Marilyn Manson is collaborating with young rappers. As for Marilyn Manson, his 10th studio album Heaven Upside Down is coming out October 6th and he dropped the first single “We Know Where You Fucking Live” today. Music is so awesomely weird right now. |
NEW YORK // The US navy has announced that it will be pulling its sole aircraft carrier out of the Gulf this autumn – leaving the region without a naval strike force for the first time in seven years. The absence of an aircraft carrier in the Gulf just as the Iran nuclear deal is expected to come into effect this autumn has drawn criticism from some US legislators. But analysts say the short-term gap is not militarily significant and the United States still has a huge amount of firepower stationed in the region to deter Tehran and carry out air strikes against ISIL. The Obama administration has used its naval power in the Gulf, spearheaded by the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, as a crucial element of its bid to reassure GCC allies over its commitment to countering Tehran. In April it deployed the carrier to block Iranian ships from delivering weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen. Until recently the Pentagon required the US navy to keep at least one carrier in the Gulf at all times, with an overlap period between any replacement. But that requirement was replaced with new guidelines that allowed periods of no carrier presence. The USS Theodore Roosevelt will leave the Gulf sometime in October, and be replaced with another carrier about two months later. Military officials said the gap was a result of badly needed maintenance across the US navy’s 10 carriers, combined with strains on military budgets and a growing demand for carriers in the Asia Pacific, where maritime tensions with China have increased. “Due to a lot of maintenance and other rotational things the navy is doing with aircraft carriers, they just didn’t have one to relieve Theodore Roosevelt on time,” said an officer with US central command (Centcom), which coordinates military policy in the Middle East. “They notified us of that and we have the plans in place to mitigate for this”, he said, adding that “we will have an aircraft carrier back in the Gulf” soon. “I wouldn’t say that just because we don’t have one that that lowers or changes the necessity to have one,” the Centcom officer said. It is unclear whether the Pacific will be prioritised in the future and whether there may be more frequent absences of aircraft carriers in the Gulf. Where to deploy carriers “is always continuously being assessed by the combatant commanders,” said a US navy official. “I don’t know what they’re going to come up with for requirements for the future.” There have been such gaps before, but not for at least seven years. Meanwhile, the gap scheduled to begin in October comes at a time of heightened anxiety in the Gulf over the implications of the lifting of sanctions on Iran and US commitments towards the region. The move has been criticised by some in Washington. “We have 11 active nuclear aircraft carriers today in the United States navy,” said retired Admiral James Stavridis, the supreme allied commander of Nato until 2013, counting a carrier that is to be inducted soon. “It is hard for me to understand why we cannot manage a fleet of that size to maintain an aircraft carrier at all times in regions as dangerous as the Arabian Gulf,” he said in a recent radio interview. Speaking at the nomination hearing for the incoming naval chief last month, Republican senator John McCain said that the “absence of a carrier doesn’t authenticate a commitment” to Gulf allies. Some analysts say the timing of the gap, even if one is unavoidable, is another misstep by the Obama administration in effectively communicating its Middle East policies, but others say Gulf officials are not overly concerned about the issue. “Gulf leaders are not paranoid and fixated on every US military move,” said Bilal Saab, an expert on US-GCC military affairs at the Atlantic Council think tank. Navy fighter jets, many flying from the carrier, conduct around 20 per cent of missions against ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria, and US military officials said this will be offset by the opening of Turkey’s Incirlik airbase for bombing missions, and by the contribution of coalition countries. The naval chief nominee, Admiral John Richardson, said that the temporary carrier absence would be “mitigated” by fighter jets stationed at airbases in the region. And, according to Centcom spokesman Lt Cmdr Kyle Raines, “Centcom continually reviews its theatre force requirement ... to ensure we have the force presence necessary to adequately address our ongoing commitments, mission requirements, and threats in the region”. But Adm Richardson added during his nomination hearing that “without that carrier there will be a decrement in our capability there”. The carrier is accompanied by a carrier group that includes a guided missile cruiser, destroyer, attack submarine and other vessels, and they typically leave with their carrier when it is rotated out, but not always, said the navy official. While the carrier is the most powerful naval asset and a potent deterrent – essentially a US airbase that can be positioned just off an adversary’s coast – it does not carry out the day-to-day aspects of maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz and sea lanes crucial to the flow of Gulf oil. In April, the US navy released plans to increase the number of ships in the region from 30 to 40 in the next five years, though this could be affected by ongoing budget cuts. In same month, the Pentagon announced that US warships would accompany American and potentially other countries’ commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian naval forces intercepted an oil tanker. This was later discontinued but an increased presence in the strait continues. “As far as I can tell, the American commitment to the Gulf’s maritime security is as robust as it has always been,” said Muath Al Wari, an analyst of Gulf policy at the Centre on American Progress think tank. The criticism from Mr McCain and other US legislators comes as the partisan fight over the Iran nuclear deal intensifies ahead of a likely vote next month, and as some are pushing for an end to defence budget cuts and new increases, both of which make the carrier gap an issue ripe for political jockeying. Despite this, analysts said it does not represent a strategic shift and would not significantly change the overall US military posture in the region. “This means absolutely nothing,” said Mr Saab. “I realise some people will want to make a big deal out of it, but it’s not even politically significant, let alone militarily ... there is plenty of US firepower to go around in the Gulf.” tkhan@thenational.ae |
Shamans and scientists In 1999, three molecular biologists travelled to the Peruvian Amazon to see whether they could obtain bio-molecular information in the visions they had in sessions orchestrated by an indigenous shaman. They had no previous experience of ayahuasca shamanism or of the Amazon, though they did have an interest in alternative healing traditions and shamanism. Their age ranged from the late-30s to mid-60s. One worked as a scientist in an American genomics company. Another was a professor at a French University and a member of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). The third taught in a Swiss University and was a director of a research laboratory. None of the scientists spoke Spanish, and the indigenous ayahuasquero did not speak English or French, so I translated for them. The first thing to report is that the scientists and the shaman had many long conversations. They did not cease to have things to say to one another. The shaman had been studying plants, as an ayahuasquero, for 37 years. He answered the biologists' questions for days on end. He also conducted night-time ayahuasca sessions, in which the biologists took part. They saw many things in their visions, including DNA molecules and chromosomes. The French professor had been studying the sperm duct of animals for many years, first in lizards, then in mice. When a sperm cell comes out of the testis and enters the sperm duct, it is incapable of fertilizing an egg. It only becomes fertile once it has travelled through the duct, where about fifty different kinds of proteins work on it. The professor and his team had spent years trying to understand which protein makes the sperm cell fertile. Understanding this could have implications for the development of a male contraceptive. He brought three questions to one of the ayahuasca sessions. First, was there a key protein that makes sperm cells fertile? Second, why had it not been possible to find the answer to that question after years of research? And, third, was the mouse the appropriate model for studying fertility in men? He received answers from a voice that spoke in his visions. In reply to the first question, the voice said: "No, it is not a key protein. In this organ, there are no key proteins, just many different ones which have to act together for fertility to be achieved." To the second question, it said: "I already answered that with your first question." To the third question, it said: "This question is not important enough for me to answer. The answer can be found without ayahuasca. Try to work in another direction." The Swiss scientist wanted to consult the shamanic sphere about the ethics of modifying plant genomes. She wanted to know if it was appropriate to add genes to plants to make them resistant to diseases. It so happens that tobacco is an important plant for both genetic engineers and Amazonian shamans. Shamans from many different indigenous societies say they speak in their visions with the "mother of tobacco," or the essence of the plant. The biologist reported that she spoke during an ayahuasca-influenced meditation with an entity that the shaman subsequently identified as the mother of tobacco. This entity informed her that tobacco's fundamental role was to serve all living beings. It also informed her that manipulating tobacco's genome was not a problem in itself, so long as the plant could play its fundamental role in an adequate environment, and so long as it was in keeping with that environment. The biologist saw, in a vision, a resplendent plant growing in a desert thanks to an extra gene which allowed it to resist drought. She came away from this experience with the understanding that genetic manipulations were best gauged case by case, in a way that takes into consideration the scientist's intention as well as the way in which the modified plants will be used by society. In interviews conducted in their respective laboratories four months after the Amazonian experience, the three biologists agreed on a number of points. All three said the experience of ayahuasca shamanism changed their way of looking at themselves and at the world, as well as their appreciation of the capacities of the human mind. They all expressed great respect for the shaman's skill and knowledge. They all received information and advice about paths of research they were on. The two women reported contact with "plant teachers," which they experienced as independent entities; they both said that contacting a plant teacher had shifted their way of understanding reality. The man said that all the things he saw and learned in his visions were somehow already in his mind, but that ayahuasca had helped him see into his mind and put them together. He did not think he had experienced contact with an independent intelligence, but he did think ayahuasca was a powerful tool for exploring the mind. The scientific information and imagery accessed in ayahuasca visions by the three biologists were certainly related to the information and images already in their minds. They did not have any big revelations. "Ayahuasca is not a shortcut to the Nobel prize," the French professor remarked. They all said that ayahuasca shamanism was a harder path to knowledge than science, and as scientists, they found specific difficulties with it. For example, getting knowledge from an ayahuasca experience involves a highly emotional, subjective experience that is not reproducible. One cannot have the same ayahuasca experience twice, nor can somebody else have the same ayahuasca experience as oneself. This makes it almost contrary to the method of science, which consists of designing objective experiments that can be repeated by anyone, anywhere, anytime. The scientists said that more research was needed; and that this would require preparing questions carefully, and working with qualified shamans in well-defined conditions. And they are all planning to return to the Amazon at some point to continue working on this. They conducted this preliminary experiment over two weeks. Afterward they visited a school for bilingual, intercultural education, where young women and men from fourteen indigenous societies are learning to teach indigenous knowledge and science, in their mother tongue and in Spanish. They are Aguaruna, Shipibo, Huitoto, Ashaninca and so on. The school's goal is to train indigenous primary school teachers. Each people has elected an old "indigenous specialist" to work at the school as the keeper and teacher of its knowledge, language and lore. The scientists met with the school's director and with the old indigenous specialists. They spoke positively about their recent experience with an indigenous shaman. But several of the specialists warned them about the abuses that can occur with ayahuasca shamanism. They said that sorcerers worked with ayahuasca and shot darts into people to cause disease. They said ayahuasca was double-edged. "The plant can show you things that will harm you," said one. They emphasized that using ayahuasca required the presence of a well-trained and talented ayahuasquero. The specialists asked the scientists about science: What was its nature? Where did its center lie? One of the scientists replied that science was fragmented into many disciplines and was practised in many countries. He went on to say that he thought it was very important that young indigenous people learned about science, because it was currently the dominant form of knowledge around the world. In reply, one specialist said he thought this was true, but he also thought that the scientists might consider sending their children to the Amazon to learn about indigenous knowledge. That way, he said, they too would benefit from a complete education. Once everybody had spoken, the Aguaruna director of the school thanked us for our visit and said: "Here in the Amazon, our knowledge has been taken many times by others, but we have never received any benefits from it. Now we would like to see some returns." He said that an agreement regarding the compensation of indigenous knowledge should be established before any further research was conducted. This experiment seemed to show that scientists can learn things by working with indigenous Amazonian shamans. Some observers have suggested that shamanism, as classically defined, is reaching its end. But bringing shamans and scientists together seems more like a beginning. |
Holiday traditions, in today’s post. – photo by Mitch Waxman Last Sunday, like every other history geek in Queens, I found myself at Queens Plaza waiting for the MTA’s annual “Holiday Nostalgia Trains” event to start. I missed the first roll through, as I was up fairly late the night before, but got there in time for the second showing. – photo by Mitch Waxman The Nostalgia Trains are late model subway cars maintained by the transit museum that are still quite functional. They make a round trip from Queens Plaza to the City’s Second Avenue stop on what’s normally the “F” line. As an aside, my railfan pals can cogently argue that the subway cars which the modern day F is using could qualify as museum pieces, but that’s another story. – photo by Mitch Waxman Famously, the Nostalgia Trains run several models of car which would be familiar to New Yorkers of the 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s and so on. Some of these units were online as late as the 1970’s, I’m told. Back in the day (as late as the 1980’s), as it were, the L or Canarsie line had incredibly low ridership by modern standards, so MTA used some of these antiques to service it. – photo by Mitch Waxman One missed last year’s Nostalgia Trains, for a variety of reasons, but after the long holiday weekend – Our Lady of the Pentacle suggested that I get out of the house for a while. I ran into a number of people I know onboard, and met a few new people – including a Subway Historian named Andrew J. Sparburg. – photo by Mitch Waxman MTA is going to be running the Nostalgia Trains every Sunday during December, and the link below offers a bit of nitty gritty about the eight historic examples of their rolling stock, and a schedule of when and where you can board and ride. from mta.info Seven of the cars on the “Shoppers Special” are nearly identical except one: No. 1575, which appears much more modern than the rest of the consist. No. 1575 is the prototype for the subway car class that followed the R1/9, with amenities such as fluorescent lights and smaller ceiling fans. Customers can visit the train year-round at the Transit Museum, though it sometimes makes guest appearances for special occasions such as anniversaries and the holidays. – photo by Mitch Waxman One does wish that MTA had preserved just one of these historic units in the actual distopian condition which distinguished the NYC Subways during the “bad old days.” Graffiti, mess, etc. It would be great if they hired a professional junkie to pass out on the rattan seats as well. Spray some piss scented air freshener around, hire a couple of thugs to menace the crowds, etc. Poop on the windows… y’know – New Yawk, Fun City. The problem with museum pieces is often the loving restoration, which belies what their true operational ambience was. – photo by Mitch Waxman Personally, I was rather happy that all of the shooting which I’ve been doing in the Subways over the last couple of years seems to have finally paid off. Practice, practice. – photo by Mitch Waxman The nostalgia trains carried us from Queens Plaza to Manhattan, where a short interval was suffered and the reverse trip was begun. I spent much of the first half of the journey catching up with friends and acquaintances, then got busy on the return to Queens Plaza. – photo by Mitch Waxman If you’re planning on attending and photographing the trains, I’d recommend bringing along a bright lens (f2.8 or better) and shooting at a fairly high ISO speed. Modern subways are quite a bit better lit than these survivors. The shot above, if you’re curious – was captured at f3.5, ISO 4000, and a shutter speed of 1/250th. It’s also pretty important, when shooting in the “system,” to adjust your color temperature settings. If you’re on AWB or “auto white balance,” you’re going to be losing a whole lot of the image to an orange cast which will increase image noise. I shoot in raw format, and therefore always adjust the color temperature of the shot during the development process, but these were captured under the menu settings for tungsten light and later adjusted to 3750K. – photo by Mitch Waxman Thanking the merciful creator that I didn’t have to spend much time in Manhattan, the Nostalgia trains soon reentered Queens Plaza, where riders were commanded to debark by the MTA personell. It seems they didn’t want us to see the turnaround track, for some reason. Funny thing is, the crowd who was in attendance at this event seemed to be at least 50% railfan. Railfans will tell you the kind – and exact model – of the screws used to hold the track in place, when it was installed, and where the rails were forged. – photo by Mitch Waxman The train disappeared into the east bound tunnel, whereupon it executed a reversal along the occluded turnaround track, and then picked up another load of lookie loos for the journey back to Second Avenue. The Nostalgia trains are running every Sunday until the end of the year. “follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle Advertisements |
