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But what about actually storing our data? If you’d like to persist the database and logs outside of the container (this is a good idea), you just specify where you’d like to store that data using the -v option: docker run \ -p 7474:7474 \ -p 7687:7687 \ -p 7473:7473 \ -v $HOME/neo4j/data:/data \ -v $HOME/neo4j/logs:/logs \ neo4j:3.0.6-enterprise Step 4: Configuration The Neo4j image by default declares a volume at /var/lib/neo4j/conf . This contains (depending on the version of Neo4j you’re using) all of Neo4j’s config files. For 3.X, this is a single file called “neo4j.conf”. To have our instances of Neo4j come up with the right configs, we have a few options: We can just add your own configuration files as a volume at run-time with docker run -v /path/to/my/neo4j.conf:/conf/neo4j.conf . . We could copy the file over when the container is started. To do that, copy your file into the build at a location which isn’t underneath the volume then call a script from the entrypoint or cmd which will copy the file to correct location and start Neo4j. or which will copy the file to correct location and start Neo4j. We could also clone the project behind the Neo4j official image and edit the Dockerfile to add your own config file in before the VOLUME is declared (anything added before the VOLUME instruction is automatically copied in at run-time). We could bring up an interactive “terminal” and then configure Neo4j from there. Upon starting the container we can pass in environment variables (docs) e.g., --env = NEO4J_dbms_memory_pagecache_size = 4G My preference is to store the .conf file outside of the container and then just point the container to the /conf/ directory on startup. This makes it a lot easier when spinning up a cluster (more on that in a follow-up blog post). To do that, on startup we’ll use something like: docker run \ -p 7474:7474 \ -p 7687:7687 \ -p 7473:7473 \ -v $HOME/neo4j/data:/data \ -v $HOME/neo4j/logs:/logs \ -v $HOME/neo4j/conf/:/conf/ \ neo4j:3.0.6-enterprise Where in my root directory I have a folder called /neo4j/conf/ that has my desired configuration files. Step 5: Interacting with Neo4j |
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PATRICK Bamford, Boro's latest recruit from Stamford Bridge, says that Middlesbrough stood out for him as the place to be after talks with Head Coach Aitor Karanka. "It's taken a while but I'm glad to finally be here," said Patrick. "I had a chat with Aitor about ten days ago, but there was a hold up in the paperwork after I'd decided it was Middlesbrough that I wanted to go to. "It seemed to take forever to go through but then it was just a case of getting up here for the game on Saturday." The Chelsea forward was prolific on loan at Derby County last season, and said he hopes he can recreate that form at Boro by scoring goals to help the team reach promotion. "Hopefully, the fans can expect goals, that's what I like to aim for," said Patrick. "I think my movement and finishing is a good part of my game which will hopefully help with bringing other players into play. "Middlesbrough jumped out at me when I spoke to the manager and heard his aspirations. When he put forward to me what he was looking to achieve I was eager to come here and play." Bamford will join a Boro team eager to push for promotion, and after being part of the Derby County team that lost the Play-Off Final last season, the new arrival believes consistency is the key to success in the Championship. "I think consistency is what you need in this division," said Patrick. "You can have teams who start off really well but fade away - it's just about maintaining the team and keeping it going. "I think the unity is really important, we had that at Derby but we were just unfortunate that it didn't pay off in the end."   You can see more from Patrick on Boro+ |
Wiz Khalifa couldn’t have seen this coming. On Saturday night, the chart-topping 27-year-old rapper posted a video taken by an onlooker that depicts a swarm of border patrol agents and police officers confronting him at Los Angeles International Airport for allegedly refusing to get off a hoverboard. “This? I didn’t do nothing, anyway. What you want to do? Put me in jail because I didn’t listen to what you say?” he says to the cops. “We can have all the conversations you want to, you can end up on TMZ, destined to become as famous as you wanna be.” A further video of the incident shared by the emcee on his Instagram, whose time stamp reads that it was taken at 3:56 pm PT, shows Khalifa being slammed to the ground on his stomach by three officers yelling, “Stop resisting!” Khalifa doesn’t appear to be resisting at all in the video, and is shown lying still on the ground, calmly replying, “I’m not resisting, sir,” as the trio of cops continue to yell “stop resisting” at him whilst cuffing him and applying pressure to his back. The Los Angeles Police Department has not yet responded to a request for comment. And the emcee behind hits “Black and Yellow” and “Work Hard, Play Hard” had this to say of the unfortunate episode: |
Insecticides could be developed that kill pests without harming beneficial insects such as bees, according to a new study. The use of pesticides is currently the subject of much debate, owing to the catastrophic effects chemicals such as neonicotinoids have on the environment, and particularly on the bees we rely on to pollinate crops. Yet they are also an essential feature of modern agriculture, with the National Farmers Union arguing they are necessary to produce “wholesome, affordable food”. Join Independent Minds For exclusive articles, events and an advertising-free read for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent With an Independent Minds subscription for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent Without the ads – for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Environment Secretary Michael Gove recently announced that the UK will support a total ban on bee-harming pesticides, highlighting the urgent need for alternatives. One could be pesticides that specifically target pests and not bees. In this new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, a team of scientists has investigated the natural resistance shown to some insecticides by bumble bees and honey bees, with the goal of applying this in the design of selective pesticides. Bees are very susceptible to most pyrethroid pesticides, but are resistant to a variety called tau-fluvalinate. Shape Created with Sketch. Decline of honey bees now a global phenomenon, says United Nations Show all 2 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Decline of honey bees now a global phenomenon, says United Nations 1/2 2/2 alamy 1/2 2/2 alamy The scientists found that the molecules targeted by pyrethroids in bee cells, so-called sodium channels, are able to resist the effects of tau-fluvalinate. “For the first time we are showing that unique structural features in bee sodium channels interfere with the binding of tau-fluvalinate to bumble bee sodium channels,” said Professor Ke Dong, an insect toxicologist at Michigan State University and one of the study’s authors. “This opens the possibility of designing new chemicals that target sodium channels of pests but spare bees.” By examining the features of pyrethroid binding sites in bees, Dong and her collaborators hope to lay the groundwork for a new generation of pesticides that bees are able to resist, but other insects are not. “This is an interesting paper on the molecular requirements for sensitivity to a single pyrethroid insecticide,” said Dr Christopher Connolly, a neurobiologist at the University of Dundee who was not involved in the study. However, this “does not imply that this insecticide is safe to use in our environment, as many other beneficial insect species may still be vulnerable,” he added. Other insects also provide valuable services in the environment. Flies, for example, are also important pollinators, and they would not necessarily be protected from selective insecticides. Nevertheless, selective pesticides may be a crucial tool in the coming years, with large corporations like Syngenta already exploring their potential. “In my opinion, if neonicotinoids are genuinely decreasing bee populations then pesticides that selectively target non-bee species may help to reverse this,” said Dr Andrew Jones, a biologist at Oxford Brookes University who was not involved in the study. “Whether we like it or not, we need measures to protect our crops and at the moment that will be insecticides, and in the future I’m sure there will be more stringent tests to ensure that they are bee friendly,” said Mr Jones. |
Hottest Comics for the Week of 9/6/17 After a crappy week of comics, we will be on overload with great new series’ and a ton of Venom. Get your allowance from your parents or spouse and load up this week! What’s Hot? Daredevil #26 & Typhoid Mary Venomized Variant From the Publisher – A mysterious invitation from a long-missing ally sends DAREDEVIL on a quest halfway around the world. Out of his element in rural China, can Daredevil survive an encounter with a villain not even his enhanced senses can pick up? My Take – Daredevil has gotten better every issue through the series and they’re kicking off a new series arc that sounds like a winner. I love the original cover on this one and the Venomized variant isn’t my favorite, but it’ll be going for a few bucks over cover price. X-Men Gold #11 & Venomized Omega Red Variant & Del Mundo Rock N Roll Variant From the Publisher – But what does his return have to do with the reappearance of a relative COLOSSUS and MAGIK thought long lost? Can the X-Men trust ANATOLY RASPUTIN to help put Omega Red back in the grave? Or does he have ulterior motives for calling upon the X-Men? My Take – After enduring a boring, setup issue with #10, this issue should finally get to the X-Men vs. Omega Red. X-Men: Gold has been the equivalent to a supermodel playing a tease on you. You nearly get something you want so badly, but then they pull it away. Maybe we’ll get it here. Both of these variants are great. Presales for the Venomized variant are going for around $5-6, while the Rock N Roll variant is going for around $8-10. Expect the Venomized variant to hold its value, while the Rock N Roll variant will likely fall a bit. The Hip Hop variants were valued at over $10 when first released, then they released a few hundred more and killed their value. Walking Dead #171 From the Publisher – FEAR THE PRINCESS: Who is she, and what does she want? My Take – While most people will pick up this issue anyways, this will be the first appearance of the Princess. She looks pretty badass. I mean is that real Muppet fur she’s wearing? This issue is selling for cover price, but may be a collectible if she turns out to be anyone of consequence. Astonishing X-Men #3 & Venomized Magneto Variant From the Publisher – The X-MEN continue their fight against the SHADOW KING! But when OLD MAN LOGAN loses himself in the ASTRAL PLANE and Shadow King’s illusions, will he ever find his way back to his teammates? AND WHAT OTHER HORRORS AWAIT OUR TEAM? My Take – This series has hit the mark on the first two issues and it looks to continue as the team battles the Shadowking and an unlikely threat. This Venomized Magneto variant may be the best of the Venomized variants this week. The variant is going for $5-6, while there’s also a virgin variant limited to 600 copies available for around $30. What’s Cool? Generations: Iron Man & Ironheart #1 From the Publisher – Riri Williams is given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Tony Stark…Sorcerer Supreme! Join Ironheart as she discovers things about the Iron Man legacy that will change her forever. My Take – If you’re a Marvel fan and plan to continue following them through the Legacy gimmick, you should probably pick this up. Iron Man and Ironheart will likely play large roles in the future titles. Scales & Scoundrels #1 From the Publisher – It’s hard to make an honest living in a land brimming with magic and mystery, and treasure hunter Luvander is tired of being a penniless adventurer. Ever in search of gold and glory, she sets off for a fabled dungeon, ‘the Dragon’s Maw,’ an ancient labyrinth, at the bottom of which slumbers endless wealth… or certain doom! But what starts out as a road to riches becomes the first step on an epic journey to destiny, for Luvander holds a secret in her heart that will shatter the chains of fate and bring light to a world encroached upon by an ancient darkness. My Take – Image has been releasing a lot of similar titles that have all hit. I love what I’ve read so far on this series and I expect it to be a quality read. Venomverse #1 & McFarlane Remastered 1:1000 Variant From the Publisher – THE VENOM EPIC OF THE FALL STARTS HERE! During a routine battle with the villainous Jack O’Lantern, Venom finds himself transported to a far-off world and learns a terrible truth – a deadly new species called the Poisons has emerged from the vastness of space, and to make matters worse, they’re hunting Venoms! Trapped on the planet’s surface with a ragtag band of Venomized heroes, Eddie has no choice but to mount a counteroffensive and hope to find a way home! My Take – I want to put this in the hype section, I so do, but Venom is king right now for Marvel and this will be bought up quickly. The Edge of Venomverse lead-up series was so bad, both the artwork, writing, and premise, but it’s another “must read” because it’s Venom and it’s a Marvel event. The covers will still be amazing, but I have little hope of this being anything that I don’t regret buying. The McFarlane Remastered Variant really looks cheap, but it’s McFarlane and its super rare, so it’s going for anywhere between $1,000-2,000. If you have that amount in allowance to spend, I can find better investments for you than this. The Evil Within #1 From the Publisher – Get ready for the hotly anticipated comics sequel to tango Gameworks’ blood-curdling survival horror series! Still shell-shocked by the horrific events that took place at the beacon mental hospital, detective Sebastian Castellanos finds himself investigating a gruesome murder in Krimson city that might be his key to understanding what happened in his terrifying encounter at beacon. From the mind of Shinji Mikami – creator of the seminal resident evil series – the evil within represents the pinnacle of survival-horror gaming with its mind-bending environments, intricate story lines, and blood curdling scares! My Take – If you’re looking for a new horror series, now is a good time to catch up with The Evil Within. The first series was a hit and its issues are still holding value on the secondary market. Made Men #1 From the Publisher – You don’t know Jutte Shelley, but you might know her family. Before she was a Shelley, she was a Frankenstein. These days, she’s a Detroit Special Ops officer. At least she was, until she and her entire team were ambushed during what should have been a routine call. Jutte watched as, one by one, her friends were gunned down. And then, in a flurry of bullets, Jutte fell too. But Jutte isn’t like other people. She’s a Frankenstein. And she knows all her family’s secrets. Guess who’s getting the gang back together? My Take – Made Men is likely to be a solid read, one that I wouldn’t expect from Oni Press. I don’t expect this series to be a great investment or to be turned into a major motion picture, but it’ll likely be worth the read. Black Sable #1 From the Publisher – One hundred years in the future the ‘age of pirates’ has returned as mankind reaches out for the stars. Schooners have been replaced by star ships and these pirates wield space age weaponry, but they are as bloodthirsty and ruthless as their predecessors were centuries before them. Experience a new universe of swashbuckling action and adventure in the vast reaches of space! My Take – Black Sable is a bit of new direction for Zenescope, but, like Made Men, it’s likely to be a quality story worth following, especially if you’re into sci-fi adventures. And don’t ask me why the title and the title on the cover are different. Star Wars Adventures #1 From the Publisher – Introducing an exciting new era in all-ages Star Wars comics! Each issue in this monthly series will feature two stories, starring your favorite Star Wars characters from all the films! This debut issue will reveal Rey’s early adventures on Jakku as well as a comical tale of clone catastrophe! My Take – Star Wars is just mass producing new titles aren’t they? If you have kids and want to get them into comics and/or Star Wars, this’ll be a great series. There isn’t many quality comics for kids out there, but this looks to hit the mark. What’s Hype? Venomverse War Stories #1 From the Publisher – Sure, you know about some of the adventures All-New Wolverine, Gwenpool, Ghost Rider, Old Man Logan and Deadpool went on with their symbiotes, but what about the rest?! My Take – I’m drawing the line here. This is not a good series and War Stories is nothing more than a money grab. Yes, cool cover. But it only masks a bad story for people blinded by the shiny new toy that has become Venom. Bombshells United #1 From the Publisher – The Bombshells are back in an all-new series! As our new tale begins, the year is 1943, and Wonder Woman is called to Arizona for help by two young girls named Cassie Sandsmark and Donna Troy! The girls’ friends and families are being displaced from their homes and forced into internment camps! To save them, can Wonder Woman fight against the same people she once fought alongside? My Take – Like with Venomverse, Wonder Woman is queen for DC right now and they’re doing whatever they can to put her on whatever covers they can as people still have their movie buzz. Whenever comics are pushed in correlation with movies, the quality of the comic is often poor. But the artwork is cool, so it may be worth a pickup. Kingsman: The Red Diamond #1 (of 6) From the Publisher – Kingsman: The Golden Circle (starring Channing Tatum and Colin Firth) is in cinemas in September, and we’re launching the sequel to the hit comic book series by MARK MILLAR and DAVE GIBBONS with KINGSMAN: THE RED DIAMOND. Working-class super-spy Eggsy follows in his mentor’s footsteps but is still rough around the edges for a Kingsman agent. Rejected by his high school crush and hot on the heels of a rescue mission to save Prince Phillip, he embarks on an international terror plot in a story that starts where James Bond draws the line. My Take – If the movie and stars are the first thing mentioned in the description, that’s likely because they finished the series and realized they have missed here. I wasn’t a fan of the original series and I don’t see this being much better. What’s Cold? Journey to Star Wars Last Jedi Capt Phasma #1 (of 4) From the Publisher – As the excitement ramps up for this December’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, come back with us to the final moments of The Force Awakens and the destruction of Starkiller Base to learn the fate of Captain Phasma! Captured by the Resistance and thrown into a garbage masher, we follow the chrome-adorned warrior from the site of the First Order’s biggest defeat to the doorstep of this holiday season’s biggest blockbuster! Written by Kelly Thompson (HAWKEYE, STAR WARS ANNUAL 2016) and drawn by Marco Checchetto (STAR WARS: SHATTERED EMPIRE, STAR WARS: SCREAMING CITADEL), Captain Phasma will recondition you to love Star Wars again! My Take – Another new Star Wars series? Captain Phasma is likely a cool character, but lets let the movie play out a bit before we give her a solo series, even if it is just four issues. There’s so many great characters that I would give a series to first. However, as a Star Wars fan, I’ll give it a chance. Lazaretto #1 (of 5) From the Publisher – ‘After a pandemic strikes, a dorm complex at a small American college is quarantined with all of the students trapped within. What first starts out as youthful freedom from authority soon devolves into a violent new society-it’s Lord of the Flies on a college campus.’ My Take – This might sound more promising if not for a 5-issue miniseries. After reading further description from Boom! Studios, this sounds more like a Breakfast Club miniseries where we learn the backgrounds of the students, than a Lord of the Flies series. |
The Skip Barber Racing School has filed for bankruptcy, according to documents provided to The Drive, with somewhere between $10 million and $50 million in outstanding liabilities. The school filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday, according to the copy provided to The Drive. The most prominent creditor by far is Lime Rock Park of Connecticut, the court filing reveals, with Skip Barber Racing School owing the track $1.225 million for track rent. Somewhat ironically, Lime Rock Park is owned by Skip Barber himself, who founded the school that bears his name. Barber has long since divested himself of Skip Barber Racing School, selling off controlling interest in it back in 1999. The school also owes rent to several other race tracks across America, including $239,617.19 to Road Atlanta, $169,568 to California's Monterey County (the lawful owner of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca), $112,000 to Mid-Ohio, $105,983 to Palm Beach International Raceway, $56,623.77 to Virginia International Raceway, and $29,600 to Willow Springs, among other unsecured claims to creditors. The filing declares that the school possesses assets valued at roughly $5.3 million. That includes a listed $1,489,500 worth of automobiles and $1.6 million in auto parts. It also places a value of $2 million on the Skip Barber Racing School brand name and training techniques. The Skip Barber Racing School was created in 1975, after Barber retired from professional racing and set about teaching high-performance driving as a coachable skill. According to the website, the school helped to launch the racing careers of Josef Newgarden, Spencer Pigot, Marco Andretti, Conor Daly, and many other professional drivers; it also counts celebrities as Tom Cruise, Patrick Dempsey, and Jerry Seinfeld among its graduates. |
Asynchronous Media Consumption I’m the sort of person who points out the Wilhelm Scream in a movie. I subscribe to subreddits about television shows and check in on the post-episode discussion weekly. At the end of every movie I’ll read its trivia on IMDb or look up what the Internet generally thought of a book I’ve just finished. And I think there’s nothing better than a conversation among friends walking out of a cinema. In fact, I almost enjoy talking about the media I consume as much as I do consuming it. But the problem is, increasingly our media consumption is becoming asynchronous. No longer do we all consume the same thing at the same time. Podcasts, catch-up television and torrenting means we not only consume how we want, but when we want. This creates a problem for my post-media consumption discussion. Individually our media stories progress at different paces and any conversation is quickly stopped by an urgent “NO SPOILERS” demand. If you wanted to talk about the amazing end of Breaking Bad’s Season 4 today, you couldn’t do it without reading spoilers from Season 5. And imagine I could see my friend’s response to the first book of Game of Thrones as I put the book down, even if we read them five years apart. I need a utility to engage in conversation in ‘unreal’ time. Like SoundCloud allows people to comment throughout the song, we need a companion technology to share thoughts over the course of a television series, movie, book, series of albums or just about any media. I don’t know what it looks like but I suspect an iPad app would compliment our existing media consumption, and the need for discussion about it, quite nicely. |
