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Shawn Smith woke up in France (Picture: SWNS) A father who went out for a Christmas booze-up with his pals woke up 300 miles away from home – in France. Shawn Smith, 48, joined his two mates for a few pints in his local but got roped into joining them on an overnight trip to the continent to buy cheap tobacco. They planned to stock-up on the cut-price roll-ups which is just a third of the price of British tobacco. Incredibly, Shawn, who has never left the UK and doesn’t even own a passport, managed to get through unchallenged in Dover, France and Belgium while he snoozed in the back of his friend’s car on December 1. The dad stayed in a £17-a-night hotel (Picture: SWNS) But he was stopped by customs officers on the return leg at Calais and was ordered to go to the British Consulate 180 miles in Paris to apply for an emergency passport. Advertisement Advertisement He was then forced to fork out £99 for a new temporary passport but there were complications because he was born in Germany so he had to stay there for a week while the authorities checked his nationality. Shawn spent £450 surviving in the French capital and dined out on guest house breakfast croissants and fast-food meals at McDonalds. The self-employed plasterer eventually arrived back home exhausted in Worcester on December 10 and is now warning people not to leave the UK without their passport. Postcard from Paris (Picture: SWNS) Dad-of-six Shawn said: ‘I must have fallen asleep when we got to the port because the next thing I knew I woke up and was in France and we were on the way to Belgium. ‘I was shocked when they told me I had to go to Paris to fill out the forms for an emergency passport but I had no choice. ‘I don’t want to see Paris again, although it is a beautiful city.’ He added: ‘I only went abroad to save cash on tobacco but it ended up costing me a fortune. It was an expensive hangover but something to tell the grandkids about.’ Shawn the explorer (Picture: SWNS) |
WOODRUFF, S.C. – Authorities have found a third body on the property of Todd Kohlhepp, the South Carolina real estate agent accused of kidnapping and murder. The body, found Monday, was close to another body recovered Sunday, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger told reporters. Over the weekend, Kohlhepp led investigators to the site of two graves located on his 96-acre property, authorities said. The coroner said he could not say whether the bodies were male or female. Kohlhepp was arrested last week on suspicion of keeping a woman in chains on his farm and he allegedly confessed to a series of killings. The first body was found last week. The discovery is the latest twist in the dizzying case against Todd Kohlhepp. The 45-year-old real estate agent was arrested last week after authorities found a woman chained inside a metal shipping container on his property, screaming for help. Now Kohlhepp, a registered sex offender, faces murder and kidnapping charges. Authorities say he could be connected to at least seven homicides. They’ve found at least three bodies on his 100-acre farm — and they’re also checking other properties he’s owned inside and outside the state, CNN affiliate WSPA reported. “We’re not going to close the door on anything,” Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright told reporters. As authorities continue digging for evidence, here’s a look at the latest developments: Human remains unearthed After his arrest, authorities say Kohlhepp pointed them to areas on his property where he said two bodies were buried. Investigators found one body there on Sunday and another Monday, but they haven’t yet identified either victim, Wright said. “We’re not even close,” Wright said. “We can’t tell anything about the cause of death, the gender, how long, any of that stuff.” Last week, they found the remains of 32-year-old Charles Carver, whose girlfriend, Kara Brown, had been rescued alive from the shipping container. The couple had been missing since August. Brown told investigators that she watched Kohlhepp shoot her boyfriend, a solicitor said in court on Friday. Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger has said he found multiple gunshot wounds to the upper part of Carver’s body. Kidnapping cracks open cold cases The search of the property took an unexpected turn when Kohlhepp allegedly confessed to killings that took place 13 years ago at a motorcycle shop in Chesnee, South Carolina. Kohlhepp told detectives details only the killer would have known about four homicides at Superbike Motorsports, according to authorities. The victims — business owner Scott Ponder, his mother Beverly Guy, service manager Brian Lucas and employee Chris Sherbert — were found fatally shot inside the shop on November 6, 2003, CNN affiliate WYFF News 4 reported. Ponder’s widow, Melissa Ponder, told WYFF: “I’m sad, relieved, in shock.” More bodies, more charges? Kohlhepp, who previously spent 15 years behind bars for kidnapping, did not enter a plea at his kidnapping hearing on Friday after appearing without an attorney. The judge sent the bail matter to a circuit court. Over the weekend, prosecutors charged Kohlhepp with four counts of murder in connection with the 2003 killings. It remains unclear how many additional charges Kohlhepp may face. CNN contributed to this report. |
To experiment with network stuff, I was using UML -based network labs. Many alternatives exist, like GNS3, Netkit, Marionnet or Cloonix. All of them are great viable solutions but I still prefer to stick to my minimal home-made solution with UML virtual machines. Here is why: I didn’t want to use disk images . They take a lot of space and they have to be maintained. They also become cluttered, especially if you try to reuse them across several labs. They are also difficult to share. . They take a lot of space and they have to be maintained. They also become cluttered, especially if you try to reuse them across several labs. They are also difficult to share. I want to be able to access my home directory . It contains the important configuration files related to the lab and I can put them in the right place thanks to symbolic links when the lab starts. It also makes exchanging files with the lab quite easy. . It contains the important configuration files related to the lab and I can put them in the right place thanks to symbolic links when the lab starts. It also makes exchanging files with the lab quite easy. I don’t want to boot a complete system. This allows me to be cheap on memory and each virtual system should boot in a few seconds. The use of UML had some drawbacks: It may be buggy. For example, it is currently not possible to use gdbserver inside UML without a patch. Sometimes, the kernel won’t even compile. without a patch. Sometimes, the kernel won’t even compile. It is slow. However, UML features HostFS, a filesystem providing access to any part of the host filesystem. This is the killer feature which allows me to not use any virtual disk image and to get access to my home directory right from the guest. I discovered recently that QEMU provided 9P, a similar filesystem on top of VirtIO, the paravirtualized IO framework. Setting up the lab⚓︎ The setup of the lab is done with a single self-contained shell file. The layout is similar to what I have done with UML . I will only highlight here the most interesting steps. Booting QEMU with a minimal kernel⚓︎ My initial goal was to experiment with Nicolas Dichtel’s IPv6 ECMP patch. Therefore, I needed to configure a custom kernel. I have started from make defconfig , removed everything that was not necessary, added what I needed for my lab (mostly network stuff) and added the appropriate options for VirtIO drivers: CONFIG_NET_9P_VIRTIO=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_BLK=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_NET=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_CONSOLE=y CONFIG_HW_RANDOM_VIRTIO=y CONFIG_VIRTIO=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_RING=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_PCI=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_BALLOON=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_MMIO=y No modules. Grab the complete configuration if you want to have a look. From here, you can start your kernel with the following command ( $LINUX is the appropriate bzImage ): qemu-system-x86_64 \ -m 256m \ -display none \ -nodefconfig -no-user-config -nodefaults \ \ -chardev stdio,id = charserial0,signal = off \ -device isa-serial,chardev = charserial0,id = serial0 \ \ -chardev socket,id = con0,path = $TMP /vm- $name -console.pipe,server,nowait \ -mon chardev = con0,mode = readline,default \ \ -kernel $LINUX \ -append "init=/bin/sh console=ttyS0" 1 stdio is configured such that signals are not enabled. QEMU won’t stop when receiving SIGINT . This is important for the usage we want to have. Since there is no disk to boot from, the kernel will panic when trying to mount the root filesystem. QEMU is configured to not display video output ( -display none ). A serial port is defined and uses stdio as a backend. The kernel is configured to use this serial port as a console ( console=ttyS0 ). A VirtIO console could have been used instead but it seems this is not possible to make it work early in the boot process. The QEMU monitor is setup to listen on a Unix socket. It is possible to connect to it with socat UNIX:$TMP/vm-$name-console.pipe - . Initial ramdisk⚓︎ Update (2012.10) I was initially unable to mount the host filesystem as the root filesystem for the guest directly by the kernel. In a comment, Josh Triplett told me to use /dev/root as the mount tag to solve this problem. I keep using an initrd in this post but the lab on GitHub has been updated to not use one. Here is how to build a small initial ramdisk: # Setup initrd setup_initrd () { info "Build initrd" DESTDIR = $TMP /initrd mkdir -p $DESTDIR # Setup busybox copy_exec $( $WHICH busybox ) /bin/busybox for applet in $( ${ DESTDIR } /bin/busybox --list ) ; do ln -s busybox ${ DESTDIR } /bin/ ${ applet } done # Setup init cp $PROGNAME ${ DESTDIR } /init cd " ${ DESTDIR } " && find . | \ cpio --quiet -R 0 :0 -o -H newc | \ gzip > $TMP /initrd.gz } The copy_exec function is stolen from the initramfs-tools package in Debian. It will ensure that the appropriate libraries are also copied. Another solution would have been to use a static busybox . The setup script is copied as /init in the initial ramdisk. It will detect it has been invoked as such. If it was omitted, a shell would be spawned instead. Remove the cp call if you want to experiment manually. The flag -initrd allows QEMU to use this initial ramdisk. Root filesystem⚓︎ Let’s mount our root filesystem using 9P. This is quite easy. First QEMU needs to be configured to export the host filesystem to the guest: qemu-system-x86_64 \ ${ PREVIOUS_ARGS } \ -fsdev local,security_model = passthrough,id = fsdev-root,path = ${ ROOT } ,readonly \ -device virtio-9p-pci,id = fs-root,fsdev = fsdev-root,mount_tag = rootshare ${ROOT} can either be / or any directory containing a complete filesystem. Mounting it from the guest is quite easy: mkdir -p /target/ro mount -t 9p rootshare /target/ro -o trans = virtio,version = 9p2000.u 2 Therefore, it is not possible to mound a fresh /proc on top of the existing one. I have searched a bit but didn’t find why. Any comments on this is welcome. You should find a complete root filesystem inside /target/ro . I have used version=9p2000.u instead of version=9p2000.L because the latter does not allow a program to mount() a host mount point. Now, you have a read-only root filesystem (because you don’t want to mess with your existing root filesystem and moreover, you did not run this lab as root, did you?). Let’s use a union filesystem. Debian comes with AUFS while Ubuntu and OpenWRT have migrated to overlayfs. I was previously using AUFS but got errors on some specific cases. It is still not clear which one will end up in the kernel. So, let’s try overlayfs. I didn’t find any patchset ready to be applied on top of my kernel tree. I was working with David Miller’s net-next tree. Here is how I have applied the overlayfs patch on top of it: $ git remote add torvalds git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git $ git fetch torvalds $ git remote add overlayfs git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/mszeredi/vfs.git $ git fetch overlayfs $ git merge-base overlayfs.v15 v3.6 4cbe5a555fa58a79b6ecbb6c531b8bab0650778d $ git checkout -b net-next+overlayfs $ git cherry-pick 4cbe5a555fa58a79b6ecbb6c531b8bab0650778d..overlayfs.v15 Don’t forget to enable CONFIG_OVERLAYFS_FS in .config . Here is how I configured the whole root filesystem: info "Setup overlayfs" mkdir /target mkdir /target/ro mkdir /target/rw mkdir /target/overlay # Version 9p2000.u allows one to access /dev, /sys and mount new # partitions over them. This is not the case for 9p2000.L. mount -t 9p rootshare /target/ro -o trans = virtio,version = 9p2000.u mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /target/rw -o rw mount -t overlayfs overlayfs /target/overlay -o lowerdir = /target/ro,upperdir = /target/rw mount -n -t proc proc /target/overlay/proc mount -n -t sysfs sys /target/overlay/sys info "Mount home directory on /root" mount -t 9p homeshare /target/overlay/root -o trans = virtio,version = 9p2000.L,access = 0 ,rw info "Mount lab directory on /lab" mkdir /target/overlay/lab mount -t 9p labshare /target/overlay/lab -o trans = virtio,version = 9p2000.L,access = 0 ,rw info "Chroot" export STATE = 1 cp " $PROGNAME " /target/overlay exec chroot /target/overlay " $PROGNAME " You have to export your ${HOME} and the lab directory from host: qemu-system-x86_64 \ ${ PREVIOUS_ARGS } \ -fsdev local,security_model = passthrough,id = fsdev-root,path = ${ ROOT } ,readonly \ -device virtio-9p-pci,id = fs-root,fsdev = fsdev-root,mount_tag = rootshare \ -fsdev local,security_model = none,id = fsdev-home,path = ${ HOME } \ -device virtio-9p-pci,id = fs-home,fsdev = fsdev-home,mount_tag = homeshare \ -fsdev local,security_model = none,id = fsdev-lab,path = $( dirname " $PROGNAME " ) \ -device virtio-9p-pci,id = fs-lab,fsdev = fsdev-lab,mount_tag = labshare You know what is missing from our network lab? Network setup. For each LAN that I will need, I spawn a VDE switch: # Setup a VDE switch setup_switch () { info "Setup switch $1 " screen -t "sw- $1 " \ start-stop-daemon --make-pidfile --pidfile " $TMP /switch- $1 .pid" \ --start --startas $( $WHICH vde_switch ) -- \ --sock " $TMP /switch- $1 .sock" screen -X select 0 } To attach an interface to the newly created LAN, I use: mac = $( echo $name - $net | sha1sum | \ awk '{print "52:54:" substr($1,0,2) ":" substr($1, 2, 2) ":" substr($1, 4, 2) ":" substr($1, 6, 2)}' ) qemu-system-x86_64 \ ${ PREVIOUS_ARGS } \ -net nic,model = virtio,macaddr = $mac ,vlan = $net \ -net vde,sock = $TMP /switch- $net .sock,vlan = $net The use of a VDE switch allows me to run the lab as a non-root user. It is possible to give Internet access to each VM , either by using -net user flag or using slirpvde on a special switch. I prefer the latter solution since it will allow the VM to speak to each others. This lab was mostly done to debug both the kernel and Quagga. Each of them can be debugged remotely. Kernel debugging⚓︎ While the kernel features KGDB, its own debugger, compatible with GDB, it is easier to use the remote GDB server built inside QEMU. qemu-system-x86_64 \ ${ PREVIOUS_ARGS } \ -gdb unix: $TMP /vm- $name -gdb.pipe,server,nowait To connect to the remote GDB server from the host, first locate the vmlinux file at the root of the source tree and run GDB on it. The kernel has to be compiled with CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO=y to get the appropriate debugging symbols. Then, use socat with the Unix socket to attach to the remote debugger: $ gdb vmlinux GNU gdb (GDB) 7.4.1-debian Reading symbols from /home/bernat/src/linux/vmlinux...done. (gdb) target remote | socat UNIX:$TMP/vm-$name-gdb.pipe - Remote debugging using | socat UNIX:/tmp/tmp.W36qWnrCEj/vm-r1-gdb.pipe - native_safe_halt () at /home/bernat/src/linux/arch/x86/include/asm/irqflags.h:50 50 } (gdb) You can now set breakpoints and resume the execution of the kernel. It is easier to debug the kernel if optimizations are not enabled. However, it is not possible to disable them globally. You can however disable them for some files. For example, to debug net/ipv6/route.c , add CFLAGS_route.o = -O0 to net/ipv6/Makefile , remove net/ipv6/route.o and type make . Userland debugging⚓︎ To debug a program inside QEMU, you can just use gdb as usual. Your $HOME directory is available and it should be therefore straightforward. However, if you want to perform some remote debugging, that’s quite easy. Add a new serial port to QEMU: qemu-system-x86_64 \ ${ PREVIOUS_ARGS } \ -chardev socket,id = charserial1,path = $TMP /vm- $name -serial.pipe,server,nowait \ -device isa-serial,chardev = charserial1,id = serial1 Starts gdbserver in the guest: $ libtool execute gdbserver /dev/ttyS1 zebra/zebra Process /root/code/orange/quagga/build/zebra/.libs/lt-zebra created; pid = 800 Remote debugging using /dev/ttyS1 And from the host, you can attach to the remote process: $ libtool execute gdb zebra/zebra GNU gdb (GDB) 7.4.1-debian Reading symbols from /home/bernat/code/orange/quagga/build/zebra/.libs/lt-zebra...done. (gdb) target remote | socat UNIX:/tmp/tmp.W36qWnrCEj/vm-r1-serial.pipe Remote debugging using | socat UNIX:/tmp/tmp.W36qWnrCEj/vm-r1-serial.pipe Reading symbols from /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2...(no debugging symbols found)...done. Loaded symbols for /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 0x00007ffff7dddaf0 in ?? () from /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (gdb) For a demo, have a look at the following video: |
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will draw lessons from its credit downgrade to “junk” by Moody’s but is already tackling some of the challenges highlighted by the agency, including structural reform and improving the quality of its institutions, Finance Minister Naci Agbal told Reuters. Turkey's Finance Minister Naci Agbal speaks during an interview with Reuters in Ankara, Turkey, September 27, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas In his first interview since Moody’s cut Turkey’s sovereign debt to non-investment grade late on Friday, Agbal acknowledged that a failed coup in July had taken a toll and said Turkey’s economic growth was likely to be below 4 percent this year, missing the government’s 4.5 percent target. But he forecast that the $720 billion economy would pick up again in 2017 and took a sanguine view of the rating agency’s downgrade, saying the issues it raised were already on the government’s agenda. “The need for structural reform, an increase in potential growth, and an improvement in institutional quality and our competitive position ... are all true,” Agbal said in an interview in his office in Ankara. “We, as the government, are aware of this ... The points raised by Moody’s are important to us, too, and we won’t lose time in taking measures to tackle these issues,” the former career bureaucrat, who spent six years as finance ministry undersecretary before entering politics last year, told Reuters. A series of suicide bombings blamed on Islamic State and Kurdish militants had hit Turkey’s tourism industry and knocked domestic confidence even before the coup attempt, in which rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighter jets, bombing parliament and killing more than 240 people. The aftermath has done little to reassure. About 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended from the civil service, military and police in purges, prompting fears among Western allies that President Tayyip Erdogan is using the events as a pretext to stifle dissent, weakening Turkey’s institutions. Moody’s cited worries about the rule of law, as well as risks from a slowing economy, as reasons for its downgrade. But the government says such fears are unfounded and that measures to root out the followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom it blames for orchestrating the coup, will restore order and strengthen, not weaken, Turkish democracy. “Turkey’s long-term growth can only be achieved through an emphasis on structural reform. And at the start of that are democracy, democratic reforms, and the strengthening of the rule of law,” Agbal said. Gulen denies the government’s charges. LIMITED FALL-OUT Turkey’s annual economic growth dipped to 3.1 percent in the second quarter from 4.7 percent in the first and is expected to slow further due partly to the fallout from the coup attempt. Agbal said the 4.5 percent growth target set for 2016 in the government’s medium-term economic program, its rolling three-year policy plan, no longer seemed attainable and a new program would be announced in early October. “Our revised expectation appears to be below 4 percent. We will announce a realistic path for both 2016 and 2017,” he said, adding that growth would be stronger next year than this. Turkey depends on investment to fund its current account deficit - one of the biggest in the G20 - and service its foreign debt, requiring more than $200 billion a year. JP Morgan warned in July that a downgrade to junk could prompt the sale of $10 billion in Turkey’s sovereign and corporate debt. The market fall-out was, in the event, relatively short-lived. By late on Monday, the first trading day after the downgrade, the lira had recovered much of its losses and investors paid more than expected in three bond auctions, showing strong demand for the very debt Moody’s now classifies as sub-investment grade. “There may be some increases in banks’ foreign borrowing costs. But the increase will be limited to 25-50 basis points, which is not very significant,” said Hakan Binbasgil, the chief executive of Akbank, one of Turkey’s biggest lenders. “The banking sector will not have a major problem with foreign borrowing,” he told reporters on Wednesday. Agbal vowed Turkey would focus on boosting growth, fighting inflation and tackling the current account deficit in the next three years and would take decisive steps against high food prices, one of its most stubborn economic problems. He also said a privatization program would be widened and accelerated, with the proceeds - as well as the sale of equity stakes in public infrastructure projects - used partly to finance a planned sovereign wealth fund. Slideshow (3 Images) Some investors have questioned how such a plan can work. Most of the biggest sovereign wealth funds around the world are built on energy earnings, but unlike the likes of Norway and Gulf countries, Turkey imports almost all of its energy needs. Agbal said he wanted to finalize the privatization of Turkey’s national lottery by the end of the year, after two failed attempts last year. The sale had been expected to bring in around $2.76 billion for the government. “We will take any structural measures that we believe the economy needs,” he said. “We are already taking these steps. As long as we take these steps, ratings agencies and investors will understand what we are trying to do.” |