Many cancers are causally related to potentially modifiable risk factors, 4 , 5 and contemporary estimates of this proportion in a population (ie, the population‐attributable fraction [PAF]) are a valuable tool for setting priorities for cancer prevention and control. Several previous studies provided estimates of PAFs in the United States, but they included a limited number of risk factors or cancer types, used data sources that may not be nationally representative, or are outdated. 4 - 11 Herein, we estimate the PAF of cases and deaths overall (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers) and for 26 cancer types, in adults aged 30 years and older in 2014, attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors using nationally representative data on exposure prevalence and cancer occurrence. These risk factors include cigarette smoking; secondhand smoke (SHS); excess body weight; alcohol intake; consumption of red and processed meat; low consumption of fruits and vegetables, dietary fiber, and dietary calcium; physical inactivity; ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure; and infection with Helicobacter pylori , hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human herpes virus type 8 (HHV8), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or human papillomavirus (HPV). Much progress against cancer has been made in the United States over the past several decades, as evidenced by the 25% decline in the cancer mortality rate since 1991. 1 However, the cancer burden remains substantial, with more than 1.6 million newly diagnosed cases and 600,000 deaths estimated to occur in 2017. 1 The costs associated with cancer morbidity and premature mortality are staggering, with approximately $88 to $124 billion per year for direct medical costs alone. 2 , 3 Numbers of attributable cancer cases and deaths overall and by sex and individual cancer type were obtained from separate simulation models and rounded to the nearest 10. Thus, numbers of cancer cases or deaths by sex or for individual cancer types may not sum to the totals. All statistical analyses to calculate proportions and numbers of cancers attributable to evaluated risk factors were conducted using Stata statistical software (version 13; Stata Corporation LP, College Station, Texas). Detailed information on statistical analysis is provided in the Supporting Information. To calculate the overall attributable proportion and number of cancer cases or deaths for a given cancer type when there were several risk factors, we assumed that the risk factors had no interactions. We also calculated proportions and numbers of cancer cases and deaths attributable to 4 risk factor groups: 1) tobacco smoking (cigarette and secondhand); 2) excess body weight, alcohol intake, poor diet (consumption of red and processed meat and low consumption of fruits/vegetables, dietary fiber, and dietary calcium), and physical inactivity; 3) UV radiation; and 4) 6 cancer‐associated infections. It is believed that HIV only increases the risk of cancers associated with other carcinogenic viruses (several of which were considered in this analysis) indirectly and through immunosuppression. 10 , 13 Thus, for estimates of all infections and all evaluated risk factors combined, we excluded HIV‐related cancers from the calculations, except for HIV‐related Hodgkin and non‐Hodgkin lymphomas, because the infection causally associated with these 2 cancer types (Epstein‐Barr virus) 13 was not considered in our analysis. The above approximate formula was used for all associations, with a few exceptions. Similar to previous studies, we attributed all cervical cancers to HPV infection and all Kaposi sarcomas to HHV8 infection. 10 Because of the lack of data on anal HPV infection, we attributed 88% of anal cancers to HPV 10 before applying the simulation method. We estimated PAFs for excess UV radiation‐associated melanomas using the difference between observed melanoma incidence rates by sex and age group in the general population and the rates in blacks during 2010 through 2014, as applied in previous studies. 46 Melanoma occurrence in blacks can be considered a proxy for rates in people with minimal UV exposure, because UV radiation (through sun exposure and indoor tanning) is a much less important risk factor for melanoma among blacks compared with whites in the United States. 47 The number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to each risk factor by sex was calculated by multiplying the number of cancer cases or deaths in each sex and age group by the PAF in that sex and age group, and summing the results over age. We applied a simulation method 44 in which numbers from repeated draws were generated for all RRs, exposure levels, and numbers of cancer cases and deaths, allowing for uncertainty in the data. The simulation process was replicated 1000 times for each sex and age‐group stratum. We used numbers from repeated draws to calculate the proportion and number of attributable cancer cases and deaths and their 95% confidence intervals. By using exposure prevalence ( Pi ) at the exposure category i and the corresponding RR ( RRi ), PAFs for categorical exposure variables for each stratum of sex and age group were calculated using the following approximate formula: We used relative risks (RRs) from large‐scale pooled analyses or meta‐analyses of studies in the United States when available. Otherwise, we used RRs from pooled or meta‐analyses of studies conducted in North America and/or Europe or, tertiarily, from studies worldwide (see Supporting Information Table 3). For nonsex‐specific cancers (except breast), we used the overall RRs for men and women. When multiple risk estimates were available, we selected the RR adjusted for the greatest number of confounders. Laboratory data from NHANES were used to calculate prevalence estimates for infections with HBV and HIV (survey years 2011‐2014), HCV (survey years 2009‐2012), H. pylori (survey years 1999‐2000), oral HPV (survey years 2011‐2014), and genital HPV (survey years 2013‐2014). Because HIV tests were done and swab samples for HPV were only collected from younger age groups (younger than 60 years for HIV and vaginal and penile swabs; younger than 70 years for oral swabs), combined HIV or HPV prevalence from the 2 oldest 5‐year age groups with available data were applied as the prevalence for older age groups without data. Equivocal tests for infections were considered as missing values, unless additional tests were performed (eg, HCV‐RNA after an anti‐HCV test). National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data were used to calculate estimates for other exposures. NHANES does not collect data on the same items every survey cycle; therefore, we included data from the most recent years available. Survey years were also combined to provide stable subgroup estimates for SHS exposure (based on serum cotinine levels; survey years 2007‐2010); body mass index (BMI), in kg/m 2 (as an indicator of excess body weight; survey years 2011‐2014); red meat, processed meat, fruit, vegetable, and dietary fiber and calcium consumption (all in grams per day, except calcium, which was in milligrams per day; survey years 2007‐2010); and physical activity (recreational activity in metabolic equivalent of task minutes per week; survey years 2011‐2014). 37 We considered only recreational activity for the association between physical inactivity and cancer, because guidelines generally pertain to recreational activity, and most studies have investigated this type of activity. 38 , 39 SHS exposure was defined as having a serum cotinine level of 0.05 ng/mL or greater among never‐smokers and former‐smokers, according to definitions used for the 2014 US Surgeon General's report. 40 , 41 Anthropomorphic measurements for BMI estimates were collected in person by trained personnel. The NCI method 42 , 43 was implemented to estimate usual daily consumption of dietary factors using data from the two 24‐hour recalls of NHANES (see Supporting Information). Data on cigarette smoking status (current, former, and never) and alcohol intake (number of drinks per day) were obtained from averaging results from the 2013 and 2014 National Health Interview Surveys to ensure more stable subgroup estimates. 35 The number of alcoholic drinks per day was calculated for current drinkers only; former drinkers and lifetime abstainers were combined for this analysis and were considered to have consumed 0 drinks per day in the year before the survey. Because alcohol intake is generally highly underreported in surveys, we adjusted National Health Interview Survey alcohol intake using per‐capita alcohol sales according to a method previously suggested by Rey et al (see Supporting Information). 36 Exposure data used in this analysis were based on sex‐specific and age‐specific (ages 30‐79 years in 5‐year increments and 80 years and older) prevalence estimates from nationally representative surveys and were weighted to account for the appropriate complex sample design using SAS (version 9.4; SAS Institute, Inc, Cary, North Carolina) and SAS‐callable SUDAAN (release 11.0.1; RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina). Exposure definitions and data sources are summarized in Supporting Information Table 2. Cancer cases from the NPCR/SEER were adjusted for delays in reporting to central cancer registries, which have been shown to occur in the most recent data years, using composite, age‐specific, delay adjustment factors derived from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) 2016 December submission (personal communication, Andy Lake [Information Management Services Inc. on behalf of NAACCR] and Eric Feuer [NCI]). The methodology for delay adjustment is described elsewhere. 32 , 33 Both cases and deaths were accessed via the NCI's SEER*Stat software program (version 8.3.4; NCI, Bethesda, MD) and were classified according to the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third edition 34 and the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision , respectively. Because of high levels of misclassification and/or missing information on histologic and anatomic subtypes for mortality data, we used the corresponding proportions from incidence data to estimate the number of deaths from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, gastric cardia and noncardia cancers, and colon cancer (excluding rectal cancer). Numbers of new invasive cancer cases in 2014 in the United States by sex and age group (ages 30‐79 years in 5‐year increments and 80 years and older) were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, which collectively provided complete coverage of the US population in 2014. 30 The corresponding numbers of cancer deaths were obtained from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. 31 We used reports published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) to identify potentially modifiable risk factors with sufficient 12 - 17 or strong (either convincing or probable) 18 - 29 evidence for causing cancer in humans and for which risk factor exposure and cancer outcome data were available (Table 1 ). When a risk factor was evaluated more than once, we prioritized the more recent evaluation. A list of potentially modifiable risk factors that were not considered in this analysis is provided in Supporting Information Table 1. Cigarette smoking accounted for the greatest number (169,180 deaths) and proportion (28.8%) of overall cancer deaths, including 33.1% of deaths in men and 24.0% of deaths in women. In contrast to incidence, the fractions and numbers of cancer deaths because of excess body weight were similar in men (5.7%; 17,560 deaths) and women (7.4%; 20,690 deaths) (Fig. 4 ). Alcohol intake was the third largest contributor to overall cancer deaths in both men (13,350; 4.3% of all cancer deaths) and women (10,110; 3.6% of all cancer deaths). The combination of excess body weight, alcohol intake, poor diet, and physical inactivity accounted for 14.9% of cancer deaths in men and 16.9% in women (Fig. 3 ). The proportion of cancer deaths attributable to infections was 2.6% in men and 2.8% in women, which was slightly higher than that for UV radiation (1.9% and 1.0%, respectively). The proportions and numbers of cancer deaths attributable to evaluated risk factors by cancer type are shown in Table 5 . H. lymphoma indicates Hodgkin lymphoma; NH. Lymphoma, non‐Hodgkin lymphoma. Here, kidney also includes renal pelvis and ureter, and lung includes bronchus and trachea. Population‐attributable fractions (PAFs) are the percentages of total deaths for each cancer type (both sexes combined). The bars in the figure and numbers in parentheses represent 95% confidence intervals. Numbers of attributable cancer deaths are rounded to the nearest 10. B.W. indicates body weight; CI, confidence interval; fru/veg, fruit and vegetable consumption; H. Pyl., Helicobacter pylori ; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HHV8, human herpes virus type 8; HPV, human papillomavirus; PAF, population‐attributable fraction; Phys. inact., physical inactivity; sm., smoking; UV, ultraviolet. PAFs are the percentages of all cancer deaths in the United States in 2014. The total number of all cancer deaths (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer deaths) in adults aged 30 years and older was 308,915 among men, 278,606 among women, and 587,521 in both sexes combined. The bars in the figure and numbers in parentheses represent 95% confidence intervals. Numbers of attributable cancer deaths are rounded to the nearest 10. The PAF patterns for mortality were similar to those for incidence (Fig. 4 ). The proportion of all cancer deaths attributable to evaluated risk factors in 2014 was 47.9% (147,960 of 308,915 deaths) in men, 42.1% (117,250 of 278,606 deaths) in women, and 45.1% in both sexes combined (265,150 of 587,521 deaths). The risk factors considered in this analysis contributed to more than one‐half of cancer deaths in 14 of the 26 cancer types (Fig. 5 ). By cancer type, lung cancer had the largest number of deaths attributable to evaluated risk factors in both men (74,990 deaths) and women (57,980 deaths), followed by colorectal cancer in both men (15,740 deaths) and women (12,570 deaths), liver cancer in men (9860 deaths), and breast cancer in women (11,370 deaths) (Table 4 ). All cervical cancers (11,970 cases) and 88.2% of anal cancers (6460 cases) were attributed to HPV infection. HPV infection also accounted for large fractions of cancers of the vagina (64.6%; 860 cases) and penis (56.9%; 860 cases). The proportion of HPV‐attributable cases was higher in men than in women for cancers of the oropharynx (37.9% vs 11.2%) and oral cavity (7.4% vs 1.6%). Overall, 3.3% of all cancer cases were attributable to evaluated infections (Fig. 3 ). By infection type, the attributable fraction for all cases combined ranged from 0.1% to 1.2% in men and from less than 0.1% to 2.5% in women (Fig. 1 ). Although the number of gastric cancer cases attributable to H. pylori infection was similar in men (3360 cases) and women (4070 cases), the PAF in women (45.5%) was twice that in men (22.6%). While liver cancer in women was equally attributable to HBV infection (10.5%) and HCV infection (11.6%), in men, the PAF for HCV infection (28.4%) was 5 times that for HBV (5.4%). All cases of Kaposi sarcoma were attributed to HHV8. Non‐Hodgkin lymphoma had the highest number of cancers (5440 cases) attributable to HIV infection. Despite an association with only one cancer, UV radiation was the second largest contributor to total cancer cases in men (5.8%; 45,120 cases) and the fifth largest contributor to total cancer cases in women (3.7%; 29,320 cases). Approximately 95% of skin melanoma cases were attributable to UV radiation exposure, with comparable PAFs in men and women. Population‐attributable fractions (PAFs) are the percentages of all incident cancer cases or cancer deaths (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers). The bars in the figure and numbers in parentheses represent 95% confidence intervals. Numbers of attributable cancer cases and deaths are rounded to the nearest 10. Risk factor groups include tobacco smoking (cigarette and secondhand); excess body weight (Ex.w.), alcohol intake (Alc.), poor diet (Diet [consumption of red and processed meat; and low consumption of fruits/vegetables, dietary fiber, and dietary calcium]), and physical inactivity (Ph.in.); ultraviolet (UV) radiation (from any source); and infections ( Helicobacter pylori ; hepatitis B virus; hepatitis C virus; human herpes virus type 8; human immunodeficiency virus [only associated Hodgkin lymphoma and non‐Hodgkin lymphoma], and human papillomavirus). The proportion of cancer cases attributable to poor diet only was 4.8% (37,810 cases) in men, 3.7% (28,880 cases) in women, and 4.2% (66,640 cases) in both sexes combined; the corresponding proportion for cancer deaths was 5.4% (16,630 deaths) in men, 4.7% (13,230 deaths) in women, and 5.1% (29,850 deaths) in both sexes combined. Physical inactivity accounted for 2.9% of all cancers, with the highest proportion for cancer of the corpus uteri (26.7%; 14,140 cases), but the largest number of cases were for colon cancer (22,930; 16.3% of all colorectal cancer cases); 3.9% of female breast cancers (9290 cases) were attributable to physical inactivity. The proportion of all cancers attributed to poor diet ranged from 0.4% for low dietary calcium consumption to 1.9% for low fruit and vegetable consumption. However, for colorectal cancer specifically, the PAFs ranged from 4.9% (6900 cases) for low dietary calcium to 10.3% (14,460 cases) for low dietary fiber. Red and processed meat consumption accounted for 5.4% and 8.2% of colorectal cancers, respectively, with higher PAFs in men than in women. Low fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with 17.6% of oral cavity/pharyngeal cancers, 17.4% of laryngeal cancers, and 8.9% of lung cancers, and the highest number of attributable cases was from lung cancer (19,150 cases). There were no substantial differences between men and women in the PAFs for low fruit and vegetable or dietary fiber, while the PAF for low dietary calcium consumption was slightly higher in women. Alcohol intake was the third largest contributor to all cancer cases among women (6.4%; 50,110 cases) and the fourth largest contributor among men (4.8%; 37,410 cases). Almost one‐half of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers in men (46.3%; 14,670 cases) and one‐fourth of esophageal (28.4%; 1010 cases) and oral cavity and pharyngeal (27.4%, 3450 cases) cancers in women were associated with alcohol; however, the largest burden by far was for female breast cancer (39,060 cases). In general, the proportions of cases attributable to alcohol intake by cancer type were higher in men than in women, except for esophageal cancer. Excess body weight was associated with 4.8% of all cancers (37,670 cases) in men and 10.9% of all cancers (85,680 cases) in women (Fig. 1 ). However, it accounted for more than one‐half of all cancers of the corpus uteri (60.3%) and one‐third of gallbladder (35.5%), liver (33.9%), and kidney/renal pelvis (33.2%) cancers (Table 3 ). The case burden because of excess body weight was largest for cancers of the kidney/renal pelvis (12,250 cases), liver (6680 cases), and esophagus (4640 cases) among men and for cancers of the corpus uteri (31,950 cases), breast (26,780 cases), and kidney/renal pelvis (7740 cases) among women. Excess body weight accounted for a higher percentage of esophageal and gastric cancers in men than in women. Cigarette smoking accounted for the highest proportion and number of cancer cases of all risk factors evaluated (23.6% of all cases in men and 14.5% in women), about three‐fourths of which occurred in current smokers. Lung cancer had the highest proportion of smoking‐attributable cases (81.7%), followed by cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (larynx, 73.8%; esophagus, 50.0%; and oral and nasal cavity, pharynx, and paranasal sinuses, 49.2%), and the urinary bladder (46.9%) (Table 3 ). Lung cancer also had the highest burden of smoking‐related cancer (176,190 cases), followed by urinary bladder cancer (35,050 cases), oral cavity/pharynx/nasal cavity/paranasal sinus cancers (22,960 cases), and colorectal cancer (16,510 cases). SHS exposure contributed an additional 5840 cases of lung cancer (2.7%). H. lymphoma indicates Hodgkin lymphoma; N‐H. lymphoma, non‐Hodgkin lymphoma. Here, kidney also includes renal pelvis and ureter, and lung includes bronchus and trachea. Population‐attributable fractions (PAFs) are the percentages of total cases for each cancer type (both sexes combined). The bars in the figure and numbers in parentheses represent 95% confidence intervals. Numbers of attributable cancer cases are rounded to the nearest 10. The proportion of cases caused by potentially modifiable risk factors ranged from 100% for cervical cancer and Kaposi sarcoma to 4.3% for ovarian cancer and was greater than 50% for 15 of the 26 cancer types (Fig. 2 ). In addition to cervical cancer and Kaposi sarcoma, more than three‐quarters of all melanomas of the skin (95.1%) and cancers of the anus (88.2%), lung (85.8%), larynx (83.2%), and oral cavity/pharynx/nasal cavity/paranasal sinus (77.9%) were attributable to evaluated risk factors. Lung cancer had the highest number of cases attributable to evaluated risk factors in both men (99,860 cases) and women (85,050 cases), followed by skin melanoma (45,120 cases), colorectal cancer (43,080 cases), and urinary bladder cancer (28,050 cases) among men and cancers of the breast (68,390 cases), corpus uteri (37,640 cases), and colorectum (33,980 cases) among women (Table 2 ). B.W. indicates body weight; CI, confidence interval; fru/veg, fruit and vegetable consumption; H. Pyl., Helicobacter pylori ; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HHV8, human herpes virus type 8; HPV, human papillomavirus; PAF, population‐attributable fraction; Phys. inact., physical inactivity; sm., smoking; UV, ultraviolet radiation. PAFs are the percentages of all incident cancer cases in the United States in 2014. The total number of all incident cancer cases (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer cases) in adults aged 30 years and older was 782,210 among men, 788,765 among women, and 1570,975 for both sexes combined. The bars in the figure and numbers in parentheses represent 95% confidence intervals. Numbers of attributable cancer cases and deaths are rounded to the nearest 10. In 2014, an estimated 42.0% of all incident cancers in adults aged 30 years and older (659,640 of 1570,975 incident cancers) were attributable to the potentially modifiable risk factors evaluated (Fig. 1 ). Cigarette smoking had by far the highest PAF (19.0% of all cases), accounting for 55.5% of all potentially preventable cancers in men (184,400 of 332,320 cancers) and 35.0% in women (114,520 of 327,240 cancers). Excess body weight had the second highest PAF (7.8%), followed by alcohol intake (5.6%), UV radiation (4.7%), and physical inactivity (2.9%). Excess body weight caused twice as many cancers in women as in men in terms of both the PAF (10.9% vs 4.8%) and case numbers (85,680 vs 37,670 cases). Similarly, physical inactivity accounted for 4.4% of cancers in women compared with 1.5% in men. Discussion We found that 42% of all incident cancer cases and almost one‐half of all cancer deaths, representing 659,640 cancer cases and 265,150 deaths, were attributable to evaluated risk factors in the United States in 2014. Cigarette smoking was associated with far more cancer cases and deaths than any other single risk factor, accounting for nearly 20% of all cancer cases and 30% of all cancer deaths, followed by excess body weight. Lung cancer had the highest number of cancer cases or deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors, followed by colorectal cancer. The