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TBogg is Tom Boggioni, a writer based in San Diego, Ca. More specifically in Pacific Beach. Okay, in Crown Point, if you must know. Happy now? He was once known as a "somewhat popular blogger" back when blogs were a 'thing'. He is writing the Great American Novel, minus the 'great' part. Straight outta Dartmouth.... Dinesh "D-Bag" D'Souza - screencap Noted conservative adulterer, “criminal mastermind,” and destroyer of the “nerds are cool” myth, Dinesh D’Souza sat down for an interview and music video (remember those?) with Vanity Fair to discuss his post conviction dual-life as a prison yard badass and pensive beach-strolling philosopher. Yeah, he’s still a weird and awful little man with delusions of adequacy. D’Souza who is rehabilitating himself by trolling Muslim terrorist Barack Obama SO HARD on The Facebook and on The Twitter (….or so I hear because he has blocked me because I can’t handle the truth) is a changed man now. A hard embittered man who — following his conviction for election fraud — has looked at life from both sides now and suddenly finds his old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads and say he’s changed. And you would be too if you were doing HARD TIME — when you weren’t taking sundown strolls at La Jolla Shores, which is probably mentioned in his Christian Mingles profile faves along with piña coladas, getting caught in the rain, and sodomy (“If you like piña coladas, and having sex in the butt…” C’mon, you know the words — everybody now.) I just made that song better. Forever. You can tell how hard Dinesh’s prison life has been by this very dramatic and symbolic opening shot of a plastic bag trapped by razor wire: … .just like Dinesh was in his crazy legal nightmare because The Man was trying to keep him down. And you know it is serious, because the accompanying music wasn’t Katy Perry’s gangsta classic Fireworks (“Do you ever feel like a plastic bag. Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?) although the parallels are chilling and probably not a coincidence. Here is Dinesh making his prison bunky his bitch by stone-cold chilling him the hell out by dropping rhymes about his street crimez: D’Souza tells Peretz that on his first night in the center, his 400-pound bunkmate struck up a conversation: “He goes, ‘Hey, man, what are you in for?’ I go, ‘Campaign-finance violation.’ He goes, ‘What the fuck does that mean?’ I go, ‘Well, my friend was running for the Senate, and I gave her too much money. I raised money for her in the wrong way.’ So he goes, ‘Shit! Can you raise money for me?’ I go, ‘No.’ Then there was the mandatory rape class, which was about ‘establishing that all of us have a right not to be raped.’ Very reassuring.” Also, too: no piña coladas because this is about rehabilitation, not some fancy-pants country club white collar resort-jail. Well it was, kind of, but shut-up. But now Dinesh is out and, despite his Mandela-like incarceration, he’s not gonna stop dropping truths on America because that is how he rolls and he is serving notice to the Justice Department that he is down with capital G-O-P and, boys, you can’t fuck with me. Just ask 400-pound bunky… Watch the video below, from Vanity Fair: |
Ted Cruz Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, meets with parishioners Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, after speaking during services at a Community Bible Church in Beaufort, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke) Ted Cruz pushed a host of conservative priorities on Capitol Hill last week that he hopes will boost his presidential campaign ahead of the South Carolina primary. With a brief return to the Senate, Cruz claimed progress on a series of measures that are likely to appeal to Republican primary voters in the hotly contested campaign. He wrote a letter to President Obama on North Korea policy, voted for North Korea sanctions and co-sponsored a bill to enforce fines on undocumented immigrants. The third move may help the Texas senator bolster his record on immigration compared to his presidential rival, Donald Trump, whose campaign has made the issue a rallying cry. "The next administration must support the people who protect us from illegal immigration and punish those who break our laws," Cruz said Thursday in a statement on the bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. It's not unusual for lawmakers running for president to tailor their congressional actions for the campaign trail. But Cruz's flurry of activity in Washington did more than that -- it showed how to do it with focused efficiency. Cruz faces an uphill battle in the South Carolina GOP primary on Feb. 20, where Trump leads the Republican field by 17 points, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average. Cruz is currently in second place with 20 percent, followed by Marco Rubio with 14 percent and Jeb Bush with 9 percent. Cruz's actions also give him new fodder for attacks on Rubio, a member of the Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees who frequently talks up his foreign policy credentials with voters. Rubio is also known for maintaining the Senate's worst attendance record. Though Cruz's is the third-worst, according to C-SPAN data, a blitz of work could help him stave off suggestions that the two are equally truant. "Cruz puts a priority on his day job, is always in contact with his Senate staff, and does his best to make important votes, like the North Korea sanctions vote yesterday," campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier wrote in an email. North Korea loomed large in Cruz's work this week. On Wednesday, he sent a letter to Obama decrying his policy on North Korea and outlining alternative ways to punish the reclusive nation for its nuclear tests, including increasing funding for the Navy and disinviting China from this year's Rim of the Pacific naval exercise. At the same time, Cruz announced he would vote for a bill to slap sanctions on North Korea, which passed unanimously in the Senate later that day. Rubio's campaign scrambled his schedule so that he could stop briefly in Washington for the same vote. (The bill passed the House on Friday and now goes to Obama's desk.) Immigration came next. On Thursday, Cruz introduced legislation that would create a dedicated revenue stream for the federal office that identifies, arrests and removes illegal immigrants from the United States. The funding would come from fines and penalties on illegal immigrants that Cruz claimed are not being enforced by the Obama administration. The move could help him differentiate himself from Rubio, who is best known for his work on the Senate "Gang of Eight" immigration bill that provided a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Under conservative fire, Rubio has since renounced that approach, saying comprehensive reform can only be passed after the border is secure. Meanwhile, Cruz has been criticized for proposing his own amendment to the bill that included legalization, but he said it was a poison pill intended to kill that bill. The two senators did agree on one thing this week -- limiting judicial changes to the draft, which is becoming another hot-button issue for conservatives now that all military positions are open to women. Both said they would co-sponsor a forthcoming bill from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to clarify that any future changes to the draft, including requiring women to enlist, must be made by Congress. China came back into play on Friday. Capping the week, the Senate passed a Cruz bill renaming the plaza in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington after jailed pro-democracy dissident Liu Xiaobo. Cruz took the opportunity to imply similarities between himself and President Reagan. "When Ronald Reagan stood before the Brandenburg Gate and said, 'Tear down this wall,' he didn't listen to the voices of timidity saying, 'Well, that's going to embarrass the Soviets,'" Cruz said. "And the U.S. Senate should not be aiding and abetting the oppression of the Chinese government. I am grateful to my colleagues for passing this legislation today, for standing with Dr. and Mrs. Liu and for standing and speaking for truth and for freedom." --- Elise Viebeck is a national enterprise reporter for The Washington Post. Katie Zezima and Sean Sullivan contributed. |
One of the keys to Valve’s success as the operator of Steam is simply that it was there first. Valve’s digital download service was one of the first, and certainly the most consistent and high-quality of the early- to mid-2000s. Since then, Steam has grown exponentially both in user base and software catalog, and in recent years the service has suffered from some difficult growing pains. In the last 12-to-18 months in particular, many of Steam’s most hardcore users have grown frustrated with the flood of poorly designed, unfinished games and “cash grabs” being shoveled onto the service. Last week, Valve finally “addressed” this problem by meeting with Jim Sterling and John “TotalBiscuit” Bain, two of the service’s most vocal critics. The two emerged from the trip to Valve with details of a new plan to help stem the tide of trash on the service. In the new program, Steam users will be able to volunteer to become “Steam Explorers,” granting them the ability to test out games and flag them if they’re inappropriate, unfinished or otherwise don’t belong on Steam. This brings us to the video above, where host Hamish Black (via his YouTube channel, Writing on Games) suggests that the idea of Steam Explorers won’t fix the problem with Steam. In fact, according to his theory, the biggest issue with Steam isn’t that it gets a bunch of trash; it’s that, as gamers, we’ve given over too much control to Steam as a platform in an effort to consolidate all of our games onto one platform. Across this 15-minute video, Black lays out his case for why consumers should consider expanding to multiple digital platforms for their game purchases and why he’s skeptical of pro-consumer advocates in general. With so many gamers having invested so much time and money into the Steam platform, this is a topic people are bound to get passionate about. However, Black provides a take we haven’t seen echoed much elsewhere — one that centers less on what would make Steam healthier and more on what would be healthier for the game industry as a whole. |
It was a moment of truth for Karen Handel. The Republican, who is currently campaigning for Tom Price’s vacated seat in Georgia’s 6th Congressional district, was questioned about her stance on LGBTQ rights by a conservative mother with a lesbian daughter. Handel, a former executive at the breast cancer foundation Susan G. Komen, has repeatedly voiced her opposition to same-sex couples adopting children. During a meet-and-greet atWright’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop in Dunwoody, Georgia, last Friday, the constituent asked Handel, “What protections do I have for [my daughter] having a family in the future, wanting to adopt a kid?” Placing her hand on her chest, Handel responded, “I have to be honest—my faith calls me to a different place on the issue.” Handel, who has opposed LGBTQ equality throughout her career, stands in stark contrast to her Democratic opponent in a close election viewed as a referendum on the Trump administration. The Republican is trailing progressive challenger Jon Ossoff by nearly two points in polls conducted on the day of the Georgia runoff election. The 6th district, which consists of suburban voting blocks north of Atlanta, is reliably conservative. A strong showing for Ossoff bodes well for Democratic chances in the primary election. Liberals will need to flip 24 seats held by the GOP to take back the House of Representatives. President Trump, realizing the symbolism of the Georgia elections, has repeatedly tweeted his support of Handel—while also spelling her name wrong on one occasion. The president, who needs a win during a fraught debate over his Obamacare replacement bill, tweeted on Tuesday morning that Handel would “fight for lower taxes, great healthcare, [and] strong security.” Just as polls opened, he called her “a hard worker who will never give up.” Trump has also stated that Ossoff, who has campaigned against “wasteful” spending inCongress, “wants to raise taxes and kill healthcare.” A great deal distinguishes the two candidates. Handel served as Georgia’s Secretary of State from 2007 to 2010, when she ran an unsuccessful bid for governor. Ossoff, at just 30, is a political newbie. He was a documentary filmmaker before entering the congressional race. But perhaps there’s no issue that divides the two more than LGBTQ rights. Appearing at the Atlanta Equality March on June 11, Ossoff gave a rousing speech in which he told queer and trans voters, “You will be able to count on me to stand up for you every day.” “I will never shy away from standing with the LGBT community publicly, forcefully, with everything I’ve got,” Ossoff told attendees of the Pride event. “There can be no compromise on civil rights. There can be no compromise on human rights.” Handel, meanwhile, signaled during her failed bid for governor that she would outlaw same-sex adoptions if elected. During a 2010 interview with WXIA-TV, she repeatedly dismissed questions about her LGBTQ rights stance. (She frequently laughed during the interview.) Telling the Atlanta news station that “marriage is between one man and one woman,” Handel claimed that having parents isn’t in the “best interest” of children. She also claimed that, as governor, she would “consider” passing legislation that limits adoption to heterosexual couples. Nearly every reputable survey on the subject has shown that children raised by same-sex parents fare no differently than children from other families. Although they may face some discrimination and bullying at school because of their family makeup, numerous studies have shown that these kids actually outperform their peers. A 2014 report released by researchers at the University of Melbourne found that the children of gay parents score better “than the general population on measures of general health and family cohesion.” Lesbian couples’ kids have been found to perform better on standardized tests. The gay adoption issue isn’t Handel’s only objectionable component of Handel’s platform. She also bragged in the 2010 interview that as a member of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners in Fulton, Georgia, she opposed domestic partner benefits. She is also against civil unions and, of course, same-sex marriage. But following the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision on Obergefell v. Hodges, these issues are a matter of “settled law,” as Trump himself has stated. Adoption is still under debate. Although the SCOTUS ruling allowed same-sex couples to have the same marriage benefits as their heterosexual peers, numerous states have chipped away at those recently won rights. In 2017, three states have passed legislation allowing faith-based adoption agencies to turn away LGBTQ couples due to their “sincerely held” religious beliefs. These include South Dakota, Alabama, and most recently, Texas. On June 15, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law House Bill 3859 after a legislative session marked by constant attacks on Texas’ LGBTQ community. HB 3859, which prohibits the state from taking action against any adoption or foster care agency that acts in accordance with its values, could have sweeping effects.ThinkProgress noted that the bill could be broadly applied, affecting “group homes, counseling services, care for abused children, and other resources for children with complicated family situations.” The bill could also be used to turn away Jewish, Muslim, and interfaith couples. The people who will be harmed most by these proposals are children, contrary to what Handel may believe. Currently, there are an estimated 1,174 children who need placement in South Dakota, and Texas’ system is so overcrowded that foster kids are sleeping on cots in office spaces that are not equipped to live in. The state simply doesn’t have enough beds. The dire state of foster care in Texas, where the number of children without homes has doubled in recent years, has become a source of constant strife for the state. A 15-year-old was run over by a minivan earlier this year after fleeing her care center. Advocacy groups estimate that same-sex households are four times more likely than heterosexual ones to adopt, and bills like HB 3859 will only make the problem worse. Georgia mulled passing its own anti-LGBTQ adoption law in May. If the Empire State of the South were to follow through, it would become the seventh state with such legislation in place. As a member of the House of Representatives, Handel will have no say on which bills are pushed in the state legislature. But in a race with a great deal of symbolic power, the decision that voters make today at the ballot box will say a great deal about Georgia’s future, as well as that of a country that remains divided on LGBTQ issues. Will voters choose the progressive supporter of equality or the conservative who has spent her career fighting against equal rights for same-sex families? The answer may tell onlookers a lot about America come 2018—and thereafter. |
Massive expansion of ice proves global warming alarmists wrong Global warming has always been a political argument, not a scientific one Guilt-tripping the public with a polar bear hoax Bad computer modeling leads to bad predictions Climate scientists, casinos and gambling addicts (NaturalNews) For years, we've all heard that global warming is threatening our planet. But now, in a stunning turnaround, world scientists are warning that an era ofseems to be upon us, complete with extraordinary expansions of ocean ice being recorded in just the past year.Even the latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report seems to indicate that an era of global cooling is now underway, according to many scientists.It turns out that global warming predictions were little more thanbased on failed computer models.For example, in 2007, the BBC reported that the Arctic would be "ice-free" by the summer of 2013. Here's exactly how that fear mongering was published by the BBC:That BBC global warming fear mongering article is still available at:Here's the screen shot:Now the summer of 2013 is over, and you can't argue with the satellite imagery of ice. Those images, shown below, revealbeing formed in just the last year. That's an increase of 60 percent over the previous year, reports the Daily Mail Here's the satellite imagery they published, showing the expansion of ice:As you can see from the image, the coverage of ice in the August, 2013 image (on the right) is vastly increased over the August, 2012 image (on the left).Now, I wish I didn't have to actually state the obvious in an article, butThus, the presence of rapidly increasing quantities of ice is proof that temperatures in the region are, not rising. That is, unless you believe in magic in the same way that so many "scientists" apparently believe in magic. What magic? The magic that somehow results intemperatures resulting in MORE ice formation. That sort of magic requires an elaborate magic wand, a set of finely crafted voodoo dolls and a bunch of tabloid astrology scrolls to pull off.Nevertheless, there are many "scientists" who believe so deeply in their global warming arguments that they have been forced to come up with some elaborate new spin to try to explain away the formation of ice in the arctic. That spin is now called a "pause." The rapidly expanding ice sheets are due to a "pause" in global warming, they say!In truth, global warming has never been a scientific argument from the get-go. It has always been -- and always will be -- aFor political reasons that have nothing to do with science or reality, certain globalist operatives needed to convince the world's populations that doomsday was coming if they didn't reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But in order to pull this off, these operatives first needed to demonize carbon dioxide, the single most important nutrient on the planet for, plant growth, food production and "greening" the planet.Carbon dioxide is so important to plants that greenhouse operators buy and install carbon dioxide generators to provide extra nutrients to their plants which are starving from the low levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.In fact, here's a photo of a catalog mailed to commercial greenhouse growers. As you can see, this page features two different CO2 generators which convert propane or natural gas into carbon dioxide in order to vastly increase plant growth:"The benefits of carbon dioxide supplementation on plant growth and production within the greenhouse environment have been well understood for many years," says the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food "CO2 increases productivity through improved plant growth and vigour. Some ways in which productivity is increased by CO2 include earlier flowering, higher fruit yields, reduced bud abortion in roses, improved stem strength and flower size. Growers should regard CO2 as a nutrient... increasing the CO2 level to 1,000 ppm will increase the photosynthesis by about 50% over ambient CO2 levels."The attempted demonization of carbon dioxide, in other words, falls apart once you embrace the simple scientific reality that Carbon dioxide is "atmospheric fertilizer" for nearly all plants . Thus, the higher CO2 is in the atmosphere, the more quickly land areas of the plant can be reforested or restored from near-desert-like conditions.Thanks to propaganda brainwashing efforts conducted on the public, most people today believe that CO2 is somehow evil or bad. This idea is completely without scientific merit. It was implanted into the minds of the people via an elaborate, extremely well-funded propaganda deception campaignOnce people were convinced that CO2 was bad, they could be "guilt-tripped" into supporting restrictions on CO2 emissions that ultimately allow government to control virtually every industry imaginable: agriculture, transportation, energy and even human reproduction and population (since humans exhale CO2 when they breathe).CO2 became the leverage point by which the global economy could be enslaved to an anti-science control agenda called "global warming." That lie was sold to the public with a long list of bizarre claims and deceptions including the claim that polar bears can't swim and were drowning because all the floating ice was disappearing. As part of the global warming propaganda deception, American children across the country were found tearfully sobbing over depressing images that attempted to depict polar bears as drowning.But it turns out. This is common knowledge among arctic biologists, of course. Evenknows this and publishes it openly on their website The absurd claim that polar bears can't swim is the biological equivalent to claiming that humans can't walk. The entire polar-bear-global-warming hoax was based on the single observation of justfloating in the ocean after being apparently killed in an arctic storm. The scientists who claimed these bears were killed by global warming were later reprimanded, reports a Huffpost story From this, global warming alarming like Al Gore leaped to the conclusion that polar bears were being decimated by global warming caused by rising CO2 levels.The evidence for global warming, it turns out, is no more credible than Obama's evidence that Syria's government used chemical weapons (which actually turned out to be sodium fluoride ). In both cases, we're witnessingNow that the global warming hoax has been utterly discredited, you have to ask how the scientists were so terribly wrong about it all along.If you discount for a moment the idea that they were all justabout it, you have to conclude that their computer models used to predict the effects of rising CO2 levels are. Computer models are, of course, attempts by scientists tomight impact outcomes.But these models are based on guesses that may or may not reflect reality. After all, your local TV weatherman uses incredibly advanced modeling technology but can barely tell you with any degree of accuracy whether it's going to rain tomorrow. What makes anyone think similar computer models can accurately predict global temperature changes over the next century?The Daily Mail is reporting US climate expert Professor Judith Curry as saying "In fact, the uncertainty is getting bigger. It's now clear the models are way too sensitive to carbon dioxide. I cannot see any basis for the IPCC increasing its confidence level."Climate scientists in particular have earned a reputation for being no more accurate than TV psychics or carnival palm readers. After all, in the late 1960's and early 1970's many scientists, observing a cooling trend, publicly "forecast an imminent ice age." ( SOURCE Furthermore, it turns out that CO2 emissions from human activity are dwarfed by CO2 emissions from the world's oceans. So if CO2 alone could cause global warming, then we would have been living on a runaway greenhouse effect planet long before humans arrived on the scene. (And indeed, CO2 levels have been more than 15 times higher in Earth's history...)Increasingly, the verbal excuses of global warming climate scientists sound more and more like blackjack junkies at a casino, trying to explain away their losses. "Yeah, I just lost that hand, but overall I'm winning!"There is a strong tendency in human psychology for something I call "cognitive momentum." It means a person who has decided to believe in something and who has publicly stated his or her belief in that thing is usually extremely difficult to convince to reexamine their beliefs from a fresh angle. This is why all of us who are true scientists must remain ever vigilant about our own beliefs, and we must be willing to question them and publicly change our positions if we find we are in the wrong. (Case in point: I used to believe the global warming hype, but I publicly changed my position based on new evidence that clearly contradicted my former belief.)People who simply dismiss all contradictory evidence as an aberration rather than real evidence as not true scientists... they are dogmatists. This includes nearly all pro-vaccine people, by the way, who consciously dismiss all reports of the children harmed by vaccines as "aberrations" rather than patterns of evidence. When does overwhelming evidence not count as evidence? When it's evidence showing the dangers of vaccines, of course. All that evidence is swept under the rug, much like the current evidence against global warming being caused primarily by human activity.This is how "science" becomes "dogma." It's how scientists turn into cultists. And in every way imaginable, the global warming pushers are now cult leaders who ask their followers to believe them as a matter of faith, not anything based on real-world evidence.Maybe they all need to be dunked into the freezing Arctic waters for a few seconds just to snap them out of it. "Still think there's global warming?" you can ask as you pull their faces out of the water for a breather. "Then why is your face covered with ice?" |
