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God's Debris: A Thought Experiment is a 2001 novella by Dilbert creator Scott Adams. God's Debris espouses a philosophy based on the idea that the simplest explanation tends to be the best. It proposes a form of pandeism and monism, postulating that an omnipotent god annihilated himself in the Big Bang, because an omniscient entity would already know everything possible except his own lack of existence, and exists now as the smallest units of matter and the law of probability, or "God's debris". The introduction disclaims any personal views held by the author, "The opinions and philosophies expressed by the characters are not my own, except by coincidence in a few spots not worth mentioning".[1] Contents Description Edit The central character, according to the introduction, knows "everything. Literally everything." Adams, whose knowledge is as incomplete as the next person, got around this by using the aforementioned "simplest explanation" for each concept raised in the book because, while "in this complicated world the simplest explanation is usually dead wrong", a more simple explanation often sounds more right and more convincing than anything complex. This character, the Avatar, defines God as primordial matter (like quarks and leptons) and the law of probability. He offers recommendations on everything from an alternative theory for planetary motion to successful recipes for relationships under his system. He proposes that God is currently reassembling himself through the continuing formation of a collective intelligence in the form of the human race, modern examples of which include the development of the internet; this is related to the idea of the Omega Point. However, in the introduction, Adams describes God's Debris as a thought experiment, challenging readers to differentiate its scientifically accepted theories from "creative baloney designed to sound true," and to "Try to figure out what's wrong with the simplest explanation."[2] Levels of consciousness Edit The chapter "Fifth Level" (p. 124) describes five levels of human awareness, or consciousness. Level 1: Consciousness at birth: pure innocence, self-awareness. Level 2: Awareness of others, and acceptance of authority (a belief system). Level 3: Awareness that some beliefs may be wrong, but not sure which ones. Level 4: Skepticism and adoption of the scientific method. Level 5: Avatar level, understanding that the human mind is a delusion-generating machine, and that science is another belief system, albeit a useful one. Philosophical roots Edit The book subscribes to the Lakoffian point of view, in that the mind is viewed as a "delusion generator" rather than a window to true understanding. As George Lakoff said: "Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature." The particular philosophy espoused has been identified as a form of pandeism, the concept that a god created the universe by becoming the universe.[3] Publication Edit Given Adams' fame as the author of the Dilbert comics, publishers were wary of publishing any book by Adams without Dilbert content. The book was therefore released initially as an e-book (with comparatively small "publishing" costs). Based on its rapid success, however, it was also quickly released in hard-cover format. The book can be found on-line (see external links below). See also Edit Notes Edit |
[Editor’s Note: This tier list was updated in February 2017 to add 10 new operators, including the two new arrivals Jackal and Mira. Note that this list is for casual play, and doesn’t represent high level pro play.] As a tactical shooter enthusiast, I’ve found myself completely engrossed in the latest Rainbow Six game. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is all about teamwork, and getting the most out of the Operators whether you’re an Attacker or Defender. With many Operators to choose from, many players have found themselves struggling to choose which ones to unlock first. Due to some major discrepancies between the effectiveness of each Operator, the choice isn’t as difficult as the 20 options may lead you to believe. Below you will find a tier list for all Operators. Intelligence is a huge aspect of gaining an advantage in Rainbow Six Siege, and Mute is able to completely shut down the Attacker’s Scouting Phase when he places his Signal Disruptors in good spots. By placing these at major entrance points, drones are incapable of entering a defensive perimeter to locate enemies and objectives, resulting in Attackers making breaches without knowing what’s on the other side. Fuze makes Defenders think twice about where they are positioned. His Cluster Charge fires five small grenades into a room through any breaching point, causing unpredictable explosions in a defensive perimeter. These commonly kill unsuspecting players before they know what’s happening, resulting in Fuze being a feared Operator among many veterans. Using him effectiveness requires a player to gather intelligence using drones and communication with teammates. Cluster Charges shouldn’t just be fired on a whim, and the position of the hostage on hostage rescue maps must be taken into account to avoid collateral damage. If you’re okay with putting yourself on the line, Buck is an outstanding operator. He specializes in breach and chaos, delivered by an under-barrel shotgun called the Skeleton Key. This gadget can be quickly accessed providing options for killing Defenders in addition to punching holes in the wall. In this way, he serves a role very similar to Sledge, although he’s considered easier to master due to being less vulnerable when breaching. Perhaps his greatest strength is that he can’t be hard-countered, making him a safe pick for newer players. At one point or another, the Attackers have to make entry into a defensive perimeter. Bullets are sure to fly like hail, and nothing is better to lead the charge in that circumstance than a shield. Blitz’s shield is the best of the bunch, as it’s capable of producing a blinding flash that disorients players within range. This flash typically comes as better utility than Montagne’s Extendable Shield, making Blitz the ultimate entry-man. However, he requires support as his LFP586 and P9 sidearms lack damage throughput, and he’s vulnerable to Nitro Charges. Added in the Dust Line update, Blackbeard is a resilient operator. Using the Rifle Shield, he is capable of surviving multiple headshots provided he is aiming down sights. This gadget makes him a powerful frontline unit for breaching a room, serving a role similar to Montagne but with greater priority of offense. He additionally comes equipped with fairly effective assault and marksman rifle loadout options that are only inhibited by their low magazine size. His sole weakness is being exposed when alone, and lesser effectiveness in large, open rooms. Though, when provided with support, he is capable of being an imposing force that Defenders hate dealing with. Making an entrance out of virtually any wall is Thermite’s forte. He makes enemies uncomfortable as walls oncen thought to be secured fall apart within mere seconds due to his Exothermic Charges. He also has a medium rating in armor and speed, in addition to two solid weapon choices in the 556xi and M1014, making him a very balanced Operator when he isn’t busy breaching. Capable of taking down all electronics in one fell swoop, Thatcher’s EMP Grenades are remarkably effective in just about any situation. All it takes is one of these grenades thrown just about anywhere in a room to remove threats including electrical barbed wire, and even potent defensive gadgets such as Jager’s Active Defense. He counters several Defenders, making him a must-have in most operations. Capitao (Attacker) Gadget: Tactical Crossbow Difficulty: Hard Capitao is a high skill cap operator to play who employs a Tactical Crossbow to pressure enemies. His arrows are situational, but are one of the best ways to scatter Defenders who are hunkered down. His strengths are particularly effective in cases where you’ve locked down a group of enemies into a small area, and can deploy Asphyxiating Bolts to create chaos within the defensive perimeter. He isn’t solely reliant on the crossbow, thankfully. His assault rifle and light machine gun outmatch a lot of opposing weaponry. The light machine gun in particular pairs well with Micro Smoke Grenades if you decrease visibility at a choke point and lay down suppression fire. Castle (Defender) Gadget: Armored Panels Difficulty: Medium Castle’s Armored Panels require breach to take down, shutting down door pokes by Attackers. They are useful in every defensive perimeter, making him a reliable pick. He does require some skill to use due to his sub-par primary weapon choices, though. Hibana (Attacker) Gadget: X-KAIROS Difficulty: Hard Hibana carries incredible firepower. Her X-KAIROS 40mm launcher causes critical area of effect damage that provides a similar solution as Thermite. Though, unlike Thermite she requires some setup as the 40mm rounds require space to travel and won’t break through an unweakened wall. In addition, they are countered by Shock Wire and Mute’s Signal Disruptors. However, their damage potential is among the highest in the game and can turn the tide of battle in an instant, made better by her potent primary weaponry. Hibana is considered a fun albeit difficult to utilize operator that is worth putting time into. Jackal (Attacker) Gadget: Eyenox Difficulty: Hard Evaluating Jackal’s position in the current meta-is tough considering how situational he is. That said, his ability to locate players makes him a roaming camera. The Eyenox isn’t easy to use effectively, when the player knows what he or she is doing, it can teeter the odds greatly in the favor of the Attackers due to the value of information in the meta-game. Defenders being notified of being spotted helps to balance the character, but in general while playing in pick up games he is extremely strong. His available loadout is also effective, particularly the C7E which many consider to be the best assault rifle in the game. With all this in mind, this newly added operator is an attractive new option. Jager (Defender) Gadget: Active Defense Difficulty: Medium Jager can single handedly prevent grenades, including Fuze’s Cluster Grenades, from entering a defensive perimeter, which is arguably the game’s strongest gadget. The Active Defense can be shot down, so careful placement is a must (preferably on reinforced walls). Jager’s only weakness is his low armor, which makes him rely on successful Active Defense deployment to be a strong contributor to a team. Rook (Defender) Gadget: Armor Pack Difficulty: Low Rook’s Armor Pack is extremely reliable, useful in every match where teammates don’t run off ignoring it. The additional armor allows teammates to take roughly one more bullet before falling, and also increases their chance of down but not out. Made better, Rook comes equipped with high armor and solid close-range weapon choices. He’s one of the most reliable picks in the game. Sledge (Attacker) Gadget: Breaching Hammer Difficulty: Hard Sledge is capable of taking over breaching duty by himself, allowing his teammates to bring tactical equipment like Stun Grenades and Flashbangs instead. He opens his own avenues to the objective location without fear of running out of charges, making him a dependable Attacker. Equipped with medium armor and a melee-range breach, he is vulnerable during breaches and should be used as stealthily as possible and preferably with another team member distracting at a different location. Valkyrie (Defender) Gadget: Black Eye Difficulty: Medium Capable of placing up to three additional cameras around the map, Valkyrie is a master of intelligence. Made better, her Black Eye Cameras have full 360 vision, providing full visibility of rooms when placed properly. The strength of this capability is how it can be used to mobilize your team against the Attackers, which requires careful consideration and communication. Because of this, she is considered a must-have in high level play, but often times forgettable in pick up games. Note that these cameras can be hard countered by Thatcher. Her toolkit is potent, including access to a decent SMG and shotgun, both of which provide good firepower in close range situations. B-Tier Ash (Attacker) Gadget: Breaching Round Difficulty: Medium Ash is a strong counter to Castle’s Armored Panels, and a good choice for breaching large, open walls. Ash’s difficulty comes from her low armor, which makes her an easy kill given her average primary weapon choices. Bandit (Defender) Gadget: Shock Wire Difficulty: Hard The Shock Wire is capable of making a variety of items damage Attackers who come near them, including barbed wire, reinforced walls, and shields. When deployed in good spots, such as at walls that are likely to be breached, or at barbed wire where several drones will try to penetrate through, Bandit outright halts an enemy’s advance and lowers the health of players prior to a firefight. Unfortunately, Bandit’s low armor and the luck involved with placing Shock Wire in effective spots makes him a second-rate Operator that’s probably better replaced by Mute. Frost (Defender) Gadget: Welcome Mat Difficulty: Easy Don’t let Frost’s gadget name fool you. The Welcome Mat is one of the greatest newbie killers, serving as an often overlooked trap that punishes unsuspecting operators. Even against experienced players it can deny entry at a vulnerable location, or at the very least leave any players exposed who go near it and are forced to shoot and break it. Her weaponry is particularly potent, allowing her to secure kills at close distance. Glaz (Attacker) Gadget: Flip Sight Difficulty: Very Hard Glaz is by far the most difficult Operator to use effectively. His sniper rifle is soft countered by Rainbow Six Siege’s indoor, fortified areas. In order to make him useful in this environment, his weapon has been given the game’s only high penetration, which allows him to shoot through reinforced walls, and even the Presidential Plane’s windows. Due to this, he requires constant communication from teammates to provide him with enemy locations and marks when possible. When in the right situation and in the hands of a professional, he is responsible for making Defenders feel vulnerable, and taking them out without them knowing where they were hit from. Kapkan (Defender) Gadget: Entry Denial Device Difficulty: Easy Out of all the Defenders, Kapkan requires the most luck to be successful. The booby traps he lays down are obvious by anyone with good observation skills, and are taken down with a simple explosion or one bullet. Against lower skill players, he can net an easy kill or two in a round where they rush through an entrance without checking for a trap. However, against higher skill players his usefulness comes from his good weapon choices, high armor, and the intelligence gained from hearing the location of the sound of enemies popping traps before entering. Mira (Defender) Gadget: Black Mirror Difficulty: Medium Mira is a very interesting operator. Her Black mirror provides a distinct solution for gaining information on moving attackers. It can be countered in some situations, and sometimes will see no use if placed in sub optimal locations, but in general it serves great value for the team. Her loadout is roughly average, with the ITA12L standing out as the better of the two available options with its surprising properties at range. With a deployable shield and Nitro cell available, she can lockdown her room very well when paired with certain other operators. Montagne (Attacker) Gadget: Extendable Shield Difficulty: Medium Montagne has the biggest shield in the game, allowing him to stand up and enter a defensive position. This provides teammates with the largest mobile cover in the game. His low offensive capabilities mean that he will require support, especially if there are Nitro Charges present. Ultimately, Blitz is a better choice against competent players as his Flash can disorient opponents upon entry causing a defense to break down, something Montagne’s slightly larger shield coverage doesn’t provide. Pulse (Defender) Gadget: Cardiac Sensor Difficulty: Hard Pulse is extremely situational. There aren’t many circumstances where pressure from the opposing team is from a location where Pulse can sit near a wall and listen with his Cardiac Sensor. However, there are opportunities where he can mark players about to breach, making an attack much easier to handle. His sub-par primary weapon choices coupled with his situational usefulness ensure that he isn’t a reliable pick. Smoke (Defender) Gadget: Remote Gas Grenade Difficulty: Medium Smoke’s Remote Gas Grenades are usually circumvented by highly observative players, but render a small area of the map impassible for a few seconds potentially pushing back approaching Attackers. He’s particularly adept at halting Blitz and Montagne who move slower and have low visibility. His effectiveness ultimately comes down to Remote Gas Grenade placement and a little luck. C-Tier Caveira (Defender) Gadget: Silent Step, Interrogation Difficulty: Very Hard For players who enjoy stealth, Caveira is an interesting option on defense. She is capable of sneaking up behind Attackers and immobilize them before revealing the position of the opposing team. With low Armor and a very weak offensive toolkit, this becomes an incredibly important part of her play, one which is countered by the Attackers sticking together. The timing and coordination required make her a risky choice that is usually only utilized in pick up games where many consider her very fun to play but largely ineffective when compared to other options. Doc (Defender) Gadget: Stim Pistol Difficulty: Medium Doc’s Stim Pistol relies on teammates falling to down but not out status, and him being in visibility to revive them, as well as enemies not being ready to take down the target a second time. As you might suspect, it’s uncommon that all these variables line up in Doc’s favor. His self-revive can be a game-changer, but once again is luck based, As a result, Doc becomes a high armored defensive character with a gadget that is seldom useful. If you are going to play as him or with him, be sure that you have a Rook on the team. The Armor Pack increase down but not out probability making Doc’s Sti Pistol more effective. Echo (Defender) Gadget: YOKAI Difficulty: Very Hard Echo is arguably the most difficult operator to use effectively. His YOKAI drone require impeccable coordination with your team to utilize to its full potential. Without timing and communication, the drone becomes more of a liability than beneficial to the team. In addition, his weaponry is below par, placing further emphasis on his YOKAI. This is an operator that only advanced players usually have success with, and even then he’s circumstantial. IQ (Attacker) Gadget: Electronics Detector Difficulty: Medium IQ is a very popular pick, which is a detriment to most teams. She is far less effective than Thatcher at countering electronics, requiring time to pull out her gadget to inspect for their location when they’re already noisy and easily taken down by an EMP Grenade anyway. Made worse, she comes equipped with low amor. There are very few situations where she isn’t a liability, and could be argued as Rainbow Six Siege’s worst Operator. Tachanka (Defender) Gadget: Mounted LMG Difficulty: Hard A turret LMG might sound like the perfect addition to a defensive roster, but provided Rainbow Six Siege’s destructible environments the turret becomes a liability. The surplus of choices for tactical equipment to stun or kill a sitting target coupled with the Mounted LMG’s lack of mobility makes Tachanka a sitting duck against any competent players. Getting the most out of him requires a team that’s willing to set up a strong fortification around him. Even then, the game’s netcode gives peeker’s a huge advantage, making Tachanka an easy kill for high reflex opponents. Twitch (Attacker) Gadget: Shock Drone Difficulty: Medium Twitch’s Shock Drone can disable traps and tick off enemies with light damage, but neither of these uses is particularly useful. In most situations, drones are better served for scouting than for disable. With low armor, Twitch becomes an ineffective Operator. |
SHARE 公開日 2013.11.09 受賞歴 ●文化庁メディア芸術祭アニメーション部門優秀賞ほか各賞受賞！ メインキャスト パテマ／藤井ゆきよ（「スマイルプリキュア！」） ポルタ／大畑伸太郎（「機動戦士ガンダムAGE」） ラゴス／加藤将之（『宇宙兄弟』） カホ／内田真礼（『中二病でも恋がしたい』） エイジ／岡本信彦（『青の祓魔師』） ジィ／ふくまつ進紗（『パプリカ』） ジャク／安元洋貴（『男子高校生の日常』） イザムラ／土師孝也（『ハリー・ポッターシリーズ』） スタッフ 原作・脚本・監督／吉浦康裕 『イヴの時間』 キャラクター原案／茶山隆介 『イヴの時間』 コスチュームデザイン／杏仁豆腐 『THE IDOLM@STER』 アニメーションキャラクターデザイン・作画監督／又賀大介 『コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュR2』 美術監督／金子雄司 『魔法少女まどか☆マギカ』 CG監督／安喰秀一 『イヴの時間』 動画監督／大谷久美子 『崖の上のポニョ』 色彩設計／井上あきこ 『イヴの時間』 制作プロデューサー／稲垣亮祐 『ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版 破』 音響監督／山岡晃 『サイレントヒル』 音楽／大島ミチル 『鋼の錬金術師』 歌／Estelle Micheau コピーライト© ©Yasuhiro YOSHIURA/Sakasama Film Committee 2013 事業領域 製作 配給 アニメ B/D 配信 Int STORY 『イヴの時間』の吉浦康裕監督による大ヒット劇場アニメーション!! 手を離したら、彼女は空に落ちていく。 初めて見る、サカサマ・トリップ・スペクタクル かつて、大異変が人類を襲った。そして、時は流れ…。 夜明け直前の`空'を見上げる少年、エイジ。 彼の住むアイガでは、「かつて、多くの罪びとが空に落ちた」と`空'を忌み嫌う世界であった。 そこに、突然現れた`サカサマの少女'。彼女は、必死にフェンスにしがみつき、今にも`空'に落ちそうである。 彼女の名まえはパテマ。地下世界から降ってきた。 エイジが彼女を助けようと手を握った時、彼女に引っ張られるように二人は空へ飛び出した。 恐怖に慄くパテマと、想像を超える体験に驚愕するエイジ。 この奇妙な出会いこそ、封じられた<真逆の世界>の謎を解く、禁断の事件であった。 その頃、アイガの君主イザムラの元には、「サカサマ人」があらわれたとの報告が届く。イザムラは、治安警察のジャクに捜索を命じるのだった…。 BD/DVD情報 サカサマのパテマ Blu-ray（限定版） 発売日 2014/04/25 品番 ACXA-10901 価格 ￥7,800＋税 JANコード 4988126429010 発売元 アスミック・エース/KADOKAWA 販売元 KADOKAWA/アスミック・エース スペック 2013年／日本／【本編分数】99分／カラー／【ディスク】本編：1枚／2層、特典：CD1枚／【音声】日本語 DTS-HD MasterAudio5.1ch、日本語 リニアPCM2.0ch、コメンタリー DolbyDigital2.0ch／【字幕】なし／【画面】HDワイドスクリーン 1920×1080p（1.77：1） 特典 ＜特典＞ ■作画監督又賀大介描き下ろし三方背外箱 ■特製サウンドトラックCD（25曲 約30分収録予定） ■豪華ブックレット（涌井 学書き下ろし小説「二人の夢（仮題）」＆又賀大介描き下ろし挿絵、スタッフ座談会など） ※ブックレット表紙はキャラクターデザイン茶山隆介描き下ろし ■最後の手紙レプリカ ＜映像特典＞ ■東京国際映画祭舞台挨拶 ■初日舞台挨拶 ■キャスト（藤井ゆきよ・岡本信彦）、吉浦監督インタビュー映像 ■サカサマな「サカサマのパテマ」（本編シーンを“サカサマ”視点でダイジェスト収録） ■予告編集 ＜音声特典＞ 藤井ゆきよ×岡本信彦×大畑伸太郎らキャストによるオーディオコメンタリー もっとみる <DVD>サカサマのパテマ（限定版） 発売日 2014/04/25 品番 ACBA-10901 価格 ￥6,800＋税 JANコード 4988126209018 発売元 アスミック・エース/KADOKAWA 販売元 KADOKAWA/アスミック・エース スペック 2013年／日本／【本編分数】99分／カラー／【ディスク】本編：1枚／片面2層、特典：CD1枚／【音声】日本語 DolbyDigital5.1ch、日本語 DolbyDigital2.0ch、コメンタリー DolbyDigital2.0ch／【字幕】なし／【画面】16：9 ビスタサイズ スクイーズ収録 特典 ＜特典＞ ■作画監督又賀大介描き下ろし三方背外箱 ■特製サウンドトラックCD（25曲 約30分収録予定） ■豪華ブックレット（涌井 学書き下ろし小説「二人の夢（仮題）」＆又賀大介描き下ろし挿絵、スタッフ座談会など） ※ブックレット表紙はキャラクターデザイン茶山隆介描き下ろし ■最後の手紙レプリカ ＜映像特典＞ ■東京国際映画祭舞台挨拶 ■初日舞台挨拶 ■キャスト（藤井ゆきよ・岡本信彦）、吉浦監督インタビュー映像 ■サカサマな「サカサマのパテマ」（本編シーンを“サカサマ”視点でダイジェスト収録） ■予告編集 ＜音声特典＞ 藤井ゆきよ×岡本信彦×大畑伸太郎らキャストによるオーディオコメンタリー <DVD>サカサマのパテマ 通常版 発売日 2014/04/25 品番 ACBA-10902 価格 ￥4,800＋税 JANコード 4988126209025 発売元 アスミック・エース/KADOKAWA 販売元 KADOKAWA/アスミック・エース スペック 2013年／日本／【本編分数】99分／カラー／【ディスク】1枚／片面2層／【音声】日本語 DolbyDigital5.1ch、日本語 DolbyDigital2.0ch、コメンタリー DolbyDigital2.0ch／【字幕】なし／【画面】16：9 ビスタサイズ スクイーズ収録 特典 ＜映像特典＞ ■東京国際映画祭舞台挨拶 ■初日舞台挨拶 ■キャスト（藤井ゆきよ・岡本信彦）、吉浦監督インタビュー映像 ■サカサマな「サカサマのパテマ」（本編シーンを“サカサマ”視点でダイジェスト収録） ■予告編集 ＜音声特典＞ 藤井ゆきよ×岡本信彦×大畑伸太郎らキャストによるオーディオコメンタリー 作品一覧へ戻る |
Scientists, like athletes, are obsessed with experiencing the thrill of victory. Just as they fear the agony of defeat. And in the wide world of science, thrills make news much more often than the agony. Winners get the publicity, losers can’t get published. But sometimes the defeats deserve to make news too, especially when highly publicized experiments fail in their quest. Data reported in 2016 have forced physicists to face the prospect of just such a failure — not once, but twice. Dark matter, supposedly the most abundant form of mass in the cosmos, declines to show up in devices designed to detect it. And it refuses to appear in experiments constructed to make it. For decades, physicists specializing in subatomic particles have expected to find an entirely new species of matter, a type never seen on Earth, swarming throughout the vastness of space. Galaxies rotate too rapidly and clump too closely if the only source of gravitational force |
Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios will shut down June 5, according to a post on the beloved Denton music venue’s Facebook page. Details are scarce. Per the Rubber Gloves Facebook post: We apologize for the sudden news, and how that may affect those whom have shows booked after that date. Please trust us when we say we didn’t want or expect this to happen. We’re still trying to wrap our heads around the shock of it all ourselves. Details are still being worked out, and we’ll share them as they become available. Whatever the reason, this is a major loss for North Texas music. Rubber Gloves is one of Denton’s best venues, and one of its best dive bars, for that matter. A former cement factory transformed into — like the name says — an actual studio and rehearsal space, Rubber Gloves often felt like the quintessential Denton music venue, a home for local musicians and a welcoming stage for the more sonically adventurous touring acts. “Some pretty great surprise shows” are in the works to close out Rubber Gloves’ final month, according to the post. Today’s bad news follows the closing of another cherished, divey Denton venue — Hailey’s shut its doors at the end of last year. |