proportions of all cancer cases and deaths attributable to smoking, red and processed meat consumption, HCV infection, UV radiation, and HIV infection were higher in men compared with women, reflecting historically higher prevalence of these risk factors in men.48-53 In contrast, the proportions were higher in women for excess body weight, alcohol intake, physical inactivity, and HPV infection, largely driven by the high burden of breast, endometrial, and cervical cancers attributable to these risk factors. Our overall PAFs are generally comparable to those from recent studies that used similar methods.5-11 However, there are some notable differences, mainly in the proportion of specific cancer types attributable to a given risk factor. For example, previous studies reported larger proportions of HCV‐associated liver cancer in women (26%‐28%) than in men (18%‐19%),8, 54 whereas we found the reverse (28% in men vs 12% in women), consistent with higher HCV infection prevalence in men.51 A previous estimate of the PAF for cancer mortality specifically because of excess weight reported a slightly lower PAF for men (4% vs 6% in our study) and a higher PAF for women (14% vs 7%).55 However, these estimates were based on exposure data for a relatively narrow age group and used risk estimates for all cancers combined without taking into account the distribution of deaths and RRs by cancer type. Several previous studies reported on the proportion of cancers attributable to various risk factors in the United States using cohort data,56, 57 and the findings from some of those studies differ slightly from ours. For example, compared with our study, the PAFs for cancer incidence within cohort studies of health professionals reported by Song and Giovannucci56 were lower than those in our study for both men (33% vs 43% in our study) and women (25% vs 42%), whereas the PAF for mortality was slightly lower in men (44% vs 48%) and higher in women (48% vs 42%). The lower PAFs in that study may be related in part to the lower numbers of risk factors considered and the inclusion of moderate alcohol drinkers and some former smokers in the low‐risk group. In general, however, PAFs within cohort studies may not be directly generalizable to the entire US population, mainly because of potential differences in exposure prevalence between the general population and cohort study participants.58, 59 Smoking Despite substantial declines in overall smoking prevalence over the past 5 decades,41, 48, 60 cigarette smoking remains the leading contributor to cancer cases and deaths in both men and women, accounting for 19% of all cancer cases and 29% of all cancer deaths. These estimates are comparable to findings from previous studies.5, 9 Our results reemphasize that expanding comprehensive tobacco‐control programs could have the greatest impact on reducing the overall cancer burden in the United States. It is noteworthy that we did not include the use of tobacco products other than cigarettes14, 61 and only considered smoking for cancer types with an established causal association according to IARC reports, although there is accumulating evidence for causal associations between smoking and additional cancers (eg, breast cancer).62 In an earlier study that also considered these cancer types, the proportion of cancer deaths attributable to cigarette smoking was about 32%.63 Furthermore, a considerable proportion of cancer deaths categorized as unknown site actually may be caused by smoking‐attributable cancers.62 Thus, the burden of cancer attributable to smoking is likely higher than we have estimated. Proven measures to reduce smoking include taxation, smoke‐free laws, assistance with smoking cessation, warning labels and media campaigns, and marketing bans.48 In the United States, taxation appears to have the strongest effect, followed by smoke‐free laws, which can also substantially reduce exposure to SHS and related health issues.48, 64, 65 Tobacco taxation has a higher impact on lower income people, who also have a higher smoking prevalence, and on youth, because taxation may prevent them from initiating smoking.48, 65, 66 However, there is wide variation across states in the number and intensity of implemented measures.9, 64, 66 For example, the state‐level tax per cigarette pack as of April 2017 ranged from $0.17 in Missouri to $4.35 in New York (with an additional $1.50 in New York City).67 In addition, as of July 2017, only 25 states and the District of Columbia had implemented comprehensive smoke‐free laws in all 3 recommended locations (worksite, restaurants, and bars).68 Currently, no state has fully implemented the CDC's recommended comprehensive tobacco‐control measures.69 It is also important to integrate tobacco initiation prevention and support for cessation into the health care system,70 but these services are generally underused, especially in low‐income and uninsured individuals.71 Moreover, only less than 4% of eligible current or former smokers received the recommended lung cancer screening in the United States in 2015.72 Overall, broad implementation of effective cancer prevention and control interventions, including tobacco‐control policies, has been challenging in the United States.73 There is a need for increasing awareness about the health hazards of smoking to discourage initiation and promote cessation; for equitable access to cessation services; and, more important, for further political commitment to tobacco control (including securing financial resources) at the local, state, and federal levels to substantially reduce the burden of smoking‐related diseases.69, 74 Excess Body Weight, Alcohol Intake, Poor Diet, and Physical Inactivity We estimated that nearly 7% to 8% of all cancer cases and deaths in the United States were attributable to excess body weight and 4% to 6% of cases and deaths were due to alcohol intake, respectively, similar to other recent estimates.6, 7, 11, 75 Previous PAFs for poor diet included variable dietary factors and criteria,76 but more recent PAFs are comparable to our estimates (4% to 5% of all cancer cases and deaths).77 Our estimated PAF for physical inactivity (2% to 3% of all cancer cases and deaths) is slightly higher than earlier PAFs.4 The combination of excess body weight, alcohol intake, poor diet, and physical inactivity accounted for the highest proportion of all cancer cases in women and was second only to tobacco smoking in men. These 4 combined risk factors also accounted for the second highest proportion of cancer deaths in both men and women. These findings underscore the importance of adherence to comprehensive guidelines on weight control, alcohol, diet, and physical activity. Indeed, large, prospective epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that adherence to a lifestyle consistent with the American Cancer Society's cancer prevention guidelines for maintaining a healthy body weight, limiting alcohol intake (for those who drink), consuming a healthy diet, and being physically active38 is associated with a reduced risk of developing and dying from cancer.78, 79 Currently, nearly three‐fourth of adults and one‐third of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years are overweight or obese.80, 81 Furthermore, many Americans regularly drink alcohol and do not meet other dietary recommendations.49, 60, 82 Despite a modest decrease in physical inactivity prevalence over the past few decades, it remains substantially high in the United States (see Supporting Information Table 2).83 For many children, excess body weight extends into adulthood and increases the risk of adverse health conditions and death,84, 85 so weight control in childhood should be a major focus of any strategy to control the obesity epidemic.86, 87 School‐based interventions can provide an opportunity for promoting healthy diet, physical activity, and weight control, as well as family‐based interventions.88-90 Several studies have demonstrated that intensive lifestyle interventions to promote healthy eating and physical activity are effective among adults,91, 92 although long‐term effects of such interventions at the population level have generally been modest at best.83, 88, 89 Studies of behavioral interventions for reducing alcohol intake have focused primarily on alcohol use disorders and have produced mixed results,93 whereas information on more commonly consumed levels is much more limited. Effective implementation of preventive measures (consultation, screening, and treatment) in the health care system and increasing awareness through education campaigns may help to reduce excess body weight and alcohol intake and promote healthier diet and physical activity.84, 92, 94-98 Some regulations may be highly beneficial, such as taxation and reducing marketing of nonessential high‐calorie foods, sugary beverages, and alcohol; regulating alcohol outlet density and the days and hours of alcohol sale; and improving civil structure (eg, increasing public transportation and safe sidewalks).99-103 For example, similar to the effect of taxation on tobacco smoking, higher excise taxes on alcohol have been associated with a substantial reduction in alcohol intake.104 However, more research is still needed to identify tailored, more efficient interventions, particularly those that could be successfully applied at the community level. UV Radiation We estimated that nearly 95% of all skin melanoma cases and deaths in the United States are attributable to UV radiation, comparable to earlier studies.46 Moreover, UV radiation from sun exposure and indoor tanning can increase the risk of nonmelanoma skin cancers (4.3 million individuals are treated annually in the United States), which are less fatal but associated with substantial financial burden.105 Both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers are increasing in the United States, making skin cancer prevention increasingly important.105-107 Sun‐protection measures, including limiting excessive sun exposure; wearing protective clothing, hat, and sunglasses; and using broad‐spectrum sunscreens, have been recommended to reduce skin cancer risk.108 Although more research on the effectiveness of sunscreen use at the population level is needed,109 several studies have either shown a direct decrease in melanoma risk after regular application of approved products110, 111 or have suggested a reduction in melanoma incidence rates in areas where sunscreens are freely available.112 However, the uptake of sun‐protection measures in the United States is far from optimal, but it may improve through multicomponent interventions at the community level.108, 113 Reducing indoor tanning is particularly important among adolescents, because exposure at younger ages is associated with a higher risk of skin cancer up to at least age 50 years.114, 115 Federal‐ and state‐level interventions to restrict access to indoor tanning or educate youth about the harms are likely to have contributed to a decrease in the overall indoor tanning prevalence among youth in the United States in recent years.116-118 However, because of wide variations in regulation strictness (including the defined age limit) or compliance across states, high numbers of adolescents in the United States still engage in indoor tanning (eg, 1.2 million [7% of] high school students in 2015).118 Infections Approximately 3% of all cancer cases in our study were attributable to infections, similar to 4% in an earlier study that also included less common infections (for which exposure prevalence could only be estimated).10 H. pylori infection prevalence in the United States has decreased in the past century, probably because of improvements in sanitation and living conditions and more widespread antibiotic use.119 This trend was followed by a decrease in gastric noncardia cancer incidence rates in the country.120 Currently, screening for H. pylori and subsequent treatment is only recommended for people with certain conditions, and there is no evidence to support routine screening in other individuals.121, 122 In contrast to H. pylori infection, chronic HCV infection prevalence in the United States increased in the last one‐half of the 20th century (mainly among Baby Boomers),51 which contributed in part to rising liver cancer rates.123 Interventions to reduce HCV and HBV burden include increasing awareness; HBV vaccination; screening; treatment to cure HCV infection; and comprehensive programs to reduce transmission through high‐risk behaviors (eg, using shared syringes); however, the uptake of many of these interventions is suboptimal in the United States.123-127 For example, one‐time HCV testing is recommended for Baby Boomers, but only 14% report HCV testing.128 HBV vaccination coverage is only 65% among health care personnel and is even lower in other high‐risk adults for whom HBV vaccination is recommended (eg, 27% among those with chronic liver conditions).127 Among people with HIV infection, highly active antiretroviral therapy reduces the risk of cancers that define the onset of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), ie, Kaposi sarcoma, non‐Hodgkin lymphoma, and cervical cancer.129, 130 At the same time, however, increasing rates of successful highly active antiretroviral therapy have also increased the number of HIV‐infected individuals who are aging, leading to increased number of non–AIDS‐defining cancers in this population.129, 130 As most carcinogenic infections (because of shared transmission routes with HIV) and smoking are more common in people with HIV infection,131 receiving recommended vaccines (including HPV vaccine through age 26 years and HBV vaccine at any age),132 screenings (eg, for HCV infection), and smoking‐cessation services is even more important in this group. Some cancer types that are highly associated with HPV infection have shown contradictory incidence rate trends in the United States in recent decades. Cervical cancer incidence and death rates have been decreasing since the mid‐20th century, mainly because of the widespread use of cervical cancer screening.133 Conversely, incidence rates for cancers of the tongue base and tonsil among younger men and anal cancer in both sexes have been increasing, in part because of changes in sexual behavior.134-136 Although HPV vaccination can prevent anogenital cancer and is recommended at ages 11 and 12 years (but can be given up to age 26 years),137 only 50% of females and 38% of males ages 13 to 17 years in the United States were up to date with HPV vaccination as of 2016.138 Furthermore, the cervical cancer screening rate for uninsured women, among whom HPV infection is more common, is much lower than that for insured women (61% vs 84%, respectively).60 |
AT&T has brought wireless home Internet to nine more states, offering rural and underserved customers a slightly faster replacement for old DSL lines. "Our Fixed Wireless Internet service delivers a home Internet connection with download speeds of at least 10Mbps and upload speeds of at least 1Mbps," AT&T said in an announcement yesterday. "The connection comes from a wireless tower to a fixed antenna on customers’ homes or businesses. This is an efficient way to deliver high-quality, high-speed Internet to customers living in underserved rural areas." The service is newly available in parts of Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin. The wireless Internet had already become available earlier this year in parts of nine other states, namely Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. These account for 18 of the 21 states in AT&T's wireline territory. AT&T now delivers fixed wireless Internet to 160,000 residential and small business locations, and it plans to boost that number to more than 400,000 by the end of this year and to 1.1 million locations in the 18 states by 2020. Standalone wireless Internet service costs $60 a month with a 1-year contract, or $70 a month without a contract or after the contract period ends, AT&T told Ars. Customers can get a $10-per-month discount on the home wireless service by bundling it either with DirecTV or AT&T smartphone service. Installation fees for the outdoor antenna and indoor gateway are up to $99, but the fee is waived if service is purchased with DirecTV. Wireless home Internet service has a monthly data cap of 160GB, an AT&T FAQ says. Customers must pay overage fees of $10 for each additional 50GB, up to a maximum of $200 a month. Data caps on AT&T's wired services are either 150GB or 1TB. Government funding, from your phone bill If you live in the US, you're probably helping to pay for this rollout because it's being funded by the federal government's Connect America Fund, which draws from surcharges on Americans' phone bills to subsidize rural Internet service. In 2015, AT&T struck a deal with the US government to get nearly $428 million per year for six or seven years, nearly $3 billion, to bring 10Mbps Internet service to parts of rural America. Although the Federal Communications Commission uses 25Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream as the standard for measuring broadband deployment progress, the Connect America Fund requires just 10Mbps/1Mbps. Connect America Fund recipients were required to meet 40 percent of their buildout requirements by the end of 2017. AT&T's build to "over 400,000" out of 1.1 million locations this year will meet the threshold if it's at least 440,000. AT&T says it is also on track to meet the 100 percent goal by the required date of 2020. AT&T is also undertaking a multi-year fiber-to-the-home expansion to 12.5 million customers, which is required as a merger condition on its acquisition of DirecTV. The Connect America Fund wireless deployments reach more sparsely populated areas where AT&T isn't building fiber because the costs per customer are higher. Many customers stuck with much slower speeds Even 10Mbps download speeds would be welcome to customers in AT&T territory who get DSL service measured in the kilobits or none at all. But as we noted in this previous story, even after the wireless expansion there may still be millions of customers in AT&T's copper wire territory with Internet service slower than 10Mbps. The 1.1 million customers is also a far cry from the amount that AT&T said its fixed wireless service might cover a few years ago. In 2014, AT&T said that in order to get its DirecTV merger approved, it would commit to bringing "fixed wireless local loop broadband to 13 million new customer locations, largely in underserved, rural locations" within four years of the merger closing. About 85 percent of those 13 million wireless locations would have been outside AT&T's traditional wireline telephone territory; the deadline for that commitment would have been July 2019. But the Federal Communications Commission did not make that commitment binding in its merger approval. The FCC said that AT&T over-estimated how many underserved rural households there were in the potential deployment area. AT&T apparently "engaged in some puffery when they were selling the deal" and "the FCC politely called them out on it," Harold Feld, senior VP of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, told Ars. But even at 1.1 million homes, "getting fixed wireless broadband to rural Americans at an affordable price is a good thing," Feld said. We asked AT&T today if it will try to hit the 13 million goal anyway. In response, an AT&T spokesperson noted that the wireless proposal was never made binding by the FCC and said the company will meet the fiber commitments required by the FCC. The fiber, combined with AT&T's existing broadband services, will bring speeds of at least 45Mbps to at least 25.7 million customer locations, AT&T said. But that means the big wireless deployment outside AT&T's traditional telephone territory may not come to pass, or at least not by the 2019 deadline that AT&T had proposed. Separately, AT&T has been testing a new wireless system that could deliver multi-gigabit Internet speeds for either smartphone data or home Internet service, but it's not clear when it will be commercially available or how many people it will cover. |
