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LINCOLN SQUARE — Dave Eggers is the literary world's equivalent of a rock star and his fans reacted in kind during his appearance at a meet-and-greet Saturday morning at The Book Cellar. "I'm never going to wash this hand again," proclaimed Claire Ruberg, 27, of Lakeview, after locking appendages with Eggers, best known for his breakout memoir "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Ruberg and pal Amelia Tomkin, 29, of Lincoln Park, had snagged one of the first positions in line during the event and spent a handful of minutes chatting up the author while he signed their copies of his books. "I was surprised how personable and truly interested he was," said Ruberg, who also had Eggers sign books she planned as a gift for her mother — "She's his biggest fan" — to which he complied with an added flourish of "Happy Mother's Day." "It was so sweet," said Ruberg. "You feel you know [authors] through their books and it's nice to find out what you thought about them was true." A steady stream of 50-60 Eggers acolytes continuously cycled in and out of The Book Cellar as they patiently waited their turn to meet their idol. Some, like Ken Gerleve, 36, and Todd Summar, 37, walked a few blocks from their homes in Lincoln Square. The two are writers — Gerleve works as a studio assistant for author Audrey Niffenegger — and were hoping to pick Eggers' brain. "I'm actually interested in his process of writing both novels and screenplays," said Summar. Then there were people such as Gosia Labno, a student at the University of Illinois, who hopped a train from Champaign-Urbana to her parents' home in Jefferson Park just to meet Eggers. "We have a cult following of his," said Labno, who first encountered Eggers' work in high school and hugged a copy of "A Hologram for the King" for him to sign. "I found out on Thursday and bought a [train] ticket in class." Even in the era of Amazon and e-books, book signings remain a crucial way for authors to gain a following, particularly mid-list and new writers. "It's important to have a place to connect and get a fan base," said Suzy Takacs, owner of The Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave. For authors of Eggers' stature, who have a built-in audience, meet-and-greets are still an important opportunity for personal conatct. "This is how you do it," said Adam Krefman, associate publisher of McSweeney's, Eggers' publishing imprint, who organized the book tour. "He shakes a hand, signs a book and he's got a fan for life.." Pointing to the line snaking around The Book Cellar, he noted, "That's a lot of books to sell." Eggers makes a point of touring independent bookstores exclusively, Krefman said. "Suzy [Takacs], who owns this bookstore and her livelihood depends on it, is going to do a better job than the branch manager of a chain. It's the community hub." Takacs recalls the exact date — Jan. 17 — she received the request to host Eggers. "I was in L.A. and one of the people that works at my store sent me a text," she recalled. "I'm like, 'What!' No worries, we can do it." With so much of the book trade having moved online, Takacs didn't mince words in estimating Egger's impact on her business. "What does it mean? Everything." For fans, the experience was no less overwhelming. Said Ruberg, "I'm just going to be smiling all week." |
The Huawei VR headsets work in a similar way as Samsung's counterparts: Just pop the front cover open, then secure the phone (with the VR app running, of course) using the clips inside, and then snap the cover back on. Likewise, they have a touch panel, a back button and volume keys on the right for interfacing with the app. You won't be able to wear your glasses underneath the goggles, but the adjustable lenses will accommodate myopia of down to -7.00. In terms of specs, you get the usual 20ms low latency and 95-degree field of view (it's 96 degrees on Samsung's Gear VR and 110 on the HTC Vive plus the Oculus Rift), with the added benefit of an anti-blue light filter to protect your eyes. The more exciting part here is obviously the content. At launch, Huawei VR will offer over 4,000 free movies (presumably only a fraction of these are VR videos) and over 40 free games, along with over 350 panoramic images and over 150 panoramic tours. It's obviously still early days as Huawei skipped the price and date, so we'll just have to keep an eye out for a future announcement. |
This page contains links to MP3 files with recorded versions of songs from The Biochemists' Songbook, by Harold Baum. Dr. Baum was a professor at Chelsea College of the University of London who composed a biochemical song each year for his departmental Christmas party. A collection of these songs was published in 1982 by Pergamon Press, along with a cassette tape with professional recordings of the songs. The tape is no longer available, and Taylor and Francis informed me that the copyright had reverted to Dr. Baum, who is now retired from teaching but still involved in research at King's College. When I asked for permission to convert the tape tracks to MP3 for use in my lectures and for downloading by my students, he graciously consented. When I then asked whether I might post the MP3 files on a publicly available web site, he was delighted to give his permission for that as well, so that I could do this "as a pro bono gesture to students elsewhere." I know that the lyrics to some of these songs have been posted on various web sites, and you can probably find them by googling around, but, in respect of copyright laws, especially since the A second edition of the book, containing several new songs, was published by Taylor and Francis in the UK and CRC Press in the US in 1995 and is still available. Dr. Baum was then at King's College, University of London.The tape is no longer available, and Taylor and Francis informed me that the copyright had reverted to Dr. Baum, who is now retired from teaching but still involved in research at King's College. When I asked for permission to convert the tape tracks to MP3 for use in my lectures and for downloading by my students, he graciously consented. When I then asked whether I might post the MP3 files on a publicly available web site, he was delighted to give his permission for that as well, so that I could do this "as a pro bono gesture to students elsewhere."I know that the lyrics to some of these songs have been posted on various web sites, and you can probably find them by googling around, but, in respect of copyright laws, especially since the book is still available, I will not post them here. Jeff Cohlberg, Professor (cohlberg@csulb.edu) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry California State University, Long Beach June 2006 The performances on the tape were produced and arranged by Peter Shade, MPRS, MCPS, AGAC (I don't know what these mean, but it all looks pretty impressive) and recorded by Tidytones Limited. Gary Bond was the singer, with Brian Lemon on piano, Peter Shade on synthesisers, piano, vibes and flute, Michael Salmons on clarinet, saxophone and violin, Alan Ganley on drums, and Brian Barnes on backup vocals. Thanks to Walter Gajewski from Academic Computing Services at CSULB for doing the MP3 conversions. Here are the MP3 files: Kevin Ahern's Wildly Popular Metabolic Melodies Aimee Hartnell's Jeff Cohlberg's Biochemistry Songs Note to professors: I can heartily recommend using these songs in your lectures, and trying to get the students to sing along. Whether or not the lyrics actually have specific pedagogical value, playing and singing these songs always puts both me and the students in a good mood, and I think that this alone helps the teaching and learning process. If you like these songs, you might also enjoy the ones reached by the following links:Aimee Hartnell's Musical Chemistry Note to professors: I can heartily recommend using these songs in your lectures, and trying to get the students to sing along. Whether or not the lyrics actually have specific pedagogical value, playing and singing these songs always puts both me and the students in a good mood, and I think that this alone helps the teaching and learning process. |
Wrestling fans worldwide were energized when Adam Cole burst onto the scene at last night’s NXT TaKeOv3R br0OkLYn event, but many are questioning whether the younger Cole has what it takes to follow in the huge footsteps of his legendary father, Michael. Long considered one of the greatest in-ring performers in sports-entertainment history, Michael Cole has set the bar impossibly high for his son, whose grappling and aerial abilities are not yet in the same league as his father’s. More from Kayfabe News The elder Cole is perhaps best known for his WrestleMania 27 victory over Jerry “The King” Lawler — an epic battle that earned Cole the nickname “Mr. WrestleMania,” and earned an unprecedented 14-star rating from wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer. Adam, meanwhile, has thus far had an unremarkable career in Ring of Honor and other independent promotions, where he performed under the monicker “Baybay Cole.” Although he admits he has “huge shoes to fill,” the younger Cole hopes he can make his father proud, or “at least not bring shame to the Cole legacy.” |
Today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, Advanced Micro Devices announced their newest line of desktop gaming graphics cards. The line, called the Radeon 300 Series, is the latest from the company and features a broad array of discrete graphics cards ranging from the extreme enthusiast PC gamer all the way to the casual PC gamer. This new product lineup from Advanced Micro Devices features a mixture of new GPU and memory technologies as well as major software improvements including Microsoft DirectX 12 support. I've provided a fly-over below, but if want more details, you can download the analyst brief here. Not your father's Fury The new AMD Radeon 300 series is full of new improvements, with some of the biggest ones coming from the rebirth of the Fury brand of graphics cards. The new Radeon R9 Fury X card is a liquid cooled graphics card with a new memory technology called HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) that allows the graphics card to vastly improve in power consumption, performance and overall card size. The Fury X is Advanced Micro Devices ’s halo card for the 300 series and will very likely draw the most attention to AMD’s new product line. New technology enabling new form factors In addition to the Fury X, which is a new type of graphics card in a new form factor, Advanced Micro Devices also showed the AMD R9 Nano. The R9 Nano is an air cooled version of the Fury X, but in an even shorter form factor and at 100 watts less power, indicating a less powerful card in terms of capability but introducing entirely new form factors for high-end gaming PCs that simply weren’t possible. This includes the creation of their Project Quantum system, which serves as a concept for those considering new ways of using these graphics cards from AMD. Improvements to the rest of the stack AMD’s 300 series is also made up of other graphics cards, including the R9 390 and 390X, which share a lot of similarities with their predecessors the R9 290 and 290X. However, Advanced Micro Devices has increased the performance of the 300 series over the 200 series in all of the 300 series cards, in all of the cards, even if by a small margin. Thanks to new drivers and Microsoft DirectX 12, Advanced Micro Devices is also enabling new features and performance from the rest of their 300 series, which are architecturally almost identical to the 200 series. Some of the new features enabled by the new drivers from AMD include: FPS Targeting Virtual Super Resolution FreeSync while in multi-GPU CrossFire Catalyst Uninstaller game performance optimizations (AMD did not provide names of titles) Yes, this is a lot more than a rebadge. Wrapping Up Advanced Micro Devices has released a very compelling and competitive lineup of PC enthusiast gaming cards. If you would like to read more about the technologies and some advantages that come in the new AMD Radeon 300 series, you can download the analyst brief here. You can find Patrick Moorhead, President & Principal Analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. Note: This blog contains contribution from Anshel Sag, technologist and staff writer for Moor Insights & Strategy. Disclosure: My firm, Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analyst firms, provides or has provided research, analysis, advising, and/or consulting to many high-tech companies in the industry, including Advanced Micro Devices and Microsoft, cited in this article. No employees at the firm hold any equity positions with any companies cited in this column. |
Elisa Albert was struggling to breastfeed and her son was losing weight fast. When her friend offered to nurse him alongside her own baby, she was shocked. But what was stopping her? We were on a summer double date under the string lights in the garden at Frankie’s in Brooklyn when Miranda told us she was pregnant. I was pregnant, too, we crowed, and just about as far along. Our husbands beamed. I’d only recently met Miranda, but I didn’t know anyone else expecting a baby: I was delighted to count her as a new friend. Throughout that autumn, we walked to prenatal yoga, discussed midwives and backaches and cravings and marriage and hopes and family, and made our respective preparations. Miranda’s son was born in a birth centre on New Year’s Day, after three days of labour. We visited when they returned home, sat under their still-twinkling Christmas tree, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the new person. Her mother, a former midwife, and sister were by her side. The place was warm and calm, full of love. Miranda held court from a sofa bed. I cradled her newborn son against my own, still in utero, and marvelled at the turn my life had taken. I entertained a parade of well-meaning relatives and friends in increasingly wild pain. Inside I was unravelling Two weeks later, I gave birth at home, after a 13-hour posterior, or back-to-back, labour, which the long-practising, well-respected midwife did not bother to attend. Frankly, it felt like staring death in the face, by which I mean an altogether normal and intense physiological process that has nothing to do with the ordinariness of daily life. Throughout, my husband and doula repeatedly called and texted the midwife, whom we had found privately. She told us it was “probably” early labour. From inside the grip of what turned out to be very active labour, I managed to flat-out demand that she join us, speaking at the phone while the doulka held it to my ear. The midwife sounded annoyed, vaguely put-upon. It was another three hours before she arrived. Minutes later, with a great and unbridled roar, I delivered my son into bathwater. We wept with joy, held him, kissed him, named him. Eventually, I got out of the bath. My husband lay in bed with our new son on his chest. I showered in a state of trembling, happy shock. The midwife perched on the sink and told me a story about her estranged sister. She handed me a towel, and I remember commiserating, trying to comfort her about her unfortunate relationship with her family, as though we were two cool girls hanging out in the bathroom at a party. One of us just happened to be naked and bleeding, immediately postpartum. I didn’t care; I was too ecstatic. Having just given birth, I felt omnipotent. Epic. Heroic. Unstoppable. In the days that followed, I entertained a parade of well-meaning but exhausting relatives and friends. I also breastfed around the clock, in increasingly wild pain: engorged and throbbing. I served tea and showed off my newborn and made small talk and acted politely with my guests. Inside, I was unravelling. My home bore little resemblance to the intimate, intensely nurturing bubble I’d witnessed at Miranda’s. The last thing I needed was to be entertaining guests who seemed embarrassed and uncomfortable when I nursed. A deep, overwhelming exhaustion began to take root. Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I should use a breast pump every two hours. I should supplement with formula. I should neither pump nor supplement; I should let him get so hungry he would do whatever it took to latch properly. Around and around we went.’ Photograph: Dorothy Hong for the Guardian At a week-and-a-half old, my baby began to lose weight. Breastfeeding was not going well. This was not abnormal, we were reassured. The baby had a bad latch (meaning his mouth and jaw weren’t yet perfectly coordinated on my breast), or I had low supply, or he had a bad latch because of my low supply, or I had low supply because of the bad latch. One lactation consultant offered advice that was contradicted by a second, whose advice was contradicted by a third. I should use a breast pump every two hours. I should supplement with formula. I should neither pump nor supplement; I should let him get so hungry he would do whatever it took to latch properly. Around and around we went. Meanwhile, the baby kept losing weight. One of the lactation consultants wrote down information for breast milk banks in New York, but I didn’t think we were that desperate. I appealed to the midwife via email. She suggested I “take it easy”, and was never heard from again. The paediatrician told me to give up and formula feed. That suggestion sent me into a tailspin: I had been fed with formula as a baby myself, and I wanted every kind of distance from my own upbringing. This was going to be different. This was a fresh start. This was ours, and it was new, and it was pure. The imperative to feed my baby from myself blotted out the sun. It was implied by several people in my orbit that this kind of purist thinking was crazy, which only cemented my determination. A line from the poet Muriel Rukeyser ricocheted through my mind: “Pay attention to what they tell you to forget.” I tried to be cheerful, but when we were alone, I wept, lashed out at my husband, and spiralled into exhausted, muddy irrationality, panicked about failing the precious boy we had only just met. There was very little distinction between day and night. Time took on a strange new cast. I nursed and pumped and nursed and pumped and nursed some more. I remember my husband singing to our crying son while I soaked my breasts in bowls of warm, salty water. I remember cooling my breasts with cabbage leaves, drinking herbal tinctures, pumping and pumping and pumping. I remember hoping each new lactation consultant was going to be The One. I remember hoping the midwife would drop by, or at least return a call. The baby was wetting nappies, but he needed to nurse constantly, and never got a full belly on which he (and I) could rest for a few hours. What was going wrong? Surely I could do this. There must be a way, if only I worked long and hard enough. If only I soldiered on through one more sleepless night, and then one more. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Miranda’s son (left) with Elisa’s: ‘Miranda came over with her by now pleasingly plump one-month-old. He was breastfeeding like gangbusters.’ Photograph: Courtesy of Elisa Albert Miranda came over with her by now pleasingly plump one-month-old. He was breastfeeding like gangbusters. Miranda’s mother – a veritable caricature of maternal sweetness – had moved in for a while to cook and clean and nuzzle and hum. Miranda seemed to be more or less OK. This amazed me. I had not yet left the apartment, was shuffling around in strange combinations of maternity clothes and pyjamas. She unzipped her son from his winter layers to reveal a wacky costume: she had dressed him in all the colours of the rainbow to cheer me up. As we talked, she mentioned in passing that the most effective way to gauge the quality of a newborn’s latch is to have him latch on to someone who knows what a good latch feels like. Interesting, I thought, and filed it away. The following day, another friend Heather came to visit with her eight-month-old daughter in tow. She was visibly shaken by the sight of our shrivelled infant. “Do you want me to nurse him?” she asked softly, all trace of her usual cerebral irony vanished. This caught me by surprise – it had not occurred to me that another woman might nurse for me – and I quickly said no. Out of propriety, I suppose. Or denial. Or closed-mindedness. Or all three. For most of human history, wet nurses were exceedingly common. The best of the best made an excellent living as highly prized employees. Sisters and good friends nursed each other’s babies as a matter of convenience. But 100 years of aggressive formula marketing has effectively erased the tradition of women helping each other in this way. I had never heard of anyone I knew nursing another woman’s child, or having her child nursed by another woman, and I had never wondered why. I sat in the rocking chair that night, nipples on fire, inconsolable shrunken baby looking more and more like a plucked chicken in my arms, and a terrible new panic hit me: we were in very serious trouble and could not go on this way. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Miranda with Elisa’s son, left, and her own: ‘I handed the baby to her and collapsed into a nearby chair to sob.’ Photograph: Courtesy of Elisa Albert “Call Miranda,” my husband said when the sun rose. Without hesitation, without my even fully articulating a thing, she said, simply, “Come over.” We rushed over. I handed the baby to her and collapsed into a nearby chair to sob and thank her and sob and thank her, over and over again. The baby drank and drank and drank. His latch was indeed shallow, but she had a surfeit of compensatory milk. The relief was indescribable. I took a photograph, which felt absurd and vaguely exploitative, but I didn’t know what else to do with myself. Taking that picture was the most uncomfortable thing about the scene: I had unwittingly sensationalised what was a very simple, very personal, altogether quiet moment. A sacred thing. Photographing it, calling attention to it in that way, made it seem fleetingly indecent. Wrong. Ten minutes later, my baby slept deeply. I felt, for the first time since the night he was born, that everything was going to be OK. I could feel my body unclench, my breathing slow and deepen, my mind quiet. My son had nursed well and was now peaceful in my arms. Miranda acted like it was no big deal. The idea that women have a hair-trigger for jealousy, that we despise each other as a matter of course, is a toxic hangover from adolescence. I felt no envy when I saw Miranda nurse my son. I longed to be able to nurse my baby, but I only felt fortunate that someone else could and did. I wondered aloud why we hadn’t just done this sooner. I kicked myself for waiting so long. Miranda laughed. “You weren’t ready,” she shrugged. We lay on the floor with the babies. Our husbands brought us tea. Where matters of the heart are concerned, I had been rather unlucky with regard to women. My relationship with my own mother is a challenging work-in-progress. I always had my share of friends, some of them good, but rarely did I feel I could trust women completely. Inevitably, it seemed, there was a hefty serving of cliquishness with a side of subverted rage. It didn’t help that I seemed to want so much more from women than I ever wanted from men – I wanted the world. So I was often that much more disappointed. Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘For most of human history, wet nurses were common. But 100 years of aggressive formula marketing has effectively erased the tradition.’ Photograph: Perou for the Guardian I had adored the midwife’s arrogance when she first dropped by for prenatal exams. She acted as if birth was no big deal, and I wanted to impress her, to earn her respect, by taking on the same attitude. But it turned out that birth is a big deal. Not because it’s necessarily pathological, but because we are so fundamentally vulnerable, and because how we’re treated when we’re vulnerable can alter us profoundly, for better or for worse. What a stupid cosmic joke: I’d picked a “cool” midwife who turned out to embody the coldness and disrespect I wanted to avoid by giving birth at home. I was stunned to have made so colossal an error in judgment. Cool, it turned out, is not a useful character trait in a midwife (or in anyone, when it comes down to it). Having been let down by the midwife haunted me. Miranda continued to nurse for me, so casually, it went almost without saying. I finally found a lactation consultant whose advice made sense. I supplemented with formula until I got nursing on track, which took three months, biweekly follow-ups, a hospital-grade rental pump, and a level of determination and commitment I was proud to discover I had. Never mind that my struggle called forth a certain hostility in some: as though I was fomenting some bullshit “mummy war” by insisting – at great cost and effort – on the simple act of nursing my baby. I was supposed to accept that, because breastfeeding was exceedingly difficult, I could not do it. I was supposed to concede to that potent cocktail of bad advice that devalues the functional power of the female body. To which I said, and still say: no. Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘The last thing I needed was to be entertaining guests who seemed embarrassed and uncomfortable when I nursed.’ Photograph: Courtesy of Elisa Albert It turned out that Miranda knew Maddy, a college friend I hadn’t seen in ages. Maddy happened to live a few blocks away, and had a new baby as well. She invited us all over, and we huddled in her living room, lined up the babies on a blanket, shared our stories, giggled, catnapped, stretched and ordered food. When it was time to go, Maddy handed me several bags of breast milk from her freezer. I had been putting in many hours at the miserable altar of the breast pump, so I knew exactly what it meant to give away those bags. Talking things through with these women – the mind-blowing experience of birth; the bad midwife; the free-floating anxiety that can take hold when you have no ballast; the pressure to accept “expert” opinion in lieu of advocating for yourself; the work of nursing, the value of nursing; the deep and wilful isolation of women from each other, of women from ourselves; this for ever altered landscape – I began to feel like a warrior, not a victim. We were sisters, and we traded our stories of valour and courage and survival and persistence. Being seen and heard by sympathetic women was more than a great comfort: it was sustaining, urgent and eminently sane. In the years that followed, I became fascinated with the rights of the childbearing woman, consumed by the many ways in which women are often betrayed by the very people they’ve chosen to help them through this most profound transition. I trained as a childbirth and postpartum doula. I began to understand women better – that there are those of us who have a nurturing resource in our own mother, and those who do not; those who can talk about inhabiting their bodies, and those who cannot; those who are open about their struggles and ambivalence, and those who feign control; those who are lucky enough to be loved and cared for in vulnerability, and those who are not; those who want to line up the babies on a blanket and sit and cook and stretch and talk, and those who do not. When my oldest brother died young, some people showed up, planted themselves beside me, welcomed my laughter and tears in equal measure – and some did not. Some seemed capable of sitting with it – life, death – and some would do anything to avoid it. The former were worth holding fast; the latter, not so much. Responses to birth and postpartum seemed uncannily similar. I’ve often thought about writing to my midwife, especially after I met not one, not two, but three other women whom she had similarly neglected. The first unattended woman had developed a swollen cervix from pushing too soon, and wound up in hospital, where she’d delivered by emergency surgery. The second and third had given birth unassisted before the midwife showed up. I had been lucky by comparison. I longed to be able to nurse my baby, but I felt lucky someone else could. Why hadn’t we done it sooner? Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I half-expected Miranda to lord it over me, having been so strong and capable when I was so incapable, so broken.’ Models: Isabella and Daniel from kitschagency.com. Babystart wooden highchair, £49.99, argos.co.uk. Photograph: Perou for the Guardian Did you have postnatal depression, people wonder. And I shrug. I roll my eyes. I say no. Because it sounds like putting a stupid pink ribbon on post-traumatic stress disorder. And the last thing I wanted was to be medicated. Medicating women for quite reasonable emotional responses to quite unreasonable situations seems backwards. I needed a maternal figure, a dedicated and present midwife, dear and loving friends. I was blessed with one out of three. It could have been worse. The only people I know who did just fine in the postpartum period are those who score the triumvirate: well cared for in birth, surrounded by supportive peers, helpful elders to stay with them for a time. The others, wild-eyed at the supermarket, prone to tears, unable to nurse or sleep or breathe, a little too eager to make friends at baby groups – I can spot them at 20 paces. We form a vast and sorry club. It took me a long time to regain my confidence. The state of early motherhood was in many ways a state of crisis, and although my husband was characteristically stalwart and kind, a full partner in every sense, it was the women who calmly, lovingly took my hand and led me through. It turned out I didn’t have to feign invulnerability whatsoever. The more vulnerable I remained, the clearer my vision became, and what I could see, at long last, was a circle of woman comrades, offering me fortitude and nourishment when I was bereft of all. My gratitude only grows with time. Truthfully, I half-expected Miranda to lord it over me, having been so strong and capable and overflowing when I was so incapable, so broken. Instead, we have the kind of friendship that is warm, genuine and immune to distance or the passage of time. When we’re together, I take a special pleasure in the way she looks at my son: with affection and pride. He is a little bit hers, too. • Elisa Albert’s novel After Birth is published next month by Chatto & Windus at £16.99. To order a copy for £13.59, go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. |