Brian Michael Bendis is writing the X-Men. That news is a few weeks old at this point, but it's still a big deal: After eight years on multiple Avengers series, which saw the title grow into a busting Marvel franchise rivaling the X-Men themselves, Bendis and artist Stuart Immonen are introducingin November as part of the "Marvel NOW!" post-Avengers vs. X-Men revamp. And they're doing it with the attention-getting premise of the original Stan Lee and Jack Kirby X-Men lineup of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Iceman and Beast traveling from the past and into the modern-day Marvel Universe — and sticking around once they realize they don't like what they see.In his first in-depth interview on the series, Newsarama talked with Bendis about why the time was right for him to take on Marvel's mutants, his reputation among X-Men fans, the genesis of the book's high-concept and his plan to "hunker down as firmly as [he] did on Avengers" in what he hopes is a long-term run with the characters — all that, plus a perfectly in-context 13 Going on 30 reference. : Brian, let's start with the big, broad question — why X-Men, why now? Obviously on one level it seems like kind of the natural follow-up to eight years of Avengers culminating in Avengers vs. X-Men, but was writing the Marvel Universe X-Men something you had always thought about in the back of your head? Brian Michael Bendis: Yes, but the whole time I've been at Marvel, there's been someone steering the ship in a pretty fantastic way. When I took Avengers, I certainly saw the importance of a strong statement about the book. My friends and colleagues and people who I admire who have done well on the X-Men, or any book really, have come with a very strong statement. I wanted to make sure when the time came, that I had a strong position, something hopefully intriguing to fans and to people who hate me. [Laughs.] It's a little different from other writers who have come into X-Men. Like when Ed [Brubaker] joined X-Men, he had never written the X-Men, or Matt [Fraction], or Grant Morrison — they had done so pretty cold. Whereas over the course of my time at Marvel — House of M alone — I decimated the X-Men, I brought Wolverine's memories back. I've done a lot of big things in the X-universe without ever writing a technical "X-book." Avengers vs. X-Men, and some other things I've been involved in, have affected the X-Men in a great, powerful way, which I'm proud of — but that does mean that I'm coming into the X-Men with some notoriousness attached. "That's the guy who decimated the X-Men!" Some people weren't reading House of M but were reading X-Men — all of a sudden they opened up a book and [mutants] were down to 200. "Who did this? That guy!" I know that there's a bit of X-Men fans who see me coming and are nervous, and also I'm known for murdering characters — even though that's not fair. So I know I'm coming into it with quite a reputation. But on the flipside I'm coming to the X-verse, which is known across the comicsphere as the most dedicated fans, the loudest fans. So I'm diving in head first, whereas with Avengers I wasn't prepared. [Laughs.] But I am now. On some level. Nrama: Certainly, your arrival on Avengers eight years ago equaled a major shake-up that was felt through the entire Avengers sphere. Do you see All-New X-Men as bringing a comparable level of change? : I'm not blowing up the mansion or anything like that. I came in [Avengers], "I'm gonna blow up the mansion, and go crazy!" and some people really loved that, and some people were like, "Whoa, whoa!" It was tantamount to someone going on the playground and just knocking over your toys. You're like, "I liked my toys, why are you doing this?" I didn't see it that way at the time, but in retrospect — I wouldn't have changed the story or anything, but I was shocked by some of the reaction, and then I went, "Oh, no, I get that. I literally just blew up the house on page three." What I am doing here is, I think, as big, but not as destructive. I think it's additive, I think it's emotional and dramatic. This idea has been floating through the Marvel retreats for a couple of years. Both [Jeph] Loeb and I would be looking at each other going, "That's a great idea." It never stuck to the wall. I literally asked Axel, "Where did that idea start?" It just inspired so many story ideas to me. Nrama: So the high concept of the original X-Men traveling into the present has been around for a while? : Yeah. I'm a big fan of "Days of Future Past." I think it's one of the greatest imagination-inspiring storylines — the idea that your future is going to be hell on earth. If the original X-Men saw what was going on at Marvel today, this is worse than "Days of Future Past." Fans always say, "Oh, I wish Stan Lee was still in charge, things would be different." Joe [Quesada] would point out that that's not true. Stan was changing the Marvel Universe so quickly, much quicker than we do. Tearing up tracks, switching the Avengers, and blowing up the X-Men, and he was the first guy to do this. If Stan Lee was still in charge, you wouldn't even recognize the Marvel Universe. So that idea inspired, "what would it feel like if characters from the Silver Age saw the Marvel Universe today?" I did a little bit of it in Avengers, in the Kang storyline. It's obviously inspired a couple ideas in my work. There's something about Jean Grey, there's something about those original five being such idealists, coming here and seeing what those ideals turned into for good or bad, and deciding to fight for them. I couldn't get it out of my head. Inside that idea is a bunch of different ideas. The idea itself is the headline-grabber, but what people have to look forward to inside the story is much more. It's a much more emotional story involving all of the X-Men, and that's what's going to be coming in future issues. Nrama: It's interesting, because it seems that for a while the All-New All-Different X-Men was the favored early team and got much more of the focus than the original five, but now that group has gotten a lot more attention in recent years. How much fondness do you have for that lineup? Bendis: It's a lineup that's interesting in retrospect. They were such idealistic, '60s,"let's do it!" mutant superheroes. And what it's evolved into, looking back at it is so fascinating. Just Jean Grey alone inspires so many story ideas and so many emotions, and means so much to so many people. That's the thing X-Men fans always say they want. You go anywhere — "Bring back Jean Grey!" But they don't want a reincarnated Jean Grey, and they don't want a dug-up Jean Grey. They want Jean. It's not like I run out of my way to find crowd-pleasing things, but this does allow us to get Jean back, pure. What a great thing. And I love Jean, I love writing her — just having her push forth. She's one of the inciting things that makes this happen in the first place, her coming here and going, "Why is everyone looking at me? What happened, and why is the school named after me?" Nrama: And you're the first creator who's getting to write her on an ongoing basis in almost 10 years. Bendis: Last time I wrote her was in Alias. She showed up to poke around Jessica Jones' head. I enjoyed that a great deal. Also, we're pulling her out from a story where she hasn't developed her psychic powers. She was [only] a telekinetic in the early days. Nrama: One thing that a lot of people were surprised by with the initial All-New X-Men announcement is that the original X-Men coming to the present isn't just the opening arc, it's the status quo going forward, correct? Bendis: It is the status quo. I can't wait to show you how it's the status quo, but I want you to buy the book to find out. Even giving this away — I would have loved if you would have just opened this book, and found out about this without any hype on my end, but that's not the way the world works. But there's so much more coming after the five get here — how they stay here, what the mandate is, what inspires them to stay — all of that is why I hope people buy the book to find out. What excites me is that it's the purest of X-Men ideas. I've thought about this from so many different angles: Spider-Man wouldn't do this. The Avengers wouldn't do this. The Fantastic Four wouldn't do this. The X-Men would do this. From this idea, we're going to allow the X-Men to involve themselves more strongly into the Marvel Universe proper. It's certainly what I would like as a fan of the X-Men. The Avengers and Fantastic Four get to go into any corner of the Marvel Universe they want; the X-Men are always faced with a mutant problem. It shouldn't be only mutant problems, it should be superhero problems as well, and that is something that's long overdue. And every time they do step forward, like in [Victor] Gischler's X-Men, people get very excited, so there seems to be an appetite for that. It doesn't have to be Magneto and the Sentinels every time, it would be nice to slap Doctor Doom around a little bit. Nrama: Based on statements you've made, it sounds like this will definitely be a big cast, with the original five and many more X-Men beyond that. : It is a big cast. I like a big cast, and all these characters are very dramatic characters. Kitty, and… there's so many characters, but I don't think they want me to say who they are right now. Not everyone's walking out of Avengers vs. X-Men, and once you start naming names, people start doing the math, so I don't want to ruin what happens in #11 and #12 of Avengers vs. X-Men. Nrama: But it's safe to say that several current X-Men characters are going to be playing a role? Bendis: It's not just the five of them, it's "the X-Men." It's all of the X-Men. Them coming here, and seeing the "now" X-Men — the Jean Grey School cast of characters — reacting to the five, is a pretty big deal. Nrama: So there's a long-term plan at work? Bendis: Absolutely. I've gotten to sit with it for a while — a big blessing. You don't always get that. I was offered the X-Men before we started writing Avengers vs. X-Men. So for a year, year-and-a-half, I've not only been able to figure out how to wrap up my Avengers run in a way that makes me happy, but I've gotten to really think about all of the ramifications and all of the drama the X-Men have coming to them. With that comes the long-term plans, as you go, "What about this? What about that?" and then all of a sudden you have three years' worth of books that I hope I get to write. Nrama: And the X-Men obviously seem to lend themselves well to more complex storylines. Bendis: Since Claremont's days, it's always had a Robert Altman-like tapestry. [Claremont] would keep subplot balls in the air for years. You always bought the next issue. He kept it going for decades. That was very impressive. : Also a big factor of this is that you're reteaming with your former Ultimate Spider-Man and New Avengers collaborator Stuart Immonen, which has to be cool. Bendis: It is, and he's already got a couple of issues in the can, so I can wholeheartedly and firmly tell you this is among the best he's ever done. He seems very inspired, and into the emotions of the characters as much as I am. [All-New X-Men is] written for him, like no one's business. I've studied him like the Torah. Like Ultimate Spider-Man, you've got these teenagers who are wearing their hearts on their sleeves, and they're very emotional, and he's drawing it accordingly, and it's really lovely. Nrama: And it's the first Marvel Universe X-Men book for both of you, at least in terms of an ongoing series. Bendis: When we parted ways on New Avengers, we talked about getting back together, because we do enjoy working together a great deal. He came on Ultimate Spider-Man, and he came on the Avengers, but he wanted to make a book his own. "I want this to be my book, and then wail on it." Only because of the size of the cast, I was worried he wouldn't want to do X-Men, because he was just coming off of Fear Itself, which was a whole smorgasbord. I was so happy that he was so taken with the direction that he said yes immediately. I was really flattered. Nrama: So, since readers are used to seeing you on multiple Avengers books simultaneously at this point, are you writing just the one X-Men book? I know in the past you've mentioned two more projects that are yet to be announced. : There are a couple more very large projects, not even including Age of Ultron, which is still coming. This is the question I get like every three hours on Twitter: Age of Ultron is not part of the Marvel NOW! launches, but it is a very large project, and it is coming soon. Bryan Hitch finished his part of the book, I'm happy to say, and we'll be going forward and we'll be making announcements about that later in the fall, I'd guess. Nrama: And now that Daredevil: End of Days has been solicited, people have more reason to believe Age of Ultron is actually coming. Bendis: Yes. And I don't get to do my "End of Days is the shipping date joke" anymore, now that it's in the catalogue. Unless it is the end of days. Nrama: So will Age of Ultron be pre-Marvel NOW! continuity, then? Bendis: No. It's ready to go. It'll be in Marvel NOW!, now. It's substantially a part of what's going on in the Marvel Universe next year. It makes me so happy, because the nature of comics, you're putting them out every month, and everyone works as hard as they can and does their best, but it's nice to have some projects, like a creator-owned, where you can take your time and tell the story at a different pace. I'm very happy with how Daredevil: End of Days has come out. It birthed of its own volition. Nrama: So to circle back just a bit: Is it just the one X-Men book for you? Bendis: This is the start of an X-Men run which I hunker down as firmly as I did on Avengers, and allow, on its own basis, other series to debut. When I started on Avengers, we did New Avengers for a while, and then we did Mighty and others. It wasn't right away. Nrama: Right, it was about two-and-a-half years into it. Bendis: It'll be faster than that, but this will be the flagship book. And also Wolverine and the X-Men will continue, and other books like that. Nrama: A lot of folks will be very happy to hear that. Bendis: Yeah, I love that comic. That's literally the only negative of coming on here, is that none of the X-Men books suck right now. For a creator, you want to jump on when the book is not good, not when everyone is doing great. That's what Frank Miller got on Daredevil — when he came on Daredevil, they were going to cancel it, so he could do whatever the hell he wanted, and he saved it. : Certainly Kieron Gillen has gotten a great deal of positive attention for what he's done on Uncanny X-Men as of late. Bendis: Kieron is amazing. Everyone on that book is kicking ass, it's wonderful. I admire Kieron a great deal. Kieron also has some fabulous gigs that have not been announced — truly fantastic gigs that he's born to do — that you will be hearing about soon. Particularly fans of Journey Into Mystery, they want their Gillen, and they're going to get it. Nrama: Well, Brian, I know there's still not a whole lot you can say about All-New X-Men at this point, but what else should readers know about the book? Bendis: There will be a very specific point in the X-Men history where the [original] X-Men are being pulled out of, and you will get to see that moment. I literally went over those issues over and over and over again to find the perfect place. And imagine also — the thing that I'm so excited about — they come here as a group, but the things they discover about themselves may pull them apart. They're coming here as a team thinking they're unbreakable, and then you find out what Cyclops did, and what happened to Jean, and they might not so in love with each other the next day. Nrama: Each of the individual characters have something interesting to come back to at this point — definitely Angel, given what's happened in Uncanny X-Force. Bendis: All of them. And the one I'm looking forward to is, wait until you find out how disappointing it is for Bobby Drake to find out he turned out to be the normal one. [Laughs.] He was the biggest goofball, and he turned out to be a pretty well-respected teacher. Nrama: And it does seem that a lot of fans are fixating on the time travel aspect — wondering how the original X-Men can stay in the present without everything else being changed. Bendis: I completely agree with that, but there's the Back to the Future time travel, which is what most of us hold to as the rules of time travel. But there are other ways to look at it. I talk about it a little in the Kang storyline — you can look at time as a straight line that you can go forward or backwards in, or you can look at it as a constant, you can look at it as the thing that isn't moving. There are so many different ways. Buy one copy of Wired magazine published in the last three years, you'll find an article about this. There are other ways of looking at time travel. For those who are fearful of the time/space continuum — you should be! It's constantly in flux, it's constantly being abused by people in the Marvel Universe, and there will be a price to pay. And this isn't the only story [where] I'm going to be f*cking with it. Nrama: Right, I think you said in Entertainment Weekly that people should think less Back to the Future and more Pleasantville. Bendis: Yeah, because this story of the X-Men is really about what's happening to them here. There are two kinds of time travel stories — there's one where you end up in the wrong time period, like 13 Going on 30 or Peggy Sue Got Married, and it's not about trying to find a way back, it's about living that moment again, or finding something out about who you are. Or there's time travel stories like Back to the Future, where it's all about, I've got to get back to the future. To me, when I mentioned Plesantville — even though I know it's not technically a time travel story — what it is about is these kids seeing something about themselves that they didn't see before, and being changed by it. Nrama: After eight years on Avengers, though those books were changing and evolving all the time, right now sounds like a particularly energizing time for you in your career — starting All-New X-Men, plus two more yet to be named new projects. Bendis: It's very energizing. Other writers know what I'm talking about — there's the right kind of nervousness. You're nervous for all the right reasons, and that's how I've felt now, for many months. then the pages start coming in from everyone, including some people you don't know about yet, and It just relieves you. : OK, I'll poke around about one more thing — are you and Mark Bagley doing something together in the Marvel Universe post-Avengers Assemble? Bendis: Me and Bagley are dedicated to Brilliant right now. We're finishing up Avengers Assemble, and then we'll be doing Brilliant together. So we will be together throughout, but Bagley has another assignment coming his way. All I'll say about that assignment is that these are two dear friends that have never worked together, that I'm very excited to see what they do together. I think they're going to kill it. More from Newsarama:Got a comment? There's lots of conversation on Newsarama's FACEBOOK and TWITTER |
323 SHARES Facebook Twitter Linkedin Reddit The latest release of Unity, version 2017.1 now officially supports NVIDIA’s VRWorks rendering tech. VRWorks contains a number of rendering features unique to the company’s GPUs which are designed to improve performance in VR applications. Update (7/13/17): After several months in beta, this week Unity launched its latest main branch release, version 2017.1. Alongside some VR fixes and a few improvements noted in the full release notes, VRWorks support also comes to the main branch for the first time, allowing developers working on the release version of the game engine to install the Nvidia VRWorks plugin to enable a range of VR specific rendering features (noted below) that can improve performance and enhance visuals on Nvidia GPUs. Now supported by the main branch, we’d expect VRWorks to remain supported on the Unity main branch going forward. Update (4/26/17, 10:26PM PT): While NVIDIA had formerly made a branch of Unity with VRWorks support available to select developers, the company has now launched a VRWorks plugin on the Unity Asset store which is supported by the latest Unity beta (2017.1.0b2). This makes it easier for developers to enable VR rendering features unique to NVIDIA’s latest GPUs: Multi-Res Shading (Maxwell & Pascal) – renders each part of an image at a resolution that better matches the pixel density of the warped image. Multi-Res Shading uses Maxwell’s multi-projection architecture to render multiple scaled viewports in a single pass, delivering substantial performance improvements. (Maxwell & Pascal) – renders each part of an image at a resolution that better matches the pixel density of the warped image. Multi-Res Shading uses Maxwell’s multi-projection architecture to render multiple scaled viewports in a single pass, delivering substantial performance improvements. Lens Matched Shading (Pascal) – uses the new Simultaneous Multi-Projection architecture of Pascal-based GPUs to provide substantial pixel shading performance improvements. The feature improves on Multi-res Shading by rendering to a surface that more closely approximates the lens corrected image that is output to the headset display. This avoids the performance cost of rendering many pixels that are discarded during the VR lens warp post-process. (Pascal) – uses the new Simultaneous Multi-Projection architecture of Pascal-based GPUs to provide substantial pixel shading performance improvements. The feature improves on Multi-res Shading by rendering to a surface that more closely approximates the lens corrected image that is output to the headset display. This avoids the performance cost of rendering many pixels that are discarded during the VR lens warp post-process. Single Pass Stereo (Pascal) – uses the new Simultaneous Multi-Projection architecture of NVIDIA Pascal-based GPUs to draw geometry once, then simultaneously project both right-eye and left-eye views of the geometry. This lets developers effectively double the geometry in VR applications, increasing the richness and detail of their virtual world. (Pascal) – uses the new Simultaneous Multi-Projection architecture of NVIDIA Pascal-based GPUs to draw geometry once, then simultaneously project both right-eye and left-eye views of the geometry. This lets developers effectively double the geometry in VR applications, increasing the richness and detail of their virtual world. VR SLI (Maxwell and Pascal) – provides increased performance for virtual reality apps where multiple GPUs can be assigned a specific eye to dramatically accelerate stereo rendering. With the GPU affinity application programming interface, VR SLI allows scaling for systems with more than two GPUs. NVIDIA also maintains a custom branch of Unreal Engine 4 with integrated VRWorks features. Original Article (11/9/16): As developers explore the limitless potential of VR, performance and efficiency continue to be an essential focus of hardware and software. Unity, one of the most popular game engines for VR development, has been a long-term supporter of the medium, introducing many VR-specific features as the hardware evolved at a frantic pace over the last few years. At GDC 2016, Unity announced they would be adding support for VRWorks, Nvidia’s SDK for optimisation of VR using the company’s GPUs. At Unite 2016 this month in Los Angeles, this commitment hit an important milestone, with Nvidia providing early access to a version of Unity with native VRWorks support for select VR developers, which includes the four major features for VR graphics optimisation: VR SLI, Multi-res Shading, Lens Matched Shading, and Single Pass Stereo. Developers can apply for early access here. Nvidia says they’re working toward bringing these features into the main branch of Unity. Per the update above, the NVIDIA VRWorks plugin is available now on the Unity Asset Store, supporting Unity 2017.1.b02 or higher. Integrated VRWorks support in Unity means faster and easier integration of VRWorks technologies for developers, which Nvidia says can result in major performance improvements thanks to features unique to their GPUs. Multi-res Shading, which has already featured in custom branches of Unreal Engine, deals with the barrel distortion required for rendering optically-correct images to a VR headset, rendering multiple viewports across a single render target, using a hardware feature called ‘multi-projection’. By shrinking the outer viewports, the render target is much more efficient, offering a 30% improvement in some cases. Pascal-equipped systems benefit most significantly, as the Simultaneous Multi Projection technology introduced with the architecture allows VRWorks to perform Lens Matched Shading, where 16 views can be rendered at different angles in a single pass, which can be shaped to closely match the distortion of a lens in a VR headset, resulting in far fewer wasted pixels across the render target. Combined with Single-Pass Stereo—which allows for reprojecting geometry around a second viewport—means 32 views are being rendered in a single pass, which can produce a significant performance increase in pixel shading throughput compared to Maxwell and earlier GPUs. Ted Carefoot, producer at Cloudhead Games, the studio behind Unity-based The Gallery series, said of the announcement, “Optimizing VR content is always a huge challenge, so we’re very excited to be working with NVIDIA on VRWorks. Features like ‘multi-res’, and ‘lens match’ shading (MRS/LMS) are indispensable tools in the quest to make beautiful, interactive, and deeply immersive virtual worlds.” Nvidia has also integrated VRWorks into the latest versions of Unreal Engine, Unity’s closest competing game engine for VR development. |