Shoes from the Titanic This photo, taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows a pair of shoes resting on the sea floor amidst the wreck of the Titanic. It's a powerful image, on its own. But with the background information, it becomes downright tear jerking. Note the position of those shoes. Now think about the position of your feet if you were to lie on the floor, on your side, with your ankles crossed. This is not a coincidence. On his blog, NPR's Robert Krulwich quotes Titanic explorer Robert Ballard: "There used to be bodies in those shoes. The body parts deteriorated, and the skeletal remains decalcified. The only thing left are the shoes, and the leather is perfectly preserved." The tannin in the shoe leather had apparently resisted the bacteria. Read the rest of Robert Krulwich's post on shoes at sea, including information about the Titanic, as well as shoes spilled from lost shipping containers. |
Catherine released this week in Japan and the word is that the game is harder than holding together an Egyptian dictatorship. According to a post on the game's official blog, the team at Atlus have received numerous reports that action sequences are too difficult to complete, even on the easiest setting. Atlus is currently working on a patch to soften the difficulty, though what those changes are or when they will be coming has yet to be revealed. Director Katsura Hashino offered an explanation for Catherine's extreme difficulty, saying that it's possible that the design team simply became too good at playing it. I would say that I don't care how hard it is and I just want the game to see release in the US. But I do care. As someone who only tenuously grasps the mechanics of the nightmares in Catherine (based on the Japanese demo), even I can see how easy it would be to upset game balance in the direction of too difficult. Catherine Difficulty Patch Being Readied [andriasang] You are logged out. Login | Sign up |
After being launched in 2006, NASA’s New Horizons probe slipped into a deep sleep from which it has only recently awoken. The target of this mission is Pluto, which was still officially a planet when the mission launched. While the status of Pluto is different, the mission is still a big step for planetary science as we study the previously unexplored outer reaches of the solar system, and it’s all powered by the processor from the original PlayStation. New Horizons was launched in January 2006 and headed for Jupiter, where it got a gravity assist on its way to Pluto. It takes more than four hours for signals to pass between the probe and Earth as New Horizons approaches its target, so failsafes and redundancy are vital. If something goes wrong, we wouldn’t know for hours. That’s too late to do anything about it. There are two separate computer systems on New Horizons, one for data handling and a second for guidance and control. Each of these systems is duplicated so the probe can continue to function in the event of a system failure. If you’ve ever dug an old PlayStation out of the closet and fired it up, you know that hardware has durability to spare. Maybe that’s why the New Horizons probe makes use of the same MIPS R3000 design for its CPU. This chip was running the show in the original PlayStation and was included for backward compatibility in the PlayStation 2. This chip is also found in workstations and Unix-based servers where reliability is paramount. The actual chip included in New Horizons was manufactured by Synova and is called the Mongoose-V. The only difference between the consumer product and the chip launched aboard New Horizons is additional radiation hardening. The R3000/Mongoose-V is a 32-bit RISC microprocessor clocked at a whole 12MHz. It has an additional numeric processor core as well as built-in error correction and a memory controller. The MIPS instruction set is known for being robust and straightforward as well. Pluto became the 9th planet when it was discovered in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, whose ashes are actually along for the ride on New Horizon. It remained a planet until mid-2006 when the International Astronomical Union could no longer ignore the fact that other Pluto-like objects had been discovered, some of which were even larger. Even though it has been demoted to dwarf planet status, it’s still the first Kuiper belt object discovered. Getting a closer look at it could be scientifically fascinating. New Horizons isn’t landing on Pluto — this is just a flyby. Still, it’s a lot closer than we’ve ever gotten before. The probe is equipped with various cameras, spectrometers, and material science stations. Following its Pluto encounter, New Horizons will continue deeper into the Kuiper belt to investigate other, less famous objects. The Hubble Space Telescope has been used to identify several potential targets for the probe to shoot for after it finishes up at Pluto. |
I signed up for the /r/books exchange on behalf of my 5 year old pre-schooler. He's quite inquisitive regarding the world around him and my wife and I try our best to give him straight, honest answers. My first match was a no show and I figured I'd chalk it up to 'you win some, you lose some' but then, as I was about to abandon all hope, I received an email stating I'd been rematched and my new match had sent a heart-felt message to me ensuring me that hope was indeed NOT lost and that a package would soon be arriving for my kiddo. Moments ago it arrived and my boy was very excited when I said it was for him. I explained how the exchange worked and we quickly tore open the package. The pictures attached show just how excited he was with the entire gift. So many interesting educational books with tons of answers/pictures to questions he has asked and many that he has not yet imagined. Topics ranging from outer space, to the animals around us, to world history, to super heroes. Everything a young eager brain hungers for! What you cannot see in these pictures is the smiling dad behind the camera! :) Thank you so much for spoiling my child!! |
The Iowa State Patrol says a person was fatally struck while helping the driver of an overturned semi, early Sunday morning. The Sunday morning crash brought I-80 traffic to a standstill in the eastbound lanes. (Jordee Kalk/KCRG-TV9) It happened in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 near mile marker 209. A State Patrol crash report says around 1:30 a.m. a semi, driven by Destom Kidane, 37, Tyler, Texas, entered a ditch, then came back onto the road. That caused the vehicle to overturn, blocking part of the road and median. Stanislow Gruszka, 43, Plainfield, Illinois, a passenger in a 2007 Mercedes-Benz R320, had gotten out of the vehicle to help the injured semi driver, Kidane. As Gruszka returned to the Mercedes to dial 911, the Good Samaritan was struck by one of two other vehicles which collided, a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu driven by Gregg R. Vigna, 56, Plymouth, Michigan, and a 2005 Ford Freestyle driven by Donald Pirkl, 62, Victor, Iowa. Gruszka, Kidane, and Vigna were all taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics by ambulance for treatment. The State Patrol said Gruszka's injuries were fatal. The driver of the Mercedes, Jareck Mieczyslaw, 47, Burbank, Illinois, and Pirkl were not injured. The crash remains under investigation. |
The Star Trek: Khan comic debuts this week, and writer Mike Johnson explained what fans can expect in the six-issue story of the genetic superman. Writing a comic book story about Khan was a way to show more about the character. “…in terms of the comic, Bob Orci has always talked about the comics being an opportunity to expand the world and show things we didn’t have time to show in the movie,” said Johnson. “And it sort of became a natural idea that we would eventually do the Khan origin in a comic, so over the last year, we kind of knew it was coming.” The two main Star Trek canon sources regarding Khan were used to get ideas for the story. “Canon is what you see on film, either on TV or in movies, so we’re taking Space Seed, the original episode, and The Wrath Of Khan, and mining whatever facts about Khan’s origin that we can,” said Johnson. “So things like we know millions of peopled died in the Eugenics Wars. We know that in Space Seed they talk about Khan being the best of tyrants, that he ruled with…how do I put this? He wasn’t a cruel ruler. There’s this famous line where in the episode they say he didn’t start wars until he was attacked. So it’s that sort of taking little things and extrapolating, ‘Well, what does that mean?’, like someone else attacked him first and then the war started? CBS and Paramount have given us a lot of freedom in terms of how that’s going to work out, and what’s great is that it’s the first time we’re going to see this visually. There have been novels and things that have explored Khan’s back-story but this is the first time we’ll actually see it visualized in the comic, which is pretty cool.” The dates in the comic story may or may not match the 1990s dates given in canon Star Trek. “I can’t tell you what we’re doing with the dates until the comic comes out, because I don’t want to spoil it – it’s actually a really big part of the story,” said Johnson. “But we are putting fixed dates on things, like month and day in the opening pages – I can’t tell you how with that, but I can tell you 20th century. It’s a great question because it is an ongoing debate about when Star Trek breaks off and becomes a different timeline. Because we’re getting close to World War III, which is different than the Eugenics wars. In the Trek timeline, World War III happens not too long from now.” Readers can look forward to Admiral Marcus and other familiar Trek characters. “Kirk and Spock show up,” said Johnson. “There will be an explanation for something that we saw on Qo’noS, that I can’t really explain or reveal. The first half of it is the past before the Botany Bay, and the second half is really all the scenes that were happening alongside what we saw in the movie. So, leading up to him going to the hospital and telling the guy that he can save his daughter. So we’re going to show all those things; we’re going to see more of the inner workings of Section 31; we’re going to see the Botany Bay; we’re going to see how they found it; we’re going to see why he was woken up; and why they decided to give him the name John Harrison. It’s gonna fill in some nice…I don’t want to call them holes. It’s just you only have so much you can do in two hours. And just for fans of the movie, it’ll give them more, hopefully.” Star Trek: Khan will debut on October 16. Source: SFX |
Bill Maher: The Founding Fathers Would Have Hated the Tea-Bagger’s Guts (Video) Author: On Real Time with Bill Maher this evening, Maher started the show by touching on the tragedy in Tucson. Last week, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head by deranged shooter Jared Loughner, Loughner also killed five others, including Christina-Taylor Green a 9 year old girl that was born on 9/11. Sarah Palin was immediately the subject of controversy as she had written crosshairs over Giffords in Tea Party promotional material during the midterm elections. Earlier in the week, Maher commented saying that Republicans were mostly responsible for what happened. Many have criticized Maher’s remarks but you have to give the guy credit, he sticks to his guns. Salon.com wrote an article earlier this week titled: Bill Maher’s despicable brillance . They make the point that although Maher says some despicable things, he makes people think and he might be brilliant, just watch these comments on Sarah Palin, imagine how infuriating it must be for the right to watch. After the shooting, President Obama spoke at the memorial for the Tucson victims, he said that we shouldn’t use this crisis as an excuse to turn on each other. Maher asked, when do we talk about this? Why can’t we use this crisis to talk about the extremism and mental health in the Tea Party? Maher says there’s one side to blame. “There’s one side that has been fighting for the right of American’s to carry assault rifles, that side is to blame.” – Bill Maher Bill closed out the season premiere with another great ‘New Rules’ Segment. This time, “New Rules’ was particularly biting as Maher set his sites on the Tea Party. In the last few months the Tea Party has achieved a stunning level of legitimacy even though they started with a false message. Back when the Tea Party started, it was clear that it’s members had no clue what the founding fathers really wanted but over time Americans seem to have forgotten this fact. Maher isn’t someone that forgets things like this and Maher’s shots at Republicans were particularly devastating. The roundtable discussion was a mixed bag as James Carville, Chrystia Freeland, Mike Murphy and Martin Short stopped by to discuss current events and Obama’s handling of Gabrielle Giffords shooting. The discussion also focused on the rhetoric by the right and how it is making the political climate more dangerous. Maher points out that the founding fathers were not just “ordinary” American’s, they were very intelligent people and very exceptional people. Republicans seem to have embraced the idea that being smart is “elitist”. Maher gives an example of when Palin mocked Obama for being smart, like a professor. Why wouldn’t American’s want intelligent rulers? Maher wonders this as well, check out New Rules: NEW RULES “Thomas Jefferson was an astronomer and physicist, founded the university of Virginia , played the violin and spoke 6 languages.. or as Sarah Palin would say ‘all of them’.” – Bill Maher Current Pageviews: 8,443 views This entry was posted: on Saturday, January 15th, 2011 Tags and Categories: television Follow Article Comments: RSS 2.0 Comment/Trackback: Log in to comment. |
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., gets on an elevator after being on the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 4, 2015, to vote on amendments to the annual defense authorization bill. The GOP-led Senate plowed ahead Wednesday on a $612 billion annual defense policy bill despite a White House veto threat and the Democratic leader's claim that it is an exercise in futility.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Photo: AP) Story Highlights Following a December report on torture, a group of senators has introduced an anti-torture amendment Waterboarding still has defenders, who claim its use did not meet the legal definition of torture Obama threatens to veto the defense bills because they add $38 billion to the defense budget The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to ban the U.S. from ever again subjecting prisoners to waterboarding, “rectal feeding” and other brutal interrogation practices widely condemned as torture. The vote split the chamber’s White House hopefuls. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted in support of the bill, while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another 2016 candidate, voted against it. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was not in attendance but is on record opposing the ban. from The Arizona Republic When Senate Democrats released their 525-page report summary in December on the CIA’s use of torture during interrogations, critics accused the Dems of using their final days in the Senate majority to take partisan shots at the spy agency. When the then-chairman of the Senate select committee on intelligence, Dianne Feinstein, said the four-year investigation revealed a “stain on our values and our history,” many of those same critics said Feinstein was seeking vengeance against an agency with which she often had clashed. But when Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona spoke almost those same words — using torture, he said, “stained our national honor, did much harm and little good” — the critics had little left to say. No one in Congress is more of an authority on the use of brutality to extract information from a helpless prisoner than John McCain. If the former prisoner of war of the North Vietnamese judges the CIA’s actions to be both inhumane and counterproductive, then they simply are. — Read full editorial from the Los Angeles Times It might seem obvious that all of these methods amount to “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” But as lawyers in the Bush administration demonstrated, general definitions of torture can be creatively construed to justify horrific abuses. It’s vital that prohibitions of torture be both general and specific. In addition to codifying Obama’s order, the amendment proposed by Feinstein and McCain would require that the manual be periodically reviewed to ensure that its provisions reflect U.S. legal obligations and “evidence-based best practices” for interrogations that don’t involve the use or threat of force. Revisions would be made public. Finally, the bill requires all agencies of government to provide the International Red Cross with access to detainees in their custody. — Read full editorial Read or Share this story: http://bcene.ws/1J3gWOP |
Though he'll probably stick with Mjolnir for wailing on Loki, if Thor were a construction worker I bet he would use one of Wilton's BASH Unbreakable Sledge Hammers. Touted the toughest sledge ever built, BASHes with heads ranging from 2-1/2 to 20 pounds sport molten steel reinforcement bars at their handles and locking steel plates securing heads to handles, the combined effect of which guarantees the two will never separate. Wilton will even back the promise with a $1,000 payout to anyone whose hammer breaks during an overstrike. BASH Sledge Hammer Hi-Vis heads are drop forged from 46 HRC steel and coated with the skin of a Ghostbusters Slimer. Beneath the safety plate that secures them to their handles lie anti-vibe necks that absorb impact to reduce worker fatigue, and no-slip grips made of vulcanized rubber to help prevent flyaways. Good lookin' out, Wilton, as I'm pretty sure the unbreakability of a sledge hammer would indicate the proportionately increased fragility of anything with which it comes into contact. Handle lengths come in 12", 16", 24", 30", and 36", some with variable head weights. All BASHes have been tested to 25,000 overstrikes. I wonder if I could use a BASH like the SISU War Hammer to get (more) jacked at the gym. Because I think the green heads are a really nice touch. Like introducing a peacock element to the otherwise uninteresting sledge hammer. I feel they might get me a little more attention from the girls in the weight room doing bicep curls with 5 lb dumbbells. Oh, and speaking of girls, in return for this glowing review, I would like to request that Wilton add all of my ex-girlfriends' names to a database of those blacklisted from purchasing a BASH. |
Google's Nest may be partnering with the world's largest home security firm, ADT , in a move that could signal the company's interest in ramping up its presence in home security services, according to a conversation Forbes had with ADT CEO Naren Gursahaney. The two companies are working to connect Nest's internet-connected home products--a thermostat as well as smoke and carbon monoxide alarm--with ADT's Pulse system that allows its customers to control their security system through a mobile app. “We've had discussions with Fadell and his team,” said Gursahaney in a phone call, referring to Nest's cofounder and CEO, Tony Fadell. “We've had discussions with Nest in integrating their thermostat with the Pulse platform.” Tucked far away from Silicon Valley in Boca Raton, Fla., ADT is looking for opportunity in the burgeoning smart home industry. There have been a flurry of do-it-yourself home security products coming out of the tech industry. That could start hurting ADT's bottom line (if it hasn't already) and ADT is fighting slowing customer growth. In addition to Pulse, ADT started a partnership with IFTTT--If This Then That, a service that allows users to chain website and devices--to hook up with other connected hardware such as Jawbone's fitness trackers and the Philips Hue LED bulb in the cloud. But with a $6.1 billion market cap and seven million customers, it's got some time before these smaller players start making serious dents. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nest, which was acquired by Google in January for $3.2 billion, has become the big player in the smart home industry. It's already shown interest in home security world with its own acquisition of internet-connected security camera-maker Dropcam for $555 million. Dropcam was even pitched as a product to bring the end of home security giants like ADT when it started in 2009. With ADT's seven million customers paying a steep monthly service fee for a home security monitoring systems, it looks like an attractive opportunity for a startup to offer a much cheaper and simpler alternative to consumers. One hole the ADT partnership could help plug up for any Nest security system is a home security monitoring service. Dropcam already has a premium service for storing video feed in the cloud, but the professional monitoring that ADT has could be added as a more expensive premium package. “What they love is ADT's seven million customers, 4,000 sales representatives and the relationships we have with fire departments and other emergency services, so that when there is an alarm we can dispatch the right people," Gursahaney said. A premium monitoring service could fit in well with Nest products. Before Nest officially announced its smoke and CO alarm product--the Protect--in October last year, reporter Jessica Lessin wrote that a subscription monitoring service was being considered. We haven't seen that feature yet. It would be expensive to roll out a feature like this, as it would entail hiring and employing a call center. An ADT partnership could help with its massive call center infrastructure. "We don't have anything to share on the topic at this time," Nest spokeswoman Zoz Cuccias said in an email. This is hardly the first time Nest has hooked up its products with others. Since June, Nest has been running its "Work with Nest" program, its developer program for connecting its products up with other internet-connected hardware. So far, partners include Mercedes Benz, Jawbone, Whirlpool and others. The Mercedes integration, for example, allows your Mercedes car to talk to the Nest thermostat to make sure your home is at a comfortable temperature by the time you arrive there. Gursahaney gave no timeline for when this partnership with Nest will come to fruition or what it will ultimately look like. “These things take time,” Gursahaney said. “We're working feverishly to develop the partnership." |
The North American Soccer League has officially severed all ties with Traffic Sports, The Telegraph can exclusively reveal. The NASL has suffered due to its ongoing links with the Brazilian-owned sports marketing company after two of its executives, Jose Hawilla and Aaron Davidson, were implicated in the Fifa corruption scandal of 2015. Traffic owned as many as three NASL teams at one point and at the time of his indictment Davidson was chairman of the Board of Governors, while his company owned the Carolina Railhawks. The NASL quickly suspended all business activities with both Davidson - who is also a former president of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers - and Traffic but the ongoing links with the company have caused bad PR for the league and hindered business opportunities. Traffic continued to own a significant stake of NASL Class B shares throughout the corruption scandal and the financial ties between the NASL and Traffic had proved difficult and time-consuming to untangle. |