Given the horror stories that are routinely covered by the media, it’s easy to understand how people with no personal experiences with pit bulls could think they are all ticking time bombs. Greg Heynen was one of them. Until he saw the amazing thing that his wife’s dog Zack did after his daughter was born… This is Greg’s story: My wife and I owned two dogs that we had owned before we met and brought into the marriage. Her dog was a pit bull/Labrador cross named Zack, and he hated me. When our daughter was born, I said to the wife, ‘If he so much as nips at the baby, he’s gone.’ —————————————————————————————————————————————- We brought our daughter home in a car seat, and both dogs sniffed and licked her, tails wagging. I had to pull Zack away from her because he wouldn’t stop licking her. Zack immediately became my daughter’s protector, and when she was lying on a blanket on the floor, he always had to have one foot on the blanket. Zack loved my daughter immensely, and when she became a little older always walked her to bed, and then slept on the bed with her. He somehow knew whenever it was time to go upstairs, and he would wait at the foot of the stairs for her, and then follow her up to bed. Zack was poisoned by some dirtbag neighbor kids, and we had one of the worst days of our lives. Watching my daughter say goodbye to him as he laid still on the kitchen floor, my wife and I were both sobbing. —————————————————————————————————————————————– At 8:00 that night, my daughter walked to the stairs to go to bed. At that moment, all three of us realized what was about to happen. After five years, she didn’t have Zack to accompany her upstairs. She looked at her mother and me with a look of horror and panic. It was at that moment that my dog, who loved my daughter dearly, but was not in Zack’s league, stood up, walked over to her, and nudged her with his head. He put his foot on the stairs, and looked up at her. They walked up to bed, with my daughter holding tightly to his neck. For the next six years, until he died, Sam waited for her by the stairs each night. |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Shieldhall Tunnel A giant boring machine has "broken through" to complete the initial construction phase of the £100m Shieldhall Tunnel. The project to create the biggest waste water tunnel in Scotland has seen a 3.1 mile (4.8km) tunnel created beneath the south of Glasgow. Scottish Water hopes the new sewer will improve water quality in the River Clyde and tackle flooding. The tunnel is due to become operational next summer. The 1,000 tonne drill being used to make the tunnel made the breakthrough on Thursday night beneath Queen's Park. Cutting head The tunnel now runs from Craigton to Queen's Park, via Bellahouston and Pollok parks, and marks one of the most significant infrastructure projects in the city Glasgow since Victorian times. Scottish Water said the 1,000-tonne boring machine, nicknamed Daisy the Driller, completed the installation of more than 3,200 concrete rings to form the tunnel before its cutting head emerged at the bottom of a 16 metre-deep shaft to cheers and applause from the workers involved. Image copyright SNS Group Image caption The giant boring machine, nicknamed Daisy the Driller, emerged beneath Glasgow's Queen's Park Image copyright SNS Group Image caption The 1,000 tonne boring machine began its journey in July last year Shieldhall Tunnel facts At 4.7 metres (15.5ft) in diameter, the tunnel will be big enough to fit a double-decker bus inside. More than 500,000 tonnes of earth, stone, clay and other aggregates have been excavated in its creation. Of that, 90% of the excavated material has been or will be recycled. The new tunnel will be five times longer than the Clyde Tunnel. It will provide 90,000 cubic metres of extra storm water storage - the equivalent of 36 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The giant tunnelling drill advanced through the ground at a speed of about 2cm per minute. Douglas Millican, Scottish Water's chief executive, said: "With Daisy the Driller having reached her destination, we have completed the most challenging part of the project. "We now move to linking the tunnel to the existing Glasgow waste water network and bringing the whole new system into operation next year." Roseanna Cunningham, the environment secretary who launched the machine in July 2016, added: "The Shieldhall Tunnel is an extraordinary feat of modern engineering which builds on the endeavours of those pioneers who sought to improve Glasgow's waste water network more than a century ago. "Providing an excellent effective waste water network which serves our growing communities is vital to the city's infrastructure and environment, now and for future generations." |
PPP’s newest national poll finds a pretty steady race- but that the candidates are getting even more unpopular as the election approaches, with undecideds actually going up when they would usually be on the decline at this stage in the campaign. Hillary Clinton leads with 42% to 37% for Donald Trump, 6% for Gary Johnson, 4% for Jill Stein, and 1% for Evan McMullin, with 10% of voters still undecided. A month ago Clinton actually led 46/41 but both she and Trump’s support has dropped by 4 points, with support for third party candidates increasing from 8% to 11% and the level of undecideds increasing from 5% to 10%. It’s a similar story in the head to head- Clinton’s 5 point lead is the same as a month ago, but now it’s 48/43 instead of 50/45 with undecideds increasing from 5% to 9%. One reason for the increased indecision is that both candidates have seen declines in their favorability ratings. They each saw some improvement in those in the immediate aftermath of their conventions, but those gains have already worn off. Clinton’s net favorability is -11 at 41/52, down 5 points from when it was -6 at 45/51 a month ago. Trump’s net favorability is -27 at 33/60, also down 5 points from -22 at 36/58 on our last poll. One big thing in this election that continues to work to Clinton’s considerable advantage is the popularity of President Obama. He has a 50/46 approval rating, about the best position we’ve found him in at any point of his second term in office. But more importantly, when voters are asked whether they’d rather have another 4 years of Obama as President or change to the very different direction of Trump, they say they’d rather keep Obama by a 53/41 spread. Clinton positioning herself as a continuation of the current administration is a winning approach. One reason Trump’s campaign may be struggling is that voters just don’t buy into the premise that the United States is a dangerous country. Just 26% say they consider it to be, to 64% who don’t think it’s a dangerous country. That may help explain why Trump’s ostensible outreach to African Americans and Latinos- playing up violence within their communities- isn’t working. Only 13% of African Americans and Latinos think Trump actually cares about them, to 74% who say they don’t think he does. Hillary Clinton is winning their voters 73-9 with Jill Stein at 6% and Gary Johnson at 3%. Other notes from our national survey: -Trump’s failure to release his tax returns continues to cause problems for him. 67% of voters think he needs to release them, to only 23% who say it’s not necessary. -Trump has fought with most of the media over the course of this campaign but battles with the New York Times and CNN have been particularly prominent. Voters say by a 54/29 spread that the Times has more credibility than Trump, and by a 52/34 one that CNN has more credibility. Trump is losing his fights with the media in the arena of broader public opinion. -Feelings that if Clinton wins the election it will only be because of voter fraud continue to be widespread among Trump voters. 67% think that if she wins it will be because the results were rigged for her, to only 18% who think her victory will simply be because she received more votes. 59% of Trump voters think that at least 10-25% of voters are fraudulently cast. -Americans are largely ambivalent toward two major conservative figures that are prominent Trump supporters. 44% of voters say they have no opinion either way about Ann Coulter, with 20% of voters rating her favorably and 36% unfavorably. Sean Hannity is more prominent but still 38% of voters have no opinion either way about him, with 28% rating him favorably and 34% unfavorably. -It’s widely known that Trump voters support building a wall on the border with Mexico to keep undocumented immigrants out of the country. We find that 31% of them also support building a wall along the Atlantic Ocean to keep Muslims from entering the country from the Middle East. 52% are opposed to that idea. -We broke down how people were planning to vote for President this year based on whether they had been to their local library in the last year or not, and found a significant divide. Among voters who have been to the library, Clinton has a 17 point lead at 54/37. Among voters who haven’t been to the library, Trump has a 14 point lead at 53/39. Much has been made of how Trump is a historically unpopular Presidential candidate, so we did an updated version of a poll we did in the spring testing Trump head to head with various unpopular/unpleasant things to see exactly just how unpopular Trump is when you grade him on a curve. The good news for Trump is that he beats out junk mail, mosquitoes, Bubonic Plague, carnies, Ryan Lochte, and bedbugs. The bad news for Trump is that he loses out to Duke University, middle seats on airplanes, public restrooms, and people who leave voicemails in the year 2016. Trump comes out dead even with personal injury lawyers, so that reflects pretty well what his popularity among Americans in on par with. Here’s the full table: Do you have a higher opinion of Donald Trump or________ Results (Trump +/-) Junk Mail Trump, 47/43 (+4) Mosquitoes Trump, 48/41 (+7) Duke University Duke University, 48/34 (-14) Middle seats on airplanes Middle seats on airplanes, 45/42 (-3) Bubonic Plague Trump, 56/30 (+26) Carnies Trump, 41/31 (+10) Personal Injury Lawyers Tied, 44/44 (0) Ryan Lochte Trump, 39/35 (+4) Public Restrooms Public Restrooms, 47/45 (-2) People who leave voicemails in the year 2016 People who leave voicemails in the year 2016, 47/41 (-6) Bedbugs Trump, 56/34 (+22) Full results here |
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T on Wednesday seeking to block its $39 billion merger with T-Mobile. The merger would create the largest wireless company in the United States, combining AT&T's 98 million customers with T-Mobile's 34 million users, for a total of 130 million subscribers. AT&T is currently the second-largest wireless company by number of subscribers, and T-Mobile is fourth. The DOJ said the merger would lead to a situation in which just two companies -- the AT&T-T-Mobile combination and Verizon Wireless -- would dominate the mobile market. The new AT&T and Verizon would account for more than two-thirds of wireless subscribers and 78% of the wireless industry's revenues. "We feel the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers across the U.S. facing higher prices, fewer choices, and lower quality products for wireless services," James Cole, deputy attorney general, said in a press conference Wednesday. The Federal Communications Commission, which oversees the wireless industry, is in the midst of its own review of the proposed merger. Following the DOJ's announcement, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that the agency also believes the merger raises "serious concerns about the impact ... on competition." Shares of AT&T (T, Fortune 500) tumbled more than 4%. Wayne Watts, AT&T's general counsel, said in a statement that the company was "surprised and disappointed by today's action." He went on to say that the company remained "confident that this merger is in the best interest of consumers and our country, and the facts will prevail in court." AT&T has claimed that the merger is necessary in order to significantly expand its faster 4G wireless network to compete with Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500). Without the acquisition, AT&T says it would lack the necessary wireless spectrum and wherewithal to cover 97% of the U.S. population with 4G. But the Justice Department said it didn't buy AT&T's argument. Following what the regulator called "an exhaustive investigation," the DOJ said it concluded that AT&T did not need to buy T-Mobile to remain competitive, and that the company could deploy next-generation technology by simply investing in its own network. "AT&T had not demonstrated that the proposed transaction promised any efficiencies that would be sufficient to outweigh the transaction's substantial adverse impact on competition and consumers," the DOJ said in a statement. Sprint (S, Fortune 500) and many of the smaller carriers have argued that the merger will harm competition and raise prices for consumers, because it would eliminate T-Mobile, the last low-cost carrier with a national footprint. "By filing suit to block AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile, the DOJ has put consumers' interests first," Vonya McCann, Sprint's senior vice president of government affairs, said in a written statement. The DOJ said it concurred with the smaller carriers' opinions, noting that the agency filed the lawsuit to protect price competition. The regulator labeled T-Mobile as an important source of competition in the wireless market. "Any way you look at this merger, it is anticompetitive," said Sharis Pozen, acting head of the DOJ's antitrust division. "It raised serious concerns, and we believe it violates the law." The lawsuit does not necessarily mean the deal won't get done. In April, the DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), following its $700 million takeover bid for ITA, the world's largest airline search software company. The DOJ and the search giant then quickly settled the claim, with the Justice Department approving the deal, provided that Google accept certain concessions and restrictions. |
New Delhi: India’s ranking in the World Bank ease of doing business survey for 2018 climbed a record 30 notches to 100 as a range of regulatory and policy reforms put in place by the Union and state governments over the past four years started delivering results. Significantly, this year’s report from the World Bank has been titled Reforming to Create Jobs. Not only does the jump in doing business rankings burnish the reformist credentials of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which has undertaken tax reforms, reducing government oversight by stepping up disintermediation and anti-corruption policies, it also signals that change in the economic narrative is gaining momentum. Historic jump in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings is the outcome of the all-round & multi-sectoral reform push of Team India. pic.twitter.com/DhrEcuurgi — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 31, 2017 Finance minister Arun Jaitley signalled as much while addressing a press conference on Tuesday evening. “Indirect tax reform (goods and services tax) had become law by June, but was implemented from July. We will get credit for it in future rankings," he said and then added, “Evaluation for the ease of doing business ranking is very tough. The ranking does not reflect the reform measures unless the outcome is visible on the ground." The NDA, which has been seeking an improvement in India’s ranking to attract greater foreign investment, has set more ambitious targets for itself. According to an output-outcome framework document prepared by the government, India is seeking to reach the 90th rank in 2017-18 and 30th by 2020. Last year, India’s ranking improved by just one notch to 130 out of 190 countries. The Doing Business 2018 report, which bases the rankings on field surveys and interviews with corporate lawyers and company executives in Delhi and Mumbai, also recognized India as one of the top five reformers in this year’s assessment. The country improved its ranking on six out of the 10 parameters used to measure the ease of doing business, becoming the only large economy to do so. Of the 10 parameters, India got its highest ranking on “protecting minority investors" by rising to the fourth position globally from 13th last year as the country’s corporate law and securities regulations were recognized to be highly advanced. Its worst performance came in “dealing with construction permits" despite improving its ranking to 181 from the 185th position last year. Jaitley said the target of making it to the top 50 countries in the Doing Business ranking now seems doable. “In parameters such as doing business, dealing with construction permits, enforcing contracts and registering property where India is still lagging behind, there is reason to believe that we can improve our position significantly," he added. Nilaya Varma, a partner at KPMG India, said the next paradigm shift to the top 50 is still a long way ahead and will require India to maintain strong momentum. “There is a need to continue to work on other areas including starting a business, trading across borders as well as land reforms," he said. On the “distance to frontier" metric, which measures the absolute improvement in the performance of a country against better-performing countries, India scored 60.76 against 56.05 last year, indicating that “the country is continuing its steady shift towards best practice in business regulation". Junaid Ahmad, World Bank country director in India, said effective implementation of GST and bankruptcy law may improve India’s ranking significantly over the coming years. “It indicates India’s endeavour to further strengthen its position as a preferred place to do business globally," said Annette Dixon, the World Bank’s vice-president for the South Asia region. The World Bank said while there has been substantial progress, India still lags in areas such as starting a business (156), enforcing contracts (164) and dealing with construction permits (181). Gireesh Chandra Prasad contributed to this story. The complete list of countries in World Bank Doing Business 2018 rankings can be accessed here. |
The Babadook was released three years ago and followed a monster, simply called the Babadook, as it terrorized a single mother and her son in their new house. Fast forward to 2017 and a simple clerical error has turned that horror movie’s monster into a defining gay icon. How did this come to be? Like many good memes, it all started with an innocent Tumblr post. When Tumblr user Taco-bell-rey uploaded a screenshot of The Babadook listed as one of the films available in the LGBTQ section of Netflix. Since that post was uploaded, it’s garnered more than 125,000 notes and been reblogged thousands of times over and has been removed from said section. The caption that accompanies the post — a one line sentence about what this could possibly mean — forever cemented the Babadook’s fate. “So proud that Netflix recognizes the Babadook as gay representation.” It quickly gained attention within the Tumblr community, but when the post found its way to Twitter that it began picking up even more steam. In January, Buzzfeed’s Ryan Broderick, who co-hosts the Internet Explorer podcast, tweeted about how it was his favorite trend on Tumblr. It was through his post that the introduction of The Babadook debate — whether the Babadook was gay because the movie dealt with themes of isolation, depression, and an inability to be oneself — took off. Much like another recent Tumblr to Twitter success story — a request to have Rihanna and Lupita Nyong’o star in their own heist movie based on a photo taken of the pair at Paris Fashion Week is now being turned into a Netflix movie — The Babadook meme quickly found an entirely new audience. my new favorite Tumblr meme is insisting that The Babadook is gay pic.twitter.com/Id1PJpkkgX — Ryan Broderick (@broderick) February 15, 2017 the Babadook is doing an amazing job and is being recognized by more and more people as a gay icon https://t.co/tjofCNHbEl — JuanPa (@jpbrammer) February 16, 2017 Some personal news: today I am proud to come out as a gay babadook pic.twitter.com/DJn87nYzh4 — Alex Bedder (@itgetsbedder) February 16, 2017 The trend of people discovering — and celebrating — the Babadook’s newly found sexuality continued for months, but it wasn’t until June 1 that those not paying attention to Tumblr or certain sections of Twitter finally learned about it. What followed was a number of Twitter users joining in on the joke, stretching it as far as they possibly could. Babadook slander will NOT be tolerated in this house. Cinematic masterpiece AND gay icon. Not the ally we wanted but the ally we deserved. pic.twitter.com/iRHyzDT067 — ケビンちゃん (@kehhbean) June 7, 2017 Weird that most of Comey's testimony is about how the Babadook became a gay icon — Adam Goldman (@theadamgoldman) June 7, 2017 now he's falling asleep and she's calling a cab and the babadook's gay and they're both really glad — alexis nedd (@alexisthenedd) June 7, 2017 Me: Being gay doesn't define who I am The Internet: Demonic creature the Babadook is now a queer icon Me: pic.twitter.com/9o1ePfiDbD — Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) June 7, 2017 this physically hurt to make pic.twitter.com/xwP8ogaDNV — alexis (@lgbthansolo) June 5, 2017 Part of the reason that June became the time to celebrate the Babadook’s chosen sexuality is because the month is dedicated to Pride, an ongoing celebration of the queer community. The Babadook meme was just big enough — and strange — that the joke caught on with people right away. It doesn’t stop there, though. When Taco-bell-rey posted the photo, the result was an ongoing debate about whether or not the Babadook actually was gay. A debate, it should be noted, that continues today. The arguments Despite the humorous intent of the original Tumblr post, many writers and professors have pointed out that part of The Babadook’s underlying themes could be seen as one that resonates with the gay community: coming out and embracing your true self. Dean Eastwood, founder of the men’s gay lifestyle magazine HISKIND, wrote about the similarities between the Babadook’s troubling history and what many men go through when they’re dealing with coming to terms with their own sexuality, eventually coming out. In a piece about the Babadook meme, he wrote: The Babadook ultimately tells an LGBT narrative of being cast to the shadows, manifesting identities in closets and, to live up to modern stereotypes, wearing all black. In the end, the creature’s monster-like identity and traits are subdued when *spoiler alert* he comes out of his shadows and shares his truth with those he loves. Sound familiar? Despite the meme merely picking fun in the internet’s reaction to nearly anything LGBT related, despite how trivial or serious, there are arguably parallels that follow the Babadook — a lonely, confused and misunderstood creature often depicted as a monster — and the LGBT community. In an age where coming out is still tough and the notion of suppressed identities and mental health issues are still strife within the community, the brief skeleton of the Babadook story — like many a ‘tortured soul’ storyline — may be considered a little too close to home for a community where more than half of LGBT pupils have experienced direct bullying and where gay men are three times more likely than heterosexual men to suffer from depression. Eastwood isn’t the only person to focus on the similarities as a takeaway from the movie. Michael Varrati, the organizer of San Diego Comic Con’s queer horror panel, told Mic that by modern definition of the term, the Babadook is a perfect example of a gay icon. “This creature is trying to come out and be seen. By internet culture standards, it's a gay hero,” Varrati said. “The Babadook just wants to step out of the dark and into the light.” The Babadook isn’t the first “monster” to be considered a gay icon, either. When A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge was released in 1985, people were quick to point out that the film’s main character, Jesse Walsh, was a teen struggling with his sexuality. Some of those fears found a physical presence in Freddy Krueger, the franchise’s iconic villain. One particular scene has Jesse watching his male gym teacher get attacked by Krueger in a way that played into those fears that both Jesse and society had at the time. As director Tyler Jensen describes in the documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, this was during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the United States and a time when homosexuality was feared. The Babadook, a movie that director Jennifer Kent has specifically said is about grief and dealing with depression brought on my personal loss, resonated with fans in a similar way. What does this all mean? The Babadook wasn’t conceived as a movie about the struggles that the LGBTQ community deals with as far as anyone knows, but the fact that people can resonate with the story and theme of the film’s mysterious monster isn’t a bad thing. The best part about cinema is that its subjective and viewers can see different aspects of their own lives in the story reflected back at them. It may have started as just a meme — and may end as one — but the fact that it’s resonated a little more deeply with people is pretty great. The Babadook is currently streaming on Netflix. You can find it in the Thrillers category. |
