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Almost every city in the world has that one area where cool kids congregate. Whether it's the shops, the bars and restaurants, the galleries and museums, or just some unidentifiable vibe that the neighborhood exudes. These are the places that emerge as destinations for unique fashion, style, and culture. The sudden proliferation of street style photography, Tumblr, and Instagram have put many of the world's lesser known 'hoods on global blast over the past couple years. But it's more than just a fashion sense that make these 'hoods stand out—art, architecture, and a booming subculture scene are all factors that give some places the extra something that make them more stylish than others. Paris, New York, and Tokyo may be the first places you think of when it comes to style, but it's time to think beyond. We've scoured the planet to identify the style hotbeds of the world. There's no Google Maps for cool guys, but this is the next best thing. Here are The 50 Most Stylish Neighborhoods in the World. Written by Julian Kimble (@JRK316) Follow @ComplexStyle |
As expected, Samsung Pay has today launched in the United Kingdom. This news comes less than three weeks after the mobile payment platform made its way to Hong Kong, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the UAE, bumping the total of supported regions up to more than fifteen. Unfortunately, Samsung is still yet to provide a list of supported financial institutes (we’ll update this post when it does), but we expect all of the big banks to be compatible from the word go, including HSBC, NatWest and Santander, in addition to American Express. We should probably point out that while Samsung Pay is available in the region starting today, you may experience some difficulty when trying to register for an account. If this turns out to be the case, simply close the application and try again in a couple of hours. To get started with Samsung Pay in the UK, download the application from Galaxy Apps. Update: American Express, HSBC and Nationwide are the only three financial institutes supporting Samsung Pay in the region from the get-go. |
ES News Email Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account A powerful 6.1 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Japan about 200 miles east of the Fukushima nuclear plant. The tremor struck at about 2.30am local time on Thursday (6.30pm UK time on Wednesday). It had a depth of about 10km and measured 6.1 on the Richter scale, the United States Geological Survey said. The agency, which tracks natural disasters around the world, said the quake occurred 176 miles southeast from Kamaishi, a city in northern Japan. It was around 200 miles east of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Fewer than 40 reports of people feeling Thursday's quake were registered on the Geological Survey website. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage following the quake. It comes as Mexico is reeling from a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that collapsed buildings and killed at least 225 people. A magnitude 9 quake struck the north-east coast of Japan in March 2011 and triggered a powerful tsunami. More than 16,000 people died or went missing in the quake and subsequent tsunami, while hundreds more lost their homes. It caused the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl incident as the the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was hugely damage by the earthquake and tsunami. The tsunami flooded the emergency generators that were designed to cool the reactors leading to three nuclear meltdowns, hydrogen-air explosions and the release of radioactive materials. Nearly 500,000 people fled the area and a 12.5 mile exclusion zone was set up. |
Blog Update on the March 24, 2016 DNS Outage Yesterday, DigitalOcean's DNS infrastructure was unavailable for two hours and four minutes. During this time we were only able to respond to a small fraction of the DNS requests sent to ns1, ns2, and ns3.digitalocean.com. We know how much you rely on DigitalOcean, and we take the availability and reliability of our services very seriously. We would like to apologize and share more details about our DNS system in general, this specific attack, and what we are doing to make our systems more resilient from here on. Some background The resolvers which compose our authoritative DNS infrastructure are fronted by a well-known DDoS mitigation company. The service they offer uses anycast to move traffic from clients all across the world to DigitalOcean's nearest datacenter. We then have authoritative resolvers in all of our facilities to process and respond to DNS queries. One of the most significant advantages to this approach is it allows for simple load distribution across our global footprint and makes it easy to add more resolvers to deal with increased capacity needs. The incident At 2:34 pm UTC (10:34 am EDT) on March 24, 2016, we began to receive alerts from our monitoring system that all the resolvers were failing to respond to DNS queries. As we investigated the issue, we noticed that the resolvers were receiving orders of magnitude more queries than normal. Although there was significantly more capacity available than is required during typical peak operation, it was still not enough to answer this unusually large quantity of inbound queries. We started to take a closer look at the queries which were being sent to the resolvers in an attempt to differentiate normal traffic from that of a bad actor. The traffic patterns and source IP addresses matched what we would expect — just at much larger volumes than normal. You can see uncached (the yellow line) and cached traffic (the green line) below. At this point, our DDoS mitigation provider was engaged. All of our DNS traffic flows through their network, which has numerous protections in place to both identify and mitigate attacks. However, neither of us were able to find anything abnormal about this traffic beyond its volume at that point. Our DNS daemon was configured to empty the queue of unanswered queries at a certain threshold to ensure the daemon would be able to answer future inbound queries. This inadvertently caused cache invalidation. We rolled out a new configuration that solved this issue, but the caches failed to repopulate. Although the system can withstand all the resolvers losing their query caches under normal conditions, the vastly increased number of queries made it impossible for the resolvers to rebuild their cache. This all took place while the resolvers were already under abnormally high load, causing them further stress. At this point, we further engaged with our DDoS mitigation provider to help identify the source and types of traffic and recognized a higher-than-normal percentage of queries for PTR records. We began blocking them to allow us to respond to other queries. They were also able to reduce the number of queries reaching our resolvers by blocking some autonomous system numbers (ASNs) from which the most significant volumes of traffic were originating. Finally, we increased the TTL for cached DNS records, which is the length of time for which the edge caches responses before allowing new queries to hit the origin resolvers. As we looked through the traffic to find patterns, it became clear that the attacker knew a large number of domains managed with our DNS infrastructure. All of our public subnets are available via ARIN, which means it's possible to find domains which are hosted on our service, infer they are using our DNS, and then send large volumes of legitimate-looking queries. Although the ASN blocking certainly prevented some legitimate DNS lookups from being answered, it almost immediately allowed the system to begin answering most queries. The service began responding to queries with normal latencies starting at 4:40 pm UTC (12:40 pm EDT). Caches began to repopulate and query volume returned to normal levels. At 5:30 pm UTC (1:30 pm EDT), the vast majority of traffic ingressing to our resolvers was clean. In the first graph below, it's possible to see the dramatic increase in query cache hit rate as the service begins to recover. The graph below shows SERVFAILs in green, 50th percentile latencies between the edge and our resolvers in blue, and 90th percentile latencies in yellow. At 7:22 pm UTC (3:22 pm EDT), the majority of the filtering was removed. Future measures There are a number of pieces of infrastructure we are reviewing and improving. Most notably, we will be building better means of moving DNS traffic around within our infrastructure. One of the things which caused this incident to span two hours was the lack of control we had over the traffic which was reaching our network. Although we'll continue to work with the DDoS mitigation provider, we will also be improving our own DNS network by creating means to internally move, rate limit, and shape traffic in order to continue to respond to most requests even while under attack. We already have robust tooling in place for mitigating attacks on the Droplet network and will extend that to support DNS as well. We will be decoupling the provisioning of additional capacity from the DDoS mitigation provider entirely. External communications with our DDoS mitigation provider meant that we had a fairly constant back-and-forth during the incident, making it harder for us to test mitigation techniques on our own. They transparently send through requests to the resolvers, which means our ability to provision more resolver capacity is dependent upon the provider's speed of response. This caused adding additional nodes to the pool to take much longer than is ideal, which subsequently slowed our return to normal operation. We're planning to change how we present our network to the proxies run by our DDoS mitigation provider to make dynamically changing the capacity of the pool easier. In Conclusion First and foremost, we know that our service is critical in the success of your projects and businesses. All of us at DigitalOcean would like to apologize for the impact of this outage. We will continue to analyze this incident, hone our internal communications, and take steps to improve the reliability and resilience of the systems which power DigitalOcean. |
California Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein is calling for the U.S. military to attack ISIS in Iraq. She has also said the besieged country’s current leader, Nouri al-Maliki, needs to step down. "I think most important is that we take direct action now against ISIS, marching down to Baghdad, and prevent them from getting into Baghdad," said Feinstein, who is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Feinstein believes a “reconciliation” government needs to replace al-Maliki, who was approved by the Iraqi government for a second term as president in December, 2010. "I think it’s most important that the Maliki government be replaced, and that includes Mr. Maliki with a reconciliation government," she said. "Based on all I’ve heard, read and know, Mr. Maliki is not able to bring about reconciliation in that country.” The Saudis, who supported ISIS and other jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, also believe al-Maliki should be replaced. The Saudis, who are Sunni Muslims, have refused to meet with the president of Iraq, who is a Shia Muslim. Sen. McCain calls for air strikes. Arizona Senator John McCain also demanded on Tuesday al-Maliki step down. McCain said Obama needs to send emissaries to Baghdad to "work with Maliki and tell him he’s got to step down and have a coalition government." McCain and other members of Congress are calling for air strikes. "My concern is whether we’re going to do anything besides send a few extra Marines, which won’t do anything," he said. "So far we’ve done nothing of any significance to change the momentum of these people who are taking over large portions of Iraq.” Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said ISIS would not be a problem in Iraq if NATO was there. Collins, however, expressed skepticism about air strikes. "The question is whether air strikes would work," she said. |
Pope Francis makes his first trip to the Middle East this month accompanied by Jewish and Muslim intellectuals to push for inter-religious dialogue amid stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, who has garnered a reputation as a reformer as well as defender of the downtrodden since his election last year, has referred to his journey as a "pilgrimage of prayer". Related stories: Francis's trip from Amman to Bethlehem and Jerusalem from May 24 to 26 will aim to reach beyond the walls of Catholicism and mark the 50th anniversary of a historic rapprochement between the Catholic and Orthodox worlds. In an unprecedented move, Francis will be accompanied throughout by Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Islamic studies professor Omar Abboud – old friends of the Argentine pope from when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires. "Every gesture and word will be scrupulously analysed," Andrea Tornielli, a biographer of the pontiff, wrote on the Italian website Vatican Insider. "This is precisely why the pilgrimage of a pope who named himself after the saint of peace and has chosen two representatives of the Jewish and Muslim faiths as travel companions, can help renew dialogue," he said. Security for the crowd-loving pope will be high after a series of hate crimes against the Catholic Church and Muslims in Israel, and the Vatican hopes the visit will draw attention to the plight of the region's Christians. On his first day, Francis will pray on the banks of the River Jordan for the victims of the Syrian conflict and meet some the families among the 600,000 refugees who have sought shelter in Jordan since the war broke out. He will also meet with King Abdullah II, who has spoken out for Christians and called for their protection in the majority Muslim region, where hardline Islamism has increased in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings. In Israel, the pope is expected to launch a fresh call for reconciliation with the Palestinians after the collapse this month of the latest efforts to broker peace and the apparent entrenchment of both sides. He will squeeze diplomatic meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas into his tight schedule, which will see him give 15 speeches during 20 stops around the area. Christian 'exodus' The world's first Latin American pope will travel to Bethlehem, the site revered as Jesus's birthplace in the Palestinian Territories, before meeting children from the Aida, Beit Jibrin and Dheisheh refugee camps. He will visit Jerusalem, claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians as their capital, and any reference he makes to the West Bank wall of separation, Palestinian prisoners or Israeli settlements will be closely watched. Francis will also stop to pray at the sacred Jewish Wailing Wall, before visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial site on the western slope of Mount Herzl. He will meet the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem – the Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy sites – on the Temple Mount, which is considered Islam's third holiest site but is also revered by Christians and Jews. In an important step for relations between branches of Christianity, the 77-year-old pope will also meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I – a leading figure in the Orthodox world. This comes half a century after an encounter between Patriarch Athenagoras and Paul VI – the first rapprochement between Catholicism and Orthodoxy since the Great Schism in the 11th century. Sandro Magister, a Vatican expert from Italy's L'Espresso weekly, said the climate in the Middle East had completely changed since that meeting in 1964. "And Christians are the most under pressure. Their exodus from the Middle East is unceasing," he said. The leaders of Western and Eastern Christianity are to sign a declaration to overcome their differences in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, venerated as the site where Jesus was buried and resurrected. But hopes that the meeting could also pave the way to better relations with the Russian Orthodox Church have dimmed due to fallout from the Ukraine crisis, with the Vatican accused by Russia of favouring Kiev over Moscow. A controversial aspect of the visit has been a plan for the patriarch of the Lebanon-based Maronite church, Beshara Rai, to travel to Israel to meet the pope. Rai would be the first patriarch to enter Israel since the Jewish state was created in 1948 and there has been fierce condemnation from the Islamist group Hezbollah. Christians are also unhappy he is not visiting Nazareth, where Jesus is believed to have grown up. And Israelis have complained that Francis's biggest mass will be in Bethlehem. An official at the Vatican, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said of the visit: "The Vatican has decided to make everyone unhappy so no side tries to score points". |
Monday in Mount Pleasant, SC, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said his opponent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was an “unstable person” and described him as someone whose whole deal is to “lie.” Trump said, “I am the strongest person for the Second Amendment, the strongest, of the group. Okay. But Cruz just said — I think he’s an unstable person, I really — I really do. He just said ‘Donald Trump does not like the Second Amendment.’ I said the Second Amendment is my whole thing. I have more support from the police. Even now today I get greeted by the police. They really love Trump because I’m the strongest for the police. So the Second Amendment to me is very important. So this guy comes out and says I don’t like the Second Amendment, he says pro-choice. So really have to understand we really have to get the word out because what they do is they lie lie lie and then they apologies like he did to Carson.” He added, “Now what they should do if Iowa had any guts, the people from the Republican party, which they don’t —They should disqualify him from winning Iowa. I really mean it, because what he did was a fraud. So They should disqualify him from winning Iowa. So I just wanted to tell you I am pro life. I just wanted to tell am the strongest person on the stage for the Second Amendment. Other things I guess he is going to say — just take whatever I say and just sort of go in reverse. So his whole deal is he will lie, and by the way these are lies —He will lie and after the lie takes place and after the election is over he will apologize.” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN |
ADVERTISEMENTS Share with: Blockchain technology is a solution to many issues but it also is ridden by its own inherent problems. The more complex issues the technology tackles the more visible its own shortcomings become. Smart contracts were a huge breakthrough for various Blockchain solutions but were they perfectly designed? Problems of the existing Blockchain-based smart contracts have been widely discussed within the cryptocommunity. advertisement Why not to store smart contracts on-chain? One of those issues is that using a Blockchain’s distributed ledger is not a very efficient way to perform large computations sometimes needed in order to meet contract conditions as stressed Bitcoin Core developer Gregory Maxwell in his comment on the topic: “Smart contracts in a public ledger system are a predicate – Bitcoin’s creator understood this. They take input – about the transaction, and perhaps the chain – and they accept or reject the update to the system. The network of thousands of nodes all around the world doesn’t give a darn about the particulars of the computation, they care only that it was accepted. The transaction is free to provide arbitrary side information to help it make its decision. Deciding if an arbitrarily complex condition was met doesn’t require a turing complete language or what not,” he said. So the Bitcoin Core’s approach is to host all the conditions for transactions outside the main-chain and to use scripting, foregoing Turing-completeness and thus flexibility of the Ethereum Virtual Machine for the sake of security. “Doing heavy computation on the Blockchain is indeed insane; that’s what services like the ethereum computation market are for,” commented Vitalik Buterin himself on Reddit. However, the introduction of third-party computations may lead to excessive trust issues, when dealing with either owners of computational facilities themselves or some authority vetting each provider on the market. Obviously, this signifies that the system has to be further centralized as a result. It can also be argued that while the overall consensus on the Blockchain is important, it is still ridiculously inefficient and even not needed in many cases to agree on everything each time. Moreover, “reaching multi-party decentralized global consensus quickly is trading off security for speed”, according to Thaddeus Dryja of LN. With state channels to Aeternity A more elegant solution for Blockchain scalability has been proposed by another initiative called Aeternity. The project’s team led by one of the early Blockchain technology enthusiasts Yanislav Malahov aims to alleviate the existing smart contract inefficiency by introducing a novel extension over Blockchain called “state channels”. Similarly to payment channels of Lightning Network, state channels can operate the information off the main chain privately between counterparties in a trustless way. As evident from the name, the distinction from payment channels is that Aeternity’s state channels can host not only transactions, but also a contract’s current state. These state channels also enable instant, parallelized conditional transactions instead of rowing them up, which also adds to the overall system’s performance. Thus the Blockchain itself serves mostly as a collective authority, in a sense acting as a decentralized cryptocourt, resolving disagreements between counterparties. “Malahov’s approach to decentralized processing elegantly addresses issues of scale, by taking the state channel approach to the nth degree,” Trent McConaghy, co-founder and chief technology officer at BigchainDB. The ability of state channels to interconnect within trustless networks and to perform high-frequency conditional transactions privately paves way for various decentralized yet highly efficient applications. The obvious examples are high-frequency trustless exchanges, instant conditional micropayments, and IoT. State channels can also be employed by services that rely on channeling frequent micro-payments, like streaming platforms. Oracles upgraded Another issue solved by Aeternity is that Blockchains virtually exist as insular ecosystems being unable to consistently access the real world data, which cannot be predefined by system developers. However, what happens when a smart contract execution needs to be triggered by a real world event such as presidential election outcome, natural disaster or weather conditions? This is publicly available information, however, how can we decide on which source of data (a.k.a oracle) is valid? This issue has long been vexing many Ethereum-based projects. For instance, projects dealing with insurance or IOT. It can be said that the problem of communication between real and virtual worlds is among the key challenges of the entire Blockchain industry. The use of centralized oracles is a bottleneck leading to less fault tolerance and possibly even tyranny of a single authority. There were some attempts to use prediction markets as the aggregated source of the information being the additional layer over the existing Blockchains. Still, this was not very economically efficient before, because in that case we had to pay for two layers of consensus: the first one is the state of the Blockchain itself and the other one is consensus over the state of the world outside the Blockchain. In Aeternity, the decentralized oracles become a part of on-chain consensus. Every network participant is able to request public data and prediction markets are incentivised to provide this data on the Blockchain. In a way Blockchain itself assumes the role of public arbitrator thus preserving trustlessness of the system. This makes Aeternity’s oracles much more stable and cost efficient than in two-tier Blockchain systems. “We have developed a separate Blockchain solution, more so it’s not about bandwidth but rather the ability to code smart contracts without taking up network resources to execute them,” explained project’s founder Yanislav Malahov. As stated by the developers, while Aeternity Core is written in Erlang to ensure superior operational stability and performance, smart contracts will be programmed via an original, easy to master programming language. Blockchain is a young industry that keeps evolving incessantly. Perhaps Aeternity’s new take on smart contracts and oracles will lead to a new turn in development of Blockchain platforms. |