Saturday 3) 8 A.M. Get Up … No so Fast Sweet Brewnette in nearby Madeira Beach is a retro coffee shop/restaurant that serves nitro cold-brewed coffee. The eclectic cafe (chandeliers and local art coexist nicely) offers smoothies, waffles and veggie scrambles for breakfast lovers. Expect to pay about $8 for breakfast. (Consider returning for lunch fare like the Amalfi Love salad, with arugula, Parmesan, grapes, basil, pine nuts and lemon vinaigrette, or the $7 Caprese grilled cheese, with tomato, garlic and basil pesto with a three-cheese blend on grilled Cuban bread.) 4) 10 A.M. A Bit of Everything Grab the kids and set your GPS to nearby John’s Pass Village and Boardwalk, a Rubik’s Cube of restaurants, bars, confectioneries and trinket merchants. In between the T-shirt/flip-flop shops are real gems like the Spice and Tea Exchange and Treehouse Puppets & Treasures. Book a trip to watch dolphins or throw out a line to fish. If time allows, grab some fresh-as-it-gets seafood at Walt’z Fish Shak (open at noon Saturdays); Walt’z sells fresh catch of the season. Expect to pay from $15 to $35. 5) 1:30 P.M. Time Travel The Gulf Beaches Historical Museum, in the heart of Pass-A-Grille at the very tip of the main barrier island, is one of those finds that thrill history buffs. Here, in what was the first church in this small coastal hamlet — the property was saved in the late 1950s by the social editor and preservationist Joan Haley, who left the church to Pinellas County to be used as an island museum — are exhibits highlighting life in the early development of the area’s beach communities. Read about Silas Dent, the hermit of Cabbage Key, or peruse old postcards, World War II exhibits and photos from the early 1900s. The museum’s store offers books on local lore as well as a collection of sea-themed children’s books, jewelry and free brochures on local sea life and attractions. Grab one for the walking tour, up next. A local band, at Jimmy B’s Beach Bar in the Beachcomber Beach Resort Hotel. Credit Zack Wittman for The New York Times 6) 4 P.M. Walking Tour The community of Pass-A-Grille is recognized as a National Register Historic District and is thought to be named for the 18th-century “grilleurs” who dried fish on the beach. The self-guided walking tour includes some of the town’s earliest buildings, many still functioning in this community, including a home once used for U.S.O. dances during World War II. If biking is more your style, head over to nearby Merry Pier to rent bikes ($8 per hour, $25 for the day); be sure to cruise Eighth Avenue, believed to be one of the tiniest Main Streets in America and seriously charming. Or stay and fish: The pier rents fishing tackle. 7) 6 P.M. Eat Like a Local Sea Critters Cafe is a rustic, relaxed, fun-but-no-nonsense seafood restaurant on the water that local residents love not only because the food is fantastic but also because those who can prove they live here pay less. Follow your cocktail (say, a tiramisù martini) with blackened grouper, sweet potato fries and French green beans ($23.99). Or opt for the mother lode called the seafood broil: lobster tail, snow crab legs, clams, mussels and shrimp ($27.99). 8) 9 P.M. Boogie Nights Consistently topping the area’s list of “best beach bars” is Jimmy B’s Beach Bar at the Beachcomber Beach Resort Hotel in St. Pete Beach. The sprawling outdoor space with scattered bars and a dance floor overlooks the Gulf. You can dance, snack on crowd favorites like blackened shrimp tacos ($13) or coconut shrimp with sweet chile sauce ($13). If tropical drinks are on the itinerary, go in for the two-fisted Rum Runner with light and dark rum, blackberry brandy, banana liqueur, pineapple juice and grenadine ($8.95). Make no mistake, this is a party bar — but one with style, and not just of the thatched kind. Music is bouncy enough to get the crowd on its feet without causing tinnitus. Strike out on the sand for a pub crawl to neighboring bars, the Sand Bar Beach Bar at the Guy Harvey Outpost or the Toasted Monkey. Take note of the long boardwalk jutting out from Jimmy B’s; it will be a much-needed landmark heading back. Then let the savory smoked fish spread ($10) from Jimmy B’s get you home full and happy. |
Clinton: Half Of Trump Supporters 'Basket Of Deplorables' — 'Racist, Sexist…You Name It' 9/11 Victim's Family Speaks Out On Threat of Saudi Lawsuit Bill Veto David Webb: Clintons See Americans As ‘Chattel To Be Used’ A 28-year-old violent gang member and illegal immigrant from El Salvador, who was deported twice in the last two years, was charged with murdering a teenager. Oscar Delgado-Perez, who was arrested in Montgomery County, Md., allegedly murdered Cristian Villigran-Morales by stabbing him more than 40 times, Heather Nauert reported on Fox and Friends Weekend. Villigran-Morales was working hard at a landscaping business to help his family who was living in his home country of Guatemala. Delgado-Perez was a reported member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, often known as “MS-13”, a violent Salvadoran gang active in the Washington metro area. As FoxNewsLatino reported: Delgado-Perez, 28, has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing Cristian Villigran-Morales more than 40 times – all to impress his gang, according to police. Delgado-Perez had been deported to El Salvador twice in the past two years, the Post said, citing U.S. immigration officials. Police found him at a Red Roof Inn on Wednesday. He was expected to show up at Montgomery County [Maryland] court on Friday. At least two other MS-13 gang members were involved in the stabbing, the Post said. Authorities say that the suspect “directed” the attack on Villigran-Morales, who evidently was lured into a park by a girl, Vanesa Alvarado, who suggested they might have sex. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, said that Delgado-Perez was deported to El Salvador on October 24, 2014 and on February 26, 2015. He could be deported again, though he would likely serve his sentence first. Montgomery County Police Department Chief Tom Manger said that while his agency supports cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents, his officers also must not be seen by the local immigrant community as quasi-immigration officials. What do you think? Let us know in the comments. Campus Controversies: Tampons In Men’s Room; Prof. Tears 9/11 Posters Clinton Rips ‘Reality TV Show’ Trump Campaign For ‘Unseemly’ Praising Of Putin Jon Scott: 15 Years After 9/11, the World Trade Center Site is Thriving |
Warning: even though this is the middle of November, I want you to know I practiced the abuse you are about to witness a month ago, before my Louisiana trip. And, I must reiterate, I am in Florida, don’t do this in Minnesota. Here’s the poor victim. Ficus microcarpa née retusa, in the vulgar tongue, tiger bark ficus. Are you ready? It’s not gonna be pretty, sorry. Oh, did you notice the broken branch? That’s what happens when you try to bend an unbendable branch. I didn’t need it anyway, first amputation. The roots need just a little work. I’m going to try to rake out the roots, it being so late in the season and all. Maybe I’ll get a workout today. So far so good…..uh oh! There’s a giant root in the middle that needs excising. Breakin’ out the saw! That’s a big chunk of root. I’m going to have to be a little more, ah..aggressive, as it were. Regular tools ain’t gonna cut it here…..sorry, bad pun. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound. I might as well fix the roots too. This grouping needs to be bent over and simplified…..I really need to focus on it a bit…. And this one is too chunky on the end but, more importantly, it needs to be bent up and flattened out. I undercut the bottom to help bend it (we don’t need another breaking incident) Some chopping. And zer roots ees done. I know, I was just going to comb them out. It’ll be ok, promise….I can see the future! (Actually, since it’s been a month and it’s growing again, I can safely say that what I’m doing here is not going to kill it. Or didn’t kill it. Or won’t….time travel grammar and getting the tense correct is hard). Since I chopped the bottom back so hard and traumatized about 2/3rds of my readership, I might as well go for 100%. Are you ready for the top chop? I think you are….you’ve been waiting the whole post. Why am I chopping it? Easy, there isn’t any taper (or very little) in the trunk. And with such beautiful roots, why shouldn’t the top follow? And I know that I’ll get new buds all over the tree. Here’s an example from earlier in the year on another tiger bark. I chopped it just above my ring finger and it’s grown about 40 new shoots; so many that I’ll need to thin it out or I’ll get a big ugly knob of a trunk. So…as you can guess…it’s the saw again. And I get a big cutting too! You bet that will root. Here’s the tree…. …..a little more pruning…. It looks like a voodoo talisman or some weird harvest doll. Freaky…I need to put it into a pot before it gets up and starts dancing. Looks like it fits. First, with a mostly rootless tree like this, fill up the pot with soil. Then you, gently but firmly, push the trunk into the soil, rocking and twisting it down to the level you want it. This ensures you don’t have any gaping air pockets. I made sure to tie it down into the pot….I don’t want any nighttime visitors seeking revenge…. I’m fertilizing heavily. And that’s it. This is the “front”, as far as it even having one yet. What I did here was a step in improving a piece of material that had good potential (but not necessarily style-able yet) and setting it on its path to being a good tree. Most professional bonsai people would have tried to make it pretty in one step, to make it easier to sell more quickly, but I’m more interested in the art and the growing and the teaching more than I am in the selling. Now, I think I need to tie the pot down to the bench too, that’s a creepy looking thing. Is anyone in Minnesota looking to buy a tree? |
No player in the NBA has spent more money on real estate than Miami Heat All-Star big man Chris Bosh. Citing data from Realtor.com, HoopsHype lists Bosh’s $12.3 million mansion as the priciest home in the NBA. Bosh’s home is in Miami, making him one of a league-leading 25 players who own a home in Florida. California comes in a close second with 24. As it so happens, Bosh owns a home there as well — it’s the third-most expensive in the league, valued at $9.4 million. Kobe Bryant also ranks highly on this list. He owns two properties that are valued at a combined $18 million. The dominance of Florida and Texas on this list isn’t surprising, given that neither state has a state income tax in place. And 23 states count no NBA players as residents. Sorry, New Mexico. |
Medicinal Cannabis is being used to treat a whole range of medical conditions, one of them being Medical Cannabis for asthma. As counterintuitive as it sounds vaping or even smoking some strains of cannabis has been shown to help relieve asthma symptoms in patients. Whilst this information is nothing new, we wanted to share the beneficial effects of medical cannabis for asthma sufferers. THC When you have an asthma attack, airways in your lungs constrict, causing shortness of breath and a painful tightness in the chest. The THC in medicinal cannabis has been proven to be an effective bronchodilator, which means that it relaxes and widens these airways, allowing more oxygen to flow freely through them. The reason for this is not entirely known, although it is thought that airways in the lungs contain cannabinoid receptors which react strongly and favourably to THC. Royal Queen Seeds says: Although several important studies have been conducted regarding the medical benefits of weed, a landmark study conducted by Dr. Donald Tashkin, first published in 1975, strongly suggests the sound medical evidence behind the use of medical marijuana for asthma sufferers. Doctor Tashkin is a highly-regarded pulmonologist who spent much of his career studying the effects of cannabis on various physical ailments and afflictions. The subjects of this particular study were 10 men and women with typical asthma symptoms. Asthma attacks were induced in the patients on a controlled basis, sometimes through exercise and sometimes through psychological suggestion. Some members of the control group were given medical marijuana in joint, pill, or vaporized form, while others were given a marijuana placebo. Simply stated, the results of the study show that the members of the group who were given medical cannabis experienced near-immediate relief of airway constriction, and were ultimately more relaxed and calm. Not only did they experience a profound relief from their symptoms, but the medicinal effects of the weed lasted much longer than those of a typical asthma inhaler. The control group members who were given the placebo experienced no such relief. Read the full article There are specific recommended strains such as Royal Medic or Dance World by Royal Queen Seeds that have been shown to help asthma sufferers on medicinal cannabis programmes in the Netherlands. Medical Cannabis for Asthma is a subject we are likely to see a lot more studies done on in the near future. CBD: Recent studies in Brazil have also shown that CBD may be an effective treatment for Asthma sufferers: Medical Jane reports that: Atopic diseases, or those that cause an individual to experience immediate allergic reactions (asthma being one of the more common), affect about 20 percent of the population in developed countries. Researchers looking for a way to combat the longtime public health concern conducted a series of tests involving the use of cannabidiol (CBD). Although the research used rats as subjects the results are nonetheless encouraging. Early research suggests that CBD is an effective treatment for minimizing the inflammation experienced by asthma sufferers. The study revealed that the rats treated with CBD experienced a reduction in two types of cytokines; known as Tp and Th2. In addition to showing that CBD treatment was effective in reducing cytokine levels, the study suggests that CBD may influence a reduction in the major stimuli of mucus hyper-secretion, another prominent symptom experienced by those with asthma. The findings of the study were consistent with that of the Ribero study, which shows CBD to have potent immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties. It is noted, however, that the asthma-associated inflammation of the rat models differed somewhat from that of the LPS-induced inflammation of the mice models being studied for decreasing inflammation due to lung injuries. Read the full article Further studies need to be done into CBD’s effects on medical cannabis for asthma but initial results seem promising. As always, please do your own thorough research before self-treating any condition, including cannabis for asthma. There are numerous resources available online including casestudies and informative articles by patients. Are you using medical cannabis for asthma? We would love to hear from you – tweet @ISMOKEMAG or email [email protected] |
Reach 7. Cornfield, looking downstream. Restored wetlands will have a "terraced connection" to the river. Last week, the Army Corps of Engineers changed their minds and decided to back the biggest, boldest restoration of the LA River (previously they'd been pushing a very modest plan, boo). If it's approved by Congress (which is likely, now that it's got the support of the Corps), Alternative 20 will transform two segments along the river—the LA State Historic Park (aka the Cornfield) and the Verdugo Wash—in addition to making all the the other improvements included in the other plans (like those in Taylor Yard and Piggyback Yard, to name a few). For most Angelenos, the river was, until fairly recently, a concrete channel running beneath the freeway, so here are a few visual aids to illustrate what the waterway could look like once it's been given a billion-dollar boost, courtesy of the Army Corps initial report on all the alternatives. Reach 3. Verdugo Wash, looking downstream Alternative 20 also ropes in all the upgrades proposed as part of the Alternative 10, 13, and 16 plans, including these ones we originally saw the Army Corps was pushing Alternative 13. Reach 6. Taylor Yard, looking downstream Reach 8. Piggyback Yard, looking southeastward · Feds Now Recommending Best and Biggest LA River Restoration [Curbed LA] · 7 Dramatic Before/Afters From the Huge LA River Rehab Plan [Curbed LA] · 2013 Was The First Year Of The Rest Of The LA River's Life [Curbed LA] |
Hayao Miyazaki is a name that needs no introduction – known across the world for his exquisitely animated and thought provoking masterpieces, Miyazaki’s works have been so well received that they pretty much occupy their own, unique space in the anime canon. But what exactly is it that sets his movies apart from the hundreds of other anime works produced on a yearly basis? Of course, a lot can be said about his dedication to hand-drawn techniques, his personal style, and the incredible amount of experience provided by himself and his team. However, for the purpose of this post, I’m going to focus in on something that’s more within my own wheelhouse – his characters and plot. I think one of the primary features of anime as an art form is a suspension of disbelief towards the characters and plot devices. Seeing a schoolgirl punch through a brick wall or hearing a cat talk are pretty mundane occurrences in the world of anime. For someone who is used to watching anime, it’s easy to simply take this as a given – the lack of realism in these regards are often considered merely superficial, a simple feature of the conduit through which the story is being told. But what happens when animators challenge this seemingly fundamental attribute? Miyazaki’s films are very purposeful and meaningful in their treatment of realism. Whether this is an intentional subversion of the tropes of the medium or not is unclear, but regardless, it stands in stark contrast to the rest of the anime canon. Rather than simply switching between realistic and unrealistic portrayals of characters on a whim, as most anime do, Miyazaki makes his characters very realistic at their core, and then weaves his own brand of surrealism into the environment in such a way that doesn’t compromise the relevance of his characters. He tries to make his characters as faithful to the human psyche as he can, and then surrounds them in a world that allows those characters to deal with interesting and profound challenges. This organic approach to storytelling is key to why Miyazaki’s works resonate so deeply with us. They utilize the medium of animation to construct deeply engrossing and thought-provoking environments that could not be replicated in live action films, but because his characters are so accurate to real human beings, they maintain an acute relevance to our own lives. I could probably write a whole book about Hayao Miyazaki’s treatment of realism, but in the interest of time I will stop at simply making the point that Miyazaki’s subversion of the normally arbitrary treatment of realism in anime serves to heighten the realism – and as a result, the relevance – of his own films. I’ll end with one of my favorite Hayao Miyazaki quotes, which I feel exemplifies Miyazaki’s accomplishments in this area: “I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live – if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.” -Hayao Miyazaki Advertisements |
For those questioning Twilight's wings, I'll paste a comment I left down below, in response to ~ widsithgrey , that might explain it.I don't think normal ponies would live quite long enough for [Twilight] to still be alive as her normal self, after Spike has matured and (presumably) slept for 100 years. I wanted her to be there when he was waking up, though, so I decided to go with the ever popular idea of the mane six gaining extended lives and turning into alicorns. Or Twilight, at least.Especially after the latest episodes. Celestia said Discord ruled before she and her sister (and maybe the holders of the other elements? who knows) gained control of the elements and trapped him in stone. Now that Twilight and company have the Elements, I quite like the idea of them ruling after Celestia. |
Water stains on the ceiling tipped off homeowner Wes Lysack that something was wrong. "There was roughly seven spots per room that were the size of about a baseball in the middle of the room," said Lysack. Turned out the water was coming from ice melting in the attic. It's a problem known as "attic rain." Warm, moist air sneaks into the attic, freezes during cold weather and then melts during warm spells like chinooks, leaking water into the home. Home inspector Jeff Howells says recent frigid weather in Alberta could trigger more cases of ice rain than last winter. (Dave Gilson/CBC) Calgary home inspector Jeff Howells says recent frigid weather in Alberta could trigger more cases of attic rain than last winter. "The longer it stays cold outside, the more frost is going to accumulate," he said. Attic rain can be more likely to affect newer homes Attic rain can be more common in newer, more energy-efficient homes that do a better job containing warm air and moisture, said Howells. All it takes is a few holes around fixtures such as bathroom vents and lights that have not been adequately moisture-sealed to send warm air into the attic. "We've seen it as thick as six to eight inches of frost," he said. Darrell Paul, with Qualistat Building Performance Consultants, says the problem could be more noticeable this winter. With warmer weather on the way, homeowners have to be wary of "attic rain." 0:47 "If you've got a long period of time when you've got that cold and all of a sudden it warms up very quickly, people can have water dripping into their ceiling," he said. "We've had, especially this year with all the cold weather we've had — extended cold weather — we've had a significant number of phone calls." Paul says he hopes that new building code regulations will help address some of the design and airflow issues that contribute to attic rain. Homeowners urged to inspect attics Meanwhile, Lysack is still assessing the damage and whether repairs can be covered by insurance or his home warranty, but he has advice for other homeowners. "I think you should go up in your attic to look around, especially when it's cold and see if you have problems like that." Howells says homeowners can also look for signs like water streaks on the exterior walls of the home. |