It’s one of the darkest times in recent religious history. When people point to the dark side of the Catholic Church, the Inquisition is one of the first things that gets mentioned. It’s an unbelievably complicated piece of history, and it’s no wonder that a series of myths and misconceptions have grown around it. 10 The Inquisition Was A Single Event Thanks in no small part to Monty Python and Mel Brooks, when we think of the Inquisition we usually think of the Spanish Inquisition. It was, and still is, the most famous one, but it was by no means the only one. The idea of the Inquisition has its roots much earlier than that. As early as the first century, Roman law made allowances for what they called “inquisitorial procedures.” The idea allowed for an investigation into a crime without the need for anyone to bring formal charges to the court. There were other familiar methods in place, too, like the right of the investigating parties to use torture on those they were questioning. When Christianity arrived in the fourth century, the laws were simply expanded to cover religious matters as well as secular. Bishops were carrying out Inquisitions, albeit on a small scale, from the beginning of Christian history. By 1184, Inquisitions were more formalized with Pope Lucius III changing the idea from a passive one to a more aggressive means of finding and exterminating heresy. Throughout the Middle Ages, religious orders were formed with specific groups that were meant to act as inquisitors. But here their purpose was to correct behavior rather than punish it. That would change drastically in Spain a few hundred years later with the Spanish Inquisition. 9 The Pagans And The Jews Usually, when we think of the targets of the Inquisition, we think of those that still worshiped the pagan gods and the Jews. While they certainly were a huge part of what the Inquisitions were trying to destroy, they weren’t the first targets. One of the first groups of people specifically targeted by an Inquisition was another group of Christians: the Cathars. The Cathars rejected everything about the structure of the Roman Catholic Church, especially their displays of wealth and power. The persecution of the Cathars started in earnest and en masse with Pope Innocent III’s sacking of Toulouse. When soldiers were ordered to kill the Cathars and said that they couldn’t tell who was Cathar and who wasn’t, they were told to just kill everyone and let God sort them out. At about the same time, the Pope was also declaring his condemnation of another Christian group, the Waldensians. The group had a handful of beliefs that the Roman Catholic Church deemed heretical, including a disbelief in the idea of purgatory and the idea that anyone could consecrate wine and bread. In the face of Pope Innocent III’s Inquisition, most headed up into the mountains of Italy. They would remain active for a few hundred more years, but they would eventually fall victims to accusations of witchcraft at another later Inquisition. 8 It Was Around Longer Than You Thought At its heart, the Inquisitions weren’t necessarily about torture and death; they were about rooting out heretical thoughts and actions. Part of that meant keeping an eye on not just what people were doing, but what they were reading. This led to the Index of Prohibited Books. The first official version of the list was published under Pope Paul IV in 1559, and it was controversial even when it was first introduced. The idea had its roots several decades earlier, and for the next four centuries, it would be an ever-evolving work in progress. While unapproved religious texts made up a good amount of what the list deemed heretical, there were a huge number of pretty surprising entries that made the list. Among some of the entries are the works of Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Daniel Defoe, and Jonathan Swift. Most philosophers—Descartes, Mill, Kant, and Sartre, to name a few—were also on the list. And, it was only in 1966 that the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stopped publishing and adding to the list, although they did say that while it wasn’t official anymore, those that were truly good, moral people would continue to use it as a guideline for what they shouldn’t be reading. As for the organization that was the Inquisition itself, that’s still around, too. That Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith? It’s almost a modern name for the Inquisition. According to the Vatican, the purpose of the group is to defend the Church against heresy, and they freely claim to trace their roots back to the Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition as it was established in 1542. 7 The Banning Of Torture It’s probably the thing that the Inquisitions are most known for, but torture hasn’t always been such a clear-cut and widely accepted method in the Church’s arsenal. Some of the earliest writings on the idea of freedom of religion (like the fourth-century writings of apologist Lactantius) state that anyone who would defend their religion by torture isn’t upholding their beliefs at all, and they’re disrespecting them in the most unforgivable way possible. In its original incarnation, the Inquisition wasn’t meant to use torture or the punishments that they would later become famous for. In the 13th century, inquisitors were banned from administering torture. They could, however, be present in the company of secular representatives who were using it as a way to coax confessions out of the unwilling, although the nobility and the upper echelons of the educated were exempt from torture. It was only in 1252 that Pope Innocent IV gave members of the Inquisition the power to administer torture as a way of extracting what they thought was the truth. Even then, torture was for the most part only acceptable if no blood was spilled, if there was no permanent damage to the limbs, and if there was no chance of death. This, of course, only required torturers to be creative with their methods, and after only eight years, the next Pope made allowances for the off chance that mistakes would happen. 6 The Number Of People Executed Just how many people died during the Inquisitions has long been up for debate. Some claim millions were killed by the Inquisitions, while others claim tens of thousands. According to the official statement released by the Vatican in 2004, it’s many less than what’s been suggested. According to papers prepared by the Vatican, 125,000 people were put on trial by the Spanish Inquisition—and only about 1 percent of them were executed. The findings were released at the end of a process that began in 1998, searching Vatican records and compiling what was found on the Inquisitions. The same study found that around 25,000 people were executed in Germany for witchcraft, but most of those weren’t actually tried during the Inquisition itself. The small country of Lichtenstein told a sad story. Only 300 people were put to death by the Inquisition there, but at the time, that was about 10 percent of their entire population. The Vatican also issued statements saying that absolutely none of it was acceptable, with Pope John Paul II apologizing for the actions of the Church in the past. Interestingly, while he apologized for the actions and what happened during the Inquisitions, he didn’t apologize for the actions of previous popes, which would have broken a rather cardinal rule of not admitting the actions of earlier popes might have been less than ideal. 5 The Inquisition In The New World The Spanish Inquisition had an incredibly far reach. Far from being contained only to Europe, all of the Spanish colonies in the New World had to answer to the Inquisition as well. At the time the monarchies of Europe were scrambling to stake their claims in the New World, Spain’s Ferdinand and Isabella were among the most determined of the supporters of a single nation united under the Catholic Church. It was under their rule that the infamous Spanish Inquisition truly came to power. The notorious Torquemada was the queen’s own personal confessor, after all. Even as Spain and Portugal were colonizing the new continent, those that were being persecuted by the Inquisition there found numerous ways to escape to the New World; many settled in areas like Lima, and the Inquisition followed. By the 1520s, official authorization had come down the line, allowing missionaries and monasteries to perform all the duties that were deemed necessary of the Inquisition. One of the largest museums in Peru today is the Museum of Congress and Inquisition. Opened in 1968, the museum still resides in the building that was once used by the Spanish Inquisition. The rooms where confessions were once heard, torture was once carried out, and the cells where people once served their sentences still serve as a grisly reminder of Lima’s Spanish heritage. 4 Everyone Expected The Inquisition It might have been hilarious when Monty Python did it, but the idea of the Spanish Inquisition showing up on your doorstep, completely unannounced, and dragging people away to their interrogation chambers is an absolutely terrifying idea. It didn’t quite happen like that, though, and everyone really did sort of expect the Spanish Inquisition. When the Inquisition set up shop in an area, the first thing they did was announce what they were going to do. Before 1500, they read an Edict of Grace and, after 1500, it was an Edict of Faith. The message was basically the same thing, though, and it made it very clear what they were going to be doing. The edicts gave members of the community anywhere from two weeks to a few months’ warning before the tribunal started to get to work. Anyone who was a heretic was encouraged to present themselves to the tribunal and confess. When the time limit was up, they were going to start asking questions, and people were going to start telling on each other. It was one thing to confess your sins, but your problems really started when someone else was telling on you. It’s thought that a huge number of personal confessions weren’t done out of any real committing of heresy, but instead, they were done out of fear of having neighbors pointing fingers at people they didn’t really like, which was a very real fear, as it was all done in secret. Evidence was gathered and weighed, and then it was time for the Inquisition to come knocking on doors . But it was never a surprise. 3 The Conflict Of The Black Legend History is a funny thing, and it’s so hard to get a completely honest telling of what actually happened. According to the Spanish journalist Julian Juderias, a lot of what we know about the Spanish Inquisition (or think we know) is actually part of a massive smear campaign spearheaded by nations that just don’t like Spain very much. It’s a fairly new idea as he was only writing this in 1912. According to Juderias, most of the criticisms and the horror stories about the Spanish Inquisition come from well after the movement was in its heyday, with accounts really starting to appear in the latter half of the 16th century. Juderias believed that what we know about the Spanish Inquisition might only be a little bit of the truth, and that most of our histories have been written by accounts from other European Protestant nations that were eager to paint the Spanish Catholics in a pretty dark light. He said that it wasn’t just the Inquisition that got the negative treatment, it was everything about Spanish culture, especially their adventures in the New World and their exploitation of the people they met there. The treatment of Catholics by the Reformers would be likened to a strange sort of Inquisition itself, and it’s all cited as supporting the idea of the so-called Black Legend. Once the Protestant movement began gaining strength and targeting the now-heretical Catholics, the whole thing not only got flipped on its head, but it’s used to put the idea of the Inquisition, and what we know about it, in a whole new light. 2 Willing And Unwilling Conversions Being deemed a heretic didn’t automatically mean that you were tortured or that you received a sentence of death or exile. In 1391, a series of riots broke out in the south of Spain, and in the end, somewhere around 20,000 people officially converted to Catholicism. The act was kind of a double-edged sword. As Jews, the Catholic Church actually had no jurisdiction over them and no real recourse to officially impose their views on them. Once they converted, though, they were under the wing of the Church and needed to be at least seen acting and believing in the right way. When that didn’t happen, that’s when the Inquisition stepped in. The converts were called conversos along with their children and their grandchildren. They were always thought of as lesser Catholics because of their once-Jewish pasts, but their conversion also opened some doors. There were some jobs that were only available to Catholics and plenty of opportunities in the economic world that were off-limits to anyone who wasn’t the right religion. Within a generation’s time, the conversos of the 1391 riots would form Spain’s new middle class, and that was a problem. That meant that they were moving up in the world a little too quickly for people that no one truly believed just yet, making it much more important that the Church keep an eye on them to make sure they were attending their confessions, communions, and baptisms as promised. 1 The Survivors There were people that fought the Inquisition and won, like Maria de Cazalla. Proceedings against her began in 1526 and she was arrested in 1530 with evidence that included personal testimonies against her. A member of the upper class and the sister of a bishop, she was also a converso, a label that should have acted against her. In 1534, she was found guilty on a few charges, including being a follower of the Protestant ideas, putting the religious authority of a mortal woman above the saints, and claiming that sex was a more religious experience than prayer. Over the next few years, she endured torture, imprisonment, and countless interrogations. Never accusing anyone else of heresy, she also never confessed and always maintained her innocence. In the end, the tribunal wasn’t able to establish any sort of concrete evidence against her. She painted her supposed “teachings” as discussions, her children as her maternal burden, and her actions all well within the confines of the church doctrines. Eventually, after almost a 10-year ordeal, she paid a small fine and was freed from the grip of the Inquisition. What happened to her afterward isn’t known, but she did survive persecution, torture, and testimonials, and she walked away. Follow us on Facebook or subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter so you don't miss out on our latest lists. |
The Polaris Prize winner says she was angry and annoyed with the white woman's actions, and adds the festival's organizers should release her name to the public HALIFAX - A performer at this year's Halifax Pop Explosion is calling on the festival's organizers to release the name of a volunteer who disrupted her performance after repeatedly screaming, "why do you hate me because I'm white?". This comes after the festival's board of directors put out a statement on Thursday, apologizing to Lido Pimienta for one of its volunteer's 'overtly racist' actions. According to that statement, this was in response to Pimienta inviting 'brown girls to the front' of the venue. In an emailed statement, Pimienta told NEWS 95.7 she had called out the white female HPX volunteer, and demanded she be removed. "I was angry and annoyed at the disrespect," Pimienta said in her emailed statement. Pimienta's says she wasn't surprised, as she has encountered similar incidents in the past. "I am never surprised at white fragility," she said. "I was annoyed at most but mainly worried about the POC femmes at the front whose safety was jeopardized due to this person's violent actions." The Halifax Pop Explosion's board of directors have since banned that volunteer from ever being able to work future shows, but according to Pimienta, that's not enough. "They should take it up a notch and make her name public and have her apologize to me and my audience," said the Polaris Prize-winning singer. "They need some real work and obviously mental health support. Racism is an illness that is dangerous and gets physical and we saw what it did at my show." Pimienta says she accepts the festival's apology, but adds she hopes "more venues and festivals would own up to their staffs' disgusting behaviour like they did". |
New Zealand Moves Forward With Three Strikes; Big Questions Left Unanswered from the not-so-good dept You're creating a copyright tribunal to handle all of these complaints, and yet we've heard exactly nothing about what this will entail, regarding standards of evidence and valid defenses.... The dilemma: I have a wifi hotspot in my home, attached to my internet account. It's unsecured. A hacker or ne'er do well logs in to my hotspot, torrents a bunch of movies without my knowledge. Later I receive infringement notices and have to show up at the tribunal. I'm stunned, because I know nothing about it. Is my defense of an unsecured wifi hotspot, combined with total ignorance of the matter, valid? Change the parameters a little. My hotspot is secured by WEP, and a hacker cracks it (which is amazingly easy to do). Same scenario ensues. Is this a valid defense? What about IP spoofing? What if someone frames me for infringement when I've not engaged in the activity? Is that a valid defense? If these defenses are valid, then the copyright tribunal is redundant; anyone aware of these issues has so many plausible defenses that there is no way to prove infringement. If these defenses are not valid, then the tribunal is a sham and a rubber-stamp for industry interests, because there is no way to prove your innocence in light of accusation. You're criminalizing a non-criminal behavior based on exactly nothing of substance, and at the behest of a private industry. I'm of the mindset that if you're going to criminalize a behavior, you had best meet the burden of proof as to why that behavior is being outlawed. Can the NZ MPs do that? If they can, they're doing their best to hide their evidence. The industry's own statistics have been called into question and ultimately they've been debunked. So the obvious question: on what grounds are you justifying this? New Zealand has been working on putting in place a three strikes law which is only marginally better than the one that it originally tried to pass. Right now, it looks like the "new bill" is moving forward with little opposition , even though there are some serious unanswered questions. Reader Matt Perryman has written up a detailed look at some of the bigger issues , asking about things like the privacy issues and the costs put on ISPs. However, his final two points are perhaps the most important. First, he notes that no details have been released or discussed about this special "copyright tribunal" that will handle these cases, even though that's pretty central to the whole deal:No matter what you feel the answers to the above questions are, the fact that this is not clear and has not been discussed with regards to New Zealand's proposed law seems tremendously problematic. It leaves all sorts of questions on the table that could make the law incredibly bad. And the answers to those questions -- no matter which way they go, raise questions about this law:His final point is that this bill would create a new class of criminals totally at the behest of an industry -- which isn't quite how things are supposed to work:Good questions -- but somehow I doubt we'll get any substantial answers from New Zealand MPs. Filed Under: new zealand, three strikes |
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said he has invited intellectuals for discussion in the wake of returning of awards by many of them claiming "growing intolerance" in the country. "I still don't know the reason behind returning of awards by them... As the home minister, I have invited intellectuals for discussion. I would like to know the reasons behind their returning awards... And if there is intolerance, I would like to know from them the reasons behind it and how it could be solved," Singh told India Today TV. At least 75 members of the intelligentsia have returned national or literary awards in an escalation of protests by writers, historians, filmmakers and scientists over "growing intolerance", voicing fears that the country's robust democracy might be "coming apart" in the current atmosphere. PTI Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button. |
In November, Arlington voters will decide whether to spend public money to help build a new ballpark for the Texas Rangers. Thursday night, homeowners in the Stoneridge neighborhood peppered their councilman with questions at a town hall meeting. (Published Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016) In November, Arlington voters will decide whether to spend public money to help build a new ballpark for the Texas Rangers. Thursday night, homeowners in the Stoneridge neighborhood peppered their councilman with questions at a town hall meeting. "Where is the reward for the Rangers," and "Seems like extortion to me," and "When I look at this whole situation, I call it a boondoggle," were just some of the questions and comments at the town hall meeting. The November ballot measure would collect up to $500 million in public funding to build a new baseball park. Councilman Robert Rivera tried to explain to constituents in the Stoneridge neighborhood the benefits of keeping the Rangers. Video The World Records of the 2016 Rio Olympics "This is about money. It's about a business," Rivera explained. "If the Rangers weren't important to Arlington we wouldn't be deciding the issue in November." The Rangers have said the team wants a new baseball park with a retractable roof to help deal with the Texas summer heat. "A retractable roof stadium would do, according to the Rangers, great things for them," explained Rivera. "Otherwise they wouldn't be asking for the stadium." The proposed deal is a 50/50 split between the city of Arlington and the Texas Rangers. The city would pay a maximum $500 million, as would the Rangers. Any cost overruns would be the Rangers' responsibility. "We could do a lot with $500 million," said Warren Norred, with "Save Our Stadium." The group opposes spending public money to fund a new ballpark. "Mr. Rivera said time is of the essence. It is of the essence. They've got to pass it before everybody finds out how bad this deal is," Norred said. "For some of us this is the third stadium to build," one woman said. "So we are a little tired." |
Image caption Iron Dome was developed by an Israeli defence contractor but paid for mainly by the US A leading US expert on missile defence has raised doubts about the efficacy of Israel's Iron Dome defence system. Israeli officials say it hit some 84% of the targets engaged in last year's conflict with Hamas in Gaza. But Professor Theodore Postol of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests the defence system's success rate may have been "drastically lower". The success of the Iron Dome was one of the most significant military aspects of Israel's brief campaign. During this upsurge in fighting - dubbed Operation Pillar of Defence by the Israeli military - Israeli aircraft, drones and artillery bombarded Palestinian targets, while Palestinian groups fired over 1,400 rockets into Israel. The Iron Dome missile defence system - built by the Israeli company, Rafael, but largely funded by the US - was rushed into service to defend against the Palestinian missile threat. Track-record Mr Postol has a track-record in debunking claims made for state-of-the-art missile defence systems. Continuing such a deception can only result in the misappropriation of limited defence assets. Professor Theodore Postol, Massachusetts Institute of Technology In the wake of the 1991 Gulf War after which lavish praise was directed at the Patriot defensive system used by the Americans to defend against incoming Iraqi Scuds - Mr Postol showed that the Patriot's defenders - like the Patriot itself - were wide of the mark. Patriot's success rate, he argued, could have been less than 10%, perhaps even zero. It may actually have hit nothing. Mr Postol's criticism of the Iron Dome rests upon the nature of the warhead carried by the interceptor missile and the observed trajectories - or flight paths - of the launches he has studied from the November 2012 conflict. In essence he believes that the only way Iron Dome can be sure of destroying the warhead of an incoming rocket is to hit it head on. "If the interceptor is flying a crossing or diving trajectory compared to that of the incoming rocket," he told me, "then you are not going to destroy the warhead. Even hitting the incoming warhead side-on will probably not have sufficient energy to detonate it, he argues. 'Deception' Mr Postol says that while he cannot say what the performance of Iron Dome was in Operation Pillar of Defence, "all the available evidence unambiguously indicates a drastically lower level of performance than the 84% claimed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)." The baseless claims do not in any way reflect the performance of 'Iron Dome' in the last year and a half, since it has been put into operational service Israeli Ministry of Defence His view is that the successful hit rate on incoming warheads could be as low as 5-10%. Mr Postol says that if the IDF wants to make such claims, then it should provide the data to back them up. He acknowledges that it might have been "a reasonable strategy for Israel to claim that Iron Dome was working, as an excuse not to invade Gaza at an enormous cost to both sides. " But he argues that "continuing such a deception can only result in the misappropriation of limited defence assets". Mr Postol says that "as an American supporter of Israel's right to self-defence", he does not feel comfortable seeing the US spend money on a weapon system "that hardly works". A spokesman for Israel's ministry of defence responded to Mr Postol's critique by saying that it strongly rejected the "unsubstantiated study published recently regarding the performance of Israel's 'Iron Dome' system". "The baseless claims do not in any way reflect the performance of 'Iron Dome' in the last year and a half, since it has been put into operational service." "The population of the centre and south of Israel," the spokesman added, "experienced - first hand - the system's achievements during Operation 'Pillar of Defence', which proved itself with an interception rate of over 80%." "The security establishment is more than content with the system's impressive results and will continue to acquire more 'Iron Dome' batteries," he added, concluding that, in short, "the system saves lives". Israel's Iron Dome missile shield |