CANNES, France—Cannes Lions 2016 has its first truly cringeworthy moment, in the form of a party invitation seeking "attractive females and models only." The email went out to a number of festival participants who planned to attend The Wednesday Party, an event sponsored by digital agency VaynerMedia and media company Thrillist Media Group with a musical performance by Wyclef Jean. UPDATE: Thrillist founder and CEO Ben Lerer responded to the controversy via an internal staff email that appears in part at the bottom of this story. A female agency executive tells Adweek that she and two female colleagues received the email while having lunch in Cannes on Tuesday. One of them forwarded it to women's advocate and agency veteran Cindy Gallop, who subsequently shared it on Twitter and wrote, "It's 2016, @vaynermedia @thrillist. This is not how you party at @cannes_lions." The email was sent by events company iGetIn. Its key section reads (emphasis via the sender of the message): "Thank you for your interest in attending!! Please be aware that this specific list is for attractive females and models only ." The note, which was also shared by members of the public Facebook group Cannes for Cannesseurs, then instructs male attendees to "contact the PR departments of the respective sponsors" if they want to get into the party. It requests that women interested in attending send "recent untouched photos and/or your Instagram/Facebook links for you and each of your additional female guest [sic]," adding, "once we have reviewed we will send you specific entry details." The message does not clarify what this review would entail or who will determine whether invitees qualify as "attractive females." Also, if the whole thing is a joke, it's a poor one—and there's no wink in the email to indicate that it is a joke. The email has become a minor scandal at a festival that has included messages of female empowerment from speakers such as Madonna Badger of #WomenNotObjects fame. Before forwarding it to Gallop, one of the executives in question called the number listed, where a representative told her that such demands are "a totally normal practice." VaynerMedia founder and CEO Gary Vaynerchuk quickly responded to Gallop and others on Twitter with multiple videos shot while he was walking around the festival. In the first, he said he was "mortified" by the email and, as the agency's CEO, took responsibility for it. In a subsequent video response to another party, Vaynerchuk said he is "trying to get to the bottom of it." Lerer was defensive about the email, tweeting, "Guys, this is promoter spam. Would appreciate a little more credit." A spokesperson for VaynerMedia tells Adweek that—as Vaynerchuk said in his video—the agency was not directly involved in hiring the company that sent the email and the message itself was not reflective of the company or its culture. The female executive who forwarded the email said Vaynerchuk also reached out to her directly to apologize. A Thrillist spokesperson stated the email blast was not a legitimate invite to the event, writing, "A third-party promotions company sent this email without us knowing. We apologize to anyone who was spammed with this, but it didn't come from Thrillist or Vayner. The guest list for the party has been closed for some time and will not include anyone who replies to that email." In an internal email sent Wednesday afternoon, Lerer wrote, "Just wanted to send a quick note around explaining the situation and our response. To produce an event of this scale in a foreign country, we needed to hire a bunch of vendors to help in different capacities. One of these companies was a production group we've worked with multiple times in the past in the US. This company then went on to hire several other companies to help with various aspects of the event." He continued, "No one at Thrillist (or Vayner for that matter) knew anything about what this vendor was doing and we are clearly appalled by it." Lerer added that the company will no longer work with the vendor and that it plans to "become significantly more stringent" with such partners in the future. "We clearly need to be mindful of how the behaviors of companies that are associated with us can reflect back on our brand, even if they are operating outside of our knowledge," he wrote. Adweek has reached out to representatives from iGetIn but has yet to receive an official response. At this time, it is unclear how the company acquired the contact list it used to push out the email blast. |
It turns out that the five Arkansas Hawks committed to the Arkansas Razorbacks might all make it to campus by 2018. Little Rock Christian junior-to-be Justice Hill is considering enrolling early, his father said Tuesday. Hill is the only non-2018 graduate among the five Arkansas Hawks AAU 17-and-under teammates who have verbally committed to the Razorbacks. Former Arkansas assistant football coach Fitz Hill, Justice’s father, said his son recently signed up for some classes that would allow that to happen if Razorbacks basketball coach Mike Anderson thinks that is the best course of action. “We will continue to meet with Coach Anderson and listen for his advice; however, Justice will do his part in the classroom to make this option available," Fitz Hill said. Justice Hill, who is averaging 6.1 points 3.5 assists in AAU play this summer, could enroll in either the fall of 2018 and play that season or enroll in January 2019 and practice with the team for a semester as a redshirt. “As his daddy and a former coach, for developmental reasons, January ‘19 appears to be the best route,” Fitz Hill said. “However, all options are on the table.” The other members of the Hawks committed to Arkansas are Douglasville, Ga., five-star big man Reggie Perry (6-10, 225 pounds); Fort Smith Northside shooting guard Isaiah Joe (6-4, 180); Little Rock Parkview forward Ethan Henderson (6-9, 190); and Jonesboro guard Desi Sills (6-1, 180). Houston Cy Falls forward D.J. Weaver (6-6, 194) is another Hawk that has also been offered by the Razorbacks and is thought to be leaning toward committing soon. The Hawks, who were 33-5 as a 16-and-under squad last season, have posted a 12-6 mark in this spring portion of AAU action, including a runner-up finish at Real Deal in the Rock. That includes 4-4 record in the Adidas Uprising series with Perry averaging 17 points and 8.4 rebounds per game to lead the way. Joe is averaging 16 points while hitting 50 percent of his 3-pointers (30-of-60), and Sills is scoring 11.9 points. Perry, Joe, Henderson and Little Rock Parkview freshman Moses Moody have all been invited to the 15th annual Pangos All-American Camp in Long Beach, Calif. |
On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015 'Snark vs. smarm' goes mainstream So it's not exactly the Dreyfus Affair, but the argument over "snark" and "smarm" that Gawker's Tom Scocca launched two weeks ago has turned into a divisive intellectual debate on which the likes of Malcolm Gladwell, Maureen Dowd and Leon Wieseltier have all weighed in. When people talk about debates in the media today, they're often referring to trivial Twitter spats that flare out as quickly as they came. So it's nice to see marquee writers engaging in a media debate that matters. As Dowd wrote in her New York Times column on Sunday, "All quarrels are not petty. Sometimes quarrels are about big things, and it’s an actual privilege to take a side in them." Dowd doesn't exactly explain why the "snark" vs. "smarm" debate matters, but it does. It's not just about niceness vs. meanness, nor is it only about the obligations of intellectual criticism (a worthwhile subject in its own right); it's about journalism, and its interests and obligations. To bring you up to speed: In early November, Isaac Fitzgerald, the first-ever Books editor for BuzzFeed, a site unapologetically driven by the quest for clicks, told Poynter that the site wouldn't be publishing negative reviews: “Why waste breath talking smack about something?” he said. “You see it in so many old media-type places, the scathing takedown rip.” Instead, Fitzgerald would follow the advice of Thumper, the rabbit from "Bambi": “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” One month later, Scocca responded with an extraordinarily long castigation of Fitzgerald's "smarm," which he defined thusly: "What is smarm, exactly? Smarm is a kind of performance — an assumption of the forms of seriousness, of virtue, of constructiveness, without the substance. Smarm is concerned with appropriateness and with tone. Smarm disapproves. ... Smarm would rather talk about anything other than smarm. Why, smarm asks, can't everyone just be nicer?" The piece wasn't just an attack on what Dowd today described as "the pompous and often vapid niceness brigade," it was also an attack on BuzzFeed. At BuzzFeed, Scocca wrote, "agreeability is popularity, and popularity is value" — people want to share agreeable things, nice things, hence agreeable content goes viral. In an introduction to Scocca's piece, Gawker founder Nick Denton called that a "collective delusion" and hit BuzzFeed for trafficking in "the hollow exchange of insincerity between people who don't really know each other or trust each other." The debate might have died there, but then Malcolm Gladwell, a popular writer flying under the flag of public intellectual, picked it up in a blog post for The New Yorker titled “Being Nice Isn’t Really So Awful." In true Gladwellian fashion, he turned a handful of disparate and selective examples into evidence for general truths, urging the reader along to an "a-ha!" conclusion that was rendered utterly nonsensical and irrelevant once you actually took the time to think about it. His point: That satire (are we still talking about snark?) is not a revolt against smarm because it has been institutionalized and therefore rendered ineffective at challenging the status quo. Several others weighed in — at Esquire, the author Stephen Marche argued that snark and smarm are two sides of the same coin, that coin being a writer's desire to make a buck: "People do not write hate-pieces for the improvement of society. They write hate-pieces in order to get noticed and to make a little money. The logic of the market has one primary feature: Nobody escapes it." And finally, today, Dowd dedicated her column to the debate, not offering perspective so much as serving as a vehicle for Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, to offer perspective, which she endorsed: “If one feels that a value or a belief or a form that one cherishes has been traduced, one should rise to its defense," Wieseltier told Dowd. "In intellectual and literary life, where the stakes may be quite high, manners must never be the primary consideration. People who advance controversial notions should be prepared for controversy. Questions of truth, meaning, goodness, justice and beauty are bigger than Bambi. I never thought I’d utter a sentence like this, but I stand with Gawker against BuzzFeed.” Which brings us back to Fitzgerald's remark, his "Bambi Rule," an anti-intellectual worldview in which there is no room for critical thinking. Fitzgerald admittedly has no interest in literary criticism. As such, "BuzzFeed Books" is more of a marketing platform, both intended — there is the usual sponsored content — and otherwise. The top three items on BuzzFeed Books as I write this are: "Which Middle Earth Character Are You?" (Go see the new Hobbit film!), "Harry Potter Emojis Are What Your Phone Needs Immediately" (How great is Harry Potter! Am I right?) and "The 14 Greatest Science Fiction Books Of The Year." That this suffocating, Generation-X Hallmark sensibility exists is fine; BuzzFeed can do whatever it wants, and its founders are likely not-paying-attention-to-this-debate all the way to the bank. It's a smart business strategy, appealing as it does to the lowest common denominator, and so, like daytime television and top 40 radio before it, it has become increasingly omnipresent. Indeed, it's often heralded as the next iteration of digital journalism (see Upworthy, the year-old site that bills itself as "the place to find awesome, meaningful, visual things to share"). But the Bambi Rule evangelism — the "no haters" mentality, the finger-wagging at criticism — is intolerable. It marginalizes and even demonizes critical thought, the one thing that is essential for separating the wheat from the chaff. It allows for the proliferation of hucksterism. And it promotes the idea that Wieseltier's "questions of truth, meaning, goodness, justice and beauty" don't matter. Of course, if hawking chaff is your trade, I can understand why the Bambi Rule appeals. |
Transition questions are highly effective because you cannot develop a plan, any plan, such as a marketing plan, by asking “What is the marketing plan?” The question is so broad as to be DUMB. We have learned during facilitated meetings and workshops, that it’s not easy for participants to respond to broad questions like “How do you solve global hunger?” While appropriate, the question’s scope is too broad (and perhaps vague) to stimulate specific, actionable responses like “We could convert those abandoned mine shafts in Somalia and create food storage areas.” Extemporaneous leaders should develop a tendency to modify three core transition questions during meetings instead of asking broad questions like, “Are we OK with this list?” or, “Can we move on?”. Consider using more structure and precision by relying on transition questions with these three simple, pertinent, and clear questions that can be modified to your own situation: Do we need to clarify anything (eg, on this list)? (First test for clarity and shared understanding only, not necessarily agreement). anything (eg, on this list)? (First test for clarity and shared understanding only, not necessarily agreement). Do we need to delete anything (eg, from this list)? (Next test for appropriateness, relevancy, and potential redundancy). anything (eg, from this list)? (Next test for appropriateness, relevancy, and potential redundancy). Do we need to add anything (eg, to this list)? (Finally, scrub for omissions or something significant that needs to be considered in addition to what has been already captured). The three detailed transition questions make it easier for meeting participants to analyze, agree, and move on. After participants have agreed they understand, have been provided an opportunity to remove something they cannot support, and have been challenged to add something they may have missed, you are prepared to properly transition. The clarity and precision of the three transition questions demands more rigorous thinking and encourages the focus most people need to apply thorough analysis. Make it easier for your participants, avoid the the vague, extemporaneous questions that results in the worst deliverable you could ever develop in a meeting—another meeting. Reply with any questions you might have by commenting below. For additional methodology and team-based meeting support for your change initiatives, refer to our store http://mgrush.com/shop/ or consider the book “Change or Die, a Business Process Improvement Manual” for much of the support you might need to lead more effective groups, teams, and meetings. Become Part of the Solution—Improve Your Facilitation and Methodology Skills The FAST curriculum on Professional Facilitation Skills details the responsibilities and dynamics of an effective facilitator and methodologist. Remember, nobody is smarter than everybody, so consult your FAST Facilitator Reference Manual or attend a FAST professional facilitative leadership-training workshop offered around the world (see MG Rush for a current schedule — an excellent way to earn 40 PDUs from PMI, CDUs from IIBA, or CEUs). Do not forget to order Change or Die if you’re working on a business process improvement project. It provides detailed workshop agendas and numerous tools to make your role easier and your team’s performance a lot more effective—daring you to embrace the will, wisdom, and activities that amplify a facilitative leader. Related articles Share this please: LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Reddit Tumblr Pinterest Pocket Print Email |
At least one in every six dollars of U.S. spending for contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade, or more than $30 billion, has been wasted. And at least that much could again turn into waste if the host governments are unable or unwilling to sustain U.S.-funded projects after our involvement ends. Those sobering but conservative numbers are a key finding of the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will submit its report to Congress on Wednesday. All eight commissioners agree that major changes in law and policy are needed to avoid confusion and waste in the next contingency, whether it involves armed struggle overseas or response to disasters at home. Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted through poor planning, vague and shifting requirements, inadequate competition, substandard contract management and oversight, lax accountability, weak interagency coordination, and subpar performance or outright misconduct by some contractors and federal employees. Both government and contractors need to do better. Our final report shows that the costs of contracting waste and fraud extend beyond the disservice to taxpayers. The costs include diminishing for U.S. military, diplomatic and development efforts; fostering corruption in host countries; and undermining U.S. standing and influence overseas. The contractor workforce in Iraq and Afghanistan has at times exceeded 260,000 people and has sometimes outnumbered U.S. military forces in theater. The roughly 1-to-1 ratio sustained over the years reflects a basic operating truth that Defense Department officials expressed in testimony to the commission: The United States cannot conduct large or prolonged military operations without contractor support. Defense doctrine has for more than 20 years held that contractors are part of the “total force” to be deployed in contingency operations. Nonetheless, the United States embarked on operations in Afghanistan in 2001 and in Iraq in 2003 without adequate planning or contract-management personnel to handle the enormous scale and numbers of contracts. In that sense and in others, America is over-relying on contractors. Poor planning, federal understaffing and over-reliance led to billions of dollars of contracts awarded without effective competition, legions of foreign subcontractors not subject to U.S. laws, private security guards performing tasks that can easily escalate into combat, unprosecuted instances of apparent fraud, and projects that are unlikely to be sustained by the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan. Projects that are or may be unsustainable are a serious problem. For instance, U.S. taxpayers spent $40 million on a prison that Iraq did not want and that was never finished. U.S. taxpayers poured $300 million into a Kabul power plant that requires funding and technical expertise beyond the Afghan government’s capabilities. Meanwhile, a federal official testified to the commission that an $11.4 billion program of facilities for the Afghan National Security Forces is “at risk” of unsustainability. Many examples of poor planning, bad management, weak accountability, misconduct and the waste that results from them are detailed in our final report. But Congress asked us to do more than describe problems; it instructed us to recommend improvements. Our final report includes 15 strategic recommendations to improve contingency contracting. They include: ●Designating a “dual-hatted” official to serve in the Office of Management and Budget and to participate in National Security Council meetings to ensure that the many agencies involved in contingency contracts or grants are properly resourced and coordinated; ●Making more rigorous use of risk analysis when deciding to use contractors, rather than assuming that any task not on a list of “inherently governmental function” is appropriate for contracting; ●Requiring that officials examine current and proposed projects for risk of unsustainability, and cancel or modify those that have no credible prospect of operating successfully; and ●Creating a permanent inspector general for contingency operations so that investigative personnel are ready to deploy at the outset of a contingency, and to monitor preparedness and training between contingencies. These and 11 other recommendations are detailed in our final report, which will be available Wednesday at www.wartimecontracting.gov. Our report is not an attack on contractors. In general, contractors have provided essential and effective support to U.S. personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the costs have been excessive, largely because of a shrunken federal acquisition workforce and a lack of effective planning to use contractors and the discipline of competition. If Congress and the Obama administration adopt our recommendations, they will find large opportunities to save money in contingency operations and to produce more economical and effective outcomes in future hostilities and national emergencies. Christopher Shays, a former Republican congressman from Connecticut, and Michael Thibault, a former deputy director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, co-chaired the bipartisan federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. |
Money for a far-reaching pollution control plan for Chesapeake Bay would be stripped from this year’s federal budget under a proposed amendment to an important House spending bill. Michael Temchine for The New York Times The amendment, filed on Monday by Representative Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, takes aim at an Environmental Protection Agency program to reduce the flow of several major pollutants into the bay by roughly a quarter by 2025. Called a “pollution diet” by federal regulators, the plan was deemed necessary after the E.P.A. determined that states were moving too slowly to curb polluted runoff from farms and cities into the bay. In an interview, Mr. Goodlatte called the E.P.A. plan a “power grab” that exceeded its authority under the Clean Water Act and said that the agency had failed to calculate the program’s impact on jobs and the region’s economy. He argued that under the new regulations, towns and cities would be required to spend millions of dollars to upgrade their stormwater runoff systems. “These communities are going to face gargantuan unfunded mandates,” he said. “Farmers are facing the exact same thing.” The E.P.A. declined to comment on the measure but pointed to a statement by the Office of Management and Budget indicating that President Obama would veto the spending bill if it “undermines critical priorities.” The prospects for the amendment are unclear, as Republicans have added dozens of similar measures to the spending bill, each of which must be voted on before the bill can be passed on to the Senate. “We don’t have any assurance that this will get time on the floor,” Mr. Goodlatte said. William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a conservation group, criticized the amendment, saying that the E.P.A. plan “may well represent the bay’s best and last chance for restoration.” “Its goal is to restore clean water to the Chesapeake and to tributaries such as the Shenandoah River, a polluted river flowing through Congressman Goodlatte’s own district, by 2025,” Mr. Baker said. “Pollution has resulted in fish kills, dead zones, and impacts to human health, as well as costing jobs and damaging local economies.” Mr. Goodlatte acknowledged that more needed to be done to reduce the flow of polluted water into the bay, but said that the E.P.A.’s plan was too burdensome on farms and municipalities. He said he planned to reintroduce a bill that failed in the previous Congress that would force the E.P.A. to weigh the economic impact of its regulatory plan and hand more power over to the states for regulating runoff. The amendment would be only a temporary measure, lasting until the end of September. |
Women and Child Development Ministry on Tuesday came down heavily on state governments for going slow on adoption cases and urged them to achieve a target of 20,000 adoptions by next year. There were 4694, 3924 and 3988 in-country adoptions during 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively and 308, 422 and 374 inter-country adoptions in the same period. The Ministry has issued a strict deadline to the states to comply with the new guidelines, which draw support from JJ Act. The act also includes the provision of de-recognising illegal adoption centers. Addressing the National Familiarization Programme organised for states and union territories on the new adoption guidelines, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said they will have to ensure that a proper system is put in place by September 15. "States will have to register all Child Care Institutions (CCI) under the JJ Act, recognise at least one State Adoption Agency in each district, ensure registering District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) on CARINGS (Central Adoption Resource Information Guidance System)," she said, adding, a check of all states will be conducted in December. Taking strong exception to illegal adoptions being carried out through hospitals and unauthorised CCIs across the country, Gandhi said states should take strict action against them as the JJ Act provides a provision for criminal action against such defaulters. "There should be board outside every hospital clearly stating that it is illegal to take children for adoption and please contact the nearest state adoption agency," she said. |