Image caption Santofimio (centre) was arrested for taking drug money in 1995 Colombia's Supreme Court has reinstated the conviction in a murder case against a former justice minister. Alberto Santofimio will serve 24 years in jail for his role in the killing of rival politician and presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Galan in 1989. Mr Santofimio received the same sentence in 2007 but was released on appeal after spending a year in prison. Relatives of the murdered politician appealed against the decision and the Supreme Court ruled in their favour. Santofimio was a close associate of the late drug baron Pablo Escobar. One of Escobar's henchmen who appeared as a witness said Mr Santofimio met the drug baron several times and often urged him to kill Mr Galan. He said that if Mr Galan ever became president he would intensify the fight against drug trafficking and would extradite Escobar to the United States. Mr Galan was killed during a campaign rally near the capital, Bogota, in 1989. He was the favourite to win the 1990 presidential election. |
When elements 117 and 118 are finally named, should these new members of the halogen and noble gas families receive names ending in -ium as IUPAC has suggested? Brett F. Thornton and Shawn C. Burdette look at the history of element suffixes and make the case for not following this recommendation. Disputes surrounding the discovery and naming of the elements predates modern chemistry, and provide a fascinating history-of-chemistry primer. The longstanding use in English of elemental suffixes such as -ium, -ine and -on has been rather less controversial, however, and has received scant attention. As the discovery of superheavy elements extends the periodic table to the end of the seventh period, the origin, value and meaning of the suffixes becomes relevant. The periodic table can be intimidating to new chemistry students: the table's form, seemingly misshapen, belies the systematic information contained within. Even without guidance, chemistry students will search for patterns in the table as we all excel at finding order in apparent chaos. One pattern that immediately appears is in the element-name suffixes (Fig. 1), but this order breaks down on further investigation. Students soon realize that some elements possess mismatched names and symbols, such as gold (Au) and silver (Ag). Other elements also have pattern-breaking suffixes or no suffix at all. Why is element 74 not tungstenium like ruthenium or, tungstum like lanthanum? (The name tungsten comes from the Swedish words tung and sten, translating directly to heavy stone, and is the only English element name derived wholly from Swedish.) These examples and other named elements with unique and anomalous nomenclatures have all been known for more than 220 years; a few such as iron, gold and copper have been known and named as 'substances' since before the notion of an element existed. Figure 1: The English names of the chemical elements as of the end of 2012. There are 81 elements (grey) that end in the suffix –ium or –um, which is derived from Latin and denotes a metallic substance. There are two classes of elements that have the suffix –on; the noble gases Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe and Rn (orange) and the solid non-metals C, Si and B (green). The five halogens (pink) all end with –ine and there are three elements that have the suffix –gen (blue), which derives from the Greek meaning 'former', for example, hydrogen means 'water former'. The elements that end with either –ine or –gen are all diatomic molecules in their native form. That leaves 17 elements (sandstone) that have no suffix: no element without an identifiable suffix in English was discovered after 1783 (tungsten). Full size image The modern concept of an element appeared in Antoine Lavoisier's seminal 1789 Traité Élémentaire de Chemie, building on an earlier 1787 work by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Claude-Louis Berthollet and Antoine François Fourcroy. The quartet's Methode Nomenclature Chimique had proposed reforming the haphazard chemical nomenclature of the past1; the preface to Lavoisier's text expounded further on the importance of good chemical nomenclature as well as names that made sense. Lavoisier, quoting the Swedish chemist Torbern Bergmen, wrote2: “[S]pare no improper names; those who are learned, will always be learned, and those who are ignorant will thus learn sooner.” Over two centuries later, of 114 named elements, only the 17 that were known and named before 1784 have no discernible suffix or suffix pattern. In contrast, every metallic element discovered in the past 220 years has been given either an -ium or, less frequently, an -um suffix. Every non-metal and metalloid discovered since 1788 has either an -on or -ine suffix, except helium and selenium. Selenium was discovered as a byproduct of sulfuric acid production and named around 1817 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius3. Berzelius identified selenium as a metal because of its appearance3, although today it is considered a metalloid. Helium was spotted in the solar spectrum in the 1860s and named shortly thereafter as a metal, without any knowledge of its chemistry4. When helium was isolated from uranium ore decades later, the name was preserved, despite its non-metallic properties5. Synchronizing helium with the nomenclature of the noble gas family has been proposed; the name helion was repeatedly suggested, but never adopted6,7,8,9. The periodic table is dominated by metals, and the majority of them use the -ium suffix. The -um suffix of elements like platinum derives from the Latin suffix for metals, as seen in ferrum (iron), aurum (gold) and argentum (silver), among others. The motivation and reason that -um morphed into -ium is unclear, but the practice emerged in metallic elements named in the early nineteenth century. For example, although British chemist Humphrey Davy chose the name aluminum, an 1813 book review of Davy's 1812 Elements of Chemical Philosophy suggested the name sounded too “classical”, and proposed aluminium instead10. Aluminium was adopted by most of the world, including the United Kingdom, whereas Davy's original version stuck in the United States. Two groups of non-metallic elements use the -on suffix; the larger group being the noble gases. Naming of the noble gases was dominated by one man, William Ramsay, who was involved in the discovery of four noble gases and in suggesting names for five. He recognized the importance of the task11: “The naming of a new element is no easy matter. For there are only twenty-six letters in our alphabet, and there are already over seventy elements. To select a name expressible by a symbol which has not already been claimed for one of the known elements is difficult, and the difficulty is enhanced when it is at the same time required to select a name which shall be descriptive of the properties (or want of properties) of the element.” Of particular note, Ramsey emphasized “[D]escriptive of the properties of the element,” which echoes Lavoisier's opinion from over a century earlier. “Every metallic element discovered in the past 220 years has been given either an -ium or, less frequently, an -um suffix.” In 1894, argon became the first noble gas discovered on Earth12. The name suggested by H. G. Madan referenced argon's inert nature and was derived from Greek words meaning idle or lazy13. Ramsay's son suggested novum, from the Latin word for new, for the next similar gas discovered13, but Ramsay realized these might be members of an entire new family of elements14. With that thought, the name neon was chosen using the Greek word for new and adopting the -on suffix used for argon15. Linguistically the -on suffix in neon, argon12, krypton15 and xenon originates from transliterations of Greek adjectives; however, radon was named to indicate its primary source (radium) with the addition of -on to match the other noble gases6. Aluminium or aluminum? Image: © STUDIOSOURCE/ALAMY Carbon, a non-metal known since antiquity, lent its last syllable (-on is not a suffix in carbon) to the chemically similar boron and silicon in a linguistic manoeuvre known as back-formation: the -on syllable was assumed to be a phoneme carrying the meaning 'element like carbon'. Humphrey Davy, believing he had a metal, originally used the name boracium in 1809 (ref. 16) but by 1814 he had revised the name to boron17. In a similar manner, Berzelius originally referred to silicon as silicium in 1823, but later the suffix was modified by Thomson who argued18: “[Silicon] has been usually denominated silicium. But as the termination um is used by chemists to denote metals, it is better to make carbon, boron, and silicon, which are not metallic, and which resemble each other closely, terminate in the same syllable on, already appropriated to carbon.” Five existing halogens share a unique suffix found nowhere else on the periodic table. Whether it rhymes with wine or Wien (or even win), the -ine suffix uniquely identifies an element as a halogen. When Humphrey Davy named chlorine in 1810 from the Greek chloros for yellow–green, he was not completely convinced it was an element, but as it was definitely not metallic, he avoided the -ium suffix19,20. The discovery and naming of iodine21,22 and bromine23 followed, and even though they were named first in French, which omits any suffix for halogens, the names were soon amended with -ine suffixes in English24. The existence of fluorine was predicted long before it was isolated, and named using the system adopted for the halogen family25. The most recently named non-metal, astatine26, was named to match the lighter halogens27. Research at the frontiers of the periodic table continues, and IUPAC endorsed names for elements 114 and 116 in 2012 (ref. 28). There are claims for the discovery of elements 113 (ref. 29), 115 (ref. 29), 117 (ref. 30) and 118 (ref. 31). As these have yet to be accepted by IUPAC, these elements retain their temporary systematic names, such as ununoctium. Some proposals for these systematic names would have given us ununseptine and ununocton for elements 117 and 118 respectively32, but will elements 117 and 118 gain the -ine and -on suffixes of their lighter congeners — and should they? IUPAC first specifically addressed element suffixes in 1953, by stating33 “new metallic elements should be given names ending in -ium”. This is a reasonable, historically supported decision because the eight metals lacking the -ium or -um suffix were discovered 225 or more years ago. For non-metals and semi-metals, there have never been any official guidelines about suffix choices. With history for guidance, no non-metal or metalloid has been given the -ium suffix except for selenium and helium — and those two exceptions were believed to be metals when they were named. Despite these strong historical precedents, the 2002 IUPAC naming guidelines is the earliest and only reference to state34 “For linguistic consistency, the names of all new elements should end in '-ium'.” The only rationale provided by IUPAC for choosing -ium has been “linguistic consistency”. If non-metals generally adopt non-ium suffixes, the selected names for elements 117 and 118 should consider the elements' physical and chemical properties. Predictions about the properties abound, especially concerning whether or not element 118 is a noble gas35,36, but these elements only exist fleetingly in particle accelerators. Although methods for analysing the chemical properties of elements 117 and 118 have been proposed37, a lack of chemical knowledge will not stop the naming process. IUPAC's present recommendation does not consider the properties of the element as a factor in the form of its name34. Though future chemists and students would be best served by nomenclature choices based on chemical properties, this is not the current plan. Worse yet, the current guidelines ignore historical precedent, as well as the use of element names as a tool in explaining chemistry. Linguistic consistency would seem to support using -ine for halogens and -on for noble elements. For more than 140 years -ium has been applied exclusively to metallic elements, whereas halogens and noble gases have been given -ine and -on suffixes respectively. Despite elements becoming increasingly metallic lower in the periodic table, the use of -ium for new halogens or noble gases would not be based on established chemical principles or historical precedent, perhaps leading to linguistic confusion and educational difficulties. References 1. Simon, J. Ambix 49, 206–226 (2002). 2. Lavoisier, A. Elements of Chemistry 417 (Edinburgh, 1790). 3. Trofast, J. Chem. Int. 33, 16–19 (IUPAC, 2011). 4. Weeks, M. E. J. Chem. Educ. 9, 2065–2078 (1932). 5. Ramsay, W. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 58, 65–67 (1895). 6. Adams, E. Q. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 42, 2205–2208 (1920). 7. Friend, J. N. Nature 119, 199 (1927). 8. Wolfenden, A. Nature 211, 632 (1966). 9. Pauling, L. College Chemistry: An Introductory Textbook of General Chemistry 2nd edn, 85 (W. H. Freeman, 1957). 10. Anonymous. in The Quarterly Review 8, 65–86 (London, 1813). 11. Ramsay, W. Nature 56, 378–382 (1897). 12. Rayleigh, L. & Ramsay, W. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 57, 265–287 (1894). 13. Kauffman, G. B. Chem. Educator 9, 378–383 (2004). 14. Ramsay, W. & Travers, M. W. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 63, 437–440 (1898). 15. Ramsay, W. & Travers, M. W. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 63, 405–408 (1898). 16. Davy, H. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 99, 39–104 (1809). 17. Davy, H. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 104, 62–73 (1814). 18. Thomson, T. A System of Chemistry or Inorganic Bodies 742 (Baldwin & Cradock, 1831). 19. Davy, H. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 101, 1–35 (1811). 20. Siegfried, R. J. Chem. 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Pershina, V., Borschevsky, A., Eliav, E. & Kaldor, U. J. Chem. Phys. 129, 144106 (2008). 37. Serov, A. et al. Radiochim. Acta 99, 593–599 (2011). Download references Rights and permissions To obtain permission to re-use content from this article visit RightsLink. About this article Publication history Published 31 March 2013 DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1610 |
I'm an avid Surface Book user. It's my main laptop that I take everywhere with me. It's been my main laptop since it came to the UK in early 2016, and I've been using it every since. I absolutely love my Surface Book, more so than any other laptop I've ever used. Yesterday, however, my new Surface Laptop arrived. Here are my first impressions. The Laptop I've been pretty open about my thoughts on the Surface Book. But I don't love everything about it. I dislike the hinge when closed because it makes the laptop feel thicker than it actually is. I also dislike how heavy it is compared to other Ultrabooks, and above all, I dislike how top-heavy the Surface Book is. Apart from those three things, the Surface Book is basically perfect. I've been using the Surface Laptop for about a day at this point, and it looks like Microsoft has fixed those three issues I had with the Surface Book. It's not top heavy, which is great for "lapability." It doesn't have that silly hinge design, meaning it's super thin when closed, and it's also not as heavy as the Surface Book, which is another bonus, especially considering I travel everywhere with my laptop. So, from the get-go, Microsoft appears to have fixed the problems I had with the Surface Book. Literally all of them. I'm not an avid pen user, and I almost never detach the screen on my Surface Book, so the Surface Laptop missing this capability is a non-issue for me. I will admit, however, I prefer the cold aluminum base on the Surface Book compared to the Surface Laptop's new Alcantara base. I don't dislike the Alcantara. In fact, I think it looks incredible. I just don't particularly like how it feels. I much prefer the premium metal over fabric. I've only had the Laptop for a day, so I can't really comment on whether the Alcantara stains. So far it's held up tremendously well, but I'm not exactly messy when around my laptop. Of course, the Surface Laptop also comes bundled with Windows 10 S, which I haven't hung around with for too long yet. I could get by with Windows 10 S, but I'd much rather have the freedom to install programs from outside the Store if I ever need to. The upgrade to Windows 10 Pro is free until the end of the year, so I took advantage of that straight away. My Surface Laptop is the Intel Core i5 with 8GB Ram and 256GB Storage. My Surface Book is also the Intel Core i5 with 8GB RAM, but the Book only came with 128GB storage at that spec configuration. The Laptop is rocking an Intel chip Kaby Lake over Skylake, and it is incredibly fast waking up from sleep and logging in with Windows Hello. In fact, it's much faster than my Surface Book. The Kaby Lake chips also improve sleep, so when listening to music I can close the lid, have the Laptop go into "sleep" mode, but continue to play music. This is similar to how tablets or phones work. I'm not sure how useful this will be on a laptop, but it's good to have nonetheless. |
Clear Creek Annabel Lee, my purebred Chessie she-bitch, has successfully graduated from puppy kindergarten. Please feel free to express your congratulations in the form of emphatic atta-boy slaps on my ass. In addition to "sit" and "give me five" — tricks that I taught young Annabel myself — as a result of the six-week course, she has an arsenal of new skills. Annabel can sit and stay for over a minute, she can lie down and she can heel, sticking to the back of my foot regardless of what speed I go (unless it's too slow, in which case she sits down in a very unladylike fashion and sighs defeatedly). She is quite adept at the "leave it" command, generally dropping whatever offending item she has picked up or slinking away with it, knowing she has done wrong, then peeing. Plus, she will now come to me from more than twelve feet away, up from six, and yes, I did laugh like a child when the instructor announced that we'd be working on our "six-foot come." Like a giddy, goddamn child. But even though Annabel is now the proud holder of a diploma that she promptly ripped into a thousand pieces, there are still many, many problems with my curly-coated she-bitch. Her insensitive treatment of her diploma is indicative of a far greater flaw: She tears everything up. She recently shredded a reporter's notebook chock-full of important notes. A pair of Rockies tickets got eaten. And if you come over to my house, you'll no doubt think me an uncouth slob, because there is no toilet paper in any of the toilet-paper holders. But look again, friend, and you will find the toilet paper kept high on some bathroom shelf. Because if I leave it in place, Annabel will grab onto the end of the roll and then sprint from the bathroom with demonic fervor in her eyes, TP-ing the entire house with the gusto of a gaggle of pre-pubescent Asians, who we all know are diligent at any task, even rogue delinquency. Info Chesapeake Bay retriever Oh, she also eats anything. Anything. Go ahead, ask me about something. |
Ryanair charged distraught surgeon £160 to change his flight home - after learning his entire family had died in a house fire Dr Muhammad Taufiq Sattar had a flight booked from Dublin to Leicester He tried to change flight after police said his family may have died in a fire But Ryanair insisted on charging him £158 to get on an earlier flight His wife Shehnila Taufiq, 47, and her children Jamal, 15, Bilal, 17, and Zainab,19, had been killed in a house fire last Friday Ryanair offered its sincere condolences and a full refund to Dr Sattar A teenager has been charged with murder in relation to the deaths Shocked: Dr Taufig Sattar was charged nearly £160 by Ryanair to change his flight after being told his family may have died in a fire Surgeon Muhammad Taufiq Sattar had to pay nearly £160 to change his regular evening Ryanair flight to the UK to an earlier one moments after he was told it was likely his family were dead. The 52-year-old flew over to see his family in Leicester almost every week and had his return ticket booked to travel last Friday as usual. But after being woken and told at 3am last Friday that his family’s house was on fire, he immediately changed his plans deciding he needed to get over to the UK as soon as possible. Arriving in Dublin Airport at around 5.30am, and just moments after Leicester Police had confirmed by phone that no member of his family had managed to escape the blaze, he approached the Ryanair check-in desk to see if he could change his ticket. Distraught, and with tears streaming down his face, he explained why he had to change his flight from 9.40pm to East Midlands Airport in Leicester later in the day so he could catch the 6.30am flight to Birmingham instead. But he was told he would have to buy a new ticket. The stunned neurosurgeon produced his credit card and was promptly charged €187.46 - approximately £158 - for a one-way ticket to Birmingham. In his first interview since returning to his west Dublin home in Castleknock on Wednesday night, he told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘I don’t want to make a big deal about it but it did shock me. I really did not expect them to charge me. ‘I thought, given the circumstances, they might just let me transfer flights, as I had already paid for a return fare.’ Last night, Ryanair issued a brief statement after receiving questions about the matter from the Irish Daily Mail. Tragedy: Bilal Taufiq Sattar (left) and his brother Jamal (right) bothdied with their mother Shehnila in the Leicester house fire in the early hours last Friday In a statement, the airline said: ‘Ryanair offers its sincere condolences to Dr Sattar and confirmed that in the circumstances it will provide a full refund of any monies paid last Friday.’ Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary confirmed a letter of condolence had been sent to Dr Al Sattar, along with a an apology for the way the budget airline had handled the situation. 'I think you have to make exceptions in cases like that and we made an exception last night when we became aware of it,' Mr O’Leary said. 'We want to respond sensitively to these cases.' Mr O’Leary added Dr Al Sattar had been refunded the extra charge and said that the booking change was handled according to the airline’s policy, which staff are told to implement without exception or variation. Dr Taufiq Sattar welcomed news last night a teenager has been charged with four counts of murder in relation to the deaths of his family. Leicester Police announced last night that there was ‘sufficient evidence’ to charge the 18-year-old male and that it was ‘in the public interest for a prosecution to take place’. The accused is expected to appear at Leicester Magistrates’ Court today. The charges against him follow the arrest of six people in connection with the fire at Dr Taufiq’s home in Leicester last Friday morning. All but one of the six had been previously released without charge. Police and firefighters were called to the building in the Spinney Hills area of Leicester at about 12.35am on Friday last week. A teenager has been arrested in connection with the fire Shehnila Taufiq, 47, daughter Zainab, 19, and sons Bilal, 17, and Jamal, 15, all tragically perished in the blaze, which started around 12.30am. Although 52-year-old Dr Taufiq Sattar lives in Dublin, he visited his family three Fridays in every month. They had moved to Leicester five years ago to complete Islamic studies. But they had been due to all return to Ireland in the next few months to teach at a new Islamic education centre he purchased recently. Dr Sattar said: ‘I do not want to make any comment whatsoever about the investigation. ‘But I am very happy that there has been a major development and I hope that this means I might be able to have my family’s bodies returned to me for burial.’ Steve Chappell, Chief Crown Prosecutor at Crown Prosecution Service East Midlands said: 'The evidence has been reviewed by a Crown Advocate from the CPS East Midlands Complex Casework Unit, who has decided that there is sufficient evidence to charge and that it is in the public interest for a prosecution to take place.’ |