When you develop Angular apps, you'll find that you may want to alter the appearance of certain HTML elements based on certain conditions that occur. The way you handle these situations is through class binding and style binding. But first, if you prefer to watch a video tutorial on this subject: A Quick Note There are 2 methods of class and style binding. One method is based on changing a single class or style, while the other is based on changing multiple classes or styles. First, we'll tackle the easier of the two, which is changing a single property. Class Binding (Changing a Single Class) Changing a single class is fairly straight forward. We first have to attach the class prefix along with the associated class name, to the HTML element(s) that we want to affect: import { Component } from '@angular/core'; @Component({ selector: 'my-app', template: ` <button class="my-btn" [class.extraclass]="someProperty">Call to Action</button> `, styles: [` .my-btn { font-size:1.7em; } .extraclass { background: black; color: white; } `] }) export class AppComponent { someProperty = true; } As shown above, we add class and then a . followed by the class name, to a given HTML element. Then Then we define the class name in the styles property of the Component metadata. And finally, we define the property of "someProperty" (you can name this whatever you like) in the component class. Typically, this property would be defined or not defined based on logic in your app. Style Binding (Changing a Single Style) Changing a single style is very similar to the process of changing a single class. In fact, the only line that has to change is the HTML defining the button in the template property of the component metadata. //.. other code <button class="my-btn" [style.border]="someProperty ? '5px solid yellow' : 'none'">Call to Action 2</button> //.. other code Changing Multiple Classes through Class Binding If you want to append or remove multiple classes through class binding, you have to use a different approach. You must use the NgClass directive. Here's how you use it: //.. component metadata <button class="my-btn" [ngClass]="setClasses()">Call to Action</button> , styles: [` .my-btn { font-size:1.7em; } .extraclass { background: black; color: white; } .anotherclass { font-weight:bold; } `] }) export class AppComponent { someProperty = true; anotherProperty = true; setClasses() { let classes = { extraclass: this.someProperty, anotherclass: this.anotherProperty, }; return classes; } } We attach the [ngClass] directive to the HTML element. Then we specify a method such as "setClasses()". We then must define this method in our app component. "extraclass" will be added to the classes attribute of the HTML element if this.someProperty is defined, and the same applies to the anotherclass CSS class. Note: You can also use !this.someProperty |
Share this with your friends Blessings to you Mary Jane Doe, I’m a vegan Earth mother with a cornucopia of organic foods and natural remedies filling my kitchen and home. I’ve been taking the sacrament of high CBD Cannabis for my pain for years and it has been working great. (I used to be a long-distance runner until my knees exploded. Ugh. Shorter distances now.) My mom and I are fighting a lot lately. She is super convinced that HER doctor practices REAL medicine and my all-natural approach is bad for me and not science. She told me last week cannabis doctors are just “snake-oil stoners” and her doctor prescribes only real medications. This harshes my mellow, but I really can’t help but notice my previously healthy mom is now on six daily prescription medications and seems to have lost her fucking mind over the last few years. She loves to brag that she is “drug-free” because she doesn’t drink any alcohol. Who’s right? Confused Cammy from Cali Hi CaliCammy, “He doesn’t do drugs. He was on some medication the doctor ordered.” Let that statement sink in. As your mother demonstrated perfectly, the media has successfully won in their decades-long vocabulary management operation to convince nearly all of us that pharmaceutical-industry medications are good for you while natural, neutraceutical, supplemental or “street” drugs are bad for you. Even the words themselves have starkly different connotations. Drug, bad. Medication, good. Fact. It is indisputable we are becoming a culture of mass psychoactive drug abuse: Prozac – Zoloft – Paxil – Adderall – Benadryl – Ritalin – Clozaril – Seroquel – Depakote – Abilify – Effexor – Welbutrin – Sarafem – Lamictal – Ambien – Cymbalta – Celexa – Lexapro – Lithium – Strattera – Trazodone – Xanax. Xanax. Fucking Xanax! Xanax, like all benzodiazepines, are generally terrible. The benzos are any of a particular molecular configuration that act as short-acting, psychoactive sedative “anti-anxiety” compounds. If your mom was otherwise healthy and now she’s on “six daily prescription medications,” there’s a pretty good chance she’s on a benzo. Remember Librium? That was 1960, Valium hit in ’63. Ativan? 1977. Dalmane? Restoril? Klonopin? Xanax. The newer shit same as the same old shit, which now includes rapefave Rohypnol. What?! A near-instant onset, cognitive impairment inducing amnesiac dissociative! Hooray!! Roof, roof! Hilarious rape-drug jokes aside, know this: Benzos are ALL totally rock-and-roll addictive, rape-y or not, and the withdrawal experience following long-term use of any of them ranges from terribly unpleasant to fucking deadly. So, as she so defensively pointed out, at least your mom isn’t mixing benzos with booze, right? That would be a clear contraindication for benzo administration. (It says so right there on the exploding 4-point arial poster-sized insert that unfortunately few ever actually read.) Good thing nobody ever takes ’em with booze. OH! and the booze. The Four Lokos and the disgusting hiphopwhore binge-drinking Red Bull-whatever-and-malt-liquor slurries and the Adult Chocolate Milk in delicious sticky strawberry– there’s been no abatement of our planet’s tsunami of substandard booze to rinse down our retarding pharmamentarium… poured down adjacent our smoldering, cancerous mine shafts of nicotine, the tragic childhood chemistry-set fire that is “5-Hour Energy,” a veritable ocean of shitty, burned-to-shit bittershitty fucking Starbucks brown caffeine water! Tell me just one more time how we’re a drug-free culture, mom? So, “He doesn’t do drugs. He was on some medication the doctor ordered.” I’m quoting Tennis Maynard’s godmother, Glenda Fischer, right after Tennis shot Eugene Crum, the Sheriff of Mingo County, West Virginia, point-blank dead on his lunch break a couple weeks back. He shot the Sheriff. Well, shucks! At least he wasn’t on the drugs. Your mother, and much of society-at-large it would seem, is just as confused as Glenda. But their confusion is not because the subject matter is challenging. Their confusion is deliberate, and the result of the media, government and pharmaceutical industry double-speak and distortions. Amongst the results? Drug pushing, self-righteous moms and a drug store on every corner. I suspect you, personally, already know the Truth. If industry-self-regulated, poorly-tested petroleum-derived synthetics are “medicine,” then Cannabis is medicine too. Medicines. It must be. A gentle reminder to your mother, Cammy, at the appropriate moment: Number of accidental human Cannabis overdose fatalities to date: zero. “A gentle reminder to your mother, Cammy, at the appropriate moment: Number of accidental human Cannabis overdose fatalities to date: zero.” Overused factoid? totally. Paracelsus* famously wrote “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.” Toxicology gold, that, and very metal. (As in heavy metal, like zinc). Toxicologically-speaking, though, let us not pretend for one stinky moment that Cannabis plants getting yanked out of the living earth, stuffed into a pipe and smoked haven’t received just a bit more real-world testing over the course of 3,000+ years of global and pervasive human use, as compared to, say, Xanax, circa 1981. If we’re going to societally concede the pharmaceutical industry-funded psychiatrists themselves are allowed to define which synthetic compounds are best to “treat” your particular skull-full-of-50-years-worth-of-fucked-up-experiences, and all after only a 20-minute consultation, fine. Many of your relatives, Cammy, have likely given up that territory already. I know mine have. But telling us to believe all of the collective experiences of humankind, in co-evolution with the Cannabis plant, in addition to the literal explosion of basic medical sciences, applied sciences, in vivo, in vitro and in silico-based, peer-reviewed, industry AND public AND governmentally-funded laboratory-generated research published on the subject? If mom’s going to tell us to believe ALL of that is wrong, Xanax is perfect and Cannabis isn’t medicinal? Well, we cannot abide. Future pharmacoarchaeologists studying our culture will be wondering why there appears to have been a very strict anti-drug sentiment on the books, but there were fucking pill bottles everywhere. Be strong. MJD _______________________ *Paracelsus, born 1493, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. A double shot of proper espresso goes to the first person who names their child “Theophrastus Bombastus” Anything. *P-Dogg also named zinc. |
Need a new way to keep tabs on your child?A father in Tennessee may have the answer.Chris Early uses an eye in the sky to watch his eight-year-old daughter.Early, from Knoxville, is a techie and he loves to play with his new drone.He owns a production company and loves to see what new things he can do with it.A few weeks ago he used it to when his daughter Katie asked to walk to school on her own.As she was walking out of the door, the father got out his new toy and took video of her during her morning stroll."I could see on the monitor that a lot of the kids were looking and pointing", said Chris Early. "And I'm sure Katie was just like, 'It's my dad.'"Believe it or not, Katie said she's cool with her dad checking up on her.While some say he's being overprotective, Chris says it was just for fun. He's just happy knowing she's safe.It might be a different story when she becomes a teenager. |
A 23-year-old skier has died after losing control and crashing into multiple trees at the Killington Resort in Vermont.State police said 23-year-old Terence Scott of Nashua, New Hampshire, was skiing down the mountain with family and friends on Saturday afternoon when the crash happened. His helmet came off during the crash.Police said Scott was immediately attended to by an EMT, doctor and nurse. He was unconscious throughout treatment and was pronounced dead at the mountain a short time later.Scott was described as an expert skier. The crash happened on an intermediate trail.Police said just before the crash, Scott was described as moving at a fast speed and had attempted to turn onto a connector trail while avoiding another skier.12967056 A 23-year-old skier has died after losing control and crashing into multiple trees at the Killington Resort in Vermont. State police said 23-year-old Terence Scott of Nashua, New Hampshire, was skiing down the mountain with family and friends on Saturday afternoon when the crash happened. His helmet came off during the crash. Advertisement Police said Scott was immediately attended to by an EMT, doctor and nurse. He was unconscious throughout treatment and was pronounced dead at the mountain a short time later. Scott was described as an expert skier. The crash happened on an intermediate trail. Police said just before the crash, Scott was described as moving at a fast speed and had attempted to turn onto a connector trail while avoiding another skier. AlertMe |
The SEAT Leon Eurocup is one of the better mods for rFactor 2, for those looking for a touring car similar to the Renaults that are currently available. Announced last year by Tommy78, the SEAT has progressed quite nicely, and has seen regular updates. Now, we have a new update for the mod, bringing the car to version 1.5. The SEAT Leon Eurocup car is powered by a 2.0L Turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, generating around 330 BHP. The car features a FWD drivetrain, and uses a 6-speed DSG semi-automatic gearbox. Being a spec-series, anyone is able to purchase the car, provided they have a spare 70,000€. The changelog for this update is relatively small, consisting primarily of FFB and tire fixes. Grip for dry and wet tires has been adjusted to more realistic levels during wet conditions, and the Force Feedback has been modified to allow for default FFB multiplier. For the full list of updates, check out the changelog below. Have you given this mod a spin? What are your thoughts? Let us know! Download SEAT Leon Eurocup v1.5 Changelog – Fixed tire grip (slick and wet) at wet conditions – Tweaked Nominal Max Steering Torque, now you can use with the default (1.0) ffb multiplieer – Added #61 Mario Dablander livery |
Brexit negotiations are underway and while trade and immigration remain dominant concerns, there is one significant issue that has not made headlines. On the anniversary of the EU vote, here are eight ways Brexit has hit science, tech and design Brexit On the anniversary of the EU vote, here are eight ways Brexit has hit science, tech and design It is entirely possible that when the UK leaves Europe on 30 March 2019, it will also leave the European Medicines Agency (EMA), a collaborative venture between all of Europe’s regulatory bodies that speeds up the approval of new drugs. Any drug approved in any of the 28 member states can then be sold across all 28 markets. Without the EMA, there is a real danger the UK could end up at the end of the pecking order, an unattractive single market that drugs manufacturers will never go to first before the world’s biggest markets: the US, Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia. The knock-on effects to the cost of drugs in the UK, to access to cutting-edge medicines, and to UK research efforts, could be devastating. Advertisement “Pharmaceutical companies will go to the Americans first because they pay the most and uptake is fast there; then Europe because it’s one submission for 28 countries, then they tend to go to Japan because there are 128 million people and it has a high GDP,” Anthony Hatswell from independent health economics consultancy BresMed and University College London PhD, tells WIRED. “If you look at it commercially or ethically, 128 million people compared to our 65 million, you go to the 128 million first. Regulators ask a lot of questions and put the drug companies through the ringer, and all regulators ask different things. So they have to prioritise...the claim of UK patients having to wait for two to three years for access to novel treatments does not sound unreasonable.” "No one picked up how much of big deal this is and I don’t think they realise how much they could royally screw things up" Anthony Hatswell, BresMed Read next Think Facebook has an anti-vaxxer problem? You should see Amazon Think Facebook has an anti-vaxxer problem? You should see Amazon Hatswell has penned an article in the journal ecancermedicalscience, out today, which explores these themes and implores regulators, drug companies and politicians to take heed of this potentially damaging path. Currently, the EMA helps distribute and share an otherwise enormous workload. Each new drug submission leads to the appointment of a ‘rapporteur’ from one of the member state's own regulatory bodies, who assesses the medicine, looking at efficacy, data results, manufacturing standards, adverse effects and more. Hatswell is concerned that because there are not many researchers working in this field, where regulation, commercial sales, and market access intersect, the issue has not been given due focus. Advertisement “I read all the (political) manifestos, and not one said anything about it. The Brexit stuff was very short on detail. No one picked up how much of big deal this is and I don’t think they realise how much they could royally screw things up.” If the UK reverts to relying solely on its own regulatory body, not only does it face the cost burden of taking on all the regulatory work, it also has a history of being overly cautious when it comes to regulating new drugs and this fact could be exasperated. The National Institute For Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), part of the Department of Health, is tasked with approving drugs for the NHS that are cost effective and have value for money. The result is that the UK has to take a pragmatic approach to some drugs that might only add four to five weeks to life, says Hatswell. “The UK can be stingy in paying for drugs. If a drug adds a small time to life, the UK is generally not prepared to pay for it, and I don’t disagree. But you may run into problems ten years down the line.” This is because if we fail to license a drug, by the time it becomes the standard of care ten years later we won’t have access to the original, cheaper generic version. On top of taking over the EMA’s work, carrying out all the regulatory work by ourselves and inspecting manufacturers, we might also be burdened with the cost of higher priced drugs later down the line. Hatswell gives the example of emflaza, a steroid for muscular dystrophy that has been licensed in Europe for 40 years. Today, it is off-patent and the standard of care. However, it wasn’t made available and licensed in the US at that time. A drugs company that got the same drug type licensed in the US and received exclusivity over sales there proceeded to “jack up the price 89-fold,” says Hatswell. “Leaving the EMA could leave us open to that kind of exploitation.” Read next Forget blood tests. Breath analysis could help us diagnose diseases Forget blood tests. Breath analysis could help us diagnose diseases Subscribe to WIRED Advertisement As well as potentially being stuck with more expensive drugs, we will also lack the basic foundations for research that will put us behind the rest of the world, argues Hatswell. When it comes to carrying out clinical trials, UK patients will present a different research base from every other nation where the drugs were available years earlier. Candidates will have experienced different first line treatment from the modern standard of care. Leaving the EMA could mean the UK has to lobby drug companies to apply for UK licensing; we may also be forced to accept higher prices to make the UK a more attractive market. Hatswell concludes in his paper: “If the vital area of pharmaceutical regulation is neglected, irreparable harm could be done to the health of the UK population for generations to come.” There is a chance of ensuring a better path forward, though. The UK already carries out about a third of EMA’s workload, making us an attractive partner to maintain. EMA’s headquarters is currently based in London. If we could stay in the EMA but potentially retain an independence that is beneficial to us, we could end up with an even better regulatory stance. “It seems we are going to have Brexit, but how can we leave it in a not terrible way. If this is about having more freedom, let’s make the most of it and stay part of EMA but give our regulator additional freedoms. If we think the US has done a good job, why not take the FDA’s recommendations up?” "Take back control", they said. It turns out, that could also mean taking on the daily cost of regulating and approving drugs. Work that, until Brexit, was shared by 28 member states that are part of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). To avoid this, now is the time to do what Michael Gove warned us not to - listen to the experts, says Anthony Hatswell Christopher Furlong / Getty Advertisement There tends to be a great deal of agreement between regulators, he argues, so why wait for our own body to authorise something if we agree with and trust the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) finding. The UK can also remain a member of the EMA but, as Hatswell points out in his article, “accept the decisions with political oversight oversight (as currently happens with the European Commission)”. Having the European Commission, a purely political, non-scientific entity, approve an EMA decision adds more than two months to the drug regulation procedure. Bypassing this is an attractive benefit. “Such an arrangement would put the UK in a better position than the good position it is in currently. This would give patients (both now and in the future) the best access to treatment possible, and promote/attract an industry which employs (directly and indirectly) 500,000 jobs.” Brexit campaigner Michael Gove might have famously said “people in this country have had enough of experts” when asked to provide just one example of an economist that backed an exit but Hatswell says now is the time to let the experts get on with what they do best, and continue a collaboration with our European partners that has proved fundamentally beneficial to every UK citizen receiving free healthcare, to date. “What is needed to avoid disaster is for the case for collaboration to be made clearly by all stakeholders,” Hatswell writes in ecancermedicalscience. “Rather than treating the topic as a chip in trade negotiations, politicians need to give freedom to and empower the highly skilled staff at the MHRA and EMA to work together to find the best solution. Ideology should not trump the benefits of cooperation, beneficial to both parties, and whilst it will be sad to see the EMA leave the UK, this should not be the end of a productive relationship that has done great things for patients across Europe. If the situation is handled with the necessary respect and delicacy, it can continue to do so.” |