AP The city of Dresden was destroyed following a vicious Allied bombing raid at the end of World War II. Calculations of the death-toll from the Anglo-American bombing of Dresden in February 1945 have varied widely, but never ceased to be dramatic. Figures suggested have ranged from 35,000 through 100,000, and even up to half a million at the wilder fringes of speculation. It is easy to see why. Dresden was a magnificent city of three quarters of a million people, its population further swollen by hordes of anonymous refugees from the Eastern Front. Its historic heart was destroyed in one apocalyptic night by aircraft armed with more than 4,500 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs. This devastated area amounted to around 13 square miles (34 square kilometers). The firestorm that destroyed Dresdens architectural treasures and so much of its civilian population became a byword for the horrors of modern warfare and a stain on the Allies claim to have fought a good war against Nazism. This was a truly catastrophic event to which only very big numbers seemed able to do justice. Now, more than 60 years later, it seems we must lower our estimates. After four years work, an impressive commission of German historians this week filed its report on this issue, and it seems that even the lowest figure so far accepted may be an overestimate. Drawing on archival sources, many never previously consulted, on burial records and scientific findings -- including street-by-street archaeological investigations -- plus hundreds of eye-witness reports, the Dresden Commission of Historians for the Ascertainment of the Number of Victims of the Air Raids on the City of Dresden on 13/14 February 1945 has provisionally estimated the likely death-toll at around 18,000 and definitely no more than 25,000. These conclusions, to be elaborated on in a full report due out next year, are convincing. However, despite the eminence of the commissions experts, including Germanys most distinguished historian of the air war, Dr. Horst Boog, they will be controversial, especially in Dresden itself. Many of those who lost families, homes and loved ones in the catastrophe have found dignity and meaning in the sheer magnitude and dark grandeur of the event, and to see the Dresden casualty figures reduced from the hundreds of thousands to more normal (though still horrendous) levels seems incredible, even insulting. And there are the political distortions. The Nazis were the first to exaggerate the number of victims for propaganda purposes, and the communists were liable to push the numbers up during the post-war period, in order to discredit the Anglo-Americans, who had been the Soviets allies until 1945 but were now their Cold War enemies. Finally, neo-Nazis in modern Germany conjure up dizzyingly high figures running into the hundreds of thousands, while at the same time playing down or denying the World War II mass murder of the Jews and the Roma and Sinti, hoping thereby to convince their fellow-citizens that the Allied bombing of Germany was an even worse holocaust than the actual one. Hence the commissions establishment in 2004 was opposed by many in Dresden and its work has since been subject to political chicanery. That it has finally issued its report seems something of a miracle. And that its members have courageously and doggedly followed the logic of the evidence, knowing the unpopularity it may bring, speaks strongly for the integrity of the historians involved. So can we say "case closed"? Almost certainly not. Many Dresdeners, understandably, cling to their memories and traditions even in the face of historical evidence. The far right will undoubtedly persist with a line of propaganda central to its aim of undermining the democratic German state and rehabilitating the Nazi past. For all these people, interpretation of the Dresden death-toll will likely remain an article of faith rather than a matter of fact. |
Texas Senator Ted Cruz intensified his rhetoric this weekend in Iowa as he sought to compete with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump on tough talk about killing Islamic State terrorists. "We will carpet bomb them into oblivion," Cruz said at a multi-candidate event in Cedar Rapids sponsored by the Tea Party-aligned FreedomWorks group. "I don't know if sand can glow in the dark, but we're going to find out." Cruz received loud applause throughout his speech from the more than 1,500 people in attendance and got a standing ovation as he left the stage. It was a strong showing for Cruz ahead of the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses, although a significant proportion of the crowd was from outside the state. Like Trump and others in the race, Cruz has been giving national security topics more emphasis in recent weeks following the killing of 14 people in San Bernardino, California—termed an "act of terrorism" by the FBI—and also a much deadlier attack on civilians in Paris last month.Cruz's Surge Cruz has benefited more than any other Republican candidate from the decline of Ben Carson, with his poll numbers in Iowa and nationally moving up in recent weeks as the retired neurosurgeon's numbers began sliding. For his part, Carson called for more military muscle in the Middle East to fight the Islamic State. "If we really want to take care of our people over here, we need to get rid of them over there," he said. Carson questioned why American planes aren't doing more to strike oil tanker trucks in the region. "You can't fight a politically correct war," he said. "Even if you do want to be politically correct, just say, 'If you drive it out of there, we're going to bomb it.' Just tell them ahead of time." Speaking to reporters later, Carson downplayed Cruz's growing strength in polls. "Poll numbers go up and down," he said. "I do not worry about anyone, specifically." Carson also defended his mispronunciation of Hamas, the militant Palestinian movement, in a speech this week in Washington. "I said hummus and then I corrected it in the same sentence and said Hamas. But do they talk about that?" he said. "Do people make mistakes sometimes when they're speaking?"Fierce Crowds The retired doctor and Cruz were two of the five candidates who spoke at what was the last multi-candidate event in Iowa before a late-January debate, which takes place just days before the caucuses. The audience was intensely partisan. During a speech from a non-presidential candidate, one man yelled "Obama dead!," after the speaker said he was about to deliver some good news. In his speech, Cruz told those in the arena that the "left has their eyes closed to the reality, the dangers of this world." Cruz strongly rejected calls for stricter gun-control laws in the wake of recent mass shootings. "You don't stop the bad guys by taking away our guns," Cruz said. "You stop the bad guys by using our guns." The Second Amendment, he said, is more crucial now than ever because it was designed as a "check on government tyranny." Prior to his speech, Cruz said he was open to American troops on the ground in the Middle East to defeat the Islamic State. "If boots on the ground are necessary, we should do what is militarily necessary," he said. "We need to start with using overwhelming airpower."Outsiders and Insiders Senator Rand Paul told reporters before his speech that Senator Marco Rubio of Florida is quickly becoming "the establishment candidate" because of his support for military intervention in Syria. The Kentucky senator generally favors limited use of America's military clout. Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina also spoke at the nearly five-hour-long event, which finished just ahead of the University of Iowa's Big Ten championship game against Michigan State. Dave Meggers, a farmer from Donahue, Iowa, was one of those in attendance at the event. After backing former Texas Governor Rick Perry in 2012, Meggers said he's leaning toward Cruz, Carson, or Rubio. Trump, Meggers said, isn't providing enough specific information, although he's glad he's in the race, for now. "I keep thinking that he's going to shoot himself in the foot, but that hasn’t happened," he said. "But I like having him in the race because it makes people listen." |
TV in the 2000s: The Decade in Whedonism – 10 Small Screen Masterpieces from Joss Whedon Like an awful lot of film and TV geeks, and just plain geeks, I’m a pretty big Joss Whedon fan. In fact, my devotion to his unique blend of fantasy and science fiction melodrama, sometimes arch old-school movie-style witty dialogue blended with Marvel comics repartee, strong characterization, and often somewhat silly plots has at times gotten almost embarrassing. A few years back some of my very adult friends were suggesting in concerned tones that I should really marry the man if I love him so much. More recently, I thought my fandom was under relative control. But now, I’ve been asked my opinion on the ten best examples of small-screen work in this decade from the creator and guiding force of “Angel,” “Firefly,” the already canceled “Dollhouse,” and, of course, “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.” I only have to be thankful for the fact that first four seasons of “Buffy,” which contain most of that show’s greatest episodes, are disqualified because they appeared on TV sets before 2000. We take our mercies where we find them. (And, yes, if you’re about to catch up with these on DVD, there are a fair number of spoilers below for the various series, though I’ve tried to keep a few secrets.) One word of warning: my relative ranking of these shows is a matter of mood and borders on the random. In other words — don’t hold me to these choices! Out of competition: “The Body” (“Buffy, the Vampire Slayer”) – This episode usually ranks extremely high when people make these kind of lists. Entertainment Weekly named it as pretty much the best thing Joss Whedon has ever done and maybe the best TV thing ever. The truth of the matter is that, yes, the episode where Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Geller) discovers the already cold body of her mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland, a wonderful asset to the show for the five previous years), dead from an entirely natural brain tumor, was probably one of the most remarkable episodes of television ever shown, and probably the only thing I’ve seen that comes close to capturing the essence of what it feels like when someone dies unexpectedly. The problem was, I didn’t find it depressing; I found it real. I didn’t feel any more like repeating the experience than I would the death of an actual loved one. Whedon – who wrote and directed the episode himself – deserves all the credit in the world for the brave choices he made, including shooting the episode in close to “real time” and not using any music. If I have one complaint with Whedon, it’s his tendency to close emotional episodes with, dare I say it, somewhat drippy montages. His choice to eliminate music from the kind of “very special” show where other creators would lay in with three or four montages of Joyce frolicking in the woods or what have you, shows Whedon is, at heart, an outstanding filmmaker. I’ve never had a problem with his much-noted tendency to kill off sympathetic and/or popular characters. It might anger some fans, but especially if you’re dealing with inherently violent material, there’s something morally wrong about not dealing with the fact that good people are just as mortal as bad people. Still, I don’t enjoy watching this episode. If this were a movie, maybe I’d be more in awe or eager for profundity. However, if I’m going to be honest, I can’t call “The Body” a favorite and I can’t be sure it’s one of the “best.” #10, Shiny Happy People (“Angel”) – Fans of the spin-off about Buffy’s ex, the vampire-with-a-soul detective (David Boreanaz), and various assembled demon-hunters and occasionally friendly demons, will be scratching their heads at this choice. It’s an unpopular episode from a widely and justly derided storyline involving a very weird affair between Angel’s unbalanced super-powered teenage son from another dimension, Connor (Vincent Kartheiser, now of “Mad Men“), and a suddenly evil Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), a former high school mean girl turned lovably complex grown-up foil for her vampire boss. And, yeah, it was a little freaky for Cordy to give birth to a fully grown creature called Jasmine. However, as played by the wondrous Gina Torres of the then recently-canceled “Firefly,” Jasmine was freaky in a good way. A being whose god-like ability to create an instant sense of peace, happiness, and complete obedience, is somewhat set off by the fact that she’s actually a deformed and decaying, if not entirely evil, monster who must consume people to live, she was every charismatic leader and every great screen beauty rolled into one monstrous ball. More than anything else, “Shiny Happy People” reminded me of Don Siegel’s 1956 film verson of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” It was another believable demonstration of how we humans are only too willing to surrender our our humanity to the first apparently completely beauteous and 100% wise being who comes along. You know, like Oprah, only less powerful. #9. “Epitaph One”/“The Left Hand” (“Dollhouse”) — A tie for the two best episodes so far of Whedon’s most recent, most highly problematic, and most freshly canceled, series. Without going into what I think went awry with the show, about an immoral corporation providing semi-slave designer human beings for a very high price, these two very different episodes take creative risks that pay off in big ways. The DVD-only, lower-budget, “Epitaph One” is set ten years after the events of the series and makes use of its somewhat low-fi aesthetic to create an exciting post-apocalyptic science-fiction drama that plays like a more thoughtful version of certain aspects of “The Terminator” (which Whedon is famously trying to buy). The episode features some especially good acting, both from guest stars like Felicia Day and series regulars like the always superb Olivia Williams and Harry Lennix. The more glossy “The Left Hand,” which aired just before I started writing this, benefits from a breakneck pace, lots of prime Whedon tragicomic humor, as well as a scene-stealing guest appearance by “Firefly” and “Terminator”-alum Summer Glau as a truly messed-up techie on a soul-crushing vendetta against Eliza Dushku‘s self-aware “doll,” Echo, but with a definite crush on her enemy’s programmer. Most of that humor I was talking comes from strong work by Fran Kranz, whose really grown into his role as seemingly 100% amoral nerdy brain-designer-genius Topher Brink, and the amazing Enver Gkojaj as, yes, seemingly 100% amoral nerdy brain-designer-genius Topher Brink. (He’s duplicated himself so he can literally be in two places at once.) The previously unknown Gjokaj may be one reason why – canceled or not, mixed reviews and controversy or not – “Dollhouse” may go down in TV history. Over the years, Whedon has shown an increasing flair for picking out shockingly good actors to populate his work in supporting roles, and Gjokaj may be one of the very best. His chameleon-like ability to inhabit a number of highly disparate characters with complete believability and – as seen on this episode – his Alec Baldwin-like gift of mimicry, pretty much guarantees that we’ll be hearing from this extremely accomplished young actor again very soon. #8. “Serenity” (“Firefly”) — High on the list of reasons why Whedon’s combination of horse opera and space opera never really had a chance to hit with audiences, the choice to air its original pilot — not to be confused with the later movie of the same name — as the final episode, and only after the show had already been canceled, is certainly among them. Just a hair darker in its outlook than the rest of the show, this “Serenity” is very much in the tradition of classic movie westerns and does a marvelous job of introducing a rich cast of characters. In particular, Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) is a combination of the swaggering Han Solo and the tragic, embittered Ethan Edwards of “The Searchers” but with a far sharper sense of humor than either and one of the best lead characters on any show, ever. Deemed too slow and not funny enough by the network and even some fans, the episode that introduced the mostly well-intentioned thieves-for-hire of the Firefly class ship named Serenity, is perfectly calibrated, comedy-laced, action film-making of the very best kind. #7. “War Stories” (“Firefly”) — A brutally funny combination of violence and character-driven comedy, this episode focuses on a kind of triangle we don’t often see in movies and TV. Space-freighter pilot Wash (Alan Tudyk, “Dodgeball,” “3:10 to Yuma“) is happily married to beautiful, ex-military, bad-ass Zoe (Gina Torres), but he finds himself jealous of her old combat buddy and current companion in danger, Captain Mal. Even if he can be convinced that there was never anything romantic between the two of them, he is desperate to somehow become a part of their unique relationship when it comes to dealing with life or death matters. Maneuvering himself into a situation where a real danger ensues, he not surprisingly gets more than he asked for. This episode is notable for easily the funniest believably painful torture sequence ever filmed – a bit of inspired ultra-black comedy that Whedon might not dare to have tried in the post-Dick Cheney/post “24” world. The brilliance of the scene is accounted for not only by a great script credited to Cheryl Cain, but the top grade chemistry between Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion. To this day, they are darn funny appearing together as themselves in public, but they’ve never been better than when they were allowed to work out their issues while being electrocuted by an interplanetary criminal mastermind. #6. “Chosen” (“Buffy, the Vampire Slayer”) – Longtime fans know that Joss Whedon has a spotty record when it comes to season openers and pilots. However, he always seems to pull things out at the other end and delivers solid finales that leave you both satisfied and wanting more. Happily, so far, this seems to go double for series finales. The conclusion to Whedon’s most popular and long-lived show is pretty much everything fans could have wanted, providing a certain amount of closure to long-standing conflicts in thrilling and kind of beautiful ways. As Buffy and her long-time friends, who are getting a bit old to be called “Scoobies,” face one more battle against the original evil and witness the destruction of their hometown, not everything goes so well. In typical Whedon fashion, a couple of beloved characters die (though one recovered from his nasty case of being burned to a crisp quickly enough to return as a regular on the next season of “Angel”), but the overall tone is wistfully hopeful, and fully in line with the show’s emphasis on friendship, female empowerment, and the need to tough out this thing we call human life. #5 – “Not Fade Away” (“Angel”) — “Angel” was always the darker, meaner cousin of “Buffy.” So, naturally its conclusion is suitably more down-and-dirty and, remarkably, even better than the acclaimed wrap-up of its sister show the year prior. Largely a fantasy-noir variation on one of Whedon’s favorite movies, “The Wild Bunch,” this episode is about what happens when battle-hardened folks face an unbeatable enemy. Sure, the staff of Angel Investigations are more morally upright than Sam Peckinpah’s mangy hardcases, but this is still a tale about settling old scores in blood and a final battle that may be as ultimately pointless as it is noble. Again, not everyone survives…I think. The show’s ending is, rather brilliantly, far from completely resolved, though the tone is much more “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” than “The Sopranos” finale. In any case, Whedon’s theme of life as perpetual struggle couldn’t be more strongly underlined than by this exchange from that vampire Hope and Crosby, Angel and Spike (James Marsters), as they ponder how to take on a (mostly unseen) horde comprised of all manner of demonic beast and humanoid. Spike: And in terms of a plan? Angel: We fight. Spike: Bit more specific? Angel: Well, personally, I kinda wanna slay the dragon. Let’s go to work. #4 “Once More With Feeling” (“Buffy, the Vampire Slayer”) — I really love good musicals, but I really kind of hate bad ones and I can’t stand bad music. So, when I heard that Whedon was using his vacation time to write songs for a musical episode of “Buffy,” I could see that it would be easy enough to make logical in the Buffyverse, where there’s a demon available for any and all plotting needs. I nevertheless had visions of “Cop Rock” dancing very badly in my head. Directing and writing a musical is hard enough, I theorized, without the additional burden of composing all the songs yourself. Little did I know that, while Joss Whedon may not quite be Stephen Sondheim and Elvis Costello rolled into one, he’s a solid tunesmith whose music ranges from the silly but tuneful to the downright enchanting and delightful, with the occasional bit of modern-day schmaltz thrown in. Still, it’s the stunning level of humorous and dramatic invention that makes this episode such a massively enjoyable piece of work. The plot involves a song-and-dance demon (the great theatrical tap-dancer Hinton Battle) infecting Sunnydale with a dangerously incendiary plague of musical-comedy. Unusually among musical episodes, the show is very much a part of the regular series continuity. That might have limited its appeal to curious newcomers, but the integrity it shows in respecting the internal logic of the show’s fantasy universe while commenting good-humoredly on the musical comedy tradition, makes the show all that much weightier for regular viewers. Whedon knows what all creators of great musicals know: all the singing and dancing in the world should never get in the way of a good story. #3 “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog.” Sometime before the 2005 release of “Serenity,” I found myself at an early screening for fans, signing a birthday card to Joss Whedon. Just above the compulsory, “Happy Birthday” I wrote “Another musical?” Well, it took a writer’s strike and the burgeoning power of Web 2.0, but my timid request was answered in high style last year with the blissfully silly and often hilarious, yet ultimately rather tragic and haunting, web-movie musical about an earnest aspiring supervillain with anti-corporate leanings (the multi-talented Neil Patrick Harris). As he strives to enter the Evil League of Evil by pleasing its rarely seen leader, Bad Horse (“the Thoroughbred of Sin”), defeat his obnoxious superhero nemesis, Captain Hammer (a never-funnier Nathan Fillion), and win the heart of an adorable activist do-gooder he chats with at the laundromat (‘net star/creator Felicia Day of “The Guild“), we learn how becoming a full-fledged supervillain may create serious problems if you also want people to love you. A true family project co-created with brothers Zack and Jed (a musician as well as a TV writer), and Jed’s then fiancee/now wife, Maurissa Tancharoen, “Dr. Horrible” has a low-budget comic book aesthetic that actually underlines its tale of aspiring artists of crime. Crisply directed by Whedon, it’s songs are some of the funniest and most haunting from a new musical you’re likely to hear these days, if a bit less tuneful than the slicker, more Broadway-inspired music of “Once More With Feeling.” A third act plot point, however, takes a chance by daring us to take the premises of the plot to their logical, poignant conclusion that some may not appreciate. While it could be argued that the whimsical conceit might have allowed this to be one instance where Whedon didn’t actually need to keep things fictionally real by giving a cruel fate to a sympathetic character, the choice provides this brilliant mini-musical with a stronger ending and a far better set-up for the upcoming sequel than a more straightforwardly comic conclusion would have. All in all, “Dr. Horrible” proves that, even if driven off the airwaves entirely, the Whedon brand at this point has a far better prognosis for a long life than most of his characters. #2. “Our Mrs. Reynolds” (“Firefly”) — By now, you may be noticing a bit of a trend. Yes, I love “Firefly” and I definitely would marry it, if only the courts would legalize man-on-TV show-marriage. It’s easily my favorite Whedon show and one of my favorite television shows of all time. Sure, some of that has to do with the fact that I just love a good western, but the show truly is special even among Whedon shows. It features the most consistently strong cast of any of any of his shows, and this episode introduces a very special, if then completely unknown, guest star with the appearance of Christina Hendricks (“Mad Men”). We first meet the future Joan Holloway as Saffron, an apparently shy, possibly completely submissive, member of a colony whom Mal, unaware of local customs, accidentally marries. Written by Whedon, this fan-favorite starts out as a feminist-friendly variation on a somewhat disturbing plot thread from “The Searchers,” but eventually becomes something like the perfect TV-length screwball farce, only with more violence. What more could you want? #1. “Objects in Space” (“Firefly”) — Unlike every single other season finale he’s written, the de facto conclusion to “Firefly” resolves very little in the way of ongoing plot elements. Indeed, it appears that fact so frustrated Whedon that it probably largely led to his determination to wrap up the story arc in more suitable fashion with the movie, “Serenity.” Nevertheless, viewed on its own, this episode is my personal selection for Whedon’s all time best work ever. It features guest-star Richard Brooks (“Law & Order”), who is letter perfect as Jubal Early, a coolly brutal and mentally unbalanced bounty hunter — Whedon’s off-kilter homage to Boba Fett, in fact — sent to recover River Tam (Summer Glau), a psychotic young fugitive who has taken refuge on board Serenity. The episode gradually boils down to a highly charged and very strange battle of wits between Early and the schizophrenic-like-a-fox Tam. It’s a blend of suspense, psychology, action, and odd pathos that, if you care to look, has some existential undercurrents. (Whedon discusses those in some detail in the somewhat unusual DVD commentary he recorded for the episode.) Still, this tale of outer space cat-and-mouse between two individuals whose life experiences has rendered them both less than whole, but more than merely human, is simply great science fiction entertainment for people who enjoy thinking a little. If there’s one thing I’m bummed about from the cancellation of the show and the box office disappointment of the ensuing movie is that we may never get to see Jubal Early face off again against the Serenity crew, though a guy can always hope. (Note to dubious viewers in light of the ending: yes, Early lives!) |