Cohen writes: "Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one of the more important liberal litigators and jurists of her generation. She has been trailblazer on the issue of women's legal rights and a powerful voice for progressive causes as a justice on the highest US court in the land. And she must retire. Right now." Ruth Bader Ginsburg enters for the 2010 State of the Union address. (photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivias/EPA) Ruth Bader Ginsburg Should Do All Liberals a Favor and Retire Now By Michael A Cohen, Guardian UK The longer Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer wait to retire, the more likely a GOP president will pick their supreme court successors uth Bader Ginsburg is one of the more important liberal litigators and jurists of her generation. She has been trailblazer on the issue of women's legal rights and a powerful voice for progressive causes as a justice on the highest US court in the land. And she must retire. Right now. While we're at it, Stephen Breyer should retire too. This call has nothing to do with either justice's job performance. Ginsburg's commanding dissent in last year's 5-4 decision to overturn a key provision of the Voting Rights Act is compelling evidence that she remains a vital member of the court. But no longer is the decision of when to retire about them; rather it's about what comes after they leave the court. If Ginsburg and Breyer wait to retire, it will only serve to maximize the possibility that a Republican president will choose their successor and in the process undo much of what they've worked for their entire careers. To be sure, I'm not the first person to make this argument and Ginsburg has publicly pushed back on talk of her leaving. What's changed in recent weeks, however, are new poll numbers that suggest Democrats are at very real risk of losing their majority in the Senate. While such an outcome next fall would be demoralizing for Democrats, it wouldn't have much of a policy impact. No matter who controls the Senate, House Republicans are hardly leaping at the opportunity to work with President Obama. It would, however, make it much harder for Democrats to fill the judiciary with progressive judges. Even worse, it would increase the possibility that President Ted Cruz, Rand Paul or Paul Ryan might appoint Ginsburg and Breyer's replacements, which is a risk that, as liberals, they simply shouldn't be taking. The argument for Ginsburg's early retirement is often predicated on her advanced age (she is 80) and her bouts with pancreatic and colon cancer (Breyer is 75. While the case for him to go is strong, it's not as strong as it is for his colleague). Leaving the court before the end of President Obama's term would allow him to choose their successors. These political calculations are based, in some measure, on when Obama's term of office ends in 2016. But what if Senate Republicans take control of the body in November? Considering that Harry Reid was forced to employ the nuclear option against the filibuster to get Obama's lower court judges past Senate GOP obstruction tactics, does anyone really doubt that Republicans would block Obama's supreme court nominees? Unlike today where Republicans would have to take the unprecedented step of using the filibuster to stop a potential nominee, a GOP-controlled Senate could simply vote one down with a 51-vote majority. Democrats would have little recourse to stop them. Then, if a Republican were to be elected president in 2016, they could put two conservatives judges in Ginsburg and Breyer's place, as well as choose new judges to replace Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, should they step down. The result would be a virtually unbreakable conservative majority on the court for the next 20 to 30 years. The potential impact of this is hard to overstate. Two years ago, the court was one vote shy of overturning the signature piece of progressive legislation of the past four decades – Obamacare. This past summer, a 5-4 majority overturned key provisions of the Voting Rights Act and only the vote of Justice Anthony Kennedy allowed for the overturn of the Defense of Marriage Act. Liberals are already at a disadvantage on the court, with Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voting in conservative lockstep and Roberts and Kennedy often not far behind. For liberals, swapping Ginsburg for a conservative judge would be catastrophic. Overturning the landmark abortion case, Roe v Wade, would be only the tip of the iceberg. Of course, this scenario may not necessarily occur. The Senate while looking more and more likely to go red is still a toss-up and in 2016, Senate Democrats would be at a significant advantage with the GOP having to protect a host of vulnerable seats. And while it's certainly possible a Republican could win the presidency in 2016, the smart money is still on President Clinton II. Nonetheless, as President Gore will remind you, nothing about presidential elections is written in stone. Even if there is a 10% chance that Republicans capture the White House in 2016 (and it's almost certainly much higher than that) there is simply no good reason for Ginsburg and Breyer to take that risk. Considering how politicized the Court has become – and the extent to which partisanship increasingly seems to trump judicial precedent – their membership in the liberal block is actually more important than their particular legal acumen. Retiring now would allow President Obama to do what he's done with his first two supreme court picks – choose young, relatively progressive judges who will remain on the court for decades to come. While it would be unusual to step down in the middle of the court's current session, Ginsburg and Breyer could announce their intention to retire in the summer and thus give the president and Senate Democrats plenty of time to get new nominees in place. To those who argue that basing a retirement on political or ideological considerations would politicize the court … been there, done that. Unless, of course, people think it's a coincidence that liberal judges such as Harry Blackman, John Paul Stevens and David Souter retired while Democrats sat in the White House; and Sandra O'Connor and Warren Burger just happened to leave the bench while the GOP controlled the presidency. When Earl Warren retired from the court in June 1968 it was done, in large measure, to ensure that Lyndon Johnson named his replacement – a gambit that ended up failing when the Senate refused to confirm his preferred successor Abe Fortas. The supreme court is a political body just like any other and they are hardly immune to the growing partisanship and polarization in American politics. There is no point in denying what is obvious to most court observers. In an era of growing political dysfunction in which House leaders get praised for passing bills that were once largely considered pro forma (ie the debt limit), the Congress has become a black hole for social progress and reform. The courts and, in particular, the highest body in the land are ground zero for policy debates that will likely affect the lives of millions of Americans. With the make-up of the current nine justices in such a narrow ideological balance swinging it one direction or the other will have long-term implications – ones that Ginsburg and Breyer must factor into their thinking about when to step down. That moment is now. No matter when she departs the court, Ginsburg will enjoy a sterling reputation as a progressive jurist. Breyer doesn't have the same esteemed standing, but from the perspective of liberals, he's been a strong and consistent progressive voice for nearly two decades. Now the best thing they can do for the positions they hold dear, the issues they care most deeply about and the liberals that have long relied on them is to pass the torch. |
Asha Bhosle never fails to win our hearts with her soothing and melodious voice. Being the most talented and esteemed singer, Ashaji is definitely a boon to our Film industry. However, her recent tweet came out as a shock to all! We all know that these days, majority of Twitter users have forgotten the element of ‘Humanity’. Yes, recently, Ashaji just tweeted ‘Jai Hind’ on account of Indian Army’s successful surgical strikes on the terrorists, and she must have never even expected in the wildest of her dreams that such abusive responses from Pakistanis would pour in; have a look at these tweets.. Jai Hind tweet! Aaja Bho***! i dnt speak your name at my home. . . . .it looks like "aaja bhosri"#asshole — باروندا جیکی (@Chandra_Podri) September 29, 2016 Tharki buddhi! Asha bhosle is a tharki, war hungry buddhi, who can only scream but not sing. Oh haan, jisse izzat bhi raas nai aati. — M. 🇵🇰 (@notcheenijapani) September 30, 2016 OMG so abusive! https://twitter.com/india_chutiya_h/status/781851647106572288 Abey oh budhiya! abey oh Buriyaa ghar baith q pichlee umar main uranay Niklee ho — Sherri #Ahmad19 FC🇵🇰 (@SherriRajput19) September 30, 2016 As soon as Ashaji saw these tweets, she gave a befitting reply to the abusers! However, you won’t believe your eyes on reading the reply; have a look… OMG! Her reply is indeed a slap on the face of trollers, is’t it? However, after seeing this reply, there was one Pakistani user, who felt Ashaji is keeping such names for Pakistanis. Asha replied like a boss! These hate comments didn’t stop! Ashaji finally had to ignore and sign off with this tweet… We have loved this reply by Asha Bhosle and we are sure, you too did! If she wouldn’t have tweeted, users would have spammed her Twitter with India-Pakistan issue, don’t you think so? Do share your views in our comments section below. Share Your Views In Comments Below |
"Only tobacco prices have risen faster than electricity prices over the past decade," Mr Gibson said. While Denmark is home to the biggest electricity bills in the world, Australians faced higher network costs than Denmark, Mr Gibson said. Network costs make up about half of Australian electricity bills. Because electricity networks of poles and wires are natural monopolies, the prices they can charge are set by regulation. NSW networks have launched a legal challenge before the tribunal over a determination by the Australian Energy Regulator which, if it stands, will result in savings of between $106 and $313 this financial year for NSW households, depending on their provider. A survey of 10,000 One Big Switch members in June and July found 47 per cent said they had stopped running their heater this winter to save costs, "even though I'm cold". Mr Gibson said this placed elderly Australians at risk. "This raises health and safety issues, particularly for people who are unwell," Mr Gibson said. A consumer advocate and spokesman for the Fifty Up Club, Christopher Zinn, also told the tribunal that older Australians were turning off their heaters in a bid to save costs. Because they are at home more often, older Australians faced higher bills for running lighting and heating, he said. "There is a thriftiness around older Australians that allows them to save on their bills, but there needs to be a greater focus to move them away from just being thrifty to ways to be more efficient, that allows them to save on electricity without going cold." Older Australians also went to bed earlier, took fewer showers, spend more days in shopping centres and even prepared fewer baked dinners in a bid to save money, Mr Zinn said. "Again, people are taking decisions that aren't really helping them, such is the frustration." Mr Gibson said consumers were "emphatic" in their support for the AER's price decision to award them with some savings. "They desperately want some relief from soaring power prices in NSW," he told the forum. "They feel the price-setting processes in the past have been out of touch with families setting household budgets in a country where the cost of living is already very high. "We're asking the tribunal to take into account the overwhelming view of consumers that we are desperately in need of some price relief." The chief executive officer of the Consumer Action Law Centre, Gerard Brody, told the hearing that Victorian consumers enjoyed much lower prices than NSW households because electricity networks there were far more efficient. "It's pretty clear the proportion of the overall bill that Victorians pay that is attributable to network costs is lower than the proportion paid by NSW consumers," Mr Brody said. "We should not have an outcome where NSW consumers are paying more than Victorian consumers. The goal should be the lowest cost possible to deliver the necessary services." The centre's legal counselling services were seeing increased demand for help for people struggling with electricity bills, and even facing bankruptcy. Mr Brody said it was the tribunal's responsibility to make a decision in the "long-term interest of consumers" and this should be the 'lowest cost". "We do not believe consumers' interests are necessarily the same as economic efficiency." A monopolist engaging in price discrimination could lead to an economically efficient outcome, producing "more total economic benefit", Mr Brody said. "But it's all captured by owners, and consumers receive little or no benefit." A spokesman for the Energy Users Association of Australia, which represents business customers, Hugh Grant, told the tribunal that electricity users would pay 30 per cent more than necessary under the AER decision. Mr Grant accused the AER decision as being "arbitrary, unprincipled and in many cases illogical" in the way it had applied benchmarks for efficiency and rates of return. Electricity networks have levelled similar accusations, but in the opposite direction. The acting chief executive officer of Essential Energy, Gary Humphreys, told Fairfax Media that it was necessary for the networks to raise more revenue than had been allowed. "We have had two years of real price reductions in the last two years. We started the reform journey two years ago to take as much cost out of our business as we can and that will flow through to consumers." "There's got to be a trade off between safety, reliability and the affordability of the network." The assistant commissioner of the NSW rural fire service, Stuart Midgley, told the tribunal it was vital that the networks continued to fund bushfire mitigation and emergency response programs. "Vegetation management around electricity poles, wires and infrastructure is a critical bush fire mitigation measure. Any reduction in vegetation clearing around electrical assets has the potential to lead to higher ignitions." But EUAA's Mr Grant accused the networks of a "scare campaign" on bushfires and said networks could choose to cut costs elsewhere. The Honourable Justice John Mansfield, the president of the Australian Competition Tribunal, said it was the job of the tribunal to make a "materially preferable" decision, conceding this was a "very amorphous concept". Justice Mansfield said it was also necessary to consider the quality of service, not just cost. "Lowest cost possibly means pretty mediocre services," Justice Mansfield said. Lowest cost was "an easy thing to say but it's not an easy thing to apply". This is the first time that community groups are being consulted as part of a challenge by electricity networks to the regulator's electricity price decision. "I must say that we're looking very much forward to it because it's important. We expect to have some strong views," Justice Mansfield said. The hearings will conclude on Friday. |
2013 NFL Draft Grades - Choose Team Arizona Cardinals Atlanta Falcons Baltimore Ravens Buffalo Bills Carolina Panthers Chicago Bears Cincinnati Bengals Cleveland Browns Dallas Cowboys Denver Broncos Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Houston Texans Indianapolis Colts Jacksonville Jaguars Kansas City Chiefs Miami Dolphins Minnesota Vikings New England Patriots New Orleans Saints New York Giants New York Jets Oakland Raiders Philadelphia Eagles Pittsburgh Steelers San Diego Chargers San Francisco 49ers Seattle Seahawks St. Louis Rams Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tennessee Titans Washington Redskins Green Bay Packers (Last Year: 11-5) 2013 NFL Season Preview: Quarterbacks Offensive Line Secondary Running Backs Defensive Line Special Teams Receivers Linebackers Coaching *** 2013 NFL DRAFT GRADES, OFFSEASON NEEDS BELOW COMMENT BOARD *** 2013 NFL Draft Grade: A+ 2013 NFL Draft Individual Grades: A- Grade A+ Grade A Grade B- Grade A+ Grade B Grade B Grade C Grade B Grade C Grade B Grade Season Summary: Offseason Moves: Vikings sign ILB Desmond Bishop Packers cut ILB Desmond Bishop Raiders sign S Charles Woodson Packers sign TE Matthew Mulligan Chiefs sign DE/OLB Frank Zombo Packers re-sign ILB Brad Jones Vikings sign WR Greg Jennings Buccaneers sign TE Tom Crabtree Packers re-sign ILB Robert Francois Colts sign DE/OLB Erik Walden Packers tender CB Sam Shields Packers tender C Evan Dietrich-Smith Packers cut S/CB Charles Woodson Packers announce retirement of WR Donald Driver Packers announce retirement of C Jeff Saturday Team Needs: Center: Jeff Saturday was voted to the Pro Bowl despite being benched in favor of Evan Dietrich-Smith. The center position desperately needs to be upgraded. Drafted J.C. Tretter Running Back: DuJuan Harris had a nice playoff run, but he probably can't be counted on to carry the load. The Packers have to find a true starting back. They can try one in the first round, but there will be plenty of options available in Round 2. Drafted Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin Wide Receiver: Greg Jennings is a free agent. If he leaves, Aaron Rodgers will still have Randall Cobb, Jordy Nelson and James Jones at his disposal, but none of those guys are No. 1 receivers. General manager Ted Thompson may opt to draft one at the end of the first round. Rush Linebacker: Green Bay's front office needs to make sure that Erik Walden isn't on the field very much next year. He is terrible. Offensive Tackle: The Packers need to bring in another tackle for depth purposes so Don Barclay doesn't have to see the field next year. Drafted David Bakhtiari Tight End: Jermichael Finley may not be back next year because of contractual issues. If so, Green Bay could be looking at Tyler Eifert or Zach Ertz this April. Safety: Safety depth is needed in the wake of Charles Woodson's released. Morgan Burnett and MD Jennings can start, but the position is now awfully thin. Drafted Micah Hyde Quarterback: The Packers could stand to have a better backup behind Aaron Rodgers. I wouldn't trust Graham Harrell. Kicker: Green Bay should find some competition for Mason Crosby, who was second in missed field goals this past season. 2013 NFL Free Agent Signings: Matthew Mulligan, TE, Rams. Age: 28. -- Signed with Packers Green Bay Packers Free Agents: Salary Cap: TBA. Sam Shields (RFA), Packers. Age: 25. Tendered by Packers (2nd round) Sam Shields missed some time with a high ankle sprain but otherwise enjoyed a stellar 2012 campaign in which he became a legitimate shutdown cornerback. If he keeps this up, he'll be rich come Spring 2014 - if not sooner. Desmond Bishop, ILB, Packers. Age: 29. Signed with Vikings (1 year, $1.5 million) Desmond Bishop was released for some strange reason. He's one of the better 3-4 inside linebackers in the NFL, though he missed all of 2012 with a torn hamstring. Greg Jennings, WR, Packers. Age: 29. Signed with Vikings Greg Jennings is a talented receiver, but he may be overvalued because he's always worked with either Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers. Plus, he tends to get banged up quite frequently. Brad Jones, ILB, Packers. Age: 27. Re-signed with Packers Desmond Bishop's season-ending injury was initially thought to be a big deal, but it turned out to be very minor because Brad Jones stepped in and did a great job. Jones played all three downs highly effectively. He deserves a big contract. Charles Woodson, S/CB, Packers. Age: 36. Signed with Raiders (1 year) Charles Woodson was released because of financial reasons, so it's not like the Packers don't think he can't play anymore. While Woodson isn't nearly the elite defensive back he used to be, he can still get the job done as a soon-to-be 37-year-old (in October). Evan Dietrich-Smith, C/G, Packers. Age: 27. Tendered by Packers (original) A capable lineman who's versatile enough to play all three positions on the interior. He was an upgrade over the decrepit Jeff Saturday. Cedric Benson, RB, Packers. Age: 30. Slow and sluggish, Cedric Benson averaged 2.9 yards per carry or worse in three of his five starts in 2012. He'll be 31 at the end of the 2013 campaign. Erik Walden, DE/OLB, Packers. Age: 28. -- Signed with Colts Tom Crabtree (RFA), TE, Packers. Age: 27. -- Signed with Buccaneers Ryan Grant, RB, Packers. Age: 30. Frank Zombo (RFA), DE/OLB, Packers. Age: 26. -- Signed with Chiefs Rob Francois (RFA), ILB, Packers. Age: 28. -- Re-signed with Packers Donald Driver, WR, Packers. Age: 38. 