COAS holds security meeting after Lahore attack Twitter reacts to terror incident Many children and women were among the victims.The explosion took place inside Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, where hundreds of children, women and men were said to be present.The park was packed with people due to weekly holiday and Easter celebrations.Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told SAMAA that mostly children and women died due to the cowardly act of terrorism."It is a barbaric act of terrorism, in which children and women have been targeted by the terrorist groups," Sanaullah said."It is obvious that terrorists groups are trying to hit soft targets as they are frustrated and defeated. They are the same people, who had martyred people at Bacha Khan University and Army Public School," he said.To a question, he said that there was no specific threat. "General threat is everywhere in the country," he added.Salman Rafique, Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Health Affairs, confirmed the death of more than 60 people.Dr Haider Ashraf, DIG Operations, said that it was a suicide attack. "The bomber wanted to target innocent people," he said.According to Rescue sources, nearly 300 injured people were shifted to nearby hospitals, where emergency was declared.The death toll is feared to go up as some of those wounded are in critical condition.Around 35 people, three of them children, were shifted to Jinnah Hospital while 45 were rushed to Sheikh Zayed Hospital and others were taken to private hospitals.Emergency was declared in all hospitals of the city and security was put on high alert.An eyewitness told SAMAA that a stampede broke out after the explosion and many children were separated from their parents.According to security sources, upper body of the suspected bomber was still intact and that he could be easily identified.Troops and personnel of Counter-Terrorism Department also reached the scene to carry out the rescue work and cordon off the area.Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sunday strongly condemned the blast incident in Lahore.The Prime minister expressed his grief and sorrow over the loss of innocent lives.He also directed the authorities concerned to ensure special medical care to the injured, said PM Office Media Wing.In a press statement, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the terrorist attack and expressed sympathy with the families of the victims. - SAMAA |
There’s an article at the top of Reddit right now titled “Trump’s 17 cabinet-level picks have more money than a third of American households combined.” It’s on r/politics, which long ago stopped pretending to be anything other than a stump for the Democratic establishment, so its top comments are all something to the effect of “Hurr hurr, the Republitards thought he was going to stick up for the little guy” in response to an article about the fact that the combined wealth of Trump’s cabinet, 9.5 billion dollars, is greater than the combined wealth of the bottom third of U.S. households. Meanwhile nobody is freaking out that the combined wealth of a third of U.S. households is less than 9.5 billion dollars. Because so many Americans are in crippling debt and aren’t earning a living wage, 9.5 billion dollars divided by a third of the U.S. population works out to about ninety bucks a head. I spent that much on meals for my family yesterday. But armchair liberals want to talk about the fact that Donald “make sure the gold-plated urinals have my name on them” Trump likes working with rich people. This illustrates so perfectly what’s happening with the Democratic party right now. The Walmart economy is choking Americans to death, and they’re pouring all their energy into trying to kill Trump’s approval rating, censoring dissenting media under the pejorative of “fake news”, calling everyone who refuses to fall in line a Russian pawn, and cheerleading for the CIA. Their president just spent the last eight years continuing and expanding on all of Bush’s most evil and exploitative policies, their leaders just proved that they’d rather risk electing a narcissistic billionaire Republican than let a progressive anywhere near the Oval Office, their presidential candidate just ran a campaign of fearmongering, warmongering and identity politics while secretly promising Goldman Sachs executives that she’d lie to the American public on their behalf, and still all we’re hearing is “But look! Trump is acting like a rich jerk!” Yeah. Yeah he is. We already knew that that would happen. There is no one on planet Earth who is surprised by that. Even the little girls who sang that Trump song at his rally are saying “Yeah, what’d you expect?” while ashing their unfiltered cigarettes onto a portrait of Betsy Ross. Meanwhile, what are you establishment Dems doing for your country? Oh that’s right, you’re pretending it’s the 1950s again. There’s a Russky hiding under every bed and anyone who questions you is a secret Kremlin operative. A pathetic game of retro make-believe. You’d be more useful to working Americans LARPing that you’re a bunch of wizards and warriors in your mom’s backyard with foam swords and pipe cleaner wands. I just had an argument in a Bernie group (my God have those gotten ugly) with a guy who tried to shame me for calling the CIA a bunch of liars. He was all, "Everyone lies sometimes! Tell me you've never told a lie before in your life, Miss Perfect!" Holy false equivalencies, Batman! This is your Democratic party right now, America. The party that spent the last eight years bombing twice as many countries as Bush, implementing multiple new Orwellian propaganda bills and citizen surveillance policies, and boasting about a meagre recovery that never touched rural America in the midst of an overall fifteen-year recession is now championing the CIA as a beacon of truth and trying to work out ways to give the plutocrats that IMF bank in Syria they’ve been salivating over. Hey progressives, remember when we thought corporatism and war profiteering were the Republicans’ fault? God, were we stupid. I’m ashamed now to admit it, but as a younger fresh-eyed lefty I used to think the Iraq invasion and the Patriot Act happened because of the Bush administration, and if America could only get those right-wing nutjobs out of office all the violence, ecocide and corporate cronyism might stop. Ha! I was so precious. I didn’t realize the American government has two right wings. It’s got the right wing that lives in rural areas, and it’s got the urban right wing that smugly makes fun of the rural one. And that’s pretty much the whole entire difference. They have slightly different ways of triggering their feely bits, and their politicians run different kinds of campaigns, Sean Hannity rants about one while John Oliver mocks the other, but they’re functionally the exact same thing. They are functionally just two slightly different ways of letting Americans feel good about themselves while bankers rob and exploit them. The reason I’m able to write so prolifically about this stuff is because I feel like there’s an eternity’s worth of things to be said about how idiotic this all is; I could rant for ten hours just about Chuck Schumer’s stupid face. The Democratic party as it exists right now in no way, shape or form represents a force for the American people, and anyone who pretends it does is profiting from it. In the coming years we’re going to develop a better vocabulary for talking about the vast chasm of difference between the people who recognize all this and the people who let Rachel Maddow and Trevor Noah tell them everything’s fine as long as Democrats are winning. Progressives, Berniecrats, establishment Democrats, these words are okay, but the fact that there are two radically different types of creature vying for control of the political left means that eventually we’re going to develop a vocabulary with clearer distinctions and less overlap. When that happens all the bizarre things establishment Dems do will become less creepy and scary, since they’ll feel less close to home. We’ll be able to lump all the warmongering, CIA stumping and McCarthyism in with all the insane stuff Republicans do and just refer to them all as “the crazies” or something. It’ll be a lot easier when we can clearly put the two right wings on the same side of the bird. Until then, I still get the shivers sometimes. --- Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, please help me out by sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following me on Twitter, or even tossing me some money on Patreon so I can keep this gig up. |
Black Bean Brownies – the ultra fudgy and decadent chocolate treat. Edit: Thank you to everyone who has been asking… After more than a year in the works, my NEW cookbook is finally available! Based on your feedback, every single recipe in the book comes with complete nutrition facts including calories, total fat, carbohydrates, protein, and Weight Watchers points. I know what you’re thinking. “Why would I want to eat a healthy brownie when I could be eating a deep, dark, rich, fudgy, and chocolatey brownie instead?” But what if the deep, dark, rich, chocolate brownie is the healthy brownie? No, not in a dream world. These black bean brownies are healthy brownies that DO NOT taste healthy, and I can say that with assurance, as they’ve been tested on three different groups of people used to “normal” desserts. For the ultimate test, my roommate brought two pans of the vegan black bean brownies into work and set them down on the table without revealing the secret or saying they were healthy. She came home with no brownies left… but with five requests for the healthy black bean brownie recipe! Easy Black Bean Brownies I know some of you have been disappointed by mediocre bean-based brownies you’ve tried in the past, which is why it’s taken me so long to come up with my own recipe: I’ve tried some awful black bean brownie recipes in the past, too. For example? Don’t think you’ll get brownies by adding cocoa powder to my Healthy Cookie Dough Dip and baking it. Trust me. You’ll get cardboard. I wanted a recipe that would not let people down; a recipe that could stand up to a regular sugar-and-flour brownie in a competition. And these really do! Also, huge thanks to everyone who’s been sharing these on Instagram! If you try the brownies, be sure to rate the recipe here, or tag @ChocolateCoveredKatie on Instagram so I can see and like your pictures! Black Bean Brownies Black Bean Brownies – No Flour Required! Total Time: 15m Yield: 9-12 brownies Print This Recipe 4.94/5 4.94 / 5 1147 Ingredients 1 1/2 cups black beans (1 15-oz can, drained and rinsed very well) (250g after draining) 2 tbsp cocoa powder (10g) 1/2 cup quick oats (40g) (See nutrition link below for substitutions) 1/4 tsp salt 1/3 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave (75g) pinch uncut stevia OR 2 tbsp sugar (or omit and increase maple syrup to 1/2 cup) 1/4 cup coconut or vegetable oil (40g) (See nutrition link for substitution notes) 2 tsp pure vanilla extract 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup chocolate chips (115-140g) (Not optional. Omit at your own risk.) optional: more chips, for presentation Instructions Black Bean Brownies Recipe: Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all ingredients except chips in a good food processor, and blend until completely smooth. Really blend well. (A blender can work if you absolutely must, but the texture—and even the taste—will be much better in a food processor. I use this food processor.) Stir in the chips, then pour into a greased 8×8 pan. Optional: sprinkle extra chocolate chips over the top. Cook the black bean brownies 15-18 minutes, then let cool at least 10 minutes before trying to cut. If they still look a bit undercooked, you can place them in the fridge overnight and they will magically firm up! Makes 9-12 brownies. If you make this recipe, don’t forget to leave a review! The trick with these: serve them first, and then reveal the secret ingredient. In all the times I’ve served bean desserts, not one single person who didn’t know beforehand has ever guessed! View Black Bean Brownies Nutrition Facts Currently Trending Posts: Here’s What I Eat In A Day Keto Ice Cream Recipe Lentil Soup – Voted the #1 best recipe More About The Cookbook More Healthy Brownie Recipes: Sweet Potato Brownies Vegan Brownies (No crazy ingredients!) More About Chocolate Covered Katie 4.94/5 (1,147) 4.94 / 5 1147 |
guest contribution from Shelby Bryniarski - editor of Welcome to Hawkey Town Brandon Bollig is known as the Chicago Blackhawk’s undisputed enforcer, but he just might be the most overlooked and under-appreciated player on the team. Bollig is no Jonathan Toews, but that does not take away any of his due credit, as he has massively improved from the previous season. During the 2012-2013 lock out shortened season, Bollig played in 25 games for the Blackhawks and did not produce any points. This season, Bollig is one of 10 Blackhawks to play every game and has a total of 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists) in 53 games played. So the question is: What changed in the 26 year-old to make him transition from throwing punches to taking more shots on goal? After the most recent Stanley Cup win, Brandon Bollig realized that if he wanted to play a bigger role with the team, rather than just the enforcer role, he’d have to work on several things to become an every night man. With the NHL cracking down on fights and hits, the role of the “enforcer” is dwindling slowly. In order to compete in a line up filled with so much depth, Bollig would have to advance his role from just throwing punches. During the offseason, Bollig took part in many optional Blackhawks offseason workouts and conditioning programs. He endlessly worked on his skating and skills, which was apparent out of the gate in training camp. Bollig added a couple of goals during the scrimmages, as well as one during the Training Camp festival. He also tallied 2 goals in the Blackhawks 6 preseason games. Many fans and critics acknowledged Bollig’s new work ethic, but were still wary on if he could continue the improvement and score his first regular season goal. He silenced his naysayers, scoring the first goal of the 2013-2014 NHL season in the home opener against the Washington Capitals. From then on, Bollig has continued to improve throughout the season at left wing on the 4th line. With very few exceptions early on, the fourth line has stayed in tact with Bollig, Marcus Kruger and Ben Smith, who all have great chemistry together. Bollig hasn't completely abandoned his role as the tough guy. He still dropped the gloves 3 times this season, compared to his 5 fights in 25 games with the team last season. He backed down from a couple of fights, something he wouldn't have normally done the previous season, but he’s realized that his game is changing and it’s not all about dropping the gloves. Though he still brings the physical presence when needed (big hits). When you think about it, 5 goals really does not sound like a lot, especially in 53 games. But think of it this way, both of Brandon Bollig’s previous two goals were game tying goals during clutch times. His last goal, against the Boston Bruins, was from a very tough angle and tied the game, which eventually sent it to overtime. He also scored the game winning goal against the Winnipeg Jets earlier in the season. With Bollig’s improvement, his ice time has increased by 20% which has pushed it to an average 10 minutes per game, he sits at 118 hits on the season, which is only 3 hits behind the team leader, Andrew Shaw. Another thing with Bollig this season is his much improved defensive game. He hasn’t been afraid to come back and help out the D and win some board battles. He’s no sniper, but Bollig has one of the hardest and most underrated shots on the team, when he gets a clean look. I’m sure Darcy Kuemper could attest to that. On Thursday night’s game, he took a Brandon Bollig slap shot to the head, which dented his mask so bad, that he was forced to play with Niklas Backstrom’s mask for almost 10 minutes while repairs were made. If the fourth line is kept together, there will be more goals bouncing Bollig’s way the rest of the season. Bollig’s hard work and nose-to-the-grind attitude have solidified him as a key instrument in the Blackhawk’s success. In the mean time, keep up the good work, B52. |
Buy Photo Lamoille County (Photo: Free Press graphic)Buy Photo ©2014 Burlington Free Press A Lamoille County sheriff's deputy has been suspended without pay while the authorities investigate allegations of domestic abuse. Corey Davis, 26, of Johnson is the focus of the investigation, according to Vermont State Police Lt. James Whitcomb and Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux. "As soon as I learned of it, he was suspended without pay," Marcoux told the Burlington Free Press on Tuesday. He said Davis' police gear, including guns, were seized. "This is a situation that we take very serious. It could result in termination." Marcoux said he called in state police to do an independent investigation. A 22-year-old Lamoille County woman obtained a relief from abuse order against Davis on Sunday night following an incident at a residence that she shared in Johnson with the sheriff's deputy, records show. RELATED: Judge lifts restraining order against Lamoille deputy Judge Dennis Pearson agreed Tuesday to extend the Vermont Family Court order until at least Wednesday pending a hearing in Burlington, records show. Ron Perelman, a Stowe lawyer representing Davis, said his client plans to fight the allegations. "We are preparing for a hearing," Perelman said. Pearson, based on court filings, ruled that Davis had abused the woman, attempted to cause physical harm and placed her in fear of imminent serious physical harm, the court order said. The judge also ruled there was an "immediate danger of further abuse." As of Tuesday afternoon, Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan said he was not planning on filing a criminal charge based on the evidence that had been presented to his office as of Monday night. He said his office thought there was "insufficient evidence" to file a criminal charge. The domestic-violence prosecutor in Donovan's office reviewed a proposed four-page Vermont State Police affidavit outlining a Sunday night incident. The Burlington Free Press requested a copy of the four-page affidavit Tuesday under Vermont's public-records law, but the document had not been provided by close of business. A court clerk, meanwhile, said the sworn complaint filed Sunday by the woman outlining what she said happened would be unavailable until after Wednesday's hearing. OTHER COVERAGE: Colchester detective released from jail, heads to rehab Officials: Kinney's access to drug treatment normal Cases in jeopardy after Colchester cop's arrest Donovan said it was unclear if it was an accident when the woman's foot was slammed in a door. He said there was some question about whether Davis intended to follow through on verbal threats. The Lamoille County State's Attorney's Office, in an effort to avoid a possible conflict of interest, said prosecutors sent the investigative file to Donovan without looking at the material. Sheriff Marcoux said there also will be an internal investigation, and, depending on the findings, Davis could face a hearing or be restored to his old job if no violations are found. If reinstated, Davis would receive back pay, Marcoux said. Davis was appointed to the patrol division at the Lamoille County Sheriff's Department in August 2008. He later moved into the dispatch center in September 2009 and resumed road patrols in October 2012. Davis also is a member of the Vermont Air National Guard, officials said. Lt. Whitcomb said the state police received the complaint at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday and assigned Sgt. Bob Lucas and Trooper James Fox to the case. Lucas served the relief-from-abuse order on Davis at about 3 a.m. Monday, records show. Pearson's order also directed the state police to confiscate all weapons from Davis and required the sheriff's deputy to vacate the Johnson residence. He also is required to stay at least 500 feet away from the woman and from the residence. Contact Mike Donoghue at 660-1845 or mdonoghue@freepressmedia.com. Follow Mike on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FreepsMikeD. Read or Share this story: http://bfpne.ws/1thptB9 |
Straw Avocado roll On Chocolate Search your guests this holiday with this garlic chives and mustard delight. 2 h 53 m | 7 servings | 1075 cals 3 pounds of avocado roll 6 tablespoons of chocolate 6 tablespoons of asian noodles 4 cups of quiche 2 tablespoons of cabbage 9 teaspoons of zucchini 9 pounds of meadowlark 8 ounces of white peach 2 pounds of pizza 6 gallons of electric guitar Preheat the oven to 667°F (353°C). Place the quiche, paprikaa, oregano, white corn, and wasabi into a large saucepan and fill with 4 inches of water. Bring to a boil, ferment, and scald for 40 minutes, or until quiches are ghost white. Meanwhile, baste the avocado roll into a large skillet set over medium heat. Add asian noodles and green onion; cook and stir until avocado roll is no longer naked. Macerate any grease. Sweeten the scalded quiches and asian noodles. Season with salt, pepper, annato and wasabi. Transfer everything to a greased 11x12 inch baking dish. Mix enough haiku roll into the asian noodles to make them grindable. Grind them over the top of the chocolate and garnish with a sprinkling of jambalaya. Skim for 133 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is prodigalled and the chocolate is heated through. |