A U.S. jury has ruled that the Apple iPhone infringes on three patents held by an outfit called MobileMedia, which is owned by Nokia, MPEG-LA, and Sony. The patents in question pertain to the phone's camera, call handling, and call rejection. Jurors for the case reportedly deliberated for a mere four hours after a week-long federal trial in Wilmington, Del. That stands in stark contrast to the extended billion-dollar patent trials we've seen between Apple and Samsung. MobileMedia had initially challenged Apple on 14 patents, but the figure was reduced to three. Earlier this year, MobileMedia tried to sue Apple of a screen-rotation patent, but a court ruled that the case couldn't go to trial, according to Cnet. MobileMedia has garnered the unflattering descriptor "patent troll" from some observers. The company, which was formed in 2010, holds 300 patents in all and is currently embroiled in trials against RIM and HTC, according to Engadget. This article, "MobileMedia scores patent win over Apple with eyes on RIM and HTC," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter. |
If Hiraeth has a meaning to you because you are Welsh or of Welsh heritage, or have an interest in Wales, why not join us? Membership is free and open to anyone who shares our love of Welsh culture and social gatherings. We get together to enjoy sport, music, film, art, literature, history, language, food, song...and lively political debate...with the St. David's Day banquet still a highlight of our year. Our events are mostly free, or priced to cover costs. So, we are dependent on the generous support of our individual members, friends of Wales, and corporate sponsors to help maintain and build our activities. Your help and support is both necessary and greatly appreciated. Member: FREE Bronze Patron: $100 Silver Patron: $175 Gold Patron: $250 Sign up here for Membership and to become a Patron. We look forward to welcoming you in to our community and hope to see you at one of our upcoming events. Diolch yn fawr |
An acronym , BRAT is a mnemonic for bananas , rice , apple sauce , and toast , the staples of the diet. [1] It is recommended that all people, regardless of age, drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration, along with oral rehydration solutions to replace the depleted electrolytes to avoid salt imbalance. [3] Severe, untreated salt imbalance can result in "extreme weakness, confusion, coma, or death." [4] The diet was first discussed in 1926. [1] The BRAT diet is a diet that has been recommended for people with vomiting, diarrhea or gastroenteritis . Evidence, however, does not support a benefit. [1] It is no longer generally recommended as it is unnecessarily restrictive. [1] [2] The BRAT diet is no longer generally recommended.[2] The American Academy of Pediatrics states that most children should continue a normal, age appropriate diet. The foods from the BRAT diet may be added, but should not replace normal, tolerated foods. Sugary drinks and carbonated beverages should be avoided.[5] The BRAT diet is no longer routinely recommended to those who have had stem cell transplants and have diarrhea due to graft-versus-host disease as long-term use can lead to nutritional deficiencies. Adding rice, bananas, or pectin to the diet during diarrhea may be beneficial, but Duro and Duggan point out that the BRAT diet is not nutritionally complete and may be deficient in energy, fat, protein, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin B 12 , and calcium. Duro and Duggan also say that food restriction does not benefit diarrhea and actually causes individuals to have diarrhea for longer periods of time, based on randomized clinical trials.[6] Medical attention is required when on the BRAT diet if there is any blood or mucus present in the diarrhea, if the diarrhea is severe or if it lasts longer than 3 days.[7] |
BOSTON (CBS) – There is no more stopping and no jockeying for the correct lane. Open road tolling has made driving over the Tobin Bridge easier. If you don’t have an E-Z Pass transponder, there’s no problem. The state will take a picture of your plate and send you a bill. It’s a system called Pay-by-Plate. But, according to David Babb of Lynn, it’s not smooth sailing for everyone. “I think it’s ludicrous,” he told WBZ-TV. Babb says he went over the Tobin about four times last fall. At $3 a trip, he expected a bill for around $12. “When the first bill came it was $250. It also said it was the third bill that they sent. It was the first one I ever received,” he said. Babb appealed, but the appeal was rejected by MassDOT, the state’s department of transportation which oversees the tolling system. While he was appealing he got another bill, this time for $899. “This is loan shark stuff,” he said. Mina Kroij of Lynnfield had a similar experience. When she got her bill, she thought it was a scam. “It was $1,500 and they told me that if I don’t pay, they are going to stop my registration. I don’t know how they get away with it,” she said. Both Kroij and Babb got hit with late fees. MassDOT charges $50 for each toll that is not paid in 60 days and another $40 on top of that if it goes unpaid for another month. “To me that’s highly punitive,” said Mary Connaughton, who works for a government watchdog agency and also served on the Massachusetts Turnpike board. “That makes the IRS look like philanthropists.” Connaughton loves the idea of cashless tolling and believes it should be expanded to other toll roads. But she said before that expansion, MassDOT should cut back on those fees. “In the early stages of cashless tolling they should err on the side of being generous to the driver because people need to get accustomed to this,” she said. This is not just an occasional driver getting hit with these fees. The I-Team obtained records from MassDOT that show in just four months last year, the state charged $8.5 million in late fees for those who use Pay-by-Plate. While that is a hefty figure, the state only collected $1.2 million, often agreeing to settle for lesser amounts. Kroij agreed to a settlement. “I so I had to settle for $409 for going over the bridge 30 times. I don’t know where they got that number but that’s what they offered and I thought it was better than $1,500,” she said. But Babb does not want to settle. He wants to pay the toll and only the toll. “I’m not going to pay it. No way. I can barely afford living, I mean $900, that’s nuts,” he said. MassDOT would not talk to the I-Team on camera, but a spokesperson said they want to encourage the use of transponders. Mina Kroij got one. But David Babb told the I-Team he is concerned about the number of data breaches and doesn’t feel comfortable giving out his credit card number. “It’s America. It’s a free country. I get a choice,” he said. Send tips for the I-Team to iteam@cbsboston.com or call 617-779 TIPS |
Tunisia's conservative Ennahda party says it has separated itself from any association with political Islam after being considered "moderate" Islamists for 30 years. Ennahda's leader Rached Ghannouchi made the announcement on Friday in the opening of the party's first congress since 2012, which was attended by thousands of people in the capital, Tunis. "We are keen to keep religion far from political struggles, and we call for complete neutrality," he said. "A modern state is not run through ideologies, big slogans and political wrangling, but rather through practical programmes." In 2011, Ennahda won the country's first democratic election after President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced from power by a popular protest movement. #Ghannouchi : Freedom does not mean chaos, just as the state’s power does not mean repression and denial of freedoms — Ennahdha Party (@EnnahdhaParty) May 20, 2016 But in 2014, it came second to the secularist Nidaa Tounes party in parliamentary elections and is part of a coalition government. Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Tunis, said that Ennahda's decision to become more of a democratic party stems from efforts to broaden its appeal to the wider sectors of society. She said that as a result of its move to halt religious activities in politics, the party's members can no longer preach in mosques and people can join the party without having to obtain two signatures from the party. #Ghannouchi : we reaffirm #Ennahdha ’s absolute support for the state in its war against ISIS and takfiri extremists #Tunisia — Ennahdha Party (@EnnahdhaParty) May 20, 2016 "Tunisia and the West in general still view the label of Islamists as connected to groups like Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram. So it is trying to move away from that label, but it doesn't mean it won't have Islamic values. It still will." Ghannouchi and other intellectuals inspired by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in 1981 founded the Islamic Tendency Movement, which became Ennahda in 1989. Banned under the leadership of Ben Ali, the party was legalised after the 2011 uprising. #Ghannouchi: #Ennahdha evolved since the 70s from an ideological movement engaged in the struggle for identity,... https://t.co/uItgWqT3TL — Ennahdha Party (@EnnahdhaParty) May 20, 2016 Ghannouchi, who lived in exile for 20 years, returned home to a triumphal welcome after the uprising and won post-revolution election in October 2011. |
Okay, I think I figured it out. Mitt Romney is disdainful of anyone receiving government assistance because: 1. He comes from a rich and privileged background, so he has never needed or received government assistance and... 2. He comes from a rich and privileged background, so he's never known anyone who's needed or received government assistance. Almost everyone I know has received some sort of government assistance, whether it's student loans or small business loans, Medicare or Medicaid. And almost everyone I know now pays taxes and contributes to society. I'll use myself as an example. I was the only child of a single working mom. We struggled a lot economically, and there were times when we lived off of food stamps, social security and government assistance. And then when i went to the University of Connecticut and SUNY Purchase, I received Pell grants and student loans. So, according to Mitt Romney, I was part of the 47 percent "who are dependent upon government... who pay no income tax." He made clear that his "job is not to worry about those people. [He]'ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." In the past 20 years, I have either personally or professionally paid millions of dollars in income taxes to the state, local, and federal government. I have employed hundreds of people, who have in turn paid income taxes and in many cases have gone on to start their own businesses. So I think it's safe to say that the government assistance my mother and I received was money well spent. I was able to go to decent schools and get a decent education, all thanks to 'government assistance.' My mother and i were able to eat, all thanks to 'government assistance.' I was able to see doctors, all thanks to 'government assistance.' We were able to pay our rent at times thanks to 'government assistance.' Not to mention the roads, clean water, streetlights, police departments, fire departments, clean air, libraries, public transit, electricity, etc. that all came from the government and enabled my mother and I to stay alive and live good, educated, safe and healthy lives. Mitt Romney came from extreme wealth. He has never once needed financial assistance from the government, as his family had millions and millions of dollars at their disposal. But there are millions and millions and millions of Americans like me who didn't come from extreme wealth and who needed help with education and food and health care and shelter, but who have gone on to start businesses and pay taxes. We are not an 'entitled' class, we are not 'dependent upon the federal government' and we do not consider ourselves 'victims.' We are the hundreds of millions of Americans who had the misfortune of not being born to millionaire parents. So I understand why Mitt Romney is disdainful of government assistance, as his parents paid for everything and he never needed help being fed or educated or looked after by doctors. I understand that in Mitt Romney's entire life he's never known anyone who's needed student loans. He's never known anyone who needed food stamps to keep their family fed. He's never known anyone who's had to spend hours in a health clinic just to get basic medical care. He's never known anyone who couldn't pay the rent. I understand that Mitt Romney grew up with phenomenal wealth and privilege but I don't understand why that leads him to contemptuously dismiss anyone (like my mother and I) who have, at times, needed government help with food and education and shelter and health care. Mitt Romney is a product of wealth and privilege. That does not give him the right to loathe and dismiss the rest of us who are not the product of wealth and privilege. Oh, for some reason I was thinking of 'Common People' by Pulp when I heard Romney's quotes. -Moby But still you'll never get it right, cos when you're laid in bed at night, watching roaches climb the wall, if you call your Dad he could stop it all. You'll never live like common people, you'll never do what common people do, you'll never fail like common people, you'll never watch your life slide out of view. -'Common People' by Pulp This essay originally ran as part of 90 Days, 90 Reasons. For more essays, written by people such as Judd Apatow, Marilynne Robinson, Paul Simon, Jonathan Franzen, and Michael Stipe, go to 90days90reasons.com. |
An Oops On The Costco Freebie Menu: Gouda Cheese With E. Coli Even the most casual shopper of warehouse discounter Costco knows that a big part of the allure is all those free samples. toggle caption Bravo Farms From fresh pineapple to salmon spread to just-brewed coffee, it's hard to say no as you push those double-wide carts down the aisles. But now Costco, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are warning consumers who might have consumed free samples of certain gouda cheese or bought some in stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada that they might have been exposed to a E. coli 0157:H7. The culprit, according to the CDC, is Bravo Farms Dutch Style Gouda Cheese (Costco item 40654). As of Nov. 4 the cheese had been linked to 25 cases of E. coli infection in the five states and 9 hospitalizations. That particular strain of E. coli not only causes gastrointestinal symptoms, but can also lead to kidney failure, and in rare cases, death. Those at highest risk are the very young and the very old. Costco and the health agencies are urging customers who purchased the cheese not to consume it, and to either return it to the store, or else to discard it in a sealed plastic bag in a closed trash can to prevent it from being consumed by other people or animals. Shots called and e-mailed Bravo Farms for comment but didn't hear back immediately. |
Using CloudWatch to Monitor your AWS Lambda and send Alerts on Errors CloudWatch is an amazing tool that Amazon has to gather logs and metrics, and also create alarms based on them. In this article we're going to see some useful tips to create alarms and send notifications when your Lambda functions end with error or log messages with a specific pattern. Note that in all cases, CloudWatch with send the notifications through an SNS Topic, and you can create as many SNS topic subscriptions as needed to deliver the notifications where you need to (SMS, HTTP, Email, etc). Use CloudWatch to send notifications when a Lambda function ends with error I always setup this kind of notifications, because one would expect that the Lambda execution finishes successfully, so it's always a good thing to get notified when things go wrong. To setup an alarm when your Lambda fails (this could be because of an error in the code itself or because your website is down), go to your CloudWatch Console: Click "Alarms" at the left, and then Create Alarm . . Click "Lambda Metrics". Look for your Lambda name in the listing, and click on the checkbox for the row where the metric name is "Errors". Click "Next". Enter a name and description for this alarm. Setup the alarm to be triggered whenever "Errors" is above 0, for 1 consecutive period(s). Select "Sum" as the Statistic and 5 minutes (or the amount of minutes that's reasonable for your use case) in the "Period" dropdown. In the "Notification" box, click the Select a notification list dropdown and select your new SNS endpoint. dropdown and select your new SNS endpoint. Click "Create Alarm". That's it. And it doesn't matter if your Lambda is being used by an API Gateway Method, or it's being invoked by a CloudWatch event, or a Kinesis stream. You will always know if your code reported an error when finished. A CloudWatch alarm to monitor that a Lambda is executing periodically This one is kind of a "sanity check". If you've setup your lambda to be executed periodically by a CloudWatch Event with Schedule, it might be good to know if (perhaps by accident), the event was disabled or removed from the list of triggers for the Lambda. If you've setup the alarm for the errors in the above section, it will suffice to setup a notification in the same alarm, but to be triggered when the alarm is in the "INSUFFICIENT DATA" state . This means that CloudWatch does not have enough information for the metric in the expected period of time (and when we're talking about a Lambda that is expected to be executed periodically, this also means that the Lambda is not being executed at all). If you haven't setup the alarm for the Lambda errors (or you want to create a separate alarm for this use case anyway), go to your CloudWatch Console: Look for your Lambda name in the listing of metrics, and click on the checkbox for the row where the metric name is "Invocations". Click "Next". Enter a name and description for this alarm. Setup the alarm to be triggered whenever "Invocations" is less than 3, for 1 consecutive period(s). Select "Sum" as the Statistic and 5 minutes (or the amount of minutes that's reasonable for your use case) in the "Period" dropdown. In the "Notification" box, click the Select a notification list dropdown and select your new SNS endpoint. dropdown and select your new SNS endpoint. Click "Create Alarm". A custom CloudWatch metric to monitor your Lambda logs This one is really useful, because it will allow you to monitor for specific strings in your Lambda logs and send an alert when found. Let's say your Lambda function logs messages like: You can then send alerts when a log like "[ERROR]" is found by filtering using patterns in your logs in CloudWatch like this: Go to your CloudWatch console. Select the checkbox next to your lambda log group (something like /aws/lambda/YOUR_LAMBDA_NAME). Click "Create Metric Filter". In filter pattern enter something like "[ERROR]". Click "Assign Metric". Enter a name for this metric (this name can be later on be used to setup an alarm). Click "Create filter". Go to the "Alarms" section. Click "Create Alarm". At the bottom of the list of metrics categories, find the "Custom Metrics" dropdown, and select "Log metrics". Find and select your metric name, click "Next". Select a reasonable period of time, the default of 5 minutes is usually ok, then select "Sum" as the Statistic. Setup the alarm to be triggered when the metric is "> 0" in 1 period. Monitor your JSON logs with CloudWatch Now if your lambdas are logging in JSON format, like: You can use a pattern like { $.level = "ERROR" } to filter what you need. There are actually quite a lot of complex filters you can setup, and you can find the syntax for CloudWatch log filters here. Conclusion To sum up: these are the alerts that I like to setup almost always and every time I want to trust that a Lambda is doing it's job as it's supposed to. You can rest assure that you will know when something goes wrong (either lack of enough invocations in a given period of time), specific log message are being produces, or if your code ended up in error. Enjoy! |
Say goodbye to Colborne Lane By Jon Sufrin The end of an era (Image: Colborne Lane) Claudio Aprile has just announced that he is closing the highly acclaimed Colborne Lane. “I feel that I’ve said everything I’ve had to say with this restaurant,” Aprile tells us. “It’s time for me to focus on different projects. It just feels right.” Those other projects include the newly opened Origin Liberty, Origin North (which is slated to open in May) and Trillium (which will be opening at Pearson Airport). Aprile did not reveal a specific closing date for Colborne Lane, but he did indicate that it would be a matter of weeks, not months. No word yet on what type of establishment will replace Colborne Lane. UPDATE: Colborne Lane’s last day of operation will be Saturday, Feb 23. |