Characters, such as Blackbeard and the Seven Dwarfs, won’t be the only employees at Disney with facial hair anymore. For the first time, the Walt Disney Co. is allowing male employees to sport beards and goatees. Starting Monday (today), the company is informing employees of changes to the Disney Look – a strict dress code that dates back 55 years. Employees can have facial hair starting Feb. 3. The policy includes the Disneyland Resort, Orange County’s largest private employer with 22,000 workers that has two theme parks, three hotels and the Downtown Disney complex. “Disney Look guidelines are periodically reviewed in relation to industry standards, as well as the unique environment of our theme parks and resorts,” said Betsy Sanchez, a Disneyland Resort spokeswoman, in a statement. “While we are careful to maintain our heritage and the integrity of our brand, a recent review of our guidelines led to a decision that an update was appropriate at this time.” The new policy allows neatly trimmed facial hair that is no longer than one-quarter of an inch, according to a notice sent to Disney employees. No soul patches are allowed, Sanchez said. The Disney Look outlines stringent guidelines for employees, including no visible tattoos. Up until 2000, Disney forbid mustaches as well. The last major change to the Disney Look came two years ago when female employees were allowed to forgo pantyhose. Read a story about the 2010 change to the Disney Look. Twitter users commented about the new Disney Look, some saying they support it, while others saying they prefer a clean-shaven look. Sandi Ecklund, president of Workers United Local 50, which represents 4,000 Disney food and beverage employees, said she was against the change. Ecklund said she found out about the new policy on Facebook. “I see it as a way to lower their standards to keep wages down,” Ecklund said in a phone interview. See the full guidelines of the Disney Look, which have yet to be updated with the new rules, on the Disney website. Read more about the Disney policy and find other Disney news on the Around Disney blog. See this post in its original form, and read more on Around Disney. |
With teams looking to find a way around the ban on exhaust-blown diffusers in 2012, we look back at ten of the most interesting ideas to be banned in F1 Alan Jones tests the six-wheeled, four-wheel drive Williams FW07D shortly before such innovations were banned © Sutton Images Enlarge Four-wheel drive The first proper attempt to bring four-wheel drive into Formula One came in 1961 with the Ferguson P99. The brainchild of legendary tractor producer Harry Ferguson, the P99 was built to show off four-wheel drive's potential for use on the road. However, it was badly timed as another revolution was taking place in F1 with the introduction of mid-engined cars and the latter proved to be a much cheaper source of performance. The front-engined Ferguson was also designed for a 2.5-litre engine, but by the time it was ready for competition the rules had restricted capacity to just 1.5 litres. As a result the P99 was something of a flop, although it did win one race in the wet at Oulton Park in the hands of Stirling Moss. The next four-wheel drive cars in Formula One were of a different breed with the mid-engined Lotus 63, Matra MS84, McLaren M9A and Cosworth F1 car - all of which were quickly abandoned in the late 1960s. Four-wheel drive F1 cars evolved again in the early 1980s when Williams started experimenting with a six-wheel car, the rear four wheels of which were driven. Team boss Patrick Head reportedly said the idea was dropped when "someone in a FOCA meeting said it would drive up costs and cause chaos during pitstops". The FIA banned four-wheel drive cars soon after and limited the number of wheels on a car to four. Mass damper At the end of the 2005 season, Renault came up with a new concept to control the pitch of the car as it rode over bumps. Essentially it consisted of a sprung damper, about the size of a small cake tin, in the nose of the car to counteract the forces on the tyres. For 2006 Renault developed the system at the rear of the car and got the whole system signed off by the FIA for use in competition. It proved hugely successful and by mid-season the other teams had cottoned on to the idea and either developed their own versions or started to question its legality. At the German Grand Prix the stewards declared the system legal, but their decision was later overruled by the FIA, which said the mass damper was a moveable aerodynamic device. It was banned from the Turkish Grand Prix onwards which handed Renault's main rivals Ferrari an advantage in the remaining races, although Renault still came out on top. Ground effects Like many innovations in Formula One, ground effects were pioneered by Colin Chapman's Team Lotus. The idea was to create low pressure under the car that would suck it to the ground and improve cornering speed using the science behind Bernoulli's principle. The most efficient way of achieving this was by running skirts along the side of the car to seal the area of low pressure underneath it. The success of the Lotus 79 in 1978 prompted the other teams to copy and refine the design, which in turn led to increasingly dangerous cornering speeds. The governing body eventually banned skirts in 1980, but the necessary safety measure got caught up in the politics of the ongoing power struggle between FISA (the governing body) and the Formula One Constructors' Association (FOCA). In response to the ban, which would have seen the FOCA teams become uncompetitive, Brabham's Gordon Murray found a loophole in the rule which meant the car's ride height and floor only had to be legal in the pit lane. As a result he designed hydraulic suspension on the Brabham BT49C that could be lowered into place once the car was on track. Rather inevitably, the other teams followed suit in the pursuit of downforce, but soon the cars were becoming less and less drivable. "They have to change," Didier Peroni told journalist Nigel Roebuck. "I feel so stupid when I'm in the car, raising the suspension for the test in the pits, in front of all the spectators. How ridiculous! As for driving, there's no feel in the cars now they havesuspension movement. They are brutal to drive." FISA re-legalised ground effects in 1982 but huge accidents, resulting in the death of Gilles Villeneuve and the end of Pironi's career, moved the governing body to introduce a full and enforceable ban in 1983. The Brabham BT46B romped to victory at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix © Sutton Images Enlarge Fan car One off-shoot of ground effects was the Brabham BT46B - also known as the 'fan car'. The concept was to fit a giant extractor fan - ostensibly for cooling - to the back of the car to lower the pressure underneath further. It proved hugely successful on its debut at the Swedish Grand Prix in 1978 but drew complaints from other teams - and from drivers who said the fan had blown stones and other debris at them during the race. In the knowledge that FISA would almost certainly ban the car, Brabham boss Bernie Ecclestone agreed to ditch the concept despite its very obvious benefits. Brake steer In 1997 McLaren came out of its mid-1990s slump with a car capable of winning races. The addition of Adrian Newey to the design team undoubtedly helped, but a novel concept that used rear-wheel braking to help turn the car into corners added to the MP4-12's competitiveness. The team were keen to keep the system, which featured a third pedal in the cockpit, under wraps but its plans were foiled at the Luxembourg Grand Prix. Both cars had been leading but retired within a lap of one another and photographer Darren Heath pounced on the opportunity to stick his camera in the cockpit. When his photos were developed they revealed the third pedal and the pictures were duly published inmagazine, revealing the system to the paddock and beyond. McLaren stuck with the technology, but in early 1998, when the McLaren's started to look unbeatable, main rivals Ferrari protested and got the system banned on the grounds that it was primarily a steering system. Nevertheless, McLaren has recently put the technology back into use on its MP4-12C road car. Active suspension Active suspension first appeared on an F1 car in 1987 on the Lotus 99T. It was the culmination of almost a decade of research which had been set in motion by F1's great innovator Colin Chapman before his death. The system was designed to adapt the suspension to the road ahead, flattening out the car's ride for both handling and aerodynamic purposes. On two of the bumpiest tracks it appeared to work a treat, with Ayrton Senna winning at Detroit and Monaco, but the system was also heavy and Lotus eventually ditched it at the end of the season. Williams then took up the mantle and by 1992 had a fully-active system that could be pre-programmed to react to the bumps at any particular circuit. The fully-active Williamses were so successful that the rest of the grid started working on their own systems, but the FIA banned it along with traction control and ABS ahead of the 1994 season. Moveable aero In the late 1960s teams started experimenting with wings in order to create downforce. Early examples were notoriously fragile and several accidents had devastating effects. Work into moveable aerodynamics - not a million miles away from today's Drag Reduction System - proved particularly dangerous and in 1970 the governing body stepped in to regulate the use of aerodynamics in Formula One. The location and size of the wings were limited and moveable aero was prohibited. Since then several other innovations, such as flexi-wings and mass dampers, have fallen foul of the ban put in place in 1970. Double diffusers became an intense battle ground before they were banned in 2011 © Sutton Images Enlarge Double diffuser In an attempt to boost the chances of overtaking, the FIA completely overhauled the rules regarding aerodynamics in 2009 but in doing so left a loophole open. Several teams spotted the potential to add another layer to the diffuser at the rear of the car, but most considered it against the spirit of the regulations and expected it to be ruled illegal. Only Williams, Toyota and Brawn were brave enough to act on it and, to the others surprise, they were rewarded. The Brawn system proved particularly effective and the team won six of the first seven races. The FIA decided against banning the concept in 2009, prompting the other teams to copy the design. However, at the start of 2010 the FIA changed its mind and announced double diffusers would be banned in 2011. F-duct Modern F1 engineers are constantly looking for the most efficient trade off between downforce and drag when designing a car's aerodynamics. One of the greatest producers of both drag and downforce on an F1 car is the rear wing, but the regulations make it hard to find an advantage in that area. However, in 2010 McLaren came up with a system consisting of series of pipes running through the chassis that, at the driver's request, could change the airflow over the rear wing in order to stall it and reduce drag. The performance advantages were plain to see when the car hit the track and the other teams quickly looked into copying the system. However, retro-fitting an F-duct proved tricky and few perfected the system by the end of 2010 when the teams agreed to ban it for 2011. The origins of the name are still something of a mystery - with McLaren naming it a J-switch internally - but are believed to be because the original inlet for the F-duct on the McLaren was placed near the 'F' on its Vodafone sponsorship. Sidepod-mounted wing mirrors Mirrors are useful things on a racing car, but from an aerodynamicist's perspective they can also be a bit of a drag. Chunky pieces of carbon fibre protruding from the edge of the cockpit don't do a huge amount for aerodynamic efficiency and in 2006 Ferrari decided to place its mirrors on specially-shaped stalks on the sidepods. Several teams soon copied the concept and by 2010 half the grid was using some variant of out-board mirrors to clean up the airflow to the rear of the car. The only problem was that drivers complained the distant mirrors were wobbling excessively and such comments prompted the FIA to take action and ban them at the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix. Mirrors now have to be mounted next to the cockpit, although vibrations are still a problem. Laurence Edmondson is an assistant editor on ESPNF1 © ESPN Sports Media Ltd. |
WASHINGTON: Duane Clarridge died this past weekend in Leesburg, Virginia, at 83, and there are numerous tributes in the US media calling him everything from a “brash spy“ (New York Times) to “a legendary CIA officer“ (Fox News). Most obituaries mention only in passing that he served undercover in India and Nepal before moving on to headliner career operations, including messing around in Latin America, getting enmeshed in the Iran-Contra affair (for which he received, not a Presidential medal, but a Presidential pardon), and late in his life as a private citizen, dabbling in the Af-Pak theatre.“Dewey“ as he was nicknamed and called by friends, fancied himself as “a spy for all seasons“. Indeed it was the title of his memoir about his life in the CIA, an organisation he held in much disdain late in his life.One of his early postings was in the sub-continent, and it was a theatre that held him in much thrall and introduced him to the Cold War spy v spy skirmishes that he recounted with much relish later.Dewey arrived in New Delhi in 1960 with Washington worried about the inroads the Soviet Union was making into Nehru's India. The mandate for Clarridge and his spook associ ates in New Delhi was clear: stop the Communist advance.It all began with the formation of Kerala in 1956 and the first election that brought the Communist party to power in the state -for the first time in a free and fair election anywhere in the world. The US was rattled, and the CIA was asked to undermine the Kerala government by bankrolling the Congress party with clandestine funds, because, it was argued, the Soviets were funding the Communist regime.In fact, the operation was considered so important that Washington moved out Harry Rositzke, who was the first chief of the CIA's Soviet division, to New Delhi as the station chief in 1957.In one passage, Clarridge recounts the bane of all spycraft -the role played by alcohol. “The trouble is you cannot ply your target with alcohol while you take notes over iced tea,“ he writes of his efforts in New Delhi. “What you do is you excuse yourself, go to the bathroom and write notes like crazy . The next morning, you tend to your hangover, go to the office, and write up what you can decipher from your notes of the previous night.“Clarridge recalls another incident where a CIA agent stationed in the New Delhi embassy accidentally drops what in CIA parlance was called the `Who Me?' vial -a stink bomb that emitted a foul fecal odour that they had been supplied to disrupt Communist gatherings in India. The entire embassy had to be aired out to clear the odour, which was attributed to Delhi's nallahs (sewage gutters).Clarridge went on to serve in Madras, where he recounts further escapades, mainly trying to bring about mistrust between the various Communist factions in India.Although he did not return to the India theatre after the mid-60s, Clarridge remained sentimental about the subcontinent. |
A Trump administration official blocked a detained immigrant teenager from leaving a shelter to receive an abortion even though she had been raped, arguing it would be curing “violence with further violence,” according to documents unsealed as part of a lawsuit on Thursday. Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Scott Lloyd, who has taken the unprecedented step of requiring a sign-off for any abortion of an immigrant teen in custody, wrote in an internal Dec. 17 memo that the 17-year-old girl had been raped in her home country, that the rape had resulted in pregnancy, and that she had threatened to harm herself if she was unable to have an abortion. He also wrote that she was 22 weeks pregnant at the time. ″[W]e are being asked to participate in killing a human being in our care,” he wrote. “I cannot direct the program to proceed in this manner. We cannot be a place of refuge while we are at the same time a place of violence. We have to choose, and we ought to choose protect life rather than to destroy it.” The document was the first to reveal that Lloyd has barred victims of rape from obtaining abortions, as he has done with other teens in government custody, and one of the clearest descriptions yet of how his ideology is shaping the agency’s treatment of pregnant girls. The government previously refused to tell HuffPost whether it was barring rape victims from obtaining abortions. The teen was ultimately able to have the abortion she sought after a district court blocked the Trump administration’s decision to deny her the procedure. Lloyd wrote in the memo that he was ”mindful that abortion is offered by some as a solution to a rape,” but did not see it that way and believed it was “perhaps likely” that allowing the teenager to receive an abortion would create “additional trauma on top of the trauma she experiences as a result of her sexual assault.” ″[S]ome would suggest that, by declining to assist in the abortion we are in some way engaging in a form of violence against the mother, as in the notion that ORR is forcing her to carry her pregnancy to term,” he wrote. “I disagree. Implicit here are the dubious notions that it is possible to cure violence with further violence, and that the destruction of an unborn child’s life can in some instances be acceptable as a means to an end.” “To decline to assist in an abortion here is to decline to participate in violence against an innocent life,” he continued. The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of the teen and on behalf of others in similar situations, said the government agency abused its power and acted inappropriately by denying abortion access to an immigrant in a country where the procedure is legal. The additional revelations that the teen was raped, and that the administration’s decision was driven by Lloyd’s personal opposition to abortion, has outraged reproductive rights advocates. “This story continues to get more unreal,” Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement. “This latest revelation exposes the Trump administration’s extreme anti-abortion ideology: it seeks to force women to continue pregnancies against their will.” Under Lloyd, the Office of Refugee Resettlement has taken the extreme step of requiring the director’s approval for all abortions for immigrant girls in custody; in previous administrations, the ORR required such approval only for use of government funds in cases of rape, incest and threats to life of the mother. The Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the ORR, declined to comment on the memo or its policy for whether it makes an exception in abortion decisions for girls who are victims of rape or incest or for health reasons. Rape is a common occurrence for migrants on the way to the U.S., according to multiple reports. Amnesty International estimated in a 2010 report that as many as 60 percent of women and girls are raped on their journey, while an investigation by Fusion (now called Splinter) in 2014 put the percentage at closer to 80 percent. But it’s not only victims of rape for whom the ACLU is fighting. Other girls have similarly been blocked from leaving shelters to obtain abortions. On multiple occasions, Lloyd or other officials have even personally urged teens to change their decisions about whether to terminate a pregnancy, according to the ACLU. The Trump administration has argued it isn’t forcing girls to continue unwanted pregnancies, but rather is simply declining to facilitate them. A government attorney said in court that minors could just agree to leave the U.S. for their native countries ― some of which outlaw abortion ― or be released to a sponsor and then obtain the procedure. Those aren’t reasonable options, the ACLU has argued. Being released to a sponsor isn’t in a minor’s control ― that decision is up to the government, and in some cases can take weeks or months. Agreeing to a voluntary removal, even to a country where the girl could receive an abortion, could mean declining to pursue a legitimate legal case to stay in the U.S., such as asylum or other relief. Planned Parenthood is calling for Lloyd to step down. |
Cast: James Spader, Megan Boone, Ryan Eggold, Diego Klattenhoff Where we left off Liz Keen faked her own demise, planned with her husband and baby daddy Tom. Red learns of the ruse but while the happy family secludes away in Cuba, the mysterious, and quite possibly dangerous, Alexander Kirk, kidnaps Liz and reveals to her that he is in fact her biological father. Da da dummmmmm. Where we pick up Cuba can’t handle Red. His ruthlessness knows no bounds in his search for Elizabeth. Local law enforcement, drug lords, they are no match for an angry Raymond. But when Liz charges Red to go save baby Agnes, he momentary changes his course. Come on man!!! The FBI crew now realize that Liz not only lied, betrayed, and used them, but her best chance for returning to a normal legitimate life is them. They will have to swallow their pride and put away their anger for the time being to work a Blacklist case that is integral to helping Keen. It’s not easy being Tom His perfect plan of faking his wife’s death, reuniting with her and their infant child in paradise, and living happily ever after went a bit sideways. It fell apart quickly with Elizabeth captured, and Tom having the living hell kicked out of him, and then getting his daughter ripped away before getting the customary “dig your own grave” scene. Hey, let’s have a low-level thug take care of the world class assassin! Yeah…no. Red to the rescue? The ending of course is unresolved- what good premiere isn’t? But the last scene even shocked an old TV veteran like me. The set-up for season 4 is complete and it looks to be high octane. 4.5 secret prisons out of 5 Advertisements |