Not to be confused with the Lenin Prize The back of the Lenin Peace Prize Medal The International Lenin Peace Prize (Russian: международная Ленинская премия мира, mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira) was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel indicated had "strengthened peace among comrades". It was founded as the International Stalin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples, but was renamed the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples (Russian: Международная Ленинская премия «За укрепление мира между народами», Mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya «za ukrepleniye mira mezhdu narodami») as a result of de-Stalinization. Unlike the Nobel Prize, the Lenin Peace Prize was usually awarded to several people a year rather than to just one individual. The prize was mainly awarded to prominent Communists and supporters of the Soviet Union who were not Soviet citizens. Notable recipients include: W. E. B. Du Bois, Fidel Castro, Salvador Allende, Mikis Theodorakis, Seán MacBride, Angela Davis, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Niemeyer, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Abdul Sattar Edhi and Nelson Mandela. History [ edit ] The prize was created as the International Stalin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples on December 21, 1949 by executive order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in honor of Joseph Stalin's seventieth birthday (although this was after his seventy-first). Following Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin in 1956 during the Twentieth Party Congress, the prize was renamed on September 6 as the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples. All previous recipients were asked to return their Stalin Prizes so they could be replaced by the renamed Lenin Prize. By a decision of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 11, 1989, the prize was renamed the International Lenin Peace Prize.[1] Two years later, after the collapse of USSR in 1991, the Russian government, as the successor state to the defunct Soviet Union, ended the award program. The Lenin Peace Prize is regarded as a counterpart to the existing Nobel Peace Prize. The International Lenin Prize should not be confused with the International Peace Prize, awarded by the World Peace Council. In 1941 the Soviet Union created the Stalin Prize (later renamed the USSR State Prize), which was awarded annually to accomplished Soviet writers, composers, artists and scientists. Stalin Prize recipients [ edit ] Lenin Prize recipients [ edit ] See also [ edit ] |
This crust is as easy as it comes. Based on just two ingredients, you can combine the healthy aspects of cooked meat with cheese for a truly remarkable crust that’s easy to prepare, totally able to be picked up, and has the perfect “chew” and flavor profile. I essentially just tweaked my cauliflower pizza from 2008 into something even more fabulous. What’s more, this pizza is pretty. It slices up like a charm. It looks great on a plate. Good food shouldn’t look “healthy.” It should be irresistible. Better yet: Pair with these amazing, easy gluten free breadsticks for the complete dinner package. What good is a pizza that you have to eat with a fork? While I’ve seen my cauliflower and other veggie crusts borrowed and tweaked all over the ‘net, people keep changing the proportions and ruining the recipe (another reason you don’t mess with the original, kids). This easy pizza is not only super easy to handle as a dough, as you can see, it’s perfection in the hand. Once more for good measure. Hand, meet pizza, meet face. I have a feeling you three are going to get along just fine. Just a few tips and suggestions: Leaner meat is your friend. Think boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and not dark meat. I tried this dish with other meats and the fat coagulated under the crust, making this a less pleasant dish. The cheese adds enough fat (even low fat mozzarella) that you want lean protein. Make sure to mince cooked, lean chicken prior to processing with the cheese. I use my Ninja, but a food processor or an amazing blender, or a sharp knife can do the same thing. Don’t over-process. You just want a fine shred, not pate. You will use a processor twice for this recipe: Once to process the chicken into fine shreds, and again to incorporate the cheese into the blend. If you are dairy free, try using an egg and 1/4 cup flax seed meal (adjust as needed) instead of cheese as binding agents. If you are vegetarian, you could replace chicken with a non-meat protein. Parchment paper is your friend. If you grease your pan, you can use butter, but the parchment just makes nonstick so much nicer. This crust is gluten free and Atkins induction friendly. Ready for the magic? Easy Crispy Pizza Crust 1 packed cup cooked, minced chicken breast 1 cup packed mozzarella, shredded 1 Tbsp parsley, dried 1 tsp basil 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Process chicken and cheese together. Mixture will resemble a meal/thick, dense crumb consistency. 3. Press chicken/cheese mixture on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. 4. Top with parsley, basil, onion and garlic powder. 5. Bake for 12 minutes. 6. Let cool for five minutes. 7. Top with sauce, cheese, and then toppings. 8. Bake for 6-8 minutes more, or until toppings are melted. 9. Let cool for five minutes. 10. Slice and serve. Makes an entire 12-14″ pizza. Nutritional information per 1/8 of pizza, prepared with pepperoni and added cheese and no-sugar pizza sauce: Calories: 180 , Carbohydrates: 1.8 g , Fiber: .2 g, Net Carbohydrates: 1.6 g , Protein: 17.3 g, Fat: 11 g. Nutritional information per 1/8 of pizza crust only: Calories: 96.9, Carbohydrates: .5 g , Fiber: 0 g, Net Carbohydrates: .5 g , Protein: 11.9 g, Fat: 5g. |
As someone who's all too familiar with the hoops Republicans will jump through to avoid doing anything about climate change, it's not like I thought Catholic GOP leaders would suddenly have a change of heart once the pope got involved. Still, devout Catholic Rick Santorum may have overplayed his hand this week when he revealed that there's a limit to how much he'll actually allow his faith to guide his politics. A big, Koch brother-shaped limit, it appears. Advertisement: Despite being a self-professed "huge fan" of Pope Francis, Santorum argued during an interview Monday that the Holy Father is way out of his depth on the climate change issue. "The church has gotten it wrong a few times on science," he said, "and I think that we probably are better off leaving science to the scientists.” (Side note: I'm a "huge fan" of Bob Dylan but think he's gotten it wrong a few times. That's how this works, right?) Instead, Santorum continued, the church should focus on “what we’re really good at, which is theology and morality.” (I have a few questions about that one, too.) What's gotten Santorum so worked up is Pope Francis' increasing outspokenness on the issue of global warming, which will culminate, two weeks from now, with the hotly anticipated release of his encyclical letter on environmental issues, subtitled, "On the care of the common home." Early indications have it that said care will involve not poisoning the atmosphere with the burning of limitless amounts of fossil fuels, as well as paying attention to the people who are going to be disproportionately impacted by the consequences of our greenhouse gas-emitting ways. Santorum, it goes without saying, has the science on climate change wrong. And I'm no expert, but I'm starting to suspect that he's doing Catholicism wrong, too. But because my entire experience of the Roman Catholic Church boils down to a day trip to the Vatican and that one time I had to read the New Testament for a class assignment at Wesleyan, I called up Charles Reid Jr., an expert on Catholicism and canon law at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota who blogs at the Huffington Post, to discuss the pope's upcoming encyclical and the chilly reception he's receiving from GOP Catholics. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity. Could you start by just quickly explaining what an encyclical is, and how influential it is for Catholics? An encyclical is one of the highest forms of papal teaching. In fact, generally speaking, it is the highest form of papal teaching. It is solemn, it is expected that Catholics should take it very seriously: They’re obliged to read it carefully, and to follow it. So, this is a serious document, it’s expected that this will carry a lot of persuasive value with Catholics. Advertisement: I guess the question when we’re talking about American Catholics, especially in politics, is: Is it more persuasive than the Koch brothers, or than industry money? I tend to suspect that American Republican Catholics ... I’ll call them cafeteria Catholics, they’ll take seriously what they want to take seriously. You read the gospels, you read the teachings of the popes, there’s nothing more serious that they say than a concern for poverty, a concern for the poor. This comes up over and over again in the gospels, it comes up over and over again in papal teachings -- Pope Francis is not new. But we see especially men like Rick Santorum just routinely ignore all this. So I think yes, the Koch brothers are more powerful than papal teaching. And I think we’ll see the same with the environment, especially with a guy like Rick Santorum, or a couple of the others -- Marco Rubio comes to mind. Rick Santorum tried to make an argument that the pope should be focusing on morals -- which from my interpretation, from what the pope has said so far, is what he’s doing. Am I wrong? Advertisement: Exactly, the pope is focusing on morals, but not the morals that Rick Santorum wants. Rick Santorum wants the pope to be a culture warrior in the American political scene. The pope’s not going to play that game. And, this has Santorum very upset, clearly. It’s a linchpin of his campaign. So, can we talk about some practical outcomes that can result from the pope releasing the encyclical and speaking out about these issues --maybe not policy-wise, but what might you expect to see in two weeks when this is released? I think what we will see is something remarkable. I don’t think there’s any question that the pope is a figure of great global moral authority. The only other person who comes to mind is the Dalai Lama. The pope has the attention of the world like very few religious leaders ever have. I think he’ll be able to use that, because what the papacy has, what the Vatican has, is a diplomatic court. They have ambassadors, they have diplomats, and a very fine diplomatic training program, and what I expect to see in the next six to nine months is an effort on the part of the Vatican to press the case for climate change, global warming, to addressing these issues in the international arena. I suspect that this will lead up to the negotiations over the new climate change treaty. The biggest practical impact may come in the world of international politics, and that impact could be large. Advertisement: Some critics are pointing out that the pope is not usually aligned with the United Nations on other topics, like abortion and reproductive rights -- is it strange at all to you that he’s tying everything so closely to the U.N.'s climate negotiations in this case? Well, the papacy has historically had some quarrels over issues -- particularly about abortion -- at the United Nations. But even putting that to one side, the Vatican has always had a seat at the Untied Nations; they have what is known as a Permanent Observer Mission, which means they’re not a member state of the United Nations, but they’ve been granted observer status. They’ve always had an ambassador to the United Nations -- a Nuncio, it’s called -- and so they’ve always had representation at the United Nations, and historically they’ve played a very large role behind the scenes, in many negotiations. We’ve seen this most recently with Cuba. Now this may also be upsetting with the right wing, isn’t it? Because with the American right wing, you do see this great suspicion of international organization. I mean, it’s really astonishing. And I think there’s a fearfulness that Pope Francis might actually get things done at the United Nations level, and this is scary to the right wing. Advertisement: I know going back, there’s obviously a strong biblical basis for environmental stewardship, and other popes have taken action about this, but talking about climate change is a more controversial subject, and so too is the matter of how to address climate change. I’d say, for American Republicans, a big concern is just the economic impact of moving away from fossil fuels -- and the pope has been pretty outspoken about thinking there should be some sort of redistribution of wealth to deal with these problems. How radical do you see this as being? Pope Benedict addressed climate change, though never in an encyclical. I mean this is not … it’s a development, it’s a furtherance, it’s a growth of papal teaching, but it’s not a break with what other popes have done. Pope Benedict XVI was saying similar things, but in a typically more soft-spoken manner. So, Pope Francis is stating these things more emphatically, but it’s not a radical departure. Now, again, the problem with American politics -- and particularly right-wing politics -- comes down, again, to the right-wing paranoia. You have right-wing paranoia on the question of science. You have a whole part of the Republican Party committed to literal seven-day creationism. That is, by its nature, a commitment to a kind of conspiracy theory, because it says that all science, all biological science, is actually a vast conspiracy. I mean, you read some of their literature, they say this. And Republicans, even Republicans who know better, have to keep this crowd happy.” And so, this creates a deep suspicion of science generally, and this is manifesting itself again in the area of climate change. And again you see this clearly in what Rick Santorum said the other day: that you should stick to the science, and he says that the science is not yet established. Of course, we all know that’s absurd. But, so, this has a large political potential, in the fact that it is challenging these deeply held alliances in the American political right wing. Advertisement: From the outside, I don’t normally think of Christianity as being associated with close allegiance to science -- like, as you bring up, with creationism. How much authority does the Pope actually carry in legitimizing scientific knowledge? Here’s the thing about the Catholic Church: the Catholic Church has not, for a long time, held to a creationist view of the world. You can go back to Pius XII, and you can find endorsements of evolution. You can go back fifty, sixty, seventy years and find endorsements of evolutionary theory But in politics, in domestic politics, you have this whole right wing that is creationist. And I think this will be deeply unsettling. Because while other popes have always held to an evolutionary view, Pope Francis says this more emphatically. With Pope Francis, it’s a matter of style, it’s a matter of forcefulness. He’s a forceful, compelling public personality. Pope Benedict said some of these things too! He said a lot of these things. But he’s this typical German college professor, and he will say these things, he’ll get lost in translation, and no one pays him any attention. But Francis compels attention. A lot of this comes down to this great personality difference. I want to ask about something else Rick Santorum said: “When we get involved with controversial and scientific theories, I think the Church is not as forceful and not as credible.” Has that been the case, historically? Advertisement: First off, the science of global climate change is not controversial -- Not arguing with you on that one – but it is controversial within American politics. The physicist who first proposed the big-bang theory was a Jesuit priest, Father George Lemaître, who was a Belgian writing back in the 1920s. You had a strong commitment to science for a long time within the Catholic Church, and you’ve had priests, theologians, be scientists who’ve been in the vanguard of this. So it’s long deeply well established that the Catholic Church is comfortable with science. What we’re seeing on the American right wing, I think, is a kind of bizarre development -- and a very recent development. And, again, I think a lot of it simply comes down to keeping the Republican base happy. You have a Republican base that tends -- and I’ll show my perspective -- I see the Republican base as socially isolated. They’re socially conservative, socially isolated, they’re alienated from the mainstream, and they’ve developed over a period of the last 10, 20, 30 years, a kind of conspiracy theory view of the world. And this is rattling their cage, because they like to think of religion as opposed to science. And that’s not the case at all. That’s not the case with the Catholic Church. Again, you can go back to the 1920s. You can find men like Lemaître, very clearly on the scientific cutting edge. But what the pope is doing with this encyclical is he’s driving this point home. He’s not doing something radically new, but he’s driving this point home in a way that you can no longer avoid. Advertisement: And do you think that will have an influence on Catholics in the Republican base? I sure hope so. There was a piece in Politico a few days ago about people who are saying they're Republicans first and Catholics second. I hope we can reverse some of that! Popes don’t sit comfortably within the American political dichotomy of right and left. You have papal teaching on abortion, which would be classified as conservative; you have teaching on poverty, which would be classified as very far to the left. And so you don’t have a comfortable fit with the American political spectrum. But I sure hope that this will cause Catholics to reconsider questions like climate change, and actually move to a more progressive view of issues like climate change. It’s seems like that’s where there’s more power for change, as opposed to hoping to change someone like Santorum’s mind. I hope we can move Catholics to reconsider commitments to, I think, a failed science and a failed set of political beliefs. I hope we can. |
Starlight Celebration (12/01/2016) Event period Event period: Thursday, December 15 from 12:00 a.m. (PST) to Saturday, December 31 at 6:59 a.m. Nab presents held hostage by nefarious goblins! The moogles are all in a tizzy-goblins have filched some of their most prized presents and furnishings! Have mercy on the little fluff balls and wrest them back for the good of Vana'diel! But don't go unprepared-speak to moogles in the following locations to hear all about this most devious of plots. Northern San d'Oria / Bastok Markets / Windurst Waters (north side) * If you find yourself stuck and unable to clinch victory from the jaws of defeat, try speaking to the moogles again-they just might have some hints for you. If that doesn't work, you can also team up with a bunch of friends-the more the merrier, and the more likely you'll be able to nab some gifts! Games for the Willing and Able! During the Starlight Celebration, special minigames will be available for adventurers to enjoy. Clearing this mini game will not only grant the winner a new sitting emote, but also Starlight Celebration-themed items, synthesis ingredients for the Orchestrion furnishing, as well as sheet music key items! Southern San d'Oria (Spot the Difference) / Port Bastok (Chocobo Treasure Chests) / Windurst Woods (Job Guessing-Wessing Booth) ?fffd?fffdLeaf Bench Emote Using the Leaf Bench item will grant the bearer a key item that allows him or her to use the leaf bench emote. * Activate the emote with the /sitchair 9 text command. Festive Goods for Sale! The moogles in the following locations will be selling Dream Hats and Snowman Caps, as well as other Starlight Celebration-themed items throughout the event. * Synthesizing an ordinary Snowman Cap together with something snowy will produce a higher quality Frosty Cap. Northern San d'Oria (D-8) Bastok Mines (H-9) / Windurst Waters (north side, G-10) Lend the Moogles a Capable Adventurer's Hand! The moogles are in need of enthusiastic adventurers to help them distribute presents and seasonal greeting cards. Munificent individuals who lend their aid will be rewarded with delightful items and gift tokens. Speak with a festival moogle at one of the locations below to learn the details. ?fffd?fffdBring the gift of starlight to Vana'diel's citizens! Southern San d'Oria (H-9) / Bastok Mines (I-8) / Windurst Waters (north side, F-9) ?fffd?fffdDeliver cards wishing good cheer to adventurers! Northern San d'Oria (J-8) / Bastok Markets (G-8) / Windurst Woods (H-11) Presents in Exchange for Destructive Behavior! To show their appreciation to all adventurers for doing their part to make Vana'diel a better place, the moogles have prepared hordes of presents and scattered them across the locations listed below. The presents have each been sealed within a box...and there's only one way to get them out! Starlight Celebration-themed items and gift tokens await lucky adventurers! West Ronfaure / East Ronfaure / North Gustaberg / South Gustaberg / West Sarutabaruta / East Sarutabaruta Presents in Exchange for Gift Tokens! Present any gift tokens obtained during the Starlight Celebration to a festival moogle posted at one of the locations below, and you will receive seasonal items in exchange. Southern San d'Oria / Northern San d'Oria Bastok Markets / Bastok Mines Windurst Waters (north side) / Windurst Woods The Gift of a Child's Laughter! Throughout the event, smilebringers will be handing out presents to all the children in town from the locations listed below. Make lots of children's dreams come true, and something felicitous might just visit you! Northern San d'Oria / Bastok Mines / Windurst Waters (north side) * A dream cap or dream cap +1 must be equipped to give presents to all the good boys and girls. Dream caps may be purchased from the special stores setup for this event. Master the Art of Turning Frowns Upside Down! For the duration of the Starlight Celebration, the participation fee will be waived for the Smilebringer Boot Camp, and adventurers who prove their grit and gaiety will be presented with unique seasonal items. To learn all the details, simply talk to a friendly neighborhood smile sergeant posted at one of the locations below. The training will be available in three difficulty levels-beginner, intermediate, and advanced-with each offering different rewards. Beginner: East Ronfaure / South Gustaberg / East Sarutabaruta Intermediate: La Theine Plateau / Konschtat Highlands / Tahrongi Canyon Advanced: Batallia Downs / Rolanberry Fields / Sauromugue Champaign |
An expert’s report in the Harvard Public Health Review asserts that the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro could cause a “full-blown public health disaster” because of the Zika virus unless the event is postponed, relocated or canceled. The author of this analysis is Amir Attaran, Associate Professor of Law and Population Health and the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy at the University of Ottawa. His education includes a D.Phil in immunology from the University of Oxford. Interestingly, Attran has been a fighter for for renewed use of DDT in sub-Saharan Africa to combat malaria. His full piece in the Harvard publication makes 5 key points, which are as follows: …First, Rio de Janeiro is more affected by Zika than anyone expected, rendering earlier assumptions of safety obsolete. …. Second, although Zika virus was discovered nearly seventy years ago, the viral strain that recently entered Brazil is clearly new, different, and vastly more dangerous than “old” Zika. … Third, while Brazil’s Zika inevitably will spread globally — given enough time, viruses always do — it helps nobody to speed that up. …Fourth, when (not if) the Games speed up Zika’s spread, the already-urgent job of inventing new technologies to stop it becomes harder. … Fifth, proceeding with the Games violates what the Olympics stand for. The International Olympic Committee writes that “Olympism seeks to create … social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”. But how socially responsible or ethical is it to spread disease? Why the hesitancy to reevaluate the status of the Olympic Games on the part of the organizers, or to arrange for an alternative locations and take other serious precautions related to Zika? Attaran as a theory: This is not to say that potential Olympians may not be making new plans in light of the new data. British track and field star Jessica Ennis-Hill may skip the games. “Jessica very much wants to have more children so we’re taking it very seriously,” [coach Tony] Minichiello told the Daily Mail. “It would be remiss of me not to listen to the athlete when they say: ‘This is a bit of a worry, I’m concerned about this.’ And even those athletes who are going encourage others to do their own research. Growing concerns over the Zika virus threat at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games swimming pool have not fazed Australian gold medal favourite Cameron McEvoy. Known as “The Professor”, physics major McEvoy says it is up to Australia’s Rio Olympians to educate themselves on the virus risk before deciding whether to contest the 2016 Games. Australian golfer Marc Leishman has already withdrawn his availability due to Zika concerns while fellow no-show Adam Scott reckons the risks are not being taken seriously enough. Favourite to win the 100m freestyle gold medal at Rio, McEvoy said there was information out there to settle athletes’ nerves ahead of the 2016 Games – they just had to find it. Bernard Tomic rules himself out of Rio Olympics Australian tennis team Read more “In this day and age with the internet it is really down to the individual on how educated they want to be,” McEvoy said. “Regardless of what any organisation does I still think everyone should have a personal responsibility into what they are getting into. If someone is genuinely worried about it the best thing to do is do your own research.” McEvoy is right: Trusting politically connected bureaucrats to look out for your personal interests is a losing proposition. |