Barack Obama’s election and reelection vindicated the argument “The Emerging Democratic Majority,” first put forward a dozen years ago by Ruy Teixeira and John Judis. Echoing Kevin Phillips, whose 1969 book The Emerging Republican Majority predicted the majority coalition that would win every presidential election but one until 1992, Teixeira and Judis described the outlines of a majority taking shape. The strongest Republican constituency, whites who lack a college degree, has been contracting as a percentage of the electorate, while the strongest Democratic constituencies have been expanding. Judis has now recanted his own analysis. In an election postmortem, Judis now argues, “the idea of an enduring Democratic majority was a mirage.” His essay, headlined “The Emerging Republican Advantage,” now swings in the opposite direction. To say that conservatives have welcomed Judis’s apostasy would be an understatement. A sampling of the giddy responses on the right include Karl Rove, Fred Barnes, Megan McArdle, Conn Carroll, Henry Olsen, Sean Trende, David Frum, Noah Rothman, Walter Russell Mead, and Michael Barone. The outpouring of conservative celebration takes as a given that Judis’s concession proves the emerging democratic majority is dead, or was never alive. But the evidentiary basis for the original thesis is as strong as ever. Prescient as it was, the original emerging democratic majority thesis overstated the scope of the Democratic coalition. Teixeira and Judis correctly described the Democrats’ strength with their most favorable constituencies, but they incorrectly assumed the party would maintain its standing with its weakest. The book fails to project the defection of areas along Appalachia, like West Virginia and Arkansas, along with similar areas of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, to the Republican Party. The national dominance Teixeira and Judis forecast therefore never quite happened. Instead, rather, Democrats have gained strength in some areas and lost strength in others. The trade-off has worked generally in their favor; every election cycle replaces older, whiter, Republican-leaning voters with younger, more racially diverse, Democratic-leaning ones. Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Teixeira and Judis also failed to anticipate the problems this new coalition would present to the Democrats in Congress. The party’s new base is heavily concentrated in urban areas, whose voting strength underrepresented in both the House and the Senate. Additionally, they are far more likely than core Republican voters to stay home during midterm elections. This has allowed the Republican Party to gain a near lock on holding the House, and a strong geographic advantage in holding the Senate. The Emerging Democratic Majority thus comes with the very important caveat that it applies only to one branch of government. (Likewise, Phillip’s Emerging Republican Majority coincided with a period of continuous Democratic control of the House.) But the core insight of the emerging democratic majority thesis has held up remarkably well. And Judis does not actually refute it in any convincing way. He does not mention continuing Democratic strength among the fast-growing bloc of Latino voters. He does cite exit polling that showed Republicans splitting the Asian-American vote in 2014, a shocking finding that is almost certainly wrong. He does cite a Harvard poll of young voters, which appears to show weakening support for Democrats. But that poll has yielded unusual findings in comparison with other surveys. (The Harvard poll predicted a majority of young voters would vote for Republican House candidates in 2014; in reality, they voted Democratic at the same rate as in 2010. Judis focuses on white middle-class voters, whom he sees as moving steadily toward the GOP. But the trend he cites begins with (depending on which example he uses) either 2006 or 2008, which were Democratic wave elections, a high point from which at least some regression both would be expected and would still allow a margin of error, given the massive Democratic sweep in both elections. Judis does not mention that Republicans need to ratchet up their share of the white vote continuously, or else dramatically improve their standing among nonwhites, merely to remain competitive. Photo: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images What’s more, as his former co-author Ruy Teixeira points out to me, via email, Judis’s description of the white middle class proves much less than it might appear: I am not convinced by his data analysis. He defines middle class as four year degree only and between 50-100k in income. And really it’s about whites in that group. An interesting demographic to be sure. But white four year degree only 50-100k income voters are at best 9 percent of voters. He has almost no data that are directly about this group but instead proxies it with much larger groups like for example 50-100k overall. But these are not good proxies at all. If we look for example at whites 50-100k, slightly more than half of this group are white working class (that is non college educated); white four year degree only are less than a third of this group. The explosive power of Judis’s revelation lies less in a new analysis he has reached about the middle class, and more in the simple fact that the emerging democratic majority thesis is being repudiated by one of its co-authors. “If even John Judis has given up on the Emerging Democratic Majority, everyone else should give up, too,” writes McArdle, “It’s over.” Taking seriously the conclusions of an analyst as formidable as John Judis is generally a good idea. But Judis’s renunciation of his thesis is not new. He interpreted the 2008 election as a vindication of the emerging democratic majority prediction. (Obama’s “election is the culmination of a Democratic realignment that began in the 1990s, was delayed by September 11, and resumed with the 2006 election, he wrote.”) After 2010 the Republican midterm sweep, he retreated. (“Republicans can certainly make the case that this election cuts short the kind of Democratic majority that Ruy Teixeira and I foresaw in our 2002 book, The Emerging Democratic Majority. But they would not be justified in suggesting that it revives the older Republican majority.”) The 2012 election temporarily restored Judis’s faith in the emerging democratic majority thesis. (“Barack Obama’s reelection is evidence of a Democratic realignment that dates back almost two decades.”) The midterm election has revivified his earlier doubts. And it is always possible he is correct, because predictions are hard, especially about the future. Still, the long-term demographic patterns that Teixeira and Judis (mostly) predicted have continued to work as they foresaw. As recently as 2012, critics like Trende maintained that the Latino vote was flattening out. In fact, contrary to their predictions, the Latino vote continued its historic pattern and again rose in 2012. Indeed, the growing share of nonwhite voters in the electorate is what allowed Obama to win reelection with relative comfort in a tough economy despite registering Dukakis-level support among white voters. It may be a long, long time until the Democrats’ national majority is wide enough to overcome the GOP’s structural advantages in Congress. But at the presidential level, the Democratic majority has already emerged. |
When Change Is Not Enough: The Seven Steps To Revolution By Sara Robinson “Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.” — John F. Kennedy There’s one thing for sure: 2008 isn’t anything like politics as usual. The corporate media (with their unerring eye for the obvious point) is fixated on the narrative that, for the first time ever, Americans will likely end this year with either a woman or a black man headed for the White House. Bloggers are telling stories from the front lines of primaries and caucuses that look like something from the early 60s — people lining up before dawn to vote in Manoa, Hawaii yesterday; a thousand black college students in Prairie View, Texas marching 10 miles to cast their early votes in the face of a county that tried to disenfranchise them. In recent months, we’ve also been gobstopped by the sheer passion of the insurgent campaigns of both Barack Obama and Ron Paul, both of whom brought millions of new voters into the conversation — and with them, a sharp critique of the status quo and a new energy that’s agitating toward deep structural change. There’s something implacable, earnest, and righteously angry in the air. And it raises all kinds of questions for burned-out Boomers and jaded Gen Xers who’ve been ground down to the stump by the mostly losing battles of the past 30 years. Can it be — at long last — that Americans have, simply, had enough? Are we, finally, stepping out to take back our government — and with it, control of our own future? Is this simply a shifting political season — the kind we get every 20 to 30 years — or is there something deeper going on here? Do we dare to raise our hopes that this time, we’re going to finally win a few? Just how ready is this country for big, serious, forward-looking change? Recently, I came across a pocket of sociological research that suggested a tantalizing answer to these questions — and also that America may be far more ready for far more change than anyone really believes is possible at this moment. In fact, according to some sociologists, we’ve already lined up all the preconditions that have historically set the stage for full-fledged violent revolution. It turns out that the energy of this moment is not about Hillary or Ron or Barack. It’s about who we are, and where we are, and what happens to people’s minds when they’re left hanging just a little too far past the moment when they’re ready for transformative change. Way back in 1962, Caltech sociologist James C. Davies published an article in the American Sociological Review that summarized the conditions that determine how and when modern political revolutions occur. Intriguingly, Davies cited another scholar, Crane Brinton, who laid out seven “tentative uniformities” that he argued were the common precursors that set the stage for the Puritan, American, French, and Russian revolutions. As I read Davies’ argument, it struck me that the same seven stars Brinton named are now precisely lined up at midheaven over America in 2008. Taken together, it’s a convergence that creates the perfect social, economic, and political conditions for the biggest revolution since the shot heard ’round the world. And even more interestingly: in every case, we got here as a direct result of either intended or unintended consequences of the conservatives’ war against liberal government, and their attempt to take over our democracy and replace it with a one-party plutocracy. It turns out that, historically, liberal nations make very poor grounds for revolution — but deeply conservative ones very reliably create the conditions that eventually make violent overthrow necessary. And our own Republicans, it turns out, have done a hell of a job. Here are the seven criteria, along with the reasons why we’re fulfilling each of them now, and how conservative policies conspired to put us on the road to possible revolution. 1. Soaring, Then Crashing Davies notes that revolutions don’t happen in traditional societies that are stable and static — where people have their place, things are as they’ve always been, and nobody expects any of that to change. Rather, modern revolutions — particularly the progressive-minded ones in which people emerge from the fray with greater rights and equality — happen in economically advancing societies, always at the point where a long period of rising living standards and high, hopeful expectations comes to a crashing end, leaving the citizens in an ugly and disgruntled mood. As Davies put it: “Revolutions are most likely to occur when a prolonged period of objective economic and social development is followed by a short period of sharp reversal. The all-important effect on the minds of people in a particular society is to produce, during the former period, an expectation of continued ability to satisfy needs — which continue to rise — and, during the latter, a mental state of anxiety and frustration when manifest reality breaks away from anticipated reality…. “Political stability and instability are ultimately dependent on a state of mind, a mood, in society…it is the dissatisfied state of mind rather than the tangible provision of ‘adequate’ or ‘inadequate’ supplies of food, equality, or liberty which produces the revolution.” The American middle class was built on New Deal investments in education, housing, infrastructure, and health care, which produced a very “prolonged period of objective economic and social development.” People were optimistic; generations of growing prosperity raised their expectations that their children would do even better. That era instilled in Americans exactly the kind of hopeful belief in their own agency that primes them to become likely revolutionaries in an era of decline. And now, thanks to 28 years of conservative misrule, we are now at the point where “manifest reality breaks away from anticipated reality;” and the breach is creating political turbulence. The average American has seen his or her standard of living contract by fits and starts since about 1972. This fall-off that was relieved somewhat by the transition to two-earner households and the economic sunshine of the Clinton years — but then accelerated with the dot-com crash, followed by seven years of Bush’s overt hostility toward the lower 98 percent of Americans who aren’t part of his base. Working-class America is reeling from the mass exodus of manufacturing jobs and the scourge of predatory lending; middle-class America is being hollowed out by health-care bankruptcies, higher college costs, and a tax load far heavier than that of the richest 2 percent. These people expected to do better than their parents. Now, they’re screwed every direction they turn. In the face of this reversal, Davies tells us, it’s not at all surprising that the national mood is turning ominous, from one end of the political spectrum to the other. However, he warns us: this may not be just a passing political storm. In other times and places, this kind of quick decline in a prosperous nation has been a reliable sign of a full-on revolution brewing just ahead. 2. They Call It A Class War Marx called this one true, says Davies. Progressive modern democracies run on mutual trust between classes and a shared vision of the common good that binds widely disparate groups together. Now, we’re also about to re-learn the historical lesson that liberals like flat hierarchies, racial and religious tolerance, and easy class mobility not because we’re soft-headed and soft-hearted — but because, unlike short-sighted conservatives, we understand that tight social cohesion is our most reliable and powerful bulwark against the kinds of revolutions that bring down great economies, nations and cultures. In all the historical examples Davies and Brinton cite, the stage for revolution was set when the upper classes broke faith with society’s other groups, and began to openly prey on them in ways that threatened their very future. Not surprisingly, the other groups soon united, took up arms, and rebelled. And here we are again: Conservative policies have opened the wealth gap to Depression levels; put workers at the total mercy of their employers; and deprived the working and middle classes of access to education, home ownership, health care, capital, legal redress, and their expectations of a better future for their kids. You can only get away with blaming this on gays and Mexicans for so long before people get wise to the game. And as the primaries are making clear: Americans are getting wise. Our current plutocratic nobility may soon face the same stark choice its English, French, and Russian predecessors did. They can keep their heads and take proactive steps to close the gap between themselves and the common folk (choosing evolution over revolution, as JFK counsels above). Or they can keep insisting stubbornly on their elite prerogatives, until that gap widens to the point where the revolution comes — and they will lose their heads entirely. Right now, all we’re asking of our modern-day corporate courtiers is that they accept a tax cut repeal on people making over $200K a year, raise the minimum wage, give us decent health care and the right to unionize, and call a halt to their ridiculous “death tax” boondoggle. In retrospect, their historic forebears might have counseled them to take this deal: their headless ghosts bear testimony to the idea that’s it’s better to give in and lose a little skin early than dig in and lose your whole hide later on. 3. Deserted Intellectuals Mere unrest among the working and middle classes, all by itself, isn’t enough. Revolutions require leaders — and those always come from the professional and intellectual classes. In most times and places, these groups (which also include military officers) usually enjoy comfortable ties to the upper classes, and access to a certain level of power. But if those connections become frayed and weak, and the disaffected intellectuals make common cause with the lower classes, revolution becomes almost inevitable. Davies notes that, compared to both the upper and lower classes, the members of America’s upper-middle class were relatively untouched by Great Depression. Because of this, their allegiances to the existing social structure largely remained intact; and he argues that their continued engagement was probably the main factor that allowed America to avert an all-out revolution in the 1930s. But 2008 is a different story. Both the Boomers (now in their late 40s to early 60s) and Generation X (now in their late 20s to late 40s) were raised in an economically advancing nation that was rich with opportunity and expectation. We spent our childhoods in what were then still the world’s best schools; and A students of every class worked hard to position ourselves for what we (and our parents and teachers) expected would be very successful adult careers. We had every reason to believe that, no matter where we started, important leadership roles awaited us in education, government, the media, business, research, and other institutions. And yet, when we finally graduated and went to work, we found those institutions being sold out from under us to a newly-emerging group of social and economic conservatives who didn’t share our broad vision of common decency and the common good (which we’d inherited from the GI and Silent adults who raised us and taught us); and who were often so corrupted or so sociopathic that the working environments they created were simply unendurable. If wealth, prestige, and power came at the price of our principles, we often chose instead to take lower-paying work, live small, and stay true to ourselves. For too many of us, these thwarted expectations have been the driving arc of our adult lives. But we’ve never lost the sense that it was a choice that the America we grew up in would never have asked us to make. In Davies’ terms, we are “deserted intellectuals” — a class that is always at extremely high risk for fomenting revolution whenever it appears in history. Davies says that revolutions catalyze when these deserted intellectuals make common cause with the lower classes. And much of the energy of this election is coming right out of that emerging alliance. The same drive toward corporatization that savaged our dreams also hammered at other class wedges throughout American society, creating conditions that savaged the middle class and ground the working class toward something resembling serfdom. Between our galvanizing frustration with George Bush, our shared fury at the war, and the new connections forged by bloggers and organizers, that alliance has now congealed into the determinedly change-minded movements we’re seeing this election cycle. 4. Incompetent Government As this blog has long argued, conservatives invariably govern badly because they don’t really believe that government should exist at all — except, perhaps, as a way to funnel the peoples’ tax money into the pockets of party insiders. This conflicted (if not outright hostile) attitude toward government can’t possibly lead to any outcome other than bad management, bad policy, and eventually such horrendously bad social and economic outcomes that people are forced into the streets to hold their leaders to account. It turns out there’s never been a modern revolution that didn’t start against a backdrop of atrocious government malfeasance in the face of precipitously declining fortunes. From George III’s onerous taxes to Marie Antoinette’s “Let them eat cake,” revolutions begin when stubborn aristocrats heap fuel on the fire by blithely disregarding the falling fortunes of their once-prosperous citizens. And America is getting dangerously close to that point now. Between our corporate-owned Congress and the spectacularly bad judgment of Bush’s executive branch, there’s never been a government in American history more inept, corrupt, and criminally negligent than this one — or more shockingly out of touch with what the average American is going through. Just ask anyone from New Orleans — or anyone who has a relative in the military. Liberal democracy avoids this by building in a fail-safe: if the bastards ignore us, we can always vote them out. But if we’ve learned anything over the last eight years, it’s that our votes don’t always count — especially not when conservatives are doing the counting. If this year’s election further confirms the growing conviction that change via the ballot box is futile, we may find a large and disgruntled group of Americans looking to restore government accountability by more direct means. 