2013 NFL Free Agent Positions: QB | RB | FB | WR | TE | OT | G | C | DE | DT | OLB | ILB | CB | S | K/P | FA Grades 2013 NFL Draft Grades - Choose Team Arizona Cardinals Atlanta Falcons Baltimore Ravens Buffalo Bills Carolina Panthers Chicago Bears Cincinnati Bengals Cleveland Browns Dallas Cowboys Denver Broncos Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Houston Texans Indianapolis Colts Jacksonville Jaguars Kansas City Chiefs Miami Dolphins Minnesota Vikings New England Patriots New Orleans Saints New York Giants New York Jets Oakland Raiders Philadelphia Eagles Pittsburgh Steelers San Diego Chargers San Francisco 49ers Seattle Seahawks St. Louis Rams Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tennessee Titans Washington Redskins 2019 NFL Mock Draft - Feb. 23 2020 NFL Mock Draft - Feb. 14 NFL Picks - Feb. 4 Fantasy Football Rankings - Sept. 5 2019 NBA Mock Draft - Aug. 13 NFL Power Rankings - June 3 TE Matthew Mulligan.DE/DT Datone Jones, RB Eddie Lacy, OT/G David Bakhtiari, G/OT J.C. Tretter, RB Johnathan Franklin, CB/S Micah Hyde. Packers Rookie Forecast RB Cedric Benson, RB Ryan Grant, WR Greg Jennings, WR Donald Driver, TE Tom Crabtree, C Jeff Saturday, DE/OLB Erik Walden, DE/OLB Frank Zombo, ILB Desmond Bishop, S Charles Woodson.The Packers lost a player who has been viewed as their top receiver for several years this offseason. Will this derail one of the top offenses in the NFL? Not by a long shot.Greg Jennings took the money and ran to Minnesota, but Green Bay's offense won't skip a beat. Aaron Rodgers is still the best quarterback in the NFL. He didn't have his greatest season in 2012, yet still compiled 4,295 passing yards, 41 touchdowns (39 passing, two on the ground), 259 rushing yards and just eight interceptions. He was aptly rewarded with a 7-year, $130.75 million contract in April.Despite losing Jennings, Rodgers still has a very dynamic supporting cast. The most intriguing weapon is slot receiver Randall Cobb, who caught 80 balls for 954 yards and eight touchdowns in his second NFL campaign. He also rushed for 132 more yards. He's a dynamic player who will see an even greater role in 2013; there's some talk that he could catch 100 passes this year.Jordy Nelson and James Jones will be the starting outside receivers. The second half of Nelson's 2012 season was derailed by injuries, but he figures to be back to full strength. Jones, meanwhile, had always been a disappointment because he was prone to so many dropped passes. He got his act together last year, however, as he hauled in a ridiculous 14 touchdowns. Perhaps Jones' improvement can rub off on the sluggish tight end Jermichael Finley, who was brought back for 2013 despite never coming close to meeting expectations.Rodgers could be even more dangerous this season because the Packers have a new offensive element that they haven't possessed since the Ahman Green days. Green Bay now has a potent running back who can move the chains efficiently on the ground and another who poses as a threat as a receiver out of the backfield. Green Bay spent a second-round pick on Eddie Lacy, a tough runner who would have been selected much earlier if it weren't for injuries. Two rounds later, the Packers chose Johnathan Franklin, who fell inexplicably. Franklin, perceived by some to be the top back in the 2013 class, caught 33 balls for UCLA last season. He's been compared by some to Warrick Dunn.The only concern regarding the Green Bay offense is the front line. Rodgers took 51 sacks this past season, which would explain why he had slightly downgraded numbers in 2012. That figure is way too high, especially for a mobile quarterback. To help remedy this situation, the Packers spent two relatively early selections on linemen David Bakhtiari and J.C. Tretter. The former will compete for the right tackle job with Marshall Newhouse, who surrendered nine sacks as Rodgers' inept blind-side protector last year. Bryan Bulaga, who was knocked out for the season in November with a fractured hip, will take over at left tackle.Unfortunately, Tretter is out for six months after fracturing his fibula 11 days after signing his rookie contract. He was supposed to compete with the pedestrian Evan Dietrich-Smith at center. That will once again be a position of weakness for Green Bay - Jeff Saturday was miserable there in 2012 - but the Packers at least have two talented guards flanking him. T.J. Lang is solid, while Josh Sitton is easily the best blocker in the entire group.Defensive coordinator Dom Capers better have spent the entire offseason figuring out how to contain the read option. His stop unit looked completely inept against it when the 49ers demolished them in the playoffs. Green Bay will battle San Francisco in the opener, so we'll see how much Capers has learned from his abysmal game plan in the divisional playoff battle.The Packers spent a first-round pick on a player who can apply lots of pressure on the quarterback, which will help their efforts against Kaepernick and other read-option signal-callers. Datone Jones will give Green Bay a consistent pass-rushing presence on the defensive line, which is something it did not have this past season outside of Mike Neal, who was just a situational player. Jones will start along with stud B.J. Raji and run-stuffer Ryan Pickett.Of course, Green Bay's top pass-rusher will once again be Clay Matthews, who registered 13 sacks in 2012 and was subsequently rewarded with a 5-year, $66 million contract. He'll continue to dominate at one of the rush linebacker spots, so the main concern here is Nick Perry's progression. Perry, a first-round pick in 2012, started a few games across from Matthews, but did nothing. He was ultimately knocked out for the year in Week 6 because of a wrist injury. He'll need to improve for Green Bay's stop unit to look at least functional against the better quarterbacks.Getting Desmond Bishop back looked to be a big boost for the Packers as well, but he was released in June after missing all of 2012 with a torn hamstring. Brad Jones performed well in his absence next to A.J. Hawk, so there won't be too much of a drop-off. Hawk, meanwhile, was pretty mediocre. He's just an average starter who neither really helps nor hurts the team.Bishop wasn't the only defensive veteran to leave this offseason. Charles Woodson walked away from the team after six-and-a-half highly productive seasons in Green Bay. The half year was in 2012, as Woodson played in just seven games. He was clearly declining, but still happened to be the heart and soul of the secondary. His absence created a big hole at safety next to the talented Morgan Burnett. M.D. Jennings, currently projected to start next to Burnett, is just mediocre. Green Bay was expected to find help in this area during the offseason, but failed to do so.The Jennings spot is the one hole in Green Bay's secondary, as the team has three outstanding cornerbacks. Tramon Williams, Sam Shields and Casey Hayward are all exceptional. The Packers are in a great spot here, as both Shields and Hayward are both very young; Hayward snagged six interceptions as a mere rookie in 2012 - and he played about two-thirds of the snaps.Green Bay is 115-38 at home since 1992 - the year Brett Favre first became a Green Bay Packer. Aaron Rodgers is continuing the tradition; he's 28-5 as a host the past four years.Mason Crosby is as unreliable as they get. He was just 21-of-33 last year, including a dreadful 2-of-9 from 50-plus. He'll once again be Green Bay's kicker.Punter Tim Masthay was just 21st in net average, but he did tie for seventh in terms of attempts placed inside the 20.Green Bay's special teams were awful prior to 2011, but Randall Cobb has changed that. Cobb scored on a punt and a kickoff return in 2011, and then added another touchdown last year. The Packers didn't surrender any special-teams scores.The Packers have a brutal schedule. Their first three opponents (and five of their initial seven foes) all made the playoffs last year. They barely have any easy games.Go here for the Packers Rookie Forecast , a page with predictions like which rookie will bust and which rookie will become a solid starter.Despite having a ridiculously taxing schedule, the Packers are expected to win the NFC North and compete for homefield advantage. As long as they have Aaron Rodgers, they'll always be in contention for the Lombardi Trophy.12-4 (1st in NFC North)Outside of the running back, center and safety positions, the Packers don't have a glaring need on the roster. They can pretty much sit back and take the best player available, though they need to keep in mind that they have several key players hitting free agency in 2014 like James Jones, Jermichael Finley and Morgan Burnett.Ted Thompson is one of the best general managers in the NFL, so it's no surprise that the Packers came away with one of the top draft classes this year. They filled needs all while taking players who were great values at each pick.Datone Jones was a solid first-round selection, as he'll give the Packers a much-needed pass-rushing presence up front. There were even better choices later, as Eddie Lacy inexplicably fell to No. 61 despite being discussed as a first-round option early in the draft process. The Packers also added another running back, Johnathan Franklin, in the fourth round even though he was considered by some to be the top player at his position in this class. Green Bay couldn't run the ball at all last year, and now the team suddenly has a tremendous backfield.The Packers also made some other solid picks, including David Bakhtiari, who has left tackle potential. Micah Hyde, chosen on the third day (No. 159), played corner at Iowa, but could move to safety to fill a hole at that spot.Datone Jones has been discussed as high as No. 19 to the Giants, so the Packers are getting good value with Datone Jones. They're also getting a tremendous upgrade on the defensive line. Green Bay was completely obliterated by Colin Kaepernick, so the team needed to find players to help them stop the read option. Jones is a great fit, as Ted Thompson continues to be one of the better drafters in the NFL.Follow @walterfootball for updates.Ted Thompson makes this looks so easy. Not only did he sit and wait for the top running back in the 2013 NFL Draft; he also moved down and still managed to maintain him. Eddie Lacy would have been a first-round pick if it weren't for an injury that he'll quickly recover from. He'll be a tremendous upgrade in the backfield.Ted Thompson loves versatile linemen, and David Bakhtiari definitely fits the bill. He can play both tackle and guard positions, so he'll definitely help somewhere on an offensive line that needed to be upgraded. Baktiari was an early third-round projection, so the value is good.Another versatile offensive lineman, though J.C. Tretter is more of a guard whereas David Bakhtiari should be at tackle. I'm not as crazy about this pick because I feel like Tretter could have been taken a round later.Wow, what a steal! Johnathan Franklin was viewed as the top running back in this class by some, so it's inexplicable that he fell all the way to the bottom of Round 4. Projected as a player similar to Warrick Dunn, Franklin will form a tremendous one-two punch with Eddie Lacy out of the backfield.Micah Hyde played cornerback at Iowa, but he may have to move to safety in the NFL because of speed concerns. Ted Thompson could be fine with that. He likes versatile players and needed help at the safety position. I thought Hyde would go in the middle of the fifth round, so this is the right range for him.It's no surprise that the Packers spent two selections on the defensive line because they have some expiring contracts coming up soon. Josh Boyd is a solid selection who fits the range as a fifth-round prospect.Nate Palmer wasn't a draftable prospect, but that's not a big deal at the end of the sixth round. What's more surprising is that the Packers waited this long to take a pass-rusher.Wide receiver is another position I thought the Packers would address earlier. Charles Johnson is a seventh-round prospect, so he makes sense at this spot. He might be able to make the team.This is a much more questionable receiver pick. It's the seventh round, but I don't think many would have considered Kevin Dorsey in the old 12-round format.Considered a seventh-round prospect, Sam Barrington should be able to contribute on special teams and provide solid depth.There weren't many teams that suffered more injuries than the Packers this past season, yet they still managed to win the division and advance to the second round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, they ran into a Colin Kaepernick buzzsaw. Aaron Rodgers did what he could, but coordinator Dom Capers inexplicably didn't have his defense prepared for the read option. |
Polling shows a large majority of voters have chosen sides on State Question 779, the proposed 1 percent sales tax increase for education. But millions of dollars will be spent in the coming months in an effort to lock up their votes. What voters don’t know is where the money being spent on that campaign is coming from. That’s because the groups on both sides have yet to disclose their donors, and some groups may never disclose them. Supporting the proposal, which would generate funds for teacher raises and other educational initiatives, is Oklahoma’s Children Our Future, a “social welfare” nonprofit affiliated with the Portland-based charitable nonprofit Stand for Children. Oklahoma’s Children Our Future, a 501(c)(4) group, expects to spend $6.8 million this election season, according to tax documents filed with the IRS. It has received $4 million in contributions so far, a campaign spokesman said. Opposed to the proposal are the charitable nonprofit Ignite Oklahoma and the social-welfare nonprofit OCPA Impact, though the latter said it has no plans to buy ads advocating against the proposal. Another social-welfare group, however – Catalyst Oklahoma – has already bought advertising against the state question. Catalyst Oklahoma is related to the think tank Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, according to tax records. Social-welfare nonprofits are often called “dark money” groups because they don’t have to disclose their donors. City leaders, including the Edmond City Council, have also urged citizens to vote against the measure. Recent polling shows 60 percent of voters favor the proposal, with only 6.2 percent undecided — the fewest undecided voters of any state question, said Bill Shapard, founder of Sooner Poll. The poll of nearly 400 voters was conducted in late July and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. The penny sales tax, championed by University of Oklahoma President David Boren, is one of seven statewide ballot measures to be decided by voters on Nov. 8. If approved, it would generate about $550 million annually, according to the latest estimates by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. About 70 percent is earmarked for common education, and most would be used to give classroom teachers a $5,000 salary boost. Higher education and career tech would also receive a portion. In Support With the ballot now finalized, spending and other efforts to sway voters are starting to pick up. Beginning in late August, Oklahoma’s Children Our Future began purchasing television ads, the first publicly available record of the group’s spending. The group also created a second political arm with the same name—a so-called “super PAC,” a type of political action committee that can raise and spend unlimited sums on campaigns. By contrast, dark-money nonprofits can spend no more than 49.9 percent of their funds on political activities. Federal Communications Commission records show that on Aug. 23 and Sept. 1 Oklahoma’s Children Our Future purchased more than $276,000 in television ads to run in October and November leading up to the election. Ads will run in both the Oklahoma City and Tulsa markets. IRS records show the nonprofit plans to spend an estimated $5 million on communications, which includes ads and mailers. It also budgeted about $1.5 million for personnel, $224,000 for administration and $100,000 on polling. As a dark-money nonprofit, Oklahoma’s Children Our Future won’t have to divulge its total fundraising and spending amounts until next year. It won’t have to disclose donors at all. In contrast, PACs, including the group’s super PAC, are required to disclose names of donors of more than $50 and itemize expenditures of more than $200. Often, social welfare groups are used to funnel money to an associated super PAC in order to mask donors’ identities, and most of the time the nonprofit groups do not report how much money they acquired or spent until after an election is over. Ward Curtin, a spokesman for the Yes for 779 campaign, said expenditures and contributions for the Oklahoma’s Children super PAC will be disclosed in its third quarter report to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. The report details activity through Sept. 30 and the deadline to file is Oct. 31. To date, the campaign has raised over $4 million from hundreds of donors, Curtain said. “Oklahomans from all walks of life, including school board members, small business owners, teachers, fast food workers and parents of public school children, have stepped up to the plate to donate to make sure this campaign has the funds necessary to get our message to as many voters as possible between now and Election Day,” he said. In IRS documents filed in February, Oklahoma’s Children Our Future reported having raised $725,148 by Dec. 31, with an additional $6.2 million in contributions expected in 2016. All the group’s financial support comes from private donations and Stand for Children is expected to be a major contributor. Oklahoma’s Children Our Future plans to dissolve following the election on Nov. 8, according to tax records. Stand for Children has contributed millions to political races in other states, including in Tennessee and Washington. Its political action fund, a 501(c)4, oversees state-level affiliated organizations. Stand for Children also has a 501(c)3 public charity, Stand for Children Leadership Center, which supports high school preparedness and other education initiatives. Major donors to Stand for Children, include the Tulsa-based Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, which has contributed more than $2.3 million. In Opposition Opposing the measure is Catalyst Oklahoma and its subgroup, OK United. Catalyst Oklahoma, also a dark money group, has received an unknown amount of donations this year, but it has shown fundraising power in the past. In 2014, the group, which participated in both state and municipal elections that year, raised nearly $1.4 million and spent nearly $1.2 million. Around $1.1 million of that amount came from a single donor, whose name was redacted from the document, the organization’s tax documents show. After asking for a filing extension, the group submitted its 2013 financial report to the IRS four days after the November 4, 2014, election. Catalyst Oklahoma has also made independent expenditures this year in state Senate races, spending more than $89,000 in support of four candidates, : Julie Daniels, Tim Downing, Bob Jack and Miguel Najera, according to Oklahoma Ethics Commission reports. It has also made around $58,000 in independent expenditures in federal elections, according to the FEC. Former Oklahoma Secretary of State Glenn Coffee files the group’s paperwork with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Coffee did not respond to a message seeking comment. An ad opposing State Question 779 was also published recently on Newsok.com, The Oklahoman’s website. The ad was paid for by Catalyst Oklahoma. “A one-cent sales tax could hurt MAPS. Why should we have to choose?” a voice in the ad says. MAPS is Oklahoma City’s development program funded by a 1-cent sales tax. Another political nonprofit group, OCPA Impact, also opposes the measure, noting it would raise Oklahoma’s combined state and local sales tax rate to 9.78 percent, the highest of any state. OCPA Impact also advocates at the State Capitol on multiple policy issues, and participates in advocacy with other state and national groups. David Bond, chief executive officer for OCPA Impact, said the group does not plan on buying ads opposing SQ 779 or telling people to vote a certain way. “We do want to make sure that someone is proving the facts about the sales tax increase, what the effect of the sales tax will be on Oklahoma’s economy,” Bond said. OCPA Impact is associated with the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs think tank, with which it shares offices and has a shared services agreement. OCPA is listed in its 2014 tax filings as the direct controlling entity for the dark-money group Catalyst Oklahoma. But OCPA President Jonathan Small said his group doesn’t control or donate to Catalyst and the listing only refers to the fact that one of Catalyst’s two board members at the time – its executive director, Tulsa attorney Charles Sublett – was also an OCPA board member. Sublett did not respond to messages seeking comment. A third nonprofit group associated with OCPA is the Liberty Foundation of America, which is located in the same offices. The foundation is an associate member of the State Policy Network, which includes conservative groups whose mission is “to catalyze thriving, durable freedom movements in every state, anchored with high-performing, independent think tanks.” Other Opponent Another opponent of the penny sales tax is the Edmond-based 501(c)3 public charity Ignite Oklahoma Foundation, which touted the Edmond city council vote on its website and Facebook page. (The Edmond Public Schools Foundation, by contrast, came out in support of the question.) Ignite Oklahoma, which has also advocated for business and economic development interests, was founded in June 2015 by David Lewis, vice president of an employment services company. Under IRS rules, unlike 501(c)4 groups, 501(c)3 charities cannot make independent expenditures for or against political candidates. However, IRS rules do allow public charities to make some limited contributions to committees supporting or opposing ballot measures, as well as engage in some lobbying. These groups may be involved in public policymaking by providing educational materials or forums, however. “We’ve primarily been focused on trying to provide an education-based approach on what we believe what the impact will be, as opposed to coming out and saying vote for it or don’t vote for it,” Lewis said. Lewis declined to name donors to Ignite Oklahoma. According to Oklahoma Secretary of State records, one of Ignite Oklahoma’s incorporators is A.J. Ferate, general counsel for the Oklahoma Republican Party. Lewis said Ferate does some of the legal work for Ignite Oklahoma. In late June, Ferate filed an amicus brief on behalf of Ignite Oklahoma in a state Supreme Court case brought by OCPA Impact challenging the gist of the initiative petition that led to State Question 779 being on the November ballot. The court eventually ruled that the gist was valid. |
The mayor of Seattle has altered the rules of his proposed soda tax — which would fund education for minorities–to include diet drinks because affluent white people tend to consume them more. Mayor Ed Murray of the staunchly liberal Seattle city Mayor Ed Murray of the staunchly liberal Seattle city originally proposed the soda tax during his state of the city address in February. Under his initial plan, distributors of sugary drinks would have to pay 2 cents per ounce. It would cover sodas such as Coke and Pepsi, energy drinks like Red Bull, fruit drinks, sweetened teas and bottled coffees such as those sold by Starbucks. The Mayor claimed the tax would bring $16 million in revenue that would be spent on education programs aimed at reducing disparities between the city’s white students and students of color. Advertisement But the mayor has updated the plan after the staff of the mayor’s office told him that the tax would actually disproportionately fall on poor minorities, who have higher rates of soda consumption than white residents. The proposed Seattle soda tax has run into considerable opposition. Murray changed the bill, lowering the levy to 1.75 cents per ounce and included diet drinks because they are by favored by affluent white city residents, despite the fact that most diet drinks have no calories and therefore don’t contribute to obesity. , taxing diet drinks has become “an issue of equality” to the mayor because they more likely to be consumed by “upper middle class white people” and therefore must be taxed as a way to fight “white privileged institutionalized racism.” According to Reason , taxing diet drinks has become “an issue of equality” to the mayor because they more likely to be consumed by “upper middle class white people” and therefore must be taxed as a way to fight “white privileged institutionalized racism.” The white privilege tax may be a distraction for Murray, who’s facing accusations from four men that he paid for sex and sexually abused them in the 1980s when they were teen boys. The white privilege tax may be a distraction for Murray, who’s facing accusations from four men that he paid for sex and sexually abused them in the 1980s when they were teen boys. A high profile lawsuit from one of the men filed last month claims that Murray “raped and molested him” over several years, beginning in 1986 when the man was a 15-year-old high-school dropout. Murray has denied the accusations. |
A Ferrari 250 GTO may hold records as the most expensive car sold privately and, until recently, at auction too; $38 million, however, buys you only one Ferrari 250 GTO. There are another 38 out there. This is the Rolls-Royce Sweptail. There will never be another. And it’s the most expensive new car ever commissioned. Last night, its owner (it is a man, though we don’t know much more than that for now) hosted a party on the shores of Lake Como to show his friends the result of two years’ work with Rolls-Royce at its Goodwood HQ. Today the car makes its public debut on the lawns of Como’s Villa d’Este, where it will no doubt be the star of the hotel’s annual Concorso d’Eleganza, a swimsuit parade... |