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 The suspect in the Berlin terror attack was allegedly captured on camera outside a mosque just hours after a lorry ploughed into a busy Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring dozens. Images obtained by Germany's public broadcaster show a man in a wool cap standing in a doorway in Berlin's Moabit district shortly before 4am local time on Tuesday. RBB, citing sources, claimed the man in the video is Anis Amri, the 24-year-old Tunisian who is suspected of hijacking the lorry and mowing down pedestrians in the city centre on Monday night. It is believed he was twice captured on camera outside the same mosque less than a week before the attack - once in the early hours of December 14 and again on December 15. (Image: Internet Unknown) The mosque was one of a number of places searched by police on Thursday, but no arrests have been made. German intelligence agencies had mounted surveillance of the mosque because it was regarded as a recruiting ground for jihadist groups but because they had arrested a Pakistani suspect Amri was not picked up. Tuesday's footage was captured around seven hours after the market was attacked, RBB reported. At that time police had already detained a man who was suspected of crashing the lorry, but he was released without charge after he denied involvement and an investigation found no evidence he had anything to do with it. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Amri later emerged as a suspect and is still being hunted by police across Europe. He had been identified by security agencies as a potential threat and rejected for asylum, but authorities had not managed to deport him because of missing identity documents. (Image: BILD) Earlier on Thursday terrifying dashcam video emerged showing the moment a speeding lorry ploughed into the crowded market. The first footage of the terror attack claimed by ISIS shows the lorry racing through a junction in the brightly-decorated city centre and terrified revellers running through the streets just moments later. The video, obtained by German newspaper Bild, was captured by a taxi driver as he waited for customers outside the market at the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church. (Image: BILD) The lorry is off camera when it ploughs into wooden stalls at the busy market - where thousands of locals and tourists were enjoying mulled wine, sausages and other traditional fare in the run-up to Christmas. The terror is obvious just seconds later as market-goers flee for their lives, running into traffic in a bid to escape. The taxi turns the corner a short time later, but the road is blocked and the lorry is just metres in front of it after coming to a stop. (Image: REUTERS) Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now The person whose dashcam recorded the footage told Bild that people ran by screaming just seconds after the truck had passed, and they quickly realised something terrible had happened. Twelve people were killed and nearly 50 were injured when the lorry was deliberately driven into the market in the latest act of terrorism to strike Europe. Investigators said fingerprints from the suspect have been found inside the truck and they assume the migrant was at the wheel. (Image: AFP) (Image: Getty) Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said: "We can report today that we have new information that the suspect is with high probability really the perpetrator. "In the cab, in the driving cabin, fingerprints were found and there is additional evidence that supports this." Frauke Koehler, a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office, added: "At this point in the investigation, we assume Anis Amri drove the truck." ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack. One of the 12 dead was the Polish driver from whom the truck had been hijacked. Lukasz Urban, 37, is said to have fought with his killer before the crash. His body, stabbed and shot, was found in the cab after the lorry mowed down pedestrians. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now (Image: Getty) (Image: AFP) Ringed by concrete bollards, the Berlin market reopened on Thursday, with candles and flowers laid in tribute to the victims. In Tunisia, two of Amri's brothers, Walid and Abdelkader, said they feared the failed asylum-seeker may have been radicalised by radical Islamists while he spent almost four years behind bars in Italy. Abdelkader said: "He doesn't represent us or our family. "He went into prison with one mentality and when he came out he had a totally different mentality." (Image: AFP) Bild cited a counter-terrorism investigator as saying it was clear last spring that Amri was looking for accomplices for an attack and was interested in weapons. The paper said preliminary proceedings had been opened against him in March based on information he was planning a robbery to get money to buy automatic weapons and "possibly carry out an attack". In mid-2016, he spoke to two Islamic State fighters and Tunisian authorities listened in on their conversation before informing German authorities. Amri also offered himself as a suicide attacker on known Islamist chat sites, Bild said. Police started looking for him after finding an identity document under the driver's seat of the truck. The perpetrator lost both his wallet and mobile phone while running away from the attack site, RBB reported. |
Live updates on a reported shooting at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC. *** All times eastern. 5:05: Suspect “frequented” the Capitol. Capitol shooting: Suspect in custody “frequented the Capitol grounds” https://t.co/bCk2gKQtd3 — WPMT FOX43 (@fox43) March 28, 2016 4:35: More details: “@cnnbrk: Sources: Capitol suspect drew gun after alarm sounded when he went through metal detectors. https://t.co/KHKxgMlUvn” — Ashlee McGeehan (@AshleeMcGeehan) March 28, 2016 4:30: Suspect may be same man who created a disturbance in the House of Representatives last year. NEW: Authorities believe Capitol shooting suspect is Tenn. man who interrupted House session last Oct., was arrested https://t.co/ypi63M6Jel — ABC News (@ABC) March 28, 2016 4:27: Security already knew him? Two Capitol police officers tell me the suspect in the Capitol shooting has "tested" security before. They know him — Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) March 28, 2016 4:25: White House says it did not go into lockdown. ABC names suspect. Secret Service spox says there was no "lock down" at WH. Routine precautionary measures were taken bc of incident at Capitol — Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) March 28, 2016 JUST IN: ABC News identifies Capitol shooter as Larry Dawson of Tennessee. #WATE https://t.co/5VKSTFynCO — WATE 6 On Your Side (@6News) March 28, 2016 3:44: Lockdown lifted. BREAKING: Lockdown lifted at the U.S. Capitol, according to an announcement. CVC to remain closed. — Anthony Adragna (@AnthonyAdragna) March 28, 2016 3:36: 3:35: Just got real: .@SpeakerRyan has been briefed on the incident at the Capitol, one of his aides tells me. — Rebecca Shabad (@RebeccaShabad) March 28, 2016 3:32: CNN says male suspect shot, female civilian injured. Capitol Shooting Update from @CNN: -male suspect shot, in custody -Female civilian injured -nobody else at large pic.twitter.com/M58i1ppcEA — sara yasin ὡ (@sarayasin) March 28, 2016 3:29: Armored vehicle just left the Capitol pic.twitter.com/GBVt2CPZuR — Jonathan Tamari (@JonathanTamari) March 28, 2016 3:28: Another outlet contradicting report of injured officer. UPDATE from @remawriter: Official word from House Sergeant at Arms: At this time, no reports of officer injured in Capitol shooting. — Roll Call (@rollcall) March 28, 2016 3:25: Fox News introduces “shrapnel” to story. Capitol police: Shooter is "down," one person hit by "shrapnel" being taken to hospital — Shepard Smith (@ShepNewsTeam) March 28, 2016 3:24: Video of people running inside the Capitol: 3:22: Not clear if this is the same individual from the Capitol. https://twitter.com/DianneG/status/714531787125473280 3:21: DC police announce “no active threat” at this time. There has been an isolated incident at the US Capitol. There is no active threat to the public — DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) March 28, 2016 3:19: NBC News contradicting AP report, saying only the assailant was injured: Acc to @PeteWilliamsNBC: person entered CVC, pointed gun at police officer, officer fired single shot at suspect, suspect taken to hospital — Erika Masonhall (@ErikaMasonhall) March 28, 2016 3:14: Police presence outside the Capitol right now. Not allowing anyone across the street to the grounds pic.twitter.com/FhbJOZdkfS — Jonathan Tamari (@JonathanTamari) March 28, 2016 3:02: First details officially released: BREAKING: Capitol officials say 1 Capitol police officer shot, not seriously, shooter in custody. — The Associated Press (@AP) March 28, 2016 3:00: Twitter updates from Scott Wong, a Senior staff writer at The Hill. Ton of police cars racing to Capitol. Anyone know what's up? — Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) March 28, 2016 Police telling tourists to run away from Capitol — Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) March 28, 2016 Metro Police received call to assist Capitol Police. But sharing no other info — Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) March 28, 2016 I'm outside Longworth. Police won't let me get closer pic.twitter.com/gg6sZFPqeO — Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) March 28, 2016 Police were telling tourists "This is not a drill!" — Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) March 28, 2016 Tourists telling me they saw and heard shots fired at Capitol, heard people screaming. They were across St at Supreme Court — Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) March 28, 2016 Some staffers got locked out of Capitol offices after shelter in place. So they ran outside. — Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) March 28, 2016 2:59: AP update: WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Capitol Police are telling staff in the Capitol complex to shelter in place after a report of gunshots being fired in the Capitol Visitors Center. The White House also was put on lockdown because of the report. The situation was apparently contained to the Visitors Center but no further information was immediately available. A Capitol Police spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 2:57: NBC News reports that the Capitol is in lockdown. Reuters says that employees have been told to “shelter in place.” Hill staffers have been advised to seek cover if they are outside. https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/714524700257419264 |
The search for 43 missing college students in the southern state of Guerrero has turned up at least 60 clandestine graves and 129 bodies over the last 10 months, Mexico's attorney general's office says. None of the remains has been connected to the youths who disappeared after a clash with police in the city of Iguala on Sept. 26, and authorities do not believe any will be. On Sunday, a few hundred people led by parents of the missing youths marched in Mexico City to call for justice in the case. Demonstrations have been held on the 26th of each month since the incident. The number of bodies and graves found from October to May could possibly be higher than in its report, the attorney general's office said, because its response to a freedom of information request from The Associated Press covers only those instances in which its mass grave specialists got involved. Federal authorities began turning up unmarked graves after beginning an investigation into the disappearance of the 43 young men following the confrontation between students and police that resulted in six confirmed deaths in Iguala, a municipality of 120,000 people 160 miles south of Mexico City. The government of President Enrique Peña Nieto has said the students were detained by local police and handed over to a drug cartel, which killed and incinerated them at a garbage dump. Their remains were allegedly put in garbage bags and dumped in a nearby river. He faces the deepest crisis of his administration over the government’s handling of the investigation, and anger over the case has resulted in sometimes violent demonstrations. In January, Tomas Zeron, director of criminal investigations at Mexico’s federal attorney general's office, said that prosecutors had obtained an arrest warrant for the former mayor of Iguala José Luis Abarca and 44 others on charges of kidnapping the 43 students. More than 20,000 people are listed as missing across Mexico, and there are many "disappeared" in Guerrero, a state that is a major opium producer and the battleground among several cartels warring over territory and drug smuggling routes. The government has said there is no evidence the 43 students were involved in the drug trade, but says they were mistaken for a rival gang. Many people are questioning the government's version of happened to the students, including parents. Last week, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) issued a list of 32 omissions in the investigation — some of them very basic — and recommendations that it said are vital to solving the case, even though Mexico’s attorney general's office gave its official version of what happened in January. Of the 129 remains found in the graves, 112 were men, 20 women and the rest are undetermined, according to the information released by the attorney general's office. Authorities listed only 16 of the remains as identified as of July 13. Al Jazeera and The Associated Press |
Championship promotion hopefuls QPR came from behind to claim a point against Leeds, but their winless run was extended to five matches. Ross McCormack, who had earlier seen a penalty saved by Rob Green, gave Leeds the lead with a deflected free-kick. The hosts levelled just before the break when Jermaine Jenas slotted past Jack Butland from the edge of the area. Armand Traore fired straight at Butland and Leeds debutant Connor Wickham twice went close, but it ended all-square. The draw does little for either side's promotion hopes, with QPR nine points behind second-placed Burnley, while Leeds are eight points adrift of the play-off places. Generous Rangers QPR have now failed to keep a clean sheet in their past 10 matches. The last time they stopped the opposition from scoring was in the 0-0 draw with Watford on 29 December The hosts had lost their past three matches and went into the game looking for a first home win over Leeds since November 1994. But after an even opening few minutes, the visitors were presented with a great opportunity to open the scoring when Richard Dunne was adjudged to have felled McCormack in the area. The Scot took the kick himself but his tame effort was easily saved by Green down to his left. The Leeds skipper did not have long to wait to make amends, though, netting his 23rd league goal of the season on 14 minutes. Media playback is not supported on this device Post-match: QPR manager Redknapp After Traore fouled Rodolph Austin on the edge of the area, McCormack put Leeds in front from the resultant free-kick, via a slight deflection off Rangers striker Kevin Doyle. The visitors were looking good value for their lead; new signing Wickham linking up well with McCormack on two occasions, though neither could force Green into more action. Harry Redknapp's side were in danger of being overrun and the QPR boss switched to a 4-4-2 formation to give lone frontman Doyle more support. The move paid dividends as Jenas played a neat one-two with the Republic of Ireland international before sliding a measured finish beyond Butland just before half-time. Straight after the restart the R's created a fine chance to go ahead with Ravel Morrison threading a pass through to Traore, but he fired straight at Butland from eight yards out. With the game getting scrappier, Leeds rallied and Wickham flashed a low shot just past the post from the edge of the area before forcing Green into a fine late save with a header from Alex Mowatt's free-kick. QPR defender Clint Hill thought he had snatched victory with a fiercely-struck volley in added time, but his effort was rightly ruled out for offside. Leeds manager Brian McDermott: "You'd take a point before the game here, but as the game panned out it was disappointing not to take all three. "We should maybe have killed the game off in the first half. But it is what it is, another point on the board and I just want positivity around Leeds United. We haven't had much lately. "We are still waiting for the takeover to be completed but it is a much calmer place now." |
MOOP, noun – Matter Out Of Place; especially as it applies to Black Rock City and its Citizens. Can be anything: cigarette butts, bottle caps, glowsticks, fireworks, but is often disguised as debris, i.e., broken bits of wood, plastic, metal, glass and plants. Can also be a condition: burn scars, grey water, dunes, etc. moop, verb – to pick up Matter Out Of Place. Click on the map below for the full-sized version… RED: HIGH IMPACT TRACE Also known as hot spots, the impact trace conditions embedded into the playa in your vicinity were heavily problematic and spread out over a vast area. Get your restoration team and tools together. Set your boundaries, do your line sweep, identify the issues, restore… go green! YELLOW: MODERATE IMPACT TRACE While neither the best nor worst, your impact trace is the ever-changing average. On the bright side, with a good strategy your camp has strong potential to go green. However, slack could easily put your camp into the red. GREEN: LOW TO NO IMPACT TRACE Green as in GO! GO! GO! You get an A+ for awesome. Your camping area left no trace. Keep up the good work! BLACK ROCK CITY SALUTES YOU. Please share your LNT strategies with your friends and fellow campers. |
LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest plastics, chemical and refining companies has acquired 50 percent stake in Quality Circular Polymers (QCP), a high standard plastics recycling company based in Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands. LyondellBasell will be a 50 / 50 partner in QCP with SUEZ, a French company specialized in water and waste management. The acquisition is important as a major plastics and chemicals company partners with a leader in resource management to contribute to circular economy objectives for the first time. On regulatory approval of the acquisition, expected to be received by the end of this year, LyondellBasell will market QCP materials. QCP, founded in 2014, has its Sittard-Geleen facility located near Maastricht. The facility is expected to start operations in 2018 with a capacity to convert consumer waste into 35,000 tons of polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) per year. Bob Patel, CEO, LyondellBasell and Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO, SUEZ, said in a joint statement, “As the circular economy increases in prominence and importance, we believe that demand for recycled materials will continue to grow. This acquisition combines LyondellBasell’s European market presence and technical capabilities with SUEZ’s ability to collect and recover waste into new materials. We believe that this new venture will provide a strategic platform for future sustainable growth.” LyondellBasell produces materials and products that offer advancing solutions to enhance food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging. SUEZ is a world leader in smart and sustainable resource management with foot prints on five continents. Quality Circular Polymers (QCP) manufactures polymers of high and consistent quality based on used plastics. Reliable supply, integration, leading technologies and innovative recipes helps QCP to push the circular plastics industry to the next level. |
Snapchat is famous for its disappearing messages, but unfortunately not everything in this world is ephemeral when you need it to be. The L.A.-based company disclosed today that a number of its current and former employees had their identities compromised by a cyber attack this month. “Last Friday, Snapchat’s payroll department was targeted by an isolated email phishing scam in which a scammer impersonated our Chief Executive Officer and asked for employee payroll information,” Snapchat explained in a blog post. “Unfortunately, the phishing email wasn’t recognized for what it was — a scam — and payroll information about some current and former employees was disclosed externally.” Snapchat has had hacking problems in the past. The service leaked some 200,000 photos from users back in 2014 when unofficial third-party apps were compromised, but on this occasion the circumstances and outcome are different. For one thing, Snapchat said that no user data was affected, while the company is shouldering the blame for the issue. (Last time it said users who lost data were at fault for using unofficial accounts; it then subsequently nixed all third party access to its platform in the name of security.) So what was accessed this time around? Snapchat isn’t being too specific — this is sensitive — but payroll information could include salary data, Social Security numbers, bank details, addresses, emails and other personal ID which, in the hands of the wrong people, could create headaches for those affected. Snapchat said it reported the crime to the FBI, while it sorted through the people affected and is offering them all two years of identity theft insurance and monitoring for free. Corporate hacking and information theft has occupied the limelight regularly in recent years. The scale of the hack on Sony, which also took place in 2014, was unprecedented and, beyond putting confidential company information (including, ironically, details about Snapchat’s business) into the public forum, it also exposed the personal information and data belonging to thousands upon thousands of Sony staff. Snapchat said it is “impossibly sorry” for this breach. It vowed to “redouble our already rigorous training programs around privacy and security” in the hope of preventing future incidents like this happening again. |
During the 3DRV roadtrip, I had the opportunity to use and see many 3D printers in action. Over and over, one printer emerged as a favorite by the people and businesses I would meet, for not only its ease-of-use, but more so for its customer support: the LulzBot TAZ 5 and the LulzBot Mini, which is owned by Aleph Objects in Loveland, Colorado. I have only had the opportunity to try them out in the wild, as the saying goes. The reports are always very good to excellent. Sadly, for me, while driving the RV through Colorado I ran out of time to meet them in person. But I did get to spend an afternoon with SparkFun, the DIY electronics company, which also told me they love the LulzBot Mini. My work here on Forbes is not to review products, per se, but to explore bigger industry trends and up-and-coming companies. Given the huge attention to National Small Business Week starting May 4 and the frequent mentions of how important 3D printing is to the new face of manufacturing, I thought I would explore this popular 3D printer and its growth. In 2014, Aleph Objects’ revenue was $4.6 million, and as of the end of April they are on track to surpass their 2014 sales, a company spokesperson shared with me. The company operates a cluster of 144 LulzBot 3D printers that run 24 hours a day, five days week, creating parts for their own printers. This week the company hit 500,000 parts produced in their own 3D printing factory. The milestone part was an x-end motor mount for the company's award-winning LulzBot Mini desktop 3D printer. This is a significant milestone in another way as well – the media frequently talks about how traditional manufacturing is going to disappear, but very rarely has examples of companies producing, at scale, via 3D printers. There are examples out there and I’ll share more of them in the coming months. But Aleph has proven they can base a major portion of their manufacturing process on their own printers. That means they can easily scale production to meet customer demand. My bigger question for them was how many of their customers are big, enterprise level, Forbes 2000 type companies. As it turns out, they told me that half of their customers are using their LulzBot desktop 3D printers for professional purposes. This figure includes many enterprise-level customers, who are primarily using their LulzBots to create prototypes. Click CONTINUE button for more of this story and some great links to more useful resources. However, 3D printing has moved beyond prototypes alone. According to Wohlers Associates that produces the 3D Printing State of the Industry report each year; found that revenues from the production of parts for final products represents 34.7 percent of the entire market for additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing. I’ll be doing a more in-depth review of the Wohlers Report 2015 soon. Full disclosure: I served as a paid proofreader this year for a few of the report chapters, but I have reviewed this report over multiple years here at Forbes. It is, without a doubt, the most comprehensive and trusted document on the state of 3D printing. Aleph Objects also announced that the company's LulzBot printers will be featured in this week's episode of The Science Channel's "How It's Made" television series. The episode will offer viewers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings at Aleph Objects, with a focus on the aforementioned cluster of 144 printers, the process of 3D printing, as well as the assembly, calibration, quality control, and final testing of a LulzBot TAZ printer. The LulzBot episode of "How It's Made" will premiere this Thursday, April 30th, at 9 pm EST on The Science Channel. It should be an informative and fun to watch program. I will be tuning in. If the future of American manufacturing includes 3D printing, and I believe it does, then this young company is showcasing some of the ways to produce new products, highly customized, and at a small scale. Small for now; expect big things from this customer-focused company. |
In the run-up to the Texas gubernatorial election, much hand-wringing was done over the Hispanic lady voter. But it was women like me—married white women, specifically—who failed Wendy Davis—and ourselves, and our families, and Texas families—on Tuesday night. In the run-up to the Texas gubernatorial election, much hand-wringing was done over the Hispanic lady voter. But it was women like me—married white women, specifically—who failed Wendy Davis—and ourselves, and our families, and Texas families—on Tuesday night. Shutterstock In the run-up to the Texas gubernatorial election, much hand-wringing was done over the Hispanic lady voter: Are they too socially conservative to support Wendy Davis? Will they come around to Abortion Barbie? Will they cotton to Greg Abbott’s but-my-wife-is-Hispanic schtick? I was guilty of a version of this, myself. I should have looked in the mirror. It was women like me—married white women, specifically—who failed Wendy Davis—and ourselves, and our families, and Texas families—on Tuesday night. According to exit polls, Black women, Black men, Latinas, and a near-majority of Latinos who voted turned out in solid numbers for Davis. Get the facts, direct to your inbox. Subscribe to our daily or weekly digest. SUBSCRIBE Among voters, 94 percent of Black women, 90 percent of Black men, 61 percent of Latinas, and 49 percent of Latinos in Texas voted for Wendy Davis. Meanwhile, just 32 percent of white Texas women who voted did so for Wendy Davis. You’ll hear that Greg Abbott “carried” women voters in Texas. Anyone who says that is also saying this: that Black women and Latinas are not “women,” and that carrying white women is enough to make the blanket statement that Abbott carried all women. That women generally failed to vote for Wendy Davis. As if women of color are some separate entity, some mysterious other, some bizarre demographic of not-women. The story does not begin and end with “men” and “women”; we have to look at which men, which women—particularly if the Democratic Party is ever going to decide to come out fighting hard on issues like immigration reform and moving the gamepiece aggressively forward, rather than backward, on reproductive rights. Once more, with feeling: Greg Abbott and the Republican Party did not win women. They won white women. Time and time again, people of color have stood up for reproductive rights, for affordable health care, for immigrant communities while white folks vote a straight “I got mine” party ticket—even when they haven’t, really, gotten theirs. The trend is echoed in national politics; we saw it play out across the country last night. To be sure, there are many factors that contributed to America’s rightward dive over the cliff: In a post-Citizens United electoral landscape, racist gerrymandering and voter ID laws appear to have had their intended effects of dividing and disenfranchising already marginalized voters. But there’s another factor at play that Democrats fail to grapple with, and the Republican Party capitalizes on, time and time again: the historical crisis of empathy in the white community, one much older than gerrymandered congressional districts or poll taxes. Let’s talk about what a vote for Wendy Davis meant: It meant a vote for strong public school funding, for Texas Medicaid expansion, for affordable family planning care, for environmental reforms, for access to a full spectrum of reproductive health-care options. On the flip side, a vote for Greg Abbott meant a vote for the status quo, for empowering big industry and big political donors, for cutting public school funds and dismantling the Affordable Care Act, for overturning Roe v. Wade. White women chose Greg Abbott Tuesday night. We did not choose empathy. Texas has been red for two decades. We do not choose empathy. We choose the fact that our children will always have access to education, that our daughters will always be able to fly to California or New York for abortion care, that our mothers will always be able to get that crucial Pap smear. We chose a future where maternal mortality—but not our maternal mortality—rates will rise. We chose a future where preventable deaths from cervical cancer—but not our deaths—will rise. We chose a future where deaths from illegal, back-alley abortions—but not our illegal, back-alley abortions—will rise. We chose ourselves, and only ourselves. Without empathy, a culture of fear is allowed to foment and thrive. It is that culture that has ensured that white folks never need engage with the idea of non-white humanity, with the concept of lives of color. It is this culture of fear, our culture of fear, that put Greg Abbott in the governor’s mansion, and it needs to be cut out of our communities like the cancer it is. We do this by rebuilding ourselves in a better image, in the image of our sisters of color who, time and again, have shown that they care that we have access to health care, to the voting booth, even though we have not done the same for them. We have much to learn by witnessing the strength of Texans of color, by respecting and supporting the work of groups like the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, the Afiya Center, SisterSong, the Texas Organizing Project, Mamas of Color Rising, Rise Up/Levanta Texas, and asking the question: What role of assistance can we play as you lead? We have so, so very much to learn. |