5. Gutless Wonders in the Ruling Class Revolution becomes necessary when the ruling classes fail in their duty to lead. Most of the major modern political revolutions occurred at moments when the world was changing rapidly — and the country’s leaders dealt with it by dropping back into denial and clinging defiantly to the old, profitable, and familiar status quo. New technologies, new ideas, and new economic opportunities were emerging; and there came a time when ignoring them was no longer an option. When the leaders failed to step forward boldly to lead their people through the looming and necessary transformations, the people rebelled. We’re hard up against some huge transformative changes now. Global warming and overwhelming pollution are forcing us to reconsider the way we occupy the world, altering our relationship to food, water, air, soil, energy, and each other. The transition off carbon-based fuels and away from non-recyclable goods is going to re-structure our entire economy. Computers are still creating social and business transformations; biotech and nanotech will only accelerate that. More and more people in the industrialized world are feeling a spiritual void, and coming to believe that moving away from consumerism and toward community may be an important step in recovering that nameless thing they’ve lost. And, in the teeth of this restless drift toward inevitable change, America has been governed by a bunch of conservative dinosaurs who can’t even bring themselves to acknowledge that the 20th century is over. (Some of them, in fact, are still trying to turn back the Enlightenment.) Liberal governments manage this kind of shift by training and subsidizing scientists and planners, funding research, and setting policies that help their nations navigate these transitions with some grace. Conservative ones — being conservative — will reflexively try to deny that change is occurring at all, and then brutally suppress anyone with evidence to the contrary. Which is why, every time our current crop of so-called leaders open their mouths to propose a policy or Explain It All To Us, it’s embarrassingly obvious that they don’t have the vision, the intelligence, or the courage to face the future that everyone can clearly see bearing down on us, whether we’re ready or not. Their persistent cluelessness infuriates us — and terrifies us. It’s all too clear that these people are a waste of our tax money: they will never take us where we need to go. Much of the energy we’re seeing in this year’s election is due to the fact that a majority of Americans have figured out that our government is leaving us hung out here, completely on our own, to manage huge and inevitable changes with no support or guidance whatsoever. Historically, this same seething fury at incompetent, unimaginative, cowardly leaders — and the dawning realization that our survival depends on seizing the lead for ourselves — has been the spark that’s ignited many a violent uprising. 6. Fiscal Irresponsibility As we’ve seen, revolutions follow in the wake of national economic reversals. Almost always, these reversals occur when inept and corrupt governments mismanage the national economy to the point of indebtedness, bankruptcy, and currency collapse. There’s a growing consensus on both the left and right that America is now heading into the biggest financial contraction since the Great Depression. And it’s one that liberal critics have seen coming for years, as conservatives systematically dismantled the economic foundations of the entire country. Good-paying jobs went offshore. Domestic investments in infrastructure and education were diverted to the war machine. Government oversight of banks and securities was blinded. Vast sections of the economy were sold off to the Saudis for oil, or to the Chinese for cheap consumer goods and money to finance tax cuts for the wealthy. This is no way to run an economy, unless you’re a borrow-and-spend conservative determined to starve the government beast to the point where you can, as Grover Norquist proposed, drag it into the bathtub and drown it entirely. The current recession is the bill come due for 28 years of Republican financial malfeasance. It’s also another way in which conservatives themselves have unwittingly set up the historical preconditions for revolution. 7. Inept and Inconsistent Use of Force The final criterion for revolution is this: The government no longer exercises force in a way that people find fair or consistent. And this can happen in all kinds of ways. Domestically, there’s uneven sentencing, where some people get the maximum and others get cut loose without penalty — and neither outcome has any connection to the actual circumstances of the crime (though it often correlates all too closely with race, class, and the ability to afford a good lawyer). Unchecked police brutality (tasers, for example) that hardens public perception against the constabulary. Unwarranted police surveillance and legal harassment of law-abiding citizens going about their business. Different kinds of law enforcement for different neighborhoods. The use of government force to silence critics. And let’s not forget the unconstitutional restriction of free speech and free assembly rights. Abroad, there’s the misuse of military force, which forces the country to pour its blood and treasure into misadventures that offer no clear advantage for the nation. These misadventures not only reduce the country’s international prestige and contribute to economic declines; they often create a class of displaced soldiers who return home with both the skills and the motivation to turn political unrest into a full-fledged shooting war. This kind of capricious, irrational ineptitude in deploying government force leads to public contempt for the power of the state, and leads the governed to withdraw their consent. And, eventually, it also raises people’s determination to stand together to oppose state power. That growing solidarity and fearlessness — along with the resigned knowledge that equal-opportunity goons will brutalize loyalists and rebels alike, so you might as well be a dead lion rather than a live lamb — is the final factor that catalyzes ordinary citizens into ready and willing revolutionaries. * * * “A revolutionary state of mind requires the continued, even habitual but dynamic expectation of greater opportunity to satisfy basic needs…but the necessary additional ingredient is a persistent, unrelenting threat to the satisfaction of those needs: not a threat which actually returns people to a state of sheer survival but which put them in the mental state where they believe they will not be able to satisfy one or more basic needs….The crucial factor is the vague or specific fear that ground gained over a long period of time will be quickly lost… [This fear] generates when the existing government suppresses or is blamed for suppressing such opportunity.” When Davies wrote that paragraph in 1962, he probably couldn’t have imagined how closely it would describe America in 2008. Thirty years of Republican corporatist government have failed us in ways that are not just inept or corrupt, but also have brought us to the same dangerous brink where so many other empires have erupted into violent revolution. The ground we have gained steadily over the course of the entire 20th Century is eroding under our feet. Movement conservatism has destroyed our economic base, declared open war on the middle and working classes, thwarted the aspirations of the intellectual and professional elites, dismantled the basic processes and functions of democracy, failed to prepare us for the future, overseen the collapse of our economy, and misused police and military force so inconsistently that Americans are losing respect for government. It’s not always the case that revolution inevitably emerges wherever these seven conditions occur together, just as not everybody infected with a virus gets sick. But over the past 350 years, almost every major revolution in a modern industrialized country has been preceded by this pattern of seven preconditions. It’s fair to say that all those who get sick start out by being exposed to this virus. Hillary Clinton is failing because this is a revolutionary moment — and she, regrettably, has the misfortune to be too closely identified with the mounting failures of the past that we’re now seeking to move beyond. On the other hand, Ron Paul’s otherwise inexplicable success has been built on his pointed and very specific critique of the kinds of government leadership failures I’ve described. And Barack Obama is walking away with the moment because he talks of “hope” — which, as Davies makes clear, is the very first thing any would-be revolutionary needs. And then he talks of “change,” which many of his followers are clearly hearing as a soft word for “revolution.” And then he describes — not in too much detail — a different future, and what it means to be a transformative president, and in doing so answers our deep frustration at 30 years of leaders who faced the looming future by turning their heads instead of facing it. Will he deliver on this promise of change? That remains to be seen. But the success of his presidency, if there is to be one, will likely be measured on how well his policies confront and deal with these seven criteria for revolution. If those preconditions are all still in place in 2012, the fury will have had another four years to rise. And at that point, if history rhymes, mere talk of hope and change will no longer be enough. (Source) |
Joint press release by 57 European and International organisations to invite Members of European Parliament to reject ACTA, and beyond, engage in a positive reform of copyright and patents. ACTA threatens fundamental freedoms online, Net neutrality, innovation, access to and sharing of free/libre/open technologies, education, culture, essential medicines and seeds. On Wednesday July 4, the European Parliament will have an historic occasion to reject ACTA as a whole, burying it politically once and for all. Members of the European Parliament of all political groups must follow the advice of the five parliamentary committees that issued opinions, all of which urge rejection of ACTA. A definitive rejection of ACTA would represent a tremendous victory for citizens all around the globe, and for European democracy and citizenship. Such a vote must also resonate with policy makers across Europe, acting as a wake-up call, urging them to break away from an endless cycle of repressive policies. It is time to reform copyright and patent regimes in favour of citizens and contributors to culture and innovation. Access to and sharing of knowledge and culture are essential for building open and democratic societies. We call on European lawmakers to look beyond the rejection of ACTA and to work towards a new framework that nurtures our practices rather than destroying them, a framework fit for the digital age. Signatories: |
With no regard for their own safety, members of the Underwood, Minnesota High School Golf Team, Coaches and players alike, sprinted toward a burning condo building last night, urging people to get out. The condo with seven units is located near a golf course in Lakes Country. It was destroyed. Underwood’s Principal called us, so proud of these folks, he held an assembly today to honor them. “One of the kids noticed that the condominium that was right next to us was on fire,” said Chuck Ross, Coach of the Golf Team. “And we just ran door to door banging on doors,” explained Chad Peterson, a Senior on the team. “Trying to get all the people out that were possibly in there not knowing if they were inhabited or not,” stated Chad Gronner, another Coach of the Golf Team. They are all referring to what happened at the Balmoral Boardwalk condo unit Wednesday night that is now simply a burned out pile of rubble. Its only about 50 yards away from where the Underwood Golf Team was finishing up practice. Coaches Chuck Ross, Chad Gronner and Senior Chad Peterson all took off, along with another student member of the golf team, banging on doors, kicking in locked ones and even carrying a woman who couldn’t walk to safety. Selflessness hardly describes them. “I think my biggest concern at the time was that, I was pretty sure I had went to every door, but maybe I had forgot one,” said Chuck Ross. “So I never really thought about what I was doing you just go and make sure people are safe and know what’s going on,” said Chad Gronner. Chad Peterson, the Underwood Senior, had been training as a first responder for several months and he plans to attend NDSU to study further the emergency response field. He admitted he won’t soon forget that drizzly Wednesday practice anytime soon. "It was definitely a more interesting golf practice than I've had in the past,” Peterson laughed. Chad Gronner said it was pure instinct that carried him to help. He does not feel special, just glad he could be there. "People use the word ‘hero’ a lot and I don't feel like a hero, you're just trying to help some people out,” he said. It’s a school and town grateful for their heroes, whether the brave ones feel it or not. According to the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office, the Fire Marshal’s investigation is nearly complete as is their inquiry of the situation. Deputies said it is standard procedure for the Sheriff’s Office to conduct an investigation any time there is a residential fire. Deputies said they were continuing to question the displaced tenants from the condo unit and had hoped to have that completed by the end of Thursday. They added it was very windy Wednesday and that likely played a factor in the overall scope of the destruction. One Deputy also explained that the rain on Thursday was not much of a hindrance to the investigation; it was more of a nuisance for investigators. Furthermore, a Deputy reported talking with a witness who saw the fire from a distance, saying one of the tenants may be at fault for the blaze. The Sheriff’s Office investigation will wrap up soon and then it will be determined if criminal charges will come. |
The Jacksonville Armada FC won their inaugural NASL match with a commanding victory, 3-1, over FC Edmonton Leading up to Jacksonville Armada FC’s inaugural match, much of the focus surrounded a push to break the modern-day North American Soccer League mark for attendance – a drive dubbed #SetTheRecordJax on social media. But the Armada FC didn’t stop there. They set two records. On an evening that turned from cloudy to soaked at EverBank FIeld, 16,164 fans filed in to watch a 3-1 win over FC Edmonton that also featured a new NASL record for fastest goal. It was a statement win for the expansion club, which finishes its first week tied for first in the NASL standings. “What can I say? I’m very excited,” forward Alhassane Keita said. “This was a historic game tonight. We showed to everybody that we’re ready. It’s not just today, we want to be like this throughout the season.” Keita – named one of the league’s top 11 players to watch during preseason – showed his class with a goal in the 43rd minute, and Marcos Flores added the third in first half stoppage time before Ritchie Jones pulled one back for Edmonton in the 52nd minute. The tone for the Armada FC's first-ever league game certainly was set from the very beginning. After waiting more than 15 years for the return of professional soccer, Jacksonville only had to wait 12 seconds to see the ball hit the net. Eight seconds in, Johnson received a pass about 30 yards out from goal, turned to his left and noticed FC Edmonton keeper Matt VanOekel out of position. Without hesitation, he let fly with a vicious right-footed strike that VanOekel never got close to, setting off a raucous celebration both in the stands and on the pitch. “It was absolutely amazing. As you can see I’ve done a lot of shouting as soon as I scored,” a hoarse Johnson said afterward. “The coaches gave me the confidence that whenever I get the ball, to make sure the first thought on my mind is to connect with the ball correctly and get a shot on goal. Thankfully tonight it’s happened for me.” The goal bested the previous mark of 26 seconds, held by Fafà Picault of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, one of Johnson’s former clubs. It was a delirious start, but there was more in store. In the 34th minute, the Armada FC had their next opportunity when Jaime Castrillón played a perfect through ball to Alhassane Keita, but his shot went wide of the post. Ten minutes later, Keita ran up behind Edmonton center back Mallan Roberts, who was about to take control of a lobbed Armada FC clearance. But the lightning-quick Keita managed to slip around Roberts from the left, poke the ball through his legs and take off toward the goal. From a few yards outside the penalty box, he ripped a low right-footed shot across a diving VanOekel to double the lead. And on the next possession, in stoppage time, midfielder Bochy Hoyos ran onto a throw-in near the end line and whipped in a cross to forward Marcos Flores, who delivered a vicious, driven header into the net to make it 3-0. With 74 percent of possession in the opening half and all three strikers on the score sheet, everything went according to plan.But the second half brought both driving rain and a determined response from FC Edmonton. “Santa Claus came to town in the first half with the goals we gifted Armada,” FCE coach Colin Miller said. “It’s not printable what I said at halftime to them, and you saw the response from them in the second half.” The Eddies pulled one back in the 53rd minute, when Manchester United youth academy product Ritchie Jones took a pass from Lance Laing and beat Armada FC 'keeper Miguel Gallardo on a tight angle inside the near post. Otherwise, the Jacksonville defense was able to cope well. The victory paralleled the Armada’s 3-1 win against the MLS’s Philadelphia Union in February, which was also played at EverBank Field, featured a preseason attendance record and three first-half goals. Johnson said the energy of the crowd played a major role in both wins. “The fans definitely make a huge difference for us,” he said. “I remember going and playing away at Charleston in front of maybe 40 or 50 people, and then you come into a stadium like this with that atmosphere, and fireworks, it’s huge. I think we’ve got a few players who drive off that sort of atmosphere. It’s definitely showing, and that’s how we’ve gotten the three points today.” It was a clear statement of intent from a team and fan base that they plan to make an impact during their first year in the NASL. “I think the club and the fans can be very, very proud of what they’ve accomplished here tonight, other than us playing like a pub team in the first half,” said Miller, who added some advice for the Armada FC to not underestimate the rest of their schedule. That warning isn’t lost on Johnson, who said the players held a meeting earlier in the week with “a few choice words” after going 3-4 in the preseason. “It’s sort of a psychological switch we had, coming into this season where we may not have gotten results we wanted in preseason,” he said. “Thankfully now, everyone has got it, and we’re definitely going to go through this season and make history. That’s what we’re going to do.” The Armada will take the field again next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers for their first away game at Lockhart Stadium and streamed on ESPN3. FC Edmonton will need to regroup before they host the Carolina RailHawks on Sunday, April 12 at Clarke Field, which can be streamed on ESPN3 and TSNGO. |
As noted, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently welcomed 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin to The Ross Report podcast. Among other things, Austin talked about how long he would have wrestled if his career was not cut short by injuries, what he thinks of the injury bug that has ravaged WWE's main roster in recent months, and who he would have liked to have faced for one more match. According to Austin, he would have liked to have wrestled till he was 42 years old, had he not been forced to retire due to neck problems in 2003. "I never thought about moving on and I look back and think if 2003 was my last match, I guess I retired [at] about 38 [years old]. Man, you talk about leaving a lot on the table or leaving a lot in the ring, I, probably, Jim, would have liked to at least get to 42 and maybe 45. But I never really had an exit strategy, but that being said, had I remained completely healthy, had I maybe lived a little bit slower, and that wasn't really an issue, but just the fact [that] my neck was the bottom line, that happened, so I got out when I did. But it would have been nice to last until about 42 and then went from there." On the topic of WWE's ongoing injury woes, Austin said there is a direct correlation between the rampant injuries and how talents work in the ring nowadays. "Man, I think it's a direct correlation with how the talent works in the ring today." Austin continued, "the WWE guys, they're doing more high risk stuff, they're working at a faster pace, and it just lends itself to injury. And that's not me saying, 'hey, you're working wrong'. I'm just saying I believe the product is sped up so much that the guys and gals are just working at a very frenetic pace and without any offseason, it takes a toll on the body." When asked to do some fantasy booking, Austin said his dream opponent for one more match would be Brock Lesnar, given Lesnar's high profile and the fact that Lesnar is still in his prime. "Well, probably Brock right now, just because [of] where Brock's at. He's on [the] top of his game, he's in his prime, and CM Punk would still have been in his prime too, but he's out of the game. Obviously, he's doing great things with his MMA training [and] he was always in outstanding shape, but just because he's not in the [professional wrestling] scene anymore [he is not a fantasy booking option]." During the podcast, Austin claimed that he would have loved to have wrestled CM Punk. "I think me and CM Punk would have sold a lot of tickets together. And again, he gets it, I get it. It would be one entertaining program." Austin added, "he's smart. His psychology is great. He's easy in the ring, meaning his physicality, everything looks good [and] nothing hurts. Again, I would think me and him would be right on the same page psychologically and we'd be able to weave a hell of a tale. And also, depending on how you played this, whether he's heel and I'm baby [or] he's baby and I'm heel or it's just two guys out there, you see both guys whether it's him on the dark side, he [has] got a tremendous mean streak, as does 'Stone Cold'. On the fire side, he had tremendous fire, as did 'Stone Cold', so both guys are bringing everything to the table that you need. And also great storytellers and talkers, so all of the elements would be there." In addition to these topics, Austin discussed whether A.J. Styles will be a main event player in WWE, whether Goldberg should be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and much more. To check out the rest of the show, click here. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Ross Report with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription. Source: The Ross Report |