A prototype of Google's own self-driving vehicle is seen during a media preview of Google's current autonomous vehicles in Mountain View, California September 29, 2015. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage DETROIT (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s Google wants to form more partnerships with established automakers and suppliers this year to accelerate its work on self-driving cars, the head of the Google project said on Tuesday. John Krafcik, the newly hired president of the Google self-driving car project, did not mention any automakers by name. However, appearing at a media conference at the Detroit auto show, Krafcik surveyed a room packed with hundreds of auto industry executives and said: “We hope to work with many of you guys.” Google officials have said previously the internet search company does not want to build vehicles, but instead supply the software and mapping to allow a car to safely navigate busy streets and highways. “No one goes this alone,” Krafcik said. “We are going to be partnering more and more and more.” He said he hopes to form more alliances this year. Google has worked with automotive suppliers and contract manufacturers to build a small fleet of prototype self-driving cars - small, light pod-cars that look nothing like the sport utility vehicles and pickups on display at the Detroit show. Google, major global automakers and several auto technology companies such as Delphi Automotive Plc, Continental AG and Mobileye NV are jockeying to define and lead development of vehicles that use machine vision, sophisticated maps and artificial intelligence to take over for error-prone human drivers. Krafcik said he believed partially automating the operation of a car, requiring drivers to take command under certain conditions, can create safety problems, a key point on which Google and most automakers differ. The car “has to shoulder the whole burden,” he said. Most automakers, including General Motors Co, Tesla Motors Inc, Daimler AG, and Nissan Motor Co, are pushing to get cars on the road that allow hands-free driving under certain conditions, but require the driver to take over in more complex situations such as city driving. |
It took more than four decades, an environmental catastrophe, two years of negotiations, an unprecedented cooperative effort between a coalition of private conservation organizations and a state agency, and $50 million to permanently protect what a conservation group official calls an "irreplaceable" piece of native coastal Texas. On Thursday, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, meeting at Houston's Museum of Natural Science, will act on a proposal to accept the donation of the 17,351-acre Powderhorn Ranch in Calhoun County from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund, the three conservation groups that recently purchased it for $37.7 million from a Kentucky-based company that has owned the property since 2005. Almost all - $34.5 million - of the purchase price comes from the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, a $2.5 billion fund created with money BP and Transocean agreed to pay in plea agreements following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and resulting oil spill. The $2.5 billion, overseen by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, is earmarked to fund projects benefiting natural resources of the Gulf Coast. Texas' portion of that fund totals $203.5 million. The purchase of the property, on which the state parks and wildlife agency plans to create a state park and wildlife management area open for public use, comes after a decades-long effort to find a way to protect the tract from looming development. Even 40 years ago, when Texas' population was half its current size and before a booming economy and the development that followed swallowed huge chunks of what remained of the state's native coastal landscape, the Powderhorn Ranch held iconic status among those looking to ensure preservation of meaningfully large pieces of that natural heritage. Stunningly diverse The ranch, bounded on one side by Matagorda Bay and Powderhorn Lake on another, has for decades been one of the largest remaining tracts of intact, almost wholly unaltered, coastal prairie this side of the King and Kenedy ranches in deep South Texas. Used as a cattle ranch by the Denman family who purchased it in the 1930s and sold it in 2000, the Powderhorn holds the stunningly diverse mosaic of habitats that once stretched unbroken along much of the middle coast and supported an equally diverse array of native wildlife that includes whooping cranes, bobwhite quail, white-tailed deer, Rio Grande turkey, waterfowl, songbirds and scores more. "It has been one of those Holy Grails of coastal conservation," Carter Smith, executive director of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said of the 27-square-mile tract between Port Lavaca and Port O'Connor. "Every conservation group in the country knew about the Powderhorn and how unique and spectacular it was. We've all been looking at it for more than 30 years, trying to figure a way to preserve it. But none of us could afford to buy it. It's too expensive. "These days, most coastal property of this quality isn't sold by the acre; it's sold by the square foot," he said, referring to the fragmentation of large tracts into small lots on which homes are built. "This certainly is a case of making the most out of a very unfortunate incident all of us wish had never happened," Smith said of using money generated by legal action in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon incident to help purchase the property. "But I think everyone should take pride in the use of these funds for this acquisition." The Powderhorn is the largest land acquisition made using the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund and, those involved said, marks a singularly significant conservation effort because of the size, diversity and increasing rarity of landscapes such as the Powderhorn. "The unspoiled and irreplaceable Powderhorn Ranch is now a significant property for all Texans, and a protected national treasure," Larry Selzer, CEO of The Conservation Fund that generated $10 million in private donations toward the purchase and creation of an $8 million endowment to fund the operation and management of a place he called "a critical coastal landscape of epic size and scale (now preserved) for generations to come." Complex collaboration Purchase of the property involved complex and innovative collaboration between all parties, participants said. Under the deal, which will total about $50 million, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will transfer $34.5 million over the next three years to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. The TPW Foundation, a nonprofit group that raises private money to fund Texas Parks and Wildlife Department projects, will use some of that money to repay The Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund the $10 million each of the nonprofit groups provided toward the purchase. Counting the $34.5 million from the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation has raised $43 million of the project's expected $50 million price tag. The Foundation will work to generate the remaining money through private donations and grants. The Nature Conservancy will provide habitat management efforts on the property for the coming two years, working with TPWD staff. "We'd have never gotten this deal done without this incredible public/private partnership," Smith said, noting that use of public funds for the purchase of large tracts of land for conservation purposes is increasingly difficult because of tight budgets. The Powderhorn Ranch has "spectacular" value to wildlife and fisheries. Most of the land is prairie/savanna carpeted with native grasses such as bluestem and punctuated with thousands of mima/pimple mounds, slightly elevated areas most of which hold motts of coastal live oak. Scores of temporary and permanent freshwater wetlands sit in the prairie swales. Thick stands of large, wind-sculpted live oaks sit on ridges along the bayshore and inland. The tract has 5.5 miles of frontage on Matagorda Bay, almost 6 miles of shoreline on Powderhorn Lake and is veined by several bayous. Thriving wildlife That landscape is home to thriving resident populations of wildlife, including bobwhite quail, a ground-nesting species that has seen dramatic decline in numbers because of loss of grassland habitat. The wetlands attract swarms of waterfowl that winter on the Texas coast and support shorebirds and wading birds. The oak motts provide crucial habitat for migrating songbirds. The brackish water and salt marsh along the edges of the tidally influenced waters provide necessary estuarine habitat for coastal marine species, including shrimp, redfish and blue crabs. Those crabs are the main food source for wintering whooping cranes that, over the past several years, have expanded their territories from the nearby Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and often forage on the property. That abundance of wildlife and natural areas offers great potential to provide high-quality, low-impact outdoor recreation for Texans, Smith said. Probable public uses include kayaking, fishing, hiking, birding and public hunting. "Its a magical place," Smith said of the Powderhorn. "And now it'll stay that way for generations of Texans." |
Buy Photo Schlotzsky's is returning to Sioux Falls (Photo: Argus Leader file photo)Buy Photo LAS VEGAS — Schlotzsky’s is coming back to Sioux Falls and bringing Cinnabon with it. The Atlanta-based sandwich chain has franchised the market and is looking for sites, director of real estate Scott Siegrist said. “It’s a vibrant, retail-forward market and a captive audience,” he said. “It’s a great town, and it seems like you eat out quite a bit and that’s what we like.” Scholtzsky’s had a location on West 41st Street but closed several years ago after the company filed for bankruptcy in the mid-2000s. An earlier version of the concept operated in the city in the 1980s. “We had close to 800 stores prior to bankruptcy. We were probably down to a couple hundred, and then we started to growing back, and now we’re up to about 360. I don’t even know if we’re going to close one store this year, so we are 100 percent growth mode,” Siegrist said. The menu includes familiar sandwiches and some new specialty ones, as well as salads, pastas and flatbreads. “I think people like the uniqueness of the sandwich and customer service,” Siegrist said. “It’s the atmosphere and the diversity of the menu.” The restaurant also has added partnerships with Cinnabon, which would be part of the Sioux Falls location. The cinnamon roll restaurant used to have a location in The Empire Mall. The market likely can support at least two locations, Siegrist said, adding that the chain is looking near The Empire Mall and would consider an east-side location but hasn’t finalized anything. “We’re shooting for a late-summer open,” he said. Schlotzsky’s also is planning to expand to Brookings, Fargo and Sioux City. Like Jodi Schwan on Facebook for more news from Las Vegas. CLOSE Video: Schlotzsky's returning to Sioux Falls Take a look at the top 25 fastest growing restaurant chains here. Read or Share this story: http://argusne.ws/1Vhfnlw |
Is Dele Alli better than Alexis Sanchez? Well, the North London Derby happened over the weekend and there were few surprises when Spurs came out on top. Throughout the season they’ve been a more solid, unified outfit. They’ve been full of purpose. Most of all though, they’ve developed. Players have come through. Maybe none more than Dele Alli, who got himself on the scoresheet. Alexis Sanchez, probably the most famous player on the pitch, did not. The marked difference between the two players in this one match, as well as the second half of the season in general seems to pose an interesting question. Is Dele Alli better than Alexis Sanchez? Is Dele Alli better than Alexis Sanchez? Some will say the comparison is unfair. Alexis Sanchez is a forward anda winger, Alli a scoring midfielder. They do different jobs for their teams. But if we look at which player contributes more to their side. If we look at which delivers in key moments, across a wide spectrum of factors, we start to wonder if the young England midfielder isn’t better than Alexis Sanchez after all. Let’s start by looking at the Chilean. You can’t argue that he isn’t a great player. There’s a reason so many top sides are chasing his signature for next season. At Udinese Sanchez bagged enough goals (20) playing on the wing to earn him a transfer to Barcelona. He played there from 2011 to 2014, in one of the most competitive squads on the planet, and scored 39 goals in 88 games. He won la liga, the Copa del re and the World Club Cup with Barca. At Arsenal different things were asked of him. Without the support of players like Messi, and thanks to the fluctuating form of Giroud, Sanchez has been effectively asked to lead the forward line in a way that never happend at previous clubs. He’s delivered goals too. At time of writing 48 of them in 96 games. But it’s been a torrid time for the Chilean and he seems to be on his way out of the Emirates. I’ve never seen Alexis Sanchez as a pure forward, he was always far more effective coming in from wide positions. He’s simply talented enough to be able to score goals when put in opportunistic positions. Effectively, Wenger had to improvise. In a front 3, Sanchez on the flank, there are few players better, but running on to passes from Ozil we get a different player. Just a very good forward. Thierry Henry called him ‘Arsenal’s best signing of the past 6 years’ when he came. But he also mentioned none of the current Arsenal squad would get on the Spurs side before the derby. Why Dele Alli is better than Alexis Sanchez Look at the force of Tottenham’s title push this season and try and tell me Alli’s development into a fully honed and international class attacker hasn’t proved a key element. I’m not claiming it’s the key element. But looking at the effect the guy has on the team around him, the passion he shows, it’s difficult not to imagine him not making a huge impact on a world level. An impact the like of which Alexis Sanchez was always just a few inches short of doing. There’s a reason Barcelona sold him. Actually there are a few, but the main one has to be he didn’t cut it. He wasn’t seen as in the same level as Neymar or Suarez. Few are. But Dele Alli make more than just a scoring impact. There’s something different about Dele Alli. He’s not just another Joe Cole or Peter Beardsley. He’s not just another Macmanaman. England has a habit of producing these nice guy talents who ultimately peter out. They lack the fire, the thrill that really ignites a match, a team, a contest. Guys like that are the reason we watch football. Gazza had it. You’d watch Gazza and think, this guy is about to try something only a maniac would even consider. And he’d go ahead and try it. And some of the time it would pay off. That’s how you get there. We all remember how hated Cristiano Ronaldo was for his first one and a half odd season at Man Utd. he was trying every trick, demanding the ball every opportunity. And he blew it 8 times out of 10. Then it was 5 times. Now he never does. Alli’s rise has been meteoric. In his first full league, he scored 5 goals and made 3 assists in 18 appearances. Former Spurs player Garth Crooks wrote: “Well, I’ve seen some glorious goals scored in my time watching football matches but I doubt whether I will see a goal scored with such individual flair, and by a 19-year-old, as Dele Alli’s goal at Selhurst Park – it was sheer class” He’s also got a Guinness World Record. For the most nutmegs in 30 seconds. He was able to get 8 in (at the third attempt). If anything might hamper his game its his discipline issue. What’s more he seems unwilling to remove that element from his game. Time will tell if it holds him back. Despite his height, 6 foot 2 inches, Alli is supremely well balanced and more than capable of staying on his feet following a tackle. That, coupled with a burst of pace necessary to get past defenders and solid dribbling have made his transition from CM to CAM very smooth. He’s not the best tackler, but can head pretty well and his passing is on a high level also. A tidy, thoughtful player who can move the ball smartly into space for team mates or move with the ball to progress play. He’s got something else. Something you feel he might be able to bring to the very biggest games. It’s a different kind of determination. He’s a winner. He’s got the magic formula people watch football. And it’s exactly what Alexis Sanchez lacks. To be honest. Alexis Sanchez is most likely the superior player for the moment. But in a season, maybe two, I’d be very surprised if the opposite wasn’t the case. So, is Dele Alli better than Alexis Sanchez? |
Jamie Raskin, right, talks to a supporter who voted for him in Chevy Chase in the Democratic primary for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District seat. (AP/Brian Witte) The day after Jamie Raskin won his intensely competitive primary, a humanist political action committee that backed him sent a proud email blast. “If successful in the general election, Raskin will be the only open nontheist serving in the U.S. Congress,” the email said. The Huffington Post quickly published an article headlined, “Congress Likely To Get Its Only Openly Atheist Member in November.” The only problem? Raskin is Jewish. “One hundred percent Jewish.” “Emphatically Jewish.” A member of the District’s Temple Sinai and a father of three children who had bar and bat mitzvahs, Raskin says he has never told anyone is he an atheist. [‘Jew.’ Why does the word for a person of my religion sound like a slur?] “I’ve never called myself an atheist,” he said. “I’ve never pronounced upon the existence of a divinity before, and nobody has ever asked me.” If asked in the political sphere, he says he wouldn’t answer. Jews who identify strongly with Judaism but do not believe in God are not at all uncommon — Pew surveys have found that just 37 percent of Jews are certain God exists, compared to 63 percent of Americans overall. And Americans who are not religious at all and are not sure what they think about God are extremely numerous, but basically invisible in political life. The confusion in this instance seems to have arisen from the Freethought Equality Fund, the political action committee of the American Humanist Association, which embraced a winning candidat e who has spoken for years about the separation of church and state. Raskin says he gladly accepts the label “humanist” — but clarifies that he views it as a philosophical marker, not a religious one. “Humanist with a small ‘h,'” Raskin said, after the publicity of his supposed atheism. “Like Thomas Jefferson or Michelangelo or John Locke or any of the enlightenment thinkers.” Humanists subscribe to a philosophy that emphasizes the power of human beings and rational thought. Though the term can refer to either non-theistic or God-centered communities, the American Humanist Association leaves the God part out. It defines humanism as “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.” Roy Speckhardt, the executive director of the American Humanist Association, said that Raskin was aware of the organization’s non-theistic definition of humanism when he told the group that he identifies as a humanist. The Freethought Equality Fund contributed the maximum $10,000 to Raskin’s campaign as well as about $10,000 more in independent spending on his behalf, according to PAC coordinator Ron Millar. That’s a small fraction of Raskin’s fundraising total of about $2 million, but a large expenditure for the three-year-old PAC, which has only endorsed four candidates in the country in 2016. [Raskin wins primary in 2016’s most expensive House race] Millar said that the PAC sent questionnaires to candidates it was considering endorsing. The questionnaire asked candidates about their views of humanism but did not directly ask whether they believe in God. Raskin, a three-term state senator, is deeply interested in religion. He quotes from books he has read recently on Mormonism and Anabaptists. He has also been a favorite among non-religious communities such as the American Humanist Association since 2006, when he testified in favor of gay marriage in Maryland. In response to a legislator who said the Bible defined marriage as a union of a man and a woman, Raskin said, “Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn’t put your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.” The week after his primary victory, he said, “I’ve always described myself as a humanist, because I think it’s the greatest philosophical movement in human history. Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, they’re my heroes. … I believe that there are humanists of every religious stripe. … I’ve met lots of Catholics who describe themselves as humanists.” An avowed atheist on the campaign trail would indeed be a new presence in Congress. The Pew Research Center asked the current members of Congress their religion and found that 525 are Protestant (306), Catholic (164), Jewish (28), Mormon (16), Orthodox Christian (5), Buddhist (2), Muslim (2), Hindu (1) or Unitarian Universalist (1). Nine more refused to answer. Just one, Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), described herself as “unaffiliated” but rejected the label “atheist.” Former Congressman Pete Stark openly declared his atheism in 2007, when he had already been in Congress for 24 years. He left office in 2013. Millar pointed out polls indicating more than half of Americans say they would be less likely to vote for a candidate because he or she didn’t believe in God. And with “nones” among the fastest-growing religious segments in America, Millar says, he’d like to see a candidate who represents the non-religious. [The ‘Nones’ are the Democratic party’s biggest faith constituency] “You know it’s in the Constitution, there’s no religious test for elected officials. But of course, unofficially, there is,” Millar said. “You really need someone who’s highly visible, so that people can identify and say, ‘Hey, there’s somebody just like me as a member of Congress.’ ” The day after Raskin’s victory, Millar said, “We’re obviously thrilled. … He’ll be a role model for other candidates who want to go into the electoral arena. For people who don’t talk about it with their families and friends, it will be easier to talk about it.” But it seems humanists will have to wait for that role model. Raskin is a supporter — in his office at American University’s law school a week after his election, he says there’s no better innovation in the whole Constitution than the separation of church and state. But he’s not a fellow traveler. This story has been updated. Want more stories about faith? Follow Acts of Faith on Twitter or sign up for our newsletter. Families mourning two American missionaries killed in Jamaica ‘Muslim piece of trash’: D.C. police investigating possible hate crime outside a Starbucks My religious upbringing shunned secular music. Here’s how I finally found Prince. |