In the late-fall gloaming of Nov. 17, 1904, streetcar No. 642 was heading east on Queen Street towards the village of Riverside and the Beaches beyond. The Toronto Railway Company car was one of the city's first electric trolleys, a wooden cabin on metal wheels with an absurd galleon-style steering wheel, driven by Willis Armstrong. As the motorman approached the at-grade GTR rail crossing between De Grassi and McGee Streets he noticed the white barriers were down in advance of a Montreal-bound freight train that was presently thundering past the Distillery. Steel bars called "Scotch blocks" set into the tracks 20 feet from the crossing were raised to slow stray streetcars. In the back, women clutched children while men in smart suits browsed the evening edition of the Toronto Daily Star. Before the eastbound tracks out of Toronto were raised and fitted out with bridges, the express line for Kingston and Montreal sliced through the Port Lands, Riverside, and northwest out of town at street level. Trains ran roughly every thirteen minutes in 1904 - 110 a day - so a team of signalmen we employed on the line to ensure the way was kept clear at each crossing point. Using a system of bells, the team would signal the next crossing when a train was approaching. When streetcar No. 642 approached, the gates had been down for roughly two minutes and a small crowd of pedestrians had gathered on either side of the street. Established protocol among drivers required motorman Armstrong to gently apply the brakes around Saulter Street and coast to a halt. The braking system on the TRC cars was controlled by a lever in the cab connected to the underside of the vehicle by a metal chain. This system had faced criticism before. A newspaper article cited an incident on Bathurst Street that allowed a streetcar to run a stop sign and roll around a corner out of control; at Carlton and College, a TRC vehicle was heavily damaged when it rear-ended another car. Instead of the Queen East streetcar slowing, it maintained its speed toward the crossing gates. With a collision imminent, the driver leapt clear of the cab, abandoning the streetcar to its fate, and landed with a thud on the street. No. 642 slammed into the Scotch blocks, tearing them from the ground, and crashed through the lowered barriers. Within moments, the GTR freighter tore the streetcar in half, scattering bodies, wood, and steel in every direction. The sickening screech from the train's emergency brakes filled the air as the locomotive shuddered to a halt 110 metres down the line, pieces of debris wedged in its cowcatcher. The cab lay upended, relatively unscathed, at the side of track close to Queen Street. In the immediate aftermath motorman Armstrong was not found among the survivors and he was presumed dead. Two passengers were killed instantly and another seriously injured died in hospital a short time later. A child, Baby Robertson, lost a leg and many others suffered similar wounds. Armstrong turned up a short time later, still bleeding from his fall, and was taken to hospital suffering from shock. Police arrived a short time later to make an arrest but were advised to keep the man under medical watch as he was "too unstrung" to leave. The crew of the Montreal-bound freighter were also subpoenaed as witnesses. Back at the accident site, a crowd of nearly 1,000 people swamped the area, some stealing pieces of streetcar as souvenirs. The dead, William J. McKay, Russell J. Stevens, and Minnie Mahaffy, were removed. 12 of the more seriously wounded, including the Baby Robertson, were taken to the General Hospital at Gerrard and Parliament. Doctors from nearby homes patched and dressed the wounds of those relatively unscathed. An inspection of the debris eventually proved Armstrong's claims that the brakes had failed accurate. A broken link in the brake chain prevented the caliper pads moving as intended and the driver could have had no control over the ensuing events. TRC was criticized in the days afterward for using "poor cheap brakes". The Star wrote the company "failed to have any regard to the value of human life in equipping [streetcars] with old-fashioned hand brake which has been in use for many years. Surely it is a scandalous thing that in the face of such convincing proof of the utter uselessness of the hand brake that Toronto Railway should be allowed to use it." In 1921, 17 years later, the TRC was merged into a new transit provider, the TTC. A coroner's report ordered that the crossing be immediately removed and a dedicated bridge built to prevent further accidents. In true Toronto transit style, it would take 23 years for the bridge to open. Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman. Photos: City of Toronto Archives and the Toronto Star. |
Bible-Thumping Pastor Believes Women Shouldn’t Interfere with ‘God’s Will’ In Pregnancy—Except His Own Wife The Pill is destroying America, making women into idle lazy tattlers and gossips, according to Arizona Baptist pastor Steven Anderson. His bottom line: Feminism, coupled with birth control, gives a woman the power to decide when to have children, allowing her to pursue other interests: “You know, my main goal is to go to college, and to graduate from college, and I’m going to be a lawyer and I’m going to be a doctor and I’m going to be a marine biologist.” Now, you may think that doesn’t sound idle or lazy at all. You may think it sounds good. But it’s actually bad, bad, bad. A woman who isn’t “busy about having children” gets into “sin!” [Read more] Sam Harris Interviews Ayaan Hirsi Ali In “Lifting the Veil of “Islamophobia“” Ayaan Hirsi Ali clarifies misconceptions of her past and politics. “When I arrived in the Netherlands, in 1992, I misrepresented the year of my birth at my intake interview. I said I was born in 1967, but I was born in 1969. I also changed my grandfather’s name. In many tribal societies, instead of a surname you have a string of names—I am Ayaan; my father is Hirsi; and my father’s father, when he was born, was named Ali. But later on, when he grew up and became a warrior, he was called Magan (Somali for “protection” or “refuge”), because he protected some of the peoples whom he conquered.” [Read more] Talking to those Freaking Out over Abortion Coat Hanger Symbol Catholics and most Protestant religions claim an instrument of torture, the cross, as the perfect symbol for their religion. Yet they demand that another instrument of torture they created by their demanding love of the fetus the coat hanger is evil. “I honestly can’t believe that someone would celebrate the destruction of babies (boys, and YES millions of girls) as a fashion statement for feminists,” Palin wrote in a blog post. “You know the phrase ‘they wear their heart of their sleeves?’ Well, I guess DC feminists love to wear death on their necks.” “This is either a very sick parody or a sad reality,” tweeted Mike Warren, a staff writer at the Weekly Standard. [Read more] Pope Francis Pees on Nuns Once again proving our new pope puppy Francis acts friendly but pees on you when picked up Maureen Dowd sees the “malice towards nuns” within. Yep, those nuns just don’t get it. They keeping work on social justice issues, helping people, making even Buddhism look like a narcissistic belly-gazing boys club. Clearly, these women aren’t Christian. Clearly Vatican II really was a mistaken liberalization of women. The pope is proving true the adage that sexism is the last frontier of human rights–don’t even dream of animal rights much less planetary rights. Whether the male rights activist block in the atheists or the Catholics or the Protestants or the Buddhists or the Hindi or the Muslim it’s certain the women are still being bashed around with astounding consistency and breadth. [Read more] Toasted Cheese Virgin Mary Attends TAM Skeptics often bemoan the popularity of the paranormal. There are ghost hunting shows, Bigfoot hunting shows and UFO/alien hunting shows. For every paranormal show on TV I am guessing there are 10 in development. I have to admit to watching some of these shows, if just to gain insight into the mind of the believers. Some skeptics may claim they don’t pay attention to these paranormal stories. However, I remember one of the biggest celebrities I “met” at TAM (the Amazing Meeting). I was in the hallway when I noticed a crowd of people surrounding Joe Nickell. I thought “I know Joe is popular, but he’s been here the entire time. I wonder who is there with him?” [Read more] Why Are Religions Obsessed with Sex? If a person were to read a religious text such as the bible or Qur’an with no preconception of what the books contained or what the religions that are based on these texts are like, you could be forgiven for thinking that, apart from praising god or Allah, the most important thing to people on earth is control over sex. [Read more] Christian Leaders Urge South Sudanese Not to Miss Peace Chance Church leaders who were part of the negotiations between South Sudan’s warring leaders, President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar, are urging a peace agreement they signed come into immediate effect. Peace would end a five-month conflict in the world’s newest country. The peace agreement was signed by Kiir and Machar on May 10 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The World Council of Churches which was involved in mediating the pact said Monday, “The situation remains volatile until the truce actually takes effect on the ground.” [Read more] Cal Thomas: God Save Town Councils Everywhere Ever since the Supreme Court ruled organized prayer and Bible study in public schools unconstitutional in the early 1960s, conservative Christians have been trying to re-enter the secular arena. Take Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971). The case, The New York Times wrote last year, “…challenged a 1968 Pennsylvania law that reimbursed religious schools for some expenses, including teachers’ salaries and textbooks, so long as they related to instruction on secular subjects also taught in the public schools. [Read more] Erroneous Assumptions of Religiosity We know most folks on the planet are religious in one degree or another. And, we also know that most atheists were—at some time in their respective lives—indoctrinated, as are most youth, with some form of magic-based explanation of life’s origins; an arbitrary moralistic code based upon terrorism and extortion; and systematic, rather than incidental, bigotry. While plenty there may be to parse in the aforementioned, today I should like to focus on a seemingly neglected Truth in the discussion of occultist propaganda … what is quite possibly the second-most erroneous of assumptions conceived, shared and promoted by magic-worshipers: the title of “Atheist.” (The most erroneous assumption is that there can be no objective moral standard without aid of a magical being.) [Read more] Hip-Hop and Worldwide Muslim Youth Culture: Musical Ties and the Reaction of Governments The study of American Muslims has too often centered on immigrant assimilation, though a growing recognition of the deeply embedded Muslim presence in American history and culture is expanding the field. In “Rebel Music,” Hisham D. Aidi explores the significance of music for transnational Muslim consciousness, asking his own question: What happens when American musical traditions, infused with the unique history of American Islam as a voice of resistance, find new audiences in Muslim-majority societies? In this important work, he pays special attention to how governments around the world react to the political content of popular music. Despite some weaknesses, “Rebel Music” starts a crucial conversation for anyone interested in hip-hop internationalism, Muslim youth cultures and state interventions in religion. [Read more] A Journey to Intellectual Honesty I’ve enjoyed this website for a couple of years and greatly appreciate the stories and insights shared by other ex-Christians. I’m finally ready to tell my story. Following, is an abbreviated version of my journey out of religion. I could elaborate on any part, but for now will simply provide the big picture. Thanks in advance for ‘listening’. It feels good to share! My background is similar to so many who have posted on this site. I was raised in a fundamentalist evangelical home with loving parents. [Read more] ‘We Have Jesus, We’re Content, We Don’t Need a TV Show Although We Would Love One,’ Say Benham Brothers; Will Still Help Families Without HGTV Embattled Christian twin brothers David and Jason Benham said they were “content” in Christ a day after the Home & Garden Television (HGTV) network announced Wednesday that they have “decided not to move forward” with their scheduled reality show called “Flip It Forward” after news broke about their conservative views on homosexuality, abortion and divorce. “Jason and I are content. You know [why] we’re content. [Read more] VA Official: Non-Christian Public Prayer Violates My Rights ‘Because I Don’t Believe That’ The recent Greece v. Galloway Supreme Court decision, which affirmed the right of groups to offer sectarian prayer at religious meetings has caused quite a stir. Not only has it smashed a gaping hole through the wall between church and state, but it has opened the door to non-Christian groups offering said prayers. [Read more] US Evangelicals (Still) Exporting Homophobia MassResistance, an anti-gay organization based in Massachusetts, is bragging about its work with anti-gay activists in Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia, notes blogger Jeremy Hooper. We reported in January that Camenker had participated in an anti-gay conference in Jamaica, where he warned against a repeal in the colonial-era “buggery law,” saying, “a law that contradicts God’s law is the beginning of a slippery slope that you cannot imagine.” [Read more] The Compatibility of Humanism and Being ‘Spiritual’ I used to be a very spiritual person. I considered myself to be a Buddhist, believed in God (in a deistic kind of way) and meditated a lot. Now I’m a secular humanist. I reject the idea of God as possible or even knowable. I also find religion to be unhealthy and unnecessary for anything vital to human existence (with a few exceptions in the present). [Read more] LCWR Nuns Respond, Acknowledge Severity of Vatican Mistrust In a statement released yesterday evening, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious made their most forthright acknowledgement to date of the level of tension that exists between the conference and their Vatican overseers at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. [Read more] Bible Curriculum Wins as Part of Evangelization Push Steve Green’s faith led him to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he’s argued the nation’s new health care law and its requirement that his business provide certain types of birth control to employees violates his religious freedoms. [Read more] Irony Is Dead – Catholics Demand Exorcism Because of Fears of Superstition Apparently there has been a 6 day long meeting in Rome about the need for exorcists. Because of an increased need to bust ghosts. The claim is that the decline of religious belief in the West and the growth of secularism has “opened the window” to black magic, Satanism and belief in the occult, the organisers of a conference on exorcism have said. Meaning? Secular people aren’t letting us burn witches! [Read more] BSU Promotes Controversial Prof Ball State University has promoted assistant professor Eric Hedin, who was at the center of a science vs. intelligent design controversy last year, to associate professor, a giant step toward tenure. Coupled with the positive outcome of a meeting between BSU officials and conservative state lawmakers, the university now might be able to put the debate to rest. [Read more] Americans United To Launch “Operation Inclusion” After SCOTUS Prayer Decision Americans United for the Separation of Church and State will announce tomorrow that it is launching “Operation Inclusion,” following efforts by some local government officials to interpret last week’s Supreme Court decision in Greece v. Galloway to permit them to sponsor Christian-only prayer at government meetings. [Read more] Surprise: Pope Francis Believes in Satan and Demons Whenever someone claims that the Catholic Church is down with science because it accepts evolution, I remind them that: 1. The Church accepts theistic evolution, with human exceptionalism, so that humans are the unique species into whose lineage God inserted a soul. [Read more] |
OTTAWA — A new study from Statistics Canada appears to suggest that 30- and 40-something Canadians are more likely to live the American dream of earning more than their parents than their counterparts south of the border. The research released Tuesday by the national statistics office found that overall, Canadian children who turned 30 and 40 between 2000 and 2014, earned more than their parents did at the same age. When looking at similar research about Americans’ incomes, Statistics Canada found that rates of absolute income mobility, or the percentage of children who earn more than their parents, were higher in the United States for children born in 1970. But things changed for children born between 1971 and 1984: Grown American children saw their economic outcomes substantially decline relative to their parents, while their Canadian counterparts saw their rates of income mobility remain relatively stable. While the figures, calculated in 2015 dollars, suggest that Canadians who recently turned 30 and 40 have fared better financially than their parents at the same age, some federal politicians say there is still reason to be concerned about whether young people today will see the same economic opportunities. “Yes, they are making more money, but the cost of living has increased quite a bit as well, so we have to look at both of those,” said Conservative families critic Karen Vecchio. Vecchio pointed to the rising cost of housing, changes in family makeup and an evolving labour market with increases in precarious work as indicators that rising incomes alone don’t tell the whole story. “We have to recognize that we’re doing fine, but could we be doing better? And I think the answer is very much a yes there,” said Vecchio, who was born in 1971, one of the age cohorts included in the Statistics Canada study. NDP deputy finance critic Nathan Cullen said the data shouldn’t let the Trudeau Liberals believe all is well simply because incomes have grown over time. “Many Canadians are struggling to make ends meet and study after study show that the disparity between the wealthy and everyone else continues to grow,” Cullen said. “We need a government that works to support Canadians working precariously, not one that tells them to get used to it.” The research published Tuesday found that of Canadians who turned 30 between 2000 and 2014, between 59 and 67 per cent — depending on the year — had a family income that was equal to, or greater than what their parents earned at the same age. The study says between 61 and 67 per cent — again, depending on the year being looked at — of those in the study had a higher family income at age 40 than their parents did at the same age. Statistics Canada said that any variations between years appears to correspond with general changes in the economy, a reference to the downturn in 2009 and the slow rebound that followed. A closer look at the numbers shows children with parents at the lowest income levels were more likely to have a higher family income than their parents did at age 30, while the opposite was true for those whose parents were among the top income earners. |
Fall Festival Preview: 40 Films That Could Debut In Venice, Toronto, Telluride or New York As Cannes came to a close earlier this summer, speculation and predictions immediately loomed for what was in store for the the major festivals of the very early fall (or, in some cases technically the very late summer). The 71th edition of the Venice Film Festival will run August 27 to September 6th, while Toronto will celebrate its 39th edition September 4-14. Telluride goes down in between on Labor Day weekend. Add to that the 52nd New York Film Festival, which comes two weeks after Toronto and has as of late always nabbed a few major world premieres (“Life of Pi,” “Lincoln,” “Captain Phillips,” “The Social Network”), and we’re likely going to see a massive chunk of 2014’s best cinematic offerings all premiering within a six week time span. The interesting thing this year is that there’s been some open conflict between some of these fests, as Toronto made a bold move in deciding that if filmmakers want one of its prestigious opening weekend slots, it must be a world or North American premiere. Which basically means they have to pick between Telluride or Toronto (whereas in the past many films have double-dipped). Wherever the films end up premiering, though, it’s promises to be quite the collective lineup. David Fincher, Paul Thomas Anderson, Tim Burton, Todd Haynes, Angelina Jolie, David Gordon Green, Werner Herzog, Noah Baumbach and Stephen Daldry all have films in the potential mix. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. So let the serious speculation begin: Which films will be the mammoths of the fall festival circuit? Here’s a list of 40 possibilities, all new movies that haven’t played anywhere yet, and seem at least reasonable bets to make their festival debuts at one of the noted four fests (in alphabetical order): Before I Go To Sleep Who Made It: Rowan Joffe (“Brighton Rock”) Who’s In It: Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth, who seem like they are in everything together these days. Where It Might Premiere: Toronto. It’s out in theaters September 12th and I doubt this is Venice’s cup of tea, so basically this would be press junket for before they go to theaters. The Gist: “Before I Go Sleep” reunites Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth after “The Railway Man,” debuted in Toronto last year. This oughta given them back-to-back trips to Canadian red carpets, this time in an adaptation of S.J. Watson’s 2011 bestselling novel. It follows a woman who wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. Until one day, a truth emerges and she’s forced to question everyone around her. Though it sounds pretty genre for festival play, but the star power alone should get it into TIFF. Watch the trailer below: Big Eyes Who Made It: Tim Burton. And despite that, it actually looks like it could be good! Who’s In It: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Krysten Ritter Where It Might Premiere: Venice and/or Toronto make sense… Although given its Christmas release date, maybe distributor The Weinstein Company will hold out altogether (though we doubt it). The Gist: Burton has gotten a lot of flack as of late thanks to big budget, critically panned films like “Alice in Wonderland” and “Dark Shadows.” But he’s making a return to fantasy-free, low-budget fare here — really for the first time since 1994’s “Ed Wood” (which is perhaps his most critically acclaimed film). With a script from “Wood” screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, “Big Eyes” takes on the true story of husband and wife artists Walter and Margaret Keane (Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams), the former of whom rose to fame in 1950s for his paintings of big-eyed kids. It sure sounds great on paper, and here’s hoping it makes us completely forget about “Dark Shadows” and anticipate a whole new era of work from Burton. Birdman Who Made It: Alejandro González Iñárritu, in a major change of tone. Who’s In It: Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Ryan Where It Might Premiere: We’d guess Venice, with Toronto and New York to follow (its in theaters care of Fox Searchlight October 17th). The Gist: Inarritu’s past films have mostly headed to the Cannes Film Festival — and they’ve also mostly been grim, foreign-language dramas that tackle issues of global and social importance. His “Birdman,” on the other hand, is a comedy. Starring Michael Keaton as an actor trying to regain his former glory on Broadway when his days playing a famous superhero have long been gone, the film is already getting major buzz thanks to its trailer, and would surely be a hot ticket at whatever festival it makes its way to. Carol Who Made It: Todd Haynes, in his first feature film since 2007’s “I’m Not There” Who’s In It: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler and Sarah Paulson (swoons all around) Where It Might Premiere: Venice, for starters. If it’s ready at least (it finished shooting at the end of April) The Gist: Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel “The Price of Salt,” the film marks a double return for Todd Haynes: To the 1950s of “Far From Heaven,” and to the queer content of most of his earlier films. The film follows the relationship between two very different women in 1950s New York. A young woman in her 20s, Therese (Mara) is working in a department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol (Blanchett), an alluring woman trapped in a loveless, moneyed marriage. Everything unravels, and with this director and cast, we could not be more excited to see how. The Cut Who Made It: Fatih Akin, the German director behind “Head On” and “The Edge of Heaven” Who’s In It: Tahar Rahim, Akin Gazi, Simon Abkarian Where It Might Premiere: Venice seems like a lock at this point. The Gist: Not much is known about Akin’s first film since 2009’s “Soul Kitchen” (try Googling it and you’ll find a “the plot is undisclosed at this time” over and over), but maybe that’s a good thing. The director rarely disappoints, and his co-screenwriter Mardik Martin comes with a fun fact that should be enough to hold us over until Venice likely offers us a synopsis: This his first feature film script in over 34 years. His last? “Raging Bull.” The Drop Who Made It: Michael R. Roskam (“Bullhead”) Who’s In It: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini, Matthias Schoenaerts Where It Might Premiere: We’d wage our bets on Toronto. The Gist: The final work we’ll see from the late James Gandolfini, the film formerly known as “Animal Rescue” is the English language debut of “Bullhead” director Roskham, and follows an ex-con who finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry. It’s set for release via Fox Searchlight on September 12th, suggesting heavily it will make its one and only festival stop at Toronto just before (though Fox Searchlight does love showing their films at Telluride). Eden Who Made It: Mia Hansen-Love (“Goodbye First Love”) Who’s In It: Felix De Givry, Brady Corbet, Greta Gerwig, Golshifteh Farahani Where It Might Premiere: Venice would be our guess. The Gist: Following the life of a French DJ who’s credited with inventing “French house” — a type of French electronic music that became popular in the 1990s — everyone seemed pretty sure this would be at Cannes, but it wasn’t ready in time. That sets the stage for a fall festival debut, which is good news for fans of the up and coming French filmmaker (this time teaming up with American actors Greta Gerwig and Brady Corbet). Every Thing Will Be Fine Who Made It: Wim Wenders Who’s In It: James Franco, Rachel McAdams, Charlotte Gainsbourg Where It Might Premiere: Venice, maybe? Though it’s a Canadian co-production, which could help things swing Toronto’s way. The Gist: Following up his remarkably successful, Oscar nominated 3D documentary “Pina,” Wenders returns to narrative filmmaking, but we’ll still be wearing the 3D glasses. From a script by Bjorn Olaf Johannessen, the film tells the story of a writer (James Franco), who loses control of his life after a car accident which kills a young boy. It follows him over a period of 12 years as he tries to find self-forgiveness, with Rachel McAdams (in a role originally set for Sarah Polley) playing his girlfriend Kate. While clearly the plot does not sound like your typical 3D fare, leave it to Wenders to offer us an entirely new utilization of the format (as he did with “Pina”). Far From The Madding Crowd Who Made It: Thomas Vinterberg Who’s In It: Carey Mulligan, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge, Matthias Schoenarts, Juno Temp Where It Might Premiere: Fox Searchlight has delayed the release of the film until next May, though rumor has it that the film will make a fall festival debut anyway. Maybe just quietly at Telluride? The Gist: Vinterberg is coming off his Academy Award-nominated “The Hunt” in this promising adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 19th century classic — headlined by the ever reliable Carey Mulligan. She stars as a woman who inherits a large farm and becomes romantically entangled with three men (Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge and Matthias Schoenaerts), and given Vinterberg has