[There was a video here] When there's breaking news, especially about terrorism and national security, ABC News' Brian Ross is there. And under no circumstances should you listen to anything he says. His latest breathtakingly reckless report: Some Tea Party guy on the internet has the same name as the Dark Knight Rises shooter, so, you know, they have the same name. So there you go. Tea Party. As Mediaite has noted, not long after authorities released the shooter's incredibly common name, James Holmes, Ross ran it through his extensive network of plugged-in sources (Google) and came up with this nugget, which he relayed, live on the air, to Good Morning America's millions and millions of viewers: George Stephanopoulos: I want to go to Brian Ross here, because Brian you've been investigating the background of Jim Holmes and you found something that might be significant.... Brian Ross: There's a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea Party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year. Now, we don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it's Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado. OK then! There's some guy on the internet with the same name. That is literally all Ross had—no other connection, not one reason to even remotely suspect that it's the same Holmes. Just that there is a guy with that name, on the internet. That astonishingly stupid speculation led the geniuses at Breitbart to rebut the calumny with their own guy-named-James-Holmes, this one a registered Democrat. So there! "There are certainly more facts in our documents than in ABC News' irresponsible speculations," Joel Pollak wrote, hilariously and maddeningly. This is on top of Ross' previous breaking-news blunders: There was the time he falsely connected the 2001 anthrax attacks to Iraq; the time he described the Ft. Hood shooter's emails to Anwar al Awlaki—which the FBI knew about and regarded as related to his medical research—as attempts to "reach out" to "people associated with Al Qaeda"; and the time he falsely reported that one of the planners of the Christmas underwear bombing was a former Guantanamo detainee (the guy happened to be in Saudi custody at the time). And then, of course, there was the time he hyped the Toyota Death Machine story by passing off staged footage of a parked Toyota revving its engines as a runaway automobile. Point being: Never, ever listen to anything Ross reports unless and until it has been confirmed by another, better, reporter. UPDATE: ABC News has appended an editor's note to its online coverage of the massacre confirming that the Colorado Tea Party Jim Holmes and the mass murderer James Holmes are not the same person, and apologizing for the error. |
The next best thing to Tim Hortons No Tim Hortons near you? Us either. It's sad. At least we have this spiffy Scott & Ramona mug! Remember: you can conquer any obstacle if you have enough quarters ThinkGeek World Domination HQ is in Fairfax, Virginia, but thanks to the magic of the intarwebz, we have friends all over the world. Real life friends, Facebook friends, Twitter friends. And the ones that live near a Tim Hortons speak of it as if it were the fast food establishment of God himself. We assume that despite its humble appearance, it serves coffee laced with ambrosia and donuts made from the purest sugar crushed in the hands of archangels. Our Tim Hortons-loving friends are that serious about it. Alas, it appears that we are several hours away from the nearest Tim Hortons (who knew there were so many in West Virginia?), so we'll have to settle for drinking out of this super cool Scott Pilgrim Mug. Our coffee will be a little bitter (tears always make it so), but at least we'll have the smooching faces of Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers to keep us company. |
On the second day of the militia occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, one of the occupiers, Blaine Cooper noticed my accent and asked its origin. “Originally I’m from Australia,” I explained. “Australia!” he replied cheerily. “I’m in touch with a lot of people out there! Reclaim Australia – love those guys!” When it comes to insurrection, Cooper and his comrades have advantages that the growing Australian far right does not. The second amendment gives them easy access to assault weapons and sidearms; the first allows Cooper to pull stunts like wrapping pieces of bacon with pages of the Koran and setting them alight. Australia has heavily restricted access to the weapons these men can buy with ease in the US. And Cooper’s YouTube follies would perhaps attract legal attention in line with the federal anti-discrimination act or state-based vilification laws in Australia – provisions that ostensibly more respectable quarters of the right have long worked to have repealed. The Bundy bunch: who are the armed militia in the Oregon standoff? Read more Nevertheless, Cooper’s fondness for and contact with groups like Reclaim Australia should puncture any complacency Australians might retain about the growth of rightwing militancy. Rhetorically the militants of Malheur are mostly addressing local and national issues. It’s far more difficult to carry out armed insurrection in Australia. The sights and sounds streaming from the wildlife refuge match easy stereotypes about the nature of rural America. But the far right is a movement which is increasingly international and eclectic in its scope, proselytisation and recruitment. The greatest gift to the far right has been the internet. Progressives imagine that they own the leading edge of communications, and think this offers a way in which to outflank conservatives and those further afield. There is a strong tendency to imagine that liberalism and new technologies are inextricably bound up together – witness the retrospectives of Barack Obama’s data-driven victory in 2012. But the far right see precisely the same opportunity in the internet as other activists – bypassing centrist media outlets and creating their own alternative public sphere. They’ve been doing this for a very long time. Way back in 1995, the veteran researcher of the far right Chip Berlet wrote of the 90s version of the militia movement that “it is arguably the first US social movement to be organised primarily through nontraditional electronic media, such as the internet”. Even when he made the remark, neo-Nazis had been using bulletin board systems for more than a decade – George Deitz set up the first one in 1983. As the militia movement gathered pace in the early 1990s, its members used whatever electronic devices they could to spread the word, recruit new members and organise themselves internally. The Oregon militia revolt recipe: timber, despair and a crippling political isolation Read more Now that patchwork of fax trees, newsgroups, talk radio stations and CB channels has been replaced with YouTube accounts, private Facebook groups, forums and encrypted messaging services of our own era. Just as American rightwing actors build their movements by using everyday tools such as Facebook, so do groups like Reclaim Australia. The scale and breadth of content being produced on the far right in 2016 is staggering. While the left also too-fondly imagines its own superiority in cultural production, these actors daily reinforce their messages on high-traffic websites, Twitter hashtags, podcasts and parody videos. The motley crew at the wildlife refuge – mixing anti-Islamic ideologues, armed men from the patriot movement and religious conservatives – mirrors the way that different strands of far-right ideology have found common cause online. One of the things that has brought them together in recent months is the candidacy of Donald Trump. The advocacy for his candidacy on Twitter includes large swathes of the far right. But the biggest international issue that is powering their organising – from the internet to the streets – is the refugee crisis brought about by the Syrian war, and the opportunity that has presented itself to mobilise people on the basis of fear of foreigners and Islam. Reclaim Australia, European groups such as Pegida and the US right up to and including the Trump candidacy are both stoking and benefiting from a fear of the consequences of a large influx of refugees. Groups such as Reclaim Australia are promoting similar ideas to European and American groups – fantasies about halal foods, and cultural and racial dilution. They are also drawing on a long history of Australian political racism, and capitalising on forms of xenophobia which have come to frame the mainstream policy response to refugee arrivals. It’s true that other causes unite this international network of far-right groups – antifeminism and an addiction to battling “social justice warriors” in endless culture wars are also prominent. Australia's refugee policies: a global inspiration for all the wrong reasons | Antony Loewenstein Read more But the refugee crisis – which has no end in sight – offers the most important opportunity for a sprawling, self-reinforcing, international far-right movement to gain in strength. Making the picture even bleaker is looming economic instability which, if it arrives, will worsen the plight of those Europeans and Americans who have still not recovered from the 2008 recession, and may give Australia its first taste of real economic hardship in decades. In bad economic times, the right finds it much easier to ignite its emotional propellant – resentment. It’s often said by liberals that groups such as Reclaim Australia thrive on attention and that if we just ignored them they would go away. But the Malheur situation – where internet activists Cooper and John Ritzenheimer are suddenly toting guns in defiance of federal law – provides a counterexample. Not resisting, studying and criticising these groups can simply encourage them to push the line further. Segments of the left and researchers on the far right have been ringing the alarm bell on international rightwing groups for years. After Malheur, will we listen? |
No, it didn't contain a swear word. BBC One viewers were confused to see Grace Chatto from Clean Bandit‘s T-shirt blurred out during yesterday’s One Love Manchester coverage. The electro group behind Number One hits ‘Rather Be’, ‘Rockabye’ and ‘Symphony’ didn’t perform at Ariana Grande’s Manchester concert, but they paid tribute to the city’s people in a video package shown on TV between sets. A slogan on Chatto’s T-shirt was pixellated out, leading some viewers to presume it was a swear word. However, it turns out that her T-shirt actually contained the word CORBYN with a Nike-style tick. The BBC presumably decided that to have shown the Labour leader’s name during the concert would have threatened its political impartiality. Ariana Grande performed more than 10 times at last night’s emotional charity gig in aid of the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund. Among her performances was a collaboration with Coldplay. She teamed up with the Chris Martin-fronted band for a performance of the Oasis classic ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’. Good Morning Britain‘s Piers Morgan has since apologised to Grande for criticising her in the wake of the Manchester attack. Sharethrough (Mobile) Liam Gallagher made a surprise appearance at the concert, and duetted with Coldplay too. He has since hit out at brother Noel for failing to perform too. Last night’s benefit concert raised a total of over £2 million which contributes to an overall £10 million for the families affected by the attacks. Visit the website to donate to One Love Manchester and check out the full set list here. “What an amazing night last night pure love vibrations nobody comes close to Manchester love forever LG,” Liam Gallagher tweeted after the gig. |
Mike Tirico will not replace the peacock as the symbol of NBC Sports, but he'll be a steady presence just the same. Notre Dame football play-by-play is just the latest assignment for Tirico, who joined NBC last year after 25 years at ESPN, where he was on TV even more than he will be at NBC despite a full plate of high-profile events. His NBC duties include calling the Thursday night NFL games it simulcasts with the NFL Network, as well as hosting the network's Sunday night NFL wraparound show and major horse racing and golf events. Tirico also is set to succeed Bob Costas as the network's prime-time Olympics host, beginning in February with the Winter Games from in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Although Tirico filled in on three Notre Dame games last season, he made his debut as the network's primary announcer last week alongside analyst Doug Flutie for the Irish's season-opening victory over Temple. That elevated Notre Dame to No. 24 in the AP Top 25 going into Saturday's prime-time matchup with 15th-ranked Georgia. The following interview was edited for clarity and readability. By virtue of Notre Dame being the only football team with its own national TV deal, its telecasts are unique. But how does that affect the way you do the games? The perception is you're covering Notre Dame, so it's a one-sided approach. But all I've done are national football games, so I'm used to approaching from both sides. … There are just as many fans of the opponent, especially when it's a Georgia, USC or Stanford. They're watching the broadcast as well, so our job — at least my job is — to be absolutely fair about it and play it down the middle. How often did you see any one team when you were doing "Monday Night Football" for ESPN the way you will see Notre Dame? You'd only see the same team, at most, three times and that was rare. Mostly it was twice a year. The joy of this for me is you see a team a half dozen times. You've seen it in the prior year. So you can give better analysis. It also makes you as a broadcaster work harder. Don't tell the same surface story about the same player or the coaches or the unique things about the program. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly previews the team's upcoming game against Georgia on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017. (LaMond Pope/Chicago Tribune) Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly previews the team's upcoming game against Georgia on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017. (LaMond Pope/Chicago Tribune) SEE MORE VIDEOS The perception is Irish football is in transition. What's your sense? All the resources are there. A series of things came together last year. I don't see last year as the start of a downward spiral. I think last year was an aberration, more of a reality check of some things that needed to change, and Brian Kelly approached that aggressively in the offseason. And this year? This team will be closer to what we saw a few years ago when we saw them play for the championship as we go over the next couple of years and not last season's 4-8. Because of the NFL's insistence the network use its No. 1 crew, the league had to sign off this year on you becoming the voice of NBC's "Thursday Night Football" games. Were you surprised that was in question? We certainly know what happened the first year. I get to NBC and contractually Al (Michaels) and Cris (Collinsworth) were going to do the Thursday night games for NBC. I'm glad everything worked out for this year. I'm also doing "Football Night in America" on the studio side on-site on Sundays, so I get to be with Al and Cris to do the pregame, halftime and postgame on the road for that. Between all that and the Notre Dame games, I think it winds up being around 35 games I'll be at through January. Then there's the Olympics. That's a lot of exposure and potentially a lot of criticism. Do you tune the critics and social media completely out? That's putting your head in the sand. You take every bit of criticism in multiple ways. One is in moderation because most people don't say anything if something's good. How often do you call anybody you interact with and say the service was really good today? Rarely. People usually call to complain, so you have to weigh that on the scales of justice in terms of criticism. Secondly, and most significantly, a lot of the criticism comes from someone who's rooting for his own team. If you say the truth, something that may be true about their team, they get upset. Often times in social media, the folks who will have the angriest comments will be from the team that loses. They've got no other place to lash out, so they'll lash out at the announcers. |
Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email SHERLOCK co-creator Steven Moffat said helping to bring the hit detective TV show and Doctor Who to the screen were "two dream jobs", as he was awarded an OBE for services to drama. The Scottish writer and producer played down his achievements, saying his double success showed "the value of luck". Moffat received his honour from the Prince of Wales during a Buckingham Palace investiture ceremony and said about the experience: "It was very thrilling and formal and slightly, slightly, just very slightly, like being back at school. But nicer because everyone got a prize." He added: "Talking to other people before I came in, I kind of feel everyone's here for a better reason than me. "I've got not one, but two dream jobs so to get this lovely thing for already indulging myself in public, seems like an excess of good fortune." His journey to the television studio started in the classroom when the then teacher came up with an idea for a show about a school newspaper. Press Gang made stars of its young cast including Dexter Fletcher and Julia Sawalha, and launched Moffat into the world of television. He wrote some of the episodes for the revived Doctor Who and took over from Russell T Davies as executive producer and chief writer on the show in 2008. Since then, he has guided the show to new heights and steered it successfully through two regenerations of its title character. (Image: PA) Moffat, whose credits also include Coupling and Chalk, had even more success with another revival when he brought master sleuth Sherlock Holmes into the modern world. The idea for the show, which features Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson, came out of a conversation with the actor and fellow Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss and has been an international hit. Moffat, speaking about the success of Sherlock, which he co-writes with Gatiss, said: "I think every single one of us involved, we're daily surprised." The writer, whose wife Sue Virtue is a fellow executive producer for the sleuth show, said: "It's just a tiny cottage industry Sherlock, it's just a wee bunch of folk, who all know each other, we have to keep reminding each other this is an international deal." He added: "Benedict seems to have claimed the part more than anyone else except Jeremy Brett and Basil Rathbone. He seems to be the third one in a way. "Sherlock Holmes is one of those things, if you love it enough and work hard at it, it will always reward you. Most of what we do is get Arthur Conan Doyle right, we update it, but we get it right." Asked about his future with Sherlock he said it would continue "as long as Benedict and Martin want to show up". |
Turns out the White House’s hacking may have involved more than a little monkey business. When hackers breached the White House’s unclassified computer network in October, they got hold of of more information than was initially reported, unnamed officials told the New York Times. And they may have done so with the help of viral ape videos—literally viral, as they infected users’ machines. The intrusion, which has been linked to Russia, was “far more intrusive and worrisome than has been publicly acknowledged,” an official told the paper. Beyond simply gaining access to the president’s private itinerary, the cyber intruders also appear to have obtained some of his email correspondence. This includes archives of messages sent between the president and people inside—and possibly also outside—the White House, the Times reports. While the president’s own email account, his highly restricted BlackBerry communications, and the White House’s classified networks are not believed to have been compromised, the hackers likely got their hands on “highly sensitive” information, according to the paper. As the Times says: But officials have conceded that the unclassified system routinely contains much information that is considered highly sensitive: schedules, email exchanges with ambassadors and diplomats, discussions of pending personnel moves and legislation, and, inevitably, some debate about policy. How much information was accessed and how sensitive the information was have not yet been disclosed. Despite precautions taken to segment communications on different networks—like having two computers in the offices of top staff members (a strictly internally connected and more secure one versus an externally connected and less secure one)—delicate data was at risk. Other preventative measures include delivering the president’s daily brief orally, on paper, or on a classified network-connected iPad, the Times reports. United States secretary of defense Ashton Carter last week revealed that the Pentagon discovered allegedly Russian hackers on its unclassified systems, too, though the incidents have not been linked. A team of incident responders detected them, he said, and promptly “kicked them off the network.” (Hackers have lingered on the U.S. State Department’s unclassified network for months, the Wall Street Journal reported in Feb.) “Russian actors are stealthy in their cyber tradecraft and their intentions are sometimes difficult to discern,” a recent Pentagon cyber strategy document said, Reuters reports. The Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky Labs last week released a report alleging that the White House and earlier State Department unclassified network breaches are linked to a Russian-speaking group it calls “CozyDuke.” The attack apparently used spear-phishing emails to lure recipients into accidentally compromising their machines, either through clicking on links to hacked websites or by opening email-attached videos bundled with malware. One of the videos, titled “Office Monkeys LOL Video.zip,” featured business attired chimpanzees. Screenshot of aforementioned phony flash video featuring monkeys. Courtesy of Kaspersky Labs' SecureList blog. “These videos are quickly passed around offices with delight while systems are infected in the background silently,” the Kaspersky researchers write. A white paper released by the Finnish security firm F-Secure, released on the heels of the Kaspersky report, also analyzes the CozyDuke attack. Although the report neither mentions the White House nor the State Department—nor does it blame Russian hackers—the document does state that there is “reason to believe CozyDuke is being used to target governmental organizations and entities that work closely with such bodies.” At the RSA Conference last week, F-Secure’s chief researcher Mikko Hyppönen told Fortune at a private press lunch that his team could not confidently attribute the CozyDuke attack to Russia with the information he then had available. The cyber intrusions at the State Department and the White House coincided with elevated tensions between Russia and and the U.S. over Ukraine. |
It is a proposal that has been long considered by the White House, and while it is championed by environmentalists and conservationists, it has caused consternation among and is resisted by those who say they will be negatively affected by it. But President Barack Obama will further his conservation legacy — after already protecting more public land than any U.S. president — Friday when he will announce more than quadrupling the size of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off Hawaii. The marine monument was established by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, who created it in June 2006. In July 2010, the area was designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco. It is already bigger than all the other national parks in the country put together. Obama will increase the size of protected land and water area inside its borders from the current 139,797 square miles to 582,578 square miles, making it the largest protected area in the world. According to its website, “the extensive coral reefs” in Papahānaumokuākea “are home to over 7,000 marine species, one quarter of which are found only in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Many of the islands and shallow water environments are important habitats for rare species such as the threatened green turtle and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, as well as the 14 million seabirds representing 22 species that breed and nest there. Land areas also provide a home for four species of bird found nowhere else in the world, including the world's most endangered duck, the Laysan duck.” A group of Native Hawaiians had first asked Obama in February to consider expanding the monument’s boundary. And Brian Schatz, a Democratic senator from Hawaii, made a formal proposal about it in June. Reacting to the upcoming announcement, he told Reuters: “The best science shows that the ocean can recover, if you allow it to. … As daunting as the problem of climate change is, and as troubling as the situation is with respect to our oceans, they show remarkable resilience, if you give them a chance.” A protected area status will include “a ban on commercial fishing, from 50 miles to 200 miles around the remote” Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a fact that has caused some islanders and lawmakers to question the “scientific justification or conservation benefit” behind the move. Sean Martin, president of the Hawaii Longline Association, told the Washington Post: “For somebody [environmental organizations] to feel good, we’re going to force U.S. fishermen out of waters.” Photo: The Pew Charitable Trusts Obama will travel to his native Hawaii next week, where he will address a global conservation conference in Honolulu. |