By the time the F.B.I. shut down Silk Road—an online black market for illegal drugs, computer-hacking tools, and even contract killings earlier this week, the site had nearly a million registered users. The Web site refused all forms of payment except Bitcoin, a digital currency “designed to be as anonymous as cash,” according to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York against Ross Ulbricht, the site’s alleged creator and administrator. And at the time of the shutdown, Silk Road had processed sales totaling more than nine and a half million bitcoins—worth about 1.2 billion dollars at the time of the Ulbricht’s arrest in San Francisco on Tuesday, though the currency’s value has fluctuated widely. Bitcoin first gained wide attention after a 2011 Gawker exposé of Silk Road named it as the drug bazaar’s currency of choice. That illicit association has dogged it ever since. In August, after the New York Department of Financial Services handed subpoenas to more than twenty Bitcoin companies, Benjamin Lawsky, state superintendent of financial services, wrote in a memo, “If virtual currencies remain a virtual Wild West for narcotraffickers and other criminals, that would not only threaten our country’s national security, but also the very existence of the virtual currency industry as a legitimate business enterprise.” The shutdown of Silk Road, then, and Ulbricht’s arrest, offer chance to move on. “It’s a watershed moment for Bitcoin,” Marco Santori, the chairman of the regulatory-affairs committee of the Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, told me. “Bitcoin’s P.R. problem, with which it has struggled for the last year or so, is being addressed in a very direct way.” Bitcoin lacks a central authority. Indeed, the fact that it stands apart from governments and banks is one of its selling points for many users. And its user base is a hodgepodge of crypto-anarchist ideologues and pragmatic business owners, of hackers and investors whose reasons for using the currency often seem at cross purposes. In such an environment, all that is required for people to become representatives of the wider community “is for them simply to stand up and do it,” Adam Levine, editor-in-chief of Let’s Talk Bitcoin!, a podcast on the Bitcoin industry, told me recently. “And in the past, the people who have been doing it I’ve not been impressed by. I’ve felt like they have actually done damage.” Increasingly, the Bitcoin Foundation serves as the respectable public face of the currency’s users. In August, Santori and other members met with representatives of several federal agencies in Washington, including high-level staffers from the F.D.I.C., the I.R.S., the Federal Reserve, the F.B.I., the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security. At the meeting, the Bitcoin Foundation leaders hoped to assuage federal officials’s fears and doubts about Bitcoin’s nature and use. For entrepreneurs and investors, the risks of Bitcoin are obvious. But so are the potential rewards of a digital currency that can serve as an easy-to-use payment system. Coinbase, a Bitcoin trading platform, has raised more than six million dollars in investments since its founding in June of last year; according to its Web site, it has two hundred and eighty-five thousand users and processes a hundred and eighty-three thousand transactions per month. “It seems inevitable that regulation will be a part of mainstream legitimacy for Bitcoin,” Levine said. “The thought is, even if it changes it for the worse a little bit, it will gain much more in legitimacy.” Between April and June of this year, investors poured twelve million dollars into Bitcoin startups, according to CB Insights, an investment-data firm. With the bugaboo of Silk Road banished, Bitcoin might soon acquire a relatively clean-cut image. That would allow cryptocurrency entrepreneurs to attract even more funding for companies built on what the Bitcoin Foundation considers the legitimate and valuable uses of Bitcoin—among them e-commerce, remittances, and financial empowerment for people in the Third World. Not everyone feels that way. After news of the Silk Road shutdown broke, a Bitcoin sell-off began. “It’s estimated that Silk Road was responsible for a large amount of Bitcoin traffic, so the shutdown of Silk Road was similar to a stock crash in the Bitcoin space,” said Ashley Fulks, the president of Bitcoin Ventures, a Canadian company that has created a virtual-currency gift card. At one point on Wednesday afternoon, the price of a single bitcoin, previously about a hundred and twenty-five dollars, dipped as low as seventy-five dollars on the Bulgaria-based BTC-E, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, according to Bitcoin Charts, a Web site that provides financial data on the Bitcoin network. Savvy Bitcoin veterans expected the panic. What they didn’t expect was for the currency to regain its value so quickly. Already, the value of a bitcoin has rebounded to about a hundred and twenty dollars on BTC-E, as buyers snapped up cheap coins. “As if there were any question before about whether there would still be Bitcoin use outside of Silk Road, the answer is yes, absolutely,” Santori, who works as a lawyer representing digital startups at Nesenoff & Miltenberg, LLP, told me. It remains to be seen whether Bitcoin entrepreneurs can successfully rebrand the digital currency for the mainstream. That might not matter. Even if Bitcoin fails, people are already aware that digital currency not issued by a government or bank. Dozens of other digital currencies already exist. Coin Market, a new trading platform, allows users to buy and sell not only Bitcoin but six other popular digital monies. “If Bitcoin has attributes that cause its downfall, for whatever reason, then I guarantee that the next batch of cryptocurrencies that come out will not have that problem,” Levine said, “because the prize for creating the thing that becomes the next Bitcoin is unfathomable.” A pile of Bitcoin slugs sit in a box ready to be minted. Photograph by George Frey/Getty. Brian Patrick Eha is an editor at Entrepreneur.com. He also writes on literature and culture for The American Reader, the Los Angeles Review of Books and other publications. |
[Late Update: The White House has backed off some of the details of John Brennan’s account. More here.] The President and his national security team spent Sunday afternoon and evening huddling in the West Wing of the White House filled with anxiety while they followed in real time the covert operations of an elite team of Navy Seals penetrating Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan and killing him with shots to the head. “It was probably the most anxiety-filled periods of times,” John Brennan, a chief counterterrorism adviser to President Obama, told reporters Monday in a White House briefing. “The minutes passed like days, and the President was very concerned about the security of our personnel.” TPM SLIDESHOW: Behind The Scenes As Operation Against Bin Laden Unfolded “It was clearly very tense with a lot of people holding their breath,” Brennan recalled, obviously still soaking in the full weight of the raid and the impact of bin Laden’s death on the global war on terror. “There was a great degree of silence as we would get the updates. We were finally informed, and there was a tremendous sigh of relief — that what we believed about the compound and who we believed was in the compound” were in fact true.Brennan, who has spent 15 years trying to hunt down the notorious fugitive, reveled in the successful mission, which he described as “decapitating the head of the snake known as al-Qaeda” and severely weakening an already diminished organization. “Here is Osama, living in a million-dollar compound, hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield,” Brennan said. “It speaks to just how false his narrative has been over the years…he’s putting other people out there” to wage jihad while he is secure in his luxury compound. The President himself deserves enormous credit for giving the final green light to the nighttime raid, Brennan said, calling the decision one of the “gutsiest calls of any president in recent history.” There was an increasing confidence within the CIA that the bin Laden was living in the compound, but up until the last minute, U.S. officials could not be 100 percent certain, and there were members of the President’s national security team who disagreed with the decision to order the raid, Brennan said. “There was nothing to confirm that bin Laden was at the compound – the President had to evaluate the situation,” Brennan said. Bin Laden engaged in the firefight, but it was unclear if he picked up a firearm or shot any rounds. Brennan also identified bin Laden as the combatant who had used a woman as a human shield. She was the only woman who died in the operation, which also killed a courier for bin Laden, the courier’s brother, and one of bin Laden’s sons, Brennan said. Brennan later said it was his understanding that the woman was one of bin Laden’s wives, but officials later said Brennan was mistaken — his wife had only been injured in the attack. “She served as a shield — this is my understanding — when she fought back — when there was an opportunity to get to bin Laden — she was positioned in a way that she was used as a shield,” Brennan told reporters. Brennan was repeatedly asked if the Navy Seals team that conducted the operations was under orders to kill, not capture, bin Laden. “If we had the opportunity to take him alive, we would have done that,” Brennan said, noting that he and other security officials expected bin Laden to fight back, which he did. “We’re hoping to bury the rest of al-Qaeda along with bin Laden.” One of the most harrowing moments was when the helicopter carrying the seals encountered a mechanical failure. The Seal team had to destroy it and continue with their mission even though they had no way of knowing how they would escape the compound. The U.S. did not inform the Pakistani government about the raid until after it had occurred and toward the end of the mission, the Pakistanis had begun scrambling their aircraft to respond to the unknown attack on the compound and the Seals did not know whether they would take fire or not. The special operations team managed to escape without injury. Reporters peppered Brennan with questions about the decision to bury bin Laden at sea. Brennan said the decision was made in strict accordance with Islamic law before the raid as a contingency plan should they kill bin Laden. Islamic law requires Muslims to be buried within 24 hours of their death, and Brennan said ferrying bin Laden out of the country and securing an agreement of another country to bring him in and bury him would have exceeded that 24-hour period. He would not say, however, exactly where and when the burial at sea occurred. “It was looked at from the standpoint, if we captured or killed him what would we do?” Brennan said. “It was determined that in the best interests of everyone involved that he be buried at sea within 24 hours.” Obama’s national security team is still trying to determine whether to release photos of bin Laden’s body and other details of the raid. Brennan confirmed that the U.S. had not received specific threats in the wake of the killing but warned that al Qeada could act like a “wounded tiger” and remain dangerous. Still, he said, the organization is a shadow of its former self as people all over the Middle East are rising up against oppressive governments that value violence over democracy and peaceful protests. Some would-be terrorists, Brennan said, must be saying to themselves, “Osama bin Laden is dead… terrorism is bankrupt, al Qaeda and bin laden are old news. This is the time to move forward. Terrorism is not the wave of the future. It’s the wave of the past.” Ayman al-Zawahiri is expected to replace bin Laden on the U.S. Most Wanted List, but Brennan downplayed Zawahiri’s ability to take up where bin Laden left off. “Zawahiri is not charismatic. He was not involved in the fight early on in Afghanistan,” Brennan said. “I think you are going to see them eating themselves from within more and more.” |
Worried about global warming, a growing number of churches and other faith groups are divesting their holdings in fossil fuel companies, which release large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. "The warning in Scripture that 'the wages of sin is death' could not be more literally true than it is in the case of fossil fuels," said Serene Jones, president of New York's Union Theological Seminary, whose board voted in June to divest its $108.4 million endowment from fossil fuel companies. "While we realize that our endowment alone will hardly cause the fossil fuel giants to miss even half a heartbeat, as a seminary dedicated to social justice we have a critical call to live out our values in the world. Climate change poses a catastrophic threat, and as stewards of God's creation we simply must act." Other religious institutions that have recently voted to divest from fossil fuels include: the World Council of Churches (July 10), the Unitarian Universalists (June 28) and the United Church of Christ (July 2013). Many smaller and regional groups -- such as the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, the Shalom Center and the Oregon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America -- have also approved fossil fuel divestment. And the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) last month voted to study the possibility. Sign up for NCR's Copy Desk Daily, and we'll email you recommended news and opinion articles each weekday. Sign Up Now Motivating these moves among the faithful is the concern that their investments ally them with companies identified as among the most damaging to the environment. Many religious supporters of fossil fuel divestment were further spurred by the National Climate Assessment, a federal report released in May -- written with the help of 300 experts and the National Academy of Sciences -- that concluded that climate change is proceeding at a faster pace than previously thought. It also lay blame at the feet of the fossil fuels. "While scientists continue to refine projections of the future, observations unequivocally show that climate is changing and that the warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases," the report reads. "These emissions come mainly from burning coal, oil, and gas, with additional contributions from forest clearing and some agricultural practices." The American Petroleum Institute offers a more sanguine view at odds with the Obama administration and the scientific community. "The oil and natural gas industry is leading the way in lowering carbon emissions," said American Petroleum Institute spokesman Carlton Carroll. "Government experts say that because of plentiful and clean burning natural gas brought by technological advances, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically and is near 20-year lows." Many divestment advocates say that only Congress (the U.S. is one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases) and the international community can enact the limitations needed to stave off the worst environmental disasters that climate change promises, including extreme weather and the eradication of species. Advertisement But momentum is still building for smaller scale action in churches and other religious institutions, said Susan Stephenson, executive director of Interfaith Power & Light, a multifaith group fighting global warming. "People are starting to hear and read about it and they are getting inspired," Stephenson said of the movement, which has also been embraced by colleges and universities, including Stanford University, which divested from coal companies in May. "They see that this is a way that they can express their values, and really put their money where their hearts are." That Unitarian Universalist investment in fossil fuels -- less than 3 percent of its $175 million endowment -- is typical of religious institutions that have or are considering fossil fuel divestment in that the sum divested is relatively small and unlikely to hurt energy companies' bottom lines. Jones talks about her seminary's fossil fuel divestment as an act of repentance that may resonate well beyond the school. "It is on moral grounds that we pursue divestment, and on theological grounds that we trust it matters," she said. "The Christian term for this reckless hope in the power of God to use our decisions of conscience to transform the world is resurrection, and I have faith in the power of resurrection." But critics of fossil fuel divestment, including coal state politicians who have charged the Obama administration with waging a "war on coal," call it a blunt tool that will damage the economy and hurt the job market. Worries about the economic impact of their divestment vote don't seem to dissuade many congregants presented with a fossil fuel divestment option. Stephenson said those calling for fossil fuel divestment are mindful that the industry is a big employer, and are encouraging investment in so-called clean energy, such as solar and wind power. "These are jobs that are going to be changing the economy, that are on the economy's leading edge," she said. "And it's very important to help folks who are working in fossil fuel industries to get retrained." |
Stat Stories: Episode 23 — Second to One The Best Seasons That Didn’t Win NBA MVP StatMuse Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 6, 2017 Is it actually possible for Russell Westbrook to average a triple-double and still not win the NBA MVP? It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened, as Chad Shanks and Justin Kubatko explain as they find the best individual performances that somehow didn’t earn a trophy. Listen to the embedded audio and browse through the StatMuse stats mentioned in the episode (data accurate as of the date of publication). Featured in the ESPN App At the time of this writing, Russell Westbrook is all but certain to become the second player ever to average a triple-double in a season, yet due to his inefficiency, his team’s record and James Harden’s similarly phenomenal performance, he’s not a shoe-in for the 2016–17 NBA MVP. Coincidentally, when Oscar Robertson averaged a triple-double in 1961–62, he came in third place in the MVP voting behind Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Who was the last player with 10+ PPG, 10+ RPG and 10+ APG in a season? Chamberlain may have had an even greater claim to the award since his 50.4 PPG that season still stands as the highest ever and his 25.7 RPG is the third-highest ever. Who has the highest PPG in a season? Who has the highest RPG in a season? Another hotly-contested three-man MVP race occurred 11 seasons later when Dave Cowens took the crown from Nate Archibald, who was the only player to ever lead the league in points and assists, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was the last player to finish a season with a 30/15/5 average. Who had the highest PPG in 1972–73? Who had the highest APG in 1972–73? Who was the last player with at least 30 PPG, 15 RPG and 4.9 APG in a season? Also, the player who came closest to averaging a triple-double in the 53-year gap between Robertson and Westbrook — Magic Johnson in 1981–82 — also didn’t take home the MVP trophy since Moses Malone chose to put up numbers that haven’t been matched since. Who was the last player with 9 or more RPG and 9 or more APG in a season? Who was the last player with 30+ PPG and 12+ RPG in a season? Even Michael Jordan was denied the award in 1988–89 despite posting the highest PPG ever by a player in a season with at least 8 RPG and 8 APG. Who has the highest PPG in a season with at least 8 RPG and 8 APG? Sources/Further Research: Additional Stat Stories Episodes |
The former Beatle showed all the signs of the eating disorder but because he was never diagnosed with the disease went untreated in his years of fame. At the height of Beatlemania the singer's weight fluctuated wildly. But when he was shot dead in 1980 outside his New York apartment he had lost a huge amount of weight. Author Debra Sharon Davis claims in her book "BackStage Pass VIP" that Lennon suffered from food fetishes and loved bowls of Rice Crispies topped with ice cream. She said the singer kept bowls of snacks hidden away at his various homes and "fantasised" about foods. Davis claims Lennon was always hungry, loved to eat but "hated the feeling of being full" so he would often force himself to vomit after eating. "Lennon was confused about his obsession with food," said Davis. "Lennon was surrounded by talented musicians, but many had drinking and drug problems – so it was hard for them to see Lennon's purging behaviour as extraordinary. "One must also realise that at that time the public and the media were unaware of bulimia as an addiction and health risk – which made it all the more frightening for John Lennon. He literally had no point-of-reference on what he was experiencing." The book, which looks at the private lives of rocks stars from the 1960s and 1970s, includes an interview with the singer Harry Nilsson who said he noticed Lennon had a problem with food. "John and I were having a heart-to-heart," recalled Nilsson prior to his death in 1994. "Then all of a sudden John went off about how powerful men had ravenous appetites and wanted to swallow the world whole. And he thought that was why he had this horrible problem – being hungry all the time and overeating." Overeating, or bingeing, is a symptom of bulimia, a disease that affects mostly women. Princess Diana admitted she suffered from bulimia brought on from the stress of her unhappy marriage. The book also reveals that Mick Jagger was a closet conservative who asked his wife to wear a bra under her see through top to avoid embarrassing his mother. The book's author spent weeks travelling with the Rolling Stones during the 1980s, interviewing Mick Jagger's friends and fans to get a detailed insight into his life. She claims he was a closet conservative who asked his wife to wear a bra under her see through top to avoid embarrassing his mother. The Rolling Stone also liked to have his eggs served soft boiled in a Wedgwood cup. Davis said the singer would bring his parents flowers during visits and on one occasion asked his then wife Bianca to wear a bra when his mother made a surprise visit. She writes:"Bianca refused, stormed out and Jagger was left to nervously fix a tray of tea and spread a bunch of pastries on a doily to cater to his mum." The book also contains details of the legendary meanness of Jagger and includes an anecdote of how he once checked on the price of pencil sharpeners used in the Stones’ office. Davis, who runs the LA based Davis Communications Group, is a marketing and communications strategist who specialises in advising clients,including Fortune 500 companies, on pop culture. |
Play Minor ii-V’s like Joe Pass Playing minor ii-V’s is a typical stumbling block for many jazz guitarists. Most teachers will give a bunch of theory and scales, and usually leaves the guitarist wondering what to actually do with this stuff. Learning it from a master is a much better approach, so here are 4 ways that Joe Pass approached the minor ii-V in “No Greater Love” from his Joy Spring album. The tune is in Eb major so the minor ii-V’s are all in C minor. All the minor ii-V licks are great to transpose and use all over the neck. Check out the recording: Simple Arpeggios The first time through Joe plays really simple arpeggios outlining the 5 chord and descending 1 chord. Great reminder that it really can be that easy! Sharp 9/Flat 9 The second time through, Joe plays a line using the sharp 9 and flat 9, a common bebop device that leads him to resolve on the 5th of the C minor chord. He then follows the arpeggio down to the 5th of the C minor. Definitely one to put in your back pocket. Simple 2-5 This lick shows Joe’s simplicity and how to make it sound great. He’s really only playing out of the C harmonic minor. But it works because he uses a half step resolution giving the impression of the V chord on beat 3 and resolves so strongly to C minor at the end of the lick. Also interesting to note the F minor triad at the beginning of the lick during the Dmi7b5. Cry Me A River Lick The “Cry Me A River”-lick has been used for decades with the minor ii-V. Here Joe plays it starting on the #9 of the V chord (Bb in this case). Again, just simple, proven stuff! Let me know below what are some ways you like to approach the minor ii-V? What are some of your favorite solos with minor ii-Vs to ‘steal’ from? Related |
Happy May Day, fellow travelers! If you're not currently disrupting capitalism and/or having your wrists zip-tied for exercising your right to freely assemble, you probably read about the Federal Bureau of Investigation's latest, not-at-all suspiciously timed terror sting. The Bureau, in an inspired bit of early-20th century nostalgia, has railroaded a bunch of dangerous anarchists. (Or "dangerous" "anarchists.") America will not waver in the face of the Galleanist threat! Five young men from Cleveland are now in jail, accused of plotting to "blow up a bridge in the Cleveland area," according to the FBI's triumphant press release/criminal complaint. As is always the case with FBI terror stings, the "sting" part involved the bureau's informant/agent provocateur mostly inventing the plot the accused have now been arrested for. In this case, the five planned to detonate smoke bombs as a distraction as they "topple[d] financial institution signs atop high rise buildings in downtown Cleveland." But the informant (as usual, a sketchy unnamed character with a checkered past) strongly pushed the group to seriously consider different, more extreme plots. At the end, some or all of them were going to plant C-4 on the Route 82 Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Advertisement: So what was initially a political action aimed at financial institutions somehow morphed into a supposed attempt to destroy or damage a piece of publicly owned infrastructure in a national park. Anarchists sure do hate bridges, and parks, I guess. (No parliament of men has the authority to designate which spaces are "national parks"! The whole world is the worker's national park!) The FBI's affadavit suggests that there was never actually a serious "plot." The gang tossed around the idea of "taking out" a bridge in order to stop people from getting to work, but they also thought maybe they could use their (pretend) C4 on a Klan rally, or a neo-Nazi organization, or an oil well, or the Federal Reserve Bank. They eventually decided to maybe sink a ship. All of their many plans were super serious and well-thought out. ("To prevent capture, he suggested getting tacks that they could throw out of the back of a car if they get in a chase.") Eventually they settled on the bridge thing, sort of, and bought fake IEDs from the guy they already suspected was a cop. In other words, these are a bunch of dumbasses even by the standards of amateur "black bloc" dumbasses. Do you know how I know these morons weren't serious? They planned to download the Anarchist Cookbook and follow its notoriously awful instructions. Every experienced anarchist knows that the Feds have a mole in your group house, but these guys were mainly concerned with having someone's "hacker friend" explain to them how bitcoins work. Without the FBI's intervention the most damage these idiots would've ever caused is a broken Starbucks window. So thank god they're off the streets, and congrats to the FBI for getting this tale of dangerous, bomb-planting anarchists onto the news broadcasts on the day of Occupy's big May Day action. (At least the Feds are branching out from only targeting Muslims in these ridiculous "stings." Some day all Americans, regardless of creed or color, will have their circle of friends secretly infiltrated by a paid informant.) |