proven adept at drawing out career best performances from his cast (Mads Mikkelsen took home top acting honors at Cannes for his showstopping turn in “The Hunt”), this could be quite the showcase for Mulligan (and everyone else involved, for that matter). Gone Girl Who Made It: David Fincher Who’s In It: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit Where It Might Premiere: This smells like the kind of film New York could steal away from its earlier competition, as it did with Fincher’s “The Social Network.” The Gist: One of the most anticipated films of the year, “Gone Girl” is adapted from Gillian Flynn’s massive bestseller (by Flynn herself) about a man suspected of killing his missing wife, and could probably do just fine without any festival play. But hey, you could have said the same about “Gravity” last year. And given its October 3rd release date, the timing is perfect to drum up some quick buzz and momentum, especially if it’s as strong as the people involved would suggest on paper. Check out the recent trailer: The Imitation Game Who Made It: Morten Tyldum Who’s In It: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance Where It Might Premiere: Toronto sounds about right. The Gist: After directing Norwegian films “Buddy” and “Headhunters,” the latter being the highest-grossing Norwegian film of all time, Tyldum has a lot to prove with “The Imitation Game.” With a bigger budget, the backing of Harvey Weinstein, and a cast boasting the unstoppable Benedict Cumberbatch, the film is about the British mathematician Alan Turing (Cumberbatch) who was a successful cryptographer during World II and was later prosecuted for his homosexuality. The film also stars Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode, and seems like the kind of thing made for awards season. Which would make Toronto a pretty perfect launching pad. Inherent Vice Who Made It: Paul Thomas Anderson Who’s In It: Joaquin Phoenix, Benicio Del Toro, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Brolin, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Owen Wilson and Jena Malone. Where It Might Premiere: Venice, a la “The Master”? The Gist: Paul Thomas Anderson’s hugely anticipated follow-up to “The Master” would clearly be at the top of almost anyone’s to-see list at whatever festival it hits. The director has been in post-production on the film since the fall, though he tends to take his time and the film’s release date isn’t until December. So maybe he’ll avoid the festival circuit altogether (which he basically did with “There Will Be Blood” — save a quick stop at Fantastic Fest). But either way, we’ll be first in line when his adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel makes its debut. The Judge Who Made It: David Dobkin (“Wedding Crashers,” “Fred Claus”) Who’s In It: Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga Where It Might Premiere: Toronto. The Gist: This looks like Oscar bait, straight up (save maybe the director’s past credits). And the first time Robert Downey Jr has even attempted that kind of film in some time (he got a nod for “Tropic Thunder,” but that didn’t seem so intentional). Toronto is always a great place to start a campaign, and that’s where we suspect we’ll first see Downey Jr. as a big city lawyer who returns to his childhood home where his father (Duvall), the town’s judge, is suspected of murder. Kill The Messenger Who Made It: Michael Cuesta Who’s In It: Jeremy Renner, Michael Sheen, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Platt Where It Might Premiere: Toronto. The Gist: Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb (played by Renner in the film), “Kill The Messenger” follows a reporter who becomes the target of a smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA’s role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California. Out in October (via Focus Features), this seems like a pretty safe bet for Toronto. Life Who Made It: Anton Corbijn Who’s In It: Robert Pattinson, Dane DeHaan, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley Where It Might Premiere: Perhaps Venice, where Corbijn’s “The American” debuted in 2010 The Gist: Robert Pattinson continues his quest to make us forget about “Twilight” by hooking up with yet another accomplished director, this time Anton Corbijn. In “Life,” he’s portraying a photographer for Life Magazine is assigned to shoot pictures of James Dean (played by Dane DeHaan). In Corbijn’s hands, this has a whole lot of promise, and given it’s been in post production since March, it would make sense. Though it would make for the director’s second festival debut of the year — his “A Most Wanted Man” debuted at Sundance in January, and is hitting theaters this month. The Look of Silence Who Made It: Joshua Oppenheimer Where It Might Premiere: Toronto would be our bet. The Gist: Oppenheimer, who was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year for “The Act of Killing,” has been working on a follow-up to the film for some time, and it has been rumored to be heading for the fall festival circuit. Oppenheimer has said the “The Act of Killing” was always meant to be the first film of a pair, and “The Look of Silence” is that other half. The movie is said to have a more straightforward approach to the reenactments of “The Act of Killing,” offering a different perspective on the same issue. Macbeth Who Made It: Justin Kurzel (“The Snowtown Murders”) Who’s In It: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jack Reynor, David Thewlis Where It Might Premiere: Set for release at Christmas, maybe this is the kind of film that could quietly make a Telluride debut and skip the others? The Gist: Shakespeare’s Scottish play about General Macbeth gets another cinematic adaptation, this time with none other than Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the leads. Director Justin Kurzel has yet to prove himself on this scale. Considering his project attracted those actors (and the Weinsteins) it seems safe to suggest he’s about to. Definitely something the Weinsteins are hoping will gain awards traction, it could hold out for a theatrical release. But it’s been in post since April, so it should likely be ready if they decide to go the festival route. Manglehorn Who Made It: David Gordon Green Who’s In It: Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Chris Messina Where It Might Premiere: Venice, where Gordon Green’s “Joe” debuted last year? The Gist: David Gordon Green has been remarkably prolific as of late, with two films out in the past year. Which makes it all the more likely that “Manglehorn” — a Texas-set story of an ex-con trying to go straight — his the festival circuit this Fall. It’s been wrapped since the end of last year, after all. And it could offer the kind of comeback performance from Al Pacino that any festival would be surely be happy to debut. Men, Women & Children Who Made It: Jason Reitman Who’s In It: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Kaitlyn Dever, Ansel Elgort Where It Might Premiere: Reitman has almost always done a Telluride/Toronto debut, but these new rules might be problematic, even for a member of the family that the street surrounding Toronto’s festival center is named after. The Gist: Adapted from Chad Kultgen’s book, Jason Reitman’s follow-up to last year’s somewhat tepidly received “Labor Day” is a comedic drama that looks at a suburban family in the internet era. It’s got a very notable cast, including a looking-for-redemption Adam Sandler (who could also receive some from a potential festival candidate not on this list, Thomas McCarthy’s “The Cobbler”). Miss Julie Who Made It: Liv Ullmann Who’s In It: Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton Where It Might Premiere: Venice? The Gist: Adapted from the 1888 play, the film follows the titular character (Chastain), the daughter of the Count who attempts to seduce her father’s valet, Jean (Farrell). Chastain has basically been on a roll since we first heard of her, so we find it hard to doubt her choices, and the fact that the legendary Ullmann is behind the camera certainly doesn’t hurt. So really it would be pretty shocking if the film — which is done — doesn’t premiere at one festival or another. A Most Violent Year Who Made It: JC Chandor Who’s In It: Oscar Issac, Jessica Chastain (again!), Alessandro Nivola, David Oyelowo, Albert Brooks, Catalina Sandino Moreno. Where It Might Premiere: Could go any which way, but Chandor has risen so quickly in the ranks that they’ll be fighting over this way. The Gist: After garnering a screenplay Oscar nomination for the vastly underrated 2011 Wall Street drama “Margin Call”, Chandor returned last year with a subtler, but nonetheless acclaimed film, “All is Lost,” starring a silent Robert Redford. It got snubbed by Oscar, so perhaps the third time is the charm with the highly anticipated crime drama “A Most Violent Year,” later this year. With Isaac and Chastain, no less, in front of the camera, it focuses on 1981—one of the most violent years in New York City’s history (hence the title). My Old Lady Who Made It: Israel Horovitz Who’s In It: Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Dominique Pinon Where It Might Premiere: Has Toronto written all over it. The Gist: The ever-popular Maggie Smith stars in the directorial debut of Israel Horovitz, a film about an American (Kline) who inherits an apartment in Paris that comes with an unexpected resident (Smith). The film is in the can and ready to find some of the same box office that has met Smith with “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and “Quartet,” the latter of which premiered in Toronto. Fun fact: Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas play mother and daughter in the film, the second time they’ve done so after “Keeping Mum.” Nightcrawler Who Made It: Dan Gilroy Who’s In It: Jake Gyllenhaal, Bill Paxton, Rene Russo Where It Might Premiere: Toronto The Gist: After a bidding war broke out from footage shown at Cannes (Open Road won it, in the end), buzz has been big for “Nightcrawler,” which follows a young man (Gyllenhaal) who stumbles upon the underground world of L.A. freelance crime journalism. Directed by the younger brother of “Michael Clayton” director Tony Gilroy, it makes complete sense that it will pop up on the festival circuit, with Toronto definitely the safe predictive bet. 99 Homes Who Made It: Ramin Bahrani Who’s In It: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern, Tim Guinee Where It Might Premiere: Like his last film “At Any Price” in Venice? The Gist: Andrew Garfield is out of his Spiderman suit and in “99 Homes,” Ramin Bahrani’s attempt to make up for the tepid response of his last film “At Any Price.” The film follows a father who struggles to get back the home that his family was evicted from by working for the greedy real estate broker who’s the source of his frustration. And beyond Garfield, it stars Michael Shannon and Laura Dern, which is alone enough reason to be curious about a film. Phoenix Who Made It: Christian Petzold Who’s In It: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Uwe Preuss, Nina Kunzendorf Where It Might Premiere: Venice. The Gist: German director Petzold follows up his universally acclaimed 2012 film “Barbara” with “Phoenix,” the story of a Holocaust survivor who comes home to try and find out if her husband betrayed her. With Petzold’s “Barbara” Nina Hoss in the lead, this sounds like it could be quite the showcase, the kind of highly anticipated world cinema any of these festivals would be happy to have. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting On Existence Who Made It: Roy Andersson Who’s In It: Holger Andersson, Nisse Vestblom Where It Might Premiere: Venice. The Gist: Everyone seemed certain this was heading to Cannes this year, but it didn’t turn up, making it all the more anticipated for the fall festival circuit (where it surely will debut in Venice?). After all, Swedish director Roy Andersson has only made four feature films over the span of his 45 year career, so it’s safe to say a new one will be the kind of event any festival will want to host. From his 1970 romance film “A Swedish Love Story” to his 2000 feature “Songs from the Second Floor,” Andersson is world cinema royalty, and he will finally be making his way back to the screen with “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.” Focused on two men, a salesman and a guy who’s not-exactly-with-it, the film’s premise is relatively vague. Still, based on Andersson’s track record it’s undeniably something to look forward to. Queen of the Desert Who Made It: Werner Herzog Who’s In It: James Franco, Robert Pattinson, Nicole Kidman Where It Might Premiere: Another likely bet for Venice. It’s been in post since March, so it all seems likely. The Gist: Um, so James Franco and Robert Pattinson are starring in a Werner Herzog film. About Gertrude Bell. Who is played by Nicole Kidman. That’s all you need. La Rançon de la Gloire Who Made It: Xavier Beauvois Who’s In It: Peter Coyote, Nadine Labaki, Olivier Rabourdin, Chiara Mastroianni Where It Might Premiere: Venice would make sense. The Gist: While many of the films on this list have A-list American stars to give them an extra push in the right direction, some of them rely entirely on their offbeat storytelling. One such film in particular is Xavier Beauvois’ “La Rançon de la Gloire” a film about a cash-struck man in 1970s Europe who has been recently released from prison and gets the brilliant idea to kidnap the corpse of revered comedic actor Charlie Chaplin in order to sell it back to his family for a hefty ransom. It would mark Beavois’s first film after his award winning “Of Gods and Men” in 2010, and we’d be happy to see what he has in store. Rosewater Who Made It: Jon Stewart (yes, that Jon Stewart) Who’s In It: Gael García Bernal, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Dimitri Leonidas Where It Might Premiere: Toronto seems to make the most sense (he showed footage for buyers there last year, and it has a Canadian connection). The Gist: “The Daily Show” might arrive on the festival circuit should host Jon Stewart make his way there with his directorial debut, “Rosewater.” The comic took a leave of absence from his day job back in July of last year. Written by Stewart, Maziar Bahari and Aimee Molly, and based on Maziar Bahari’s 2011 memoir “Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival,” the film centers on an Iranian-Canadian journalist (Bernal) detained in Tehran for over 100 days during the 2009 presidential election in Iran. Squirrels To The Nuts Who Made It: Peter Bogdonavich Who’s In It: Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Will Forte and Cybill Shepherd Where It Might Premiere: Toronto? The Gist: It’s been well over a decade since seminal American filmmaker (and sometime Indiewire blogger) Bogdonavich directed a narrative feature, and even as he’s remained busy with journalistic pursuits and documentary work, it’s hard not to wonder what sort of stories the man behind “The Last Picture Show” could tell today. Wonder no longer: Aided by producers Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, “Squirrels to the Nuts” finds Bogdonavich returning to the screwball comedy genre that he explored so well with the likes of “Paper Moon” and “What’s Up, Doc?” in the early seventies. With a high-profile cast, in addition to a screenplay co-written by Bogdonavich and ex-wife Louise Stratten, the project — in which Wilson plays a Broadway director who falls in love with a prostitute — holds the potential to realize some of Bodgdonavich’s old school charm with a fresh set of faces. It wrapped shooting almost a year ago, so it’s definitely good to go. St. Vincent Who Made It: Theodore Melfi Who’s In It: Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Chris O’Dowd Where It Might Premiere: Toronto or Telluride. The Gist: From his own Blacklisted script, filmmaker Theodore Melfi makes his directorial debut with “St. Vincent De Van Nuys,” which finds none other than Bill Murray playing the the title character, a misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic war veteran who becomes an unlikely mentor to the boy who lives next door (it could very well net Murray his second Oscar nomination). Melissa McCarthy plays the boy’s mother, while Naomi Watts turns up as a Russian prostitute who develops a close relationship with St. Vincent. The script was compared to the likes of “As Good As It Gets” and “Silver Linings Playbook,” so it could very well be an Oscar trick up The Weinstein Company’s sleeve this year. Watch the trailer below and see for yourself: Suite Française Who Made It: Saul Dibb Who’s In It: Michelle Williams, Matthias Schoenaerts, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Riley, Margot Robbie, Ruth Wilson Where It Might Premiere: Toronto or Telluride The Gist: Based on the novel of the same name set in 1940s France, the source material has a pretty dramatic backstory: the Jewish-Russian born author Irene Nemirovsky planned a five-novel cycle beginning in 1940, just as forces overran northern France. In the summer of 1942, Nemirovsky, who had converted to Catholicism, was shipped to Auschwitz and the two completed parts of Nemirovsky’s planned cycle were discovered only six decades later. Though a film based on Nemirovsky’s story sounds compelling, so does the book which Nemirovsky finished, on which the film is based. “Suite Francaise” tells the story of a woman who falls for a German officer posted in the town as she awaits her prison-of-war husband’s return. The cast, with Williams playing the woman opposite Schoenaerts as her lover, should bring this strong material to life. Given it’s a Weinstein Company release, the Oscar push has more or less already started, and Telluride or Toronto would both be nice places to make it official. The Theory of Everything Who Made It: James Marsh Who’s In It: Felicity Jones, Eddie Redmayne, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson Where It Might Premiere: We’d bet Toronto. The Gist: A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking (Redmayne) and his wife (Jones), this is definitely a film with awards season hopes, and given how competitive this season is, it’ll likely need a festival boost. But here’s hoping if that happens, it delivers, and gives Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones the awards attention that has escape their worthy performances in the past. True Story Who Made It: Rupert Goold Who’s In It: Jonah Hill, James Franco, Maria Dizzia, Felicity Jones (again!) Where It Might Premiere: Sounds like Toronto to us. The Gist: James Franco makes his third and final appearance on this list in this drama centered around the relationship between journalist Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill) and Christian Longo (Franco), an FBI Most Wanted List murderer who for years lived outside the U.S. under Finkel’s name. It’s a pretty intriguing project, and the first dramatic pairing of Hill and Franco, reunited after “This is the End.” The big question mark is director Goold, who is making his debut here after directing a couple of British Shakespeare adaptations for television. Which is kind of intriguing in itself. Three Hearts Who Made It: Benoit Jacquot Who’s In It: Chiara Mastroianni, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Catherine Deneuve (!) Where It Might Premiere: Venice. The Gist: Not much is known about the film other than it pairs mother and daughter Mastroianni and Deneuve with Charlotte Gainsbourg, but that is more than enough to get us excited for Jacquot’s follow-up for “Farewell My Queen,” which seems all but certain to debut in Venice. Trash Who Made It: Stephen Daldry Who’s In It: Rooney Mara, Martin Sheen, Wagner Moura, Selton Mello Where It Might Premiere: Toronto seems like a good fit. The Gist: Stephen Daldry’s latest is based on Andy Mulligan’s novel, and follows three Brazilian kids who make a discovery in a garbage dump and then soon find themselves running from the cops and trying to right a wrong. Kids plus Daldry has equaled Oscar noms in the past with “Billy Elliot” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” and in fact, Daldry has yet to have a film not be nominated for either best picture or best director. So why not kick off his attempt to continue that streak in the awards season launching ground of Toronto? Unbroken Who Made It: Angelina Jolie Who’s In It: Jack O’Connell, Domhnall Glesson, Garret Hedlund, Jai Courtney Where It Might Premiere: Tough call. It could hold out for its Christmas release, or just play Telluride, or be one of New York’s big gets. Either way: this will be a big deal. The Gist: From a script by the Coen Brothers, Angelina Jolie steps behind the camera for this chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II. The film has a whole lot of things going for it, and if it’s as good as it could be, having festival reviews drum up buzz would definitely be worth it. Jolie is a big sell in front of the camera, but this is the kind of film that’s going to need critical support and awards season love to turn into a hit. While We’re Young or Untitled Public School Project Who Made Them: Noah Baumbach Who’s In Them: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfriend are in “Young,” while “Untitled” stars Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke and Rob Yang Where They Might Premiere: Maybe one, maybe both, maybe neither could premiere at pretty much any of the four festivals under discussion. The Gist: Two years after “Frances Ha” debuted on the fall festival circuit, Noah Baumbach re-teams with “Greenberg” star Ben Stiller for a $10 million Scott Rudin production (“While We’re Young”) about an uptight documentary filmmaker (wait, Ben Stiller playing someone uptight?) and his wife (Naomi Watts) who try to loosen up a bit by befriending a free spirited younger couple (Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried). It’s a great cast, and Baumbach is clearly on a roll as of late. The film doesn’t have a release date yet (but is in post-production) — and Baumbach also is in post-production on “Untitled Public School Project” with Greta Gerwig — but one way or another, we’ll get us some more Baumbach (or double the Baumbach) by year’s end — and maybe on the festival circuit as well? Wild Who Made It: Jean-Marc Vallée Who’s In It: Reese Witherspoon, Gaby Hoffmann, Laura Dern Where It Might Premiere: Telluride or Toronto The Gist: Jean-Marc Vallée follows up his Oscar-winning Toronto Film Fest debut “Dallas Buyers Club” with another attempt at awards season ranks: “Wild,” an adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s memoir about one woman’s 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent catastrophe. Reese Witherspoon — desperately seeking a hit as of late — stars, and Fox Searchlight has already picked it up for a December release. A stop on the festival circuit beforehand seems like a safe bet. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! 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00:53 Syria to Enter Climate Agreement With Syria’s intent to join the Paris climate agreement, the U.S. is set to become the world’s only holdout. At a Glance Syria announced it will commit to the Paris climate agreement during climate meetings in Germany. This leaves the United States as the only nation in the world that isn't committed to the accord. In June, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. will pull out of the accord as soon as possible. Syria announced Tuesday that it will sign the Paris climate agreement, leaving the United States as the only country on the outside. Confirmed by the New York Times, the Syrian delegate at the COP23 Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany, made the announcement that the country is ready to join the climate accord and send its commitment in writing to the United Nations. Last month, Nicaragua also committed to the agreement, leaving Syria and the U.S. as the only outliers at the time. The climate accord was drawn up in 2015 with the goal of limiting global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which would require sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. Each nation has committed to realistic goals, with many developing nations allowed to set a more lenient goal, but all committed countries will be asked to cut carbon output. Syria has not yet submitted its own goals, the Times also said. (MORE: 5 Things to Know About the COP23 Climate Summit ) In a June 1 press conference at the White House, President Donald Trump ceremoniously announced the country would pull out of the climate accord as soon as they're allowed, which is not until November 2020. Trump also said the U.S. is open to rejoining the accord if it can negotiate better terms. He believes the current agreement is bad for some U.S. industries, like coal and oil. "As the president previously stated, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable for our country," White House spokeswoman Kelly Love said Tuesday in a statement obtained by the Times. Experts believe global temperatures will still rise above that 2-degree threshold, even if the U.S. recommits to the climate accord, and that's one of the reasons world leaders have gathered in Bonn for meetings this week , according to Quartz. |
Our Madoka Magica group at Sacanime! This series is how I got into cosplay. Years ago I attended the Madoka fan panel at Fanime 2013, my first panel at my first con. There I made some awesome friends (including @carroselle, who was Nagisa for that panel too). I later joined the same panel as Kyubey in 2014 for my first cosplay group. It really meant a lot to me to cosplay this series again with some amazing friends and with a revamped Kyubey design! 📸 by the one and only @extrnalzdmike Also thanks to @time2goh for the amazing 3D printing on the pendant and soul gems and @carroselle for painting them! . . . . . . . #sacanime #sacwinter #sacanime2019 #cosplay #madokamagica #kyubey #groupcosplay #sayakamiki #kyokosakura #homuraakemi #madokakaname #mamitomoe #nagisamomoe https://www.instagram.com/p/BsZpBqYnoT9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1bumkww5vul0 |