Airbnb in Australia shows the sharing economy has a 'dark side' Updated Australians have embraced the sharing economy with gusto, but there are concerns websites like Airbnb are exacerbating the rental affordability crisis. Key points: There are more than 115,000 Airbnb listings in Australia Locals in Byron Bay and Hobart say Airbnb is increasing rents and reducing supply Airbnb denies contributing to Australia's rental affordability issues Airbnb has rapidly taken off in Australia, with 115,000 listings for rooms or entire homes to be rented. But new figures raise concerns that the site is swallowing up properties once available to locals to rent long-term, as landlords cash in on lucrative nightly rates for tourists. The figures from the University of New South Wales show 60 per cent of Sydney's 20,000 Airbnb listings are for entire homes. The university's Chris Pettit said the figures underlined concerns about cheap, affordable housing being available for locals. "With disruptive technologies there's an upside but there's also a dark side," he told the ABC. "We're having a housing affordability crisis in Australia, and Airbnb and these sort of shared economy technologies can have an adverse impact on our housing affordability, specifically with the rental market." Do you know more about this story? Email investigations@abc.net.au. Professor Pettit has launched a major research project into the impacts of disruptive technology on housing. "If we continue down a path where there is a light touch to regulation around short-term lettings, what we might see is some perverse outcomes and impacts on the long term rental market," Professor Pettit said. Professor Pettit said Airbnb was only one factor in Australia's housing affordability crisis, and any regulations imposed on the site should be balanced. "There are positive benefits to Airbnb. Having more people come into our cities is a good thing. But we need to unpack how we better harness the power of big data and disruptive technologies," he said. Locals can't find a place to rent in Byron Bay Locals in the tourist mecca of Byron Bay say they are being priced out of the rental market. "There's virtually no affordable rental accommodation any more," Paul Spooner from the Byron Community Centre told the ABC. "The property market has pushed rents to insane levels and then on top of that, you have the existence of things like the Airbnb platforms where that has taken so many properties out of the permanent rental market." Data from independent monitoring website Inside Airbnb —set up by New York-based Australian Murray Cox to analyse the impacts of Airbnb on communities — says listings in the Byron Shire have increased by more than 300 in the past year to 1,794. Inside Airbnb says of those listings, 1,204 are for entire homes 582 are for private rooms. Mr Spooner is also a councillor with Byron Shire, and he believes the community is at risk of losing its cultural roots. "If we don't save Byron Bay, then people won't want to come here," he said. "People come to Byron not just for the wonderful beaches and the beautiful rainforest, they come because of the diversity of people who live here." He said it had become increasingly difficult to get a 12-month rental contract. Some long-term residents, like musician and arts therapist Ilona Harker, are resorting to living in their cars. Ms Harker was kicked out of her rental property weeks before the lucrative Christmas holiday period. "Like a lot of properties around here, I'm pretty sure it got Airbnb'd," she told the ABC. "It wasn't just myself. There were another three people living in the house with me who couldn't find anywhere to live before Christmas." She said it was common for people to be kicked out of their homes before peak holiday seasons. "There are lots of stories. I think people are really scared to say anything because they don't want to be blacklisted, or be seen as someone who's going to make trouble," she said. "There's not many houses here and those houses are then taken up and used by Airbnb. Some people rent a house, don't live in it, and then Airbnb it." Cherie Bromley and her daughter Chilli Mamet have also struggled to find a place to live in Ocean Shores, 15 minutes from Byron Bay. "On Gumtree there's about 24 listings for Ocean Shores all up, and that's flat share and house for rent and things like that, and on Airbnb there's over 300," Ms Bromley said. "It means that people are choosing to rent their space, their house, their room, to travellers and visitors, rather than renting them to long-term locals." Airbnb denies problems Airbnb's Brent Thomas told the ABC the majority of properties listed on the website in Australia were single rooms, or the primary residence of someone going away for a holiday. "If you're a baby boomer and your children have left home and you've got an extra floor or an extra couple of rooms, it's a great way for people to make their mortgage payments or pay for a family holiday, pay off a credit card bill, and we're seeing that a lot," he told the ABC. "And also if you're a family like mine and you want to go away and share a whole home while you're away, a great way to make some extra money is by sharing. "I think any mature debate around housing affordability looks at these big macro issues like housing supply, like the tax system and negative gearing and so on." He said data from Inside Airbnb was unreliable. In a statement, Airbnb said its listings in Australia comprised of "an extremely small fraction of the overall and local housing markets". "In NSW, Airbnb listings only comprise 1.4 per cent of overall housing stock," the statement said. "The fact the majority of Airbnb listings in Australia are whole homes doesn't mean much in isolation, when the vast majority of these 'whole home listings' are primary residences of everyday people, listed on Airbnb for just a few nights a year." Topics: housing, homelessness, community-and-society, internet-technology, local-government, australia First posted |
Once boasting approval ratings in the mid-80s, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s popularity has hit a new low just months from his bid for a third term. A new Mainstreet poll commissioned by Postmedia shows Nenshi’s personal popularity has sunk to 56 per cent, while those who disapprove of the 2014 winner of the World Mayor Prize have risen to 41 per cent. And Mainstreet’s monthly tracking poll of the mayor shows the gap between those numbers has narrowed over the past three months. But even with Calgarians heading to the polls in October and a veteran city councillor vying to oust Nenshi from the mayor’s chair, Nenshi remains the easy favourite in the race. Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet Research, said it’s normal for a politician to see their numbers ebb heading into a third term, and Nenshi is no exception. “The third term is the danger zone — that’s when politicians are beginning to reach their potential shelf life,” he said. “But I don’t think he has anything to really worry about in the coming election.” Nenshi’s approval rating has slipped from 65 per cent in January to the latest low-water mark. Over the same period, those who disapprove of the mayor’s performance have grown from 31 per cent in January to this month’s 41 per cent. But Maggi noted that with just seven months until the Oct. 16 civic election, a lean field of challengers, topped by longtime Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, suggests Nenshi has little to fear. Unless a major player makes a late entry into the race. “If someone of stature came into the race, I think he would have a competitive election,” said Maggi, noting that although 31 per cent of those polled said they would vote for Nenshi in the current field, a similar number, 30 per cent, said they’re undecided, while 17 per cent said they would choose someone else. “I definitely think given those numbers there would be room for someone else in the race. But it would need to be a big name.” Related Rounding out Nenshi’s challengers are Chabot with nine per cent support, entrepreneur Shawn Baldwin at six per cent, former aldermanic candidate David Lapp at four per cent and Communist League hopeful Katherine LeRougetel at three per cent. Urban farming crusader Paul Hughes has also recently entered the race. The poll surveyed 831 Calgarians via cellphone and land line March 10 and is considered accurate within 3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. slogan@postmedia.com On Twitter: @ShawnLogan403 |
METRO VANCOUVER - A Burnaby mayoral candidate says if she is voted into office in the Nov. 15 municipal elections she will ban acts that harm public decorum — unsavoury stuff like wedding kisses and hand holding. Sylvia Gung is one of five people running against incumbent mayor Derek Corrigan, but her campaign to establish a “wholesome society” free of behaviour that hints at sex or sexuality is decidedly unique. “People are turning the streets into (their) bedroom,” said Gung in an interview, adding that residents are overdoing their public displays of affection and in turn, spurring acts of violence. Meanwhile, Corrigan is running for re-election on a four-term track record as mayor and a focus on regional planning and advocacy for an environmentally sustainable future. Among his challengers is Helen Hee Soon Chang, a distinguished volunteer with a desire to “make Burnaby inclusive and safe.” Raj Gupta, a realtor and one-time political candidate for the B.C. Conservative Party, promises that if he is elected he will cut property taxes and push for more affordable housing and community services. Fellow candidate Daren Hancott is running on the merits of his experience as a manager and international businessman, and longtime volunteer Allen Hutton is pushing for openness and accountability in government as well as fiscal responsibility. In addition to ridding Burnaby of public displays of affection, Gung says she will ban election campaigns, get rid of the school board and freeze taxes indefinitely. For the full list of Burnaby candidate profiles, click here. mrobinson@vancouversun.com Click here to report a typo or visit vancouversun.com/typo. Watch the famous Vancouver riot kiss video below |
Julian Langer / Deep Green Resistance UK As a radical environmentalist group defending the living world, Deep Green Resistance UK (DGR-UK) advocates that activists consider any and all means available in our fight. This includes institutional means such as voting. While it is questionable that either Brexit option will significantly impact this culture’s relentless assault on the living world, or its treatment of other cultures, DGR-UK asks that you consider the following aspects. The EU’s main “mission” is the formation of a centralised superstate, the modern manifestation of the empires throughout history. Who benefits the most from this superstate? The multinationals of neoliberal globalization, the industries and corporations destroying and polluting the living world. While being part of this “community” provides individualistic benefits for British people, these don’t justify our remaining part of this abhorrent institution. Rentier monopoly corporations and tax dodging elites freely flourish within the political body of the EU. And though Boris Johnson’s Third Reich comments were completely moronic, EU nations such as Hungary, France and Austria are seeing significant rises in their right-wing and ultra-nationalist parties. Being part of this “community” does not present the progressive prospects argued by many in the “remain” camp. Greece gives a clear picture of the problematic future we should expect if the TTIP era of politics and economics continues unchecked. Anyone from a broadly left-wing anti-capitalist position will oppose such developments. Remaining in the EU would mandate our inclusion in this “partnership,” whose sole purpose is to make it easier for American and European businesses to conduct the practices we as activists resist. Do we really want to be included in this undemocratic and tyrannical trade agreement? The EU is little more than a new form of colonialism. This is apparent in activities such as the “Pan-African initiative”, which continues a long history of violence and abuse in the continent. These Eurafrican policies put African people in extremely vulnerable positions of racial stratification and violence, directly rooted in Europe’s posturing. The resulting corruption has a huge impact on the lives of Africans and on the lives of African wildlife. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Africa’s poaching crisis, with its links to the ivory trade and cartels colluding with corrupt African officials. Do we want to be part of and support a political body which is worsening the situation in Africa? Corruption, sustained by Eurafrican political arrangements and neoliberal globalization, is worsening poverty and decimating species central to African bioregions. Consider this as you cast your vote. Finally, consider the environmental effects of a Brexit. Deals that the EU are involved with, such as the Paris Climate Deal are completely worthless, with just promises, no action. With the world in a “now or never” situation, can we really afford promises without actions? Will promises halt global warming? Will promises protect the habitats and species at risk from climate change? Clearly, they wont. We are likely to see the same responses to environmental issues within the EU in the future: promises, with no action. Brexit would enable the UK to set stricter environmental legislation, improving UK ecology, which needs to be at the forefront of all political decisions. We need to act in the best interest of the flora and fauna with whom we share these islands. We are not hopeful that if we leave the EU, the Tories or Labour Party will take needed action, but we question remaining part of a political body which restricts the very possibility. Neither a remain nor a leave decision will have a drastic impact on any of these issues: the establishment at any level won’t allow changes which undermine the status quo of this culture. But in our work as activists, we need to do all we can to support the living world, including voting for incremental improvements. To remain in the EU has obvious benefits for British people, but are these reasons of capitalist-ideological-individualism good enough? Regardless of whether you vote in this referendum, DGR-UK ask you to consider what it really means to be part of the EU. |
Everyone should be familiar with the cosmological argument for God which is modernly referred to as the fine-tuning argument. Less people are familiar with the ontological argument which came sooner. Some argue it’s because the ontological argument is more difficult to understand, but actually it’s more difficult to swallow. In the 11th century a man named Anselm came up with an idea. If you define God as a perfect being that must exist, and you can imagine that he does in some possible imaginary world, then by definition, he must exist in all possible imaginary worlds, and therefore, must exist in the real one too. Seriously, this is the argument. Can definitions of words be arranged to make logical arguments? If you defined the perfect island as a place where you can both swim and ski, does that mean any island that doesn’t have those attributes isn’t perfect? If you also define this island as something that must exist because it’s “maximumly” perfect, and not existing wouldn’t be maximumly perfect, would that make it exist? Since the ontological argument came about it’s been, not surprisingly, debunked many times. So why are we even talking about it? Who today would be shameless enough to still be promoting such nonsense? Not surprisingly, there are still people who are. Because of this, there are still people who continue to debunk it. This has been a tradition that’s been going on for centuries, so why stop now? At the heart of it, the ontological argument can be summarized in the simplest possible way. If God exists, then God exists. -James Kirk Wall Here are other related videos about, against, and for the ontological argument: ABOUT Crash Course Philosophy AGAINST Emperor Atheist Cosmic Skeptic FOR ReasonableFaithOrg, the official YouTube channel for Dr. William Lane Craig InspiringPhilosophy.org Please like my Facebook page at: Atheist U And my YouTube page at: Atheist U To subscribe to this author, type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. This list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-29068020-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); |
Cerebral malaria is the most severe pathology caused by the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The pathogenic mechanisms leading to cerebral malaria are still poorly defined as studies have been hampered by limited accessibility to human tissues. Nevertheless, histopathology of post-mortem human tissues and mouse models of cerebral malaria have indicated involvement of the blood-brain barrier in cerebral malaria. In contrast to viruses and bacteria, malaria parasites do not infiltrate and infect the brain parenchyma. Instead, rupture of the blood-brain barrier occurs and may lead to hemorrhages resulting in neurological alterations. Here, we review the most recent findings from human studies and mouse models on the interactions of malaria parasites and the blood-brain barrier, shedding light on the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria, which may provide directions for possible interventions. |
Darlington Nagbe is a creative force. On the dribble. Through traffic. Tip-toeing down the sidelines. Quick one-touch passes. Lofted through-balls. Anywhere on the field, at any moment, Nagbe can spark an attack forward and create an opportunity for his teammates. He is the kind of dynamic player that the U.S. men’s national team has been missing. Article continues below ... And yet, despite Nagbe’s proven quality and creativity for both club and country, coach Jurgen Klinsmann has been reluctant to rely on the midfielder and give him a prominent role with the U.S. Nagbe, 25, has started exactly zero times for the USMNT, but it’s difficult to argue he hasn’t earned the chance. In his limited playing time with the national team — nine second-half substitutions — he has developed a track record of being a reliable distributor who changes games and drives the American midfield. Meanwhile, the rest of the USMNT midfield has looked relatively static and stale for much of the tournament. While the individual efforts of forwards like Bobby Wood and veteran Clint Dempsey have helped, the movement has been lacking. Even when the Americans have won games or stayed within striking distance with possession in the final third, the midfield still created relatively few chances and were short on creativity. It’s easy to imagine what a USMNT midfield with Nagbe would look like, though. Given more minutes in pre-Copa America friendlies, Nagbe made a tangible impact for the Americans and proved his value. Against Ecuador, Nagbe came on in the 46th minute as a central midfielder, allowing midfielder Michael Bradley to sit deeper and defend more. In his 44 minutes, Nagbe was the engine of the attack, completing all 33 of his passes and scoring his first international goal. He followed that up against Bolivia in the USMNT’s final pre-Copa America match where, in a wide role, he earned a give-and-go assist and made six recoveries in 27 minutes. It almost doesn’t matter who Nagbe would replace in the USMNT midfield because he adds much-needed dynamism wherever he goes. But Nagbe, as Portland Timbers coach Caleb Porter knows better than perhaps anyone, is at his most menacing in the middle of the pitch. Last year, a formation change that moved Nagbe from the wing into the central midfield was widely credited with pushing the Timbers toward their first MLS Cup win. In a central role, Nagbe can pull the strings, propel his team forward and give everyone around him more looks on goal. "You almost have to watch his games five times to really see the subtle things he does that are world-class," Porter said after he made the formation change last year. "I’m not shy saying that he does things that are world-class. "He’s not waiting for things to happen — he’s making them happen, and that’s what makes him scary." Just as Porter figured out that it was worth changing his formation to get Nagbe in the center of the pitch, it might behoove Klinsmann to find a way to get Nagbe somewhere centrally as well. That could mean anointing Nagbe the USA’s new "No. 10." It’s a role that seems to fit Nagbe’s skill set to a tee. While he is an adept passer and excellent at finding seams to distribute the ball, Nagbe is also capable of taking the ball himself and dribbling through defenders. He makes things happen and, in a No. 10 role, he has the space to make the most happen. When the U.S. has relied on a dedicated No. 10-type of playmaker — a player whose main responsibility is to act as maestro in the central midfield and create scoring opportunities — Klinsmann has turned to Bradley, almost by default. It was the role Bradley was asked to play in the 2014 World Cup and, while Bradley was perhaps the USMNT’s best option at the time, Klinsmann now has a better option in Liberian-American Nagbe, who became a U.S. citizen in September. Just compare the stats between Nagbe and Bradley in Major League Soccer play. With the Timbers, Nagbe is second overall in the league for passing accuracy at just over 90 percent, according to Opta Sports. Bradley is just below 84 percent with Toronto FC. Stats for passing accuracy in the attacking end of the field paint a starker portrait: Nagbe is first in MLS for passing accuracy in the opponent’s half at 90 percent, and Bradley doesn’t even crack the league’s top 50 at 76 percent. Klinsmann has tried to shoehorn Bradley into an advanced role, but that’s not necessary anymore. With Nagbe in front of him, Bradley can play in his natural deeper-lying position as a more box-to-box midfielder that tracks back and puts in defensive work. Bradley is the type of player who you can tell put in a good shift when he finishes having run more miles than anyone else on the field. The USMNT doesn’t always play with a designated No. 10 playmaker in the midfield and there may be valid personnel and formation reasons as to why. But even then, Klinsmann should find a place for Nagbe, who still brings his unpredictable skillset to wide roles and can spark attacks in the flanks. Nagbe has played both centrally and wide throughout his MLS career, and there’s a reason why he has been the most fouled player in MLS over the past five years. For opposing teams, it’s just the only way to stop him. The prevailing argument against starting Nagbe — or at least the one it seems Klinsmann is leaning on — is that Nagbe doesn’t have experience on the national team level. But of course, every player lacks national team experience until he is given minutes. It’s a problem with a simple solution. At 25 years old, Nagbe is in his prime and the 2018 World Cup in Russia is just two years away. Nagbe doesn’t need to be eased into the national team — he’s ready — and Klinsmann is only wasting Nagbe’s best days. When the USMNT takes the field against Colombia on Saturday, Klinsmann will have his pick for the starting lineup. Without the suspensions, Klinsmann can revert to the lineup he used three times in Copa America already if he wants. But he shouldn’t. It’s time to start Nagbe, beginning on Saturday and through World Cup qualifying. He brings too much to the table to be left on the sideline. MORE FROM FOX SOCCER |
Image caption The Polisario movement, which runs the camp, said the attackers had driven towards Mali. Three European aid workers have been kidnapped from a refugee camp in western Algeria. Two Spanish workers and an Italian were seized overnight from the Rabuni camp near Tindouf, their foreign ministries confirmed. The camp houses Sahrawi refugees from Western Sahara. The Polisario movement, which is seeking independence for Western Sahara and runs the camp, blamed local al-Qaeda militants for the kidnappings. In a statement, the Algeria-based group said the armed attackers had arrived at the camp in four-wheel drive vehicles and left in the direction of neighbouring Mali "from where they came". The Algerian government condemned the kidnapping, but said it was awaiting more detailed reports before commenting further. "We condemn this criminal act with the greatest vigour," Foreign Ministry spokesman Amar Belani said in a statement to the AFP news agency. Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco in 1975 and the Polisario Front has campaigned for its independence since then. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) sprang from an Algerian Muslim extremist movement, and has become a problem for many countries across north Africa. It targets Western interests, but has so far not been known to target camps for Western Sahara refugees. |
TouchArcade Rating: Looking for a fun and lengthy dual-stick shooter without paying fun and lengthy dual-stick shooter prices? Well then I have good news for you, as Radiangames’ Inferno 2 ($1.99) is currently on sale for the low, low price of $0.99. The game offers a fantastic dollars-per-hour-played value, as it has 80 levels of dual-stick shooting to enjoy, with secret things to discover in the levels and plenty of upgrades to buy. Oh, and the game supports MFi gamepads. Check out our review for more details on the game. Oh, and speaking of value, Inferno 2 got a New Game+ mode in the 1.1 update, so once you beat the game, you can start all over again with some upgrades already earned, but at a harder difficulty level. More value for the money! Radiangames knows their dual-stick shooters as they have made a ton of them, even a Metroidvania dual-stick shooter in Powerpuff Girls: Defenders of Townsville ($3.99), so you have to check this out if you’re a fan. |
Typhoon death toll continues to rise as 23 more bodies recovered MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-three more bodies were recovered yesterday as the death toll from Typhoon Yolanda rose to 5,959. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said 27,022 people were injured while 1,779 remain missing. NDRRMC executive director Eduardo del Rosario said while the number of fatalities was increasing daily, the number of affected families declined to 2,581,677 or 12,191,201 individuals as of yesterday. The displaced families are now staying in 386 evacuation centers set up by the government and non-government organizations involved in humanitarian operations in the Visayas region. Damage to infrastructure and agriculture in parts of Mindanao, Central, Eastern, Western Visayas, parts of Bicol and Southern Tagalog, has been placed at P35.5 billion. Yolanda also destroyed or damaged 1,192,091 houses from these areas, the NDRRMC said. Cost of government and non-government assistance to typhoon survivors has gone up to P1.06 billion from P1.04 billion the other day. The NDRRMC said the Department of Social Welfare and Development is ending its food distribution operations to evacuees this month. Government help for evacuees next year would be in the form of food-for-work program, a scheme that would give jobs to displaced residents in devastated communities. |
When is ice cream not ice cream? When it’s a “frozen dairy dessert.” Recently, Breyers made changes to some of their ice cream flavors. These changes were drastic enough that the products are still tasty, but can no longer legally be called “ice cream.” Do most consumers know the difference, or even care? We don’t know yet, but observant Consumerist tipsters noticed the label change, and they noticed the growing list of unfamiliar ingredients in a familiar food. Not all flavors of Breyers ice cream have ceased to be ice cream. Mint chocolate chip, for example, is still an ice cream. Butter pecan is a frozen dairy dessert. What’s the difference? Well, Breyers wants us to know that they both contain milk, cream, and sugar. And a lot of other stuff. From their Frequently Asked Questions: Frozen Dairy Dessert products are made with many of the same high-quality ingredients that are commonly found in Ice Cream – like fresh milk, cream and sugar – and offer a great taste and even smoother texture. These products do not fall within the current FDA definition of standardized Ice Cream, so we call them Frozen Dairy Dessert. In a national side-by-side taste test, our fans tell us they like the new recipe just as much as the original. We’re confident these new products deliver the great taste Ice Cream fans expect but with any product change it’s always possible that you may notice a difference. Helen sent us some photos of a carton of peach flavored ice cream she bought recently, enclosing this note: From what I see on their Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere online, people are horrified, as I am!! This is one of the most egregious cases of trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes I have ever seen. Even though a few of Breyers’ flavors are still “ice cream,” I will not be buying it again. At least now I know to read ice cream labels carefully at the grocery store. Carol has been eating Breyers ice cream for longer than most of our readers have been alive. She’s also quite annoyed at the change. I have every reason to love Breyers Butter Almond. I’ve been buying it ever since I was a kid in the 40’s when it was scooped right out of the freezer case. I am a stockholder of Unilever. I understand why Breyers reduced their package size; it was either that, or raise the price beyond what consumers wanted to pay. But this is too much. I will not buy a Breyers that is no longer “ice cream.” |