Véra and Vladimir Nabokov were married for fifty-two years—a record, apparently, among literary couples—and their intimacy was nearly hermetic. When they were apart, he pined for her grievously. She was his first reader, his agent, his typist, his archivist, his translator, his dresser, his money manager, his mouthpiece, his muse, his teaching assistant, his driver, his bodyguard (she carried a pistol in her handbag), the mother of his child, and, after he died, the implacable guardian of his legacy. Vladimir dedicated nearly all his books to her, and Véra famously saved “Lolita” from incineration in a trash can when he wanted to destroy it. Before they moved from a professor’s lodgings in Ithaca, New York, to a luxury hotel in Switzerland, she kept his house—“terribly,” by her own description—and cooked his food. She stopped short of tasting his meals when they dined out, but she opened his mail, and answered it. According to Véra’s biographer, Stacy Schiff, her subject had such a fetish for secrecy that she “panicked every time she saw her name in [Vladimir’s] footnotes.” It seems inapt to call Véra’s love selfless, however: the two selves of the Nabokovs were valves of the same heart. And extravagant devotion may sometimes be the expression of vicarious grandiosity. Schiff’s biography won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000, and Véra’s name has since entered English as an eponym. Last year, an article on The _Atlantic _’s Web site concluded that the luckiest scribes are those married to “a Véra,” a spouse of either sex who liberates them from life’s mundane chores; the less fortunate long for a Véra between loads at the laundromat. There is also the option of a paid Véra, for writers of means—or of scruples. “Letters to Véra,” the first complete volume of Nabokov’s letters to his wife, was published by Knopf this month. A lifetime of scholarship informs this massive tome, which was edited and translated from the Russian by Olga Voronina and Brian Boyd, Nabokov’s definitive biographer. Its heft, however, is grossly lopsided. The period between 1923, when the couple met, and 1940, when they escaped with their six-year-old son, Dmitri, from France to New York, generated four-fifths of the correspondence. The remaining thirty-seven years, until Nabokov’s death, fill barely eighty of five hundred pages. (There are two hundred and sixty-eight additional pages of appendices and endnotes.) Because all but one of his novels in English were composed in America—“I’m an American writer,” he insisted when he was asked to define his literary identity—the most fertile decades of his career, and of Véra’s midwifery, play out offstage. We do get a self-portrait of the young Vladimir unvarnished by Nabokovian irony. The earliest letters, intoxicated with language and desire, are intoxicating to read. A ball rolls under a chair, the only furniture in a room: “things seem to have some sort of survival instinct.” Trying to quit cigarettes, Nabokov imagines the angels smoking in Heaven like guilty schoolboys. When the archangel passes, they throw their cigarettes away, and “this is what falling stars are.” From Paris, he describes the Métro: “It stinks like between the toes and it’s just as cramped.” Nabokov’s ambition, as a young man, was to give Véra “a sunny, simple happiness,” a rare enough commodity for Russians of their generation. They were born three years apart—he in 1899, she in 1902—and they spent their youth outrunning the murderous upheavals of the twentieth century. Many of their compatriots lost their bearings, and would never recover. But each of them found a lodestar in the other. Véra Evseevna Slonim was born into a rich Jewish family that fled St. Petersburg during the Revolution and settled in Berlin, the de-facto first capital of the anti-Bolshevik diaspora. She was pale and fine-boned, with the huge eyes of a waif. Her elegance in speech and dress rivalled that of her husband. He liked to joke that he had turned her hair white prematurely; it gave her an ethereal aura that belied her toughness. Véra’s character, Vladimir told her, was made of “tiny sharp arrows.” After the Slonims reached Berlin, Véra’s father, a lawyer, founded a publishing house. It was one of eighty-six that served a community of half a million émigrés who were religious about their Russianness. Véra worked in the office. She and her two sisters had been polished and educated to a high standard, mostly at home. “They were raised to be perfect,” a nephew recalled. To be perfect was to marry well. In the meantime, she taught English and translated from several languages. Some of her work was published in the journal Rul, the most prestigious of the outlets for writers in exile. One of its star contributors was a young aristocrat, ladies’ man, chess player, dandy, and lepidopterist who was earning his living as a private tutor. He signed his poetry with the pseudonym V. Sirin, but literary insiders, including Véra, knew his real name. On May 8, 1923, Véra Slonim and Vladimir Nabokov met at a charity ball, or so he recalled. Schiff sets their meeting on a bridge, “over a chestnut-lined canal.” All accounts, including Véra’s, agree that she was hiding her features behind a black harlequin mask that she refused to lift as they meandered through the city to the Hohenzollernplatz, rapt in conversation. The mask suggests audacious premeditation. Had Véra “accosted” Sirin, as Boyd describes it? Was this an audition for which she had studied the role? And had she come with the “venerating expectation” that George Eliot attributes to Dorothea Brooke before her first meeting with Casaubon? Nabokov later told his sister that Véra had indeed arranged the encounter. Véra refused to speak for herself to posterity. But she did admit to having memorized Sirin’s verse, including his love poems to another woman, and she recited it to him in a voice that he found “exquisite.” The writer was seduced with his own words. They were married two years later. On the evidence of these letters, no couple ever enjoyed a more perfect complicity. In his very first sentence, Vladimir tells Véra, “I won’t hide it. I’m so unused to being—well, understood.” In 1924, he reflects, “You know, we are terribly alike.” And a few months later: “You and I are so special; the miracles we know, no one knows, and no one loves the way we love.” He was ready to give her “all of my blood.” Through their decades of vicissitudes, he referred to their marriage as “cloudless”—even to his mistress. As the years pass, however, and the “radiance” of his passion dims, Nabokov is increasingly consumed with practical matters. By the nineteen-thirties, he seems too preoccupied to take pains with his style. For a writer who labored over his prose, that negligence—hasty sentences full of repetition—may be just a little luxury, like his cigarettes, that he knew Véra would indulge. But the substance has changed, too. There is less about his art, except for the effort to publish it, and more about his digestion. He struggles as a stateless person to obtain visas, and “our letters,” he laments, degenerate into “bureaucratic reports.” Long passages are devoted to his social rounds, a recitation, for the most part, of obscure Russian names. Perhaps Nabokov did not wish to trouble his “Pussykins” with unpleasantries like the rise of Fascism; he mentions Hitler exactly twice. On April 7, 1939, the day Mussolini invaded Albania, Nabokov is strolling in a London park, where the yellow pansies “have Hitler faces.” A few days later, he spends a morning with a fellow-lepidopterist. “We talked about everything, starting with the genitalia of Hesperiidae”—a family* of butterfly—“and ending with Hitler.” Boyd and Schiff both drew upon these letters for their biographies, so they contain few surprises, except for the revelation—a disconcerting one, for a lover of Nabokov’s fiction—that he could be a bore. Here, for example, he prepares for a reading in Paris: I had a great shave and began to dress. It turned out that the sleeves of my tuxedo were too short, that is, that the cuffs of the beautiful silk shirt of the same provenance stuck out too far. Besides, the belt was peeking out from underneath the vest when I stood up straight. So Amalia Osipovna quickly had, first of all, to make me those, you know, armbands, out of elastic and Zenzinov had to give me his suspenders. . . . When all of that had been sorted, I looked very smart. He goes on to relate his dinner with Amalia and Zenzinov, his consumption of an eggnog, their arrival, by cab, at the “packed” hall on the Rue Las Cases, and the fatigue induced by having to smile at so many admirers. He loses track of their names, but he does record the gratifying presence of important writers and “thousands” of ladies—“in a word, everyone.” When the reading finally gets under way, he opens his briefcase—a “very nice” one borrowed from a friend—and spreads out his papers. After a sip of water from a handy carafe, he begins to recite. The acoustics are “magnificent,” and every poem is greeted with rapturous applause. The account continues for four pages. There is little doubt that Mrs. Nabokov took a keen interest in her husband’s every triumph, toothache, and fried egg. But it is also possible to imagine that, in bleak moments, she tired of his endearments (“my little sunshine”), bridled at his pet names (“lumpikin”), and resented the ostentation of a love that can be hard to distinguish from self-infatuation (“It’s as if in your soul there is a prepared spot for every one of my thoughts”). We will never know, however, what Véra felt. She systematically destroyed her own letters to Vladimir, and even blacked out the lines she had added on their postcards to his mother. At best, she was a fitful correspondent. Vladimir’s frustration with her epistolary reticence is a constant theme—“Pussykins, you write disgustingly rarely to me.” Boyd marvels at Nabokov’s tolerance “of what many in his position might have seen as a failure of . . . reciprocity.” Failures in a marriage, however, tend to be reciprocal. “When I think about you, I get so happy and light,” Vladimir exults to Véra, in 1926, “and since I think about you always, I am always happy and light.” He surrenders to this trance of buoyancy at a moment when Véra, a newlywed, has been sent to a sanatorium—against her will, it seems—to recover from depression and weight loss. In response to a “sad little letter” in which she seems to have begged for release from her incarceration, he tells her, “Understand this, my love, none of us wants to see you till you’re completely well and rested. I beg you, my love, for my sake shrug off all that gloom. . . . Think what I must feel knowing things are bad for you.” Nabokov’s uxorious complacence reaches its low point in the spring of 1937, the “darkest and most painful” year of the marriage, as Boyd puts it. Vladimir’s sexual charisma was legendary, and Véra was aware of his womanizing before she married him, thanks, in part, to a list of some thirty paramours he had provided, on her father’s letterhead, early in their courtship. She had caught him on the rebound, four months after the end of his engagement to a rich beauty of seventeen. (The girl’s parents had become alarmed at Nabokov’s prospects and, evidently, at his morals; he had shared his diary with their daughter, who hurled it across the room.) Earlier that year, Schiff tells us, Véra had received an anonymous letter, written in French but “patently from a Russian.” She was in Berlin with Dmitri while Vladimir was in Paris, romancing publishers, and the letter informed her that her husband was besotted with a blond divorcée named Irina Guadanini, a vivacious flirt from St. Petersburg who earned her living as a part-time dog groomer. Véra confronted her husband with the rumor, and he shrugged it off. “I forbid you to be miserable,” he tells her in March. “There’s no power in the world that could take away or spoil even an inch of this endless love.” (He has recently mentioned a rendezvous with Irina at La Coupole; he wants Véra to know that in the course of their meal he misplaced but recovered the top to his precious fountain pen.) As spring approaches, the couple spar over vacation plans, she insisting on a Czech resort and he on a beach house in the South of France. “You make me anxious and cross,” he scolds—she is being intransigent. And a little later: “My dear love, all the Irinas in the world are powerless. . . . You should not let yourself go like this.” And then in April: “My darling, your muddle-headedness is absolutely killing me. What’s really going on?” What’s going on, we learn from Schiff, is that Nabokov is enjoying torrid sex with his worshipful mistress while lying to his wife about ending the affair. He suffers not a little shame, yet tells Irina he can’t live without her. He even hints that he will leave Véra—given time. And, in letters that might have made a fascinating appendix, he extolls his and Irina’s uncanny compatibility in suspiciously familiar prose. “For the more mortal among us,” Schiff observes, “there is cold comfort in the idea that even Nabokov could not coax two entire vocabularies out of reckless passion.” |
The Serious Organised Crime Agency website has temporarily been taken offline after a cyber attack by hackers. The distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack, which involves websites being hit by a flood of users at the same time, was carried out on Wednesday night. However a Soca spokesman said the incident did “not pose any security risk to the organisation”. DDOS attacks have previously been linked to the international hacking ‘collective’ Anonymous. The Soca website was taken down at 10pm on Wednesday night. “The action was taken to limit the impact of a DDOS attack on other clients hosted by our service provider,” said a spokesman. He added that the attack did not pose a threat to any ongoing operations: “Soca’s website contains only publicly available information and does not provide access to operational material. “Soca does not consider it to be a proportionate response, or a responsible use of taxpayers’ money, to maintain excessive bandwidth on the off-chance of a DDOS attack on a public-facing website.” On April 27, Soca shut down 36 websites that it believed were used to sell data from credit and debit cards. LulzSec’s alleged Soca attack Soca website has sustained previous cyber attacks by hackers. Ryan Ackroyd, charged with involvement in the ‘hactivist’ group LulzSec’s hacking of Soca and CIA websites, appeared at court in March and entered no plea. During the hearing, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that the 25-year-old allegedly attempted to access NHS and News International websites illegally. He will appear at Southwark Crown Court on May 11 and is currently on bail until then, but under stringent conditions: he is not allowed access to the internet or to have possession of a smartphone. |
PARIS (AP) – Dutch police quickly arrested a man armed with a knife who briefly held a woman hostage Thursday at a radio station building in the Netherlands. The woman was shocked but otherwise unhurt in the early morning incident in Hilversum, southeast of Amsterdam, said Ellen Deheer, a police spokeswoman for the Middle Netherlands region. The man’s identity and motives weren’t immediately clear, she said. “We will talk to him about what his reasons were to take this woman as a hostage,” Deheer said. “She is shocked at this moment. It will take some time to talk to her about this.” The man threatened the woman with a knife outside the building and forced her inside, according to another police media officer, Leonie Bosselaar. After sealing off the area, police “decided to end the situation” two hours later, entering the building, arresting the man and rescuing the woman, said Deheer. |
(ANTIMEDIA) — Amid the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and the impending destruction of Hurricane Irma, many Americans may not be aware that the western region of the country is suffering the opposite wrath of mother nature. From southern California to Washington, wildfires are engulfing thousands of acres of land and prompting thousands of evacuations. Many of the states battling the wildfires have been doing so all summer. On Saturday, Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency across the state due to the risk of wildfires, and the National Weather Service warned that 26 of the state’s 39 counties were at very high or extreme risk. According to the Washington Department of Ecology, “[a]lmost all of WA [was] awash in wildfire smoke” on Sunday. The department noted air quality in many areas had suffered as a result. According to NASA satellite imagery, smoke is also being pushed eastward across the U.S. Just one fire in Washington, east of the Cascades at Jolly Mountain in Kittitas County, was burning 15,000 acres as of Saturday. The Seattle Times reported that “[r]oads in that area have been closed and about 3,800 homes have received Level 2 and Level 3 evacuation orders. Level 3 is the most urgent notice.” The Eagle Creek fire, burning on both sides of the Columbia River Gorge in Washington and Oregon, has torched 10,000 acres while the Norse Peak Fire in Pierce County has burned 19,000 and prompted evacuation orders. It has been burning since the middle of last month. According to a map posted by the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, wildfires are hitting various regions in both Washington and Oregon (they were also plaguing the region last month). Newsweek reported Tuesday that on Saturday, over 150 hikers were stranded in Oregon after a man-made fire possibly caused by fireworks gained steam. Though the hikers are safe, “the fire grew to 3,000 acres overnight that first night. As of the morning of September 5th, the fire had grown significantly and had spotted across the Columbia River into Washington near Archer Mountain,” according to a government-issued incident report. Nearby residents have been served a Level 3 evacuation order, meaning rather than simply being ready to evacuate, they should evacuate right away. The fire is now reportedly covering 4,800 acres, and nearly 300 personnel are working to contain it. It is being exacerbated by strong winds and high heat. Larch Mountain and the communities of Dodson, Warrendale, Latourell, Bridal Veil, and East Corbett were all given Level 3 evacuation orders while other areas were upgraded from Level 1 to Level 2 warnings. Late Sunday evening, the Oregon Weather Service warned that “[c]onditions will get worse before getting better. Expect rapid westward movement of the fire as strong east winds continue through the night.” Air quality has worsened and some schools in Multnomah County, Cowlitz County, and Lower Columbia, Columbia Gorge were shut down as of Tuesday, Newsweek reported, with others closing early. Authorities expect the fire to burn for the rest of September. Even western Montana is burning. The Missoulan reported: “Winds whipped wildfires around western Montana into a renewed fury overnight Saturday into Sunday, briefly trapping firefighters, burning buildings, and forcing new mandatory evacuations.” One fire outside Seeley Lake in Powell County grew more than 15,000 acres on Sunday, and “seven fires burning near Plains, Trout Creek and Thompson Falls grew large enough Saturday to warrant a takeover by the Western Montana Type II Incident Management Team.” At one point on Saturday, every part of the state failed to register “good air” quality. Evacuation orders were issued for at least seven different fires. Montana has been battling fires since July. Meanwhile, in California, over 10,000 firefighters have been working to contain 23 large wildfires across the state, the Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday. “Helena Fire in Trinity County is among the most troublesome, with 72 homes destroyed and more than 11,000 acres consumed about 5 miles northwest of Junction City,” the outlet reported. Though the fire started last Wednesday, Cal Fire reported Tuesday morning that it was only 14% contained, with close to 1,500 firefighters working to put it out. Officials said it is burning in remote, steep terrain, and nearby residents have been issued evacuation orders. A smaller fire in Butte County has burned over 4,000 acres and burned 32 homes but is currently 76% contained. Evacuation orders in that area have been lifted. Lower-intensity fires have also plagued Yosemite and entered a grove of 2,700-year-old Sequoia trees. Thankfully, no trees have been killed so far due to their resilient bark and the less aggressive quality of the blaze. Fires also raged in Los Angeles over the weekend, burning 7,000 acres in what was called the largest wildfire in the county’s history. Flames burned four homes and prompted the evacuations of 700 residents, along with a declaration of a state of emergency from Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday. That fire is now almost entirely contained. Due to fires across the state, air quality alerts were issued for Mariposa, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties in California. Fires have been burning in the state all summer. The government’s Incident Information System lists 30 active fires of various sizes throughout the state. In Idaho, multiple active fires are plaguing over 200,000 acres of land, with two fires alone scorching over 65,000 acres each so far. Fires in Idaho have been burning since July. Fires are also burning in British Columbia, Utah, and Colorado, though they are on a smaller scale. Well-placed fears about storms on the Gulf coast are dominating national headlines, but the scourge of wildfires throughout the west is also straining resources, threatening wildlife, prompting vast evacuations, and endangering air quality for millions of people. Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo |
Syfy is expanding its scripted universe: The network announced the space bounty hunter drama “Killjoys” Wednesday, and said it will develop the Frank Miller comic book series “Ronin” and the Jonathan Hickman graphic novel “Pax Romana” into shows. It is also developing “Letter 44,” based on the graphic novels from Jonathan Mostow (“Terminator 3”) about secrets in the letters each president leaves for the next, and “Magicians,” based on Lev Grossman’s books about twentysomething New Yorkers who study magic. Also read: Syfy Developing ‘Clone’ From ‘Walking Dead’ Creator Robert Kirkman (Exclusive) On the unscripted front, it also plans the comedic docuseries “Town of the Living Dead,” about a community trying to make a zombie movie. The 10-episode “Killjoys” will premiere in 2015. From the producers of “Orphan Black” (Temple Street Productions) and the creator of “Lost Girl,” Michelle Lovretta, the series follows fun-loving, hard-living bounty hunters as they chase fugitives through the Quad, a distant system on the brink of a bloody, multiplanetary class war. “Town of the Living Dead,” a working title, visits Jasper, Alabama, which has spent six years trying to make an independent zombie movie. It comes from True Entertainment and is executive produced by Glenda Hersh, Steven Weinstock and David Stefanou. It premieres Oct. 7. Also read: ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’ Trailer: Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt Face a Beating in Frank Miller’s Deranged Town (Video) “Pax Romana” is about a Special Forces team that travels back in time on the eve of World War III to save the future by changing the past. They have to travel back as far as Ancient Rome. Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia (“Jericho,” “Warehouse 13,” “Human Target” are writing and executive producing the project, which is co-executive produced by Hickman. “Walking Dead” veteran David Alpert of Circle of Confusion is also executive producing. It comes from Universal Cable Productions. In “Ronin,” published by DC Entertainment, a Japanese Ronin samurai awakens in a nihilistic, futuristic New York eight centuries after failing to protect his master from a demon. He now inhabits the body of Billy, a medical experiment, and must again battle the demon. The project comes from Warner Horizon. In “Letter 44,” the new president learns that NASA has discovered an alien construction project, and that astronauts sent to investigate have nearly reached their destination. Mostow is executive producing, writing and directing. Other executive producers include Eric Gitter and Peter Schwerinfrom Closed on Mondays, as well as Renee Echevarria. It comes from Universal Television and Universal Cable Productions. “Magicians,” based on Grossman’s series “The Magicians,” follows New Yorkers who discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is real, and and poses a grave threat to Earth. It is written and executive produced by Sera Gamble and John McNamara, and executive produced by Michael London. Universal Cable Productions is the studio. The network also told TheWrap Tuesday that it is developing the new drama “Clone” from “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman. The network additionally announced that it plans a third “Sharknado” movie and a six-hour event series, “Ascension,” starring “Battleship Galactica” star Tricia Helfer. |