Gamescom 2011 - Mass Effect 3 updates I will be updating this thread continiously throughout the week with the latest information regarding Mass Effect 3. Upload images and videos when I get a hold of them, and start listing new known features. Also, please note that you will mainly see mainly action focused videos in trailers and marketing for the simple reason that they want to avoid spoilers a lot more this time. For ME2 there was a lot of criticism for excessive spoiling of the story. Current schedule for ME3 is as followed: Date Time - CET Time - PST Presentation Type Status & Links Tuesday, August 16th 16:00 - 17:00 7:00AM - 8:00AM Day 0 Presentation Finished Wednesday, August 17th 19:00 - 19:05 10:00AM - 10:05AM FemShep Update Finished Thursday, August 18th 18:15 - 18:30 9:15AM - 9:30AM Producer Q&A - Michael Gamble Finished Friday, August 19th 16:00 - 16:15 7:00AM - 7:15AM Interview - Gavin Dunne Finished Friday, August 19th 18:15 - 19:30 9:15AM - 10:30AM Producer Q&A - Michael Gamble Finished Saturday, August 20th 11:30 - 12:00 2:30AM - 3:00AM Producer Q&A - Michael Gamble Finished Saturday, August 20th 12:15 - 12:45 3:15AM - 3:45AM EA Q&A - Michael Gamble Finished Saturday, August 20th 16:00 - 16:15 7:00AM - 7:15AM Interview - Patryk Olejniczak Finished Recordings from the two Saturday streams seem to have been lost. Day 0 - Press Conference Mass Effect 3: Squad Leader - Minor new details and it's part of a series of videos. The engineer was showcased, using both Incinerate and Cryo Blast. The heavy melee attack is an incinerating omni-blade. Liara gets picked up and crushed by the Atlas mech. Apparently not wise to stand near it. Day 1 - Day of FemShep On Bioware Pulse, David Silverman announced a second round of voting for the femShep appearence on their Facebook page. The hair style is locked, but you vote between a brunette, regular blonde, dirty blonde or redhead. The final face of the female Shepard to be voted for I created a poll for you guys to vote from. The official voting will be going on for a week and the winner announced at PAX. Day 2 - Mass Effect 3 Q&A Q&A Summary The CE Robot dog is possible to interact with aboard the Normandy, like having it follow you around, play fetch and it apparently has a story to it. No details on whether it's combat able or not though. Character creator will get a lot more hair styles and facial features in ME3. So expect the hairstyles from the femShep competition to make it into the CC. They are considering an Uber achievement for all three games. What that is exactly is they don't know, but they want to reward their long term fans. All squad mates will get their story and closure for ME3 even if they might not be a permanent squad member. We'll see more of the Yahg (The former Shadow Broker) Not loyalty of people, but loyalty of races. Less focus on building loyalty with squad members and more on the various races. So expect previous loyalty and decisions to play a part in this. XP system goes back to ME1. No details but they won't do the mission summary XP from ME2. The fate of the squad mates will not always be up to the player and decisions that feels right can prove to be harmful. The banter will be increased significantly since the squad member group is smaller this time. The ending of ME3 will give closure to the trilogy so don't expect answers on post ME3 DLC until the game is out. There will not be an SDK after Mass Effect 3. Day 3 - A song for the Normandy and more ME3 Q&A Gavin Dunne, the creator of the fan song "Commander Shepard", was interviewed today and showed his latest song Normandy. Q&A Summary Special guest, Casey Hudson, was unable to join David Silverman on the stream so it became a Q&A similar to yesterday. Oh well. Joker EDI romance is being "looked at". Aside from the Krogan princess, we will apparently not see female counterparts of turians, salarians and so on in ME3 either. Mods for ME2 has to be remade for ME3. Thane is still alive in ME3. (if he survived Collector Base) Kelly Chambers will return. Romance between Joker and Shepard is a case of "you have to play it to see it" If Hammerhead or Mako returns it's closer to critical path missions. Don't expect exploration using these vehicles. The Normandy will be upgraded by the Systems Alliance, so resource gathering for the ship is not likely this time. The geth quarian conflict will be concluded. Existing music from ME1 and ME2 will make its way into ME3. Side quests will pretty much always be in line with the critical path story. Classes will get new powers with up to six different ways to customize each power Squad mates appearances and armor will be possible to customize again. Seems Cerberus will be a full blown antagonist and not possible to align with in ME3. They have DECIDED about whether you'll get to see Tali's face or not. Day 4 - ME3 Q&A's and Patryk Olejniczak Bioware Q&A Summary There may be time sensitive story elements though it will be more focused ones like the Normandy crew. ME3 will make you cry! There will be a larger variety of environments compared to ME2. Heavy melee will pretty much always kill a target, but defensive factors like armor, barriers and shields will affect the outcome. Also don't try to melee an Atlas mech. There will be mini games though no announcements. We may see Quarians without masks. Whether that would include Tali or not was left unsaid. see Quarians without masks. Whether that would include Tali or not was left unsaid. The choices you make in the trial at the beginning of ME3 will set the tone for the future in the game James Vega's voice actor will be announced really soon and is apparently a closely guarded secret, since he's really awesome. Indoctrination seem to play a role in ME3, possibly including party members. Kal'Reegar will return in ME3. They are discussing possibilities of missions that ties back to your background choice for Shepard. You have a lot more romance options in ME3. Possibly not limited to party members. EA Q&A Summary You will be able to change class if you import your ME2 Shepard to ME3. Though you will have to start from Lvl 1 while kept class will get Import+ perks. Legion will return with a larger role in ME3. There may be a 'special' import for saves where Shepard died. The interest is clearly too big for them to simply ignore such a treat. be a 'special' import for saves where Shepard died. The interest is clearly too big for them to simply ignore such a treat. Miranda will be back and has unfinished business with Shepard. Shepard's SPECTRE status will play part in ME3 and change things if you had the status reinstated in ME2. Conrad Verner's back. Normandy will be the SR-2 with an Alliance paint and some redesigned interiors. Joker will apparently be happy with it. How many team mates you speak to at the same time aboard the Normandy depends on the context of the missions. You'll have debriefings after each mission that are deeper than ME2, but you are still likely to only talk to the squad mates one on one outside of that. Fan Art Fan artist Patryk Olejniczak, or Patryk Garrett on deviantart, was interviewed in the final livestream for Mass Effect. He showed off his last piece as a fan artist before he joins the team at Bioware as an artist for the marketing department. Sample of his final piece. The full image will be posted when he returns from Gamescom. Images More of German Shepard's exploits can be found here. There's the Shepard we know! Clash of the Franchises Shepard Wins - Friendship! Day 1 - Press Line Day 2 opening - 4 hour line Day 1 - Press Line Incineration Omni-Blade Adept Heavy Melee Atlas Mech Bringing the pain Man Vs. Machine Batarian Husk Must go faster. Must go faster! . Videos |
Despite it seeming like there was more buzz for the rematch than there was for their first fight in 2012, the April 12 HBO pay-per-view rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley did disappointing pay-per-view buys, with promoter Bob Arum telling ESPN.com that the fight did about 750,000 to 800,000 buys. Arum admitted the numbers were a disappointment, and it appears now that the mediocre U.S. PPV returns for this fight may lead Pacquiao back to Macau, where he fought Brandon Rios last November. "We're between 750,000 and 800,000. Sure, it's a disappointment... I'm telling you, it is what it is. The numbers are the numbers. Having (future Pacquiao) fights in Macau makes so much sense because we can do huge site fees and we want to launch pay-per-view in China. We couldn't get it up and running for the Rios fight but we will, and then, between that and the site fee, we won't be so reliant on the pay-per-view in the United States." Pacquiao-Rios did even worse on pay-per-view, but Arum is now, obviously, focusing less on that and more on revenue from other streams. Don't be mistaken, though. It's not that Arum wants to halfway throw in the towel on U.S. PPV money, it's just that he sees it for what it is. Manny Pacquiao's time as a million seller on pay-per-view, at least as an automatic million, are over. Arum believes, too, that the lack of a Mexican or Hispanic opponent hurt the fight, saying that Bradley and Top Rank tried to "energize the black community, without that much success." Should Pacquiao and Arum head back to Macau for their next fight? Is it time to take advantage of that budding market and perhaps leave Vegas behind? |
MONTREAL — On Friday, April 24, the Canadian Parliament unanimously adopted Motion 587, officially declaring April 24 Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in Canada. The adoption of the motion is the result of efforts by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of Canada and AGBU Canada. During the session, Conservative Member of Parliament Brad Butt spoke about the importance of the motion. “Mr. Speaker, as time passes, it becomes even more imperative for moral societies such as ours to remain firm in our commitment to memory. Without active efforts such as those proposed by Motion 587, there is always the risk that the memory of historical genocides could be lost, minimized or even denied. Indeed, in recent years, we have seen an unfortunate rise around the world in the heinous practice of Holocaust denial and in the denial of other genocides. The only appropriate response is to strongly reaffirm our collective commitment as a society to remember and commemorate genocide, to educate future generations about the poisonous effects of hate and intolerance and to uphold the importance of preventing such atrocities from ever reoccurring,” said Butt. AGBU Canada Executive Board member Hagop Arslanian-one of the architects of the presentation and the successful adoption of the motion-commented on the historic development. “The adoption of Motion 587, which also declares the month of April as Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month, has special significance not only in Canadian political life but in the community of nations. Canada has once again reaffirmed its role in the international community as a staunch defender of human rights. This decision in defense of justice is a serious response to Turkey and its denialist policies,” said Arslanian. |
Niger is twice as large as France in area, composed of eight regions and six different ethnicities. It was also the country with the lowest Human Development Index in 2012. These factors make for a fragile social fabric in Niger, due perhaps to increasing inequalities and heterogeneous demographics. Sport is at times an ideal vehicle to reinforce social links in Nigerien communities. This is why the community of Kalfou in the department of Tahoua organise an annual football tournament, bringing together various clubs from around the region. Hamzajaba, a member of the Rising Voices’ project Mapping for Niger, participated in this tournament. He says [fr]: Ce tournoi a été organisé par un ressortissant d’un village appelé « Guidan Toudou ». Le tournoi est composé de huit (8) villages qui sont répartis en deux poules A et B. La poule A est composée de : Guidan Toudou, Alibou, Toudouni et Tounga et la poule B est composée de : Samo, Karaji Sud, Guidan Gara et Galmawa. [..] la finale a opposée Guidan Toudou& Karaji Sud avec un score de 3 buts à 0 en faveur de Guidan Toudou suite au forfait de Karaji Sud. Ce tournoi s'est déroulé dans une parfaite ambiance, pleine de faire play et l’objectif a donc été atteint. J’ai rencontré pas mal des jeunes et même des collègues avec qui j'ai été au collège. Guidan Toudou a gagné le trophée avec comme récompense 70 000 FCFA; le 2ème, Karaji Sud, a été recompensé de 40 000 FCFA et le 3ème Galmawa 20 000 FCFA. Toutes les équipes qui ont participé ont bénéficié d’un ballon. This tournament was organised by the village group Guidan Toudou. The tournament is composed of eight (8) villages who were divided into two groups, A and B. Group A is composed of: Guidan Toudo, Alibou, Toudouni and Tounga and group B is composed of: Samo, Karaji Sud, Guidan Gara and Galmawa. […] the final placed Guidan Toudou and Karaji Sud with a score of 3 goals to 0 in favor of Guidan Toudo, following a forfeit from Karaji Sud. This tournament took place in a perfect ambiance, full of fair play and thus the objective was obtained. I met quite a few young people and even some colleagues with whom I attended secondary school. Guidan Toudou won the trophy with 70 000 FCFA as a reward; the second, Karaji Sud, was awarded 40 000 FCFA and the third Galmawa 20 000 FCFA. All of the teams who participated received a football. Football has always been a passion for Nigeriens. One of the most well known celebrities in Niger is a former footballer, Moussa Kanfideni, who was the captain of the national team in the '80s. His name was immortalised in the the creation of the first training center for future leaders in football, the Souley Académie Sports (SACA-Sports). Ousmane Keïta explains the role of this training center and foodball [fr] in general in the education of young Nigeriens: L’ambition de la Souley Académie Sports est claire : combler un grand vide en contribuant non seulement à la formation du champion, mais aussi de l’intellectuel de demain. En d’autres termes, le centre vise à forger le citoyen modèle, préparé pour évoluer dans l’adversité, la concurrence. The goal of the Souley Académie Sports is clear: to fill a large gap and to contribute not only to the training of champions, but also to the intellectuals of tomorrow. In other words, the center aims to form a model citizen, prepared to perform in the face of adversity, competition. Other academies, like Atcha académie [fr], have created programs to target the schooling of young people through sport. Equally, the technical center of the Nigerien Federation of Football (FENIFOOT) was recently established in the north of Niamey, the capital of Niger. News blog A Niamey explains the goals of this center [fr]: Les premiers pensionnaires du centre sont au total 52 jeunes talents, de moins de 15 ans, qui ont été présélectionnés sur l’ensemble du territoire national. le Niger compte sortir de ces jeunes formés l’équipe nationale qui va représenter le pays à la Coupe d’Afrique des moins de 17 ans prévue en 2015 à Niamey. The first members of the sport center are in total 52 talented youth under age 15, who were preselected through the national territory. Niger counts on these young trainees of the national team who will represent the country in the uner-17s African Cup in 2015 in Niamey. The national team is also a vehicle for solidarity and national mobilisation. The following video is a message from members of the Nigerien football team about the famine in Niger: |
Sen. Lindsey Graham; Nada Bakos, a former CIA analyst; Michael Weiss, senior editor at The Daily Beast; and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Josh Barro/Business Insider BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA — Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Tuesday that the Republican Party had "lost its way" by supporting a candidate who says Middle East and North African countries are better off governed by brutal strongmen. "You go live in Gaddafi's Libya," he said in a session at the Milken Institute Global Conference. He was addressing Donald Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner, who was not present. In a February debate, Trump said: "We would be so much better off if Gaddafi would be in charge right now." He has also said that the US would be better off with Saddam Hussein still leading Iraq. "Isn't it too bad that we knocked him out in the first place?" he said in a recent Fox News interview. "You want to be the leader of the friggin' free world, and you're yearning for dictators," Graham said on Tuesday of his former GOP rival. "I'm a Republican, and my party has lost its way, in terms of the Donald." Graham, who ran a campaign highly critical of Trump, effectively conceded that Republicans will lose the general election with Trump as their nominee. "The next president of the United States, whoever she may be," will have to take on radical Islam, he said. In the same session, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair did not directly answer a question about whether the current chaos in Iraq and Syria is a result of the American-British decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Blair and Graham commiserated over their respective parties' troubles over the past few months. "You're still a Republican, right?" Blair asked Graham. "I'm in the British Labour Party. We're hanging on in there, in our separate ways." Like the Republican Party, Labour has suffered from public infighting in recent months, most recently over anti-Semitic comments by prominent party members. |
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday approved an anti-terrorism law that sets up special courts and provides protections to its enforcers in the face of a two-year-long insurgency that aims to topple his government. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, April 23, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh The law also details sentences for various terrorism crimes ranging from five years to the death penalty. It also shields those applying it, such as the military and police, from legal ramifications for the proportionate use of force “in performing their duties.” Sisi had promised a tougher legal system in July, after a car bomb attack that killed the top public prosecutor, the highest level state official to be killed in years. Forming or leading a group deemed a “terrorist entity” by the government will be punishable by death or life in prison. Membership in such a group will carry up to 10 years in jail. Financing “terrorist groups” will also carry a penalty of life in prison, which in Egypt is 25 years. Inciting violence, which includes “promoting ideas that call for violence” will lead to between five and seven years in jail, as will creating or using websites that spread such ideas. Journalists will be fined for contradicting the authorities’ version of any terrorist attack. The original draft of the law was amended following domestic and international outcry after it initially called for imprisonment for such an offence. Egypt is facing an increasingly violent insurgency in North Sinai, where the most active militant group has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Cairo and other cities have also witnessed attacks. The insurgency, which has killed hundreds of soldiers and police, has intensified since then-army chief Sisi ousted the Islamist former President Mohamed Mursi after mass protests against his rule in 2013. Sisi has since overseen a crackdown on Islamists. Thousands of alleged Islamist supporters have been jailed and scores have been sentenced to death, including Mursi and other senior Muslim Brotherhood figures. The government considers the Brotherhood a terrorist group and does not distinguish between it and other militants. The Brotherhood says it is committed to peaceful activism. In February, Sisi signed off on another anti-terrorism law that gave authorities sweeping powers to ban groups on charges ranging from harming national unity to disrupting public order. |
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has promised not to withdraw a $15 billion loan pledge to the Ukrainian government, even if an opposition party wins the next Ukrainian elections, reported Reuters on Tuesday, dismissing claims that he was already reconsidering his nation’s bailout offer. Speaking at the conclusion of a EU-Russia summit in Brussels, Putin denied reports that he was about to renege on a prior agreement, after Ukraine's Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned on Tuesday, and said that he would continue to proceed with an agenda to promote economic ties "regardless of which government is formed in Ukraine.” “Will we revise our agreements on credits and energy if the opposition comes to power? No we won’t,” Putin said, as cited by the Associated Press. “This is not a taboo subject to us. We will talk to any government in Ukraine.” The loan was to "support the people of Ukraine, not the government. It's the people, the common people that suffer," he added. The loan was to "support the people of Ukraine, not the government. It's the people, the common people that suffer," he added. Earlier in the day, the Wall Street Journal had cited an unnamed senior Russian official, who said that the loan was now being reviewed, as Azarov had resigned. The Russia-Ukraine pact, which includes cheaper gas for Kiev, had come just weeks after the Ukrainian government turned its back on a trade deal with the European Union in favour of a partnership with Moscow. Putin did admit that his government would closely monitor Ukraine's economic policies to make sure it got its money back. "Despite our large gold and currency reserves, government reserves, $15 billion is the amount that the IMF (International Monetary Fund), a major global organisation, was planning to give to Ukraine. Russia is alone giving it and we want to be sure we get this money back," he said. "Therefore it is important regardless of which political force leads the government, what economic policy they are intending to apply.” "Despite our large gold and currency reserves, government reserves, $15 billion is the amount that the IMF (International Monetary Fund), a major global organisation, was planning to give to Ukraine. Russia is alone giving it and we want to be sure we get this money back," he said. "Therefore it is important regardless of which political force leads the government, what economic policy they are intending to apply.” Related: Why The Ukraine-Russia Deal Will End In Tears Related: Ukraine Cancels EU Plans Under Russian Pressure Related: A New Russian Empire: What Exactly Is Putin Planning? The first tranche of the loans have come in $5 billion in Eurobonds sold to Russia at an interest rate of 5 percent over two years. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday that the two countries were still discussing the terms on the second tranche of the loan. |