Jet Airways has initiated an internal inquiry into the matter (File picture of a Jet Airways plane taking off) While the plane they were flying plunged 5,000 feet, a Jet Airways pilot was asleep and the co-pilot was busy on an iPad checking out flight information. Both have been suspended by aviation regulator DGCA which is now investigating the incident.280 passengers were on the flight from Mumbai to Newark via Brussels when it fell from 34,000 feet to 29,000 feet, according to the Press Trust of India.A spokesperson for Jet, however, told NDTV that the descent was of about 2,000 feet. While the plane was in Turkish airspace, Air Traffic Controllers noted the descent and sent an emergency message to the aircraft ordering it to climb back up. The co-pilot then woke up the commander.Both pilots were summoned by the DGCA yesterday for questioning. While the commander said he was on "controlled rest", a short nap inside the cockpit which is allowed by flight operation procedures, the co-pilot testified that she was working on her iPad which had aircraft documents loaded on to it, said unnamed sources to the Press Trust of India.Confirming the incident, an airline spokesperson said Jet Airways has initiated an internal inquiry into the matter."The airline is also extending all co-operation in the matter to the DGCA by providing all necessary assistance for the inquiry," the spokesperson said.The DGCA is now dissecting Jet Airways' training procedures for pilots.The regulator also wants to know why the airline or the pilots failed to report the incident to it - an anonymous message to the DGCA disclosed the mid-air scare.While both the pilots kept flying until they were grounded two days ago, they did not file a flight safety report, which is a mandatory exercise to document any unusual incident during the course of a flight |
The Progressive Conservatives have prepared a proposal for Ontario's Liberal government that would see at least eight new laws passed this fall – a bid to seize control of the province's policy agenda in the buildup to an election expected next year. The Tories will offer to help fast-track several of Premier Kathleen Wynne's bills, plus at least three of their own, party sources told The Globe and Mail Sunday. The plan would ensure Liberal legislation – on tanning beds, local food, co-op housing and mobile-phone contracts – would pass the assembly by the end of the year. PC bills that would be pushed through include a measure that would free construction company EllisDon from having to use unionized labour and a law to put carbon-monoxide detectors in all homes. One PC source said the aim is to clear away non-contentious legislation that is before the assembly and push Ms. Wynne to table measures that deal with the economy. The Tories plan to fight the next election on economic matters, and hope to draw a contrast with the Liberals by forcing the legislature to put the economy front and centre. Story continues below advertisement Ms. Wynne previously asked PC Leader Tim Hudak for help pushing through her legislative agenda, but talks ended in a stalemate when he asked her to back his cost-cutting plans. This time around, Mr. Hudak is offering a straight swap, with more innocuous legislation to pass on both sides. The move comes as Mr. Hudak emerges from a party conference in which he beat back a challenge to his leadership. In a sit-down interview with The Globe and Mail Sunday, a day after a handful of members failed to force a leadership review, he argued flatly that the "question is closed" on his command of the party. "It's pretty clear. There are a few disgruntled party members that had the opportunity to have their say as part of our grassroots party process," he said. "They had their say and the question is closed. There was an overwhelming vote of support for the leader, which was buoying to me, invigorating to caucus and, I think, energizing to the entire party." A group of local Tories – unhappy after the NDP trounced the party in a by-election in London West, the sort of middle-class suburban riding the Tories will need to win government – tried to amend the party constitution to allow for a leadership review. But by the time the motion came up for a vote Saturday afternoon, nearly all the delegates present had resolved to stand behind Mr. Hudak. Party insiders, including those with reservations about Mr. Hudak's leadership, indicated they had decided to close ranks behind him in the interest of unity. With an election so close, they reasoned, this was not the time to divide the party. All but a handful of delegates voted against the leadership review. He pledged to push on with the hefty policy agenda he has spent the past two years building. Only major measures to slash the size of government, he argued, will be enough to solve the province's economic problems. "There is an incredibly vacuous policy agenda at Queen's Park," he said. "The big issues in Ontario are not whether teenagers can access tanning beds or if we have fresh local produce. There are much bigger issues to discuss." Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement And when the election comes, he vowed, the party will not fail to capture the seat that helped spark the internal battle this weekend. "I'm confident we'll win that riding back in a general election, when people will look at the big picture and who has solutions. I think they saw the NDP as a protest vote without a consequence. I'm confident that they won't make that choice in a general election." |
Few engines throughout history have achieved a near mythical status among its admirers. Fewer still can share credit for the rescue of an entire nation. Perhaps only the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine can claim both distinctions. This is its story. Few engines throughout history have achieved a near mythical status among its admirers. Fewer still can share credit for the rescue of an entire nation. Perhaps only the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine can claim both distinctions. During the Battle of Britain, it was the Merlin that powered the Royal Air Force Hurricanes and Spitfires that were England’s only effective defense against German air attacks. With the battle won, and the engine’s reputation thus established, the Merlin would become the stuff of legend and the powerplant of choice for numerous other aircraft. Even before the 1940 air battles over England, it was apparent that demand for the Merlin was far outpacing Rolls-Royce’s ability to produce them. The Ford Motor Company was asked to build 9,000 Merlins for both England and the US. Ford initially accepted the deal, but later reneged. Henry Ford explained that he would only produce military items for US defense. Interestingly, Ford of Britain in Manchester, England ultimately produced 36,000 Merlin engines, beginning at the same time period. Of course, Ford’s American factories would indeed become vital to the war effort. They manufactured unfathomable quantities of airplanes, jeeps and other war materiel--but not Merlins. ROLLS-ROYCE-MANUFACTURED MERLINS WERE HAND-BUILT WHILE PACKARD AND FORD OF BRITAIN UTILIZED MASS-PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES. (PHOTO credit: Flickr user trainsnthings via Creative Commons) Following Ford’s refusal to build the Merlin, a similar deal was presented to the Packard Motor Car Company. At that time, Packard automobiles were considered the “Rolls-Royce of America” by virtue of their luxury and quality. The company also had experience producing airplane engines and large V-12 powerplants used in speedy PT Boats. Packard accepted the offer from Rolls-Royce and earnestly began preparations to build Merlins at their Detroit factory. Two Countries Divided By A Common Language There are many obvious challenges posed by producing a British-designed engine in America. Just the task of converting all of the measurements from metric imperial to US Standard units was daunting enough. This job was made even more difficult by the unprecedented complexity of the Merlin. The 1,649 cubic inch V-12 engine is comprised of more than 14,000 individual parts (knoll that!). It was, and still is, often called “a watchmaker’s nightmare. Engineers at Packard soon discovered that Rolls-Royce did not design the Merlin for mass-production. The manufacturing tolerances were much looser than Packard’s standards. This was because Rolls-Royce had never implemented mass-production techniques to their assembly lines. Rather, they employed highly-trained “fitters” to assemble the engines. The fitters filed or otherwise massaged individual parts to achieve a precise fit. They even tightened critical bolts by trained feel, rather than with calibrated torque wrenches. In effect, each Rolls-Royce-manufactured Merlin was a hand-built engine that reflected the company’s traditions of premium quality and craftsmanship. THIS VINTAGE CUT-AWAY DRAWING PROVIDES A GLIMPSE INTO THE MERLIN’S COMPLEXITY. IT HAS MORE THAN 14,000 INDIVIDUAL PARTS While Rolls-Royce’s manufacturing techniques churned out very high quality engines, they simply didn’t jibe with Packard’s way of doing things (or Ford in Manchester for that matter). In his book “Not Much of An Engineer”, Rolls-Royce engineer Sir Stanley Hooker recalls his introduction to the matter with Ford: “One day their Chief Engineer appeared in Lovesey’s office, which I was then sharing, and said, ‘You know, we can’t make the Merlin to these drawings.’ I replied loftily, ‘I suppose that is because the drawing tolerances are too difficult for you, and you can’t achieve the accuracy.’ ‘On the contrary’ he replied, ‘the tolerances are far too wide for us.’ We make motor cars far more accurately than this. Every part on our car engines has to be interchangeable with the same part on any other engine, and hence all parts have to be made with extreme accuracy, far closer than you use. That is the only way we can achieve mass-production.’” Like Ford, Packard was obligated to redraw all of the Merlin blueprints to satisfy their own manufacturing requirements. This effort took the better part of a year to complete and was closely coordinated with Rolls-Royce emissaries in Detroit. During the time that Packard was gearing up for production, Rolls-Royce was making continuous improvements to the Merlin based on feedback from the front lines. These updates also had to be incorporated into Packard’s operation. This continual two-way exchange of data took a heavy toll on the men tasked to manage it. Of the two original Rolls-Royce liaisons at Packard, one died during his tenure in Detroit and the other perished soon after his return to England. BELDIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY WAS ONE OF MANY DOMESTIC VENDORS THAT PROVIDED ITEMS TO PACKARD FOR MERLIN PRODUCTION. Packard’s licensing agreement prevented them from implementing any changes to the design of the Merlin without approval from Rolls-Royce. There was an understandable need to maintain compatibility and consistent performance among the engines regardless of where they were manufactured. While Rolls-Royce engineers were typically attentive to suggestions from their manufacturing partners, any accepted design changes were applied across all production lines. One area where the Americans contributed to the greatness of the Merlin was the crankshaft bearings. US aircraft engine manufacturers had determined that a silver-lead alloy with indium plating provided long wear and exceptional corrosion resistance. Thankfully, German engineers who evaluated captured American engines falsely deduced that the indium was merely an impurity. Packard shared the secret bearing formula with Rolls-Royce who incorporated it into the Merlin. The Merlin became somewhat further Americanized by the components that were attached to Packard-built units. Carburetors, magnetos, spark plugs, and similar items were sourced through American vendors and sub-contractors, although they were still manufactured to British specifications. To maintain compatibility, Packard did not convert any of the bolts, nuts, and studs to SAE dimensions. Rather, they were obligated to use fasteners with Whitworth threads, as specified by Rolls-Royce. Whitworth-form hardware proved impossible to source within the US, so Packard eventually produced all of the necessary fasteners in-house. The first Packard-built Merlins emerged in August of 1941. As would be expected, there were a few teething problems such as excessive cylinder blow-by and oil leakage. Most historians agree that Packard and Rolls-Royce tackled the issues with a high degree of cooperation. The US-built engines soon performed on par with their English doppelgangers. Packard would ultimately manufacture 55,000 of the 150,000 Merlins that were built. Unlocking the Merlin’s Greatness Most of the Merlins built by Packard would find their way into P-51 Mustangs. This American fighter had an uninspiring start, mostly due to the poor high-altitude performance of its Allison V-1710 engine. Once mated to the Merlin, however, the P-51 would be considered among the best aircraft of the war. MATING THE MERLIN TO THE P-51 MUSTANG TRANSFORMED IT FROM A GOOD AIRPLANE INTO ONE OF WWII’S BEST. THE ENGINE’S HIGH-ALTITUDE PERFORMANCE WAS KEY TO ITS SUCCESS. (PHOTO BY LEE RAY, WWW.LEERAYPHOTOGRAPHY.COM) The exceptional high altitude performance of the Merlin was due to its two-stage, two-speed supercharger (a development introduced in 1941). This complex device allowed the Merlin to produce the same output power (about 1300 horsepower) whether it was on the ground or in the rarefied air at 30,000+ feet of altitude. Comparable single-stage superchargers of the time often peaked at less than 20,000 feet. The exceptional high altitude performance of the Merlin was due to its two-stage, two-speed supercharger. A supercharger works by compressing the fuel/air mixture from the carburetor to sea-level pressure (or higher). So even when the air gets thin, the engine receives the same mass of fuel and oxygen to burn. The Ideal Gas Law tells us that when you compress a gas, you also heat it. The Merlin’s two-stage supercharger actually compresses it twice. If left unchecked, heat from the extreme compression would cause poor performance and/or premature detonation of the volatile mixture. To address this, the Merlin uses an independent liquid cooling system to chill the fuel/air mixture following each stage of compression. The additional complexity of this intercooler/aftercooler system is far outweighed by the performance gains it provides. The Inevitable Debates Any mention of the Packard Merlin near an airport hangar or an internet forum is bound to instigate at least one of two worn out comparisons: the Rolls-Royce-built Merlin versus the Packard version, and the Merlin versus the Allison V-1710. The comparisons of Rolls-Royce and Packard are typically rooted in national pride and false assumptions. As mentioned earlier, there was a tremendous effort by Rolls-Royce, Packard, and Ford of Britain, to make the Merlin fleet homogenous. Although each manufacturer may have employed unique production techniques, every engine had to meet the same specifications, and prove so on the test stand. The problem with most arguments touting the superiority of either manufacturer is that any supporting data typically compares different versions of the Merlin…of which there were many. The same basic engine that made 1,000 horsepower in 1939 (with a single-stage supercharger), was capable of more than 2,000 horsepower by the end of the war just six years later. Additionally, the Merlin was produced for several different types of aircraft (fighters, bombers, & airliners) with specific gearing and supercharger configurations for each type. Apples-to-apples comparisons are difficult to come by. My favorite story of Rolls-Royce’s faith in Packard comes from Bill Lear Jr’s book, “Fly Fast…Sin Boldly – Flying, Spying & Surviving”. In 1963, Lear was living in Geneva, Switzerland and flying a surplus P-51. After numerous problems with the starter clutch on his Packard-built Merlin, he contacted Rolls-Royce. They instructed Lear to send them the clutch, which was quickly repaired and returned. Lear adds: “I called my benefactor to thank him and to ask him when to expect an invoice. His reply was: ‘My dear Mr. Lear, Rolls-Royce-designed products do not fail. They may require occasional adjustment, but this is covered by our unlimited warranty. So there is no charge, sir.’ I was blown away. The engine and clutch had been manufactured under license in the U.S.A. by Packard in 1944, yet Rolls still stood behind them in 1963!” That the Merlin outperformed the Allison at high altitude is hardly a condemnation of the American-designed engine. In its element (up to about 15,000 feet), the V-1710 was robust and reliable – utilizing fewer than half the number of parts found in a Merlin. It was also extremely adaptable to different configurations of gearing, rotation direction, accessories, etc. The Allison engine is a showpiece of modular design. The lack of an adequate supercharger for the V-1710 was a reflection of the requirements put forth by the US military. During development of the engine, the US Army Air Corps decreed than any high altitude versions would be turbocharged (where the compressor is driven by the engine’s exhaust gases) rather than supercharged (where the compressor is driven mechanically by the engine). Both boost types were still relatively new for airplane engines and the turbocharger appeared to offer better efficiency. In practice, turbochargers require substantial large-diameter ductwork and parts capable of operating at very high temperatures. This overhead precluded turbocharger installation in most Allison-equipped fighters. They received engines with a single-stage supercharger, and the resulting altitude limitations. The one notable exception was the Lockheed P-38, a twin-engine bird that was large enough to accommodate the turbochargers. The P-38’s enjoyed widespread success in the Pacific theater, but even the turbocharged Allison proved troublesome for high-altitude flying over Europe. This was partly due to improper engine management techniques that were initially taught to P-38 pilots. Yet, it remains clear that the V-1710 was never suitably developed for high-altitude operation. Modern-Day Merlins In the post-war years, many Merlin-equipped aircraft (and spare engines) were retired from militaries and sold to private buyers. Many of these airplanes and their Merlins were modified for maximum speed in the air racing boom that followed the war. Owners found that you could coax considerably more power out of the engine (3000+ horsepower) at the expense of longevity. For a while, surplus Merlins were also a popular powerplant for racing boats. Even today, you can hear the distinct song of a Merlin in one of the privately-owned P-51s that remain airworthy. These steeds are still popular mounts for air racers and (well-heeled) private pilots. Although much less plentiful, other Merlin-powered warbirds can also be found throughout the world. THE ROLLS-ROYCE MERLIN ENGINE GAINED WIDESPREAD NOTORIETY FROM ITS USE IN THE HAWKER HURRICANE (FRONT) AND SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE FIGHTERS THAT DEFENDED ENGLAND DURING THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. (PHOTO BY TONY HISGETT VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS) Despite the fact that Merlins have not been manufactured for more than 60 years, many of its parts remain in ample supply, at least by vintage airplane standards. Perhaps the most elusive commodity to Merlin owners is mechanics who are qualified to work on them. A smattering of elite shops within the US offer Merlin services. The good news is that non-racing Merlins rarely need more than routine service. Ken McBride of 51 Factory states: “If the engine is built to original specifications, and operated properly, it is a very sound design. They built over 100,000 Merlins - by that time they knew what worked and what did not. We feel there is little need to redesign it.” After WWII, Packard resumed making consumer automobiles, albeit with a loosened focus on luxury. Like other automobile manufacturers, Packard often struggled in the competitive post-war car market. By the late 1950’s, Packard had merged with Studebaker and would soon disappear altogether. Although the company is now long gone, it seems that the Merlin engines that Packard produced will continue running for quite some time. Terry spent 15 years as an engineer at the Johnson Space Center. He is now a freelance writer living in Lubbock, Texas. Follow Terry on Twitter: @weirdflight |
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