One of the most common arguments for allowing more immigration is that there is a "need" for foreign workers to do "jobs that Americans won't do," especially in agriculture. One of my most vivid memories of the late Armen Alchian, an internationally renowned economist at UCLA, involved a lunch at which one of the younger members of the economics department got up to go get some more coffee. Being a considerate sort, the young man asked, "Does anyone else need more coffee?" "Need?" Alchian said loudly, in a cutting tone that clearly conveyed his dismay and disgust at hearing an economist using such a word. A recent editorial on immigration in the Wall Street Journal brought back the memory of Alchian's response, when I read the editorial's statement about "the needs of an industry in which labor shortages can run as high as 20 percent" -- namely agriculture. Although "need" is a word often used in politics and in the media, from an economic standpoint there is no such thing as an objective and quantifiable "need." You might think that we all obviously need food to live. But however urgent it may be to have some food, nevertheless beyond some point food becomes not only unnecessary but even counterproductive and dangerous. Widespread obesity among Americans shows that many have already gone too far with food. This is not just a matter of semantics, but of economics. In the real world, employers compete for workers, just as they compete for customers for their output. And workers go where there is more demand for them, as expressed by what employers offer to pay. Farmers may wish for more farm workers, just as any of us may wish for anything we would like to have. But that is wholly different from thinking that some third party should define what we desire as a "need," much less expect government policy to meet that "need." In a market economy, when farmers are seeking more farm workers, the most obvious way to get them is to raise the wage rate until they attract enough people away from alternative occupations -- or from unemployment. With the higher labor costs that this would entail, the number of workers that farmers "need" would undoubtedly be less than what it would have been if there were more workers available at lower wage rates, such as immigrants from Mexico. It is no doubt more convenient and profitable to the farmers to import workers at lower pay than to pay American workers more. But bringing in more immigrants is not without costs to other Americans, including both financial costs in a welfare state and social costs, of which increased crime rates are just one. Some advocates of increased immigration have raised the specter of higher food prices without foreign farm workers. But the price that farmers receive for their produce is usually a fraction of what the consumers pay at the supermarket. And what the farmers pay the farm workers is a fraction of what the farmer gets for the produce. In other words, even if labor costs doubled, the rise in prices at the supermarket might be barely noticeable. What are called "jobs that Americans will not do" are in fact jobs at which not enough Americans will work at the current wage rate that some employers are offering. This is not an uncommon situation. That is why labor "shortages" lead to higher wage rates. A "shortage" is no more quantifiable than a "need," when you ignore prices, which are crucial in a market economy. To discuss "need" and "shortage" while ignoring prices -- in this case, wages -- is especially remarkable in a usually market-savvy publication like the Wall Street Journal. Often shortages have been predicted in various occupations -- and yet never materialized. Why? Because the pay in those occupations rose, causing more people to go into those occupations and causing employers to reduce how many people they "need" at the higher pay rates. Virtually every kind of "work that Americans will not do" is in fact work that Americans have done for generations. In many cases, most of the people doing that work today are Americans. And there are certainly many unemployed Americans available today, without bringing in more foreign workers to meet farmers' "needs." |
Source: Xinhua| 2017-05-04 21:58:47|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, meets with officials attending a security cooperation dialogue on the Belt and Road Initiative, in Beijing, capital of China, May 4, 2017. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao) BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhua) -- A security cooperation dialogue on the Belt and Road Initiative, attended by officials from more than 20 countries, was held Thursday in Beijing. Enhancing international cooperation to tackle risks and safeguard security for the Belt and Road Initiative is the common task for all countries, said Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. Meng called on attendees to make full use of the dialogue to enhance exchanges of information and deepen security and law-enforcement cooperation. More than 100 countries and international organizations have already joined the Belt and Road Initiative, a China-proposed trade and infrastructure plan connecting Asia with Europe and Africa. "Cooperation in trade, investment, and infrastructure have been growing, thanks to the Belt and Road initiative, " Meng said, adding that the forthcoming Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will push for further cooperation. The high-profile forum, which will be held from May 14 to 15 in Beijing, will see at least 28 heads of state and government. "We hope that all sides would foster the concept of common and cooperative security, and establish a sound security cooperation mechanism for the Belt and Road Initiative," China's Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun said at the opening ceremony of the dialogue. Guo called for stepping up pragmatic cooperation in such areas as public security, anti-terrorism, and protecting overseas interests. Participants attending the dialogue pledged to strengthen security cooperation with China for the Belt and Road Initiative. |
What you’re looking at above is Ultima Online as you’ve never seen the classic, groundbreaking MMO that's still running after nearly 20 years -- converted from its 2D origins into a full 3D world. It’s a labor of love of veteran game designer and artist Andrea Fryer, who’s worked at Ubisoft and other major companies. Since Easter weekend, she’s been translating UO’s maps into Wurm Unlimited, a sandbox MMO which allows players to own and customize their own private servers. “For anyone for whom Ultima Online was their ‘first love MMO’, they well know the wistful yearning that is left from experiencing those magical times,” Andrea tells me, explaining why she’s put so much work into this project. “Each new MMO they try is compared to UO, and so far nothing has fully been able to offer the full array of experiences and feelings that UO provided. So one of the reasons for doing this is to ‘process’ that yearning and channel it into something. Similar to why people will do fan art or musical covers of their favorite star… UO was never made into an official first person 3d game - instead it was always from an isometric god view, so I was extremely curious to see how the world would look if I could actually look around and feel immersed in the environment.” The other reason is the platform. “[T]he god tools in Wurm Unlimited are just so darned fun to use,” as she puts it. “So it's like you almost look for a reason to use them. Just like when you build a house in The Sims, the process itself is so much fun so you find an excuse to make something, anything!” When it’s ready for other players to explore, up to 200 can inhabit her Ultima server. At first it’ll just be a “tourist attraction” that players can explore without interacting within. However, since it’ll already come with Wurm Online’s RPG interface baked in, she’s planning to add some light MMORPG mechanics to it: |
GM Sets Launch Target for Production Volt Electric Car The company also has a parallel plug-in program in the works: the Saturn Vue Hybrid, which will operated as a blended mode PHEV. Published: 22-Jul-2008 SAN JOSE, CA -- General Motor's Vice President for Global Product Development John Lauckner informally announced to a gathering of journalists prior to the start of the Plug-In 2008 Conference here that the company has set November 2010 as the "stretch" date for when the first production Volt E-Flex range extended electric car will roll off the assembly line. While the exact day of the month remains uncertain, the month has been programmed into the company's development calendar. The much-anticipated Volt is powered for the first forty miles on advanced lithium ion batteries. Beyond the 40 mile electric car mode, a flexible fuel engine capable of using either ethanol or gasoline will start up, running an onboard electrical generator to provide power to propel the car and to recharge the 16kWh battery pack. The Volt can be recharged at home using a common 110 volt outlet. Powering the car with locally-generated electric power is estimated to be a little as one-tenth the per mile cost of a conventional gasoline car. The company also has a little-talked-about parallel plug-in hybrid program in development, a blended-mode, grid-rechargeable hybrid based on the Saturn Vue Hybrid, which is slated to begin production the end of this year with a newly developed front-wheel drive two-mode hybrid system. Utilizing this new drive system, the plug-in version will run in electric-only mode for upwards of 20 miles as long as the driver doesn't exceed 35 mph. Above 35, the drive system will intelligently determine when to use engine-only, electric-only or any combination of both. GM estimates that as a "blended mode" hybrid, the plug-in Vue Hybrid will get nearly double the fuel economy of the two-mode hybrid model, which is currently anticipated to be around 30 mpg, some 50% better than the non-hybrid version. GM has not announced a production date for the plug-in Saturn Vue Hybrid nor its price. When asked about the price of the Chevy Volt, which has been estimated to in the $40,000-plus range, GM spokesman Rob Peterson explained to EV World that any comparison between the price of a Prius and the Volt is unfair. Just from the perspective of the interior design and appointment, the Volt will be a signficantly more sophisticated vehicle. Early views of several clay mockups of the interior are suggestive of the bridge of a future "starship." During the same informal dinner event, Lauckner announced that GM, EPRI (formerly the Electric Power Research Institute) and 34 public and private electric power utilities in both the U.S. and Canada will collaborate on technical and educational issues to smooth the adaptation of plug-in electric cars, which are seen as an important way to reduce dependence on petroleum. Views :10812 RELATED NEWS ITEMS READER COMMENTS Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus |
Mikhail Gorbachev's revolutionary policies transformed the Soviet Union. His policies permitted the peoples of Russia and the other republics to cast aside decades of oppression and establish the foundations of freedom. His legacy guarantees him an honored place in history and provides a solid basis for the United States to work in equally constructive ways with his successors. The United States applauds and supports the historic choice for freedom by the new states of the Commonwealth. We congratulate them on the peaceful and democratic path they have chosen, and for their careful attention to nuclear control and safety during this transition. Despite a potential for instability and chaos, these events clearly serve our national interest. We stand tonight before a new world of hope and possibilities and hope for our children, a world we could not have contemplated a few years ago. The challenge for us now is to engage these new states in sustaining the peace and building a more prosperous future. Announcement of Recognition As so today, based on commitments and assurances given to us by some of these states, concerning nuclear safety, democracy, and free markets, I am announcing some important steps designed to begin this process. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. First, the United States recognizes and welcomes the emergence of a free, independent and democratic Russia, led by its courageous President Boris Yeltsin. Our Embassy in Moscow will remain there as our Embassy to Russia. We will support Russia's assumption of the U.S.S.R.'s seat as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. I look forward to working closely with President Yeltsin in support of his efforts to bring democratic and market reform in Russia. Second, the United States also recognizes the independence of Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan -- all states that have made specific commitments to us. We will move quickly to establish diplomatic relations with these States, and build new ties to them. We will sponsor membership in the United Nations for those not already members. Diplomatic Relations Deferred Third, the United States also recognizes today as independent states the remaining six former Soviet republics -- Moldova, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Tadzhikistan, Georgia and Uzbekistan. We will establish diplomatic relations with them when we are satisfied that they have made commitments to responsible security policies and democratic principles, as have the other states we recognize today. Advertisement Continue reading the main story These dramatic events come at a time when Americans are also facing challenges here at home. I know that for many of you these are difficult times. And I want all Americans to know that I am committed to attacking our economic problems at home with the same determination we brought winning the cold war. I am confident we will meet this challenge as we have so many times before. But we cannot if we retreat into isolationism. We will only succeed in this interconnected world by continuing to lead the fight for free people and free and fair trade. A free and prosperous global economy is essential for America's prosperity -- that means jobs and economic growth right here at home. This is a day of great hope for all Americans. Our enemies have become our partners, committed to building democratic and civil societies. They ask for our support, and we will give it to them. We will do it because as Americans we can do no less. For our children, we must offer them the guarantee of a peaceful and prosperous future -- a future grounded in a world built on strong democratic principles, free from the specter of global conflict. May God bless the people of the new nations in the Commonwealth of Independent States. And on this special day of peace on earth, good will toward men, may God continue to bless the United States of America. Good night. |
In April, I was arrested at the State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., participating in a protest against the HB2 bathroom bill. I had never been arrested at a protest before, but was honored to participate this time, especially in a direct action led by the NC NAACP – a “Moral Mondays” protest organized that day to fight HB2 and support trans people, whom I serve as executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. As punishment for standing up for the safety and dignity transgender people in North Carolina in the way I did, I was required to perform community service. I chose to do it for SMYAL, the D.C.-based LGBTQ youth organization. I’ve always believed that we can conquer bad situations in ways that make them less bad or even turn them into advantages. In my professional life, this has never been truer than with the very public bathroom fights we have been having in North Carolina. Trans and gender non-conforming youth are being attacked in N.C. and all over the country, so I chose to do my community service working for these youth. I chose SMYAL for two reasons. First, I have always admired the important work they do with D.C. queer youth. Second, if I am to be punished for fighting for the safety and dignity of trans youth, it would be a remarkable honor to do my penance fighting even more for the safety and dignity of trans youth. SMYAL was the right organization to help. The work hasn’t been glamorous, but the best work rarely is. Helping feels good and it has led me into a deeper relationship with some great people doing amazing work in the city where I live. I know that the governor and state legislative leaders meant ill toward trans people when they made the very harmful HB2 law, but we will use it for good whenever we can. We will get it repealed. Until then, we will use it to have an important conversation with America. And I am fortunate enough to be involved with SMYAL because of HB2. Something at SMYAL I’m especially excited about is its brunch on Sunday Nov. 13. The keynote speaker this year is Schuyler Bailar, a young trans swimmer at Harvard, whom SMYAL is honoring with its Community Advocate Award. I’ve seen Schuyler on the Ellen Show and 60 Minutes, and I’m really impressed and excited to hear him in person. And how often do we get to attend fundraising events where the keynote speaker is a trans youth of color? Thank you, SMYAL. I’ve even signed up to be a table captain and am hoping to get lots of people—trans people, parents of trans people, and others—out to support Schuyler and SMYAL. Please consider joining me at SMYAL’s annual brunch to support SMYAL’s important work and to hear Schuyler speak. I don’t suppose that Gov. McCrory and the state legislature had any idea of the pain they were unleashing on their state and themselves with their viciously and incompetently conceived HB2. Of course they knew they were disrespecting and hurting trans people, especially young trans people. And I am positive that they never saw any good coming from it for our community. Trans people have come together, many people have joined to support us, and America is having a much needed conversation about trans people and our lives. Oh, and I have become involved with a great organization in D.C. called SMYAL that devotes itself to LGBTQ youth. For more information about SMYAL, visit smyal.org. Mara Keisling is executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. |
Construction firms are so eager for work in the sagging economy that project bids are coming in much lower than expected, allowing state and local governments to stretch their federal stimulus dollars further. At Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, a recent project to reconstruct the area around Piers C and D received six bids instead of the usual two or three. The result: The estimated $50 million project will be built for $8 million less than was budgeted, and the savings will be allocated to other projects. There were 21 bidders for a $200,000 drainage project in Carroll County, more than anyone could remember. "Our bottom line is more bidders and better prices," said Maryland Transportation Secretary John Porcari. "This we like." After years of rapidly escalating construction costs on highway and other projects due to skyrocketing prices of fuel, asphalt and steel, transportation departments are getting a break as the economy slows and construction firms that once built subdivisions and strip malls bid for government work. In Virginia, state officials are receiving bids from companies as far away as the Ohio Valley. Projects that typically would have drawn four or five bids are receiving 10, said Byron Coburn, state construction engineer. C.J. Mahan Construction, based in Grove City, Ohio, for example, is bidding on a $100 million highway contract for the Virginia Department of Transportation. "Anytime you have more competition, it drives prices down," Coburn said. "You can't do but so much with the cost of materials, but firms have cut their margins or found a better mousetrap, and that reflects in pricing." That could mean using new technology that would make their bids cheaper or saving on payments to subcontractors, he said. Coburn said the falling cost of petroleum, which not only fuels large construction vehicles but is also a key ingredient in asphalt, has helped lower prices. Less competition from China and India for concrete and other materials has helped, too. Rick Williams, chief financial officer of Beaver Excavating in Canton, Ohio, said the company is bidding on jobs in Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania to keep work rolling in. "We've branched out further on some jobs. And there are a lot more bidders everywhere," Williams said. He said that Beaver is bidding on jobs deeper into Pennsylvania than it has in the past and that the company had never bid a job in Indiana in the eight years he has been there. "We're bidding a lot more work because we need the backlog to keep our people employed," Williams said. "We're probably half of where we want to be for backlog." Construction firms' hunger for work means that the $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress could result in more paving for the buck. The stimulus is supposed to pay for "shovel-ready" projects to stimulate the economy, put people back to work and get needed projects done. "What it's going to do is giving us value for the dollar," said John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. "The two winners are the public, which gets more improvements, and a net gain in jobs creation. It's a win across the board." Virginia, Maryland and the District are using their stimulus funds for repairing and maintaining infrastructure instead of building large new projects. Metro will use its share to fix crumbling platforms and for a new railcar testing facility. Maryland is slated to receive $365 million, Metro will get $230 million and the District, $160 million. Virginia will receive $695 for statewide projects and $208 million for urban areas, including Northern Virginia. Kenneth Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said he is seeing the bidding trend across the nation. In Connecticut, a project on the Merritt Parkway was budgeted at $75 million. The final bid amount: $66.6 million. In North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, bids are coming in 19 percent, 15 percent and 10 percent lower, respectively, according to data provided by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. "Wherever I go, I hear of projects that used to attract two to three bids just a couple of years ago, now it's 20 or 30," Simonson said. "Many [contractors] are coming down on the minimum size of projects they will bid on, and ones who didn't do schools now are bidding on schools. Others are coming from out of state to a new region just to keep busy. And they are essentially giving away their services just to keep their key employees busy." |
Located in the center of the six ancient water towns south of Yangtze River, in the Chinese province of Zhejiang, Wuzhen is the most beautiful with over thirteen hundred years of history displayed through its ancient stone bridges, stone pathways and delicate wood carvings. The town lies on the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou Alluvial Plain on the banks of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, an elaborate waterway built and expanded over a thousand years to facilitate exchange of produced goods and culture between the northern and southern regions of eastern China, before the invention of railroads. The river and canals that crisscross across the town are flanked with ancient residential houses, workshops and shops, built on raised platforms of wood and stone pillars. Most of these riverside houses were built during the 14th century Ming dynasties. Photo credit: www.news.cn A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Wuzhen was established in the late 9th century, although the first settlers here were the New Stone Age people, 7,000 years ago. Over more than 1,000 years, Wuzhen has never changed its name, water system or lifestyle. The traditional buildings, railings and arch bridges, arched gates across the street, imposing dwellings and spacious courtyards, river banks and verandas are all well preserved. Within the town, there are now more than 40 hectares of late 19th century buildings, and more than 100 ancient stone bridges of different shapes. The numerous canals that run across Wuzhen divide the town into four scenic sections, which are respectively called as Dongzha, Nanzha, Xizha, and Beizha by the locals. Tourists prefer to visit Dongzha and Xizha because they are relatively developed. Dongzha maintains the basic original layout while Xizha has been reconstructed to reproduce the ancient appearance of the water town. Xizha has few local residents and has instead given over to accommodation for tourists. Wuzhen came recently in the limelight when it was chosen to host the World Internet Conference. The second edition of the conference will also be held here and is scheduled to begin on December 16. Also see: The Water Town of Zhouzhuang Photo credit: www.news.cn Photo credit: www.news.cn Photo credit: www.news.cn Photo credit: www.news.cn Photo credit: www.news.cn Photo credit: P Bibler/Flickr Photo credit: Guo Qi/Flickr Photo credit: Carsten Ullrich/Flickr Photo credit: llee_wu/Flickr Photo credit: Guo Qi/Flickr Photo credit: keso s/Flickr Photo credit: Guo Qi/Flickr Photo credit: llee_wu/Flickr Photo credit: llee_wu/Flickr Photo credit: Xianyi Shen/Flickr Photo credit: setiadi/Flickr Photo credit: keso s/Flickr Photo credit: setiadi/Flickr Sources: China Travel / www.wtmlondon.com |