ISRAEL, June 12, 2015 — The message was written in Hebrew and English in green banners which proclaimed Israel's 17th Annual Pride Parade held in Tel Aviv on June 12. They stretched across both the traditional opening stage in the city's Meir Garden and its much larger brother set up at the ocean front Charles Clore Park at the end of the parade route. The banners stated "For the Transgender Rights." Organizers estimated an unprecedented 180,000 people from across Israel ( 17 percent of whom were international tourists ) not only saw the message but were active participants in it. In a marked difference to Chicago's event parade-goers did not simply line the route, they marched alongside, between and behind the nine massive floats which were each towed by semi-trucks. Beginning at 1:00 in the afternoon it took them some four hours to travel the route along Tel Aviv's beach front a little under two miles away from the starting point. For the Israeli LGBTQ community, the 109 year-old-city founded as a suburb of the ancient port of Jaffa ( Yafo ), Tel Aviv-Yafo is an oasis. Promoted to the world outside of Israel as "the city that never stops" ( an deliberate correlation to New York City ) the LGBTQ community has essentially established a home base in Tel Aviv with a thriving nightlife, a homeless shelter for LGBTQ youth, a small, adult transgender housing facility and a Pride Center. Meanwhile the country around it is still struggling to marry an exponentially growing social acceptance of LGBTQ issues with Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox religious opposition. For Israel's unofficially numbered transgender community this has led to measured advances in comparison to life in the United States such as State-covered transitional health care ( albeit mired in bureaucracy which leaves applicants waiting a full calendar year before starting transition ) and open service in the Israeli Defense Force ( IDF ), but also the kind of negative issues all too familiar to the transgender community in Israel's most forthright ally the United States. In January 2014 the English-language Israeli news organization Haaretz reported the attack of a trans woman by 11 IDF soldiers after she left her place of employment in the poor neighborhood of south Tel Aviv. The impoverished area is not one the Israeli government promotes at all outside of the country. Its transgender population includes Israeli trans youth kicked out of their homes by their families as well as refugees fleeing religious persecution in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since those individuals are not considered citizens under Israeli law, they can claim no government assistance. Windy City Times was told by trans advocates working in Tel Aviv that many have turned to sex work in order to survive and are thus the targets of both police profiling and harassment along with local violence. In the weekend following the attack a protest called "Taking Back the Night" drew over 1,000 transgender people and their allies. Ten days prior to this year's parade, the Israeli press reported that the country's National Labor Court had ruled in favor of Marina Meshela trans woman fired from her place of employment at the Center for Educational Technology ( CET ). The ruling forbid workplace discrimination on the grounds of gender identity. Currently Israel permits an official gender marker to be changed only following Gender Confirmation Surgery ( GCS ). Such progress is not fast enough for many members of the Israeli transgender community. Elisha is a trans man who works for Ma'avarim ( passageways ) a trans advocacy group based in Tel Aviv. On June 10 the organization took the transgender fight to members of the Knesset ( Israeli Parliament ). "We took eight [trans] people who told their story," he said. "The discussion was about transgender education in Israel. It was amazing. Everybody cried. There was one story of a woman who has a 4-year old transgender daughter and there were also transgender youth who told theirs." After it had been officially opened by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai the night before, during this year's Pride parade themed "Tel Aviv Loves All Genders", the trans float was at the head of the line. Along its side written in Hebrew, the words "male" and "female" were unchecked. Instead, between them, the word "fabulous" was. A record number of trans community members decked in the vibrant green colors of Israeli trans pride ( chosen to promote visibility and presence ) walked alongside and behind the float holding a flag so massive it sometimes sagged in need of more people to keep it elevated. The crowd of cisgender lesbians, gays, bisexuals and straight allies around them were only too keen to help. In the stadium erected at Charles Clore Park Pride Master of Ceremoniesinternationally famed commercial and video performer Uriel Yekutiel introduced over two hours-worth of acts from trans performance artists to dance troupes to an ecstatic crowd who crammed into the park. "This is my first year [as MC] Yekutiel told Windy City Times. "Every year it's someone else. But I've been a participant for, I don't know, the last five years. Statistically this is the biggest parade. In my memory it's the craziest. More people are coming each year and we didn't have a war this summer." When Yekutiel introduced the show's headliner2014 Austrian Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst the audience became frenzied. In a brief interview with Windy City Times, Wurst talked about perceptions of the trans community both outside and from within it. "Many people just get it wrong that a drag queen does not mean being a trans person," she said. "I think it's very important because I cannot imagine how it must be to be in the wrong body. I keep on telling everybody that what we drag queens do is show business and being a trans person is real life. I have so much respect and I think it's so beautiful that we have this huge family of LGBTI [people]. But trans people are rising and people like Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner are using their opportunities to reach so many people through one microphone and one interview that they raise awareness. I truly believe that respect is linked to knowledge. Many people just don't know about the LGBTI community, especially its trans people so we have to talk about it. We have to explain it to them. I hope this will change a lot. I definitely believe in it." |
Mission Accomplished! John Nolte of Breitbart pins the blame on the White House and its pets in the Main Stream Media. The FBI report is a terrible and tragic setback for police officers. Losing 27 fellow officers in 2013 was a tragedy. But it was also a 35 year low. Things were unquestionably moving in the right direction. Since 2011, the number of police officers killed in the line of duty had been on the decline. Suddenly in 2014, everything changed for the worse. The number jumped back up to the highest number since 2011. What also changed for the worse is the mainstream media’s obsession with smearing police officers as hyper-militarized racist occupiers on the hunt for black men. The seeds of this hate campaign were planted as early as 2009, when, without caring about the facts, President Obama publicly lashed out against a white police officer for arresting Professor Henry Louis Gates, a black Harvard professor. The officer did nothing wrong... By the end of 2013, the Obama administration and its media allies had turned America’s police officers into racist assassins. The following year, 2014, we had riots in Ferguson, Baltimore, and a near-doubling of the number of police officers killed in the line of duty. Coincidence? Or just good old-fashioned community organizing? [Cop Killings Nearly Double After Media Launch Hate Campaigns Against Police, May 11, 2015] |
NORWALK, Conn. – Video game lovers will soon have a place in Norwalk where they can come to play the newest console and PC games with other fans. Game Haven is launched by Brent and Paola Goren and will be located on 10 Cross St. in Norwalk. Brent Goren said he envisions it as a community center where people who are passionate about games can come play their favorites, make new friends and even learn the skills to make their own games. “We want to create a nexus point for people to come enjoy themselves, relax, and do what they love in an environment that’s safe, comfortable and clean,” Goren said. During the week, people will be able to stop in and play games, and there will be after-school and tutoring programs for kids to work on their homework before playing games. On weekends it will be open later and host special events such as tournaments, matches, parties, and cosplay and costume contests. Parents will be able to drop their kids off while they enjoy a date night, or even come and play some of their favorite games themselves. One of Goren’s goals is to remove some of the stigma attached to gaming, and show parents that video games can lead to educational opportunities and successful careers. He has designed a curriculum of classes that will be offered at Game Haven, where kids can learn about topics such as graphic design, storyboarding, level architecture and coding. “It’s a great opportunity to meet other kids in the area who love gaming, but also a chance to learn through gaming,” he said. “We want to give people who are passionate about games a way to channel that energy to a career.” Goren lives in Milford and has been in love with gaming since he received his first Nintendo at a young age. He studied a wide variety of subjects in school before becoming a mechanical engineer, but realized that his real passion was video games. “It’s so important to love what you do, and the most important part of that is really knowing what you love,” he said. There will be food and drinks so people can gather their friends and hang out. There will also be Internet connections so you can play online with friends around the world. They will also have a broadcast to Twitch, so people will be able to check online who is playing at Game Haven at any time. Game Haven has also applied for a grant through the Chase Mission Main Street Grant program , for which they need votes to be eligible. Goren said that if they receive the grant they will use it to set up virtual reality systems for games like Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus. Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts. |
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert had a rough rookie season, to say the least. He finished the year leading the worst passing offense in the NFL and showing slight improvement overall through the season. Gabbert was clearly in over his head and not quite ready to start in the NFL. He was one of those rookies that needed the NFL offseason, which was robbed from him with the NFL lockout. Heading into the 2012 season, the Jaguars have hired an entire new coaching staff. The heavy lifting of the hiring was done by the man who drafted Blaine Gabbert with the 10th overall pick, Jaguars general manager Gene Smith, fresh off a three-year contract extension. A big focus of the Jaguars coaching search was going after a head coach who would be willing to work with Gabbert, as he's the quarterback of the future the Jaguars drafted. In Mularkey's introductory press conference, he backed Blaine Gabbert and said he had seen enough from him on film to believe he will be a franchise quarterback. Fast forward to March, and suddenly there is a quarterback controversy. The Jaguars signed free agent quarterback Chad Henne to a two-year deal, to be the team's back up quarterback. There are some folks however who believe that Henne will win the Jaguars starting job by Week 3 of the 2012 NFL Preseason. Mike Mularkey insists there is no quarterback controversy and Gabbert is the team's starting quarterback. "No, it's not (a competition). Blaine's our starting quarterback," Mularkey told NFL Networks Albert Breer over the phone. "We feel good about him." Those words generally ring hollow however, especially in Jacksonville. Jaguars fans have seen this act play out before, under former head coach Jack Del Rio. Back in February of 2007, Del Rio pronounced that Byron Leftwich was the team's starting quarterback and then he was released in favor of David Garrard a week before the regular season started. Last season, Del Rio proclaimed Garrard the Jaguars starting quarterback all through training camp, but Garrard was also released a week before the regular season started. The situation with Gabbert and Chad Henne this season however is different. Simply put: Blaine Gabbert has to be the Jaguars starting quarterback. "We've got a huge amount invested in Blaine," Jaguars owner Shahid Khan said in January. "Our fate is tied to him. We can't win without him." The Jaguars invested a Top 10 draft pick to Blaine Gabbert, trading up to get him in the first-round of the 2011 NFL Draft. The Jaguars invested 14 regular season games to Gabbert's development last season and made it a focal point of their head coaching search after Jack Del Rio was fired. The Jaguars invested in free agent wide receiver Laurent Robinson and first-round draft pick Justin Blackmon this offseason to provide Gabbert with some weapons. Jaguars general manager Gene Smith is tied to Gabbert, as general managers generally are with their quarterback picks. Smith goes how Gabbert goes, both good and bad. It would be relatively nonsensical for the general manager who's job is tied to the quarterback to bring someone in to beat him out the very next season. If Chad Henne winds up being the Jaguars starting quarterback to open the regular season and Blaine Gabbert is not injured, then Gene Smith should be out of a job because that means he completely missed on his quarterback. For Chad Henne to truly "beat out" Blaine Gabbert before the season actually starts, he would have to play some of the best football of his NFL career while Blaine Gabbert simultaneously shows absolutely no improvement from last season whatsoever. In this situation, if the quarterbacks play is close it will and should default to the 22-year old first-round draft pick, not the 26-year old veteran quarterback who's struggled to be an average starter. Not only has Henne struggled to be even an average NFL starter, what are you going to accomplish with Henne starting? Is Chad Henne going to get you to the NFL playoffs? The Jaguars owe it to themselves to continue with Blaine Gabbert to start the 2012 season to make sure he's not what they think, or to see a glimpse that he is what they think. The only way to find out what he is for sure is to play him. Blaine Gabbert has to be the Jaguars starting quarterback when the 2012 season begins. What happens after that however, is entirely up to Blaine Gabbert. For more on the Jacksonville Jaguars, visit SB Nation's Jaguars blog Big Cat Country. |
© Freakoutnation The moderators at the giant r/news reddit (with over 2 million readers) repeatedly killed the Greenwald/Snowden story on government manipulation and disruption of the Internet ... widely acknowledged to be one of the most important stories ever leaked by Snowden Similarly, the moderators at the even bigger r/worldnews reddit (over 5 million readers) repeatedly deleted the story, so that each new post had to start over at zero.For example, here are a number of posts deleted from r/news (click any image for much larger/clearer version):Related posts from other sites - like 21stCenturyWire - were deleted as well:And here are a number of the posts deleted by the moderators of r/worldnews:Two Redditors provide further information on the censorship of this story:This isn't the first time Reddit moderators have been caught censoring:Source links: here and here |
Seventy years too late: Russia finally admits slaughter of 20,000 Polish officers at Katyn was on Stalin’s orders After 70 years, Russia has finally acknowledged that Joseph Stalin personally ordered the wartime massacre of thousands of Polish officers. The historic declaration by the Russian parliament also admitted there had been a cover-up to avoid blame for the slaughter of 22,000 Poles by Moscow’s secret police in the Katyn forest. ‘The Katyn crime was carried out on the direct orders of Stalin and other Soviet leaders,’ said the statement. Gruesome discovery: German army soldiers dig up a mass grave in Katyn forest, near Smolensk in the spring of 1943 containing the bodies of Polish reserve officers killed under the order of Soviet leader Josef Stalin in April 1940 The 1940 in western Russia by Soviet secret police has long soured relations between the two countries. Today's statement, passed by Russia's State Duma, has been hailed by Polish officials who will be hosting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev next month. Soviet propaganda for decades blamed the 1940 massacre on the Nazis. Post-Soviet Russia previously acknowledged they were carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, or NKVD - Stalin's much feared secret police - but has never before agreed that Stalin was directly behind the slayings. Blood on his hands: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin 'This historic document is important not only for Russian-Polish relations - much more it is important for us ourselves,' said Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Duma's foreign relations committee, according to the news agency ITAR-Tass. Russia has turned over scores of volumes of documents this year about Katyn to the Polish government. 'Published materials, held in secret archives for many years, not only reveal the scale of this awful tragedy but show that the Katyn crime was committed on the direct order of Stalin and other Soviet leaders,' the statement said. It also expressed 'deep sympathy for the victims of this unjustified repression'. Communist legislators did try to amend the statement to remove the naming of Stalin, but were defeated. 'The falsification of history that we are fighting against in other countries is also taking place in our country, and today we could see it with our own eyes,' Kosachev said of the amendment attempt. Russian officials frequently use the term 'falsification of history' to attack perceived attempts to underplay the importance of the Red Army in the fight against Nazi Germany. The head of the Polish parliament's foreign affairs committee, Andrzej Halicki, said he considered the Duma's statement to be a breakthrough. 'I am happy that such a process of reconciliation and truth is taking place,' he said. 'It is the first such act that proves that our relations and discussions are sincere.' Evidence: A document referring to the Katyn killings signed by Josef Stalin However, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the conservative opposition Law and Justice party, said he still wants Russia to offer a full apology and compensation. A U.S. historian who wrote a book about Katyn, hailed the Duma decision 'I think this is part of a long process in which ultimately the Russian people will have to come to grips with their past,' Allen Paul, who authored Katyn: Stalin's Massacre And The Triumph of Truth, said. Some observers have expressed alarm in recent years that Russia may be quietly rehabilitating Stalin. Last year, a quote praising Stalin was restored to the decoration of one of Moscow's busiest subway stations and this year year, Moscow's mayor proposed allowing posters depicting Stalin as part of the annual celebrations of the defeat of Nazi Germany. But the latest announcement suggests Russia is definitively breaking with its Soviet legacy. We shall never forget: The Katyn memorial in woodland just outside Warsaw, Poland, honours the 20,000 Poles who died at the hands of Stalin's secret police |
For other people named Steven Blum, see Steven Blum (disambiguation) Steven Jay Blum is an American voice actor of anime, animation and video games known for his distinctive deep voice. He provides the voice of TOM, the host of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim's Toonami programming block. Some of his major roles in anime include Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, Mugen in Samurai Champloo, Eikichi Onizuka in Great Teacher Onizuka, Guilmon and Mitsuo Yamaki in Digimon Tamers, Shishio Makoto in Rurouni Kenshin and Orochimaru and Zabuza Momochi in Naruto. In animation, he has voiced Vilgax, Heatblast and Ghostfreak in Ben 10, Starscream in Transformers: Prime, Wolverine in Wolverine and the X-Men, Zeb Orrelios in Star Wars Rebels and Amon in The Legend of Korra. He was also awarded the Guinness World Record for being the most prolific video game voice actor in 2012, with roles in franchises such as Call of Duty, God of War, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Naruto, Transformers and X-Men. In 2014, he voiced Shoe and Sparky in the animated film The Boxtrolls. In 2015, he appeared in The Incredible True Story, a rap album by Logic.[4] Career [ edit ] His credits include the voice of Spike Spiegel in the anime show Cowboy Bebop; Zeb Orrelios in Star Wars Rebels; Mugen in Samurai Champloo; Roger Smith from The Big O; Orochimaru, Zabuza, Ōnoki and Ao in the Naruto anime and Wolverine in numerous games and in the animated series Wolverine and the X-Men, the animated movie Hulk Vs, The Super Hero Squad Show and Marvel Anime: X-Men. He also provided the voice of Jack Cayman, the main character of the video game MadWorld; Captain Foley, the venerable company commander, and Tank Dempsey, the comic relief in the Call of Duty series; Professor Galvez in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker; Grayson Hunt, the main protagonist of Bulletstorm; and Gorim, Oghren, and First Enchanter Irving in the 2009 video game Dragon Age: Origins. He also provides the voice of Vincent Valentine in the Final Fantasy VII compilation. He also voices Cliff Hudson in Dead Rising.[citation needed] In September 2000, Blum voiced TOM, the robotic host of Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block. Blum replaced Sonny Strait in the character's second through fourth incarnations, until the cancellation of Toonami on September 20, 2008. When Toonami was revived on May 26, 2012, Blum returned as the voice of TOM. He is also the announcer for 7-Eleven's "Oh Thank Heaven" television and radio advertisements, and partnered with Vic Mignogna in the series Real Fans of Genius (a parody of Anheuser-Busch's Real Men of Genius radio ad campaign). He is also well known in American Union animation as the voices of Heatblast, Ghostfreak, and Vilgax in the Ben 10 franchise; Jamie in Megas XLR; Yakky Doodle and Clamhead in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law; Smytus in My Life as a Teenage Robot. He is also known for his voice portrayals of Starscream in Transformers: Prime; Count Vertigo in DC Showcase: Green Arrow and Young Justice; Red Skull, Beta Ray Bill and Wolverine in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes; Melbourne O'Riley in What's New, Scooby-Doo?; Amon in The Legend of Korra; and Zoltun Kulle in Diablo III. On June 5, 2012, he was awarded a Guinness World Record for being the most prolific video game voice actor, having 261 credited appearances on May 10.[5][6] Filmography [ edit ] Anime [ edit ] Animation [ edit ] Film [ edit ] Video games [ edit ] Other [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] ^ [110] Skylanders roles are reprising for later releases. References [ edit ] Books cited [ edit ] Preceded by Sam Riegel Voice of Starscream 2010–present Succeeded by Charlie Adler Preceded by Brendan O'Brien English voice of Crash Bandicoot 2003 Succeeded by Jess Harnell |
Police blocked the entrance to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on S. Howell Ave. in Oak Creek, the site of a mass shooting on Aug. 5 that left six Sikhs dead. Credit: Chris Wilson By of the The Milwaukee County sheriff's office on Wednesday released a recording of the 911 calls it received from people on Aug. 5 reporting that a gunman was shooting people at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek. Wade Michael Page, a white supremacist, shot and killed six worshippers and then shot and killed himself after an Oak Creek police officer wounded him in the parking lot of the temple at 7512 S. Howell Ave. Some of the calls came from people hiding in the temple, and it sounds as if gunshots can be heard on one of them. One caller whispers to a dispatcher, asking for help to be sent as quickly as possible. Others are matter-of-fact calls informing authorities that a shooting has occurred. "Hey, uh, we're down 7420 Howell. Some guy's shooting a gun. Uh, some temple or something . . . We've seen him go in there, so . . . ," a male caller tells a sheriff's dispatcher. "And he's in the church with the gun?" the dispatcher asks as she starts to transfer the call to Oak Creek police. "I'm thinking so," he says. The dispatcher gets Oak Creek on the line and says, "Milwaukee sheriff with a transfer. 7420 S. Howell. Said there's a guy in the church shooting with a gun." A man tells a dispatcher he is calling from the temple and popping sounds can be heard. "There is shooting . . . There is shooting in this . . . ," he says. "OK. Did anybody get hit?" the dispatcher asks. "He's shooting," the man says, and the call cuts off. On another call, a woman with an accent and who at times is difficult to understand tells a dispatcher that somebody is firing and there might be blood. "It's a Sikh temple, you know," the woman tells the dispatcher, who tells the caller that officers are on the way. In another call, a woman who likely is in the temple hiding from the shooter speaks in a voice that is barely audible. The dispatcher tells the woman she is having trouble hearing her. In a faint whisper, the woman gives an address and says, "Sikh Temple." The dispatcher says, "Is it regarding a shooting?" And the woman says, "Yes. Hurry up." "We've got help on the way, OK? OK, ma'am?" the dispatcher says, but doesn't get a response. Another woman tells a dispatcher, "I need help. Somebody's shooting outside the temple." The dispatcher tells the woman that officers are on the scene and asks: "Is there something you can provide them?" The woman says, "I don't know. We are sitting in the basement." "Did you see the shooter?" the dispatcher asks. "I don't know. We are just hide now," the woman says. "Police are on the scene," the dispatcher says. "Thank you," the woman quietly responds. Oak Creek police and fire departments have not yet released their recordings of 911 calls from that day. Depending on the cellphone carrier, 911 calls from cellphones go to either the Sheriff's Department or the Milwaukee Police Department. They are then transferred to the agency where the emergency is occurring, said Fran McLaughlin, sheriff's spokeswoman. The 911 calls began at 10:25 a.m. that Sunday. A number of calls came from inside the temple from worshippers, who also called family members. Some of the worshippers were hiding in a bathroom; others hid in a pantry. "Ma'am, there is shooting at 7512 S. Howell Ave. . . . Many shooting. Many gunfires," a male caller tells the dispatcher. One of the calls came from Jim Haase, who lives on E. Manitoba Ave., near the temple. He reports the shooting and says, "I need an ambulance. . . . A guy came to my house. He's laying in my front yard bleeding." Haase, a retired firefighter, tended to the victim until the ambulance arrived. Page ambushed his victims while they were arriving or preparing for a prayer service and communal meal. Four people died inside the temple. Two brothers died in the parking lot area, where Page also died. Those killed by Page were Satwant Singh Kaleka, the temple president; three priests, Prakash Singh and brothers Sita Singh and Ranjit Singh; Suveg Singh Khattra; and Paramjit Kaur, the only woman killed. Four others also were also shot and wounded by Page. Oak Creek Police Lt. Brian Murphy was listed in satisfactory condition at Froedtert Hospital on Wednesday. Punjab Singh is in critical condition at the hospital. Santokh Singh has been released. Amarjit Kaur, a woman grazed by a bullet, was treated on the day of the shooting at a hospital and released. |
Full-Time Vs. Part-Time Workers: Restaurants Weigh Obamacare Enlarge this image toggle caption John Ydstie/NPR John Ydstie/NPR Many businesses that don't offer health insurance to all their employees breathed a sigh of relief earlier this month when they learned they'd have an extra year to comply with the new health care law or face stiff penalties. President Obama delayed the requirement for businesses with 50 or more employees after complaints that the plan was too complicated to implement by the original deadline, January 2014. Now, the restaurant industry, which employs a lot of part-time employees, is weighing strategies for how to respond. At a California Tortilla restaurant in downtown Washington, D.C., managers say they're still figuring out what strategy to use to comply with the new law's mandate to provide health insurance for all workers who put in at least 30 hours a week: whether they should trim hours, hire more part-timers or leave things unchanged. But management at another fast-food chain has made a decision. White Castle decided it will not fire full-time employees or cut benefits as a result of the new health care law, says Vice President Jamie Richardson. These full-time employees, who make up roughly half of White Castle's 9,600-member workforce, are already covered by the company's health care plan. "If you're full-time at White Castle, you're going to stay full-time at White Castle," Richardson says. But as White Castle looks into the future after the new law takes effect, Richardson says the company is considering hiring only part-time workers. The reason is simply cost, he says. "If we were to keep our health insurance program exactly like it is with no changes, every forecast we've looked at has indicated our costs will go up 24 percent," he says. The profit per employee in restaurants is only $750 per year, says Richardson, much lower than in most other industries. So, he says, adding health insurance as a benefit for all employees over 30 hours, as the health care law requires, isn't feasible. But for another restaurant owner, the calculation is very different. Jeff Benjamin has four restaurants in the Philadelphia area and is planning three more. This past spring he invited a dozen restaurateurs from other cities to meet in Chicago to brainstorm strategies to respond to Obamacare's employer mandate. Adding more part-time workers, less than 30 hours a week, was one idea, but Benjamin says it didn't get traction. "I really only think one or two of the folks in the room suggested it," he says. "All of them kind of agreed that there are too many fixed costs to having an employee to make it worthwhile to go the part-time route." Having two part-timers instead of one full-time employee doubles the cost of things like training, scheduling and uniforms, Benjamin says. "I'm a big fan of [the idea that] full-time employees give you full-time work," he says. "And sometimes as you lower people's hours they may not be as committed. So, I love to be able to give someone a full-time job." But Benjamin acknowledges that his staffing needs and profit margins are different from a fast-food chain like White Castle, and that's why they have different calculations about hiring part-timers. A number of big fast-food chains have said they'll use the strategy of increasing part-time workers, although one, Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster, has reversed course. Part of the reason was a public backlash to the decision that hurt their business. A recent survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that half of the small businesses responding said they will reduce hours or add more part-timers in response to the law. But there are no hard data, so far, showing the industry moving to more part-time employees, says Scott DeFife, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association. "There's no big strategic part-time shift," he says. "In fact, data shows that in the past year average hours per employee is going up." The National Restaurant Association hopes that Congress will use the one-year delay to make the law less burdensome to employers, DeFife says. But that would mean they'd provide fewer of their workers with health insurance. |