This might come a bit late, but my Secret Santa, if you're reading this, no, I have not forgotten you and here i am, finally getting down to post your gift! The package came in an nondescript white envelope. You actually left out some information in the address, so I was glad that the mailman still managed to get it to me. There was no return address - so a big PHEWWW there! Included was a book - Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. Frankly, I have not heard of the author or the book (should I be ashamed?), but I will make it a point to read it. My SS has included a one-liner for a message in the book (I've taken a picture of it!), but you should have indicated who you were! ;) Well, I guess it's called SECRET Santa for a reason! Ha! Next, I fished out 2 bottle-cap button/badges. That's quite a mouthful! Upon closer inspection, it seemed like glue has been poured on the back, and then a safety pin was attached to it before it sets. Hmm.. Did my Secret Santa make that him/herself? I'm appreciative nonetheless. Then we have the "Bushmill Irish Whiskey" branded tie. Interestingly, I'm Secret Santa to a Irish redditor. Small world indeed. I'm assuming you included that in because I mentioned in my profile that I am searching for a job? I must say I'll find it hard to match the design with my clothes, but until the occasion arises when I manage to do so, rest assured it will definitely be put up somewhere as a reminder of my first-ever, successful Arbitrary Day! Thanks for the gifts! The anticipation and excitement - it was all great fun! Can't wait for the next one already. Hope you enjoyed yours too, my Secret Santa! |
Jul 12, 2016 at 11:45 // Blog George Gor Author I, George Gor, want to tell you the story, of how and why the CoinIdol news outlet was created. You need to know something about me to understand the story in the whole. Most of you, who live and work in crypto world, know me Editor-in-Chief at CoinTelegraph.com. That’s true, but that’s not all. My life is deeply interconnected with the CoinTelegraph founders from 2014, when I was consulting with its founders and CEO about how to make a mass-media business in March-April 2014. Since soon after the birth of the CoinTelegraph project I’ve been coaching the first staff members. I returned to CoinTelegraph a year later in 2015 when I was organising the structure of international departments at CoinTelegraph. At that time I employed and coached team members from 22 countries around the world, including the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Spain, China, Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands, France, Italy, India, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Slovenia, Poland, Finland, Egypt, Algeria, Czech Republic, Romania, and Portugal. That was an advertising step to give CoinTelegraph a reputation of a truly worldwide mass-media outlet. That’s how CoinTelegraph got articles in 18 languages of the world. But as soon as the world reputation was established, the international department was closed, because 80% of the audience still belonged to the English speaking world. Business follows profit at first. In that moment I was finally persuaded to become Editor-in-Chief from the 1st of November 2015. Before that, CoinTelegraph’s CEO Dime had hunted for me to accept this proposal for 9 months. He knew that I have 20 years of experience in media business as a CEO and entrepreneur. He knew that I could become the lifeblood of the project. And I did. I’ve managed to stage a revolution. During that period I formed a new team and hired 18 new correspondents and 3 new editors. It was a big job. I’ve coached every staff member personally 24/7. We have established a new standard of publications, that attracted more readers. The number of visitors on the website was tripled from 3,000 per day to 12,000 per day. My team increased the average quantity of daily articles from 3 per day to 7 per day. And that’s all in just 3 months. It was the golden era of CoinTelegraph. On the 31st of January, I came to understand that I don’t see a future inside CoinTelegraph, because of a different attitude to the job with representatives of founders. I refused a proposal to become the official CEO of CoinTelegraph and quit the project. Why do you need to know that details? CoinTelegraph fell back in its results after I quit. Most of the team members left soon after. Now CoinTelegraph is going its own way. I have many friends in its team. I wish them all the best. But I know how to take the next step in development of the world’s best cryptocurrency media. And I’ve got very good, if not the best team members in the world, who created the golden era at CoinTelegraph under my command. Now we create a new world media CoinIdol, where we will realise all the ideas that change the situation in the world of crypto mass-media. It will be a hard job. It’s not a one day trip. I think it’s months and years, but we will do our best to develop the best mass-media business in the world of crypto. We gather all enthusiasts that say “two” for the money in the list of their priorities in life, but love crypto, the new economy and creation of new brands. Our small Idol will grow into a bigger one. We will be bystanders with our readers in all the most important events in the space of crypto and currencies. We will form and inform the new world of new coins with our Idol -- CoinIdol.com! If you want to be part of our team or a partner of any sort, contact us by e-mail: info@coinidol.com |
Mediocre news for fans of GI Joe! Hasbro is planning to reboot the franchise as part of their goal of creating a Marvel-like shared universe with all of their toy and game properties, according to a profile in the LA Times. Sadly, the company has failed to learn any good lessons from the middling performance of the last two GI Joe films, which took the campy 1980s cartoon and turned it into a boring, modernized generic action flick with heavy helpings of military porn. The solution, according to Hasbro: attempt to modernize it again, this time with a “millennial approach.” “The world has changed, and I think you’re going to see GI Joe changing with it,” said Hasbro exec and person with a name that would fit perfectly in a 1980s British arena rock band Simon Waters. “There’s going to be a much more contemporary approach to the whole franchise, and that will allow us to develop different characters.” What Waters and Hasbro fail to realize is that attempts to modernize GI Joe are what made the first two movies suck in the first place. Nobody wants a contemporary GI Joe that reflects the intricacies of the modern political landscape. We want sailors that talk like Jack Nicholson with emasculating pet parrots talking trash to them, soldiers in garishly colorful costumes who end up just having to punch people in the god damn face because their specializations are so ridiculously specific they have no practical use in 99% of combat situations, hilariously inept, over-the-top villains scheming to take over the world with elaborate plots to control the weather or create giant mutant vegetables, Australian bikers with chainsaws who get high on grape soda and donuts, espionage that involves putting on a plain rubber mask that makes someone look exactly like another character, computers that take up entire rooms with 80 foot screens and the graphics of a Commodore 64, and lots of sweet ninja action and laser gun fights where nobody ever gets injured and everyone parachutes out of their planes, helicopters, and tanks before they explode spectacularly. Embrace the camp, man. It’s not that freaking hard. But Hasbro has other plans: “We hope to create a head snap. It’s a different kind of Joe — one that still resonates with Joe fans but brings in an uninitiated audience and expands the audience internationally and domestically.” Sigh. About Jude Terror A prophecy says that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero will come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events. Scourge of Rich Johnston, maker of puns, and seeker of the Snyder Cut, Jude Terror, sadly, is not the hero comics needs right now... but he's the one the industry deserves. (Last Updated ) Related Posts |
This is a guest post by Chris Grundy, a Berlin-based Bitcoin enthusiast who works at Bitbond. Despite Germany’s recent negative press over the Greek bailout, Berlin remains one of the world’s greatest cities for Bitcoin lovers. Whether it’s the plethora of innovative bitcoin startups springing up all over the city, the widespread adoption of the cryptocurrency along Berlin’s high streets, or the vast amount of investment flooding into the German capital, Berlin’s relationship with Bitcoin will be instrumental in shaping its future. Berlin startups have been enjoying an unprecedented level of investment. Indeed, “Die Welt” reported that Berlin overtook London in terms of Venture Capital Investment in 2014. According to this report, the German capital enjoyed $2.2 billion in investment compared to London’s $1.5 billion, highlighting Berlin’s increasing suitability for promising startups to gain the funding they need to change the face of Bitcoin. Recent political developments in Westminster might further add to Berlin’s appeal, as UK Prime Minister David Cameron “would like to see a ban on certain applications that allow users to send end-to-end encrypted messages to each other over the internet.” With catastrophic regulation potentially imminent in London, and New York’s BitLicence scaring off more and more Bitcoin companies, Berlin has a great opportunity to establish itself as the Bitcoin epicenter. Berlin’s Bitcoin startups cover a wide range of specialities ranging from the use of blockchain to protect creative ownership online, to global P2P lending, to bitcoin mining supercomputers. Companies like ascribe.io, Bitbond, SatoshiPay and Coynoare using bitcoin technology to find game-changing solutions to traditional problems, while BitcoinBrothers and All4btc are improving bitcoins availability and usability on a global scale. Drawing its philosophical roots from Muhammad Yunus’s Grameen Bank, Bitbondenables people from around the world to access business funding through the use of Bitcoin technology. With 800,000 EUR in funding, its P2P lending and investment model cuts out the banks, allowing investors to fund promising businesses on the other side of the globe at no cost. The need for bankless investing and lending is thrown into sharp relief in light of the 2 billion adults lacking access to banks, as recently reported by CNBC. Disintermediation allows access to working capital in the world’s financially underserved region, making lending and borrowing globally accessible. Recently, another Berlin-based startup, ascribe.io, has been garnering a lot of media attention, along with $2 million USD in seed funding from investors like Earlybird, Digital Currency Group and Freelands Ventures. CEO and Co-founder, Bruce Pon, describes ascribe as “a service for creators to protect their ideas and define how they want their ideas to spread.” With this inventive use of blockchain technology, creators can register, transfer and track their valuable digital creations, allowing them to discover where their work is being used. Since the funding round, ascribe has been enjoying a growth rate of 10% per week. Its team of 14 is working toward allowing marketplaces to be built on top of their platform. Also working on innovative blockchain solutions in Berlin are Satoshipay, a micropayment service for publishers, and Coyno, a user-friendly blockchain bookkeeper. Both came through the Axel Springer Plug & Play Accelerator earlier this year. Like ascribe, Satoshipay’s goal is to help monetize content for its creators. Its prototype, which recently won second prize at the Coinbase BitHack, focuses on micropayments that allow content publishers to charge fractions of a cent. Founded by Meinhard Benn in 2014, the Berlin bitcoin startup envisions a world where content creators can monetise their work using nanopayments without scaring away consumers with cumbersome fees or subscriptions. Coyno, on the other hand, aims to overcome the implicit tax reporting and bookkeeping difficulties inherent in bitcoin transactions in personal and professional settings. As co-founder Erasmus Hagen says, Coyno provides “a full and secure SaaS Bitcoin bookkeeping solution. Coyno offers easy-to-use wallet analytics and automatic bookkeeping, which enables private Bitcoin users to stay in control of their Bitcoin holdings.” Bitcoin mining startup BitcoinBrothers, founded in 2013 by the Welle siblings, is building better, faster machines to make bitcoin mining cost-effective again. The Berlin-based startup offers mining services using its MSEM bitcoin mining supercomputers at over 6 petahash per second. BitcoinBrothers represents a fascinating new perspective on the scalability of one of Bitcoin’s most controversial topics. While Greece’s former Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis has condemned Germany for its “absolutely impossible, totally non-viable and toxic” economic plan for Greece, Berlin-based All4BTC is allowing ordinary Greeks a way out of their fiduciary disaster. Specifically, All4BTC is a personal shopping service, that opens up every online store on the internet to bitcoin. For Greeks who are finding it increasingly difficult to gain access to their savings, All4BTC offers an alternative. Backed by the bitcoin incubator BitcoinsBerlin, the young startup has benefitted from the euro’s recent volatility, as an ever-increasing number of people in eastern and southern Europe turn to bitcoin when they find banks inaccessible. Berlin’s attractiveness goes beyond the startup scene, government regulations and investment portfolios however. The Federal Association of Bitcoin, with its headquarters in the German capital, represents and fights for the Bitcoin community and Bitcoin businesses in Germany. Beyond that, Bitcoin businesses’ entrepreneurial spirit is merely an expression of the creative influence of the city. As Jason Fell’s insightful remark makes clear: “Berlin’s 3.5 million residents are creating a bright, new history for their city.” Berlin is itself a startup, and its citizens love bitcoin. The truth of this statement can be tasted in the beers of Room 77, heard in the EpicenterBitcoin podcasts, and seen in the eyes of the Bitcoin Meetupmembers. |
Hey lovelies! I have to say it’s great to be able to post so often ^_^ I’ve been feeling a bit better so I’m using the extra energy to be productive. We all know I bought mongo amounts of products from The Body Shop recently (if you don’t know, check out my haul here). Although I got something on the order of a $188USD discount I still hadn’t reviewed a SINGLE thing! I’ve had my products long enough to try them out well, and I’m going to begin by telling you about the Mango Body Butter! The first purchase of the Mango Body Butter was actually a few months back when I picked up a mini to try out. It smelled so good but I didn’t want to blow $19 on a product if it didn’t work well, or if it broke me out (yep, body acne is the worst!). The mini product went FAST, so when I started my haul I decided it was time to grab the Big Girl size. So first you already know I love the smell, it’s the most amazing scent and MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE BODY SHOP SCENT. It doesn’t smell the same in all versions of the Mango products (the body scrub, the lotion, etc), and to me the body butter is the best smelling of the Mango line. As for other favorite Body Shop product smells, I like limited edition Cranberry, and many of the Strawberry line. Remember folks, I’m biased against flower scents so keep that in mind. To me this is a fantastic product, does a pretty good job of making my skin softer, and after putting it on my skin feels moist which is important in this dry Vermont wintertime. I’m not sure the formula is strong enough to justify buying it over cheaper body butters but for me it is because it doubles as a scent. I’ll literally put it on just to smell good for a few hours, to cheer myself up and enjoy having a lifted mood for a bit. Ingredients: Water, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Glycerin, Cyclomethicone, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Lanolin Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Xanthan Gum, Benzyl Alcohol, Disodium EDTA, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Amyl Cinnamal, Benzyl Benzoate, Limonene, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Citral, Eugenol, Farnesol, Geraniol, Citronellol, Annatto. The Good Smells the best out of any of The Body Shop’s current selection of body butters Doubles as a body scent, especially if you can’t do perfumes. It’s mild but warms the heart just a bit. Does NOT break me out! In fact, I think it helps my acne heal because of the moisture effect. Works as a body butter too, for some reason. The Bad While pretty affordable, in this economy $19USD can be a lot to pay for a body butter. You could do what I did and wait for a sale before loading up. It does work, but it’s not ZUPER FANTAZTIQUE enough to outperform cheaper body butters. Comes in an unhygienic jar. I’m always worried about contaminating it with my gross human hands. Thankfully it uses safe and powerful preservatives otherwise it’d make me break out. Bottom line: I love it. It’s one of my FAVORITE products from The Body Shop BAR NONE. Seriously you guys if you could all smell it you’d be in love with it and want to buy it flowers. Would I recommend it? YES, I’ve even bought it to give as gifts. If the price doesn’t scare you try it out! Have you tried it? If so what do you think? Does it smell good to you? Leave a Reply |
B&H Photo is now listing the LG G5 on its website, available for purchase starting April 1. However, this isn’t an ordinary carrier-specific variant. Instead, this unlocked model, according to the product listing, features LTE bands that would make it compatible with all of the top US carriers, including Verizon. Usually, consumers only see this much carrier compatibility from Nexus or similar devices, so seeing LG embrace this type of functionality, which is known to be extremely beneficial for buyers, is a great thing. As listed on B&H, this G5 features LTE bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17, 20, and 25. To work on Verizon, you need 2, 4, and 13. For AT&T, you need 2, 4, 12, and 17. With that said, this G5 appears to have them all, meaning that buyers, in theory, should easily be able to jump from carrier to carrier, just as long as they already have active SIM cards with whichever carrier they prefer. As for CDMA (CDMA2000) bands, everything needed for US carriers is listed. On Verizon, buyers will need to hope that LG sought certification from Big Red to allow for easy activation. If not, you may come across an issue that usually only affects Nexus buyers. But don’t worry, there’s always work-arounds. If you only intend to use the G5 on one specific carrier, such as Verizon, we suggest purchasing the device directly from Verizon. Pricing of this unlocked model is not yet available, but once it is, we will update you. B&H Photo Link Cheers Eric! |
Because you guys rock, all 2 SHIRT PLEDGE levels and up will get these two 5x7 miniprints for FREE, if we make $13,000 or more in pledges. These 5x7 prints are offset printed on card stock, with a satin-matte finish. We've designed a line of t-shirts based on alternative lives of tragic historic figures whom we love. Instead of dying in doom, we're reinventing their stories. We've made vintage inspired design a hallmark of what we do. With ALTERED EGOS, we've translated some of our favorite figures from history into advertisement designed t-shirts. Rasputin: Instead of being poisoned, stabbed, shot and castrated, what if Rasputin started a hypnosis school for promising villains? Poe: Rather than dying in a delirium in the streets of Baltimore, what if Edgar Allen Poe had created a successful Cryptographic Detective Agency? Tesla: Instead of being betrayed by his rival Edison, what if Nikola Tesla had created the first energy drink, Nikola Cola? Lovecraft: What if H.P. Lovecraft never wrote his C'thulhu mythos, and instead concentrated his efforts as a ghost writer and paranormal investigator? Sure, we love what these guys accomplished, which is why we're creating this line of Altered Egos t-shirts! We're printing on high-quality unisex Next Level Apparel premium fitted S/S crew garments. (WHEW!) They're 100% ring-spun cotton, short-sleeved, and really soft. They fit a tad smaller, like American Apparel, so be aware of that. SIZING CHART: Next Level 3600 Sizing Chart NOTE: The 4XL and 5XL garments will be different shades of our garments, since the Next Level shirts we're using only go to 3XL. UNLOCKED: Add a 12x18 archival print to any shirt pledge for $25 more. (Just specify Telsa, Lovecraft, Poe, or Rasputin.) They will be hand signed by the artist Daniel m. Davis o' Steam Crow. Or add all four for $80. These are printed on 50 year archival paper, and are the same great quality as other Steam Crow prints. (At a special Kickstarter price!) UNLOCKED!: Add a Nikola Cola Bottle by adding $30 to any shirt pledge. Real recycled glass. Decorative prop. Faux antique. 8 inches tall, and completely non-functional for the whole family! (Does not contain any food-stuffs.) Confound your friends! STRETCH GOAL: LOCKED UNTIL $15K All pledges of 3 shirts and up will receive this exclusive Lincolnstein Law Group print for FREE. It measures 12x18, and is printed on 50 year archival film. Signed by the artist, this will be the only way to get this print. A $25 dollar value. UNLOCKED! For every pledge level of 1 shirt or more, you'll receive 1 free sketch on a small goodie bag containing a button, sticker, and/or some other weird thing from the studio. It'll be our choice (hey, we have to draw them) of some odd, weird monster-creature. Here are some examples: This is FREE UPGRADE to all Shirt Pledge Levels! (Now that we made our stretch goal!) UNLOCKED: Because you guys rock, all 2 SHIRT PLEDGES and up will get these two 5x7 miniprints for FREE! These 5x7 prints are offset printed on card stock, with a satin-matte finish. This is happening! Steam Crow is Daniel & Dawna Davis - a husband and wife team based in Phoenix, Arizona, who make friendly, monster-inspired art, prints, books, and other oddities. We design Altered Egos, as well as books, prints, and other strange stuff. Since 2005, we've been traveling across the country selling our wares at Comic Conventions, Book Festivals, and art galleries. We love Halloween, old guitars, and electric ghosts. Your support of this project means that you're helping us pay the bills, and keep making our art-products for you. You're a part of our success! We practically live at comic conventions. It's where we meet new folks. That said, we can only do so many shows a year... which is why we're doing this Kickstarter! Printing Partner Our partner printer for this project is Designed In Ink, a Phoenix Arizona screen-printing company. We've used them on 4 jobs over the last year, and have been happy with their attention to detail, printing quality, and interest in getting our shirts produced in a timely manner. In 2013 we completed a successful Kickstarter for Wall Monsters. We had some troubles receiving a flatstock screenprinting press that we had ordered (dang factory made us lose 4 weeks of production time) but we still managed to deliver right on schedule. We've allowed ourselves plenty of time to deliver your pledges by the end of September. Most important: We're in this for the long-game; we sincerely want you to be happy with what we create. Printing, shipping, and creating this stuff isn't cheap. These are just estimations; in truth, the taxes in particular are a moving target. In any-case, we're just trying to do our best to make sure that we cover everything. Why so much for shipping and packaging? Well, we don't just toss your t-shirt in a mailing bag; we fold it, bag it, and ship it out in a cool, hand-screened box like this: Here at Steam Crow, we don't don't do things the easy way.® SHIPPING OUTSIDE THE USA: Please note that you are responsible for all duties/tariffs/VAT for importing of your goods. We're simply following the law here on our end, and marking the value at your pledge level. Sure, the designs are created, but the hard-work begins once this thing is over (and hopefully successful.) Here's a general timeline of how we see production working. Of course, this is only an estimation, but at least you can see that we're planning ahead - even if a few things go unexpected. Thank you for your support! Follow us on Facebook or Twitter! Spread the word to ensure that we succeed! - - - Recent Testimonials "A hardworking, dedicated, and consistent source of Villainy, Steam Crow has built a rabid legion of followers by offering a unique glimpse at the Monster world that lies beyond the veil. They are truly incredible." - Tavis M. - - - "A family business that puts meticulous thought, love, quality and a touch of spooky fun into their craft. New and old customers are treated with care and never disappointed." - Shannon P. - - - "OK, seriously, everyone there has been courteous any time I've had a question. These people care about what they do and what you think. I like that. You will too." - Linda L. - - - "Steam Crow has got it all: Top notch quality, ingenious creativity, diverse products and amazing customer service. On top of all that, they are an incredibly nice group of folks. You will marvel at how fun they and their offerings are from the website where you place your order all the way through the packaging your item arrives in." - Joseph D. - - - "Steam Crow shirts cover your torso with awesome." - Rebecca H. - - - "Steam Crow provides the best quality products through their unique designs and have outstanding customer service, adding little personal touches to each and every order!" - Jen K. - - - "Amazing and humorous designs and products from a company that really enjoys what they create." - Zach F. - - - "It is always apparent Steam Crow likes to make a personal connection with people through their unique and exceptional art!"- Renee M. - - - "Steam Crow's work has helped bring my father and I even closer together. You have stuff that we both love, enjoy and have shared interest in. It also makes present shopping easier on the both of us for presents for each other. P.S. the monster stuff is grrreat!" - Tiffany K. - - - "In an industry where many expect you to pay for their hobby, Steam Crow is in business for their art." - Josiah H. - - - "Steam Crow always goes an extra ten miles by providing great service, speedy goblin post delivery and unique, handmade packaging!" - Gabe L. - - - "When I ordered my "I lovecraft you" shirt, the personal touches of a hand drawing on the tissue paper as well as the paper and drawstring the shirt was wrapped in AND the buttons, stickers, and other such 'excitement' included in the package really made the whole experience of opening and now owning an awesome shirt 1000% better! It made me know there are real people on the other end that put a great deal of effort and love in this product and not just machines printing out shirts and stuffing them in boxes." - Amanda P. - - - "Steam Crow is the real deal! Top quality, AMAZING, artwork and some of my favorite folks to visit with at every convention!! I'll take one of everything, please!!" - AJ H. - - - "Steam Crow is the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of Halloween. Also, they make good art." - Cassandra P. - - - "Daniel M. Davis is a creative fellow (to say the least) and a class act to booth. Expressed through Steamcrow, his passion for high quality craftsmanship and his gorgeous graphic sensibilities are evident in all he does. You OWE yourself something he's made. Viva Halloween! Viva Steamcrow!" - Jonathan C. - - - "Not sure what to get that friend, coworker or dungeon master? Steam Crow items will always bring a smile and assure that they don't "already have have one of those". Fair prices, thoughtfully packaged, quality items from people that take pride in their craft. They get my highest rating of 2 paws up!" - Jay J. - - - "I've ordered from Steam Crow regularly for the past few years (and even Kickstartered them once). Always a high quality product, made with care, with extra miles gone on the regular. I rotate out a lot of the art in my home but I've never taken down a Steam Crow print or project." - Kevin I. - - - Our project was covered by: |