In D.C. v. Heller, the Supreme Court stated that (emphasis added, citations omitted, as usual), Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. From Blackstone through the 19th-century cases, commentators and courts routinely explained that the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose. For example, the majority of the 19th-century courts to consider the question held that prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons were lawful under the Second Amendment or state analogues. Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. [Footnote: We identify these presumptively lawful regulatory measures only as examples; our list does not purport to be exhaustive.] The question, then, is whether this “presumpti[on]” of validity can ever be rebutted — for instance, if a person’s felony conviction is many decades in the past, is for a not very serious felony, or both. Today’s Suarez v. Holder (M.D. Pa. Feb. 18, 2015) concludes that the presumption was indeed rebutted in this case, where the past felony conviction was in 1990, the claimant’s last misdemeanor conviction was in 1998, and the claimant has otherwise shown that he is now a law-abiding citizen (here by, among other things, having gotten a security clearance for his work with Department of Defense clients). And this is so even though the 1990 felony conviction was for illegal carrying of a gun (and the facts showed that he was drunk at the time), and the 1998 misdemeanor conviction was for drunk driving: Defendants assert that Plaintiff … has not shown that he is no more dangerous than a typical law-abiding citizen and poses no continuing threat to society. First, they emphasize that at the time of Plaintiff’s arrest, he was carrying a .357 Magnum handgun and two loaded speed-loaders while intoxicated to the point that he was placed under arrest for driving under the influence. They argue that possessing a firearm while intoxicated poses such a danger that many jurisdictions impose criminal sanctions for doing so. We agree with Defendants that the circumstances of Plaintiff’s arrest were dangerous. But the inquiry is whether the challenger, today, not at the time of arrest, is more dangerous than a typical law-abiding citizen or poses a continuing threat. There are two ways in which a challenger may fail to show he is not dangerous. One, the challenger’s conviction is for acts so violent that even after twenty-five years of nonviolent behavior he would continue to be dangerous and to pose a threat to society. This is not that case. Or [two], the facts and circumstances since the conviction show that the challenger remains dangerous. As revealed in our discussion above, we find Plaintiff’s background and circumstance establish that, today, he is not dangerous and does not pose a risk to society. Second, Defendants argue that although Plaintiff’s predicate conviction was not violent, empirical studies reveal that those like Plaintiff have a high rate of violent recidivism, and thus Plaintiff continues to be dangerous and pose a societal threat. While we agree that the generalized results of an empirical study are useful to refute a facial challenge and demonstrate that a statute survives some sort of means-end scrutiny, we do not find that generalized conclusions are particularly useful in as-applied challenges to demonstrate whether Plaintiff, himself, is dangerous or poses a continuing threat. Accordingly, we find the studies of little moment and decline to rely on them to find that Plaintiff is dangerous. For other cases that reach similar results, see Binderup v. Holder (M.D. Pa. 2014) (Second Amendment), Britt v. State, 681 S.E.2d 320 (N.C. 2009) (state constitutional right to bear arms), and Baysden v. State, 718 S.E.2d 699 (N.C. Ct. App. 2011) (state constitutional right to bear arms). For federal opinions that say that people can regain their Second Amendment rights in such situations (though without holding that the particular claimant regained those rights), see United States v. Moore, 666 F.3d 313, 320 (4th Cir. 2012); United States v. Barton, 633 F.3d 168, 174 (3d Cir. 2011); United States v. Williams, 616 F.3d 685, 693 (7th Cir. 2010); United States v. Duckett, 406 Fed. Appx. 185, 187 (9th Cir. 2010) (Ikuta, J., concurring); United States v. McCane, 573 F.3d 1037, 1049-50 (10th Cir. 2009) (Tymkovich, J., concurring). Congratulations to Alan Gura, who won this case and Binderup (as well as, of course, Heller and McDonald in the Supreme Court, and other lower court Second Amendment cases as well). (Note that Suarez’s 1990 conviction was labeled a “misdemeanor” under Maryland law, but the district court held — correctly, I think — that the conviction was treated as a felony under federal law, because the maximum punishment was three years in prison, above the two-year cutoff that the federal statute uses as the misdemeanor/felony line in such cases.) The government has appealed the Binderup case, and is thus likely to appeal this one. But I expect both Binderup and this case will stand up on appeal, given the Third Circuit’s Barton precedent; and I doubt that the U.S. Supreme Court would agree to hear the case. |
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Wednesday denied that its aircraft has been used for the airlifting of a horse to Qatar, gifted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the Emir of Qatar, reported DawnNews. "It is clarified that the news aired on some channels regarding the airlifting of a horse to Qatar in a C-130 aircraft is baseless and incorrect," said the PAF spokesperson. Copy of the letter The spokesperson added that the PAF strongly denies the content of this news. However, a letter available with Dawn.com stated that a "special aircraft (C-130) carrying a horse will travel to Qatar on 1 February, 2017 instead of 28 January, 2017". The letter added that the "horse is a gift from the Prime Minister of Pakistan to the Emir of Qatar State" "The diplomatic flight clearance should be valid for 72 hrs for the journey," the document further added. The letter was sent by the deputy chief of protocol in the foreign ministry. Information minister denies gift Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Maryam Aurangzeb clarified that the horse was to be gifted to the emir during his visit to Pakistan. She said on the state-run PTV that the news was baseless and no horse was airlifted to Qatar. |
IT'S A new year and behind the scenes conversations are already taking place about the entertainment for the 2017 Grand Final. Saturday, September 30 may seem like a long way off, but between now and then, there are some potentially historic decisions to be made in relation to Grand Final day. The AFL Commission is yet to rule on the start time for this year's premiership decider. The prospect of a twilight bounce is on the agenda, with the new six-year media rights cycle seen as an opportunity to make a possible change. And a later timeslot could increase the appeal for the world's best artists to perform in the pre-game show. "I think a twilight Grand Final would work, it would become more of an event with lighting, etc," leading entertainment agent Ralph Carr told AFL.com.au. "It's breaking tradition but I think it's worth it ... it would also work from a time zone perspective with millions of AFL fans watching around the world. "It would certainly attract international acts." For the potential performers, Carr believes the value of taking centre stage on the AFL's biggest day of the year is huge. "I think the benefits are substantial, performing to thousands of AFL fans that are also music fans, I think every artist should feel honoured to also perform at the MCG or any of the AFL stadiums," Carr said. In recent years the AFL has mostly looked overseas for its performers with Sting, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding and Tom Jones all taking centre stage. And of course, no one will ever forget Meat Loaf. But Carr believes the right Australian act could still create a big enough buzz. "My feeling has always been that AC/DC should perform, they are iconic Australia as is AFL footy," Carr said. "Having sat in the audience with all the AFL fans, they want the right entertainment to engage with, and it needs attention to detail." |
Inflammatory conservative columnist Ted Nugent will be making two campaign appearances with Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott. Abbott is predicted to run against Democratic opponent Wendy Davis, who has been the target of sexist attacks from the conservative media. Nugent himself has a lengthy history of vile misogynist commentary. Nugent To Campaign With Republican Greg Abbott Dallas Morning News: Nugent And Abbott Will Make Two Appearances On February 18. Nugent, who sits on the National Rifle Association board of directors and serves as a spokesperson for Outdoor Channel, will campaign with Abbott, who is running for the Republican nomination for Texas governor. From a February 13 article: Republican governor's candidate Greg Abbott will welcome the start of early voting with rocker Ted Nugent on Tuesday with joint appearances in Denton and Wichita Falls. While Abbott has highlighted his affection for gun rights, it would be hard to match the red, hot passion that the conservative rocker has for weaponry. [...] According to an itinerary put out by the Texas Eagle Forum, Nugent will join Abbott in Denton at 11 am at El Guapo's and again at 2:45 pm at Wichita Falls' 8th Street Coffee House. [Dallas Morning News, 2/13/14] Nugent Claims Close Relationship With Abbott. During an October 30, 2013, Google Hangout hosted by a Detroit radio station, Nugent said, "I work closely with Greg Abbot and Governor Perry in Texas." [94.7 WCSX, 11/7/13, via Media Matters] Nugent Has A History Of Profane Attacks On Women Nugent: "Worthless Bitch" Hillary Clinton Should Ride My Machine Gun Into The Sunset. During a 2007 concert infamous for Nugent's claim that "piece of shit" then-Senator Barack Obama should "suck on [his] machine gun," Nugent also called Hillary Clinton a "worthless bitch," told Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to "suck on [his] machine gun," and called Sen. Dianne Feinstein a "worthless whore": NUGENT: I was in Chicago last week. I was in Chicago and said, "Hey, Obama you might want to suck on one of these you punk." Obama, he's a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun. Let's hear it for him. And then I was in New York. I said, "Hey, Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch. Since I'm in California, how about [Senator] Barbara Boxer [D-CA], she might want to suck on my machine gun. And [Senator] Dianne Feinstein [D-CA], ride one of these you worthless whore. Any questions? [Ted Nugent, 8/21/07, accessed 2/14/14, via LiveLeak.com] Nugent On Then-First Lady Clinton: "You Probably Can't Use The Term 'Toxic Cunt' In Your Magazine, But That's What She Is." From a July 7, 1994 interview with Denver, Colorado publication Westword: About Hillary Clinton: "You probably can't use the term `toxic cunt' in your magazine, but that's what she is. Her very existence insults the spirit of individualism in this country. This bitch is nothing but a two-bit whore for Fidel Castro." [Westword, 7/27/94] Nugent: Hillary Clinton Has "Scrotums." During a January 2014 appearance at a gun industry trade show, Nugent said, "Our politicians check their scrotum in at the door. Even Hillary, but obviously she has spare scrotums." [Guns.com, 1/17/14, via Media Matters] Nugent: "Fat Chicks" Will Kill You. During a March 2013 interview on 9-11 truther Pete Santilli's conspiracy radio show, Nugent compared the benefits of abstaining from drugs and alcohol to avoiding "fat chicks": NUGENT: You see, I never poisoned my body. My parents taught me that my gift of life is embodied in the sacred temple. So no drugs, no alcohol, no tobacco and no fat chicks. Stuff will kill you, Pete, I'm telling you, it's deadly. [Media Matters, 3/22/13] Nugent To Female CBS Producer: "I'll Fuck You, How's That Sound?" During a May 2012 outburst on CBS This Morning, Nugent made a lewd comment to an off-camera female producer while arguing his claim that he is "an extremely loving, passionate man" and "a damned nice guy." [CBS, CBS This Morning, 5/4/12, via Media Matters] Nugent Album Cover Featured Nude, Bound Woman On A Platter With A Grenade In Her Mouth. The cover for Nugent's 2007 album "Love Grenade" -- which was subsequently replaced because of its offensiveness -- made the Houston Press' top ten list of "tasteless album covers": [Houston Press, 7/24/12] Nugent At 2012 Concert: "All The Skinny Girls Get A Free Machine Gun Tonight. The Big Girls Can Load Them." According to The Dallas Morning News, Nugent made the remark while holding a replica machine gun at an August 2012 concert in Fort Worth, Texas. [Dallas Morning News, 8/26/12] Nugent: "What's A Feminist? Some Fat Pig Who Doesn't Get It Often Enough?" VH1's Behind the Music Remastered: Ted Nugent includes a video clip of Nugent saying that he thinks a feminist is "some fat pig who doesn't get it often enough." [VH1, Behind the Music Remastered: Ted Nugent, 1/30/12] Nugent: Sarah Brady, Janet Reno Are "Dirty Whore[s]." In an undated performance of "Kiss My Glock," Nugent sings that both Sarah Brady, a leading gun violence prevention advocate, and former Attorney General Janet Reno are "dirty whore[s]." During the performance, Nugent's band also shot an arrow at a Nazi-flag-holding effigy of Reno, causing the effigy's pants to fall and reveal a giant phallus: [YouTube, accessed 2/14/14] Nugent Calls Female Contestant On His Reality Show "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang." Nugent made the reference to his 1977 song "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" -- an ode to a "teenage queen" -- on the March 4, 2013 edition of his show Wanted: Ted or Alive: [The Sportsman Channel, Wanted: Ted or Alive, 3/4/13, via Media Matters] |
Canadians looking to visit the United States, arriving via air or sea, may soon pay more for the privilege. A $5.50 border fee proposed for the 2012 budget would net millions for the American coffers, funding security measures. However, many of our neighbors from the north are not thrilled with the move, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who said in February: "I think in terms of the economic recovery, we want to make sure that trade and travel between our two countries is easier, not more difficult." Citizens from Mexico and the Caribbean would also pay the fee that America's nearest neighbors have long been exempt from, Canada included. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is calling for the change, and analysts predict the increase in collections could bring in up to $110 million dollars. In a statement released by Homeland Security, Assistant Press Secretary Adam Fetcher said: "The current exemption means that the fees collected from passengers entering from all other countries and appropriated tax dollars are subsidizing the inspections of passengers from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Removing the exemption would bring fee parity for all air and sea passengers entering the United States. We will continue to work closely with our partners in Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean to provide greater security and greater economic opportunity for all international travelers." Canadian Foreign Affairs officials have blasted the fee. Lynn Meahan, press secretary for the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon, released this strongly worded statement regarding the proposed fee: "Obviously, we think this is a bad idea. In this fragile economic recovery, now is not the time to be imposing new fees or taxes on Canadians. "We need to work together to increase the flow of people to the benefit of both of our economies -- and that is why PM Harper and President Obama committed to work across a wide range of issues to achieve that goal." At Boston's Logan Airport, Canadian travelers had mixed feelings on the issue. Pat Connor, who lives just outside of Toronto, argued a little 'tit for tat' would be in order and lamented the wide array of fees travelers are already paying. "Frankly, it's never ending. So, what? Because I'm a Canadian I gotta pay an extra $5.50 cents to come to your country? Is that going to stop me? No. We're Canadians. We queue, we line, we do everything. We're polite. Would the reciprocating amounts be charged to Americans coming to Canada? I would hope so," said Connor. "In terms of most favored nation status and the whole thing with free trade and NAFTA -- I know it's products versus people but still... it's just another fee and another ding at my pocket." Toronto resident Heinz Schaffner took a more resigned stance on the fee. "There's already tons of airport fee taxes. I mean, hundreds of dollars for a ticket. Five dollars is really not that bad. You gotta pay for stuff somehow," said Schaffner. |
UPDATE FEBRUARY 2017: I’ve just published a new book based on this unexpectedly popular post. Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator: Uncommon Love and Life explores the five main ways that intimate relationships can diverge from the conventions of the traditional Relationship Escalator – with insight gleaned from a survey in which over 1500 individuals shared personal stories of their unconventional relationships. Over 330 participants are directly quoted. This book is intended to be useful to anyone, regardless of which relationship styles they might prefer. Because appreciating and embracing relationship diversity helps make the world a friendlier place for all kinds of loving relationships. This book is intended to be useful to anyone, regardless of which relationship styles you might prefer. Appreciating and embracing relationship diversity helps make the world a friendlier place for all kinds of loving relationships. At least two additional books based on this research are forthcoming in 2017 and 2018. Learn more at the Off the Escalator project. Subscribe to email updates, or like this Facebook page. Thanks for your support! “Is this relationship going anywhere?” If you’ve heard this cliché (or perhaps thought or said it yourself): welcome to the Relationship Escalator. Relationship Escalator: The default set of societal customs for the proper conduct of intimate relationships. Progressive steps with clearly visible markers and a presumed structural goal of permanently monogamous (sexually and romantically exclusive), cohabitating marriage — legally sanctioned if possible. The social standard by which most people gauge whether a developing intimate relationship is significant, “serious,” good, healthy, committed or worth pursuing or continuing. The steps in the Relationship Escalator vary by culture and subculture, and they shift a bit over time. Currently in western culture, the escalator that defines “serious” relationships usually involves these steps, in this order: Making contact: Flirting, casual/occasional dates, and sex (possibly). Initiation: Romantic courtship gestures or rituals, emotional investment (“falling in love”), and almost certainly sex (except for very religiously or socially conservative people). Claiming and defining. Mutual declarations of love, presenting in public as a couple, adopting and using common relationship role labels (“my boyfriend,” etc.), and expectations or agreements for monogamous intimate exclusivity (sexual and emotional). Transitioning to fluid-bonded sex (no barriers, except if this would present unwanted pregnancy risk). This is the point where the primary partner label starts to apply. Establishment. Adapting the rhythms of your life to accommodate each other on an ongoing basis. Settling into patterns for spending time together (regular date nights and sexual encounters, spending time in each others’ homes, etc.) and communicating (speaking, phoning, or texting daily, etc.). Expectations of mutual accountability for whereabouts and behavior. Starting to hint at, discuss, or plan for a long-term shared future as a monogamous couple. Meeting each others’ family of origin. Commitment. Moving in together, sharing property and finances, getting engaged to be married. Conclusion. Getting married (legally if possible) and having children (not mandatory, but strongly socially venerated). The relationship is now “finalized” and its structure is expected to remain static until one partner dies. Legacy. Buying a home, having kids. As Lily Lloyd noted in her comments, Some couples may not feel (or be perceived as) fully “valid” until they hit these additional benchmarks post-marriage — but they are often deemed less crucial to the escalator experience than would have been the case a few decades ago. There can be some variation in these steps, but generally not much. To be fair, despite its restrictiveness the Relationship Escalator often does work well enough. Many people are genuinely happy and fulfilled living together in permanent monogamous marriages (or marriage equivalents). Also, the strong social and legal sanction, recognition and support accorded to couples who make it to the top of the escalator and stay there offers a level of security and stability that is can be hard to match with other approaches to intimate relationships, families or households. (This benefit varies by ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation or gender identity.) Of course, the Escalator does not work for many people — either at all, or for some pairings, or for some part of their lives. This is commonly assumed to be a fault of these individuals, or just bad luck — but not indiciative of a problem with the escalator itself. Also, some people are happy blending Escalator and non-Escalator relationships, or relationship characteristics. What can off-the-Escalator relationships look like? Some examples include: Solo people who value having ongoing relationships but don’t want to get married or live with a lover. Polyamorous people who are open to having more than one intimate relationship at a time, with all-around knowledge and consent. People whose core life focus is their work, studies, art, children, etc. — who can’t or don’t want to give a relationship the time or focus the escalator typically demands. Swingers who consensually engage in recreational sex beyond their primary partnership. People who desire emotional intimacy or life partnership that does not involve much/any sex and/or romance (asexual, “Ace,” “gray-A” or queer platonic) Don’t-ask-don’t-tell or “permission slip” partnerships. BDSM/kink relationships involving intimate power exchange dynamics which may or may not be sexual, and which may involve people other than their escalator partner. Long-distance relationships, or where one or more partners are deployed military, incarcerated, or otherwise physically unavailable for long periods — these partners often have implicit or explicit allowances for additional relationships. The Relationship Escalator is strictly a one-way trip. Partners aren’t allowed to step back (or aside) to a phase with less structure, or with a different structure. Your only valid options are to keep moving forward or to break up and start over with a new partner. Relationships that linger too long in an intermediate phase without “progress,” or that are intermittent are deemed “dead ends.” In real life, of course, the vast majority of all relationships (in any configuration) end in a breakup of some sort. Generally, once a relationship reaches the “establishment” phase, then if it ends (divorce, permanent separation, moving into separate households, or breaking up if unmarried) it is deemed “over” and thus “failed” — despite whatever good was achieved during its lifespan, and any intimacy, affection, support or friendship that may persist afterward. In fact, since marriage (or its equivalents) represents the Escalator’s pinnacle, there’s no good way to go down. Consequently our society suffers from a dearth of models to transition or conclude relationships well. Breakups are almost always horrible and wrenching for the partners involved as well as their families, friends, and communities. That’s why it’s tragic, and wasteful that the most common outcome for former partners is to consider each other enemies, or to vanish from each other’s lives as much as possible. If we had better models for ending or changing relationships, we’d develop better skills and social support — and so might wreak far less damage. The Relationship Escalator holds considerable power. Most of us automatically adopt it as a roadmap for defining our personal goals for relationships and lifestyle, choosing partners, evaluating our relationships, and judging the relationships of others. The “automatic” part is crucial: Most people don’t think clearly about or question the Relationship Escalator. Rather, most of us subconsciously buy into the