Nkohla entered the neighbourhood with a police escort as the leader of a city council delegation appointed to meet residents and discuss their many grievances, including the lack of sanitation at hostels that the residents say are "not suitable for pigs". The community leaders negotiated with Nkohla for several hours. Locals torched buildings, looted shops, barricaded main roads and shot at law enforcement officers. They vowed to intensify their campaign if their demands were not met. Nkohla was once at the frontline of protests over the city's sanitation policies in places such as Khayelitsha. He was one of the leaders of Ses'khona People's Rights Movement, and an ANC city councillor. Nine airport poo throwers in court, case postponed Nine men accused of dumping faeces in Cape Town International Airport's departure terminal had their case postponed by a Cape Town court to next year, according to a report. He was among those who emptied buckets of human faeces on the doors of the provincial legislature and at Cape Town International Airport. "Mr Nkohla has experience in community issues and it was determined that it would be beneficial to have him as part of the city delegation," said city spokesman Priya Reddy. Shortly before the local government elections, Nkohla defected to the DA, taking about 500 members of Ses'khona People's Rights Movement with him. This month he became the "executive support officer'' in the office of the mayoral committee member for utility services, and earns R701,000 a year. 'Poo wars' a sign of ANC intolerance: Azapo The dumping of human waste by protesters in the Western Cape is a sign of the ANC's inability to co-exist with other parties, the Azanian People's Organisation (Azapo) said. Community leader Phumelele Nombewu insisted on meeting mayor Patricia de Lille and wanted the 41 protesters arrested during the day to be released. "Our demands for the mayor are simple. We want houses for the community," said Nombewu. "We are willing to [cause] a total shutdown, including of the N2 and Jakes Gerwel Drive, if we don't get attention from the authorities." De Lille's spokesman, Pierrinne Leukes, said: "The meeting will be attended by representatives of the mayor's office so that they do not have to wait on her availability. "The mayor will not be threatened with violence." |
NEW ORLEANS, LA - DECEMBER 24: Vernon Hargreaves #28 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers breaks up a pass intended for Brandin Cooks #10 of the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on December 24, 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) The Buccaneers received some love from Pro Football Focus when it came to the secondary. The Buccaneers made it their business to improve the pass defense prior to the 2016 season. Brent Grimes was signed as a free agent. Vernon Hargreaves was selected in the draft. The idea was to give Mike Smith a talented group stopping the passing game to go along with a solid and growing front seven. As we all saw, the defense took time to come together. It flashed, but the pass defense was behind the run defense. The Bucs finished 22nd in the league against the pass, averaging 250.8 yards allowed through the air per game. Hargreaves struggled, although he may just be primed for a huge second season. Last year, however, it still wasn’t what Dirk Koetter and company wanted. Most everyone is familiar with the work of Pro Football Focus. They recently posted an article that ranked each team by their secondary. Now, the folks at PFF haven’t been giving universal love to the Bucs recently. I mean, come on, they ranked the Bucs defensive front seven 22nd in the sport. This is a group with Gerald McCoy, Noah Spence and Kwon Alexander. They were nearly in the bottom quarter of the league, and they were pretty good. How are the defensive backs going to rank? Well, to my surprise, the Bucs secondary was ranked 15th. Here is what they had to say: At age 33, Brent Grimes finished 2016 with the highest overall grade of his career at 90.2, which was fourth highest among all cornerbacks. As a rookie starting opposite Grimes, Vernon Hargreaves III saw more passes thrown into his coverage than any defender in the league while giving up over 200 more yards than the next player. The safety position could be a strength as new addition J.J. Wilcox finished last season with the 14th highest coverage grade (84.2), while Keith Tandy was the highest-graded safety over the final five weeks of the season, allowing a passer rating of just 34.3 into his coverage over that span. Nobody is going to object to praise, of course. However, doesn’t this seem like high praise for a group that didn’t finish very high in the league standings? To me, this ranking is more based on potential than past results. I agree that Hargreaves is primed to have a big year, but frankly, he didn’t as a rookie. We will see when the safeties hit it between the white lines, whether or not they are a step up. There are question marks back there. It is nice to get that kind of love, isn’t it? Hopefully the secondary will perform to these lofty expectations, and maybe even out-perform them. |
Anonymous asked: what's the difference between a feminist and a feminist ally? Well, it’s kind of like the difference between an LGBTQIAP person and an LGBTQIAP ally. You can care about the issues, but they more directly impact me. Your privilege as a straight cis person means that you’re more likely to be listened to by other straight cis people, and they’re likely to listen to you more than they listen to me, so if you want to be a good ally you need to help redirect the focus back onto me. Sometimes an issue that LGBTQIAP people are fighting for might also affect you, but you aren’t the intended target, so the effect will probably be and feel different, which is something to just kind of keep in mind. I really genuinely wish that MRAs weren’t so uninterested in actually helping men, because there are some issues where men could use a group focused on their needs. And I’m happy to signal boost things that help men specifically! I really truly am. |
Get the biggest FC Barcelona 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 El clásico could be postponed after Spanish clubs threatened to go on strike over La Liga's television rights deal. Spain's current carve-up of television money sees the majority of the cash go to Real Madrid and Barcelona, with each club able to negotiate their own individual deals. Sick of the arrangement favouring the nation's 'big two', the LFP (Professional Football League) two weeks ago gave the Spanish government 15 days to approve a newly-proposed law regulating any future sales of television rights. The new regulations would mean that the league would have to agree to collective bargaining, like the English Premier League, but with the government reluctant to get involved, clubs are threatening to strike - with the clásico weekened targeted for biggest impact. (Image: Reuters) Spanish clubs are envious of and their own league's duopoly, with the angry majority now willing to use strong-arm tactics to get a bigger piece of the pie. Minister for Sport Miguel Cardenal had promised a resolution in November, but after several months of inaction the league's president Javier Tebas has called an extraordinary general meeting for March 4 in which strike action will be discussed, while sources in Spain have told MirrorFootball that the weekend of March 23 would be most likely to be chosen for the strike. Tebas has just returned from Argentina, and will now push the government again for a response. In pictures: Real Madrid 3-1 Barcelona |
Hydrogel fabrication PEGDA (Laysan Bio) solution in PBS at concentrations between 10 and 60% wt vol−1 was mixed with 0.05% wt vol−1 photoinitiator Irgacure 2959 (Ciba)22. The solution was transferred to a custom-made glass mould and exposed to an ultraviolet lamp (365 nm, 5 mW cm−2; Spectroline) for 15 min. For fibre coupling, a multimode optical fibre (100 µm core, 0.37 NA; Doric Lenses) was embedded in the polymer solution at its tip (a few millimetres) and aligned to the long axis of the hydrogel before photo-crosslinking. Epoxy was applied to reinforce the fibre–hydrogel joint. For cell encapsulation, cells in a culture dish were treated with trypsin, quantified, and mixed into the PEGDA solution at a concentration of 5 × 105 to 1 × 106 cells ml−1 before photo-crosslinking. The high cell viability of this protocol was confirmed with multiple cell lines including Hela (human cervical cancer cell), HEK293T (human kidney cell) and EL4 (mouse T cell) (Supplementary Fig. S3). The crosslinked hydrogel was placed in culture medium and incubated for more than one day before implantation into a mouse. The cell medium was replaced at 1 h, 3 h and every 24 h. Preparation of cells Hela cells (ATCC) were maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% antibiotics at 37 °C in 5% CO 2 . For cytotoxicity reporter cells, Hela cells were transiently transfected with an HSP70-GFP vector using Lipofectamine 2000 (Life Technologies) according to the manufacturer's protocol. After incubation overnight, the cells were trypsinized and encapsulated in a hydrogel for the sensing experiments. An optogenetic cell line was generated by stable transfection of two vectors, namely pHY42 (human melanopsin; neomycin resistant) and pHY57 (NFAT-shGLP1, NFAT-driven short-variant human GLP1; hygromycin resistant). Hygromycin (150 mg ml−1) and G418 (800 µg ml−1) were added every other day from 48 h after introduction of the vectors, for 2 weeks. Selected colonies were transferred into a 24-well plate and incubated. After being confluent, the cells dissolved in RIPA buffer containing 1% Triton-X100 and 0.1% SDS. The lysates were separated by a 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) gel and transferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane. To check the expression level of melanopsin, the membrane was tested by western blot using polyclonal antibody against human melanopsin (ab65641, Abcam). Expression of shGLP-1 was confirmed by a GLP-1 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit (Millipore). Cell lines that highly express both melanopsin and shGLP-1 were used for optogenetic experiments. Characterization of hydrogels PEG hydrogels were prepared in standard 1-cm-wide poly(methyl methacrylate) disposable cuvettes, and optical attenuation was measured using a scanning spectrophotometer (Thermo Scientific). The optical transmittance of slab hydrogels was measured through their 1-mm-thick axes using the collimated beam from a blue continuous-wave laser (20 mW, λ = 491 nm; Cobolt Calypso, Cobolt) and an optical power meter (1918-R, Newport). Swelling ratios, defined as the weight of dried hydrogel divided by the weight of hydrogel, were measured after placing hydrogels in PBS for 12 h (ref. 22). For the cell viability test, a hydrogel was washed in serum-free medium and incubated in serum-free medium containing calcein AM (1 µl ml−1; Life Technologies) and ethidium bromide (2 µl ml−1; Life Technologies) for 30 min. The hydrogel was then incubated in serum-free medium for 15 min, washed with PBS, and imaged with a fluorescence microscope (Olympus). Implantation After anaesthetizing a mouse by intraperitoneal injection of ketamine (100 mg kg−1) and xylazine (10 mg kg−1), the dorsal skin was incised over ∼1 cm horizontally, and a round spatula was inserted to form a subcutaneous pocket and then pulled out. The hydrogel was placed on the spatula and they were inserted together into the subcutaneous pocket. The spatula was slowly retracted, while the hydrogel remained inside. The incised skin was sutured using a 6–0 nylon suture. For the fibre-connected hydrogel waveguide, a part of the scalp was incised and periosteum was retracted gently using Kimwipes. The optical fibre was fixed on the exposed skull with a drop of dental cement (GC Fuji I, GC America). Histology A sample of full-thickness skin around the hydrogel implant was excised and fixed in 4% formalin for 48 h or longer. The skin sample was frozen-sectioned at a thickness of 5 µm and stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E). The slide was imaged with a bright-field microscope (Olympus) with a ×10 objective lens. Optical set-up A fibre-coupled light-emitting diode (LED; λ = 455 nm; M455F1, Thorlabs) was coupled to a hydrogel through a fluorescence detection cube with a dichroic cutoff at 500 nm (Doric lenses), and emission was measured using a spectrometer (Andor). For optogenetic stimulation, the output of the fibre-coupled LED was modulated to 0.1 Hz rectangular pulses with 50% duty cycle (5 s on followed by 5 s off) using a function generator. Optogenetic cells in culture were illuminated at an intensity of 0.5 mW cm−2 for 12 h. To illuminate cells in the hydrogel waveguide implant, an average optical power of 1 mW was coupled into the pigtail fibre for 12 h. Preparation of quantum dots CdTe quantum dots were synthesized in house using a hydrothermal route by reacting Cd2+ with NaHTe solution37. To obtain Cd2+ solution, 2.35 mM of Cd(ClO 4 ) 2 ·6H 2 O (Sigma) was dissolved in 125 ml of distilled water, mixed with 5.7 mM of thioglycolic acid (Sigma) and adjusted to a pH of 11.6. For NaHTe solution, 1.2 mM of Te powder and 6 mM of NaBH 4 (Sigma) were reacted in a three-necked flask by adding 5 ml of N 2 -saturated distilled water. The flask was heated to 60 °C under nitrogen gas purging until the solution turned white. The prepared solutions were mixed to form CdTe precursor solution. The precursor solution was heated to 100 °C until its fluorescence emission reached 600 nm, and the solvent was then exchanged for PBS through isopropanol precipitation. CdSe/ZnS quantum dots with amphiphilic coatings were purchased from Life Technologies (Qdot-605, Q21301MP). Cytotoxicity sensing For the in vitro study, cytotoxicity reporter cells were treated with CdSe/ZnS or CdTe one day after transfection. The change in GFP expression was measured 24 h after treatment. For the animal study, cell-encapsulating hydrogels were implanted into 8-week-old BALB/c nude mice. One day after implantation, the baseline fluorescence from the implant was measured fibre-optically. Different groups of mice received intraperitoneal injections of PBS (100 µl), CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (100 µl of 1 µM in PBS) and CdTe quantum dots (100 µl of 1 µM in PBS), respectively. The fluorescence levels were measured one and two days after the injection. Glucose tolerance test To test the therapeutic efficacy of optogenetically secreted GLP-1, we used a chemically induced diabetes model prepared by the administration of low-dose streptozotocin26. Briefly, 8-week-old BALB/c nude mice were prestarved for 4 h and received streptozotocin (40 mg kg−1) diluted in 0.1 M citrate buffer (pH 4.5) for five consecutive days. For six days, 10% sucrose solution was provided in drinking water to prevent hypoglycaemia. After 2 weeks, blood glucose level was measured using a digital glucose meter (Fora), and a blood glucose level higher than 250 mg dl−1 was considered a diabetic condition. For the glucose tolerance test, mice were starved for 6 h and baseline glucose levels were measured. After administrating 1.5 g kg−1 of glucose intraperitoneally, blood glucose levels were measured by titration at 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min after glucose injection. All animal experiments were performed in compliance with institutional guidelines and approved by the subcommittee on research animal care at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Data analysis ImageJ was used for image processing and data quantification. Data were expressed as the means ± standard error of the mean. Statistical analyses were performed using Graph Pad Prism software. Statistical differences were analysed by t-test where indicated. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. |
California Gov. Jerry Brown trashed President Donald Trump to Chinese officials on Tuesday at a climate change conference in Bonn, Germany — just as the president wrapped up a visit to several Asian nations, including China. Brown told the Chinese officials that Americans were “embarrassed” by Trump’s statement that climate change was a Chinese hoax. He called it “probably the most absurd thing that has ever been said on the topic,” according to the Sacramento Bee. On Wednesday, Trump touted his successful meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a national address from the White House. Brown had been referring to Trump’s comment in a tweet in November 2012: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012 While there is no evidence that the theory of climate change was invented by China — and plenty of evidence to the contrary — the idea that climate change regulations are embraced by some foreign competitors to gain an advantage over American manufacturing is arguably true. In Germany, Brown was speaking after Xie Zhenhua, China’s negotiator at the Paris Climate Accords. Brown urged China to take the lead in implementing climate change regulations — such as a California-designed carbon trading market — since the Trump administration would not. The tradition of leaving politics behind at the water’s edge has been violated by all sides in recent months, with Trump’s opponents frequently attacking him in front of foreign audiences, and Trump criticizing previous administrations while abroad. President Barack Obama also criticized his predecessors when overseas. Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. |
Good bye SOL and CSOL and hello 7 occupation lists, 4 different legislative instruments! Department of Immigration released its wave of changes to the skilled migration programs. Instead of simplifying the occupation lists, it is now more complicated than ever. "Which occupation list do I use?", "which visas can I apply for?", such simple questions can seem SO HARD to answer. To save you the stress, we have combined all the lists into 1 simplified, easy-to-understand comparison table. This is your ultimate guide to 1 July 2017 occupation list changes, the only list you'll need. INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Find your relevant occupation (or the occupations you are interested in) 2. Discover which visa types you can apply for! (Click image to download) After knowing which visas you can actually apply for, it's easy to then find the eligibility criteria for that visa type on the border.gov.au website. Here are all the links: 189 Skilled Independent Visa: http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/189- 190 Skilled Nominated Visa: http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/190- 489 Skilled Regional (Provisional) Visa: http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/489- 186 Employer Nomination Scheme Visa: http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/186- 187 Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme Visa: http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/187- 457 Temporary Work (Skilled) Visa: http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/457- 485 Temporary Graduate Visa: http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/485- 407 Training Visa: https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/407- Don't want to think about this? Have questions or concerns? Don't worry all by yourself, we are here to help! Feel free to book in your FREE 1-to-1 consultation today. |
Just before the iPhone 5's rumoured autumn release, one of its main rivals, the Samsung Galaxy S II seems to be achieving impressive sales, with more than 6 million units sold in less than three months, Digital Versus reports. Just earlier this month, the company had announced 3 million units sold in just 55 days, and now it's smashing its own record, with this staggering 6 million figure. With the US release of the Galaxy S II scheduled for this summer, and an expected number of 10 million units to be sold before the end of the year, the S2 should surpass the original Galaxy S sales of 14 million devices, in less than one year. The Samsung smartphone seems to be doing just fine in the ferocious smartphone sector, being a strong competitor not just for the current iPhone, but also for the soon to arrive iPhone 5. Announced in February, the Android device features, among other things, a 4.27-inch Super AMOLED display with 800 x 480 resolution, dual-core Samsung processor, 8-megapixel rear-facing and 2-megapixel front-facing cameras. At the moment, there isn't much competition on the smartphone market for this fine Android phone, with just the HTC Sensation, Motrola Atrix, Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and LG Optimus 2X in its league. We'll see what happens when the long awaited iPhone 5 comes, but considering its high-tech features and a likely drop in price by then, the success of the Samsung Galaxy S II won't be going down too soon. |
Open Letter to Users of the English Language, CC: Users of Mandarin (every point in this letter applies to Mandarin, and I suspect it also applies to other Chinese languages) Dear Users of the English Language, I know that I can’t seriously ask over a billion people to change the way they use English just to please me, but I still wish to make a little request. How about we say ‘sleep with’, ‘get in bed with’, etc. … when we LITERALLY mean it. As it, let’s stop using it mainly as a pseudo-euphemism for sex. I have never had sex with anybody. I have, however, slept with people. Those are two distinctly different actions. I have to be careful about how I talk about sleeping with people so that people don’t assume that I mean that I did something sexual with them. By itself, that wouldn’t be a big deal, and if that was all that was going on, I wouldn’t bother writing this letter. However, this idea that ‘sleep with’ almost always means ‘have sex with’ ties into sexual supremacy, and as an asexual, I am not on the priveleged end of this specific hierarchy. It erases and discounts non-sexual interation, such as sleeping next to somebody else. In addition to being asexophobic, ‘sleep with’ as a pseudo-euphemism is also, ironically, sex-negative. It supports the idea that sex is so shameful that you can’t actually say ‘have sex with’. This cocktail of sexual supremacy AND sexual shame is precisely why ‘sleep with’ is assumed to mean ‘have sex with’ – if either the sexual supremacy OR the sexual shame were absent, most people would assume that ‘sleep with’ is meant literally unless otherwise indicated. The fact that the default meaning of ‘sleep with’ is ‘have sex with’ also ties into rape culture. Part of rape culture is that, if men and women sleep together, there must be sex, and that by consenting to sleep with a man, a woman is automatically consenting to sex. As a woman who has slept with men, will probably sleep with men in the future for convenience, but has no intention of having sex with them, this particular wrinkle is very disturbing. From now on, aside from potential poetic metaphors, I will only use ‘sleep with’, ‘get in bed with’ etc. in the literal sense. When I mean ‘have sex with’, I will say ‘have sex with’. I request that you do the same. Thanks, The Notes Which Do Not Fit Advertisements |
Members of the Defence Forces attending 1916 ceremonial commemorations throughout the year may have to pay for dry-cleaning uniforms and polishing boots out of their own pockets. PDForra — the organisation which represents 8,200 enlisted men in the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps — estimate rank and file members spend nearly €3m a year on dry-cleaning, shoe polish, and other sundries necessary for their work. PDForra is still awaiting a decision on a claim it lodged with the Revenue Commissioners in December 2014 to have the expenses legitimately recognised, estimating that each serviceman has to pay out €300 a year on dry-cleaning. Under Defence Forces regulations, it is an offence to turn out on parade in a dirty uniform, a misdemeanor that can lead to a caution or even a fine. PDForra said its members are so conscious of this they will even dry-clean their uniforms after practice parades. They could participate in three of these before any major event. This year, they are likely be involved in around 42 major parades, on top of participating in a number of smaller local events. Every day this year, members of the Defence Forces will provide a colour party to raise the national flag outside the GPO in Dublin. In addition, around 3,500 of them are expected to parade through the capital on Easter Sunday. For regular updates on news and features (as well as twitter action action as it may have happened 100 years ago) to mark the revolutionary period follow @theirishrev HERE Boot polish costs about €3 a tin and is likely to only last a couple of weeks. Personnel also have to pay out of their own pockets to mount medals on a special bar which they attach to their uniforms. This costs about €50 a time and some can have up to 13 medals. Nurses, gardaí and prison officers get allowances to cover cleaning uniforms etc. PDForra deputy general secretary Gerard Guinan said military personnel in a number of other countries get the allowances. “You can’t put a uniform in a washing machine, it just doesn’t work,” he said. “It has to be dry-cleaned. It’s ironic that 100 years on members of the Defence Forces have to pay for the upkeep of their uniforms just like the Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers did. Nothing has moved on.” Mr Guinan said it is frustrating for his members that it is taking so long to get a decision when they see other personnel within the public and private sectors, with similar responsibilities to maintain their uniforms, attaining recognition in the form of a flat rate expense. The Revenue Commissioners said it has “sought clarification on a number of issues” relating to the claim and was involved in ongoing examination of the categories of duty carried out and “the types of expenses wholly, necessarily and exclusively incurred”. David Stanton, outgoing chairman of the Oireachtas Commmittee on Defence, said he would look into it after the election. Mr Stanton, who served as an officer in the Reserve Defence Forces for several years, said he would speak with the Minister for Finance about adopting legislation to have such expenses recognised by the Revenue Commissioners. He also said he would look into it with the Department of Defence. “It would be reasonable to expect that legitimate expenses would be reimbursed as is the case in most jobs,” Mr Stanton said. For regular updates on news and features (as well as twitter action action as it may have happened 100 years ago) to mark the revolutionary period follow @theirishrev HERE |
Sherlock has won a few awards in its time – not least a writing Bafta for Steven Moffat – but the show’s co-creator made it clear he knows what’s really important after hearing the news that the BBC1 series, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the great detective, has topped the Radio Times poll of the best TV of 2012. Advertisement Moffat, also showrunner on Doctor Who, admitted that he and co-creator Mark Gatiss could never have imagined the extent of the show’s success when they first started writing it. “Mark and I always thought this was our vanity project. The one we could get away with, because of everything else,” he said. “For it to become such a massive hit, with all the reviews and awards you could wish for, has been the best and the biggest surprise.” And he paid tribute to the acting duo who make the show so special – and whose careers have received something of a boost from its success. “Of course it’s all down to the astonishing cast led by those mighty film stars, Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch,” he said. A grateful Moffat then promised to reward Radio Times for the prestigious honour by revealing the solution to the mystery which has obsessed fans since the cliffhanger final episode of series two – how Sherlock made his death-defying leap from the roof of St Bart’s hospital. Advertisement Responding via email, Moffat wrote: “I’ve just had a word with all the others, and we’re so pleased by this latest accolade from the Radio Times, we’ve decided to tell you how Sherlock survived the fall – oops, we’re out of space!” |
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