US “Grand Strategy” for war against China laid out By Nick Beams 2 May 2015 The advanced stage of discussions in US foreign policy circles over the pursuit of an ever-more aggressive policy toward China has been revealed by the recent release of a chilling report under the auspices of the influential Council on Foreign Relations. Entitled “Revising US Grand Strategy Toward China,” the report is nothing less than an agenda for war. It is authored by Robert D. Blackwill and Ashley J. Tellis, both of whom have close connections to the US State Department and various American foreign policy think tanks. The report cites a publication produced during World War II defining “grand strategy” as one that “so integrates the policies and armaments of a nation that the resort to war is either rendered unnecessary or is undertaken with the maximum chance of victory.” This is not merely a concept of war but “an inherent element of statecraft at all times.” The report’s central theme is that US global dominance is threatened by the rise of China and this process must be reversed by economic, diplomatic and military means. Significantly, at the beginning of the report, its authors cite the Pentagon’s Defence Planning Guidance document of 1992, produced in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, which insisted that US strategy had to “refocus on precluding the emergence of any potential future global competitor.” While asserting that China has a “grand strategy” for regional and ultimately global domination, the authors make clear they regard the threat to the US position as arising from China’s economic growth within the present international order. This analysis recalls that advanced at the beginning of 1907 by the senior British Foreign Office official Eyre Crowe about the impact on Britain of the rise of Germany. Crowe concluded that, whatever the intentions of its leaders, Germany’s economic expansion, in and of itself, constituted a threat to the British Empire. Seven years later, the two major powers were at war. China is not an imperialist power as Germany was, but its very economic rise is undermining the US position. According to the report: “Because the American effort to ‘integrate’ China into the liberal international order has now generated new threats to US primacy in Asia—and could eventually result in a consequential challenge to American power globally—Washington needs a grand strategy toward China that centres on balancing the rise of Chinese power rather than continuing to assist its ascendancy.” A repeat of the Cold War policy based on “containment” is not possible because that was grounded on the autarkic policies of the Soviet Union, whereas China’s economic growth is bound up with economic globalisation and China’s integration into world markets. In its own way, this assertion is a direct confirmation of the Marxist analysis that the origins of war lie in the very modus operandi of the capitalist system itself. China has operated within the framework of the global market, established not least by the United States, but this integration has itself undermined US primacy. In the report’s words: “US support for China’s entry into the global trading system has thus created the awkward situation in which Washington has contributed towards hastening Beijing’s economic growth and, by extension, accelerated its rise as a geopolitical rival.” Accordingly, in advancing the core elements of an American “grand strategy,” the authors place considerable importance on economic issues. As part of a plan to “vitalize” the economy, the US should “construct a new set of trading relationships in Asia that exclude China, fashion effective tools to deal with China’s pervasive use of geo-economic tools in Asia and beyond, and, in partnership with US allies and like-minded partners, create a new technology-control mechanism vis-a-vis China.” The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which currently excludes China and for which Obama is now seeking fast-track authority from the US Congress to negotiate, is regarded as essential. Failure to deliver it would “seriously weaken” the US grand strategy. The report’s focus on the underlying economic issues by no means implies any downgrading of military means. On the contrary, the authors spell out detailed measures, both in terms of US policy and those it must secure from its allies in the region. The relationship with Japan is regarded as occupying first place. The report’s proposals include an expansion of the US-Japan security relationship to encompass all of Asia, the upgrading of the Japanese military, aligning Japan with concepts such as Air-Sea battle—a massive attack on military facilities in mainland China—and intensifying Japanese cooperation with ballistic missile defence (BMD). Anti-missile systems are seen as vital for a first-strike strategy, which aims to render inoperable any retaliation. With regard to South Korea, the report calls for increased BMD capacity, as well as a comprehensive strategy, developed with Japan, to bring about “regime change” in North Korea. Australia is described as the “southern anchor” of US relationships in the Pacific. The report calls for the use of the Stirling naval base in Western Australia to support “US naval force structure in the region.” The US and Australia should deploy surveillance and unmanned aerial vehicles on Australia’s Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean and “the two countries should work together to more rapidly identify potential Australian contributions to ballistic missile defence.” And the list goes on. Indian nuclear weapons must be seen as an “asset” in the current balance of power, and US-India military co-operation should increase. Indonesia’s role in joint military exercises must be expanded, naval exercises with Vietnam stepped up and the Philippines must develop a full range of defence capabilities. On the political front, the report calls for the reinforcement of trusted strategic relationships and partnerships throughout the Indo-Pacific region that include traditional US alliances but go beyond them. It advocates strengthening Asian states’ “ability to cope with China independently” and building new forms of intra-Asian co-operation—clearly directed to counter China—that do not always involve the US but are systematically supported by it. After detailing these anti-China measures on the economic, military and political fronts, the report states that the US must energise “high-level diplomacy” with China to “mitigate the inherently profound tensions” and to “reassure US allies and friends in Asia and beyond that its objective is to avoid a confrontation with China.” The source of this blatant contradiction lies in a no less significant component of the US war drive—the offensive on the ideological front. The purpose of the “high-level diplomacy” and even possible joint ventures with China on some issues, is to manufacture the propaganda lie that the cause of war is the fault of America’s enemy—in this case Chinese assertiveness and aggression. That lie has been central to the launching of US military activity ever since it became an imperialist power at the end of the 19th century. In reality, the report itself specifically rules out any accommodation with China. In their conclusion, the authors state: “[T]here is no real prospect of building fundamental trust, ‘peaceful coexistence,’ ‘mutual understanding,’ a strategic partnership, or a ‘new type of major country relations’ between the United States and China.” The release of this report and its clear elaboration of the US war drive underscore the necessity for the development of a socialist strategy against war by the international working class. This will be at the centre of tomorrow’s May Day Online International Rally called by the International Committee of the Fourth International. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. |
Image caption Reece Winfield and Corey Hobson bragged about their newsagent robbery Two young men who bragged about robbing a newsagents were caught after their distinctive underwear was spotted on CCTV. Reece Winfield, 18, of Top Valley, Nottingham and Corey Hobson, 17, of no fixed abode, robbed cigarettes and alcohol from Ling Forest newsagents. CCTV footage captured their underpants showing above their low-slung trousers, which they were still wearing two days later when arrested in February. Both men were detained for 36 months. Hobson and Winfield were both sentenced to 32 months for robbery and four months for attempted arson on Thursday after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing at Nottingham Crown Court. Image caption Corey Hobson posed with a haul of stolen cigarettes Det Sgt Phil Sims from Nottinghamshire Police, said the pair had made it "very easy" for officers to track them down. "In the end, you could say they were well and truly caught with their pants down. "They obviously thought it was funny to brag about their crime, sparing no thought for their victim, who they left battered and bruised and counting the cost of their theft and damage." After making comments about the robbery on social media site Facebook, the pair also filmed themselves lighting and throwing a homemade petrol bomb into a Nottingham street, police said. Detectives found the video on Winfield's phone. Insp Andy Goodall added: "The fact they filmed their exploits and laughed at the bang suggests they were pretty happy with themselves. "I doubt they are laughing now." Both men were also ordered to pay £120 compensation to their victim. |
Coming Soon Hyperdrive Daring drivers from around the globe compete for glory as they race through one of the largest automotive obstacle courses ever constructed. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance In this prequel to the fantasy classic, three young Gelfling inspire a rebellion against the cruel Emperor when they discover a horrifying secret. Dolly Parton's Heartstrings Triple Frontier Loyalties are tested when five former special forces operatives reunite to steal a drug lord's fortune, unleashing a chain of unintended consequences. Space Force A comedy series about the people tasked with creating Space Force, a new branch of the U.S. military. From Greg Daniels and star Steve Carell. Mirage A space-time continuum glitch allows Vera to save a boy's life 25 years earlier, but results in the loss of her daughter, whom she fights to get back. October Faction Follow the adventures of a retired monster-hunter and his family, which includes a thrill-killer, a witch and a warlock. Based on Steve Niles's comic. Klaus A young postman forms an unlikely friendship with a reclusive toymaker in this animated Santa Claus origin story from the co-creator of "Despicable Me." |
Today we saw surprising PMI data released in the US and UK. The UK surprised on the upside with a 53.3 reading, the US surprised on the downside with a 49.4 reading. The €urozone average is 51.7. That puts post-Brexit Britain in gold medal place on the PMI podium… It is important to understand that the PMI is a survey and reflects the attitude of purchasing managers to the economy and market conditions. Last month UK PMI came in negative and the headlines in the remainstream media were apocalyptic. The reality is business and purchasing managers’ outlook was probably subjectively influenced by George Osborne’s irresponsible “Project Fear” propaganda that the UK would go into immediate recession, require an emergency budget and be attacked by zombies. None of which it now transpires was really true, however it did spook people. Headlines last month when PMI came in negative were about a dramatic downturn, the FT warned of stagnation and the Indy breathlessly reported the “UK economy shrinking at fastest rate since financial crisis”. Guido doubts we’ll see headlines as dramatically positive tomorrow. The month-on-month increase in the level of the UK headline PMI (5.0 points) was the joint-greatest in the near 25-year survey history — Markit Economics (@MarkitEconomics) September 1, 2016 The Bank of England subsequently cut interest rates in a symbolic and probably unnecessary gesture – from 0.5% to 0.25% – a difference which will not animate the economy in any meaningful way. Does today’s PMI number mean Britain’s GDP will conversely now surge? Not really. Not least because China, emerging markets and the €urozone all have economic problems. Brexit is a small factor in the global situation compared to the €uro debt crisis and China’s economic problems, never mind the ever imminent Italian banking crisis… |
CLOSE Washington state drivers will have put down their cellphones, coffee and mascara. USA TODAY File photo (Photo11: Getty Images/iStockphoto) Drivers in Washington state will have put down their cellphones, under a law that went into effect Sunday. And coffee. And mascara. The state's new law to discourage distracted driving closes loopholes against making calls by prohibiting even holding a personal electronic device while stopped in traffic. The law also prohibits eating or applying make-up while driving. The Governors Highway Safety Association called the law a pioneering effort to combat distracted driving, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said was involved in more than 3,000 deaths in 2014. “Washington State was first state to pass a texting ban a decade ago, and they are leading the way again with this strengthened law, which has the potential to be a game changer and serve as a model for other states,” Kara Macek, a spokeswoman for the governors association. The change comes too late for Michael Nicknovich, whose girlfriend died last year when her car was hit by a distracted driver along Interstate 5 near Chehalis, Wash. Jody Bagnariol, 63, and her passenger, Elisabeth Rudolf, 50, died in the crash when another driver on the highway posed for a photo taken by her passenger. "Two lives are lost because another woman was taking selfies at 76 mph on cruise control," Nickinovich said. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia ban the use of hand-held phones while driving, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. And 44 states and D.C. ban texting while driving. But none ban the use of hands-free devices entirely. The Washington State law makes it illegal for a driver to hold an electronic device in even when stopped at an intersection or in traffic, which closes loopholes in other state laws. Fines start at $136 for the first offense and $234 for the second, and will be reported to the driver’s insurance company and will appear on the driver’s record. Drivers were distracted in crashes that killed 3,179 people in 2014, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Distractions such as dialing or texting tripled the risk of a crash, according to NHTSA. The National Transportation Safety Board has named distracted driving as one of the 10 most important safety issues to remedy, after finding personal electronics caused or contributed to 11 accidents that killed 50 people and injured 259 since 2003. But NTSB doesn’t investigate many highway accidents. Distractions are growing. Nearly 30% of drivers surveyed in 2015 admitted accessing the internet while driving, according to a State Farm survey, compared to just 13% in 2009. "We had a lot of issues with Pokemon Go, people checking their email and GPS," said Bremerton Police Officer Steven Forbragd, who pulled over to answer a call from a Kitsap Sun reporter. "Now everything will be hands free." A 2015 Washington Traffic Safety Commission study found that 1 in 10 drivers were distracted in some way while on the road, and that 70 percent of those observed were using their phone. "We have a lot of rear-end collisions that have a lot to do with people looking down to see a text," he said. Other provisions in the Washington law bar eating, putting on make-up and shaving, which can cause a car to drift across lanes in traffic. These secondary offenses carry $99 fines, which may still not be enough to deter some motorists. "I still do my hair while I'm driving, but only because you hear about being getting hurt from texting and driving," Zach Kostick, 19, of Port Orchard, who sports a man-bun, told the Kitsap Sun. "You never really hear about people getting into accidents for doing their hair." Holding a phone to call 911 or emergency services will remain legal in Washington. Although the law prohibits "holding a personal electronic device in either hand or both hands" to use a device, it does allow "the minimal use of a finger to activate, deactivate, or initiate a function of the device." "Before this law, the only things people could get a ticket for were texting and holding the phone up to their ear," Trooper Russ Winger of the Washington State Patrol told the Kitsap Sun. "Now we can pull someone over for having any electronics in their hand." Troopers will pull over any driver seen holding their phone. But for the first six months the new law is in place, troopers will not issue tickets for distracted driving, giving drivers time to adjust, Winger said. "I believe this law will change drivers' behaviors because now they have consequences for their actions, with the monetary fine and ticket potentially increasing their insurance rates," he said. Angie Ward, a program manager for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, is skeptical that the new law will change everyone's driving habits, but said it's a start. "We know this rule won't magically change things," Ward told the Kitsap Sun. "If we can decrease fatalities even 1 or 2%, that will make all of this worth it." Contributing: Kitsap Sun. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2v0HFuK |
The latest Scripps National Spelling Bee will have a new host for its ESPN telecast: "SportsCenter" anchorman Kevin Negandhi. Negandhi represents the first Indian-American to host the TV portion of the bee. The latest Scripps National Spelling Bee will have a new host for its ESPN telecast: "SportsCenter� anchorman Kevin Negandhi. Negandhi represents the first Indian-American to host the TV portion of the bee. The bee has yielded Indian-American champions for the past eight years and 13 of the past 17 � a run traced to the 1999 victory of Nupur Lala, featured in the documentary �Spellbound.� When he joined ESPN in 2006, Negandhi became the first Indian-American on-camera personality at a national sports network. His parents immigrated from Mumbai, and he grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs. The bee will take place Tuesday through Thursday, with the finals shown at 8 p.m. Thursday on ESPN. |
The World’s fastest one-class championship just got faster! There are cars which set your pulse racing and then there are cars that make you want to get behind the wheel and race! One such car is the all new Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo. As enthusiasts know, the Lamborghini’s Super Trofeo championship has been described as the fastest one-marque race series in the world. Held as three separate championship series in Europe, North America and Asia culminating an end of season finale, the Super Trofeo champions all come together to decide “The Champion of Champions.” With the introduction of the Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo for the 2015 series, it’s set to get even quicker and more exciting. The new Huracán will compete alongside the existing Gallardo LP 570-4 cars but in a separate class as its specifications are very different. The Huracán has rear-wheel drive versus the Gallardo’s all-wheel drive. This astounding Huracán was built from scratch with a clear racing concept by Lamborghini’s new motorsport division, Squadra Corse, together with Dallara Engineering, with direct involvement by founder Gian Paolo Dallara. (Dallara’s history with Lamborghini dates back to 1963 when he worked as a Lamborghini engineer and later led the development of the legendary Miura.) The Huracán is a true thoroughbred racer, with a naturally aspirated 5.2 litre V-10, 611 horsepower engine with a 42/58% weight distribution. The vehicle weighs an ultra-light 2,800 lbs, attributed to the hybrid carbon fiber/aluminum chassis and strict motorsports weight reduction. The new aerodynamics provides better efficiency as well as improved traction and down-force, which is assisted the preference for Pirelli tyres. We are looking forward to seeing the track times. Lamborghini R&D boss Maurizio Reggiani says. “We believe the car will be as fun for fans to watch as it will be rewarding for our racers to drive.” Whoever thought that the British were masters of the understatement may just have been trumped! Lamborghini says the decision to switch to rear-wheel drive Huracán for the new season is to help accelerate the Super Trofeo drivers’ preparation for GT3 racing, perhaps hinting at a wider scope for the Italian marque’s motorsport future. The Gallardo GT3 competes primarily in the Blancpain Endurance Series, with one of the cars fielded by Lamborghini motorsport partner Reiter Engineering. The road version of this striking racing legend in the making, is of course, the Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4, which made its world debut earlier this year, at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. It is the successor to the Gallardo and redefines the luxury super sports car driving experience with its innovative technology and outstanding performance, with a level of stunning chic which is oh, so Lamborghini. If you’d like to get your hands on one, you’ll need to be a registered participant in the Super Trofeo series. Alternatively, to see them in action, the UK round of Super Trofeo Europe takes place on the 22-24th May 2015 We have the Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo listed on our New Lamborghini pages along with the rest of the range. Please contact us at one of our Lamborghini Dealerships to express interest in any of our new or used Lamborghinis. |
Last week Sir Richard Branson and many of the future astronauts signed up to Virgin Galactic visited CERN Last week CERN was visited by almost seventy participants of the Virgin Galactic space programme. They were joined by Sir Richard Branson, the famous explorer who founded the Virgin group. The Virgin Galactic programme is building the world’s first commercial spacecraft, and offers individuals the chance to purchase a ticket to become a space tourist. “CERN has created a place scientists can come and use incredible machinery to discover things and push barriers forward. It’s only through the exploration of the unknown that we can continue to grow and evolve,” Branson explained – something many of CERN’s community understand, as they strive to answer fundamental questions about our universe. The ‘future astronauts’ were taken on a tour of SM18, the AMS control room and the CCC. “To have an opportunity to visit CERN is a once in a lifetime opportunity so there’s no way we were going to miss it. We’re all, obviously, interested in once in a lifetime chances,” laughs Michael Gamerl, a future astronaut for the Virgin Galactic programme, who visited from California. Virgin Galactic has built a community of future astronauts who sign up to various events while they wait for their space flight. The CERN tour was their most popular visit yet. (Image: Sophia Bennett/ CERN) The group chose to come on this tour as part of this programme, after several of the future astronauts told the organising team that visiting CERN featured highly on their ‘bucket lists’. “I find it fascinating, exploring, whether in a laboratory or going on an adventure – that’s how you want to live life,” says Gamerl. Watch the video below to see more highlights from the Virgin Galactic visit: |