Download this postcard for hours and location of the April 2016 Houston Fine Mineral Show! The Houston Fine Mineral Show is often considered one of the “Big 4” mineral shows in the United States and it attracts world class dealers, and world class collectors. It is a family friendly show, and a great way to teach your youngster the beauty of geology, gems and minerals, and begin them with a smart hobby, and who knows, maybe start them on a path toward geology or other scientific fields. The show is in a great part of Houston, The Galleria, and you have many choices in restaurants, Tex-Mex, steaks, Greek and others, and you are right besides the world famous shopping to be had nearby at The Galleria. A member of the American Geode lived in Houston for ten years, and attests that April is a great time to be in Houston for the mineral show. The temperatures are mild, and the threat of hurricane is low! Houston also has world class museums, from which American Geode has reported in the past. Attend the Fine Mineral Show, and spend some time at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Be sure to tell the folks at the front door of the 2016 Houston Fine Mineral Show that “American Geode sen’cha!” Contact us if you would like other suggestions on where to dine, or stay in Houston during your visit to the Fine Mineral Show. One of our co-founders lived there for ten years after all, and folks still buy him a beer when he walks into his old Houston haunts! Download this postcard for hours and location of the April 2016 Houston Fine Mineral Show! Keep updated on the best shows with the American Geode gem, mineral, jewelry and fossil show newswire and calendar! Watch a short video here for gem, mineral and fossil show tips from the experts! |
Opiate drugs can be very dangerous, even fatal. Good thing, then, that an existing drug product, naloxone, has the ability to save the lives of people going through opiate overdoses, explaining why there is a national movement to get it over-the-counter legal federally. Maine's legislature had sensibly and humanely passed a bill (unanimously, without a roll call) to allow pharmacists to dispense naloxone without a prescription. (About 30 states already do.) Yesterday Gov. Paul LePage made the destructive, awful move of vetoing it, reports the Portland Press-Herald. The sinister politician justified his decision to keep a life-saving drug essentially unavailable (in a state with 272 overdose deaths in 2015) by saying it “serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.” “Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” this ignorant and destructive man wrote. “Creating a situation where an addict has a heroin needle in one hand and a shot of naloxone in the other produces a sense of normalcy and security around heroin use that serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.” Reason on naloxone. In a dark link to another big, sad news story today, it is being reported that Prince had himself used naloxone to reverse an opiate overdose within the past week. Naloxone is available without prescription in Prince's home state of Minnesota. |
Chuck DeVore, a GOP senate candidate running for the nomination to unseat California Sen. Barbara Boxer this fall, was probably kidding in an ad his campaign team released this week when he claimed he trained in the Army with 24‘s Jack Bauer. But the Republican’s targeting of “Jack Bauer fans” as a potential voting base is no joke. “In 1983, Chuck DeVore found himself at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in the Army ROTC Basic Camp, where he earned his “expert badge” in rifle and scored second best in his training battalion,” the three-minute ad, posted online on Monday, stated. “Cadet J. Bauer was rumored to have been the battalion’s top shooter that year. … As a cadet, Chuck would have gotten top score in land navigation except that Jack Bauer sabotaged the course.” Underlying that bit of humor is a serious attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Fox’s thriller-drama 24, which aired its final episode Monday night. As the show’s lead character, Jack Bauer developed a controversial reputation for torturing suspects and ignoring constitutional rights. Referring to them as “Jack Bauer fans,” the DeVore ad asks viewers, “Which person would jack want as his us senator? Barbara Boxer,a Guantanamo-closing, tax-raising, big-government-growing ultra-liberal who reads Miranda rights to foreign terrorists? Or Chuck DeVore, a US Army intelligence officer who likes Guantanamo Bay as it is, thinks foreign terrorists should have an interrogator, not a lawyer, and supports lower taxes and smaller government?” “’24’ has had a very avid conservative, national security-oriented audience,” DeVore spokesman Joshua Trevino told the Sacramento Bee. “It’s going to reach a lot of people who are going to be very sympathetic to kind of candidate Chuck is.” Some political observers objected to DeVore’s blending of humor with actual biographical details. And Steve Singiser at DailyKos, among others, notes a bit of irony in using a character played by Kiefer Sutherland as a prop for a conservative political campaign. Sutherland is the grandson of Tommy Douglas, a Baptist preacher who became a folk hero in Canada for being the first lawmaker on the continent to introduce a universal health care scheme. The following video was posted to YouTube by Chuck DeVore’s senate campaign, May 24, 2010. |
TL;DR DEMO here SOURCE here To put it bluntly I simply can’t say enough good things about Angular.js. I’ve been using it for the last year or so and have found amazing improvements and productivity not to mention I write way less, way simpler code (and its fun)! Lets talk about one area of Angular in particular that I found room for improvement: Angular.js Form Validation Form validation in Angular is also amazingly flexible you can easily create fields and apply validation rules to them: <div ng-form="exampleForm"> <label for="firstName">First Name *</label> <div> <input type="text" id="firstName" name="firstName" ng-model="person.firstName" ng-minlength="2" /> </div> </div> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 <div ng-form = "exampleForm" > <label for = "firstName" > First Name * </label> <div> <input type = "text" id = "firstName" name = "firstName" ng-model = "person.firstName" ng-minlength = "2" /> </div> </div> Above I’ve created the field “firstName” in “exampleForm” so I can now code against “exampleForm.firstName”. This field is marked as having a minimum length of 2 characters. The magic comes in because Angular.js exposes a rich object model dealing with the form and all fields that live in it. For example I can write something like this to display a validation error message when the field is invalid after the user has started typing with something like this: <div ng-form="exampleForm"> <label for="firstName">First Name *</label> <div> <input type="text" id="firstName" name="firstName" ng-model="person.firstName" ng-minlength="2" /> <div ng-show="exampleForm.firstName.$dirty && exampleForm.firstName.$error.minlength"> First Name must be at least 2 characters long. </div> </div> </div> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 <div ng-form = "exampleForm" > <label for = "firstName" > First Name * </label> <div> <input type = "text" id = "firstName" name = "firstName" ng-model = "person.firstName" ng-minlength = "2" /> <div ng-show = "exampleForm.firstName.$dirty && exampleForm.firstName.$error.minlength" > First Name must be at least 2 characters long. </div> </div> </div> What’s the problem then? Well I’m very grateful that Angular is so flexible with it’s form validation but unfortunately it can end up resulting in a lot of typing and code to maintain in more complicated situations. This is completely understandable because Angular.js is a framework and not an all inclusive solution to all web problems that exist. (It happens to be a damn good solution to most web problems though once you roll your sleeves up though!) Consider the field/form now has these pretty standard requirements: A message should display if either of these are invalid: First Name is required. First Name must be at least 2 characters long. If the user tries to submit an invalid form and the server call should NOT occur and validation messages should show up If a user has cursor focus on a field and leaves it validation messages should show up. (way too hard to do for this simple example) Now that sounds a little more complicated… but to be honest pretty much the form validation user story that most places I have worked want. Unfortunately the simple code above gets a little nastier to implement this just in the HTML (and I didn’t even implement the focus validation either!) <div ng-controller="exampleController" ng-form="exampleForm"> <label for="firstName">First Name *</label> <div> <input type="text" id="firstName" name="firstName" required="" ng-minlength="2" ng-maxlength="30" ng-model="person.firstName" /> <div class="validation-error" ng-show="(exampleForm.firstName.$dirty || invalidSubmitAttempt) && exampleForm.firstName.$error.required"> First Name is required. </div> <div class="validation-error" ng-show="exampleForm.firstName.$dirty && exampleForm.firstName.$error.maxlength || exampleForm.firstName.$error.minlength"> First Name must be between 2 and 30 characters. </div> </div> <button ng-click="save(exampleForm)">Save</button> </div> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 <div ng-controller = "exampleController" ng-form = "exampleForm" > <label for = "firstName" > First Name * </label> <div> <input type = "text" id = "firstName" name = "firstName" required = "" ng-minlength = "2" ng-maxlength = "30" ng-model = "person.firstName" /> <div class = "validation-error" ng-show = "(exampleForm.firstName.$dirty || invalidSubmitAttempt) && exampleForm.firstName.$error.required" > First Name is required. </div> <div class = "validation-error" ng-show = "exampleForm.firstName.$dirty && exampleForm.firstName.$error.maxlength || exampleForm.firstName.$error.minlength" > First Name must be between 2 and 30 characters. </div> </div> <button ng-click = "save(exampleForm)" > Save </button> </div> And the associated controller JavaScript file: angular.module('exampleModule', []) .controller('exampleController', function($scope) { $scope.save = function(ngForm) { if(ngForm.$invalid) { $scope.invalidSubmitAttempt = true; return; } alert('person saved!') } }) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 angular . module ( 'exampleModule' , [ ] ) . controller ( 'exampleController' , function ( $ scope ) { $ scope . save = function ( ngForm ) { if ( ngForm . $ invalid ) { $ scope . invalidSubmitAttempt = true ; return ; } alert ( 'person saved!' ) } } ) And a demo of it in action: Woah! That’s quite a bit of work to get pretty basic form validation wouldn’t you agree? Also imagine having that ‘boiler plate’ code on every page across an entire application. Ick! Another way: AngularAgility Form Extensions If you remember Morpheus in the first Matrix movie he isn’t messing around. Neither is AngularAgility Form Extensions. Let’s take a look: For just this HTML: <div ng-controller="exampleController" ng-form="exampleForm"> <div> <input type="text" required="" ng-minlength="2" ng-maxlength="30" aa-field="firstName" /> </div> <button aa-save-form="save()">Save</button> </div> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 <div ng-controller = "exampleController" ng-form = "exampleForm" > <div> <input type = "text" required = "" ng-minlength = "2" ng-maxlength = "30" aa-field = "firstName" /> </div> <button aa-save-form = "save()" > Save </button> </div> And this JavaScript: angular.module('exampleModule', ['aa.formExtensions']) .controller('exampleController', function($scope) { $scope.save = function() { //this WON'T get called unless the form is valid //aa-save-form only invokes the function if the //containing form is valid alert('person saved!'); }; }); 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 angular . module ( 'exampleModule' , [ 'aa.formExtensions' ] ) . controller ( 'exampleController' , function ( $ scope ) { $ scope . save = function ( ) { //this WON'T get called unless the form is valid //aa-save-form only invokes the function if the //containing form is valid alert ( 'person saved!' ) ; } ; } ) ; You can get the same thing (also with field focus tracking!): Wow! Thats a lot less code! To recap the above using the “aa-field” directive in just a 1 line of HTML does the following for the First Name field: A message should display if either of these are invalid: First Name is required. First Name must be at least 2 characters long. If the user tries to submit an invalid form and the server call should NOT occur and validation messages should show up If a user has keyboard cursor focus on a field and leaves it validation messages should show up. It also automatically generates the label for you “First Name *” based on the field that it is bound to. (* because it is required) Additions to the Form object model Form Extensions understands that you might want to code against this stuff your self so it also exposes a rich object model tacked on to what Angular.js already provides. Lets take a look… $aaFormExtensions is tacked onto the existing form object $invalidAttempt: If one was made (fields were invalid and aa-save-form was called) this is marked as true so messages show up firstName: Each field that is participating in form validation shows up as an object The $element for that field (for future extensions… stay tuned!) Each of the $errorMessages that currently apply to the field. These are automatically generated and change as input is added/removed. $hadFocus: if the field had focus and is invalid this will cause an error to appear automatically But doesn’t all this auto-generation mean it’s not flexible? Absolutely not. Form Extensions is designed to be completely customizable. “aa-field” is actually a composition of many directives that are all configurable with a rich defaultable and overriable provider model. All these directives can be used separately and interchangably and are overriable, defaultable and configurable with providers Let’s take a look at what calling “aa-field” actually generates: <label for="dfb0191e-549e-4ae3-897d-de5a635b2329">First Name *</label> <input type="text" required="" ng-minlength="2" ng-maxlength="30" ng-model="firstName" name="firstName" aa-label="First Name" aa-val-msg="" class="aa-invalid-attempt aa-had-focus ..." id="dfb0191e-549e-4ae3-897d-de5a635b2329"> <!-- ngRepeat: msg in errorMessages --> <div class="validation-error ng-scope ng-binding" ng-show="showMessages" ng-repeat="msg in errorMessages" aa-val-msg-for="exampleForm.firstName"> First Name must be at least 2 character(s). </div> <!-- end ngRepeat: msg in errorMessages --> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 <label for = "dfb0191e-549e-4ae3-897d-de5a635b2329" > First Name * </label> <input type = "text" required = "" ng-minlength = "2" ng-maxlength = "30" ng-model = "firstName" name = "firstName" aa-label = "First Name" aa-val-msg = "" class = "aa-invalid-attempt aa-had-focus ..." id = "dfb0191e-549e-4ae3-897d-de5a635b2329" > <!-- ngRepeat: msg in errorMessages --> <div class = "validation-error ng-scope ng-binding" ng-show = "showMessages" ng-repeat = "msg in errorMessages" aa-val-msg-for = "exampleForm.firstName" > First Name must be at least 2 character(s). </div> <!-- end ngRepeat: msg in errorMessages --> Let’s explain what all this means and how customizable it is: Label Was automatically generated because the textbox below had an “aa-label” on it. The label was generated/placed using the defaultLabelStrategy which is customizable and overridable both globally and individually Due to defaultLabelStrategy’s settings: The “aa-label” contents were generated by de-camel-casing the bound ng-model after the last ‘.’ (if any) Since the associated field is required it has a * The “for” was generated automatically since the textbox didn’t have an ID. If it did it would have used it Textbox ng-model was generated from EXACTLY what was passed to aa-field was generated from EXACTLY what was passed to aa-field name is always barBaz if aa-field=”foo.barBaz” is always barBaz if aa-field=”foo.barBaz” aa-label’s contents are generated as explained above in “Label” contents are generated as explained above in “Label” aa-val-msg creates the validation message block below and automatically generates all the messages based the the applied validation rules It uses the defaultValMsgPlacementStrategy which is overridable on a per instance or global basis creates the validation message block below and automatically generates all the messages based the the applied validation rules class Form Extensions (just like angular) adds additional classes to the element if you want to code you own CSS rules Form Extensions (just like angular) adds additional classes to the element if you want to code you own CSS rules id was automatically generated so that a proper label could be associated Validation Messages and Placement The defaultValMsgPlacementStrategy places validation messages directly below the field The placement can be wherever you want by adding a new strategy or using JUST the aa-val-msg-for=”exampleForm.firstName” directive directly Validation messages show up automatically as needed In Conclusion I hope you find AngularAgility Form Extensions useful. I know it has already saved me ALOT of time on my professional projects. And lets be honest coding out validation messages and labels isn’t the most fun thing to do in the first place. Stay tuned, much more productivity enhancing extensions coming to AngularAgility in the near future! Feel free to give me a pull if you think of any improvements or let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy! |
Too much of a protein called c-FLIPR can trigger autoimmune diseases HZI/PilsAs strange as it may seem, a process called "cellular suicide" is actually crucial for the survival of the entire body. The protein c-FLIPR plays a key role in controlling this process, which is called " apoptosis ". Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) have described the significance of c-FLIPR for the immune system in more detail: In the presence of an excess of this molecule, mice can fight infectious diseases better, but they develop autoimmune diseases as they get older. The inhibitory effect of c-FLIPR on apoptosis is the underlying cause of both these effects. The researchers published their results in "Cell Death & Disease". Apoptosis is used by cells that are changed by disease or are simply not needed any longer to eliminate themselves before they become a hazard to the body—on a cellular level, death is part of life. Disruption of this process can lead to cancer or immunodeficiencies, but also to autoimmune diseases, in which cells attack their own body. HZI scientist Prof Ingo Schmitz and his team investigate the regulation of apoptosis in the immune system . In collaboration with researchers of the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and the Helmholtz Zentrum München, they elucidated the role of a central protein in this process. So-called c-FLIP proteins inhibit signaling cascades that can lead to apoptosis . This is important temporarily in the response to pathogens to ensure that lymphocytes , a type of immune cells, can proliferate sufficiently. Towards the end of the immune response, once the lymphocytes completed their tasks and successfully eliminated the pathogen, c-FLIP is usually degraded. As a result, apoptosis is enabled again, the lymphocytes die and the equilibrium in the immune system is restored. The HZI researchers then took a closer look at the exact function of a certain variant of the protein , called c-FLIPR. They used mice to investigate what happens if this protein is always present in lymphocytes and other blood cells. Whereas the apoptosis inhibitor caused no anomalies in young mice, the scenario in older mice was quite different: "The composition of the lymphocytes was changed significantly," says Schmitz. "Furthermore the immune cells were strongly activated." The overactivation is easily apparent in the body. The researchers found immune molecules, called autoantibodies, which attack the body's own tissue in the kidneys and lung. In addition, they detected harmful protein deposits in the kidneys. The changes in the lung tissue are also indicative of the immune system attacking its own body in the presence of too much c-FLIPR. "Immune cells migrate into the lung and attack the lung tissue," says Schmitz. Physicians usually see these symptoms in a human autoimmune disease called systemic lupus erythematosus The HZI scientists discovered already last year that cells can fight bacterial infections better if c-FLIPR is turned on permanently. This means that inhibiting the suicide of cells has beneficial effects in acute infections, but leads to autoimmune reactions in the long run. "c-FLIPR is important for the balance of the immune system . It might be possible to intervene with suitable therapeutic agents if the equilibrium of the immune system is disrupted," says Schmitz. Original publication |