Last week, the Temple's genius proprietor, Dario Cueto, announced his latest imaginative concept. The Cueto Cup will be a 32 luchador single-elimination tournament. Lucha Underground champion Johnny Mundo will square off against the legendary Rey Mysterio at a later date. Every other luchador on the roster, and perhaps some that haven't debuted yet, is a candidate to participate in the Cueto Cup. Let's take a look at how they stack up. I'm gonna drink Peroni out of the Cueto Cup when I win #LuchaUnderground pic.twitter.com/Rd7wPvpBn2 — Vinnie Massaro (@snoringelbow) June 8, 2017 Missing in Action: Bengala, Daga, El Mariachi Loco, King Cuerno, Pimpinela Escarlata, Super Fly None of these competitors have appeared on screen for season three, but they are known names that can up the excitement level in the ring if spots need to be filled. Aside from El Mariachi Loco, I wouldn't be surprised to see any of them pull out a first round victory. The biggest pop would be a surprise return from King Cuerno. He would be as good a pick as any for a sleeper to win the whole shebang. I believe he had back surgery, but I'm not sure on the timeline or if he will actually be present at any point in season three. In the meantime, soothe your cravings with a match between the chocolate champ and Fenix in AAA. Oh la la. 39. Vinny Massaro 38. Famous B 37. Ricky Mandel 36. Mascarita Sagrada 35. Cortez Castro 34. Veneno 33. Argenis I anticipate 4 matches each week for the duration of the first round. Due to time constraints, that means some luchadores will be getting squashed. These seven are prime candidates for the squash list. Vinny has spent more time in the bathroom than the ring. Famous B is mostly in manager mode, but he did try to take a run at gold in Aztec Warfare 3. Rey Mysterio cut him short with a 423-619. Cortez Castro might be persona non grata in the Temple, but his undercover alter ego, Veneno, could get a match. I don't expect much success for Veneno, unless he faces that stooge Joey Ryan. The opportunity for payback might be enough to fuel his adrenaline meter for first round victory. 32. Kobra Moon 31. Black Lotus 30. Saltador 29. Mala Suerte 28. Paul London 27. Taya Toughness and drugs. The ladies are full of the first, while the Rabbit Tribe are full of the second. In both cases, whopping doses can be a detriment to their own good. 26. Joey Ryan 25. Jack Evans 24. Mariposa 23. PJ Black 22. Aerostar 21. Drago 20. Jeremiah Crane 19. Dr. Wagner Jr. Feel free to shuffle this group in any order. I can see any one of them beating any other on any given day. Jeremiah Crane is intriguing to consider. He won a semi-final match in the Battle of the Bulls Tournament. However, he kind of get roughhoused by Mil Muertes in their match, even though Crane was victorious via Prince Puma shenanigans. Crane has proven skill, but does he have enough skill when facing off against the upper echelon? 18. Ivelisse 17. Angelico 16. El Dragon Azteca Jr. Welcome to the infirmary unit. Each one has the potential to be go far, but they have been hampered by injuries. Ivelisse broke her ankle/foot. Angelico finally made his long awaited return for vengeance on Johnny Mundo, only to have a freak upper body injury that put him back on the shelf. Who knows the status of El Dragon Azteca Jr., who was chokeslammed through the bleachers in a death match against Matanza. While it occurred before the mid-season break in our world, I don't think there was a break in their world. That means Azteca's body was shattered only three weeks ago. 15. Pindar 14. Vibora 13. Marty Martinez A trio of beefers. The upper limit of these three is unknown. Pindar and Vibora have looked impressive in trios matches and powder room skirmishes. They are fresh to the Temple, but don't overlook their experience in destruction dealing. Pindar has been a general in the Snake Tribe army for 1,000 years. Marty was kidnapped by his sister, Mariposa, and may break out of his cocoon more formidable than before. His wings might be stronger to fly higher. If Marty can beat Bowser, he should have no trouble with Pindar and Vibora. 12. Killshot 11. Dante Fox Two peas in a pod. Military trained soldiers. Dante Fox was victorious in their only one-on-one encounter, so he gets the nod over Killshot in the rankings. I'll be keeping an eye on these two for a potential star-making breakout performance. 10. Son of Havoc 9. Fenix 8. Texano 7. Sexy Star I consider this group to be the dark horses with a legit shot at winning. Son of Havoc won the Tournament 4 a Unique Opportunity at Ultima Lucha Dos. Fenix is the first triple crown champ. Texano was the AAA Mega champ for a record reign of 735 days. Sexy Star is a former Lucha Underground champion. They have each shown the necessary grit and resolve that it takes to endure and prosper in a tournament of this nature. 6. Pentagon DARK 5. Mil Muertes 4. Cage 3. Mack 2. Prince Puma 1. Matanza The top 6 are the front runners. While Pentagon DARK's success has yet to match his ego, signs point to it one day being the case. Winning this tournament would be a splendid step on a path to super stardom. I'm curious if Pentagon will still be breaking arms after matches. At some point, Pentagon needs to expand his character and move beyond that shtick. Besides, Dario Cueto might have to put the kibosh on the arm breaking if Pentagon snaps too many so that Cueto is unable fill the card for Ultima Lucha Tres. Mil Muertes is a force to be reckoned with. Matchmaking will be key to his path. If Mil can manage to avoid his nemeses in Fenix and Prince Puma, he should have a steady ride to the finals. One match I really hope we get is Mil vs Cage. That is one hoss fight du jour that has eluded us thus far. The biggest question for this tournament is what effect will the Ultimate Opportunity gauntlet have on Cage. We have already seen him boost in power. However, we have also seen Cage with an unhealthy possessive streak towards the glove. Could that be his downfall before the god-like transition is complete? Despite not defeating Johnny Mundo for the Lucha Underground championship, Mack is on a run. Winning the Battle of the Bulls and coming within one second from being champ should provide Mack with a boost in confidence. He always had swagger. Now he has experience to back it up. Prince Puma is pumping in momentum after beating Mil Muertes in a Boyle Heights street fight, even if he did have timely assistance from Vampiro. But guess what? Vampiro will be at ringside anyway performing his commentary duties. There is nothing preventing him from providing welcome or unwelcome assistance. Matanza is still the toughest to defeat. With Rey Mysterio not partaking in the Cueto Cup, that removes Matanza's biggest threat. Rey has been the only one to pin Matanza for a full three count. Now, I'm not entirely certain Matanza will be in the tournament. I recall rumors of Matanza Goldberging his hand in a bout with El Dragon Azteca Jr. The story of Dario being upset about Matanza bringing shame to the Cueto family might be window dressing while Matanza healed in real life. It will be interesting to see if that was a throwaway line from Dario or it gets developed deeper as the weeks pass. Who do you think will win the Cueto Cup? What are your picks for the final four? Who are you rooting for to win and be in the final four? Who is your sleeper pick? Share any other thoughts you have brewing while your pants are still on. Because much like Johnny Mundo, the Believers will have no time for pants once the Cueto Cup commences. Lucha! Lucha! Lucha! |
The government on Wednesday said there is no report to suggest any connection between the murders of rationalists Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar and MM Kalburgi. “As per available information, there is no report to suggest any linkage/connection between the murders of Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar and MM Kalburgi,” minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju told Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Replying to another question, Rijiju stated that at present, there was no proposal to ban right-wing group Santhan Sanstha. The outfit was in news recently when one of its members was arrested in connection with the murder of Pansare. While the Sanstha admitted that the accused was its member, it denied any role in the murder. Rijiju said that all organisations whose activities hold ramifications for the maintenance of peace and communal harmony in the country are under constant watch of law enforcement agencies and requisite action is taken as is found to be necessary. Pansare, a left-wing politician and author, was shot on February 16, 2015, by assailants in Kolhapur in Maharashtra. He succumbed to his injuries five days later. Dabholkar, a rationalist and author, was killed on August 20, 2013, in Pune. Kannada writer Kalburgi was shot dead on August 30, 2015, in Dharwad district of Karnataka. First Published: Dec 02, 2015 17:30 IST |
Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel ( German: [ˈdiːzl̩]; 18 March 1858 – 29 September 1913) was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the Diesel engine, and for his suspicious death at sea. Diesel was the namesake of the 1942 film Diesel. Contents Early life and education Edit Diesel was born in the house Rue Notre Dame de Nazareth No. 38 in Paris, France in 1858[1] the second of three children of Elise (née Strobel) and Theodor Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris.[2][3] Theodor Diesel, a bookbinder by trade, left his home town of Augsburg, Bavaria, in 1848. He met his wife, a daughter of a Nuremberg merchant, in Paris in 1855 and became a leather goods manufacturer there.[4] Only few weeks after his birth, Diesel was given away to a Vincennes farmer family, where he spent his first nine months. When he was returned to his family, they moved into the flat 49 in the Rue Fontaineau-Roi. At the time, the Diesel family suffered from financial difficulties, thus young Rudolf Diesel had to work in his father's workshop and deliver leather goods to customers using a barrow. He attended a Protestant-French school and soon became interested in social questions and technology.[5] Being a very good student, 12-year-old Diesel received the Société l'Instruction Elémentaire bronze medal and had plans to enter Ecole Primaire Supérieure in 1870.[6] At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War the same year, his family was forced to leave, as were many other Germans. They settled in London, England, where Diesel attended an English school.[7] Before the war's end, however, Diesel's mother sent 12-year-old Rudolf to Augsburg to live with his aunt and uncle, Barbara and Christoph Barnickel, to become fluent in German and to visit the Königliche Kreis-Gewerbeschule (Royal County Vocational College), where his uncle taught mathematics. At the age of 14, Diesel wrote a letter to his parents saying that he wanted to become an engineer. After finishing his basic education at the top of his class in 1873, he enrolled at the newly founded Industrial School of Augsburg. Two years later, he received a merit scholarship from the Royal Bavarian Polytechnic of Munich, which he accepted against the wishes of his parents, who would rather have seen him start to work. Career Edit Disappearance and death Edit On the evening of 29 September 1913, Diesel boarded the GER steamer SS Dresden in Antwerp on his way to a meeting of the Consolidated Diesel Manufacturing company in London, England. He took dinner on board the ship and then retired to his cabin at about 10 p.m., leaving word to be called the next morning at 6:15 a.m.; but he was never seen alive again. In the morning his cabin was empty and his bed had not been slept in, although his nightshirt was neatly laid out and his watch had been left where it could be seen from the bed. His hat and neatly folded overcoat were discovered beneath the afterdeck railing.[11] Ten days later, the crew of the Dutch boat Coertzen came upon the corpse of a man floating in the North Sea near Norway. The body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it was unrecognizable, and they did not bring it aboard. Instead, the crew retrieved personal items (pill case, wallet, I.D. card, pocketknife, eyeglass case) from the clothing of the dead man, and returned the body to the sea. On 13 October, these items were identified by Rudolf's son, Eugen Diesel, as belonging to his father. On 14 October 1913 it was reported that Diesel's body was found at the mouth of the Scheldt by a boatman, but he was forced to throw it overboard because of heavy weather.[12] There are various theories to explain Diesel's death. Certain people, such as his biographer Grosser in 1978,[3] argue that Rudolf Diesel committed suicide. Another line of thought suggests that he was murdered, given his refusal to grant the German forces the exclusive rights to using his invention; indeed, Diesel boarded the SS Dresden with the intent of meeting with representatives of the British Royal Navy to discuss the possibility of powering British submarines by Diesel engine[13] — he never made it ashore. Yet, evidence is limited for all explanations, and his disappearance and death remain unsolved. Shortly after Diesel's disappearance, his wife Martha opened a bag that her husband had given to her just before his ill-fated voyage, with directions that it should not be opened until the following week. She discovered 200,000 German marks in cash (US$1.2 million today) and a number of financial statements indicating that their bank accounts were virtually empty.[14] In a diary Diesel brought with him on the ship, for the date 29 September 1913, a cross was drawn, indicating death.[11] Legacy Edit Rudolf Diesel on a 1958 German postage stamp After Diesel's death, his engine underwent much development and became a very important replacement for the steam piston engine in many applications. Because the Diesel engine required a heavier, more robust construction than a gasoline engine, it saw limited use in aviation. The Diesel engine became widespread in many other applications, however, such as stationary engines, agricultural machines, submarines, ships, and much later, locomotives, trucks, and in modern automobiles. The Diesel engine has the benefit of running more fuel-efficiently than gasoline engines due to much higher compression ratios and longer duration of combustion, which means the temperature rises more slowly, allowing more heat to be converted to mechanical work. Diesel was interested in using coal dust [15] or vegetable oil as fuel, and in fact, his engine was run on peanut oil.[16] Although these fuels were not immediately popular, during 2008 rises in fuel prices, coupled with concerns about oil reserves, have led to the more widespread use of vegetable oil and biodiesel. The primary source of fuel remains what became known as Diesel fuel, an oil by-product derived from the refinement of petroleum, which is safer to store than gasoline (its flash point is approximately 175 degrees Fahrenheit higher[17]) and will not explode. Use of vegetable oils as Diesel engine fuel Edit In a book titled Diesel Engines for Land and Marine Work,[18] Diesel said that "In 1900 a small Diesel engine was exhibited by the Otto company which, on the suggestion of the French Government, was run on arachide [peanut] oil, and operated so well that very few people were aware of the fact. The motor was built for ordinary oils, and without any modification was run on vegetable oil I have recently repeated these experiments on a large scale with full success and entire confirmation of the results formerly obtained."[19] See also Edit References Edit Works Edit Bibliography Edit |
A fish ready for microgravity tests. See more fish pictures. Image courtesy NASA On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man in history to step on the surface of the moon. Millions of people tuned in to a broadcast of the event, and after Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. joined Armstrong, the two spent about two and a half hours gathering lunar rocks to bring back for analysis. The success was a triumph, not just for the United States, but for mankind, the imagination and the possibilities of exploration. What many people don't know, however, are the special sacrifices that had to be made in order to get astronauts up into space at all. The major unsung heroes of space exploration, it turns out, are animals. Before space programs started sending people up into orbit, scientists couldn't agree on what it would be like for a living organism to leave Earth's atmosphere. What would be the effects of weightlessness on a mammal? How would the body handle radiation from the sun? Instead of sending people up in such a risky situation, the United States and Russia sent monkeys, chimps, dogs and other animals into space in order to analyze such effects. Unfortunately, since it was so early on in the space race, the design process for constructing the vehicles was trial and error -- if launches or reentry procedures were faulty, the animals had little chances of survival. In some cases, the spacecraft in which the animals flew were never recovered, leading many to suspect there are still several abandoned ships floating in orbit among space junk with their original furry cargo. To learn more about animals in space and how they helped scientists learn more about space exploration, see the next page. |
David Weir has six Paralympics and five European Championships gold medals Great Britain gained a record 56 medals as Paralympic champion David Weir won his fourth gold at the IPC Athletics European Championships. The team won five medals in the final session in Italy to surpass their total of 52, achieved two years ago. Weir held off a late fightback from Russia's Aleksei Bychenok to win the T54 1500m in three minutes 18.50 seconds, 0.03secs ahead of his rival. "The time was quite slow for me but I was all right," Weir said afterwards. "I knew I had it covered. Heinz Frei broke early and I wasn't expecting that. With 500m to go, I didn't know whether to go behind Aleksei Bychenok or go round. "I made the decision to go around him in case he had nothing else in the tank. I had to go the long way round but it was a good race." On the final day's action, the British women's T35-38 4x100m relay team produced one of the finest performances of the championships on their way to gold, setting a world record of 51.63 seconds. The quartet of Olivia Breen, Maria Lyle, Georgie Hermitage and Sophie Hahn made a series of confident handovers to regain the relay title from Russia, who won two years ago. Four-time European gold medallist Hermitage, who set her third world record of the week, said: "I enjoyed the bend. It may not have been the smoothest of changeovers by me and Maria but we have a great relationship and it is something we can work on. "We still broke a world record and you could see that there is so much to come. Whatever happens, we are going to be formidable." Isaac Towers completed the full set of medals with gold in the T34 800m final. Towers held off the experienced Henry Manni of Finland in the final 400m to secure a championship record time of 1:44.67. "It is good to know I can mix it with the best and is a very good marker as we go into the last few weeks before Rio," said Towers. In the same race, Ben Rowlings earned his second bronze medal of the week by finishing with a time of 1:49.14. It was agony for Laura Sugar in the T44 100m final, as she had to settle for a silver medal after being edged out in the last 80m by T44 world number one Irmgard Bensusan. |
The knock at the door of Mason Trafford’s hotel room in Guiyang, China came at 2 a.m. His Chinese agent was standing there and it was time to negotiate with the President of Guizhou Zhicheng FC. That, it transpires, is the soccer business in China. How the American-born Canadian, who now anchors the Ottawa Fury’s defence, was there at all is a story worth telling. It started at a Christmas party where acquaintance said Trafford should send videos, his soccer resume and his news clips to an agent in China, which he did and promptly put it out of his mind. It was a surprise when the call came inviting him to tryouts with Guizhou, a Division One club allowed three international players on its roster. The club had called in more than 50 for tryouts, Trafford among them. “I had to give this a go,” he said. And away from Canada he went to a training centre in the snowy mountains about an hour outside Guiyang, which is located in central China, to trials where no one spoke English. Still Trafford survived the trials. So that cold and early February morning, the agent at his door said, “They want to sign you. And this is what they want to offer. The negotiations went on through the night until it was time to meet the owner face to face. “It was pitch black in the passages,” as they descended to the hotel lobby where a group of men in dark suits were huddled around a table enveloped in a haze of cigarette smoke. Trafford was handed a contract in Chinese with English translation. “It was pidgin English,” he said. “The grammar on the contract was so bad I could hardly understand it. My Chinese agent was telling me to sign as a show of good faith and that they were all on the same page. He said it would be sorted out later.” Trafford’s North American agent had other ideas after he received photographed copies of each page. “He said if I signed it, it would be really stupid. There was so much wrong with it, he didn’t know where to begin,” Trafford said. “I told him we were leaving for training camp in an hour. “It may have been stupid and it certainly went against anything I had ever been taught about signing a contract but I told him: ‘I have this feeling I have to do it’. And I did.” The first month was a stressful horror show. How about waiting a month wondering if you would actually get a pay cheque? The living quarters were uncertain. And the food was unfamiliar. Trafford was happiest when the team played in cities like Beijing where he could actually find a hamburger. But the biggest barrier was language. Because no one spoke English, the internationals had to rely on a translator who couldn’t really handle the job. That made integrating into the team almost impossible. Trafford says most of the players had good soccer skills and great fitness. But once they got on the field for a match “they just ran about all over the place.” By mid-season the club was in a deep hole. This proved a blessing in disguise because a Dutch coach was brought in who worked in English. But he could not save the club from relegation. Trafford’s contract was cancelled and his Chinese adventure was over. He says he was able to have his girlfriend Claudia Sarti with him. And that made the adventure bearable. “She has come with me wherever I’ve gone,” Trafford said. “It has not always been easy but we’ve made it work. In all seriousness, it has been a crazy story of how we’ve made things work and she deserves a lot of credit for that.” Despite it all his Chinese adventure has helped. “Mentally, when you have done something like playing in China you realize that it is not helpful to put too much pressure on yourself,” he said. “What is best is to look on the bright side. Like the Chinese training sessions where everyone was running round in chaos, doing funny drills. It was a pure adventure.” Fury face Carolina Ottawa Fury FC face defensive troubles as they prepare to take on the Carolina Railhawks Sunday. Coach Marc Dos Santos has to replace suspended Philippe Davies suspended because of a red card last week against Tampa. Centre-back Drew Beckie is out and Andres Fresenga and Omar Jarun may not yet be match fit. Dos Santos has been in contact with Toronto. Defender Ryan Richter, who had been loaned to the Fury, was recalled by TFC last week. Dos Santos is hoping the club will let Richter return to Ottawa for Sunday’s game. The Fury still believe they have a shot at the playoffs but Sunday’s match is vital for the expansion team that continues to chase its first win at TD Place. Richard Starnes’ Beautiful Game appears every Saturday in the Ottawa Citizen. He can be reached at richardstarnes@gmail.com. Also, listen to his weekly radio show, Corner Kicks, from 6-7pm on Mondays on TSN 1200 AM |