THE POWER OF THE DOG by Rudyard Kipling There is sorrow enough in the natural way From men and women to fill our day; But when we are certain of sorrow in store, Why do we always arrange for more? Brothers and sisters I bid you beware Of giving your heart to a dog to tear. Buy a pup and your money will buy Love unflinching that cannot lie– Perfect passion and worship fed By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head. Nevertheless it is hardly fair To risk your heart for a dog to tear. When the fourteen years that nature permits Are closing in asthma or tumors or fits And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs To lethal chambers, or loaded guns. Then you will find–its your own affair But–you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear. When the body that lived at your single will When the whimper of welcome is stilled (how still!) When the spirit that answered your every mood Is gone–wherever it goes–for good, You still discover how much you care And will give your heart to a dog to tear. We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way When it comes to burying Christian clay. Our loves are not given, but only lent, At compound interest of cent per cent. Though it is not always the case, I believe, That the longer we’ve kept ’em the more do we grieve; For when debts are payable, right or wrong, A short time loan is as bad as a long– So why in Heaven (before we are there) Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear? |
Radiator/Motherboard/CPU Mount/Test Tubing Runs Started to Sleeve the PSU Next Step - More Sleeving/More tubing/GPU. I apologize for such a late update. With the announcement of the 1080 GTX I sent back my ordered GPU and will wait on that. I have also been trying to plan out my loop and figure out what to do for sleeving. Since I am doing all this for the first time it takes a lot of thought and research for me to figure it out.I have mounted the motherboard, CPU and radiator. I have also been practicing bends so I completed 2 test runs. The real runs will actually use black tubing. I wanted to do it once before I fully commit and since tubing isn't that expensive in the grand scheme so far it has been a good idea. Learned a lot by just doing it. It also allowed me to change my mind about the direction of a run which had to happen a few times due to how hard tight 45 degree angles are to accomplish.I had to clean my old CPU water block. I did not think it was necessary to buy a new one and I really like the look of my Apogee XT so I took it apart to clean it. Holy **** I almost decided to say "**** it" and buy a new block. I am not a fan of most of the looks out there though so I stuck with it. I did a lot of googling and tried ketchup, rice vinegar (this was all had) and a waterpik. I could not scrub it because there are little tiny pins so the waterpik was a awesome idea. I decided to head out and get white vinegar and mixed it with some salt. Let that sit for hours a couple times and just waterpiked it all off. Eventually I got what you see below which is probably good enough.For the tube bending I actually created a few tools to help.I designed and 3d Printed some mandrels for 45 degree and 90 degree angles. You can find the design here. It is a pretty slow website though. So I attached the STL here.They are designed to fit 1/2" tubing perfectly so that you can trace the tubing outline on a sheet of paper or something. It can help design a loop a bit easier. This is similar to the center line design that Monsoon uses but I preferred the outer edge vs the center. It is more accurate IMO.I had a hard time finding the right insert. Seriously this is more important than most anything IMO when bending. I tried the default Primochill insert. Idk if got ripped off but the thing has no core so it is just a tube. This caused it to collapse if you made bends too fast or to far. It was rough. So I had another by XSPC but this thing was too large. I tried sanding it... That tool a long time and got me maybe 2 inches in. I bought the Monsoon one. That was super short but when in too easy. This actually caused the tubing to collapse on the outside if you pressed on it too much or weren't careful.Anyhow all in all I liked the fit of the primochill although it was a bit tough to get in super deep so I modified it. I'll get to that in a second. So first step fix the no core issue. I decided to cut a large wire from a USB cable and stick it down inside.Filled the CoreThe next issue was getting to my super deep bend. I couldn't not get the primochill that far even with soap so *** do I do now? The monsoon is too short and the XSPC won't fit at all. I decided to drill a hole at the end of the tube and take some yoyo string I had and tie it to the end. Best idea ever! I now don't need soap at all. I thread the string through the tube and pull and the silicon insert just slides right through!String tied to end of primochill silicon insertThis is a pretty easy task and another that requires you to just try it to figure it out. But man it is tedious. The one thing I was super happy with was how I dealt with the double wires on this PCI-E cable. I ended up just cutting a small piece out of the divider between the two wire inserts to give room for the double wire with sleeves. The way I sleeved it was by cutting the sleeving at an angle and melting the 2 sleeves together at the split.I will have to resleeve the black colors because this is not what I expected with Shade-19 MDPC. I thought it would be more black than grey. Oh well. |
Getty Images LOXAHATCHEE, FL - JULY 11: An American and Confederate flag fly from a vehicle during a rally to show support for the flags on July 11, 2015 in Loxahatchee, Florida. Organizers of the rally said that after the Confederate flag was removed from South Carolinas State House it reinforced their need to show support for the Confederate flag which some feel is under attack. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) A group of Confederate-flag-waving protesters gathered near the Oklahoma high school where President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak Wednesday afternoon, insisting that what they were doing was about heritage rather than racism. "We're not gonna stand down from our heritage. You know, this flag's not racist. And I know a lot of people think it is, but it's really not. It's just a southern thing, that's it," Trey Johnson, who drove three hours from Texas to join the protest, told KFOR. "It is about history. It's not about racism at all because both black men, as well as white men, stood side by side," said another protester, who gave her name as Stephanie. "They fought together for the beliefs that they believed in." Obama is traveling to Durant High School to give a speech on expanding economic opportunity for communities nationwide, including the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The protesters lined up along the road to the high school ahead of Obama's visit, and police officers gathered to keep them off school property. There has been an increased focus on the Confederate battle flag in recent weeks after the June massacre of nine African-Americans in a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Dylann Roof, the accused shooter, was a racist who proudly displayed the Confederate flag. Last week, South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from the grounds of its state Capitol. They're rolling out the Confederate flag for President Obama in Durant. A source shot this for us. @readfrontier pic.twitter.com/jmOXak24Ex — Ziva Branstetter (@ZivaBranstetter) July 15, 2015 2 dozen demonstrators with the #ConfederateBattleFlag gather in Durant where Pres. Obama will speak later today pic.twitter.com/4uHkiYLtbj — Steven Romo (@stevenromo) July 15, 2015 Confederate flag supporters gather in Durant ahead of President Obama's visit. #texoma http://t.co/eNo2y6FYs7 pic.twitter.com/q0aRObL3OO — Dan Thomas (@News12Dan) July 15, 2015 |
Carrier announced a decision to move at least 1,400 jobs from Indianapolis to Mexico. The heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration system (HVAC) company will begin the process in 2017 and hopes to complete everything by 2019. Carrier “employs 50,000 people in more than 180 countries.” They chose to close the Indianapolis operation because of cost. Chris Nelson, Carrier’s president of HVAC systems and services for North America, published this statement: This move is intended to address the challenges we continue to face in a rapidly changing HVAC industry, with the continued migration of the HVAC industry to Mexico, including our suppliers and competitors, and ongoing cost and pricing pressures driven, in part, by new regulatory requirements. Relocating our operations to a region where we have existing infrastructure and a strong supplier base will allow us to operate more cost effectively so that we can continue to produce high-quality HVAC products that are competitively positioned while continuing to meet customer needs. This decision is difficult and we recognize the impact on employees, their families and the community. We are committed to ensuring that our employees are treated respectfully and to working closely with their representatives throughout this transition. “Today’s surprise announcement was without warning and incredibly disappointing,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett. “While I am obviously concerned about the economic impact, my top priority is the well-being of the hardworking families affected by this decision. A job lost in any part of our community affects us all, and I believe these are the times we must come together as one city to lift up our neighbors.” Local union representatives will discuss the move with Carrier. Fox 59 reports that some “employees will be entitled to severance benefits, including access to the company’s Employee Scholar Program, which pays for tuition, books and fees at accredited higher education institutions.” |
Solar energy has made it possible for those in developing countries to turn on lights and power devices at their convenience. They no longer have to rely on the limited resources they have, and it’s also reaped the same benefits for homeless people. Camps in Berkeley, California, have installed donated solar panels to provide easy access to power for those in need. Back on November 4th, Bay Area Rapid Transit evicted numerous homeless people from their camp along Adeline Street. It’s another eviction in a long string of them between the city of Berkeley and the “First They Came for the Homeless” group. Most of them transferred over to Old City Hall while a smaller group established just north of the old one. A third camp is now located at the edge of Aquatic Park. |
Papers 2 Date Author Title Presenter April 2 Aucsmith Tamper Resistant Software: An implementation Tapas April 4 Nickerson The Encode Solution to Implementing Tamper Resistant Software; Extending Trust into a Hostile Environment; An Introduction to the Mathematics of Hiding Data in Software. TBA April 4 Jakobsson Discouraging Software Piracy Using Software Aging Ashok Ramasamy April 9 Proebsting Krakatoa: Decompilation in Java Balamurugan M. Chirtsabesan April 9 Cifuentes Decompilation of Binary Programs Rathnaprabhu April 11 Fred Cohen Computer Viruses - Theory and Experiments Martin Stepp April 11 AVP Computer Virus Classification. Miriam Miklofsky April 16 Eichin With Microscope and Tweezers: An Analysis of the Internet Virus of November 1988. Ginger April 16 Dark Avenger Various documents on polymorphic viruses, including Mutation Engine Report, Advanced Polymorphism Primer, etc. Danny Mandel April 23 Aleph One Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit Kelly Heffner April 23 Cesare Anti-Debugger Techniques; Linux Anti-Debugger Techniques (Fooling the Debugger). Xiangyu Zhang April 25 InterTrust Understanding DRM Systems; Golden times for Digital Rights Management? Andrew Huntwork |
EasyMile, the French maker of driverless shuttles, will open its U.S. headquarters this fall at the Panasonic campus near the Denver International Airport. The company, which teamed with the Regional Transportation District to demonstrate its autonomous EZ10 shuttles in Denver last week, is waiting for the renovation of a 6,000-square-foot office and warehouse space to be completed. Related Articles RTD sponsors free rides aboard driverless shuttle Wednesday at the Pepsi Center Denver International Airport opens new parking lot at 61st & Peña Station The first self-driving car will debut in three years, but will you want to buy one? Colorado to test self-driving vehicles on 90 miles of Interstate 70 Denver smart city Peña Station Next a technological testing ground for Panasonic “There are only two employees in North America now, but we do have significant growth plans for the next two years,” said Lauren Isaac, with EasyMile. “Our team will be focused on everything from sales and government regulations to technical deployments and vehicle maintenance.” Isaac said the new office can “easily fit 20 people.” The company employs 90 people worldwide. It’s in the same building that houses Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Co. technology center. Panasonic is leading a citywide effort to turn the area into a smart city experiment for solar power, renewable energy and autonomous transportation. The company has previously said that it expects EasyMile shuttles to provide transportation to and from the nearby rail stop and area office and future residential communities. |
Another year, another Independent Games Festival; another Independent Games Festival, another group of finalists; another group of finalists, another army of aggrieved developers who didn’t make the cut. There has arisen something of a tradition among indie developers of complaining about the Independent Games Festival. There are reasons for that. For one thing, the stakes are high. With thousands of dollars and widespread publicity on the line, a strong showing in the IGF can make all the difference for an indie developer. More than that, it’s very expensive to enter, so people want to feel like their entries have been given a fair shake. Oftentimes they don’t feel that way, which leads to grousing and drama. I have never felt the urge to submit anything to the IGF myself, and as such, I’ve ever had any personal stake in the fairness of IGF proceedings. However, it certainly hasn’t escaped my notice that, year after year, the IGF conspicuously passes over RPG entrants–and now that I run this site, I feel that my role as an advocate for indie RPGs requires me to explore the issue. The Problem The problem is simple: indie RPGs do not win in the IGF. In fact, with few exceptions, they don’t even get selected as finalists. I use the present tense here, but this issue stretches back over the IGF’s entire 13-year history. The only game among the finalists this year that could even arguably count as an RPG is the frantic, skin-deep action-shooter-that-has-loot-and-leveling Realm of the Mad God. Last year, Bastion and the short-form, dungeon-delving, mostly-just-a-puzzle-game Desktop Dungeons made it into the finals. The year before that? Nothing. (I’m not going to pretend that Heroes of Newerth is an RPG; it isn’t.) The year before that? Nothing. The year before that? Nothing. The year before that? Well, here is where we reach something unique in the IGF’s history. For only two years, 2006 and 2007, the IGF had a separate Mod Competition. In 2007, an RPG mod won in the category…Best RPG Mod. Something similar happened in 2006, where the mods were grouped by which game they ran on. A category called “Best Mod – Neverwinter Nights” (which might as well have been “Best RPG Mod”) contained RPG finalists. A single action RPG snuck into the “Best Mod – Unreal Tournament 2004” category, but that was it. No RPGs won anything in the main competition in either year. (The indie MMORPG Dofus received a Visual Art nomination in 2006, but it did not win.) No RPGs were finalists in 2005. If we go all the way back to 2004, we find a hybrid dungeon delver/spelling game that was chosen as a finalist, also in Visual Art. However, it’s just a linear sequence of timed word puzzles with RPG scènes à faire. It is not an RPG. The first four years of the IGF, 1999 through 2003, aren’t much better. To sum up: strategy games, shooters, puzzlers and DoTA-alikes with fantasy settings have each been recognized in the IGF. Actual RPGs, with very few exceptions, have not. But why? Breaking Down the Numbers One popular explanation for this has been that RPGs are relatively rare among indie games due to the extreme demands of creating them. Fewer RPGs created means fewer RPG entries, which in turn means a lower statistical chance that RPGs will be chosen for anything in the competition. There is also a related defeatism argument: I have heard repeatedly from talented RPG developers that they have no desire to enter their games into the IGF because RPGs are never selected to win anything. And yet RPGs cannot win in the IGF if no one is entering RPGs into the competition, right? These explanations sound plausible enough, but a look at the numbers shows that they do not adequately explain why RPGs have not received more recognition than they have. This year’s IGF has 567 entrants (I’m ignoring student entrants). Based on a quick control-F search for “RPG” on the entrant pages, I’ve determined that the following self-described RPGs* were submitted this year: A Closed World, Alcarys Complex, Crystalides, Dangerous, Dark Scavenger, Dragon Fantasy, Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten, Dungeon Defenders, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Faith of the Guardians, Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone, Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon, Kali9, Lair of the Evildoer, Legendary Wars, Loot Pursuit, NEStalgia, RaonDefenders, Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, Slide RPG, Story Universe, The Savage Garden, Wilfred the Hero, and Zack’s Adventure: The Lost IRIS. Last year’s IGF had 391 entrants. Self-described RPG entrants were: Aphelion, Crusade of Destiny, Din’s Curse, Dungeon Defenders, Fantasy University, Le Petit Chat, Leelh, Legend of Fae, Mark Leung: Revenge of the Bitch, Papercraft, Rainblood: Town of Death, Shadow Rising, and Tumblestone. * NOTE: I chose not to second-guess the “RPG” designations on entrants due to the demands of manually combing through hundreds of entries looking for data. However, if a game was merely described as having “RPG elements,” I did not include it. If you account for the entries that are really tower defense games, puzzle games or shmups with RPG-style leveling yet mislabel themselves as true RPGs, this list should be shorter; if you account for RPGs that fail to describe themselves as such–Bastion is a good example of this–it should be a little longer. I think these lists are pretty close to right, numerically speaking. I surveyed the lists of IGF entrants in this way going back to 2008, the earliest year for which the IGF provides the total number of entrants. This provides us with comparison data for the five most recent years of the competition (2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008). From my brief survey, I can draw some conclusions about these last five years: 1.) The 2012 IGF Main Competition has 38 spots for finalists; so did 2011. 2010 had 30 spots, and 2009 had 34. 2008, 2007 and 2006 each had 28. That’s 224 potential finalist spots in the main competition. The 2011 IGF Main Competition has 9 spots for category winners; 2010 has 8, as do 2009 and 2008. That’s 33 winner spots. (There are no winners selected for 2012 yet, so we ignore it for purposes of determining the number of winner spots.) 2.) Realm of the Mad God does not describe itself as an RPG, and I tend to agree, so we ignore it in the count. Neither does Desktop Dungeons; it calls itself “a single-screen puzzle adventure,” a designation I also agree with. Bastion doesn’t describe itself as an RPG, but I think that one pretty clearly counts. That brings us to a grand total of one (1) finalist slot occupied by an RPG in the last 5 years (accounting for 0.045% of all finalist spots), and zero (0) winner slots. If we were to count Realm of the Mad God and Desktop Dungeons as RPGs, however, that would mean that the last five years’ worth of RPG entrants ended up filling four finalist spots out of 224, or 1.8% of the total, and one winner spot out of 33, or 3% of the total. 3.) For the 2012 IGF, there were 24 self-described RPGs entered out of 567 submissions. This means that RPGs accounted for 4.2% of all games submitted. 4.) In 2011, there were 13 self-described RPGs entered out of 391 submissions. RPGs accounted for 3.3% of all games submitted. 5.) In 2010, 8 self-described RPGs were submitted out of 301 submissions. RPGs accounted for 2.7% of all games submitted. 6.) In 2009, 7 self-described RPGS were submitted out of 224 submissions. RPGs accounted for 3.1% of all games submitted. 7.) In 2008, 6 self-described RPGS were submitted out of 173 submissions. RPGs accounted for 3.5% of all games submitted. 