I had to deduct a star because the game case is in a foreign language. Spanish or Portuguese. Maybe that's why it was $35. I don't know. But It's not what was advertised. However, the game itself is in English so no worries there. As far as the game play goes, I'm really enjoying it so far. The amount of content in the base game is shallow at this point, but it leaves room for further expansions down the road. The sound design and the graphics are really well done. Most of the combat animations are very realistic. And the combat itself is both challenging and rewarding. It's not overly complex, but it's not a button masher either. It'll take some time and practice to get the hang of it. The story mode comes in handy here. While it's not the most amazing single player experience ever, it's more extensive than most multiplayer games these days. But make no mistake that this is a multiplayer game at its core and it requires an internet connection even for the single player story mode. There is also plenty of stuff that you can unlock in the way of gear and cosmetic stuff. You can purchase this stuff with cash or just play the game to unlock it. Just don't expect to have everything in the game unlocked right away. It'll take awhile if you aren't using cash, but that also means you have something to work towards. I recommend picking the character that appeals to you the most and focusing on it above all others for both unlocking rewards and honing your skill in battle. |
QR Code Link to This Post Location: Coquitlam it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests I'm a petite girl, slim with long red hair and brown eyes.The plan:We spend a day together, probably a full 8 hours or so. I spend the entire day either naked or wearing a short skirt and no panties as you prefer. You spend the day playing video games, watching anime (whatever it is you'd like to do) and watching hentai as often as you feel inclined. I'll be hanging out close by reading a book. Every time you get turned on you tell me you want sex and tell me whether you want it missionary or doggy style. I put down my book and get into the position you request in such a way that you can still see the hentai you were watching, lubing myself a little if necessary. You put your dick in me, watch the hentai (this is important, no sex without watching hentai), and thrust until you cum. NO foreplay is involved with the exception of a little groping if you wish. You don't need to worry about lasting long or making me cum because the idea is that this is as much like masturbation as possible except you use my pussy instead of your hand because pussies feel better. Experience and penis size are also not important. What IS important though is frequency - you need to be able to do this at least once an hour. This is a very important part of what I want, just a couple times is not enough. There is no maximum amount, you can fuck me as many times as you want within the agreed upon timeframe. To encourage you to do this as often as possible only vaginal penetration is allowed until you've done that at least 12 times at which point you can use my ass if you like.If you think you're the guy I'm describing please send me a message and tell me a little about yourself - hobbies, your favourite anime/games, why you like hentai, whether you've had sex before, what the most you can cum in a day is, things like that - and include a few screen shots of your favourite hentai so I know what you like. A picture of yourself would be nice but it's not mandatory. Also, if you like the sound of this but think you wouldn't be able to have sex that much then I'm open to you and a friend sharing the job. |
( note : french version : ( note : french version : p1 p2 . ) Support: I'd love to have your support to continue to publish my work for free. Become my Patron (... or check other options.) License: 20 february 2013 . Tags: #ebook #project I'd love to have your support to continue to publish my work for free. CC-BY-NC-ND David Revoy, www.davidrevoy.com, This is a personnal project of illustrating an early version of the Little Red Riding Hood , told by French peasants since the 10th century, featuring cannibalism, blood, nudity and vulgar words ... A surprising version.So I decided to sample this old oral tradition version named commonly 'version of the Nivernais' with modernised version from Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm ( 1812 ) and Charles Perrault ( 1698 ).To quote english Wikipedia page about older versions : "The wolf usually leaves the grandmother’s blood and meat for the girl to eat, who then unwittingly cannibalizes her own grandmother. Furthermore, the wolf was also known to ask her to remove her clothing and toss it into the fire.In some versions, the wolf eats the girl after she gets into bed with him, and the story ends there."About the making of it ; my challenge during last christmass holidays was to get done a project 'unplugged' : with only a ballpen and a sketchbook , to take holliday far from computer. It was really pleasant. Digital coloring and painting were done later in Krita as well as text in Scribus on Linux Mint KDE 14. |
Using DTrace with GHC GHC 6.13 includes DTrace probes in the runtime system. Currently, these probes correspond to the events of the EventLog framework and are only available on Mac OS X (from Leopard onwards). It is straight forward to extend the current implementation with additional probes, and due to the lightweight nature of DTrace, new probes could inspect the runtime system and running Haskell program in an even more fine-grained manner. About DTrace DTrace and the associated D programming language are described in detail in the Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide. The Mac OS X specific GUI frontend, Instruments, is explained in the Instruments User Guide and the Mac version of the command line tool dtrace is documented by the Mac OS X dtrace man page. Using DTrace with GHC To make effective use of DTrace probes, we need D scripts and custom instruments for Instruments app. Until then, the available probes can be queried as follows: Start ghci in a terminal Invoke the following command at another command line prompt: sudo dtrace -P 'HaskellEvent*' -l To trace a Haskell program: Execute sudo dtrace -P 'HaskellEvent*' -Z on the command line Then, invoke your Haskell program (the terminal running dtrace will dump the trace) If you only want to be notified of the start and end of garbage collections, invoke dtrace as follows: sudo dtrace -n 'HaskellEvent*:::gc-start' -n 'HaskellEvent*:::gc-end' -Z Further details on the available probes are below. IMPORTANT: Do not use dtrace with the -c option to start and trace a Haskell program in a single invocation. On Mac OS X, this doesn't seem to work for reasons that I don't understand. (To be precise, it does seem to work for other programs, but probes in the Haskell runtime appear not to be detected.) Probe description The following probes are being made available by the HaskellEvent provider: create-thread (capability, tid) Triggered when a new runtime thread is created. Reports the capability on which the thread is created and the new thread's thread id. run-thread (capability, tid) Indicates that the given thread starts to run on the specified capability. stop-thread (capability, tid) The identified thread stops execution on the given capability. thread-runnable (capability, tid) The given thread has just been appended to the run queue of the specified capability. migrate-thread (cap, tid, new_cap) The specified thread has just been moved from capability cap to new_cap , either because cap is sharing its run queue with new_cap or because the migration was explicitly requested. run-spark (capability, tid) We are about to convert a spark into a new parallel thread. The capability and thread are those determining the spark and converting it, not the thread id of the new spark. steal-spark (cap, tid, victim_cap) We are about to convert a spark from a different capability, namely victim_cap , into a new parallel thread. Again, the capability and thread are those determining the spark and converting it, not the thread id of the new spark. shutdown (cap) The specified capability is about to disappear; its run queue and spare worker lists are already empty. thread-wakeup (cap, tid, other_cap) We just unblocked the specified thread on capability other_cap . (The capability cap is the one which performed the unblocking.) gc-start (cap) The specified capability gets ready for a garbage collection. gc-end (cap) The specified capability completed a garbage collection. gc-request-seq-gc (cap) We are about to perform a single-threaded garbage collection (meaning that we will grab all capabilities, and then, perform the GC on the specified capability). gc-request-par-gc (cap) We are about to perform a parallel garbage collection (this still means all mutator threads need to stop). We might need to wait for the other capabilities to donate a worker thread each. create-spark-thread (cap, tid) We just turned a spark into the specified thread on the given capability. startup (num_caps) Initialising the runtime system with the given number of capabilities (that's the value passed with +RTS -N ). user-msg (cap, msg) The given user message (a string that you need to copy with copyinstr() ) was emitted on the given capability; this happens when a call to traceEvent is being made, passing the message as an argument. gc-idle (cap) The GC worker thread of the specified capability just became idle. gc-work (cap) The GC worker thread of the specified capability is about to do some GC work. gc-done (cap) The GC worker thread of the specified capability finished doing GC. Probe definition The provider is defined as follows: provider HaskellEvent { // scheduler events probe create__thread (EventCapNo, EventThreadID); probe run__thread (EventCapNo, EventThreadID); probe stop__thread (EventCapNo, EventThreadID, EventThreadStatus); probe thread__runnable (EventCapNo, EventThreadID); probe migrate__thread (EventCapNo, EventThreadID, EventCapNo); probe run__spark (EventCapNo, EventThreadID); probe steal__spark (EventCapNo, EventThreadID, EventCapNo); probe shutdown (EventCapNo); probe thread_wakeup (EventCapNo, EventThreadID, EventCapNo); probe gc__start (EventCapNo); probe gc__end (EventCapNo); probe request__seq__gc (EventCapNo); probe request__par__gc (EventCapNo); probe create__spark__thread (EventCapNo, EventThreadID); // other events probe startup (EventCapNo); probe user__msg (EventCapNo, char *); probe gc__idle (EventCapNo); probe gc__work (EventCapNo); probe gc__done (EventCapNo); }; where we have typedef uint32_t EventThreadID; typedef uint16_t EventCapNo; typedef uint16_t EventThreadStatus; The two events EVENT_LOG_MSG and EVENT_BLOCK_MARKER are not supported. The former doesn't appear to be used and the latter appears to be an artefact of the event log file format. Portability User-space DTrace probes are implemented differently on Mac OS X than in the original DTrace implementation; see under the heading BUILDING CODE CONTAINING USDT PROBES in the Mac OS X dtrace man page. Nevertheless, it shouldn't be too hard to enable these probes on other platforms, too. |
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Chefs searching for an authentic medieval way to cook a porpoise can now look up the recipe online. The Forme of Cury, compiled by master cooks to Richard II, is part of a collection of medieval texts held by the John Rylands Library, Manchester. Now an edition of the cookbook dating from the early 15th Century, compiled in about 1420, has been digitalised and uploaded to the library's website. John Hodgson, keeper of manuscripts, said it contained hundreds of recipes. Among them are exotic dishes featuring porpoise and more recognisable names like blancmange. Mr Hodgson said the latter was different to the modern interpretation - a rice dish, highly spiced and sugared. It's very much suck it and see, but great for experimenting John Hodgson, keeper of manuscripts Such ingredients were extremely expensive and beyond the income of most ordinary people during Richard II's reign. The recipe begins "For to make blanc mange" and goes on to say "put rice in water all night and in the morrow, wash it clean". "It's not a like a modern cookery book so it doesn't give you exact quantities and times," said Mr Hodgson. "It's very much suck it and see, but great for experimenting. "The complete book - all 100 pages - is now available online so that anybody who is interested in cookery, well, you could actually make some of the recipes now." The original manuscripts which make up the Forme of Cury are thought to date back to 1390. |
Eight Years Ago, the Nuggets Traded Melo to the Knicks Two Years Ago, the Kings Shipped Boogie to the Pelicans ASG Will Be Competitive Again If the NBA Raises the Stakes Will Harden Burn Himself Out Before the Playoffs? When MJ Wore #12 After His Jersey Was Stolen Before a Game 15 Years Ago, LeBron, Wade and Melo Took Over All-Star Weekend 14 Years Ago, Iverson Dropped Career-High 60 Points The Kyrie and LeBron Bromance Is Back! Bats Have Become an Unexpected Attraction at Spurs Games KD Giving Back to His Hometown with Durant Center Four Years Ago, Klay Drops Record 37 Pts in One Quarter Remembering the Night Kobe Scored 81 Points Happy 37th Birthday Dwyane Wade Steph Is a Few Shots Away from NBA 3-Point History Can Harden Keep His Dominance Going? Steph Gifts Fan Who Asked for Girls UA Kicks with New Curry 6s Happy 34th Birthday to LeBron 👑 4 Years Ago, Kobe Passed Jordan on the NBA Scoring List Drummond and Embiid Reignite Rivalry Happy 24th Birthday to Giannis Antetokounmpo Right Arrow Icon Heading into the 2011 NBA All-Star Weekend, the league was abuzz with one major storyline: Where will Carmelo Anthony be traded? While NBA journalists were scrambling to break the news on Melo's future, the NBA's elite young All-Star talent (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, to name a few) all landed in Los Angeles that weekend to make their mark in front of a sold-out Staples Center. Amid this group of superstar youth stood a grizzled future Hall of Fame veteran who refused to pass the torch: Kobe Bryant. The Lakers were still the two-time defending champions, and Kobe was on his home court. What transpired was one of the greatest all-time All-Star Game performances...the last night Kobe was king. |
× Police link increase in distracted driving to spike in fatal crashes INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Thousands of drivers cruise through Indiana interstates on a daily basis. “We are the Crossroads of America,” said Trooper Kyle Hankins. Indiana State Police Trooper Kyle Hankins says many of those drivers, including semi-truck drivers are not paying attention to the road. “Whether they are watching something on their cell phone, reading an email, or texting someone,” said Trooper Hankins. Police believe distracted driving is the cause of recent fatal crashes around central Indiana. “It is so portable and always right there,” said Trooper Hankins. In just the past 10days, 11 people have died in five car crashes. Officials say three of those crashes involved semi-trucks and construction zones. Police say in those incidents, the semi-truck drivers slammed into the back of cars that slowed down quickly. “I think construction zones play into it because with the reduced speeds and the combination of drivers and attention there is less room for error,” said Trooper Hankins. ISP says with more drivers on the roads in the summer and distracted driving on the rise, crashes are common. That is why ISP works daily to get distracted and fatigued drivers off the road. Police say the key to keeping all drivers safe is sharing the road and making sure you check your rear-view mirror often. “Provide more space, distance, and reaction time. That would greatly improve things,” said Trooper Hankins. Among the recent crashes, three people from Greenwood were killed on I-37 near Bloomington, five people from Beech Grove died on I-65 in Kentucky, three died in two separate crashes on I-70 near Terre Haute and one Deputy Chief with IMPD is fighting for his life after a crash Sunday in Plainfield. No charges have yet been filed in these crashes. |
QUEBEC—Quarterback Jordan Heather helped turn Bishop’s University football around this season and he was rewarded on Thursday night with the Hec Crighton Trophy as Canadian university player of the year. Heather, the first Gaiter to win the award, set a Canadian Inter-university Sport record with 3,132 passing yards in eight league games, an average of 391.5 yards per game. Bishop's quarterback Jordan Heather, right, poses with Gaitors coach Kevin Mackey with the Hec Crighton Trophy he won at the CIS awards Thursday night in Quebec City. Mackey won coach of the year honours. ( Jacques Boissinot / THE CANADIAN PRESS ) That beat the mark of 3,047 set only one week earlier by Western’s Will Finch, a Hec Crighton finalist. The previous record of 3,033 was set by Michael Faulds of Western in 2009. “I always knew I could play at a high level and this year was kind of the culmination of my career,” said Heather. “I always told my coaches that I don’t care if I throw for 200 yards or 50 yards as long as we win the game. “I’d trade all this if I could play in the (Vanier Cup) game on Saturday.” Article Continued Below Other Crighton finalists were running backs Mercer Timmis of Calgary and Jordan Botel of Mount Allison. It was the seventh straight year it was won by a quarterback. Kyle Quinlan of McMaster won last year. Heather’s heroics helped the Gaiters (6-2) to second place in the Quebec conference — after going winless the year before — and gave the Lennoxville, Que., institution its first home playoff game since 1994. He set a conference record with 20 touchdown passes and a team record with 199 completions. His totals included throwing for 538 yards in a 46-38 loss to the Laval Rouge et Or, a record against the defending Vanier Cup champions, who had the best defence in Canada. Heather ended his career with Bishop’s records for completions (565), attempts (998), yards (7,983) and touchdown passes (50). Kevin Mackey of Bishop’s took home the Frank Tindall Trophy as CIS coach of the year. The 34-year-old engineered a remarkable turnaround for a team that had not won six games in a season since 1993. |
The financial tide has turned against Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his key allies, who spent more than they brought in and were outraised by President Obama during the month of August, according to disclosures filed Thursday. Romney’s presidential campaign committee raised nearly $67 million last month — a strong figure — but spent about the same amount building its campaign organization and responding to a barrage of attack ads from Obama and his allies. Even so, the campaign spent just $13.7 million on ads, which was less than the $15 million it spent in July. Romney was also forced to take out a $20 million loan because the campaign had run out of money raised during the primary season. The campaign also fell behind in its attempts to reach grass-roots donors despite the addition of tea party favorite Paul Ryan to the ticket, records show. The spending left the campaign with about $50 million cash on hand at the start of September, not including the remaining debt, according to the disclosures. Obama’s campaign account, by contrast, had nearly $90 million on hand going into September, even after spending $83 million in August. Officials said Obama had 1.19 million donors last month — more than a third of its total for the 2012 cycle. The main super PAC supporting Romney, called Restore Our Future, spent nearly three times as much as it raised in August, devoting more than $20 million to broadcast ads, filings show. The group reported having $6 million left on Aug. 31. On Aug. 31, Romney handed out more than $200,000 in bonuses to top employees, including $37,500 to national political director Richard Beeson and $25,000 each to a half dozen others, the records show. Priorities USA Action, a super PAC devoted to helping Obama that has lagged far behind its conservative rivals, posted its strongest month in August by raising $10.1 million, including $2 million from hedge-fund manager Jim Simons. The group spent $9.5 million and had $4.8 million in cash. The numbers signal a financial shift away from the Republicans after a summer of Democratic hand-wringing over fundraising. The Obama campaign argues it is likely to be outmatched by conservative super PACs and nonprofit groups, which can raise unlimited funds from wealthy individuals and corporations and are working to build a ground game to match them. The Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee had outraised Obama and the Democratic National Committee for three months starting in May. But the Obama team edged out Romney and the GOP last month by $114 million to $112 million, according to general numbers announced earlier this month. In addition to his cash-flow problems, Romney had more trouble raising money from grass-roots donors in August, with just 14 percent of his total coming from contributions of $200 or less — a significant drop from the month before. Obama collected about 30 percent of his August haul from donors giving $200 or less. Romney, however, continued to do well among the wealthiest donors who are able to legally give more than $70,000 to the Romney campaign, the RNC and associated committees. Romney and the RNC say they had a total of $170 million in cash on hand at the end of August. Most of that money, however, went to allied committees and remains outside Romney’s direct control, which could have serious ramifications for ad purchases and other strategy in the last six weeks of the campaign. Party committees and outside groups do not qualify for the lowest ad rates, meaning their money does not go as far in media spending. |