Kristin Tate Ben Swann.com November 7, 2013 Libertarian activist Adam Kokesh was arrested in July for uploading a video of himself loading a shotgun in D.C.’s Freedom Plaza. D.C. gun laws are some of the strictest in the U.S. As reported by ABC News, “The District has a litany of laws on the books that make it more difficult to obtain some firearms, impossible to obtain others, and illegal to carry any loaded gun in the city.” Just being in D.C. with a loaded firearm, even if it is legally registered, is a violation of the law. D.C. laws also ban gun owners from carrying firearms openly or concealed in public. On July 9, not even a week after producing and uploading his video, Kokesh’s home was raided by a SWAT team. He spent over 120 days in jail with no bond, no bail, and no trial. 57 of those days were spent in solitary confinement. On Wednesday, Kokesh pled guilty to to carrying a rifle or shotgun, possession of an unregistered firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition. He also pled guilty to possession of marijuana in Washington, DC. He will now be released from jail while he awaits his sentencing on January 17. Just two weeks ago, Kokesh pled not guilty to the charges, claiming he was merely exercising his constitutional rights. However, on October 23, Kokesh’s attorney Peter Cooper randomly quit his case. After the court appointed the activist a new attorney, he decided to plead guilty. At this time, it is unknown why Cooper suddenly quit the case. Kokesh’s manager, Jeffrey Phillips, said, “Cooper is a buddy of Adam and represents him whenever he gets in D.C. trouble. There’s no reason for him to just leave other than [the feds] got to him. He was scared away by the government basically. The court appointed Adam a new lawyer who has no idea what he is getting himself into. They obviously do not want him to have a good lawyer, and we had a good lawyer.” While Kokesh awaits his January sentencing, he is not allowed in the District of Columbia and must report to supervising authorities once per week. He is also not allowed to own any firearms. Kokesh could spend over six years in prison, but his friends and family maintain that he is not a danger to society. His girlfriend Carey Wedler said, “While everyone may not agree with Adam’s way of doing things, he is and has always been very peaceful. He has never been a dangerous person.” We will keep you up-to-date on Kokesh’s situation as news breaks. See our piece from last week with exclusive interviews here. |
A new retail leasing agent has been tapped to bring more businesses to Newport on the Levee, the entertainment destination announced Wednesday. Cincinnati-based Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate, Inc. will serve as the Levee's exclusive retail leasing agent, meaning the firm will be charged with securing new retailers and retaining current tenants at the property. “We selected Jeffery R. Anderson Real Estate because of their proven success locally. The firm also has the national reputation, relationships and resources to secure the best national tenants available,” said Harold Dull, general manager of the Levee, in a news release. “They have a long history of outstanding success and we couldn’t be more excited to have them on our team.” Jeffrey R. Anderson's portfolio includes work at Crestview Hills Town Center, Rook Exchange in Norwood, Oh., and the Square in Lexington. The announcement complements the transformation the property has recently displayed, the announcement said. This year, the $80 million mixed-use development, Aqua on the Levee, will be completed with 850 additional parking spaces, 239 apartments, and 8,000 square feet of street-level retail. This development also includes the area’s first Aloft Hotel which will bring144 new hotel rooms to the area. “Greater Cincinnati is our hometown,” said Mark Fallon, senior vice president of real estate for Jeffrey R. Anderson. “Whether developing projects of our own, or working on behalf of others, nothing gives us greater pride and pleasure than working to enhance the local retail, dining and entertainment offerings throughout the region. We look forward to getting started. “ Anderson has started the research and planning phase for Newport on the Levee and will be showcasing Newport on The Levee at the New York ICSC industry conference in early December. -Staff report Image via Newport on the Levee |
A Montreal city bus driver who showed support for protesters denouncing Quebec's new religious neutrality law could face disciplinary action, a spokesperson for the city's public transit agency has confirmed. Amélie Régis of the STM said the driver, who has not been identified, will meet with a superior and could face consequences for "inappropriate behaviour." "We ask our employees to adopt apolitical behaviour," Régis said in an email. She told CBC that the driver could face suspension but that the sanction handed down would depend on his previous employee record. The driver was seen and heard honking and covering his face during a protest against the new law, known as Bill 62, on Friday morning. Montreal protesters donned surgical masks and scarves in a protest over Bill 62 bus restrictions. The new law would force Muslim women who wear a niqab or burka to uncover their faces to take public buses. 0:26 Dozens of protesters wearing surgical masks and scarves lined up along the 80 bus route on Parc Avenue in Montreal to denounce the law, which they say targets Muslim women who wear the niqab. Passed in Quebec's National Assembly on Wednesday, Bill 62 bars public-sector employees — including doctors, teachers and daycare employees — from covering their faces. It also obliges citizens to uncover their faces to receive public services, including when taking public transportation. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said in a statement that the driver's action was "an individual initiative" but added that "if the STM chooses to meet or sanction the driver, he will be represented and defended by the union." Kathryn Jezer-Morton, one of the protest organizers, told CBC News "it really seems unfair" that the driver would suffer any consequences for expressing his opinion. "We're really sad and disappointed to hear that the STM would want to discipline him in any way for just peacefully expressing himself and showing support," she said. She said several bus drivers seemed to show support for the protest. The STM, meanwhile, says it is still evaluating the religious neutrality law. Protesters lined a bus route on Parc Avenue Friday morning to protest Bill 62. (Sudha Krishnan/CBC) 'Employees aren't robots' University of Sherbrooke law professor Finn Makela says that drivers working for the Crown corporation are entitled to their opinions. "Employees aren't robots. They are perfectly entitled to have political opinions and express them," he told CBC. Makela, who teaches labour law, conceded that while the STM could argue the driver's actions reflected badly on the company, their case may not be very strong. "Conceivably the STM could say this is harming its reputation, but I don't think anyone thinks the bus driver is expressing the opinion of the STM as a whole." He says the driver could be echoing the stance of his union, which is that the new law unfairly affects working conditions for drivers who will have to enforce the rules. "They're going to be on the front lines of applying extremely vague criteria," said Makela. |
A couple of weeks ago, I looked at the longest team streaks without a 1,000-yard rusher . Today’s post examines the teams that went the longest stretch without boasting a 1,000-yard receiver. I’m only going to look at things starting in 1978 (with one caveat), however, as 1,000-yard seasons were much rarer before then. The Redskins and Cardinals didn’t even have a 1,000-yard receiver until 1962, when Bobby Mitchell and Sonny Randle hit those marks for Washington and St. Louis, respectively. The Jaguars and Raiders have each gone seven straight seasons without a 1,000-yard receiver. Jimmy Smith, one of the most underrated receivers in NFL history, was the last Jacksonville player to gain 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Fortunately for Jaguars fans, there’s a good chance the streak ends in 2013. Cecil Shorts missed two full games due to injury and finished with 979 receiving yards during his breakout season last year, and should be even better this year. He also could benefit from Justin Blackmon being out for the first four games of this season. As for Oakland, the last receiver … well, see if you can remember who was the last Raider with 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Answer is at the end of this post. The table below shows all teams since 1978 to go at least seven straight years without a 1,000-yard receiver. The one caveat from above? I’ll include pre-1978 seasons for any team that also failed to produce a 1,000-yard receiver from ’78 to ’84, too. That Bears streak is incredible. For the thirty-year period starting in 1965, only one Bear — Dick Gordon in 1970 — hit the 1,000-yard mark. More recently, Chicago went nine years between Marty Booker in 2002 and Brandon Marshall last season. The Colts streak also pre-dates 1978, as the franchise spanned two cities and nine years between Roger Carr and Bill Brooks gaining 1,000 receiving yards. Who was the last Raider to record 1,000 yards in a season? It’s been a very dark decade in Oakland. |
TokyoGirls'Update Rie Kaneko Reflects on Past Happiness in HAJIMETAL’s MV for “Maybe,I’ll be with you” Sponsored Links One year after providing guest vocals for HAJIMETAL‘s “GIRI GAL” from his album “Super Solo 2” (release date: August 26, 2015), Rie Kaneko (The Idol Formerly Known As LADYBABY) returns for “Maybe,I’ll be with you”. Contributor Wanted!! Released as a CD-R present to those who attended HAJIMETAL Night at Aoyama Moon Romantic on September 6, 2015, hopefully there will be plans to release it on a larger scale in the near future. Described as the “best painful summer song” by HAJIMETAL himself, “Maybe,I’ll be with you” is positively heartbreaking as Rie stands alone in a crowd in the middle of Shibuya and walks down an empty beach on a lonely day. Grainy footage which appears to have been taken from the time when “GIRI GAL” was made add an extra dose of melancholy as it shows a glimpse of happier days long gone. Below is the cover of the extra rare CD. …To Apply …続きを読むには Sponsored Links Share This Article Author Kai Okudara Writer, researcher, photographer, foodie, KSDD You may also like Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus |
Forgive Brandin Cooks, but if he’s being honest, it’s a little hard for him to spell “Biletnikoff” without looking. After Thursday night, though, that might change. Cooks, Oregon State’s junior superstar, won the Biletnikoff Award, presented annually to college football's top wide receiver, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Texas A&M's Mike Evans and Clemson's Sammy Watkins were the other finalists. “When it was announced it didn’t hit me,” Cooks laughed, who looked a little shellshocked as he walked to the stage. “When when I walked up I thought, ‘Wait, what is going on?’” Cooks is the second Oregon State player to be awarded the prestigious honor, which is now in its 20th year; Mike Hass was the first, honored in 2005. “He certainly deserved it,” Hass said Thursday night. “He had a better year than I did when I won it.” Cooks said his phone blew up with “at least 100 texts and messages” from coaches, teammates, friends and family when his name was called, but he celebrated immediately with his mom, Andrea, one of his brothers and his sister-in-law, all of whom made the trip. “To be able to share that moment with them, it was amazing,” Cooks said. Also Thursday, Cooks earned two All-America honors prior to the Biletnikoff announcement. He was named a Walter Camp First-Team All-American, becoming the ninth Oregon State first-team selection in 124 years of the awarding of Walter Camp All-Americans. Prior to that honor, Cooks was named a first-team All-America honoree by Athlon Sports. Cooks won the Biletnikoff by a single vote, and the scales were tipped by none other than Beaver Nation; the fan vote gave Cooks the slight edge, and prompted him to . One year after playing sidekick to All-American Markus Wheaton, , leading the conference -- and nation -- in total receiving yards with 1,670. at his grabs in double coverage and his acceleration after the catch, prompting at least one to call him the most explosive player in the Pac-12. “This is just awesome,” said receivers coach Brent Brennan, currently recruiting in Los Angeles. “I think this speaks a lot about the quality of quarterbacks we’ve had here because both those guys (Brandin and Mike) had great people throwing to them. It speaks to Coach (Mike) Riley’s system, too. In a day and age when so many people are enamored with the spread and up-tempo style, it’s awesome to show Brandin’s kind of production that comes out of a pro-style scheme.” Cooks, who is generously listed at 5-foot-10 — he joked that one of the best parts of his trip to Florida was meeting former Heisman winner Desmond Howard and learning he is about one inch taller than the former Michigan standout — has wowed spectators partially because of how high he can jump. “I like his runs after the catch, I think that’s the most impressive, but he can get up and get the ball in traffic, too,” Hass said. “Just because you’re smaller, that doesn’t mean you’re not a good player. He can get a little lower than most, and he’s a fast guy, a strong guy.” Despite defenders knowing the Beavers want to get the ball in Cooks' hands as much as possible, the junior speedster has continually produced, going over 100 receiving yards in eight games this season, over 150 yards four times and over 200 yards twice. For his career, Cooks has totaled 3,212 receiving yards and 23 touchdowns on 218 receptions. Should he return for his senior year, Cooks would have a chance to rewrite the receiving record book, namely Hass' 3,924 career receiving yards and Wheaton's 227 receptions. But he's not going to grow more physically and his numbers can't get that much better, so some NFL experts have projected that he'll leave now instead of coming back and risking serious injury. “He’s a good kid, what’s why I don’t mind him breaking my records,” Hass said. “He’s got a little swagger to him, which I like, but when you meet him off the field, he’s got a great personality, he knows what he wants, and what he’s working for. “He’s done about as much as you can do in a single year as a receiver in college … it’s about what he wants to do. Obviously the Oregon State fan base wants him to come back, but I would tell him he needs to do what’s best for him and his family.” Cooks has brushed aside all questions about his future, saying those close to him know not to speculate or ask what he's thinking until OSU's season is over. But as Cooks returns to Corvallis Friday to begin Hawaii Bowl prep, surely he knows that time is rapidly approaching. Brennan, however, isn't concerned about that. "Brandin's decision is Brandin's decision," Brennan said. "My job is to get him . We're going to talk a lot more about Boise State and their secondary than we are about the idea of him going pro." Earlier this week, when Cooks first arrived in Florida and Brennan was scouring the west for the next great Oregon State receiver, Cooks sent a text to Brennan that sums up why he considers Cooks "the golden standard." "You know what his text said to me? It said he can't wait to get back on the field with his teammates and start preparing for this game," Brennan said. "That's who he is, that's why he's great. I've never been around a player like him, I've never coached anybody who attacks practice and preparation like he does. He's the golden standard for me. He's everything you'd want in a leader." Now, he's a prestigious award winner, too. — Lindsay Schnell |
The Vancouver Canucks have an interesting off-season ahead of them, with quite a few contracts coming off the books. Some are older players heading towards unrestricted free agency, many of which likely don’t figure beyond another year with this franchise. There are, however, a couple pending restricted free agents who are obvious building blocks for the Canucks to take care of, too. I want to focus today on Bowie Horvat. Selected 9th overall in 2013, Horvat has come in and been a bright light, and that’s why the Canucks should lock him up long term, as soon as possible. This seems like a no-brainer. The NHL is a young man’s league, and Horvat is one of the best young players the Canucks have in their possession. By the sounds of it, though, the Canucks haven’t started negotiations yet. Bo Horvat entering the final year deal. Agent Mark Guy : “No we haven’t started talks and I don’t have a timeline on it.” #Canucks — NEWS 1130 Sports (@NEWS1130Sports) October 19, 2016 That strikes me as an odd decision. Based on the way Horvat’s performed to date, you’d think it serves the Canucks short and long-term interests best to lock him up. And I’ve just the set of underlying metrics to prove that’s a savvy decision. The kind that could save the Canucks serious capital in the long run. Underlying Data Jackson covered this a few weeks back, but Horvat is an interesting case when we look at the underlying numbers. To summarize, they are not favourable, but that’s due to factors mostly out of his control. Horvat’s tasked with a heavy workload that he may not have been ready to handle. So looking at it quickly, you could suggest that it works in the Canucks favour. Hero charts are not the gospel to assess a player, but it provides a clean look at a player’s underlying information. As we can see, the number over the last three season suggest that Horvat is hovering around a 2nd/3rd line rate for production but falls to a 3rd/4th when looking at just his possession numbers. The context of those numbers is key. During the 2013-14 season, Horvat was limited and sheltered as he adjusted to the NHL. As a rookie, he was getting buried. Last season, as soon as Brandon Sutter went down with injury, Horvat was tasked with pretty much everything, and like the rest of the Canucks, they were dominated possession-wise throughout the majority of the season. So far this season, that trend has continued. But Horvat is still keeping his head above water in comparison to his teammates, despite the onslaught. This works to the Canucks advantage at this moment. You don’t want to over-analyze your own players, but in this case, the information at face value suggests that Horvat hasn’t excelled possession-wise, so the Canucks could use that to save money on the next contract. However on the flipside, positives are percolating, and if you wait too long, those positives could result in a higher AAV. As Jackson mentions in the post linked above, Horvat’s G/60 rate of .79 since joining the NHL is close to Johnny Gaudreau’s production and has him among the top producers for the Canucks. Countless analysts have proven that a player’s peak is generally in their mid-twenties. By locking up Horvat through that entire timeframe, it ensures the Canucks have the young pivot for the duration of his biggest impact to the lineup. Eye-Test Horvat doesn’t jump off the screen every single game, but when it does, you notice him. He seems to have a knack for creating something out of nothing. I am a fan of this Bo Horvat kid #Canucks pic.twitter.com/Ef8x5qdgIl — Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) October 21, 2016 Those handful of gifs are just a glimpse of what fans see when watching Horvat. You don’t see the underlying data; you see a 21-year-old centre on the penalty kill leave three Buffalo Sabres in the corner, create a chance and a draw a penalty. You hear the ping of the shot as it goes bar down. Horvat has an exciting mix of speed, puck skills and a bull rushing mentality that makes him exciting to watch. He is on track to becoming the next captain of the Canucks, or at the very least a part of the leadership group. He has the skill set to be an effective two-way forward for this team for years to come. PR Side Horvat is the best young player that the Canucks currently have on their roster. He is already the face of the youth movement and could become the face of the franchise. If the Canucks continue to struggle this season, signing Horvat to a long-term deal is a good PR tap-in move. Simply put “Yes, we are struggling, but we have faith in our young players” would be the underlying message here. I might not lead to ticket purchases right away, but in the long run, it would make sense. Having Horvat locked up long-term would create a sense of anticipation for the next wave. Horvat’s side of it Horvat has mentioned in ‘hometown visits’ before that he wants to be a Canuck for a long time, but this is a business. All the things I’ve mentioned above, his agent is acutely aware of. He will try to use these things as leverage to extract as much money as he can. Doing a bridge deal isn’t in the best interest of a player like Horvat, why postpone the deal for a couple of years. Players who benefit from bridge deals are players who could see offensive explosions, so they postpone the long term deal to show what they can do. In the case of Horvat, he has a comparable in Brandon Sutter that he can use as a benchmark. Both were high draft picks who project to two-way centres. So given that, Horvat’s representation likely use that as the ‘starting point’. Horvat may just want to wait until the end of the season before he agrees to a deal. His agent can make the argument that Horvat will be able to earn more, so waiting would be the best option in their minds. An example of this working to their benefit is Vincent Trocheck in Florida. After only posting 22 points in 50 games in 2014-15, Trocheck exploded for 25 goals and 28 assists during the last year of his ELC in 2015-16. He was able to sign a six-year deal at $4.75 million per season on July 2nd. Conclusion One thing that I haven’t covered above, but is a huge benefit, is that it creates a cost certainty before the season even concludes. It allows the organization to know with a slightly clearer picture what to expect next summer. This can aid in trades and re-signing other players. The alternative is making moves, then trying to grind out a deal with an important part of your franchise. That likely isn’t an issue, but the perception and There are a variety of reason’s why the Canucks should be exploring the re-signing of Horvat as soon as possible, some of the reasons are below: Lock up a player long term – creating cost certainty. Looks good on the organization to sign a bright light to a long term deal. Allows them to get ahead of the possible increases based on Horvat’s progression. It isn’t of great concern that they haven’t begun negotiations with Horvat, but given that Erik Gudbranson, Ben Hutton and Horvat are all pending RFA’s – it seems like something that they will want to get a head start on. Horvat seems like the logical first step given the Canucks’ uncertainty in the forward ranks going forward. Although I do honestly believe that Horvat won’t just take whatever the Canucks offer, so getting the process started now is likely the best course of action. |
Mark Sands Germany's European Affairs minister has called for Britain to win "a special status" following Brexit, while calling for talks to begin early next year. Theresa May has repeatedly stated that she will not activate Article 50, which gives the UK two years to secure new terms, until 2017. And Michael Roth has told Reuters the UK should be ready to negotiate – and trigger mechanisms to leave the EU – early next year. "Until the end of the year should really be sufficient time to get organized and adjust to the new situation," he said. Read More: Don't start Brexit until autumn next year says Khan Roth, a member of the Social Democrats which are a junior partner in Angela Merkel's ruling coalition, added that Britain should be granted a position distinct from that of Switzerland and Norway, which have both been cited as potential examples for the UK to follow. "Given Britain's size, significance and its long membership of the European Union, there will probably be a special status which only bears limited comparison to that of countries that have never belonged to the European Union," he said. "I want relations between the European Union and Britain to be as close as possible," he said. However, pressed on whether that would mean granting UK access to the single market while limiting free movement, Roth said: "I can't imagine that." "The free movement of workers is a highly prized right in the European Union and we don't want to wobble on that." |
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE baseball Interim Head Coach Tony Stoecklin has announced the addition of Major League pitcher Jason Isringhausen to his staff. Isringhausen, a native of Brighton, Ill., will serve as a pitching coach for the Cougars. "He obviously knows the game at the highest level," Stoecklin said. "What has impressed me most is his ability to teach what he knows." Isringhausen has collected 300 saves in a Major League career that has covered 16 seasons. Seven of those years were spent with the St. Louis Cardinals. He is the Cardinals' all-time leader in saves with 217. In 2004, he turned a career-best 47 saves for St. Louis, which is a Cardinals single-season record shared by Lee Smith. "I enjoy the teaching aspect," Isringhausen said. "I feel like I have a lot to offer. "At this level the players all have talent," he continued. "I'm here to fine tune. I want to help the pitchers get the most out of that talent." Stoecklin said Isringhausen's presence already has made a difference. "The guys are listening," Stoecklin said. "They're soaking up every ounce of information he gives them." The 2013 baseball season begins tomorrow when the Cougars travel to Nashvile, Tenn., for the first game of a three-game weekend series at Lipscomb. |
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