8.) Adding up all the RPGs submitted (58) and dividing by the total number of all games submitted (1656) over the past five years, we end up with an average of 3.5% of submissions that are RPGs. Looking at these numbers, it is apparent that the “RPGs aren’t chosen because so few are submitted” argument doesn’t hold up. For the past 5 years, RPGs have consistently accounted for roughly 3-4% of games submitted, and on average account for 3.5% of the total. Even considering the relatively low proportion of entries to the IGF that are RPGs, RPGs are still disproportionately passed over for finalist nominations. Even if we count Desktop Dungeons and Realm of the Mad God as RPGs (which I consider a real stretch), they give us an RPG nomination rate of only 1.8% (roughly half the average proportion of RPGs submitted over this five-year period) and a win rate of 3% (still below the average). Clearly, something else is going on here beyond mere low submission numbers. How the IGF is Judged Before we get to other possible explanations for this phenomenon, let’s review some basics about the IGF judging process. In previous IGFs (by which I mean 2010 and earlier), this is how judging worked: When a game is entered into the IGF, it is given to a a number of different people to judge. Before 2010, it was typically 4 judges per game. As of 2010, each game started receiving roughly 8 judges. IGF judges consist of “representatives from the mainstream game industry, notable previous IGF winners and finalists, other independent game developers, and indie-friendly game journalists.” Who gets to judge what is limited by who has the hardware to run which games, but otherwise the distribution is randomized. Judges have one month to play and rate roughly 14 games, with an average of two days to devote to each (these figures were estimated in 2010; it may have been different in years prior). For each game he/she judges, the judge assigns a score of 1-100 in five separate categories: design, visual art, audio, technical excellence, and overall impression. In 2010, the IGF started to require that judges leave significant written feedback along with their scores, presumably in response to feedback like Anna Anthropy’s. Starting with the 2011 IGF, a jury process was introduced and the role of judging changed dramatically: Rather than grading games on a numerical scale to quantitatively determine the “best games”, the wider body of judges will be asked instead to nominate the games allotted to them for any of the IGF’s categories like design, visual art and audio. The top-nominated games will be then passed to a smaller jury who will together determine the finalists and winner after rounds of debate and conversation. Our hope is that this will make the process more engaging for the jurists and more fair for developers, who will now be directly appraised by a jury of industry peers: visual artists for the visual art category, engineers for technical excellence and so on. In an email to me, IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer put it this way: “there are no more numerical scores per game in the judging round. Each judge is free to nominate each game for any category, or choose not to nominate it at all. The jury receives this tallied list of nominations to use as a guideline, though they are entirely free to suggest their own picks or ignore highly nominated games before doing their own finalist voting. We generally ask that any game that received over 2-3 nominations from the body of judges be investigated further.” One of the judges, Ben Ruiz, has publicly stated that there are now really just two determinative factors in which games get nominated: “IGF submissions are nominated because they are a compelling combination of fun and remarkable to the majority of the player constituents.” He expressed confidence that there is sufficient variety in the judge pool that biases about game design philosophy should be eliminated. For this year’s Festival, Boyer tells me that the number of judges has been increased to 250, with each judge getting approximately 20 games to judge. This seems designed to keep the judge/game ratio at or slightly above the level it was in 2010: with 250 total judges each judging 20 games out of the 567 submitted, an average of 8.8 judges ends up weighing in on each entrant. The judging period is currently 4-6 weeks (28-42 days), which means that judges currently have approximately 1.4 to 2.1 days on average to devote to each game. The period for jury deliberation is also 4-6 weeks, though it’s less clear how that breaks down in terms of time available to try each game. Possible Explanations for Lack of RPG Representation With all that in mind, a number of potential explanations jump out at me as to why RPGs keep getting passed over. Judges face severe time limitations One of the issues may be a function of the way judging occurs. In 2010, judges had an average of 2 days per game over the course of a month to play and judge each. Now, with each judge responsible for 20 games, 2 days per game becomes a best-case scenario. Further, the reality is that IGF judges are volunteers. Outside of the IGF, they have full-time jobs and schedules that limit the amount of time they can realistically spend playing games each day. They are also human beings, which means that they tend to procrastinate. According to Alex May, “many judges, like me, left it quite late before starting” in 2010. In short: two days per game is a fantasy. It seems far more likely that most games get no more than a few hours of consideration from any given judge. This is really bad for RPGs. You can get the measure of a shooter or a platformer in a few hours; not so a serious RPG. RPGs tend to be slow-burners. It takes a significant time investment to really appreciate what an RPG has to offer. Worse, because RPGs are built upon the making of irreversible choices, many of them cannot even be fully appreciated without multiple play-throughs! Unless a judge is unusually committed and organized, allotting ample time in advance for play-throughs of his/her RPG submissions, the judge is unlikely to have enough time to get a good sense for the RPGs he or she is assigned to judge. Entrants lack audiovisual polish For some reason, the majority of the RPGs I’ve noticed among recent entrants into the IGF have a noticeable lack of polish compared to entrants from other genres. This is purely a subjective judgment, of course, but if you browse through the entries, it’s hard not to see how much nicer many of the games from other genres look. It’s easy to see why this might be the case: RPGs simply demand a lot more content. This leaves less time in the development cycle for polishing, while simultaneously making polishing far more time-consuming. It’s analogous to the difference between painting a dozen portraits and painting two hundred portraits within the same time frame: the more you have the make, the more quickly you have to make them, and the less polished they are all going to turn out. There’s also a question of expense. From what I’ve seen, RPG developers tend to engage in solo development and usually do not come from visual art backgrounds. This means that they have to pay contractors to produce their art. In a game with a small amount of assets, it’s relatively quick and cheap to make them look really good. But doing that in an RPG means making hundreds of items and dozens of monster types and dozens of spells all look really excellent. That gets very expensive, very fast. Still, this explanation doesn’t sit entirely right with me. If you look at the entrants from the last few years, you’ll notice games like Bastion, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Eschalon Book II and Fortune Summoners. All of these are pretty darn polished. If nothing else, it’s hard to imagine why Bastion would not end up a finalist for Audio, or Dust not end up a finalist for Visual Art. Subset of judge / jury has an anti-narrative bias When I look at RPG entries to the IGF, I see many of them trying to stand out by referencing their detailed narratives and setting instead of highlighting what (if anything) is unique about their game mechanics. And if my experience in the indie scene tells me anything, it’s that this is a little like trying to become the President of the United States by getting fired out of a circus cannon into the reflecting pool on the national mall. Here’s the thing. Narrative focus is actually a pretty divisive thing in the indie community. Some indie developers, to their credit, appreciate good writing. Other indies think text in games is indicative of bad design, and some go so far as to say that it’s actually manipulative. If you get one of these second types of people as a judge, they are not going to receive your story-heavy game favorably. Now that games proceed to jury based on judge nominations rather than scores, this doesn’t have quite the disastrous impact it once did–you no longer have to worry about an anti-narrative judge dragging down your game’s average score because of his preconceptions about text in games. (It could still have an impact, however, particularly during the jury process.) Perhaps a bigger problem is that the IGF judging system simply doesn’t encourage judges to consider a game’s narrative merits. A judge is only able to nominate a game in the IGF’s award categories: there’s one for good visual art, one for audio, one for having an impressive engine, one for good design, and a second design award for experimental work. What’s that? You say your game is well-written? Well! In that case, you get to take home the Boo-Hoo Award, consisting entirely of your own, bitter tears. RPGs employ traditional game mechanics Mechanics-wise, the RPG genre is very bound-up in tradition, and that’s reflected in many of the entries. This dovetails with the point about narrative focus above. People who get into developing RPGs are oftentimes more into the story and the setting than into doing something innovative with the game’s mechanics. Necessarily, if a developer pours most of her energy into the narrative and setting, that is not going to leave her much time to focus on doing something truly interesting with the guts of the game. To be fair, not all indie RPG developers are interested in story. Many are primarily motivated by a desire to return to mechanics that were once standard in the genre, but have since all but disappeared. The one thing you don’t generally see, though, are indie RPG developers who are interested in pioneering radical new twists in RPG mechanics. One way or another, the result is the same: these games end up having very familiar systems. Most of the RPGs I see among the entrants to the IGF are either using some variation on the old Final Fantasy battle system, doing a variation on Puzzle Quest, doing a variation on Protector, or going for a side-scrolling beat-em-up approach. I don’t mean to suggest that that is as a bad thing. However, it does have major consequences for a game’s chances at winning the IGF’s grand prize and design-focused awards. IGF judges tend to favor games with innovative or unusual core mechanics. Given the time limitations involved in judging IGF submissions, games which innovate in striking, immediately noticeable ways are going to have a big advantage. In practice, the games that have been most successful in recent IGFs have been those which introduced one or two big, obvious changes to the core mechanics of their genre: things like realistic physics, dimensional manipulation, real-time creation / destruction of in-game environments, or procedural generation. (Not that their innovative use of procedural generation helped Din’s Curse or Depths of Peril, mind you, but that’s just two games–not a big enough sample size to conclude that this sort of approach wouldn’t make a difference for future RPG entrants.) RPGs are jacks of all trades This is a big one, so bear with me. By and large, the creators of the most successful IGF entrants picked one or two things that they wanted to do and poured all their efforts into doing those things really, really well. This is generally thought of as a good design approach, but in practice it runs counter to what we generally consider desirable in the RPG sphere. Among RPG developers, open-endedness and player freedom are highly valued. This has its roots in the traditions of the pen-and-paper RPGs that spawned the genre: we want the player to be able to go anywhere, make consequential choices, and play the game in a wide variety of different ways (a.k.a. “role playing”). This means that your typical RPG features at least half a dozen distinct gameplay systems to suit a variety of different gameplay styles: item collection and management; crafting; dialog; stealth; combat; magic (typically with a number of different sub-specialties); character building (both in terms of creation and point allocation/skill tree navigation); and oftentimes, gambling (simulated with stat rolls, or via a full-fledged card or tile-based mini-games). That is a lot of stuff to have to do and do well; for a solo developer with limited time and budget, depth and polish can easily end up getting sacrificed on the altar of breadth. This same issue crops up with RPG narrative. A few narrative-heavy games are now starting to make it through the IGF with some success, notables being To the Moon, Trauma and Dear Esther. Oddly, these games have almost no mechanics to speak of! They feature no combat; no puzzles worth mentioning; no sense of danger. They offer no challenge, essentially–they are single-mindedly focused on story and exploration, so much so that some believe they simply are not games at all. These games follow the rule we set forth above: they pick one thing and do it really, really well. In this case, it just happens that the thing they choose to do well is narrative. The open-ended nature of RPGs makes this difficult to do. RPG players will tell you that there is something uniquely satisfying about having a direct role in the outcome of the game’s story, with elements shifting based on the things you’ve said and done. While that is true, non-linear narratives of this sort are extremely difficult to pull off well. A simple interaction with three or four choices takes longer to create than a linear interaction three or four times its length. A legitimate storyline branch can tremendously increase the amount of work involved in finishing the story. What ends up happening is the RPG developer inevitably spends a huge amount of time providing choices and consequences–player freedom buttressed by reactivity from the game world–while developers creating linear narratives get to focus all their energy on honing theme, establishing tone, and deepening character relationships. If you play To the Moon or Dear Esther, you will see that these games feature very affecting and personal stories. The conflict in these stories is mostly emotional (as opposed to physical): they are not about war or killing, but about relationships and feelings. The characters are carefully crafted, with loads of work put into mood, tone and pacing. They are moving and reflective experiences–but at the same time, they are experiences largely divorced from player input. Imagine what would happen if these narratives weren’t linear. Imagine if you could abandon the house in To the Moon, or irreparably damage the friendship between the doctors, or do any number of other things that would involve big consequences for the storyline. How on earth are you going to manage a consistent tone? How are you going to enforce a satisfying story arc? How are you going to ensure that the theme survives intact? It’s possible, but it’s incredibly difficult. The characters have to remember all of the things the player has done; they have to react convincingly; and the story itself has to account for them. Is each variation going to be just as moving? Will the characters all be as fully developed in each variation? If so, we’re looking at exponentially more work to create that same sense of progressing through a deep, moving storyline. This is why you don’t see serious RPGs about character relationships. It’s much, much easier to have the world react to variables like faction allegiances than it is to try to capture the subtleties of how characters feel about you on a personal level. “Hostile” versus “friendly” is a nice, easy boolean value; “will talk to the player” versus “will never speak to him again” is doable. This sort of approach lends itself to systems that can handle it emergently–which is to say, combat. Not so the subtleties of human emotion. In order to write a deep, moving storyline that revolves principally around the complex relationships of various individual characters with player freedom and dialog variations, realistically, you need a whole team of writers. Indie RPG developers don’t have teams of writers. So they write war epics instead. Judges have genre bias I really don’t think that this is the most likely explanation, but I’d be remiss not to at least give it cursory consideration. At the outset, I have a very hard time imagining that any statistically significant portion of IGF judges actually dislikes RPGs. However, it is certainly a possibility that most of them prefer other genres. The truth is, we can’t really know without polling the judge and jury members, or at the very least seeing a breakdown of the judging pool by genre of expertise. The only thing really worth noting here is that the judging pool is made up in part of past winners–which, as we established above, contains non-RPG developers pretty much exclusively. So, Who Is to Blame? Realistically, I’m not sure that there’s really any one party we can blame for all of this. The IGF could certainly do more to accommodate long-form games like RPGs in terms of the judge/jury process. It might be smart for them to have entrants submit an “approximate time to complete the game” so judges can budget their time better; giving the judges and juries more time with the games could be helpful as well. Also, it would probably be a good idea to make sure that the judge pool adequately represents the RPG developer community, as a precautionary measure if nothing else. Indie RPG developers bear some responsibility here as well, however. No one is making us hew to hide-bound traditions in our game mechanics. No one is forcing us to half-ass our characters and rehash the same old hero’s journey plots. (As much as I went on about the difficulty of making an RPG about deep personal relationships, I’m honestly a little bemused that no one has even tried yet.) And of course, at the most fundamental level, no one told us to pick a genre that is very, very difficult to make games in. We chose that. We picked RPGs because we wanted to make them. Now we just have to choose to do something interesting with them. |
According to exit polls and quick count surveys, the Bolivian media report that President Evo Morales of the Movement Toward Socialism Party (MAS) has won re-election with approximately 60 percent of the votes and will remain president until the year 2020. There were 6.2 million Bolivian citizens eligible to vote in the 2014 general elections. The most notable change for this particular election has been that, for the first time, 273,000 citizens have been allowed to vote from 31 outside countries. Bolivia, where voting is obligatory, has one of the highest voter turnout records in South America. The same initial counts anticipate that Morales's MAS-IPSP (Movement Toward Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the People Party) will have control of two-thirds of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. This data is unofficial and will be confirmed within the next 48 hours. The two most commonly used hashtags for reporting and commentary during the elections have been #EleccionesBo (Election Bolivia) and #BoliviaElige (Bolivia chooses). A few days ago, blogger and digital activist Tonny López (@tonnylp) drew attention to the proliferation of hashtags in the traditional and digital media, where nearly 20 different tags have been put into place: A tomar en cuenta: MediosdeCom, activistas y ciudadanos en #Bolivia tienen sus hashtag para estas #EleccionesBo pic.twitter.com/CUoI9qnZTV — Tonny Lopez (@tonnylp) octubre 9, 2014 Think about this: media, citizens, and activists in Bolivia all use their own hashtags for these elections. The most notorious incident to date was a printer's error on the ballot sheet that read “'Plurinominal’ State of Bolivia”, rather than “‘Plurinational’ State of Bolivia.” “The PLURINOMINAL State of Bolivia.” Blame it on AutoCorrect? XD The responsibility for this gaffe rested with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, who responded via Twitter: #RamiroParedes: El término “Plurinominal” no afecta el valor legal electoral. Se verificarán medidas de seguridad. pic.twitter.com/rjX2P9GCxT — TSE Bolivia (@TSEBolivia) octubre 12, 2014 #RamiroParedes: The term “Plurinominal” does not affect the legally binding force of the elections. Our safeguard measures will be reevaluated. #TSE: Aún no se establece el origen del error de escritura en la papeleta electoral, a partir de mañana se investigará — TSE Bolivia (@TSEBolivia) octubre 12, 2014 #TSE: The origin of the printing error on the ballot sheet has not yet been determined; The matter will be investigated starting tomorrow. Just two days before the election, Bolivians looked back on the 32 years since democracy was restored in Bolivia. Since that time, eight general elections have been held in the country. |
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Big Lottery Fund said research showed a poor start in life affected health, wellbeing, outlook on life and how people form relationships Vulnerable children in five areas of England are to benefit from a £215m lottery grant to tackle poor health and parental drug abuse and improve the long-term prospects of young people. The Big Lottery Fund is to back projects in Lambeth, Southend, Nottingham, Blackpool and Bradford. It said research showed a third of children in poorer areas were anaemic. The funding will be used for initiatives to improve the life chances of 60,000 youngsters. Announcing the cash grants, Dharmendra Kanani, the lottery fund's England director, said: "Parents want the best for their children and as a society we know that what happens in the first three years of life profoundly affects a child's future life chances. 'Prevention matters' "A poor start in life can affect your health, wellbeing, outlook on life and how you form relationships. "Prevention matters more in the early years as we have a much greater understanding of what can and might improve the life chances of a future generation. Big Lottery Fund grants Image copyright Big Lottery Fund Blackpool - £45m Nottingham - £45m Bradford - £49m Lambeth £36m Southend - £40m "That is why this investment is focusing on the three key areas of social and emotional development, nutrition, and language and communication development." The lottery organisation said "a wealth of research" had shown 35% of toddlers from impoverished areas were anaemic and more than half of nursery-age children in disadvantaged areas had "a communication disorder". It said that 10% of children entering school were obese and that for every £1 spent on early years education, £7 had to be spent to have the same impact in adolescence. 'What mothers want' The projects will focus on local issues, such as in Bradford where efforts will be made to reduce midwives' workloads and combat high rates of infant mortality, domestic violence and child poverty. Michaela Howells, of Bradford Trident, said a team of six midwives would be employed to work with 250 women in an area within the Bowling and Bakerend, Bradford Moor and Little Horton wards. She said: "We're looking to follow the principle of one-to-one midwife care - that's what the mothers want." Money will also be invested in developing a "vulnerability checklist" to allow professionals to spot the signs of domestic violence and to employ more health visitors. Bradford Trident has also secured a further £5m of funding from public sector partners. In Nottingham the project will aim to tackle stress caused by family conflict, domestic abuse, parental substance abuse and parental health problems. Nottingham CityCare Partnership said it planned to employ a team of "family mentors" and provide training to all staff and volunteers in contact with families. 'Beach school' Meanwhile, the scheme in Southend will try to transform maternity care and allow midwifery and health visiting services to be increased. Elaine Hammans, commissioning and quality manager for early years at Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, said the funding would see the creation of "at least" 41 new, full-time positions and a £1m "centre of excellence, innovation and best practice". She said: "It will be somewhere where parents and the community can come together with professionals and professionals can come together to plan, design and look at what works locally and what doesn't." In Lambeth efforts will be made to increase breastfeeding rates and cut obesity among children and mothers, using a team of "community champions". In Blackpool the funding will pay for projects across the wards of Claremont, Bloomfield, Talbot, Park, Brunswick, Victoria and Clifton. Among the projects are plans for a centre for early child development and a proposal to create a "beach school" to give children the chance to learn and play on the town's beach. |