Flamenco is an integral part of Andalucian culture. Evolution | The 19th and 20th century | Flamenco territories | The last fifty years Evolution Flamenco history has only been documented for the past two hundred years or so, and anything before this time is open to debate and speculation. Much of what we know from before this time comes from stories and legends that have been passed down through family dynasties, in a similar way to the flamenco song itself. One thing we can be sure of is that flamenco in its original form was only voice, a primitive cry or chant accompanied only by the rhythm which would be beaten out on the floor by a wooden staff or cane. These styles are known as Palo Secos, or dry styles, and they are the oldest forms of song known today. The Toñas are the family of songs which represent these style and they include the toña, one of the oldest known styles, the martinetes, which are the songs of the blacksmiths, the rhythm being supplied by the hammer beating on the anvil, the carceleras or prison songs, and the debla, which at one time was thought to have had connections with a gypsy religious rite. The saeta is a song of ardent devotion, which is sung to the scenes of the passion during Semana Santa, and is thought to have Jewish origins. Although the saeta is not strictly flamenco, it has all the spontaneity of flamenco, and has been added to the flamenco repertoire of many jondo singers. Cante jondo means “deep song,” and these are the styles of which most of the other forms derive. Flamenco is made up of four elements, Cante-Voice, Baile-Dance, Toque-Guitar, and the Jaleo, which roughly translated means “hell raising” and involves the handclapping, foot stomping, and shouts of encouragement. It whichever way jaleo presents itself, it is performed by the audience as well as the artiste and anyone else who feels the urge to participate. The handclapping or Palmas is an art in itself, and although it may look easy, it is not, and the palmeros will weave intricate rhythms around the bases of the song, and in the tablaos this is used in conjunction with the zapateado. The zapateado is the tap dance style of footwork, the dancers show piece where he will demonstrate his skill with his feet, and the noise created by this and the palmeros will be ringing in your ears long after you have left the tablao. The addition of the guitar is surrounded in apparent mystery as the exact date is not known, but gradually the guitar was introduced as an accompanying instrument for flamenco. Another important component of flamenco is the element known as duende, and this is shrouded in as much mystery as flamenco itself. Writers and poets over the years have given duende a magical and mysterious meaning, a spiritual significance that goes beyond human understanding. The poet Federico Garcia Lorca romanticized duende saying, “Duende could only be present when one sensed that death possible.” Many will say that duende can only be experienced in certain surroundings like an intimate flamenco session where a singer will be possessed by the dark tones of the song and the spirit will enter the mind and soul of anyone who opens up to it. “Duende a strange presence that everybody senses but no philosopher can explain ,” or, “All that has dark sounds has duende.” What ever you believe, duende does exist, and to experience it, is one of the wonders of this mystical art. Many believe flamenco to be the invention of the gypsies, and although they have been the main protagonists of the art, they are not its sole creators. Flamenco song can be broken down into two categories- Cante gitano, gypsy songs, and Cante andaluz, andalucian songs. When the gypsies arrived in Andalucia from India around 1425, they brought with them many song and dance styles that have strong Indian connections. At this time Andalucía was still under Arab rule, and along with the Jews and the moors, the gypsies were soon to be persecuted by the Catholic monarchs and the inquisition. The moors were forced to convert to Christianity, and failure to do so resulted in expulsion from Spain, the Jews suffered a similar fate, and the gypsies were subjected to some of the worst atrocities in an attempt to exterminate them as a race. Many laws were passed by various monarchs, which forbid them anything to do with their identity. They were to stop wearing their style of dress, cease speaking in the Romany language, and to stop their wanderings and seek steady employment, which prohibited them obtaining money by the usual gypsy traits like horse dealing, trading at fairs, and sorcery. These laws and restrictions resulted in bands of gypsies, moors, and Jews taking refuge in treacherous mountainous areas, which were too desolate for the authorities to pursue them. These different cultures lived in relative harmony for many years, and the fusion of their music and dances are what we know today as flamenco. In the eighteenth century attitude towards the gypsies changed considerably,which resulted in numerous bands of gypsies descending on the small villages and towns, bringing with them their exciting, seductive music- flamenco. At first this music was not considered worthy of attention, and flamenco was only performed in the homes and private get together of the gypsies. Their mysterious music and stimulating dances were soon to catch the attention of the romantic writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Stories abound of these strange people performing their wild and erotic dances and of the harsh unusual tones of their songs. It wasn’t long before the gachó, those not of gypsy lineage, became intrigued by this music, and gypsy singers were hired to entertain the señoritos, or “toffs” in private parties, know as Juergas, where the rich would entertain themselves with prostitutes, alcohol, and flamenco. Around this time, there were many flamenco singers who were making a name for themselves as flamenco was suddenly becoming popular. Back to top The 19th and 20th century Of the first documented singers are Tio Luis, El Planeta, and El Fillo, who were the ones who laid the foundations for the future Cantaores, the singers of flamenco. Diego el Fillo is remembered for his coarse, gravel type voice which seems hereditary to the gypsies, and today this style of voice is still known as Voz Afilla, after Diego el Fillo. Soon flamenco clubs called Café Cantantes began to spring up in most of the main cities, and the most famous was the café Silverio’s in Seville, which was the idea of the flamenco singer, Silverio Franconetti. The café cantante period, 1850-1910, was known as the “Golden age,” but this was also a period when cante jondo started its decline. Many gypsy singers refused to perform in these establishments, forcing a wave of non-gypsy singers to take to the stages to perform a lighter and milder form of flamenco, the Fandangos, which were andalucían folk songs. We must remember that flamenco is spontaneous, and the gypsies would not perform at a set time, and even worse be told what styles they were to sing. The fandangos swept across Andalucía gaining hundreds of interpreters, and suddenly cante jondo was no longer popular in the cafes. Flamenco troupes were created, and the dance became choreographed, and a new aspect of flamenco appeared for the first time, the birth of solo flamenco guitarist. These flamenco cafes became cabaret style clubs, and the jondo flamenco suffered as a result. The singers and dancers of the purer styles of flamenco were no longer in demand, and they were faced with the option of diluting their art and joining the hoards of fandango style singers, or return to their villages to continue their art virtually unnoticed by the outside world. A few of the café cantantes survived into the 1920s, but by then flamenco had been far removed from its original structure, and with the exception of a few singers like Manuel Torre, Don Antonio Chacón and Juan Breva, flamenco was at its worst period ever. In 1922, the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, and the composer Manuel de Falla, along with a collection of other aficionados, decided to hold a competition, the aim being to reinstate cante jondo which had been pushed into near extinction by the “New Flamenco.” They invited singers from all over Andalucia to participate in a competition that would be judged by some of the most influential artistes of the time. The Concurso de Cante Jondo was set for the 13 th and 14 th of June 1922, and it was to be held in the gardens of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, and judged by Manuel Torre, Pastora Pavón, and Don Antonio Chacón. Although it produced two winners, one by the name of El Tenazas from Puente Genil, Cordoba, and a twelve-year-old phenomenon by the name of Manuel Ortega, it did little to save jondo flamenco from its downslide. El Tenazas, who had a punctured lung, is reported to have walked for three days from his village to perform in the competition, and the twelve year old winner went on to become one of the greatest singers in the history of flamenco, the legendary Manolo Caracol. During the 1930s and 40s flamenco was fast becoming obsolete partly due to the civil war which wreaked havoc on the country between 1936 and 1939, and then the second world war which continued until 1945. During this time Andalucía was at the hands of poverty and starvation, and with the exception of the “Flamenco Opera” where large flamenco dance troupes took flamenco into the theaters, flamenco seemed to be sliding into oblivion. The arrival of the 1950s saw a renewed interest in flamenco, instigated by a few die hard artistes who decided to reintroduce some of the traditional elements of cante flamenco, and a some even recorded anthologies of flamenco for posterity which included styles that had almost vanished from the repertoire. 1956 was a watershed year for flamenco. Cordoba held a Concurso de Cante Jondo, the first of its kind since the 1922 competition in Granada, which produced by sheer coincidence a winner from Puente Genil, Fosforito, one of the most influential singers of the twentieth century. !957 saw the first flamenco festival, El Potaje Gitano, which was held in Utrera, and soon most small towns and villages followed suit and organized festivals where local artistes could perform their very personal styles of flamenco. By 1959 the concurso in Cordoba was becoming well established, and in this year produced another two of flamencos most renowned singers, Juan Talega, and the undisputed queen of the soleá, La Fernanda de Utrera. Suddenly things were looking up for flamenco, and artistes from the small towns like Moron de la Frontera and Alcalá de Guadaira were again in great demand. Many will put the reason for this renewed interest in the hands of Antonio Mairena, a singer of the purer styles of flamenco who dedicated his life to reinstating and promoting cante jondo. He also saved many old styles of cante from extinction by traveling to remote villages to hear these old songs sung by their creators. Manolo Caracol opened what was to become the most famous tablao, Los Canasteros in Madrid, and just about every artiste of the time past through its doors. Many of these singers and guitarists were not artistes, and they had no intensions of ever becoming one, they sang and performed purely for their own enjoyment at family celebrations and get togethers. Juan Talega was in his seventies when he first set foot on a stage, and it was thanks to Antonio Mairena who discovered this copper skinned, gravel voiced singer who before only ever sang in his hometown of Dos Hermanas in Seville. Between the years of the fifties and through until the late seventies flamenco found its second golden age, and gypsy artistes along with the gachós enjoyed probably the best period this art has ever experienced. Every town, village, and city could boast a healthy stock of singers, guitarists and dancers, who would appear at the town’s festivals during the summer months, and these family dynasties were producing some of the most orthodox artistes whose roots could be traced back to the days of El Planeta and El Fillo. Jerez de la Frontera produced the biggest crop of flamenco artistes, and the area of Santiago seemed to be the very center of it, and the small back streets like Calle Nueva and Calle Cantararia are believed, by the gypsies, to have been the area were the very first seed of cante jondo was sown. With a list of artistes that read like a who’s who of flamenco, Jerez was certainly responsible for producing some of the most influential artistes that included, Manuel Torre, Don Antonio Chacón, Terremoto, El Sordera, El Chocolate, and La Paquera de Jerez. Many of the small villages that are spread between Cádiz and Seville have also produced artistes of great worth, and the Peña’s and Bacán’s of Lebrija, and the Peñas and Soto’s of Utrera are a large gypsy clan that are linked through one singer from the nineteenth century, Fernando Peña Soto-El Pinini. This family can boast such artistes as La Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera, their cousin El Perrate and his sister, Maria La Perrata, her sons El Lebrijano and Guitarist Pedro Peña, and their cousins, Inés and Pedro Bacán. If you were to look at a genealogical tree of flamenco artistes, you would find that many are related, and whether it is by blood link or by marriage these dynasties are almost just one big family. Flamenco territories There is an area of land known as the “Holy Trinity” or golden triangle of flamenco, which is thought to be the area where all the major styles of cante jondo originated. The points of this triangle are Cádiz, Jerez de la Frontera, and Triana in Seville, and it is believed that this area of land is where the flamenco song began. If you visit some of the small areas like the Barrio Santiago in Jerez or Utrera in Seville you will find that they still hold on very dearly to their age-old flamenco tradition. As we have seen, this area was also responsible for a good proportion of the flamenco artistes, and with the addition of dancers like El Farruco, Christina Hoyo, Manuela Carassco, and guitarists Diego del Gastor and Melchor de Marchena we can see why it is respected with so much importance. Further south in cities like Málaga, flamenco was also on the up, especially with the fandangos. Granada was the birthplace of the granaina, and in Málaga the malagueña, which was an offshoot of the verdiales, was fast becoming one of the most popular styles in the flamenco repertoire. Almeria and Jaen was responsible for the Cantes de levante, which are the “songs of the east” and include the tarantas and the catageneras This era also paved way for a new interest in Andalucía, thousands of white skinned tourists arrived here in search of the warm climate and a little bit of andalucian culture, and flamenco with its colour and pretty dancing gitanas was just the thing to tempt them. General Franco’s government soon realized flamencos potential as a moneymaker, and soon flamenco clubs were sprouting up along the Costa del Sol to give these new visitors their fix of authentic andalucian custom. Whilst Antonio Mairena and the many jondo artistes were doing their best to preserve this age-old tradition, the tablaos, like the café cantantes before them, were destroying the art beyond recognition. By the mid nineteen sixties commercial flamenco had given the art another facet, and the tourist tablao was again dividing the art of flamenco in two. Fortunately today the image of the tablao is a little more serious, and gone are the gimmicks like playing the guitar from behind your neck, or overly acrobatic styles of dance that were in no way a representation of the art of flamenco. The last fifty years The 1960s also produced another aspect that was to change the face of flamenco, and this came in the shape of two youngsters, one from Algerciras, and the other from San Fernando, Cádiz. Francisco Sánchez Gómez was to go on to become one of the biggest and most influential guitarists in Spanish history. Known artistically as Paco de Lucia, he was the accompanist to the biggest phenomenon that flamenco has ever, and is likely to ever produce, José Monge Cruz, Camerón de la Isla. Cameron de la Isla was to become the most imitated cantaor in flamenco history, hoards of young singers looked to him as a god, as he was the first and nearest thing that they had had to a flamenco idol of rock star status. This young gypsy from San Fernando was to turn the flamenco scene on its head, and in 1992 when he died at the age of just forty-two, the legend was born. Cameron de la Isla was to lead the new era of flamenco fusion in which his versatile gitano voice was fused with many different styles of music, including one disc recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Suddenly scores of new flamencos were created, most in the style of Cameron, and the nineteen eighties and nineties was an era when flamenco fusion dominated the charts with artistes like the Gypsy Kings, Remedios Amaya, and Ketama. Also many of the more traditional singers of flamenco joined this new craze, and artistes of such importance as José Mercé, Pansequito, and Diego el Cigala, realized that there was money to be made, and plenty of it. José Mercé is one of the best singers of cante jondo around at the moment, and to witness him on the festival circuit along with his loyal guitarist Moraito is a most pleasurable experience. But he also records many pop style Cds where he fuses flamenco using drums bass and keyboards, and his performances that promote the Cds are little less than a pop concert. Whilst the fusion boom was going on, there were certain artistes like Fosforito and José Menese who refused to commercialise their art, and thankfully cante jondo is even more popular today, and the flamenco festivals that are held all over Andalucía are proof of this. If you have ever listened to a twangy, tinny sounding old guitar, accompanying a gravel, almost out of tune, ancient style of voice, rusty and dry as if straining for its last breath and rhythmed only by the rapping of knuckles on a table top, then you will have probably witnessed Cante Jondo, which is flamenco in its purest form. If at some stage whilst listening to this ancient song you have felt as though death has passed over the top of you, making your skin tingle and your emotions clash, from joy and sheer excitement, to the depths of sorrow, and pain, then you could also have experienced duende. Flamenco is a name that is used to describe a family of song and dance styles that were created in the huge melding pot of Andalucía, and there are many purists who scorn anything other than pure orthodox flamenco. There are also many who believe that for flamenco to survive another two hundred years, it must move with the times, and fortunately we are able to make the decision as to which we prefer personally. Whether it is the pure gypsy jondo or the commercial fusion, flamenco can be found in abundance, and with today’s recording technology, Cds and videos make it a lot more accessible than it was in the beginning. Flamencos is still gaining scores of new aficionados in the twenty-first century, and with the addition of the new Bienal de Flamenco in Málaga, and of course, the bienal in Seville which has been running for more that twenty-five years, it shows that flamenco is as popular now as it has ever been. There are many new young artistes, who like their ancestors, are continuing this fantastic art we call flamenco. Artistes such as the dancer Farruquito, the grandson of the excellent gypsy dancer El Farruco, or Tomás de Perrate who performs the bulerías and soleares of his father El Perrate are just a few who are helping to continue this wonderful aspect of andalucian life. Another sensation was born in Barcelona in 1973 by the name of Miguel Poveda, and this young singer has the echo the of ancient fathers when he sings his personal but orthodox style of cante. He is a revelation not only because he was born outside of Andalucia, one of the qualifications necessary if you listen to the die hard critics, but he is also a gachó who has the ancient gypsy tone, a shattering jondo voice which I am sure will carry flamenco through the twenty first century, and hopefully into the twenty second |
So I was in the market for a new monitor, since my old one had a few dead pixels and was starting to become more of a hassle than it needed to be. I checked around online a little and found this beauty of a monitor, I mean 4k Freesync with 80hz refresh rate and 1 ms response time? For only $260? Too good to be true. Ordered it, had some trouble with shipping but that's not why this review has 2 stars. I received the monitor, tested it a bit, and it looks fantastic. HOWEVER, in the "Key features" section of the product page on Best Buy, it clearly states that the refresh rate is 80 hz. Out of the box it was set to 60, which is normal, but when I went to change it up to 80, there was no option. I had it hooked up to my pc via display port, which is the recommended set up to running smoothly, but still no option to change the refresh rate. Tried different cables, thinking that maybe it was just a fluke, but nope. Still nothing. I took to some forums to see if there was any way to override this, and some said most monitors can be overclocked to about 75 hz, and when I attempted that, the screen just didn't show anything. Just black. Needless to say, was very disappointed in the false facts given on the product page, will be returning within the next day. The monitor itself is decent enough, but is not what was advertised. Read more |
There’s nothing wrong with President Obama speed-dating members of Congress. Meeting face to face over food and wine, as Mr. Obama has recently done with several groups of lawmakers from both parties, may ease the demonizing politics of the last four years — along with the president’s well-earned reputation for aloofness. And given how little some Republicans know about his budget proposals — one senator confessed he had no idea what Mr. Obama wanted to cut before last week’s dinner — the shared meals were probably overdue. But Mr. Obama should have no illusions about the core beliefs of some of his Republican dining partners, or their willingness to accept change. That was made clear on Tuesday when the House Budget Committee chairman, Representative Paul Ryan, unveiled his 2014 spending plan: a retread of ideas that voters soundly rejected, made even worse, if possible, by sharper cuts to vital services and more dishonest tax provisions. The budget, which will surely fly through the House, was quickly praised as “serious” and job-creating by the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, though it is neither. By cutting $4.6 trillion from spending over the next decade, it would reverse the country’s nascent economic growth, kill millions of real and potential jobs, and deprive those suffering the most of social assistance. All the tired ideas from 2011 and 2012 are back: eliminating Medicare’s guarantee to retirees by turning it into a voucher plan; dispensing with Medicaid and food stamps by turning them into block grants for states to cut freely; repealing most of the reforms to health care and Wall Street; shrinking beyond recognition the federal role in education, job training, transportation and scientific and medical research. The public opinion of these callous proposals was made clear in the fall election, but Mr. Ryan is too ideologically fervid to have learned that lesson. |