TDS HAVE VOTED overwhelmingly in favour of making it compulsory for the Dáil to stand during the prayer, after some debate that the prayer should be scrapped altogether. The prayer, which is said at the beginning of each day’s business in the Dáil, will also have a 30-second silence added after it. Some TDs have been campaigning to have it removed and replaced with something non-religious, but three amendments that would have removed the prayer were voted down. While it had been customary for everyone in the chamber to stand during the prayer, it was never included in Standing Orders (the Dáil rules). New proposals adopted today will see all those present the Dáil chamber stand while the following prayer is read out in Irish and English: Direct, we beseech Thee, O Lord, our actions by Thy holy inspirations and carry them on by Thy gracious assistance; that every word and work of ours may always begin from Thee, and by Thee be happily ended; through Christ Our Lord. Amen. When the reading of the prayer is concluded, members will remain standing for the 30 seconds of reflection. A number of amendments were put down today. Sinn Féin’s amendment wanted to scrap prayer and have “60 seconds of silent reflection”. This was defeated by 94 votes to 41. Solidarity-PBP’s amendment to get rid of the prayer and have no prelude whatsoever was defeated by 96 to 15. Left-wing Independent TD Joan Collins’ amendment to replace the prayer with 30 seconds of silence and no prayer was defeated 96 votes to 19. Source: Oireachtas TV The final motion was passed by a majority of 97 votes to 17, with 19 abstentions. With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha |
DJ Black Coffee has confirmed that he has been working with US superstar Drake on a new rendition of his hit track Superman. Drake hinted at a new version of Black Coffee's Superman in an Instagram video late last year, but the track was not confirmed by either camp until now. Black Coffee let the cat out the bag during an interview with East Coast Radio's Phat Joe, revealing that Drake had called him the night before to let him listen to the track and get his thoughts. 'No PR stunts here! Just music' - Did Cassper just throw shade at AKA? Y'all remember how happy we all were when AKA and Cassper kissed and made up? Well, it seems like we might have to prepare ourselves for round two... at least where music is concerned! Black Coffee also revealed that the song would be on Drake's highly-anticipated upcoming mixtape. "He is going to take the song to another level. People are going to love his version of the song but it won't erase the original...People had mixed feelings, like; 'why would you give someone else your song? It is your song! Why are you letting them shine on the song?' But my understanding is different. I would love for our music to be exported on that level," he said. IN MEMES: Twitter goes nuts for Cassper's #TitoMboweni Cassper Nyovest nearly shut down Twitter on Friday when he released his highly-anticipated single Tito Mboweni. Black Coffee's management told TshisaLIVE that the pair were sorting out the finer details of the project and would only be able to reveal more details soon. "We need to finalise everything and once it has all been signed and is ready, we will comment on it," Black Coffee's manager Amaru Da Costa said. Drake is a big fan of Black Coffee and last year featured the DJ's Superman track on a special Apple Music radio show of his favourite tracks. |
Oculus is losing the VR war – bleak outlook ahead VR is one of those technologies that we’ve dreamed of for decades, but has only just become a reality. Sure, we had the Virtual Boy back in the 90’s, and a handful of other “virtual reality” games over the years. However, there is really one company that’s responsible for the current state of virtual reality. Yet somehow their grip on VR dominance is slipping. Back in 2012, a Kickstarter campaign was started for a VR headset, which was the first of its kind. The Oculus Rift quickly became a hit among enthusiasts, as it provided an immersive experience that we’d never really seen before. By strapping the unit on, you could move your head and look around an environment without relying on any external controls to move the image. With the huge success of the Kickstarter campaign, the company produced their DK1 headsets, which were sent to the original backers. The headset was so successful that Facebook ended up purchasing Oculus back in 2014 for a whopping $2 billion. With that kind of backing, they were able to further their development, leading up to the official consumer headset being released earlier this year. With a revolutionary idea and a ton of money, Oculus was destined to be the king of VR. So why are so many consumers turning their backs on the company that really started this entire VR revolution? To figure that out, let’s take a look at the current market. There are really two main competitors in the mainstream VR headset space right now. There are plenty of smaller headsets that use your phone to power the experience, but these are in a completely different class. If you’re wanting the full VR experience, you have the choice between the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. Later this year, you will also have the choice of a PlayStation VR headset. But since it is not yet on the market, I’m really only going to talk about the Rift and the Vive. Both headsets were released earlier this year, and those with pre-orders had to wait a fair bit of time in order to get theirs. Currently, there is still a bit of a wait for a Rift (estimated ship date is sometime in August, if you purchase today), while those wanting to purchase a Vive can get theirs in just a few days. Despite the fulfillment issues, there are plenty of each in the wild, and being used regularly by consumers. As far as the hardware is concerned, both are relatively similar in what they deliver to the end-user. I’ve used retail versions of both headsets, and aside from a few minor differences, they both provide a good experience. The biggest difference between them, hardware-wise, is the fact that the Vive ships with motion controllers, while the Rift’s own Touch controllers are still strangely absent. Pricing is even comparable, when you account for the motion controllers that the Vive provides out of the box. The Rift is the cheaper option at $599, but only includes an Xbox One controller. The Vive will set you back $799, but gives you two motion controllers. We’re still not sure how much Oculus will charge for theirs, so it’s hard to compare exact prices, but the end result is likely going to be in the same ballpark. So the headsets themselves are pretty similar, and pricing isn’t too far off. So you’d think that consumers would be pretty split on their loyalty. Everyone expected the same sort of split lines that we’ve seen over the years with Sony and Microsoft with their respective consoles. Yet that doesn’t seem to be the case. While neither company has released any statistics or sales figures, we can use Steam to help figure out the adoption rate of both, to some degree. If we look at the most recent Steam Hardware Survey, we can see that owners of the HTC Vive make up 0.15% of the Steam user base. While that makes up only a tiny fraction of Steam users, the Oculus Rift only makes up 0.06%. So despite having considerably longer to work on their product, and a lower entry price, there are more than twice the number of Vive’s being used. Sure, it’s possible that there are a few Rift owners that don’t use Steam, but most PC gamers have a Steam account, so the Steam Hardware Survey is a pretty good indication of installed devices. So where has Oculus gone wrong? There are a few major areas where Oculus has let down their loyal fans. One of the biggest is the fact that despite being the first on the market, they still haven’t been able to keep up on production. Loyal fans that pre-ordered headsets were extremely disappointed to find that they would have to wait months to get theirs. What’s worse, there were numerous cases where people had to wait considerably longer than the estimated date to receive theirs. But having to wait a bit of extra time doesn’t always deter fans, and the orders kept rolling in. Another big failure on Oculus’s part is the fact that they chose to only include an Xbox controller with their headset. Nearly every great experience I’ve had with a VR has been with one or more motion controllers. Even when I’ve had games shown to me by Oculus, they often used the Touch controllers to give me the “full experience.” When I try to play a game in VR with an Xbox controller, much of the immersion is lost, and I simply don’t enjoy myself nearly as much as I do when using motion controls. Consumers have overlooked this omission, because Oculus has shown that they do have their own motion controllers (which I’ve used, and I like very much) and will be offering them at a later date. However, it has now been more than three months since the Rift was officially launched, and we have no idea when Oculus plans on releasing the Touch controllers, or even how much we’ll be expected to pay for them. And judging from how poorly they have kept up with demand for the headsets, it’s likely to be quite some time before we actually get them in our hands. The worst part about the lack of motion controls isn’t that we don’t have them yet. It’s that they’re such an integral part of the experience, and we don’t know anything about them. We don’t know when we’re going to get them, and we don’t know how much they will cost. Consumers are just expected to purchase the headset without this information, and hope for the best. Another failure on the part of Oculus was the decision to not provide room scale tracking. With the Vive, you can setup a 15’x15′ space and walk around in both your physical and virtual space at the same time. This adds considerably to the immersion factor, especially when combined with motion controls. Now you might say that this wasn’t a failure on the part of Oculus, and that it was intentional. You’re actually partially correct. This was a conscious decision on the part of Oculus. The company has gone on record saying that they could support full room scale, but they don’t think that enough people want it, or even have the room. It’s something that they’ll work on later, perhaps around the time they decide to formally announce their Touch controllers. Don’t get me wrong, the Oculus Rift does a great job of tracking in its limited space, and this does make it a bit easier to setup. However, to dismiss a huge feature like this is almost insulting to your customers. Just as with their decision to hold back the Touch controllers, and their fulfillment issues, consumers are left with the impression that “you’ll get what you get, and you’ll get more when we give it to you.” I’ve outlined three major failures for the Oculus Rift, but all of these can be solved with patience. Orders will eventually be filled, Touch controllers will be released, and we’ll probably get room scale tracking one of these days. So while plenty of customers are upset, these issues will be resolved. However, there’s one major issue that has many people giving up on the company and heading to the competition for their VR needs. PC gaming has always been different than console gaming. From being able to make adjustments to the game’s graphics, to all of the different methods for input, PC gamers are used to making their gaming experience the best that it can be. What they’re not used to is getting locked out of games simply because they own the wrong piece of PC hardware. Aside from simply having outdated/underpowered hardware, your Windows PC is going to run any game that you purchase for it. Buying the wrong brand of GPU or RAM isn’t going to prevent you from playing certain titles. When Oculus announced that they would have their own store for purchasing games, people wondered if the company would tie their games to the Rift headset. Company founder Luckey Palmer reassured consumers that this would not be the case. Here’s what he said in a Reddit post concerning the matter: “If customers buy a game from us, I don’t care if they mod it to run on whatever they want. As I have said a million times (and counter to the current circlejerk), our goal is not to profit by locking people to only our hardware – if it was, why in the world would we be supporting GearVR and talking with other headset makers? The software we create through Oculus Studios (using a mix of internal and external developers) are exclusive to the Oculus platform, not the Rift itself.” This sounds pretty cut-and-dry, right? Well, around a month ago, Oculus released an update for their store, which added some new DRM. This DRM specifically checked to see if there was an Oculus Rift attached to the PC. If there was no Rift detected, the games would simply not run. This is the exact opposite of what the founder of the company said would be the case. Yes, Facebook now owns the company, and they likely call these kinds of shots. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that consumers were completely mislead. Sure, you wouldn’t think that imposing this sort of DRM would bother Rift owners. After all, they’ve got the headset, so why should they care if other people can’t play games purchased from the Oculus store. What companies like Facebook don’t understand is that DRM is the bane of PC gaming, and nearly every PC gamer knows that. Many of us have dealt with terrible DRM that locks us out of games because we’ve installed it too many times, or because of some other arbitrary reason. So when a company announces that they’re hardware-locking all of their exclusive titles on a PC, the entire community gets upset. These days, PC gamers don’t really worry too much about DRM. Services like Steam usually have the only DRM that we deal with, and it’s so unobtrusive that most people forget that it’s there. Valve has turned DRM from an annoyance to a feature, by making it as easy as possible to access and play your games, no matter where you are, or what hardware you’re using. Even Microsoft is trying to break down the barrier between console and PC, by allowing customers to get copies of games on both the Xbox One and PC, without needing to purchase it twice. The entire gaming industry is slowly moving to a place where we’re not limited by the hardware that we use. Consoles will always have exclusives, and we’re okay with that. However, PC games should not be exclusive to one piece of hardware. And any company that tries to lock games down to their on piece of PC hardware is going to face a major backlash from consumers. And that’s exactly what’s happened with Oculus. Recently, the company did change direction and decide that they would stop locking their games down in such a way that only allowed Rift owners to play them. While this is a welcome change, it took more than a month of complaints and outrage by the VR community as a whole to get them to change their stance – one that they had already promised they wouldn’t take. So while Oculus is trying to get back into the good graces of the community, they’ve already shown that they’re not able to be trusted, and breaking that trust will no doubt have a lasting effect. Gamers tend to have a good memory when it comes to bad DRM, and companies going back on their word, and they’re unlikely to forget the time that Oculus went back on theirs. |
Image caption Tariq al-Hashemi is now in Turkey, where he has held meetings with Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish politicians Iraq's fugitive vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi has been sentenced to death in absentia after a court found him guilty of running death squads. The ruling came as at least 92 people were killed and more than 350 injured in more than 20 attacks across Iraq. Hashemi was the most senior Sunni Muslim in the predominantly Shia Iraqi government until he was charged last December and went on the run. The charges against him sparked a political crisis in Iraq. Hashemi declined to comment on the court ruling after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, according to the Associated Press news agency. The vice-president said only he would soon "tackle this issues in a statement". Other Sunni politicians have denounced Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - who issued the warrant for Mr Hashemi - as a dictator, accusing him of deliberate provocation that risked plunging the country back into sectarian conflict. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Dozens of people died in at least 11 attacks in Iraq Correspondents say the fragile coalition government of Sunnis, secularists and Shia has appeared to be in danger of collapse ever since. Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have been blamed for much of the recent violence in Iraq. Sunday saw a fresh wave of killings, including: at least one car bomb explosion in Baghdad, which killed at least nine people on Sunday evening earlier, three car bombs in the capital's predominantly Shia districts killed 15 people a shooting and bombing attack on an army base north of Baghdad, which left 11 soldiers dead two car bomb explosions in the south-eastern city of Amara outside a Shia shrine, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 60 a bomb blast in the northern city of Kirkuk, which killed seven police officers a dawn raid on a military base in Dujail, north of Baghdad, in which 10 soldiers died a bomb explosion outside the French honorary consulate in Nasiriya, in the south, which left one person dead. The French government condemned the blast attacks were also reported in Tuz Khurmatu, Baquba, Basra and Samarra. Sectarian tensions Tariq al-Hashemi Senior member of the secular, mainly Sunni Iraqiyya bloc Iraqi vice-president since 2006 On 20 December 2011, arrest warrant issued for him on charges of running death squads; he flees to northern Iraq In April 2012, he leaves Iraq, going to Qatar and Saudi Arabia before arriving in Turkey In September 2012, convicted and sentenced to death in absentia; 30 days to appeal The Iraqi government issued the warrant for Hashemi's arrest on 19 December 2011, the day after the last US troops left the country. He fled first to the largely autonomous Kurdish north of the country, and from there to Qatar and on to Turkey. Prosecutors said Hashemi was involved in 150 killings. During his trial in absentia in Baghdad, some of his former bodyguards said Mr Hashemi had ordered murders. He says the charges against him are politically motivated and has accused Mr Maliki of fuelling sectarianism. On Sunday, an Iraqi court found Hashemi and his son-in-law guilty of two murders and sentenced him to death by hanging. The judge dismissed a third charge for lack of evidence. Although violence has decreased since its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks have escalated again after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq at the end of last year, amid increasing political and sectarian tensions. The Iraqi government has been hampered by divisions between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish political groups. The Iraqi government said July 2012 was the deadliest month in nearly two years, with 325 people killed. Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a Sunni, and many Sunnis believe they are being penalised by Shias, who have grown in influence since the US invasion. Sunnis have accused Mr Maliki of taking an authoritarian approach to government. |
Sally Ryan/Northwestern University Vadim Backman no longer relies on coffee to get him through the 100-hour weeks he puts in at his biomedical engineering laboratory at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Since giving up caffeine, he drops to the floor and does press-ups whenever he needs to clear his head. It certainly takes an alert mind to supervise 20 students, collaborate on clinical trials at 8 hospitals worldwide, and manage 7 grants worth a total of more than US$3 million from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. At 38, Backman is already a biomedical superstar. He is developing an imaging technology that could detect abnormal structures in cells during the earliest stages of cancer. And a Nature analysis has identified him as one of seven scientists whom the NIH supports with the most grants (see ‘Seven lucky seven’). That puts him near the top of a larger group of NIH-supported researchers who will soon be targeted for extra scrutiny beyond the peer-review process. As it released its 2013 budget proposal last week, the agency said that researchers who control more than $1.5 million in grants will undergo an extra layer of review from external advisers before further grants are approved. The decision comes as the agency tries to scrape money together for new grants in order to raise its current grant success rate of 18%, a historic low. But the countermeasure — potentially penalizing applicants on the basis of their previous success — is also historic. The basic rule for giving out grants at the NIH has always been simple: to fund the best science. A retreat from pure meritocracy is “shocking”, says Howard Garrison, director of public affairs at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in Bethesda, Maryland. “It’s a huge sea change.” Nevertheless, Garrison supports the new rule because he is concerned about the vast number of researchers who are struggling to win, or hold, just one grant. Nearly 1,500 principal investigators (PIs) — about 5% of those who held grants in 2011 — come in above the $1.5-million threshold and would be subject to the review. A $750,000 threshold for a similar layer of extra review has been in place since the 1990s at one NIH institute, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and has worked well, says the institute’s former director Jeremy Berg, now at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Shopping around Sally Rockey, the NIH deputy director for extramural research, says the agency isn’t considering a hard cap based on the number of grants per scientist, nor extra review for those with many grants. She points out that a cap based on numbers of grants would have to be draconian to spread grants to a significantly greater number of researchers. An analysis she presented on her blog in October 2011 found that setting a maximum of two grants per PI would increase the grant success rate by just 2%. In 2008, two NIH advisory panels tasked with reforming the peer-review process for grants recommended that PIs spend at least 20% of their time on any given grant — a de facto cap of five grants per researcher. Although most of the recommendations were ultimately adopted, the 20% rule was not. Berg, who was on one of the advisory panels, says he would still support a review threshold — although not a hard cap — for a certain number of grants. “You look at people with more than a certain number of grants and ask, ‘Is this a good investment for the NIH?’”he says. There are concerns, he adds, that PIs could gain multiple grants by presenting similar experiments to different NIH institutes. “You look at people with more than a certain number of grants and ask, ‘Is this a good investment?’” Berg has tried to measure the output of laboratories of different sizes, and found that the richest are not necessarily the most productive (see Nature 468, 356–357; 2010). “There are some people who are definitely capable of running bigger operations while maintaining tremendous productivity per dollar,” he says. “There are other people who are very well funded and aren’t so productive.” Those questions are especially important for the very top grant winners, whom Nature identified on the basis of ‘research project grants’, an NIH-defined category composed mostly of the R-01 grants that provide bread-and-butter support to most PIs. John Tainer, a structural biologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, feels that the new rule will only further entrench a bias against those with multiple grants, and worries that it could restrict innovation by the elite. With 7 grants worth a combined sum of more than $5 million, it is hard to feel sorry for Tainer. But earlier this month, he lost a competitive renewal for a grant that he has held since 1985, to study the hair-like pili on the surface of bacteria that make them sticky and contribute to their pathogenicity. Because he relies on grants to pay the salaries of 18 lab members, as well as his own, this rejection could mean lay-offs. Tainer suspects that the decision “reflects the fact that I have other projects”. But, he continues, “The science hasn’t changed. What we’re doing now is better than what we’ve ever done.” The loss of the grant will extend beyond his own lab, he adds. “For the next decade, people will be publishing parts of things that I had done better. The cost to the NIH will be higher. If you’re a leader and you have momentum and technology, the impact of taking that away and having other people do it at a different level is destructive.” Backman also dislikes the idea of capping the number of grants that an individual can win, but is more relaxed about the proposed $1.5-million threshold review. He is sympathetic to the plight of young researchers casting about for their first grant — he was in the same position just a few years ago — but says that the competition for established researchers must be based purely on the strength of their ideas. “I like the idea of meritocracy,” he says. |