During a Center for American Progress seminar on Monday, a former top Obama administration official charged with developing Obamacare said the shift to the president’s healthcare overhaul will be “messy” and fraught with “unanticipated” challenges. “We know it’s going to be messy,” said Jeffrey Crowley. “There are going to be things that come up that are unanticipated.” The panel discussion centered on how Obamacare will affect HIV/AIDS and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. “If we do everything we can possibly think of, it’s still going to be a messy transition, but we’ll end up in a better place,” said Crowley. National Minority AIDS Council Director of Legislative and Public Affairs Kali Lindsey agreed. “One of the realities of the Affordable Care Act is that everything is not going to be perfect when it’s implemented on day one.” The seminar also touched on how illegal immigrants, who are not supposed to be eligible for Obamacare, will be affected by the new law. Health and Human Services Public Health Policy Director Mayra Alvarez said public health advocates should pay close attention to how the passage of the much-discussed comprehensive immigrant reform package deals with healthcare. “Let’s keep our eyes on the prize of comprehensive immigration reform,” she Alvarez. “I just want to emphasize that the undocumented are part of our communities. They are part of the people that many of our organizations serve. They go to school with our children, they work with us. And I think first and foremost the administration is committed to passing comprehensive immigration reform…” Obamacare’s full implementation is slated to begin in 10 months. |
As if weaving a friendship bracelet of death, two of the world's most dangerous snakes, black mambas, can be seen twisting around each other during a rarely videotaped battle in South Africa. The action was recorded by Kirstie Bowers of Johannesburg, South Africa, while she was on safari in Pilanesberg National Park in the country's North West Province. "That's a really nice video," says Kenneth Krysko, the collection manager of the herpetology division at the Florida Museum of Natural History. "It really shows two males in a classic combat behavior, with each trying to make the other one submit." The snakes will sometimes bite each other during such battles, but they rarely inject any of their venom and aren't trying to kill each other, Krysko says. Normally, the males will shove each other until one gives up, and the winner then approaches a female that is ready to mate. Female snakes typically mate with one male a season, and can store the sperm for months or even years, in some species. Males often try to mate with multiple females, depending on how many battles they can muster. (Watch another black mamba video.) Krysko has studied the behavior—called plaiting combat—among king snakes in Florida, making him the first scientist to report the behavior in the species. Observing it in the wild is fairly rare, he notes, and can require a lot of field time. Bowers got lucky. "You are very fortunate if you get to witness this cool biology," says Krysko. "It's certainly not mating, which looks quite different," he adds, in response to some of the debate heard in the clip from the safari. Black mambas live in southern and eastern Africa and can grow up to 14 feet (4.3 meters) long. They are fast, powerful snakes that have a reputation for aggression, although they usually try to avoid people. A bite from a black mamba is usually fatal unless treated quickly with an antivenom. A person bit by a mamba will typically collapse within about 45 minutes. The snakes have been blamed for many deaths and are sometimes called the world's deadliest snake. They are also the longest venomous snake in Africa. (Read about the effort to use black mamba venom to replace morphine.) Black mambas can slither at speeds of up to 12.5 miles an hour (20 kilometers an hour). They're named for the dark color inside their mouths, which they display when threatened, since their outer skin tends to be more olive to gray. |
Sen. Lindsey Graham said that if the Democrats filibuster, the GOP has no other option but to use the "nuclear option" to confirm Neal Gorsuch. | AP Photo Graham: 'No other option' than to use nuclear option if Dems block Gorsuch South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday the Republicans would have “no other option” than to use the so-called nuclear option to confirm Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch if the Democrats block him. “If they filibuster this man, we'll have no other option but to change the rules because if we don't that means President Trump can never make a selection to the Supreme Court and I will not allow that to happen,” Graham said during an appearance on Fox News. Story Continued Below Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that the Democrats will block Neil Gorsuch from receiving the 60 votes he needs for confirmation, all but assuring a showdown with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. If Gorsuch does not get the at least eight Democratic votes he needs to get confirmed, McConnell will have to decide whether the Republicans will lower the standard for Supreme Court confirmations from 60 votes to 50. “What Sen. Schumer is doing is changing 200 years of precedent in the Senate because he cannot stand the pressure from the left,” he said. “And that is sad and I hope some members of the conference will not allow this happen.” Graham voted for Obama nominees Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor because he thought they were qualified, even though they are liberal, he said. “I'm telling my Democratic friends I took a beating for doing what I thought was best for the body and for the judiciary,” he said. “I will not allow you to set aside this election. I didn’t vote for President Trump, but he won and he’s picked a home-run nominee in Neil Gorsuch.” Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. He added that Schumer was a “destructive force” to the Senate as an institution. “This is about the left taking over the Democratic Party,” Graham said. “This is why Trump won. This man is as mainstream a judge as you’ll ever find on the conservative side. “ |
I recently bought the Nextcloud Box. When it came to setting it up I ran into a problem, I only had Raspberry Pi 3 computers available and at the time of writting the microSDHC card provided with the Nextcloud Box only supports the Raspberry Pi 2. Bummer! Overview This guide outlines how to use Ubuntu Core on the Raspberry Pi 3 to run Nextcloud provided as a snap from the Ubuntu store. If you’re not familiar with Ubuntu Core, here’s a quote: Ubuntu Core is a tiny, transactional version of Ubuntu for IoT devices and large container deployments. It runs a new breed of super-secure, remotely upgradeable Linux app packages known as snaps After following this guide Ubuntu Core and any installed snaps (and their data) will reside on the SD card and the 1TB hard disk in the Nextcloud box will be available for file storage. This guide explains how to: Install and configure Ubuntu Core 16 for the Raspberry Pi 3 Format the 1TB hard disk in the Nextcloud Box and auto-mount it Install the Nextcloud snap and connect the removable-media interface to allow access to the hard disk interface to allow access to the hard disk Activate and configure the Nextcloud External Storage app so the hard disk can be used to store files Optional configuration of Email and HTTPS for Nextcloud Prepare a microSDHC card I explained the main steps in this post but you really should read and follow the Get started with a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 page as it fully explains how to use a desktop computer to download an Ubuntu Core image for your Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 and copy it to an SD card ready to boot. Here’s how to create an Ubuntu Core microSDHC card for the Raspberry Pi 3 using an Ubuntu desktop: Download Ubuntu Core 16 image for Raspberry Pi 3 Insert the microSDHC card into your PC Use GNOME Disks and its Restore Disk Image… option, which natively supports XZ compressed images. Select your SD card from the panel on the left Click the “burger menu” on the right and Select Restore Disk Image… Making sure the SD card is still selected, click the Power icon on the right. Eject the SD card physically from your PC. Ubuntu Core first boot An Ubuntu SSO account is required to setup the first user on Ubuntu Core: Start by creating an Ubuntu SSO account Import an SSH Key into your Ubuntu SSO account Here are instructions to generate an SSH Key You’ll need a keyboard and monitor connected to the Raspberry Pi 3 to go complete the first boot process and device configuration. Insert the Ubuntu Core microSHDC into the Raspberry Pi, which should be in the assembled Nextcloud Box with a keyboard and monitor connected. Plug in the power. The system will boot then become ready to configure The device will display the prompt “Press enter to configure” Press enter then select “Start” to begin configuring your network and an administrator account. Follow the instructions on the screen, you will be asked to configure your network and enter your Ubuntu SSO credentials At the end of the process, you will see your credentials to access your Ubuntu Core machine: This device is registered to <Ubuntu SSO email address>. Remote access was enabled via authentication with the SSO user <Ubuntu SSO user name> Public SSH keys were added to the device for remote access. Login Once setup is done, you can login to Ubuntu Core using ssh, from a computer on the same network, using the following command: ssh <Ubuntu SSO user name>@<device IP address> The user name is your Ubuntu SSO user name. Reconfiguring network Should you need to reconfigure the network at a later stage you can do so with: sudo console-conf Prepare 1TB hard disk Log in to your Raspberry Pi 3 running Ubuntu Core via ssh. ssh <Ubuntu SSO user name>@<device IP address> Partition and format the Nextcloud Box hard disk This will create a single partition formatted with the ext4 filesystem. sudo fdisk /dev/sda Do the following to create the partition: Command (m for help): o Created a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x253fea38. Command (m for help): n Partition type p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free) e extended (container for logical partitions) Select (default p): p Partition number (1-4, default 1): 1 First sector (2048-1953458175, default 2048): Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-1953458175, default 1953458175): Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 931.5 GiB. Command (m for help): w Now format the partition and give it the label data. This label will be used to reference it for mounting later: sudo mkfs.ext4 -L data /dev/sda1 Automatically mount the partition Most of the Ubuntu Core root file system is read-only, so it is not possible to edit /etc/fstab . Therefore we’ll use systemd to achieve that. Be aware of one of the systemd.mount pitfalls: Mount units must be named after the mount point directories they control. Example: the mount point /home/lennart must be configured in a unit file home-lennart.mount. Yes that’s right! The unit filename must match the mount point path. Create the media-data.mount unit: sudo vi /writable/system-data/etc/systemd/system/media-data.mount Add the following content: [Unit] Description = Mount unit for data [Mount] What = /dev/disk/by-label/data Where = /media/data Type = ext4 [Install] WantedBy = multi-user.target Reload systemd, scanning for new or changed units: sudo systemctl daemon-reload Start the media-data.mount unit, which will mount the volume, and also enable it so it will be automatically mounted on boot. sudo systemctl start media-data.mount sudo systemctl enable media-data.mount And just like any other unit, you can view its status using systemctl status : sudo systemctl status media-data.mount Update Ubuntu Core Make sure Ubuntu Core is up-to-date and reboot. sudo snap refresh sudo reboot After the reboot, make sure /media/data is mounted. If not double check the steps above. Install Nextcloud The Nextcloud snap uses the removable-media interface, which grants access to /media/* , and requires manual connection: sudo snap install nextcloud sudo snap connect nextcloud:removable-media core:removable-media Browse to the Nextcloud IP address and create the admin user account, for example: http://nextcloud.local/ Nextcloud configuration In the examples below replace nextcloud.local with the IP address or hostname of your Nextcloud Box and replace example.org with your domain. External Storage Enable the External Storge app via: http://nextcloud.local/index.php/settings/apps?category=disabled# Configure External Storage app via: http://nextcloud.local/index.php/settings/admin/externalstorages Use these settings: Folder name: data External storage: Local Authentication: None Configuration: /media/data Available for: All Email Configure your outgoing email settings via: http://nextcloud.local/index.php/settings/admin/additional I use Sendgrid for sending email alerts from my servers and devices. These are the settings that work for me: Send mode: SMTP Encryption: STARTTLS From address: [email protected] Authentication method: Plain Authentication required: Yes Server address: smtp.sendgrid.net:587 Username: apikey Password: theactualapikey Enabling HTTPS It is strongly recommend that you use HTTPS if you intend to expose your Nextcloud to the Internet. First do a test to see if you can install a Let’s Encrypt certificate: sudo nextcloud.enable-https -d Answer the questions: Have you met these requirements? (y/n) y Please enter an email address (for urgent notices or key recovery): [email protected] Please enter your domain name(s) (space-separated): nextcloud.example.org Attempting to obtain certificates... done Looks like you're ready for HTTPS! If everything went well, then install the certificate sudo nextcloud.enable-https Answer the questions again: Have you met these requirements? (y/n) y Please enter an email address (for urgent notices or key recovery): [email protected] Please enter your domain name(s) (space-separated): nextcloud.example.org Attempting to obtain certificates... done Restarting apache... done If Let’s Encrypt didn’t work for you, you can always use Nextcloud with a self-signed certificate. sudo nextcloud.enable-https -s Manual configuration changes If you need to make any tweaks to the Nextcloud configuration file you can edit it like so: sudo vi /var/snap/nextcloud/current/nextcloud/config/config.php If you have manually editted the Nextcloud configuration you may need to restart nextcloud: sudo snap disable nextcloud sudo snap enable nextcloud Conclusion So there it is, Nextcloud running on Ubuntu Core powered by a Raspberry Pi 3. The performance is reasonable, obviously not stellar, but certainly good enough to move some cloud services for a small family away from the likes of Google and Dropbox. Now go and install some Nextcloud clients for your desktops and devices :-) |
Sublime Text 2 is a TextMate-like text editor currently in alpha which is now available for Linux too (as well as Windows and Mac OSX). The application is not free but its evaluation period does not expire. Sublime Text 2 comes with a very interesting interface: a sidebar for projects or files and Chrome-style tabs as well as multi-pane editing which includes horizontal, vertical and even a quad pane mode: A very interesting feature is "Goto Anything": press Ctrl+P and type something - this will search in both filenames and lines of code across currently open files as well as recently close files. Start your search by using "#" to go to that word line, "@" for symbol or ":" for line: Other features include macros, various find tools (find in files, find in open files, incremental find), easily switch between project, multiple selection, autocomplete and lots more. And of course, everything is customizable. Since Sublime Text 2 is currently in alpha, some features are missing. These include distraction free editing, spell checker, bookmarks, a full python API and more - but all these will be coming in the next months. Download Sublime Text 2 alpha for Linux, Windows and Mac OSX | To run it on Linux, simply extract the downloaded archive and double click the "sublime_text" file. [Info via Sublime Text 2 blog] The user interface also comes with a cool minimap which shows you an an overview of your files:Update: Sublime Text 2 is now available in a PPA for Ubuntu |
Stylish Mens Boots for Traveling | 2014 In 2013, I published “Stylish Mens Boots for Traveling,” and I didn’t know how people would respond to the article. Personally I love boots, style and looking my best when traveling, so I thought that there may be others who feel the same. Turns out I was right! So because it was so successful last year, I’ve decided to make ”Mens Boots for Traveling,” a yearly posting. I share with you, in my opinion of course, the most “Stylish Mens for Traveling | 2014.” I’ve picked mostly new boots compared to last year although there are some that are the same. I’ve included casual boots, dressy boots, snow boots, rain boots and hiking boots so that travelers will have options no matter where they are heading. I urge people to take a look at my post from last year and look at some more designs. However some may not be available now! If you’re having trouble finding the boot you want or the link no longer works, it’s better to go to Google and type the exact name and company that makes them. They could be sold on Nordstroms, Zappos, Amazon, etc or the company’s website. Best Mens Boots for Traveling | 2014 ALDO Vanluven Studded Boot A military boot that is studded. Perfect mens boots for walking around a cosmopolitan city. Andrew Marc Forte Zip Boot Suede mixed with leather with a rubber sole. Perfect for walking around all day yet keeping a stylish look. Bed Stu Patriot Cap Toe Boot Zipper with laces and dark leather that provides warmth during winter months. Great look anywhere you go. Offbeat Zipper style mens boots with rich leathers that will look great with all types of pants. A great shoe for going out at night. Blondo Valerio Waterproof Boot Zipper style with waterproof leather; great option for traveling. Black will go with most clothes. Bruno Magli Raspino Boot A unique zipper style that comes also in waterproof leather. A great travel mens boot to bring for all occasions. Calvin Klein Ellias Suede Boots Chukka suede mens boots that is causal yet stylish. Perfect with jeans and for everyday activities. Donald J Pliner Jac Plain Toe Boot Distressed suede leather mens boots that makes it harder to notice scuffs and scratch. Perfect on your travel for walking all day. Durango SW542 Classic cowboy boots with a fashionable twist. A soft distressed leather mens boots; great for outdoor travel activities. Frye Phillip Harness Boot Perfect for men who scratch or scuff their boots easily as it comes with distressed readiness. Stylish mens boots to travel with. Marco Roper Boot The leather cousin of my other favorite Marco Roper boot (appears in 2013 edition and I own 2). Really comfortable boot to walk around in for hours. James Lace Up A unique and comfortable mens boots (I own a pair). Stylish black mixed with white that rubs off over time adding to the look. Gucci Brest Rain Boot Sometimes it rains or perhaps you’re traveling to a rainy and muddy destination. Stylish mens rain boot! Hunter Original Tall Rain Boot The original rain boot that is stylish enough for any of your travels that involve mud, rain or snow. J.D. Fisk Inverness Round Toe Boot A unique looking mens boots that is made from leather and suede. Covers much of the leg so great for stability. John Varvatos Hipster Suede Boot A charcoal mens boots that would be great for travel because it would hide the dirt. Stylish enough to wear any part of the day. Mercer Zip Boot Stylish mens boots that a great for an evening out. Rustic textured calfskin give this boot an unique look. Kenneth Cole Reaction Hit Men Cap-Toe Boots Double sided zipper with a lace made from leather. Comfortable choice and a great color to hide your travel messes. Magnanni Donosti Zip Boot Chic streamlined mens boots that is perfect for an evening out for an expensive meal or wearing all day in a city. Maison Forte Guerra Zip Boot Zipper style that cuts through the middle of the boot. Stylish mens boots made from soft leather providing comfort from walking. NorthFace Mens Nupste Bootie Going to northern climates or walking in snow or rain. This boot is lined with down and provides transaction on the sole through cold temperatures. Pajar Bili Shearling Lined Waterproof Leather Boot Stylish mens boots that are waterproof, black and ankle high. Lined with shearling to keep you warm on very cold days. Ralph Lauren Radbourne High Lace Up Boots Two straps with a high quality leather and a rubber sole so you can walk around in the dirtiest places. Stylish yet functional for your travels. Garyson Walk up and down some major city in these stylish mens boots. Two straps with black leather make this a great choice. Santoni Urban Chukka Boot A clean cut, chukka look with a high gloss leather finish. Perfect for a fancy evening out. Sendra Station Cap Toe Boot A more rugged yet stylish mens boots. Perfect for more hardcore activities. Sperry Sperry Top-Sider Boat Lite Boots A distinct look to say the least yet it’s stylish enough if you plan to get wet. Adds extra traction when around water. Timberland Earthkeepers City Lite Chukka Boots Timberlands version of a city chukka boot that is stylish mens boots for men who will walk a lot on their travels. To Boot New York Padova Boot Sleek enough for an evening out yet casual enough to wear all day with jeans. An excellent mens boots for travel. Randy Boot Made with leather therefore a comfortable option to walk in all day. Distressed leather boot making scuffs and scratches less noticeable. Tod’s Esquire Giovane Chukka Boot A rugged chukka look made with dark leather and suede. Perfect for for long days of walking and traveling. UGG Ory Snow Boot Sometimes snow is an issue and you can always count on UGG to deliver a warm snow boot. Stylish enough mens boots to wear on snowy days (made from wool). Vintage Shoe Company Isaac Boot Soft and already weather conditioned so you don’t have to worry about walking in the elements. Stylish mens boots with a zipper and buckles! images by the companies above, cover boot is from pinterest |
As the playoffs inch closer and closer, every goal in MLS counts that much more. And two of the entries in this week's AT&T Goal of the Week meant a whole lot to their teams. Check out the work by New England's Saer Sene and Portland's Maximiliano Urruti, who both found the back of the net to help keep their teams in the playoff picture. And don't forget about the other nominees in Week 31: A brilliant strike from distance from D.C. United's Jared Jeffrey, a wonderful finish from Toronto's Darel Russell and some nifty footwork from FC Dallas' Mauro Diaz. Cast your ballot for your favorite Goal of the Week before voting ends! The winner is determined by the total number of votes cast online and via text and will be announced on Friday. Vote online or text goal code to 22442. Voting runs until 11:59 pm PT on Thursdays. For complete coverage of the AT&T MLS Goal of the Week — including an archive of all of this season's winners — click here. |