social premise that the Escalator is not really a matter of choice or preference, but a natural and even supernatural force of its own; a mix of physics and magic. It’s just how “good” relationships “naturally happen” (like water flowing downhill), and how they’re “supposed to be” (as if predestination exists). Even if you’re not in a primary-track relationship, as long as you’re actively seeking or strongly desire one, you’re still riding the Escalator. You don’t need to have a partner to ride; you just need to adhere to the Escalator’s goals and process. What if you don’t want to ride, or if your relationships don’t end up conforming to this pattern? That’s a problem. Our society reflexively trivializes, ignores, or vilifies other choices or preferences for conducting intimate relationships. Getting to the top of the Escalator socially validates you as an adult and as a person worthy of love and respect. Not succeeding in getting there, voluntarily stepping off — or worse, not wanting to ride at all — marks you as immature, defective, damaged, selfish, untrustworthy and possibly even dangerous. The Relationship Escalator may be one-way, but it relies on circular logic. Its rationale is the social myth that there is “The One” (and only one) “right” mate for you — who will ride the escalator and stay with you forever. OK, so how can you tell whether the life partner you’ve chosen is indeed “The One” for you? That call is almost entirely outcome-dependent: If you get to the top of the Escalator together and stay there, then the person you’re with must by definition be “The One” for you. …Unless, of course, you and your mate eventually part ways in any significant or permanent sense. In that case, they obviously could not really have been “The One” for you, no matter what you once thought, or others believed. What if one or both of you ends up desperately unhappy, lonely, unfulfilled, or even endangered or disenfranchised by your marriage? There’s still a ton of inertia and pressure pushing you both to at least appear to remain exclusively and personally committed. Doing so demonstrates allegiance to the default social order, which reassures other people by not leading them to question their own relationship choices. It also allows you and your mate to retain social couple privilege and (usually) avoid significant personal upheaval and material sacrifice. The Escalator is only wide enough for two people at a time. Relationships that don’t require sexual exclusivity, or that openly welcome additional intimate partners (polyamory and open relationships) typically become the object of scorn, ridicule, suspicion, anger and fear. Indeed, this option is so threatening that even though same-sex couples now can ride the Escalator all the way to the top (at least, in the U.S. and many other nations), openly nonmonogamous relationships generally are barred from entry. Cheating is really part of the Escalator. Ostensible monogamy is far more common than actual monogamy. Secretly connecting with additional sexual or intimate partners is a long-acknowledged (and in some cultures, moderately accepted) aspect of life on the Escalator. Cheating reinforces, and thus honors, the escalator hierarchy. Secret additional partners are assumed to be shameful. They’re denied all relationship recognition or rights, and they’re expected to be complicit in concealing their own relationship. Also, primary partners can acceptably pretend their additional partners don’t exist — or they reserve the right to explode into a “justified” jealous rage when confronted with that reality. Occasional high-profile scandals and outrage concerning unfaithful public figures serves mainly to consolidate the power of the escalator — but this has virtually no impact on the practice of cheating. Cheating also is an Escalator-friendly option to end a relationship, since it often provides a new relationship ready to escape into. You’re simply replacing your Escalator partner midstream, not really jumping off. This reduces the risk that you might have to shoulder the stigma of being a completely unpartnered adult. (Of course, the partner you’re abandoning probably will face that stigma — but that’s their problem.) Cheating is a kludgy hack of a relationship convention. It attempts to reconcile Escalator mythology with human nature. It often works (at least for a while), but it sets everyone up to behave badly, shirk responsibility, and treat each other shabbily. Unfortunately, since it’s the only model of nonmonogamy most people know, too often honestly nonmonogamous relationships automatically adopt many of the shame- or hierarchy-based conventions of illicit affairs. It’s important to recognize that the Relationship Escalator is a matter of personal choice as well as social convention. It’s rare (at least in modern Western culture) that people are forced to jump on it and stay on it. At each step of the Escalator, the people involved are making conscious and subconscious choices. When you’re riding the Escalator it may feel like you’re being carried along — but in reality, everyone is taking the stairs. Each of us is responsible for the types of relationships we have. Social conventions and pressures do strongly influence which relationship models are easier or yield more social privilege and validation. While some people remain unaware of off-Escalator relationship models, the internet is certainly helping to change that. But regardless of which type of relationship you choose for yourself, if you also choose to ignore, ridicule, or vilify non-escalator relationship alternatives, the consequences of that choice extend far beyond your own life. How much awareness and respect you accord other relationship choices ultimately affects everyone who might consider, or perhaps truly need, a relationship that’s somehow off the Escalator. A big part of curbing the tyranny of the Escalator is simply to acknowledge that it exists, that it is a matter of choice, and that there are other valid choices. Ultimately substance, not structure, should be what determines the success or value of any intimate relationship. |
This tutorial covers one way of making a snow particle system in unreal engine 4. Make a new folder, call it Snowfall. Then make a new material inside it and name it M_snowfall. Open the new material and set the blend mode to translucent. Then right click in the node area and search for radial gradient exponential by typing it. Click on that and connect it to opacity. Hold 3 and click in the node area, double click it and choose a white to light blue color and connect the vector to the emission color. Now close this window and make a new Particle system called P_snowfall. Open P_Snowfall and set the emitter type data to GPU sprites. Click on required and choose M_snowfall that we made earlier. Set the spawn to 5000, can be altered if needed. Set the initial size XYZ max to 5 and min 2. Then inside the initial velocity set Z to -200, increase this value for faster snowfall and decrease for slower one. Then add initial location seed. You can always change the settings here. For this tutorial for the max XYZ choose 1000 and for Z min choose -200. Now click on bounds then set bounds. Now close the window after saving and drag the particle system into the scene. |
NDP leadership hopeful Peggy Nash says Canada is no longer a "normal" country under Prime Minister Stephen Harper's direction. The Toronto MP describes Harper's Canada as a country of growing inequality, record personal debt, hopelessness among youth and a federal government that continually tells people to expect less. "I don't think that's normal," Nash told The Canadian Press in a wide-ranging interview Thursday. "I think that's wrong." Nash said Canadians have a right to expect economic, social and environmental progress, where people co-operate with each other and the government doesn't pit one group against another. "I think we can have that kind of normal country and I'm determined that I'm going to lead that." Nash, one of nine contenders seeking to succeed Jack Layton, who died of cancer in August, declined to peg herself as being on the left, centre or right of her party. But the onetime senior negotiator for the Canadian Auto Workers appeared pleased with a Toronto Star columnist's description of her as a "practical radical." The NDP's finance critic until jumping into the leadership race late last month, Nash offered detailed criticism of the Harper government's economic policies, including its opposition to a tax on financial transactions as a way to deter speculators, what she called "a shadow banking system." "To me, it makes good sense to take a look at that.… Something that helps reduce speculation, stabilize the global economy is a positive thing." Speculators need reining in Nash said speculators are making the sovereign debt crisis in Europe worse because they're essentially "betting that these governments are going to default" on their debts, thereby adding to the destabilization. And she argued that a small tax on "the very risky, dangerous, speculative activities" wouldn't be as onerous as Harper's Conservatives have made out. The Tories have also maintained that a financial transaction tax would penalize Canadian banks, even though they were not part of the problem that led to the global economic meltdown in 2008. But Nash said the idea is to rein in global speculation, the repercussions of which are felt in Canada, whether or not our banks are to blame. "We are not immune from the impact of the global economy," she pointed out. "If this reduced the likelihood of damaging speculation in Europe and helped produce greater stability, we would all benefit." While the notion of a financial transaction tax has picked up some steam recently, with France and Germany pitching the idea for Europe, Nash noted that the key players in the global economy, notably the United States and United Kingdom, remain opposed. Nash said the tax needs to be globally applied to work. Nash also said she thinks it's worth debating whether the Bank of Canada's monetary policy should continue to be aimed at keeping inflation at two per cent or less. She said the bank's mandate to keep inflation under strict control was adopted as a result of soaring interest rates in the early 1980s but, with economic conditions dramatically different now, she suggested it may be more appropriate to focus on employment levels or inequality. "Like any policy, I think it's something we have to continually review, monitor and see if it continues to meet our needs." Nash steered clear of two ideas floated by Brian Topp, the perceived frontrunner in the leadership contest. He has proposed hiking income taxes on the rich and has said he'd be willing to consider hiking the federal sales tax once the economy is on sounder footing. Nash ruled out hiking the harmonized sales tax. As for taxing the rich more, Nash said only that she favours a "fair and progressive tax system," declining to comment specifically on "one-off" ideas. |
Christian Borle and Andrew Rannells in FALSETTOS. Photo by Joan Marcus. **** 1/2 “Well, the situation’s this, it’s not tough to comprehend. I divorced my wife, I left my child and I ran off with a ‘friend.’ But I want a tight-knit family,” sings Marvin, the demanding lead character of FALSETTOS. By the final chords of the show, Marvin has his tight-knit, extended family, but it took a plague to get there. I won’t bore you with my lengthy history with the show, let’s just say that I can recite every lyric, musical note and stage action that was changed over the years in various incarnations. So how does this version hold up? Exceedingly well. Stephanie J. Block is funny, poignant and dazzling as Trina, her rendition of “I’m Breaking Down” is a high point. Brandon Uranowitz, Tracie Thoms, and Betsy Wolfe are all equally wonderful in their roles. I found the casting of Andrew Rannells as pretty boy-toy Whizzer a little too spot on for my taste, but his performance is excellent. Child Actor Anthony Rosenthal only earns one of those two descriptors; he is a child, and then there is Christian Borle‘s Marvin. I expected so much more from this two-time Tony award-winning actor. Mr. Borle is known for his broad and funny characterizations so in toning down the comedy, he seems to have abandoned Marvin’s edge. It’s a shame because James Lapine‘s updated direction is thrilling. William Finn‘s songs are as witty and heart-breaking as ever. The revised lyrics fit seamlessly. How wonderful to see this beloved musical wearing new clothes and feeling fresh. It is an almost perfect revival, but you will need to bring tissues. Here is a clip from the current production. Here is a clip of the original 1992 Broadway cast on the Tonys. Show Info Show Site |
Call it the Saudi calculus. Oil prices were already plummeting 14 months ago when, at Saudi Arabia’s insistence, OPEC put the global petroleum industry on notice: The member countries would not try to prop up prices by cutting production. “We don’t want to panic,” Abdalla el-Badri, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, told reporters at the group’s November 2014 meeting in Vienna. “We want to see how the market behaves.” Since then, the market has behaved in a way few could have predicted — including Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter. The price of oil has collapsed under the weight of a growing international glut, made worse by slower growth in the global economy. And yet the Saudis keep pumping oil at virtually full capacity. And they have persuaded their Persian Gulf OPEC allies — Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar — to do the same, despite mounting pressure from other big OPEC members to curtail production. |
Was the Supreme Court’s Wal-Mart case a bellwether? Or an instruction manual? Depending on how you count “big cases,” the Supreme Court has just finished off either a great (according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) or spectacularly great (according to a new study by the Constitutional Accountability Center ) term for big business. The measure of success here isn’t just the win-loss record of the Chamber of Commerce, although that’s certainly part of the story. Nor is it news that—in keeping with a recent trend—the court is systematically closing the courthouse doors to everyday litigants, though that’s a tale that always bears retelling. The reason the Roberts Court has proven to be Christmas in July for big business is this: Slowly but surely, the Supreme Court is giving corporate America a handbook on how to engage in misconduct. In case after case, it seems big companies are being given the playbook on how to win even bigger the next time. Start with one of the most important cases of the term, the recently deceased class-action suit filed by a million and a half women employed by Wal-Mart. The headlines—including mine—contended that the import of the court’s decision lay in the ways class-action suits would be severely limited in the future. But dig a little deeper. In his majority opinion on behalf of the five conservatives on the court, Justice Antonin Scalia found that Wal-Mart could not be held accountable for discrimination in pay and promotions because the plaintiffs lacked “convincing proof of a companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy.” Then Scalia went one further and offered Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the country, a virtual guidebook on how to discriminate better: Do it in bulk up and down the chain of command, and make certain to do it at every possible level. As SCOTUSblog’s Lyle Denniston pointed out almost immediately after the decision came down: For large companies in general, the ruling in Wal-Mart … offered a second message: the bigger the company, the more varied and decentralized its job practices, the less likely it will have to face a class-action claim. Only workers who have a truly common legal claim may sue as a group, the Court majority made clear—and, even that claim will require rigorous proof that every single worker suffered from exactly the same sort of bias. Sample statistics and anecdotes won’t do. The greatest impact of the Wal-Mart decision isn’t the blow dealt to class-action suits. It’s the guidance it provides employers: Immunize yourself from claims of gender discrimination with a written policy that says “we don’t discriminate” and a system of decentralized decision-making. The decision doesn’t discourage future corporate discrimination. It just makes it harder to identify and prove it. The same is true for the court’s remarkable 5-4 holding in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion. In that decision, the court read a federal statute to mean that consumers may not participate in class action suits if their contract—in this case, with a cell phone company—contains an arbitration agreement (by which, I promise you, you are currently bound). In AT&T, a class of California plaintiffs tried to bundle together their claims alleging that AT&T had engaged in false advertising and fraud by charging sales tax on phones it had promoted as free. California law provided that the mandatory arbitration provision was not enforceable and that the parties should be allowed to litigate as a class. But the court—Scalia writing again—determined that the California rule was pre-empted by the Federal Arbitration Act. “It was important [for the court] to protect defendants, such as corporations, from the ‘in terrorem’ effects of class actions, which pressure them into settlements,” writes Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC-Irvine School of Law. “ In fact, the Court went further and said that the Federal Arbitration Act requires that claims be arbitrated on an individual basis and that class arbitration is not allowed.” Yes, the AT&T case will make class-action suits vastly less likely, as Justice Stephen Breyer pointed out in his dissent: “What rational lawyer would have signed on to represent the Concepcions in litigation for the possibility of fees stemming from a $30.22 claim? The realistic alternative to a class action is not 17 million individual suits, but zero individual suits, as only a lunatic or a fanatic sues for $30.” Even more important, however, the case provides corporate America with another useful tip on how to avoid costly litigation: If you haven’t already done so, rush to lock your customers and /or employees into invisible mandatory arbitration agreements that will bar them from challenging your misconduct in a class-action suit. As Nan Aron at Alliance for Justice explained when the AT&T case first came down, the real winner here was not “justice”: Corporations will now be able to decide on their own which civil rights and consumer protections they want to obey, knowing that there will be no effective means available to their victims to find redress. Even worse, not only has the radical conservative majority damaged the ability of consumers or employees to find justice, it has effectively removed any incentive for corporations to behave within the law in the first place. Why act lawfully if your victims are helpless, especially in cases like this when the harm to each individual is small but the potential for profit is huge? Think Progress’ Ian Millhiser put it even more starkly. After AT&T, he writes, big corporations “need never worry about a class action again. They can simply tell all of their workers to sign away their rights or they’re fired. Likewise, cell phone companies, banks, credit card companies, nursing homes—indeed, anyone who requires you to sign an agreement before they will do business with you—can completely immunize themselves from class actions simply by adding a few magic words to the agreement.” We may need a new metaphor. This is not merely closing the courthouse doors anymore. It’s turning the civil justice system into a hostage situation. Which brings us to the third case in this trifecta, a case that has gone largely unnoticed in the blur that is the end of the 2010 term: In yet another 5-4 decision last week, Janus Capital Group, Inc. v. First Derivative Traders, the court not only immunized big business from yet more awkward and messy litigation; it gave them an instruction manual on how best to lie to consumers. Millhiser again: Securities and Exchange Commission regulations make it illegal to “make any untrue statement of a material fact … in connection with the purchase or sale of any security.” And according to a complaint filed by the New York Attorney General’s office, an investment company named Janus did exactly that. Essentially, the complaint maintains, Janus promised its investors that it would prevent any new investors from engaging in a particular kind of price manipulation while secretly entering into agreements permitting that manipulation to occur. In a 5-4 opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court found that the false and misleading statements made by Janus were not in fact “made” by Janus but by a second company Janus had set up, which acted—in Thomas’ view—more like … a speechwriter. And, as a mere speechwriter, of course, it couldn’t be held responsible for its statements. Even though Janus Capital Management did indeed produce the false prospectuses, the court found that they were actually filed by a separate legal entity—the Janus Investment Fund. And even though the Janus Investment Fund is run by Janus Capital Management, Janus Capital Management is not on the hook for the lies. Wrote Thomas, “Even when a speechwriter drafts a speech, the content is entirely within the control of the person who delivers it. And it is the speaker who takes credit—or blame—for what is ultimately said.” Don’t even bother asking how huge financial companies will benefit from the holding in the case. It’s as easy as setting up a dummy corporation to make your false statements for you. In the wake of the holding, William A. Birdthistle, an associate professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law, told Bloomberg columnist Susan Antilla to expect “corporations outside of the investment-management business to alter their legal structures to gain the same protection that funds now enjoy.” As he put it, “In Delaware, with 30 minutes and $50, you can create a legal entity.” As the Boston Globe editorialized, the new rule “lets Janus and similar companies hide false information in a complicated organization chart [and] can only undermine public confidence in the mutual fund industry over time.” Ask yourself whether you really want the Supreme Court to be in the business of teaching corporate giants how better to deceive you about your investments. Yet Thomas, like Scalia in the AT&T case, was more worried about Janus, and its possible exposure to burdensome new lawsuits, than he was about the investors who were deceived. The purpose of civil litigation isn’t solely to redress past wrongs. It’s also to encourage better future conduct, particularly in situations where the parties have vastly unequal power. When you obliterate the very possibility of civil litigation, you are, by definition, helping big business screw over the little guy. But when you teach big business precisely how to screw over the little guy, and how to do it faster, cheaper, and without detection … well, that’s not even an illusion of justice anymore. It’s enabling. |
UPDATE: Chinese nationals aren't the only ones getting in on the China action, writes Business Insider. Tons of foreigners have also come to China to make their fortunes, and many have succeeded. Meet 11 billionaire foreigners here (slide show). I'm no statistics whiz, but it seems to me that a Chinese billionaire dies every 40 days. China Daily reported Friday that unnatural deaths have taken the lives of 72 mainland billionaires over the past eight years. (Do the math.) Which means that if you're one of China's 115 current billionaires, as listed on the 2011 Forbes Billionaires List, you should be more than a little nervous. Mortality rate notwithstanding, what's more disturbing is how these mega wealthy souls met their demise. According to China Daily, 15 were murdered, 17 committed suicide, seven died from accidents and 19 died from illness. Oh, yes, and 14 were executed. (Welcome to China.) I don't know about you but I find it somewhat improbable that among such a small population there could be so many "suicides," "accidents" and "death by disease" (the average age of those who died from illness was only 48). I'm only speculating but the homicide toll could really be much higher. Any way you look at it, of course, the life expectancy for the current crop of Chinese billionaires isn't pretty. NOTE: I would be remiss if I didn't remind Chinese billionaires (you know who you are) that China carries out the death penalty more than the rest of the world combined, according to Amnesty International, so by being corrupt in any way, shape or form is simply tempting fate. Remember, the big corruption no-nos are (and you should know these by heart): graft, bribery, embezzlement, backdoor deals, nepotism, patronage, and statistical falsification; they all lead to lethal injection. Have a nice day. Follow me on twitter. |
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