The frantic appeal to the Russian President came on Wednesday from a cramped and cluttered office in the city of Kostroma, about 200 miles northeast of Moscow, where the relatives of Russian prisoners of war had gathered to wait for news of their sons and husbands. Olga Pochtoeva, the mother of one of the Russian soldiers recently captured in Ukraine, stood before the camera, her eyes red from crying, and addressed Vladimir Putin directly. “I beg you in the name of Christ,” she said. “Give me back my child. Give him back alive.” It was another blow to Putin’s position on the war in eastern Ukraine. The previous night, after a round of talks aimed at ending a conflict that has claimed more than 2,000 lives since April, Putin had again insisted that Russia was not a party to the conflict and had sent no soldiers to fight it. “This is not our business,” he told reporters after the talks in the capital of Belarus, having just finished his first meeting since June with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. “It is a domestic matter of Ukraine itself,” he said. But Putin’s persistent denials of Russian involvement have started to crack, eroded by a growing body of proof that Russian soldiers are in fact fighting and dying in eastern Ukraine. The evidence suggests a new level of Russian involvement in the war, not merely funneling weapons and volunteers across the border to the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, but sending regular Russian ground forces on missions into Ukrainian territory. The inevitable result of that escalation has been a growing Russian casualty count, and the funerals and panicked relatives of Russian soldiers have been hard to sweep under the rug. Soon they are likely to force Putin either to come clean and admit his country’s intervention in Ukraine, or to face the growing public resentment over his denials. The first crack in Russia’s claim of non-involvement came on Monday morning, when the Ukrainian security services released images of nine Russian paratroopers who had been captured on the Ukrainian side of the border. In the video statement of Pochtoeva’s son, Yegor Pochtoev, he appeals to his parents directly. “Mom, dad, everything is fine. I have enough to eat and drink,” he says. “But the Russian Ministry of Defense is denying that we are their servicemen, that we have come from Russia.” He asks his parents to help prove that they are Russian soldiers. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now The morning after the videos were released, Pochtoeva and the other relatives of the captured soldiers began placing frantic calls to the local branch of the Committee for Soldiers’ Mothers, a civil society organization that defends the rights of military servicemen in Russia. Lyudmila Khokhlova, the Committee’s chairwoman in the region of Kostroma, arranged for all the relatives to gather that afternoon at the military base where the captured soldiers had served. “Everyone in the hall was screaming. They had a lot to get off their chests,” she tells TIME of the confrontation between the relatives and the officers at the base. When the deputy commander of the base arrived, he told the families that the soldiers in the videos had indeed been taken prisoner in Ukraine, Khokhlova says. But they were apparently the lucky ones. “They told us that two others from their group had been killed and some wounded,” she says, recounting the words of the officer who met with the families. “The wounded were taken back across the border to a hospital in [the Russian city of] Rostov.” The Russian Defense Ministry, in a curt statement on the incident on Tuesday, said nothing about Russian soldiers being killed or wounded in Ukraine, but admitted that a group of paratroopers had been captured on the wrong side of the border. Asked about their fate on Tuesday night, Putin suggested that they had simply gotten lost and veered into Ukraine by accident. “What I heard is that they were patrolling the border and might have ended up on Ukrainian territory,” Putin said with a shrug. He expressed hope that “there wouldn’t be any problem” with getting them back home, but offered no promises or plans to do so. Nor did he make any mention of the Russian servicemen who have apparently been coming home in bags. Those incidents have become so frequent that even the Kremlin’s own human rights council, an oversight body that operates with a degree of independence, appealed to Russia’s military authorities on Tuesday to investigate the mysterious deaths of nine Russian servicemen “not far from the Rostov region,” which borders Ukraine. All of them were contractors from the 18th motorized infantry brigade, mostly natives of the region of Dagestan, and were killed in unexplained circumstances in early August, according to the Kremlin rights council. One of the council members who authored that appeal, Ella Polyakova, later told Russian media that the military hospitals along Russia’s border with Ukraine had for some reason filled up with wounded soldiers. “A lot of our boys have been killed in recent days,” she told Russia’s only independent news channel, TV Rain. (Polyakova did not respond to TIME’s requests for further comment.) The clearest evidence to support her claim emerged on Monday from the region of Pskov, where the bodies of several Russian paratroopers were buried on Monday. Lev Shlosberg, a lawmaker in the regional parliament, tells TIME that the funerals were held in total secret and that family members had been warned not to discuss the deaths with anyone. “What’s the goal? The goal is to prevent society from learning the scale of the losses and considering the costs of this war,” Shlosberg says, claiming that the soldiers had been killed in battle in eastern Ukraine. “The state is trying to hide the involvement of our soldiers in these military actions, because they are not legal or constitutional. There was no official order from the commander in chief or the defense minister to participate in this conflict.” Despite the reticence of Russian officials, numerous reports of Russian casualties have begun to emerge. TV Rain, which narrowly avoided the state’s attempt to take it off the air earlier this year, has been airing marathon coverage of the funerals in Pskov and the fates of the paratroopers buried there. When a group of Russian reporters attempted to film the graves at a provincial cemetery near Pskov, several men in civilian clothes chased down the journalists’ car and attacked it on Wednesday, puncturing its the tires and attempting to break out the windows. (Footage of the incident appeared on the website of TV Rain, and elicited a rebuke from the press freedom watchdog at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.) The Russian state-run media have meanwhile been avoiding the reports of killed Russian servicemen almost entirely. The news that nine Russian soldiers had been captured in Ukraine warranted no more than three paragraphs on Tuesday on the website of the Kremlin’s main broadcaster, Vesti, which echoed Putin’s assertion the following day that the soldiers had simply made a wrong turn into Ukraine while patrolling the border. “This sounds to me like a joke,” says Lidiya Sviridova, the head of the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers in the region of Saratov. During a press conference on Tuesday in the regional capital, she called on the parents of all Russian soldiers to find out whether their sons have been sent to Ukraine and, if so, to publicly appeal to the state for answers. The families of numerous servicemen have gotten in touch with her asking for help in finding missing Russian soldiers, she tells TIME by phone from Saratov on Wednesday. “They could not all have gotten lost.” On Wednesday evening, with the reports piling up of Russian military casualties Ukraine, Putin’s spokesman finally responded, at least to the claims of a secret funeral in Pskov. “The relevant agencies are certainly checking this information,” Dmitri Peskov told the Interfax news agency. But it’s not clear how long such answers can restrain the public’s concern. Though the Kremlin controls nearly all mass media in Russia, it has little sway over the online press, where the reports of Russian soldiers dying in Ukraine have become the hottest topic of debate. Civil society groups like the Committee for Soldiers’ Mothers are also refusing to keep mum. “The silence in the official media is deafening,” says Shlosberg, the lawmaker in Pskov. “Everybody here knows what’s going on. Everybody is talking about it.” Everybody, it seems, except for Putin. Contact us at editors@time.com. |
Retired rock legend and Sarasota County resident will divulge decision about returning to road on his birthday SARASOTA COUNTY — Dickey Betts, the Allman Brothers Band guitarist, songwriter and singer who has been living in retirement for the past three years, will make an announcement regarding future touring on his upcoming 74th birthday. "Dickey and I have had many discussions over the last few years about him playing again," said David Spero, Betts' longtime manager. "After Gregg Allman's passing, his interests were heading elsewhere. Since the Rolling Stone interview, I have received interest from a few promoters which I passed on to Dickey. The fans' interest has also had a big impact on him. We have agreed to make a decision on December 12, his birthday. See you then!" On Tuesday, Spero sparked interest with a Facebook post that reads: “This is a huge what if, but what if Dickey Betts decided to play 10 cities, what should they be?” Betts, a guitar virtuoso who sang and wrote the Allman Brothers Band’s lone Top 10 hit single “Ramblin’ Man” and composed the instrumental classics “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and “Jessica,” retired after playing a 2014 Robarts Arena show near his Sarasota County home. Before Gregg Allman died in May of this year, the estranged band mates, who performed together for the better part of three decades starting in the late 1960s, rekindled their long friendship. "It's too soon to properly process this," Betts said in May. "I'm so glad I was able to have a couple good talks with him before he passed. In fact I was about to call him to check and see how he was when I got the call. It's a very sad thing. I, along with the entire Great Southern family, pass along my deepest sympathies to Gregg's family, friends, and fans." Betts attended Allman's funeral in June along with other luminaries such as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Jaimoe, the acclaimed drummer who is the only other surviving member of the original Allman Brothers Band lineup. |
Harman gets a House husband: Deputy PM's other half lined up for safe seat Harriet Harman has spent her two weeks running the country moaning about the competence of men in public life. But perhaps her husband Jack Dromey is something of an exceptional case. Senior Labour sources say he is being lined up for a safe Labour seat at the next Election. They claim the Unite union boss will be parachuted in at the last minute as a reward for supporting Gordon Brown. Left-wing power couple: Harriet Harman and Unite boss Jack Dromey The prospect of him joining forces in the Commons with his wife, will do little to boost her popularity with colleagues. Labour aides revealed that events of the past week have persuaded fellow ministers to work together to prevent the Labour deputy becoming party leader once Mr Brown stands down. Yesterday Miss Harman, who has strong views on feminism, denied 'absolutely' claims that she has been running a leadership campaign in all but name during her period standing in for the Prime Minister. In an interview with Radio 4's Woman's Hour, she said: 'I can't be responsible for people's perceptions. 'I'm not going to become a shrinking violet. I'm not going to hide away from the agenda. That's one of the things that brought me into politics. I felt there was a missing voice.' 'There is no point tippy-toeing around,' she said. 'If I had been tippy-toeing around I never would have raised the issue of should we have a criminal offence for men who exploit prostitutes and who exploit victims of human trafficking.' Miss Harman also announced plans for children as young as five to get lessons about wife beating and angered Cabinet colleagues by saying a woman should always hold one of the top two posts in the Labour leadership because 'men cannot be trusted to run things on their own'. But the latest claims suggest her opposition to electing a male does not extend to to her husband. As an MP, Mr Dromey could strengthen his wife's power base in Parliament by acting as an informal link between her and other union-backed MPs in Westminster. He is deputy general secretary of Britain's biggest union, whose role as key donors to Labour's General Election funds would surely help his chances of securing a safe seat. Mr Dromey has been ridiculed in recent years for saying he knew nothing about the cash for peerages affair, in which three Labour donors were proposed as members of the Lords after making £3.5million in loans to the party while he was treasurer. He was also called 'lazy and stupid' for declaring ignorance of suspect donations to his wife's deputy leadership campaign two years ago, which resulted in an Electoral Commission investigation. Colleagues of Miss Harman are scarcely more complimentary about her own elevation. One minister branded her 'bonkers' on Monday after she said the financial meltdown might not have happened if there had been more women in merchant banks. Several Labour MPs who refused to join the plot against Gordon Brown's leadership in June declared that they had been concerned they would end up with 'prime minister Harriet'. One ministerial aide said: 'The party is divided and people can't agree on a successor. The one thing everyone agrees on is that it must not be Harriet. The last week has been proof of that in spades.' |
Community, the show that has lovingly harpooned every genre staple from zombies to superheroes, is taking on Dungeons and Dragons next. Next Thursday NBC will air their fantasy role playing game special episode. Donald Glover is Bing Bong the Archer. Here is the full synopsis from NBC: "ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS" 02/03/2011 (08:00PM - 08:30PM) (Thursday) : THE STUDY GROUP TAKES A JOURNEY INTO THE DARK WORLD OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGON WITH ABED AT THE HELM – CHARLEY KOONTZ ("Gigantic") GUEST STARS – When Jeff (Joel McHale) becomes concerned about "Fat Neil," (Charley Koontz) a fellow Greendale student who is a bit of a loner, Abed (Danny Pudi) proposes that they invite him to play a game of Dungeons and Dragons to boost his spirits and his confidence. But when Pierce (Chevy Chase) discovers that he's been excluded, he forces his way into the game and takes charge, disrupting their delicate plan. Gillian Jacobs, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Yvette Nicole Brown and Ken Jeong also star. Advertisement We're in. [via Spoiler TV] |
Guy Bentley Apple's rapproachment to cryptocurrencies appears to bearing fruit, with the first Bitcoin wallet app available to download on the company's iOS app store, according to Coindesk. Apple recently updated its guidelines to allow for apps transmitting "approved virtual currencies" so long as they do not break the law. The Coinpocket app gives users the same services that had previously been provided by Blockchain and Coinbase, which Apple had removed from its iOS store. As well as offering send and receive services, Coinpocket gives users three sources for Bitcoin price movements and the ability to add Bitcoin from other wallets. Coinpocket's acceptance will no doubt incentivise other apps to update their systems and get back in the game. No longer will the arena of Bitcoin wallets be left entirely to Apple's rivals, such as Google's Android. In February, Apple removed the last Bitcoin wallet from its iOS app stores, offering no explanation for the removal of UK-based Blockchain other than it was due to an "unresolved issue". The application had been available on the iOS app store for over two years and was downloaded over 120,000 times. Blockchain responded furiously to the move, issuing a statement on its blog: "These actions by Apple once again demonstrate the anti-competitive and capricious nature of the App Store policies that are clearly focused on preserving Apple’s monopoly on payments rather than based on any consideration of the needs and desires of their users." In more encouraging news for Bitcoin users, app eGifter now allows customers to purchase items with Bitcoin. |
The chime of wedding bells echoes across a decades-large age gap for the creator of anime/manga series Oh! My Goddess and character designer for the Tales video game franchise. During the 26 years (yup, 26!) that manga Oh! My Goddess was serialized, male lead Keiichi and angelic/Nordic love interest Belldandy had a classically chaste romance. For more than two and a half decades, readers knew the on-page action wasn’t likely to get much hotter than a warm smile between the two, but their slow-burn courtship gave the comic a uniquely sweet tone, and creator Kosuke Fujishima’s beautiful art managed to be a treat for the eyes even when his characters stayed conservatively dressed. However, it seems like Fujishima takes things a bit more quickly in his actual love life, as he’s recently gotten married to Nekomu Otogi, popular cosplayer, cat’s eye contact spokesmodel, and inspiration to up-and-coming costuming professionals. ▼ Nekomu Otogi The 51-year-old Fujishima’s bride is only 20, meaning that she’s not even as old as his seminal manga work. Nevertheless, love has apparently blossomed between the two, and in more ways than one, as revealed through this announcement tweeted by Otogi. “I have something to tell everyone. The other day, manga artist and illustrator Kosuke Fujishima and I got married. And also, there’s a baby growing inside of me. Sorry if the news comes as a shock. We’re hoping to take good care of our child. I’ll be working hard to keep working as a cosplaying mother, so please be patient until then.” While news of a comely young woman in the anime industry getting married always draws grumbles from the salty and lovelorn, the reaction to Otogi’s tweet has been overwhelmingly positive, with many fans offering their heartfelt congratulations. Color us as surprised as anyone else at the sudden nuptials, but here’s wishing all the best to the expanding Fujishima household. Source: Jin Top image: Twitter/@otoginekomu Casey’s already married, so you won’t be hearing any wedding announcements from him on Twitter, but you can follow him here anyway. |
Kevin McDonald believes Fulham have every chance of reaching the play-offs this season but they must be obsessed with winning. The Whites are currently in ninth place, three points off the top six and have a vastly superior goal difference compared to their rivals. The Whites travel to Birmingham on Saturday and the aim now is to go on a winning run. McDonald explained: “I think we're well up there and if we can kick on and go on a run and cement ourselves in the top six then I think it'll be hard to bring us back out. “We play such attractive football so if we earn the right to play we've got a huge chance. We've got to keep our feet on the ground and make things happen ourselves. “We'll take it game by game and not get carried away. The next game is Birmingham. Hopefully we can continue our form.” McDonald was speaking after Fulham claimed a 2-0 win at Burton with Stefan Johansen and Scott Malone grabbing the goals. After teasing the full back, who was speaking to the club website at the same time, McDonald heaped praise on the pair. He said: Who scored the second goal? Oh yeah, Bugsy Malone! Stefan has been on fire recently and his finishing is top drawer so as soon as the ball fell to him I knew he'd hit the target. “Malone, again, it was a great finish. It was an unexpected scorer so whoever puts the ball in the net, I'm happy with that.” “We know the qualities Malone has got. He's great defensively and better going forward. “He races through and bangs the ball into the net. Him and Ryan Fredericks are great outlets. We used them well and we got three points.” The summer signing from Wolves believes he has adapted to his role at Craven Cottage and bringing a different dimension to the Whites. He explained: “I feel I've settled in well. I'm different to what Fulham have had in there in the past – breaking up play. “I can also get on the ball and be one of the playmakers as well if need be. I feel I've done well so far but it's a long way to go so we'll keep plugging away and fingers crossed mine and the team's form continues.” McDonald was in the wars at times during the win at Burton but he is happy to take the hits as long as it helps the team. He said: “I don't mind doing the dirty work and providing for our attacking players. We have such technical forward players. “If I win the ball back or the defence win it back, they release me or I release them. I enjoy doing it although I got battered a few times.” |
January 15, 2016 Record summer demand drives energy use to nearly 7.5 million MWh more than 2014 AUSTIN, TX, Jan. 15, 2016 — A record-breaking summer, which brought a new all-time peak demand record approaching 70,000 megawatts (MW), contributed to an increase in electricity use in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) region in 2015. The 2015 Demand and Energy Report, released today by ERCOT, showed the system ended the year at 347,522,948 megawatt-hours (MWh), an increase of 7,489,595 MWh, or 2.2 percent, over the 340,033,353 MWh consumed in the region in 2014. Contributing to 2015’s growth was a series of new peak demand records, the first since the region’s hottest summer on record in 2011. By summer’s end, the system had new records for monthly energy use, July peak demand, weekend peak demand and all-time peak demand. On Aug. 10, the ERCOT region set a new all-time demand record of 69,877 MW, marking the first-time in ERCOT’s history demand topped 69,000 MW. Ultimately, following final settlement in the ERCOT market, the top five all-time peak demand records all occurred in 2015: 69,877 MW -- Aug. 10, 2015 69,775 MW -- Aug. 11, 2015 68,979 MW -- Aug. 6, 2015 68,731 MW -- Aug. 7, 2015 68,683 MW -- Aug. 5, 2015 Demand in July hit four consecutive new monthly records (July 27, 28, 29 and 30), ultimately peaking at 67,650 MW on July 30. When the system hit 67,590 MW on July 29, it was the first time since 2011 that system demand had exceeded 67,000 MW. Also succumbing to the August heat was the previous weekend record set in 2011, which increased from 65,159 MW, set on Aug. 28, 2011, to 66,587 MW on Aug. 8, 2015. As a reminder, one MW is enough power to serve about 200 homes during summer peak demand and about 500 homes during milder weather conditions. Wind shifts system fuel mix Natural gas, at 48.3 percent, continues to be the dominant fuel used to generate electricity in the ERCOT region, followed by coal at 28.1 percent. In 2015, wind moved from fourth to third, at 11.7 percent, providing about 40.8 million MWh during the year. This surpassed nuclear power, which increased slightly from 2014 but, at 39.4 million MWh, provided about 11.3 percent of the total energy used. |
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