PM Narendra Modi addresses mega Rally in Bihar Shri Narendra Modi recalls contribution of Jayaprakash Narayan during Emergency period #ParivartanRally Bihar is moving towards politics of development: PM Modi #ParivartanRally Crime rates have gone up steadily under the current government in Bihar, says PM Modi #ParivartanRally Elect a steady and development oriented NDA Government: Shri Modi to the people of Bihar #ParivartanRally On August 18th, after dedicating development projects worth Rs. 1.25 lakh crores in Ara district of Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a mega Parivartan Rally in Saharsa. Beginning his address and speaking about the upcoming state elections, the Prime Minister said that it was very clear which way the wind was blowing in Bihar. He noted that how seven years back the flood in Kosi Riveradversely affected the lives of lakhs of people in the entire state. Adding further, the Prime Minister quoted, “People across India stood with you during those times. But the arrogance of a few people in power is such they can't understand things.” Adding further the Prime Minister said that if someone launched a personal attack on him, he would never comment about them in public. “But when because of arrogance, the pain of the people is toyed with, I can't stop myself”, he further added. People from Gujarat, the PM said, had contributed Rs. 5 crore from their hard earned money for relief work after the devastating flood but those in power at that time refused the cheque. “See the arrogance. You were suffering while their arrogance was sky high. He sent the cheque back. Is this behaviour acceptable?” said Shri Modi. Speaking further, Shri Modi said that due to such arrogance, the dreams of people of Bihar were shattered completely. Shri Narendra Modi also recalled the contribution of Jayaprakash Narayan who was put in jail during the Emergency period for raising voice against corruption. He held the Congress party under Indira Gandhi’s rule responsible for the same. “Who is responsible for the demise of JP? These people of the Congress who played these games with JP”, said the Prime Minister. In his address, the PM also took note on surge in crime rates under the current JDU Government. “In January 2015 the crimes in Bihar stood at 13,808. In 6 months the number has reached 18,500”, said Shri Modi. He expressed concern over the number of riots in Bihar that rose steadily from around 866 in January to around 1500 by the month of June. The common people of Bihar, Shri Modi said were not safe. “These killings and riots have to stop”, the PM added. PM Narendra Modi said that today’s Bihar was moving towards the politics of development. He exhorted the people of Bihar to elect a steady and development oriented NDA Government in the coming State elections. Shri Narendra Modi said that the Centre has been committed to Bihar’s development and the special package worth Rs. 1.25 lakh crores would change the face of Bihar. Click here to read full text speech |
"Allah's Apostle said, "You see that the people are of different natures. Those who were the best in the pre-lslamic period, are also the best in Islam if they comprehend religious knowledge. You see that the best amongst the people in this respect (i.e. ambition of ruling) are those who hate it most. And you see that the worst among people is the double faced (person) who appears to these with one face and to the others with another face (i.e a hypocrite)." I watched this video, and while it is sorta old, I think it's important to look at the end stats of the video; where 6 people agreed with the man behind the counter, 13 stood up to him, and 22 remained silent and pretended it wasn't their business.It accentuates the problem of discrimination and bigotry. One important thing to learn from this is that prejudice against Muslims isn't a one-way street. There is much discrimination from the Muslim community towards the community-at-large.Too many times I've heard with my own ears people who practice reverse-racism and reverse-bigotry towards non-Muslims. Usually through accentuating the differences between the two by generalizing notions of the other in a manner which is, frankly, appalling.The worst part is that these types of mannerisms are conducted by Muslims who consider themselves to be pious to be behaving in an Islamically-sound manner. It reminded me of a Hadith:Volume 4, Book 56, Number 699:Narrated Abu Huraira:We need to stop being silent when these instances in conversation arise and scold the ignorant and prejudiced, regardless of community kinship. Otherwise, what right do we have when we scold others for prejudice?Just remember, while it was highlighted in this video that the majority of observers to the discrimination against the Muslim were silent, how many of us can say we weren't when we heard prejudiced and spiteful rhetoric against non-Muslims? |
Recently, Warner Brothers announced plans to produce a new Dungeons & Dragons cinematic universe. For fans of the game, this sparked the hope that the film would be an improvement over 2000's ill-fated Jeremy Irons feature Dungeons & Dragons and its two low-budget, unscreened sequels. But old-school D&D fans will remember further back to the early 1980s, when the game's publisher TSR touted plans to release a D&D film penned by Academy Award winning screenwriter James Goldman, who famously wrote 1968's The Lion in Winter. Would this have been the movie D&D fans deserved? Or would it have been another cheesy box-office bomb? For three decades, the script has been shrouded in secrecy, though collectors recently recovered copies long held in the collection of TSR co-founder Brian Blume. But plans for a new D&D movie make this a perfect time to dust off a copy dated November 18, 1982 and finally open its pages to the world. First, let's set the stage a bit. Dungeons & Dragons became famous in the summer of 1979, after much sensational publicity about a kid supposedly getting lost playing the game in the steam tunnels below a Michigan university (never happened, by the way). As sales of the game skyrocketed over the next two years, film studios became interested in a D&D feature. TSR spent much of 1981 in negotiations with 20th Century Fox, but broke off "because we did not believe that the studio would be willing to produce the sort of top-notch movie we must have," as TSR CEO and D&D co-author Gary Gygax wrote in September in TSR's company newsletter Random Events. In another contemporary interview in Polyhedron magazine, Gygax stresses that "we didn't want to end up with the rather disastrous type of movie that Tolkien's ring trilogy ended up with," referring to the early animated features. A D&D movie would need to be "based on the Dungeons & Dragons game-with imagination, and creativity, and excitement, and adventure, and not some sort of a Hollywood epic which takes the name and then perverts everything else." By March 1982, Gygax had secured James Goldman's involvement, and the interest of Goldman's wife Bobby as a potential producer. Work on the screenplay proceeded as TSR formed a new Entertainment and Media Division, and hunted for an executive to run it who would be, in Gygax's words, "responsible for the film project (after me, of course-ahem!)." Gygax spent three days with the Goldmans in the third week of September, working with them on the script. He worked cautiously, with "resolve to maintain as much control over the D&D movie as humanly possible." The recent release of the first Arnold Schwarzenegger film Conan the Barbarian gave Gygax an example of how not to make a fantasy film: he panned it in the pages of the Dragon magazine, adding "badly done films seem more likely to destroy interest in fantasy rather than build it." He was also surely aware that Mazes and Monsters, a sensational retelling of the steam tunnel kid story, would soon be released as a made-for-television movie - starring a hapless young Tom Hanks. "I promise all of you," Gygax wrote in the Dragon, "that if the D&D film isn't of the quality of Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, I will not only blast it... but I will apologize to you as well." He adds, "Give us a chance to prove that the genre can be good!" Would a film of this screenplay have pleased fans of Dungeons & Dragons? In my opinion, it seems unlikely, but judge for yourself... The story begins with Tom Boyman, a 23-year-old Californian who has finally saved up enough money to begin his studies at Yale. On his way to catch the bus east, he meets Milton "Fearless" Gilroy, a car racer who convinces him to go to a county fair before leaving. At the fair, Tom chances upon Margot Champion, a senior at Wellesley who is summering in California at an archaeological dig. The three of them strike up a friendship and visit the dig site that night, where, among howling winds, a mysterious power brings them all to another world. They awake near a strange body of water, where an oared galley awaits them. From this ship emerges Odo, a water-walking cleric, who bids them to come along. He then transfers the water-walking ability to the party, who join him on board to travel to the island of the Master. The Master explains that he, and this world, were created by the Onelord. Every seven hundred years, the power of the Master fades, and a Child will be found who is destined to replace the Master. However, because "nothing can exist without its opposite," the Onelord also created the Nightking, who is "dark beyond your powers to imagine," and whose strength grows as that of the Master fades. So a Chosen One is summoned from our world to help maintain the balance. The Master reveals that Tom is this Chosen One, and charges him with an urgent quest: the Child has been discovered, but has already been kidnapped by the Nightking, and can be saved only by Tom. |
Internet of Business speaks to Cisco executive and bestselling author Maciej Kranz about his IoT forecast for 2018. Maciej Kranz is vice president of strategic innovation at networking giant Cisco and also author of the New York Times bestseller, Building the Internet of Things. It’s fair to say he keeps a pretty watchful eye on IoT developments, which is why Internet of Business was pleased to sit down with Kranz earlier this week and discuss his predictions for 2018. He’s optimistic about the year ahead. “I think 2018 will be a watershed year for IoT, where we move from a first phase that focused on incremental improvements, to a new phase in which IoT gains momentum as barriers and challenges are addressed, in terms of security market structures, industry standards and so on. We are moving beyond the basics, to an era of more advanced value propositions.” From that perspective, he adds, IoT in 2018 will be about the transformational impact these technologies can have, “less about hype, and more about business benefit.” Read more: IBM’s Harriet Green: The ABC of IoT in 2018 The IoT year ahead So what are Kranz’s ten predictions for 2018? 1. IoT devices will converge with artificial intelligence (AI), fog computing and blockchain The main purpose of IoT devices is to generate data – but that data is only useful when we do something with it, says Kranz. In this respect, three technologies are now gaining in importance, because they will help companies move from IoT initiatives that merely produce incremental gains, to those that create entirely new business models and revenue streams. They are artificial intelligence (AI), fog computing and blockchain. With huge volumes of real-time and near real-time data now flowing from IoT devices, standard analytics are no longer enough. Sophisticated use cases, such as preventive maintenance applications for vehicles and machinery, call for more in-depth approaches that lead to greater accuracy. “If IoT is the body, AI is the brains,” Kranz explains. Fog (or edge) computing, meanwhile, will help companies overcome the bandwidth challenges of processing huge volumes real-time data, by locating processing power closer to the source of data. And blockchain will provide secure ledgers for IoT-enabled transactions. 2. We will see the rise of co-everything The IoT is forcing companies large and small to co-innovate and co-develop. From a technology perspective, IoT applications increasingly rely on technologies sourced from a wide range of vendors, says Kranz. 3. The customer will become a co-innovator Connected products give manufacturers key insights into how they are used by customers throughout their lifetimes. “There’s an opportunity to learn more uses of products, which feeds product development,” says Kranz. “The other aspect of this is that it offers device makers the opportunity to wrap services around products in smart ways.” Read more: Seven predictions for the Internet of Things in 2017 Standards, security, industries 4. We will see an industry-wide, accelerated move to open standards, open architectures and interoperability As with many previous technology trends, there’s been an overwhelming lack of standardisation in IoT. Kranz predicts that in 2018, industry standards and consortia will consolidate. “We’re finally starting to see companies recognize that they need to open up architectures and get multiple ecosystems working together,” he says. 5. IoT will become the key security domain Cyberattacks aren’t going away, but in 2018, Kranz believes that organizations “will finally begin to take IoT security seriously.” High-profile distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks have served as a huge wake-up call, he says, and we can expect to see a corresponding rise in investment in security, both on the part of IoT device makers and on the part of the consumers and enterprises that deploy them. “There’s a widespread recognition that not enough has been done thus far, so 2018 needs to be a year in which the threat landscape is tackled head-on,” says Kranz. 6. Agriculture and healthcare will emerge as top adopters of IoT technologies with the most innovative use cases What could be more important than our food and our health? Manufacturing, transportation and smart cities may have led the charge as early adopters, says Kranz, but agriculture and healthcare are quickly emerging as serious contenders, in part because of the serious issues both industries face. Farming, for example, is grappling with challenges around climate change and food safety, while healthcare stands to gain from tackling the health issues around ageing populations and the need for more targeted, patient-specific treatment of conditions such as breast cancer. Read more: IoT on course to dominate connected landscape, says Cisco Regulation, analytics, China 7. Governments will become more aggressive in legislating IoT security, open systems and interoperability standards In 2018, Kranz expects to see the first IoT-specific regulations come into force. “In the US, Europe and other parts of the world, policymakers are stepping in, as they become more aware of IoT challenges. My concern here is that these regulations are not rushed through government without proper engagement with industry. To get the right outcomes, there needs to be close engagement between government and industry.” 8. IoT will revolutionize data analytics IoT will drive a shift away from batch analytics based on static datasets to dynamic or real-time analytics and streaming data using AI and machine learning, Kranz predicts. “Next year, I expect to see analytics companies widely adopting AI to supplement their product sets.” 9. China will solidify its spot as top IoT innovator and adopter “We need to recognize that, just as China has emerged as a leader in mobility and payment technologies, it’s also set to emerge as a leader in IoT, too,” says Kranz. For one thing, the government is investing heavily in IoT; for example, through its IoT Special Fund. For another, the huge Chinese population is increasingly an urban one, creating demand for smart cities. Finally, the industries on which the Chinese economy rely need to find new efficiencies to cope with rising wages. “The world needs to pay attention to what China is doing – and learn from it,” says Kranz. 10. The focus of IoT will move from driving efficiency to creating new business value Early IoT focused on improving existing processes, as seen in early M2M efforts, for example. “They were about squeezing more efficiency and productivity out of existing capabilities,” says Kranz. “Now, where we’re heading is companies using IoT to create new value propositions: in manufacturing, for example, we’re starting to see more mass customization, more mass personalization, creating new products and building new revenue streams based on a stream of intelligent data that drives decision-making.” Read more: Cisco announces $1 billion smart cities fund |
“I just did what human beings should do. You do the right thing… not for gain. Not for recognition. The refugees needed my help. I could give it to them. It was the right thing to do. That’s all.” Chiune Sempo Sugihara In his new feature film, Persona Non Grata, director, Cellin Gluck sheds light on a little-known hero of WWII: Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sempo Sugihara, who in 1940 issued 2,139 exit visas for 6,000 Jews fleeing Poland from Lithuania. He was not the ‘Japanese Schindler’ as he has been so erroneously compared, because he had no ulterior motives but compassion. The Canadian Premiere of Persona Non Grata opens at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre’s 5th annual Toronto Japanese Film Festival on June 12th when director, Cellin Gluck will be in attendance. “The idea for Persona Non Grata had been percolating with me for six or seven years,” recalls Gluck, who was the production manager in Japan for the film, Memoirs of a Geisha and assistant director on Transformers and Godzilla. Skyping from his office in Los Angeles, Gluck relates, “I had read a fascinating book called The Fugu Plan: The Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews During WWII by New Yorkers, Rabbi Marvin Tokayer and Mary Swartz. Tokayer was an American Air Force Chaplain in Japan. It described the little-known fact that Japan planned to resettle a million Jewish refugees in the puppet state of Manchuria! They felt that the refugees represented the top doctors, lawyers, teachers, industrialists – the best of Jewish society, that would enrich Japan. Although, Sugihara was actually sent to the consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1939 to gather Soviet and German intelligence in the area, he became (unwittingly,) one of the crucial players in the Fugu Plan.” The amicable Gluck’s sense of humor belies his fascinating personal ties with both Japanese and Jewish cultures. “My parents met in New York- my Mom, (Sumi Hiramoto,) Japanese and my Dad, (Jay Gluck,) Jewish. He served in the Navy and was an archeologist with The Asia Institute. My Mom was actually sent to an internment camp in the U.S. with her family. My late parents moved to Kobe, Japan and I spent my first 15 years there and we also lived for a time in Iran.” I asked Gluck, now 58, if he had ever studied anything about Sugihara while going to school in Japan. “You must be kidding!” he says emphatically. “It was so typically Japanese to cover up what he did in the war. Don’t forget, he went against official policy by issuing all those visas during the war. What the Foreign Ministry did to him was shameful.” Part thriller – part history lesson, the role of diplomat, Chiune Sugihara is played by Japanese Academy Award-winning actor, Toshiaki Karasawa and his wife, Yukiko, portrayed by actress Koyuki Kato from The Last Samurai. Persona Non Grata, like many films whose storylines revolve around the Holocaust, captures life and death situations that turn on the slimmest of threads. Often truth is stranger than fiction. When the father of a family offered a visa by Sugihara, procrastinates on leaving Kaunas, his family is sent to a concentration camp. But his young son Sollie, (based on real life, Sollie Ganor,) is discovered alive in a snowbank following a death march from Dachau and liberated, ironically, by the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The Unit was the most decorated for its size and length of service in the history of American warfare. “Unfortunately we didn’t have the time or the budget to go to Israel before shooting in Poland which stood in for Kaunas, but several survivors who escaped with visas from Sugihara, including Sollie Ganor, are living there or made it to the U.S. and Canada,” explains Gluck. “We will never forget you.” Those were the last words that Chiune Sempo Sugihara heard from the refugees. “Interestingly, there has been a Russian Jewish community in Kobe, Japan for over 100 years, says Gluck. “The European refugees granted exit visas by Sugihara who made it to Japan were then transported to Shanghai after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.” At the end of the war, the Soviets imprisoned Sugihara, his wife, Yukiko, and one son in an internment camp in Rumania for 18 months. The Japanese Foreign Ministry dismissed him from the diplomatic service when he returned to Japan in 1947. At age 50 he suffered the indignity of not being able to find a job and was reduced to selling light bulbs door to door. He returned to Moscow as a translator where he lived in relative obscurity. In 1984 Chiune Sempo Sugihara was declared Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. He died at age 86 in Japan. The Japanese Government did not honor him publicly until 1994, at The Hill of Humanity, where a memorial for Chiune Sugihara, is set high in the mountains near his hometown of Yoatsu, near Tokyo. “You know, there isn’t one screening I’ve attended for Persona Non Grata, that a survivor saved by Sugihara, hasn’t come up to me afterwards to shake my hand. That’s extremely gratifying,” says Gluck. TOP PHOTO: Chiune Sempo Sugihara, who in 1940 issued 2,139 exit visas for 6,000 Jews fleeing Poland into Lithuania. Photos courtesy, Cellin Gluck. Toronto Japanese Film Festival Website |
Credit: CraftBeer.com How Space Launched Huntsville’s Craft Beer Scene October 18, 2017 In 1958, teams of rocket scientists and engineers held their breath in Mission Control as the Juno I rocket pushed the first U.S. satellite into space. It was one of the first rockets developed in Huntsville, Alabama, and it launched the city into its new role as a space and defense center of America. Huntsville scientists have worked on the Apollo missions, Gemini missions, space shuttles and the International Space Station. Decades later, that rich history influences nearly every aspect of Huntsville, including its burgeoning craft beer scene. (VISIT: Find an Alabama Brewery) Space Monkeys, Space Dogs and Straight to Ale “Pretty much the entire ownership of Straight to Ale has worked in the government or NASA sector,” explains Matt Broadhurst, the brewery’s operations manager. “Most still dabble in it, from producing circuit boards to engineering projects with government contractors. You need to look no further than Straight to Ale’s beer names to glean their inspiration. “We make reference to a few space themes: Laika, being the Russian space dog. 6 Alberts IPA is a reference to six primates, all named Albert, that were part of the NASA program,” says Broadhurst. “We could go on and on: Illudium, Unobtainium. (It’s) all NASA jargon.” “Also, Monkeynaut, which was named after Miss Baker,” said Broadhurst, referring to Miss Baker, the first monkey to survive a trip into space. After her space trip in 1959, Miss Baker lived most of her life in Huntsville at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. She posed for pictures with visitors and received more than a hundred letters each day from school children. Miss Baker passed away in 1984 and was buried in Huntsville. People visit her grave and leave bananas in memoriam. “Huntsville’s history plays a big part in who Straight to Ale is as a brewery,” says Broadhurst. “You can’t throw a rock in Huntsville without hitting an engineer.” (READ: Fall’s Unexpected Coffee Beers) Ties to the Space Industry The circle of Huntsville breweries with ties to the space and defense industries widens beyond Straight to Ale. The founders of Rocket Republic Brewing, Blue Pants Brewery, Salty Nut Brewery, Mad Malts and Old Black Bear Brewing share this common bond. “I got into the process more when I was originally getting into the homebrewing,” says Todd Seaton, co-owner of Old Black Bear Brewing in Madison, a Huntsville suburb. Seaton and his wife, Dawn, started their brewpub in 2008. Both still work in the tech sector for space and defense contractors. “Most of the people that started breweries here early, especially early on, they’re all engineers,” says Seaton. “Most of us still have those day jobs.” (READ: Think Consolidation Can’t Hurt Beer? See John Oliver’s Take) Like many of his predecessors, he started out as a homebrewer. His background in science and technology made him particularly interested in the science of making beer. “I’m a problem solver,” Seaton tells us. “When I get a problem in the software world I figure out a solution, implement it and it’s done. In the beer business, you create a product and give it to the customer and you have no idea how they’re going to take it. Hopefully, good.” Huntsville’s Overtly Curious Customer Base The scientific curiosity doesn’t end at the brewhouse. Engineers and rocket scientists make up a core customer market, so it’s natural that beer drinkers here are also interested in the scientific process of brewing. “There is huge interest in the technical aspects of brewing,” says Broadhurst. “We field lots of questions from homebrewers and do what we can to help them grow — ninety percent of which are from the engineering field. They love to play and figure out how to make the home brewing process better.” (LEARN: Beer 101 Online Course) Huntsville brewers also recognize their customers have adventurous tastes in beer. “Alabama as a whole seems to have a pretty experimental palate,” explains Broadhurst. “We will have people visit the taproom that say they only drink ‘so-and-so’ brew … we get them to taste variety and they quickly realize how much there is to offer and they quickly become craft beer fans with expanding palates.” How Space Launched Huntsville’s Craft Beer Scene was last modified: by CraftBeer.com is fully dedicated to small and independent U.S. breweries. We are published by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade group dedicated to promoting and protecting America’s small and independent craft brewers. Stories and opinions shared on CraftBeer.com do not imply endorsement by or positions taken by the Brewers Association or its members. |
Clearing Misconceptions About the Shopper Payment Model Instacart Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 29, 2016 Ever since we announced that we’re going to make changes to our shopper payment model, we’ve heard some misconceptions that we want to address. #1. 100% of tips have and will continue to go to the shoppers. Ever since we started collecting tips online, we have passed 100% of the tips to shoppers. Starting mid October, we will not be collecting tips online. Instead, we will be collecting a service amount, which will be used to pay shoppers. #2. 100% of this service amount will be used to pay shoppers. Instacart will not keep any of it. We noticed that about 20% of the customers did not tip at all. And, around 40% of the customers tipping provided very small tips (~ $2). This was a problem because shoppers were reliant on tips as a major source of pay. At Instacart, we believe that shoppers should not have to rely on tips and instead just make fair, guaranteed and predictable pay. So, we decided to change that. Here is what the before and after looks like for shopper pay in San Francisco: San Francisco Shopper Pay for 10/17Pay Before the changeGuaranteed Pay After the changeShopper picking & delivering 15 items$11.25 + tips$17.25Delivery driver doing 4 deliveries$6 + tips$32 Additionally, our top 25% of shoppers will receive a $100 weekly bonus based on 5 star ratings. We will also continue to pay them extra for large orders, long distances, and other cases. So what does this mean for shopper pay? It will vary by market, of course — but in San Francisco, this will provide shoppers with a way to earn $15–20+/hour on their own schedule. This is in range with what we see in the market for other comparable jobs. Finally, we are always learning and iterating on our model. And, we want to hear from you. We have and are continuing to hold lots of office hours to discuss this in detail. Please contact shoppers@instacart.com if you’d like to attend. |
Supplementary Guidance provides details on policies in the adopted Edinburgh Local Development Plan. There are currently ten adopted Supplementary Guidance documents. These include Heat Opportunities Mapping published in December 2018, the City Centre Retail Core published February 2017 and town centres of Bruntsfield/Morningside Corstorphine Gorgie/Dalry Leith Nicholson Street/Clerk Street Portobello Stockbridge Tollcross published in December 2017 and informed by public life street assessments. Finalised Developer Contributions and Infrastructure Delivery Supplementary Guidance was published in August 2018 and is awaiting adoption. A draft Supplementary Guidance document for the BioQuarter and South East Wedge Parkland was published in December 2013 Adopted Download Heat opportunities mapping December 2018 (PDF, 2.8 MB) Download City Centre retail core Supplementary Guidance (PDF - 731KB) Download Bruntsfield / Morningside town centre Supplementary Guidance (PDF - 1.2MB) Download Corstorphine town centre Supplementary Guidance (PDF - 1.7MB) Download Gorgie / Dalry town centre Supplementary Guidance (PDF - 980KB) Download Leith town centre Supplementary Guidance (PDF - 1.3MB) Download Nicolson Street / Clerk Street town centre Supplementary Guidance (PDF - 6.9MB) Download Portobello town centre Supplementary Guidance (PDF - 5.5MB) Download Stockbridge town centre Supplementary Guidance (PDF, 4.3MB) Download Tollcross town centre Supplementary Guidance (PDF, 1.7MB) Finalised Download Developer Contributions and Infrastructure Delivery Supplementary Guidance Draft Download Edinburgh BioQuarter and South East Wedge Parkland Supplementary Guidance (PDF - 1.1MB) Strategic Environmental Assessment Download SEA screening report and determination for Developer Contributions, Heat Opportunities Mapping and Action Programme 2018 (PDF - 465KB) Download SEA screening report and determination for town centre Supplementary Guidance (PDF - 34KB) |
Milan Rysa, the Astoria bodybuilder who threw his dog out a third-floor window to its death, pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment on March 15 in Queens Criminal Court. It was the most serious charge against him, and in exchange the animal cruelty charge was dropped, according to Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for the Queens District Attorney’s Office. Rysa, age 30 at the time of his arrest, tossed his 50-pound shar-pei, Brooklyn, out of his apartment window on Steinway Street at around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 12. The canine nearly struck two women before hitting the pavement. Based on his plea, the illegal immigrant from the former Czechoslovakia faces 364 days in prison when he is sentenced on April 18 and will be barred from owning any animal for three years, Ryan said. Rysa’s lawyer, Ryan Schwarz, did not return calls requesting comment. Rysa is being held at a correctional facility in the Bronx on an immigration detainer, according to both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the city Department of Correction. An ICE spokesman would not comment on Rysa’s specific case. But in general, after completing their prison sentence, those with an ICE detainer are turned over by the local authorities to the agency, which then begins removal proceedings. An immigration judge with the Department of Justice makes the final determination as to whether deportation is warranted. “Because of the seriousness of the crime, there is a chance that he will be deported,” said Manhattan immigration lawyer Patrick Klauss. “But depending on personal circumstances, the immigration judge would have to determine if there is any eligibility of relief from removal.” Lori Carpino of the nonprofit Heavenly Angels Animal Rescue group in Ozone Park said Tuesday that she believes Rysa deserves a harsher sentence. “Honestly, I don’t think the punishment fits the crime at all,” she said. “Besides being deported, he deserves more than a year in jail. He’s already served seven months, so in five months, he’ll be peacefully escorted back to his country, and who is going to make sure he doesn’t own an animal there?” Bobbi Giordano, owner of Bobbi and the Strays, another no kill animal rescue organization, with an adoption center in Glendale and a shelter on Long Island, expressed similar sentiments. “It’s not enough time,” she said. “He should have gotten five years or more. It was horrible. I hope he is deported. People do these things all the time because they think they can get away with it. There needs to be tougher laws. It’s murder. To me, it’s as bad as killing a person.” City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) said Tuesday that he believes Rysa should be deported and added that he will be contacting his sources at the Department at Homeland Security to try and get the dog killer’s name at the top of the list. “I think there are a lot of animal lovers that believe he should serve more time,” Vallone said. “A lot of people on my Facebook page said they think he should have been thrown out a window like he did to his dog.” But Vallone believes the DA’s decision not to let the case go to trial was based on an assessment of resources and because it would be a hard case to prove, so it’s not something Vallone thinks should be second-guessed at this point. |
Manhattan prosecutors cleared the police commissioner's son of rape Tuesday in a case that gripped the city and threatened his career as host of Fox 5's "Good Day New York." Greg Kelly said he was grateful to be exonerated and promised a rapid return to his anchor chair. "I am thankful that the investigation established what I've known all along, that I am innocent of the allegations that were waged against me," Kelly said in a statement. 'THANKFUL' KELLY SPEAKS OUT: READ THE FULL STATEMENT HERE Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.'s decision, first reported by NYDailyNews.com, came late Tuesday after both the accuser and Kelly's lawyer Andrew Lankler met separately with sex crimes unit chief Martha Bashford. "We have determined that the facts established during our investigation do not fit the definitions of sexual assault crimes," Bashford wrote Lankler, in a formal letter. Because Kelly's father, Raymond, runs the NYPD, the Police Department had no role in the probe. A co-worker of Greg Kelly's at Channel 5 called the news "a big relief." "Those who know Greg always felt he should be exonerated. Hopefully, the headlines will be as big for this part of the story," the co-worker said. ANALYSIS: KELLY STILL HAS A FUTURE IN TV The accuser's mother, visibly angry at what she called the media's "slander" of "an innocent woman," told a Daily News reporter seeking comment at her Port Washington, L.I., home that she would call the cops. "In this town (they) do what they're supposed to do," she said pointedly, slamming her door. The accuser, a 28-year-old paralegal, walked into Manhattan's 13th Precinct stationhouse on Jan. 24 with a bombshell statement. She told police she had gone drinking Oct. 8 at a South Street Seaport bar with Kelly, a 43-year-old former Marine Harrier jet pilot, and then took him to her law offices, where she says he raped her. She said she got pregnant from the encounter and had an abortion. The woman's boyfriend angrily confronted Raymond Kelly about his son at a public event before she made her statement to prosecutors. The NYPD immediately handed the case to Vance's office. Her accusation was problematic, not just because three months had passed, but because the woman had sent Kelly flirtatious and friendly messages both before and after the encounter. Investigators interviewed both Greg Kelly and his accuser, reviewed bar receipts, security logs, text messages and telephone records — and concluded no crime occurred, Bashford said. It was a significant legal step beyond saying the allegations could not be proved. Under state law, rape is defined as sexual intercourse without consent, either due to force, fear or impairment. Vance spokeswoman Joan Vollero said the DA will not bring a false reporting charge against the woman. Bashford's letter said both the woman and Kelly were interviewed early on and both were cooperative. Sources said the woman's story remained consistent throughout: She believed she was too drunk to consent to sex. Lawyer Paul Callan, who represented Channel 7 meteorologist Heidi Jones when she was charged with making false rape claims, said he thought Kelly's accuser had no standing to file a civil suit against Kelly — but suggested Kelly could sue her for defamation. However, he said, "the chances of him bringing a lawsuit are zero, unless he wants his entire sexual history with women discussed in the New York press." Commissioner Kelly declined to comment on his son being cleared. Greg Kelly, who had not been on the air or seen in public since the accusation became public on Jan. 25, is expected to discuss his return to TV with Channel 5 brass on Wednesday, sources said. In his statement, he thanked his family, his viewers and his co-host, Rosanna Scotto, for their support. "I will always remember her kindness, and I look forward to soon resuming my post on ‘Good Day New York' next to her," Kelly said. "I am so blessed to have a wonderful family and friends whose support for me never wavered," he said. Channel 5 insiders said that at a staff meeting last week, news director Dianne Doctor said she expected huge ratings when Kelly returned to the air. "I think there will be a ratings bump when or if he returns," one staffer said, "and then it will be back to business covering crime, politics and Snooki and JWoww's new show in Jersey." One insider wondered how Kelly's on-air chemistry with Scotto may change. Before the allegations, Scotto had been the family person in the relationship, often joking about trying to get Kelly dates. "Will he change his demeanor?" asked a source. "They always tease him as being the single guy hanging out and having fun." With Vera Chinese, Rocco Parascandola and Barbara Ross mgrace@nydailynews.com Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! |
State Department Counterterrorism Official Complains About Hillary Clinton-tied Request to FBI (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released new State Department documents showing the Benghazi attack was called a “terrorism event” almost immediately after the attack took place. Another document suggests that Hillary Clinton tasked an official to contact the FBI, evidently not knowing that the FBI was already on the Benghazi matter under longstanding State Department counterterrorism response protocols. The new documents were forced from the U.S. State Department under court order in a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. Judicial Watch filed a FOIA request on June 12, 2014, and subsequently a lawsuit on October 16, 2014, seeking: Any and all activity logs, reports, or other records produced by the Diplomatic Security Command Center between September 10, 2012 and September 13, 2012 regarding, concerning, or related to the attack at the U.S. Special Mission Compound and Classified Annex in Benghazi, Libya. Though the State Department has yet to release to Judicial Watch any documents from Hillary Clinton’s secret email records (or the secret email records of other top State Department officials) as required by law and court order, earlier this month the agency released 49 records totaling over 70 pages. Less than eight hours after the attacks, around 6 a.m. on September 12, 2012, the State Department Diplomatic Security “Command Center Team Site” sent out a “Benghazi Event Notification” to “ALCON:” The DS Command Center is sharing the following terrorism event information for your situational awareness… As of 0500 EST the US Mission in Benghazi has been evacuated due to ongoing attacks that resulted in the deaths of 4 Chief of Mission personnel including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and 3 additional COM wounded. At this time everyone has been evacuated to Tripoli and is receiving medical aid and awaiting further movement. This is initial terrorist incident report from the DS Command Center…[emphasis original] Among the recipients of this email was the regional security officer for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, who received the email just before a briefing he had with then-Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice. At 6:24 a.m., September 12, 2012, the RSO official was given the “terrorism incident report” and responded: It is a tragic day for us. I expect to speak with Ambassador Susan Rice and the rest of the senior staff about this here at USUN New York in a couple of hours. I would appreciate any details we can know and share in a couple of hours, either here or on my SIPR [Secure Internet Protocol Router] account. It so happens that the UNSC [United Nations Security Council] will discuss Libya this morning. While the meeting had been previously scheduled, the situation will certainly change the tone and timbre of those deliberations – not to mention the substance. I will call in around 0800 for the latest as well. Despite knowing it was an attack, the State Department, including its Security Command Center, continued to falsely tie “demonstrations” to the Benghazi terrorist assault. A prior State Department document production in this lawsuit contains a press release issued by the Diplomatic Security Command Center, on September 12, 2012, that falsely states that “violent demonstrations took place at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, and at the U.S. Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, Libya, resulting in damages in both locations and casualties in Benghazi.” On the evening of the attack, a member of the State Department’s Counterterrorism (CT) Bureau complained about a request to the FBI on behalf of Hillary Clinton: FBI just called me indicating DOS ops center [Redacted](sp?) had called FBI ops center to request FBI assistance, ala evidence response team, investigators, etc. on behalf of Secretary Clinton.. To remind, the State (CT) led Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST) would include these folks…We should avoid multiple requests for assistance and rely on the comprehensive FEST approach, which had been used for repeated real-world events (including hostage takings) over the past 20 years. Another State Department document lists 18 Embassy and other State Department sites in the Middle East, Africa, and UK, all but one of which are listed as being targeted by “protests.” Benghazi is the only city that has no listing of “protests,” and lists instead the situation as “Attack on US Consulate.” The document is undated but seems to have been created a few days after the Benghazi attack. An email on September 11, 2012, from Rebecca Thompson, director of the Bureau of Public Affairs’ Rapid Response Unit, passes along an “intriguing” Internet post suggesting the Germans might have been warned days before the attack “about personalities who were officials in the Qaddafi regime and now work with Al-Qaida affiliated organizations to execute terrorist operations and explosions in Libya and outside of it…” The following day, Rebecca Brown Thompson reported to the Command Center: Nahla Qader, one of our media analysts, found this tweet: Mohammed Fadel Fahmy@Repent11 in Egypt says “Threat to kill all Americans in Gaza, after Libya/Egypt due to film insulting prophet Mohamed forces UN staff to bunker in and placed on curfew!” Nahla also reports that some Twitter users in Libya and Egypt are spreading reports that the attacks in Libya may not be related to the infamous film but to the killing of Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, who is Libyan. This information echoes the Defense Intelligence Agency report released by Judicial Watch last week that immediately tied the Benghazi terrorist attack to retaliation for the death of Libyan Abu Yahya al-Libi. The Associated Press reported that Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, on September 10, 2011, [U]rged Libyans — al-Libi was born in the north African country — to attack Americans to avenge the late militant’s death, saying his “blood is calling, urging and inciting you to fight and kill the Crusaders.” Further undermining the false claim that the Benghazi attack arose from a spontaneous protest, a September 12 email with the subject line “Benghazi Killings of USGOV personnel” from an unidentified sender notes the Benghazi “attack was a complex attack including [Redacted].” Last week, Judicial Watch reported that it had obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified “Secret” documents from the Department of Defense and the Department of State revealing that DOD knew almost immediately that the Benghazi attack was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked “Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman” (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance. Rahman, known as the Blind Sheikh, is serving life in prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terrorist acts. The new documents also provided the first official confirmation that the U.S. government was aware of arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria. “The Obama administration – including Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice – knew immediately that the Benghazi attack was a terrorist attack. The State Department’s new smoking gun documents put to rest any question about what Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice knew – and when they knew it,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Within minutes of the attack, the administration, specifically Hillary Clinton, began lying to the American people by blaming an obscure Internet video. No wonder Hillary Clinton is the great destroyer of State Department emails. One can assume that Mrs. Clinton would not have stolen and destroyed emails in violation of law and various court orders if she didn’t have something to hide. And it shouldn’t take a federal court order to find out that Hillary Clinton evidently had no clue how the State Department and the FBI responded to terrorist attacks on State Department personnel.” ### |
Fireworks were set off in the crowd during Hungary's 1-1 draw with Iceland on Saturday Uefa has fined Hungary 65,000 euros (£50,000) over the behaviour of their supporters at Euro 2016. The Hungarian Football Federation was charged with crowd disturbances, setting off fireworks and throwing objects during the draw with Iceland. Hungary top Group F and face Portugal on Wednesday in their final group game. Croatia were previously fined 100,000 euros (£77,000) and Russia 150,000 euros (£115,000) after crowd trouble at the tournament in France. Eight countries, a third of the teams, have now been charged by Uefa over crowd disturbances with Albania, Romania, Turkey, Belgium, and Portugal also facing disciplinary action. Croatia's match against the Czech Republic on Friday was halted when flares were thrown onto the pitch. In addition to the fine the Croatia Football Federation has also been banned from selling tickets to fans identified as "hooligans". Russia were given a suspended disqualification after violent scenes during their opening match against England on 11 June. They were eliminated from the tournament after losing 3-0 to Wales on Monday and finishing bottom of Group B. Create leagues and play against your friends in BBC Sport's new Euro 2016 Predictor game |
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