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: “Friends and Neighbors,” Charlie Haden playing bass with Ornette Coleman. The legendary jazz musician and composer Charlie Haden died on Friday at the age of 76, one of the most politically outspoken jazz musicians, also co-founder of the Liberation Music Orchestra. To see our interview with Charlie Haden, go to democracynow.org. Yes, this is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. Twelve days ago, Occupy Wall Street activist Cecily McMillan was driven to Queens, New York, and dropped off on the side of the road, with only a MetroCard, after serving nearly two months in jail. McMillan’s sentence for allegedly assaulting a police officer was the most severe served by any of the thousands of Occupy Wall Street activists arrested over the course of the movement. To the Occupy movement, McMillan’s case had become a symbol of police and judicial overreach. She was sentenced to jail even though nine out of the 12 jurors who convicted her pleaded with the judge for leniency, saying they did not think she should serve any time behind bars. Cecily McMillan was arrested in March 2012 as protesters tried to reoccupy Zuccotti Park, six months after the Occupy Wall Street movement began. She says she felt someone grab her right breast from behind, swung out instinctively, striking her assailant, who turned out to be a police officer, Grantley Bovell, and leaving him with a black eye. McMillan says she then suffered a seizure as police pinned her down and arrested her. She was later treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. She appeared on Democracy Now! six days after her arrest covered in bruises, including one in the shape of a hand print above her right breast. CECILY McMILLAN: I ended a 40-something-hour stay in jail and ended up with all these bruises. I mean, that’s—I have an open case, so I can’t talk more about it, and I’m sure you can tell that it would be difficult for me to remember some things. But I have these. AMY GOODMAN: That was Cecily McMillan right after her arrest. Her attorneys showed photos of her bruises during the trial, but the prosecutors rejected McMillan’s claim she was assaulted by police and accused her of making the bruises herself. Cecily McMillan, eventually convicted of second-degree assault, faced up to seven years in prison, a prospect that was apparently shocking even to some of the jurors who convicted her, who did not know this during the trial. The jurors were reportedly barred from researching the case during the trial, including potential sentences. One juror later told The Guardian newspaper, “Most wanted her to do probation, maybe some community service.” Well, McMillan was ultimately sentenced to three months in jail, five years of probation. She was released earlier this month, joins us now. Welcome back to Democracy Now! CECILY McMILLAN: Thank you for having me. AMY GOODMAN: So, how are you doing? How was—you spent your time at Rikers. CECILY McMILLAN: Yeah. It’s very discombobulating to be out now. Honestly, it’s hard to return to my even loving and supportive community after essentially creating a family in there, people that really sustained me and people who really understand what it means to have all of your agency taken away, to be constantly in a humiliating and oppressive situation. And then to be out here, everything from selecting an outfit to learning how to, you know, rework the Internet, has been a very difficult feat. AMY GOODMAN: So, we didn’t get to talk to you when you were sentenced and went to prison. The response, not only of people outside, but the jurors themselves—what was your response to them? Very rare to write a letter like that to a judge, to say, “Do not imprison her.” CECILY McMILLAN: Well, I was very thankful that they did step forward and that they did get themselves organized and step up front on my behalf. I mean, I was very shocked that there was, as my lawyer called it, the smoking gun, the handprint on the chest with the scratch marks, and the story that I had maintained the entire time, versus Officer Bovell, who had changed his stories a couple of time—and to hear another woman look at you and say, “Aliens might have—well have sexually assaulted you,” is a form of rape culture that— AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean? CECILY McMILLAN: Well, that’s what the DA said. They said it was more likely that aliens assaulted me than Officer Bovell, and essentially said that I was a liar, which is something women experience all of the time when they try to speak out against their sexual assaulters. AMY GOODMAN: And so, you went to jail. CECILY McMILLAN: Yeah. AMY GOODMAN: Talk—describe a day in jail. CECILY McMILLAN: Well, every day is mostly waiting. You have to wait for up to—I never went to sick hall and was there for less than six hours. You could be waiting for up to 12 hours to see a doctor, even sometimes 12 hours two or three days in a row. There are constant searches, where you’re made to lay face down, put your hands behind your back, and it’s a three- to four-hour process where dogs can even be brought in around you, strip searches all of the time—deep knee bend, deep knee bend. I mean, everything about—the best thing I could say that might share some sort of insight to the audience is, in the entire experience that I was there, I had, I think, a grand total of 30 seconds ever alone. It was in an elevator where there was nobody there, and yet the camera was still watching me. Literally, from using the restroom to changing, I mean, you have—your body is no longer your own. AMY GOODMAN: What was the message of women, knowing you were getting out now, to people on the other side of the bars? CECILY McMILLAN: I mean, that was a really big discussion. We had launched some campaigns while we were in there, particularly the fact that mail, medication, meal and recreation was called every day at the same time, forcing women to choose between the four services, in order to either achieve their antidepressant medication or to eat that day or to spend the 45 minutes we’re allowed outside in the sun that day, to correspondence from their family and loved ones. So, by the time that I was moving towards leaving, we had had sort of a Zuccotti Park-like participatory democracy where we really did discuss the fact that there was no rehabilitation effort whatsoever that was realistic associated with our punitive system, and what were some demands and changes that could be put forth in order to make those changes. And I firmly believe that those who struggle understand the source of their struggle best, and therefore understand its solution. So I sat there with 53 little pieces of paper on the phone with my team reading out what these women said. And they essentially called for basic tenets of what, you know, we have been talking about, the Democratic Party, for at least as far as I’ve lived. We talked about healthcare, access to healthcare, to emergency medical services, to— AMY GOODMAN: One woman died while you were in prison? CECILY McMILLAN: Yeah. Well, not one woman died. I mean, that’s—I mean, one woman that I personally witnessed died. Another woman died the day that I left, a 17-year-old. So, Judith came into our dorm, and she seemed fine. She was happy. She was very funny. And within three days, she had been reduced to vomiting blood, what looked to be chunks of her liver. At this point, she hadn’t eaten for over 24 hours. She was so confused that she would sit on other people’s beds, didn’t know where her bed was. And when two medical professionals came up, and she, you know, was not enthused about the idea of going down with people who had denied her her medical services before, they said, “OK, well, she said she didn’t want to come with us, so she denied medical service, and we’re not going to take her down.” And it was very clear that she was absolutely delusional, that there’s no way that she could have made any sort of decisions for herself. And it was not until all of the inmates rose up, I mean, got her dressed and carried her down and said, “This is a medical emergency. You have to take her to the hospital.” And even then, the doctor, as she’s standing there covered with her own blood, said, “Huh! You call this a medical emergency?” And they waited there with her until they made sure she went to the hospital, where she remained in critical care condition until her death a couple of weeks ago. And this, though, I would like to say, is not an anomaly. I witnessed women that had stomach cancer, that could not help themselves up, that had been crying out for hours, their bunkies—roommate, their family, until medical professionals showed up with a gurney and would not help her up on the gurney as the gurney moved to two wheels. They said, “We’re not helping her.” And, I mean, again, every single day there was something like this. AMY GOODMAN: So, where do you go from here? CECILY McMILLAN: Well, on behalf of the inmates, I will be calling on the Mayor’s Office, City Council, the Board of Corrections. We have already started looking into what community oversight councils they have—and there are few, and not at all very working. We’ll be calling for every inmate to have a full and thorough physical examination and psychosocial examination upon entering the facility. We’ll be asking that the protocol that governs Rikers is reviewed and made sure that it’s in the best interest of all of the inmates. We’ll also be asking for a grievance process. At this point, the director of grievances told me point-blank she’s not accountable to uphold the inmate handbook because she didn’t write it. We will also be calling for resources, career training as well as domestic abuse resources and housing resources for women who are returning to their families and would like nothing better to stay out of jail, be happy and take care of their families. I don’t understand what we think of as prisoners in this country. AMY GOODMAN: We have to leave it there. The system might be very sorry you ultimately were imprisoned. Cecily McMillan, I want to thank you for being with us, Occupy Wall Street activist who was recently released from Rikers Island after serving nearly two months behind bars, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. |
What follows is a section from the “Thoughts & Analysis” portion of my monthly letter to investors at T11 Capital. Some of the greatest opportunities in the financial markets are those where value is allowed to be cultivated through an incentivized management team. The more difficult to assess the value of a company, as a result of a mix of esoteric assets and restructured operations, the more likely it is that the market will misrepresent the value of the company. The smaller the market cap, the greater the discrepancy in value. The aforementioned are all fairly obvious points to the experienced investor. Obviously, in areas of the market where less individuals and institutions are paying attention, those areas will be prone to substantial dislocations in value. And perhaps even more obviously, individuals are driven by incentives. Without them we become lackadaisical, mouth-breathing neanderthals that would be perfectly content spending our days trying to beat the high score in Candy Crush. Incentives drive human behavior, creativity and in the end, the realization of value in undervalued corporations. What is missing from the formula is everything that takes place in between the realization that value exists in a company and an incentivized, experienced management team put in place to expertly help in realizing the value. There are literally countless individuals who have spotted the correct alignment between value and incentives, yet there are few who are consistently able to outperform the market. The realization, in fact, that a value/incentive aligned situation exists is very often a consensus event. A consensus value event is one where a majority of individuals observing the company believe that value exists in the corporation and eventually the share price will be substantially higher. A consensus value event is not attempting to pick the bottom in a violent, macro driven decline in oil, for example, as we experienced exactly 12 months ago. A consensus value event is also not attempting to pick the exact bottom of the financial crisis by purchasing a basket of stocks in March of 2009. These are contrarian value events, which is a topic for another letter. The difficulty investing in a consensus value event comes from an inherent conflict with the basic functioning of the financial markets, generally. Consensus is essentially an abomination in the financial markets. Markets will go through inordinately painful measures that completely lack any rationality to eradicate consensus allocations and investments in the markets. In fact, many popular quips exist that attempt to simplify the action: The markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent; losers average losers and so on. In order for the markets to eventually realize the value in a consensus event a set of extraordinary actions both in time and price need to take place as a prerequisite to value creation. In a vast majority of cases, one, the other or both take place before any value is realized. The functioning of volatility in the stock price dulls consensus opinion considerably as it creates discomfort among a majority of shareholders. As a result, an investor's focus will often times be distracted from the primary reason they invested (value), instead focusing on the immediate pain and uncertainty they are experiencing. Pain and uncertainty have the uncanny ability to create irrational patterns of thinking that essentially illuminate dark corners where all types of scary eventualities lie. In other words, pain and uncertainty move the mind away from fact based thinking into fear based thinking. In that state fact and fear based thinking become indistinguishable from one another, creating errors in judgment that only become apparent in hindsight. The functioning of time in a stock price takes on a much different influence with similar consequences as volatility. The longer a stock takes to realize the value that is apparent, the more susceptible an investor becomes to irrational influences, whether from competing investments or divergent opinions. The facts of a company may not have changed for the entirety of the holding period. However, the very nature of a prolonged wait acts towards dissuasion of the entire investment thesis. Eventually, investors either decide to sell out entirely before the value that they knew existed is allowed to be realized or they sell out at the very initial stages of value creation following the prolonged wait, missing out on the extraordinary gains they were sure existed at the onset of the investment. This brings me to the point of this piece: Consensus value opinions typically end up working out, just not on the same timescale that a majority of investors are comfortable with or expected. Reminding me of the quote from Jeff Bezos that I included in last month's letter: Our first shareholder letter, in 1997, was entitled, “It’s all about the long term.” If everything you do needs to work on a three-year time horizon, then you’re competing against a lot of people. But if you’re willing to invest on a seven-year time horizon, you’re now competing against a fraction of those people, because very few companies are willing to do that. Just by lengthening the time horizon, you can engage in endeavors that you could never otherwise pursue. At Amazon we like things to work in five to seven years. We’re willing to plant seeds, let them grow—and we’re very stubborn. We say we’re stubborn on vision and flexible on details. In some cases, things are inevitable. The hard part is that you don’t know how long it might take, but you know it will happen if you’re patient enough. – Jeff Bezos |
A Sydney teenager who was shot by police after he suffered a violent home invasion has had a $500,000 compensation order overturned by the court of appeals, and is now facing the daunting prospect of paying NSW Police’s legal fees. In late September 2011, Justin McMaster, then aged 19, awoke to hear his sister screaming, after two knife-wielding men broke into their home in Colydon, in the western suburbs. Soon after, he ran from the house, brandishing a metal rod from a set of blinds, in an attempt to chase the attackers away; believing him to be one of the home invaders, however, Constable John Fanning shot McMaster in the stomach. Somehow, things managed to get worse from there, as this week, a $512,450 civil claim awarded to McMaster in 2013 has been reversed on appeal, with a panel of three judges finding that NSW police were not liable for the shooting. In overturning the damages order, Justice Anthony Meagher said that Fanning was acting in support of his colleague, Constable Natasha Kleinman, believing her to be under threat. Per Fairfax reports, Meagher said: “This was not a case of a simple assault being resisted by use of a firearm. The threat to Constable Kleinman was believed to be serious injury or worse. Constable Fanning waited until the last moment. He did not see any indication that Constable Kleinman was going to use her Taser. At that point, he had no alternative course of action available to prevent the threat to Constable Kleinman, which he reasonably believed the man presented.” In addition to having his compensation overturned (and getting shot, obvs), McMaster is now potentially facing one hell of a bill. The panel declared that he and his sisters, who were also awarded compensation after seeing him shot, must pay NSW Police’s legal fees for the original hearing and the appeal, an amount that could run to the tens of thousands. The clear message here is try not to get mistakenly shot by police, or you could end up seriously out of pocket. via Fairfax |
‘I WISH I had killed her’ - Those were the chilling words of a driver who reversed his car in to a nurse. Being taken down in to custody as he was sentenced to six months imprisonment, Ian Michael Webber stated "I wish I had killed her" about a woman driver he pushed 100 metres along a road with his car. Dorchester Crown Court heard how Webber, of Bradford Road Weymouth, 50, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, relating to the incident on October 28 last year. The court heard how at around 12.20pm on that date, Mary-Jane Cullen was driving in Dorchester on her way to work. Rufus Taylor, prosecuting, said that as she turned down Duke’s Avenue, off Icen Way, she saw a car blocking the route. She sat in her car and waited before getting out to see if anyone was coming to move the car, Mr Taylor said. Mrs Cullen then spoke to Webber’s wife, and asked her politely to move the car before Mrs Webber became abusive. The court heard how Mrs Webber refused to move the car, at one point telling Mrs Cullen ‘you have patients to see, they will be dead before you get there’. Mrs Cullen phoned the police and stood behind Webber’s car to stop him and his wife from leaving. Webber then reversed the car and hit Mrs Cullen in her back and continued to bump her down the road. One eyewitness said that the bumping moved Mrs Cullen about 100 metres while another said it was around 20 yards. Webber stopped bumping her and got out the car to shut the boot after it had opened, the court heard. He then got back in to the car and reversed at full speed towards Mrs Cullen who was forced to jump out of the way. The court heard how he then drove forward and pushed Mrs Cullen’s car along Duke’s Avenue and out in to the middle of Icen Way. Richard Tutt, mitigating, said that Webber deserves credit for his early guilty plea and that he had no criminal convictions for the past five years. Judge Jonathan Fuller said that eyewitnesses saw Webber looking ‘angry’ and ‘somewhat out of control’ during the incident but did recognise Webber played no part in the abuse given to Mrs Cullen by his wife. He said: “What you did was very dangerous. I can’t ignore the effect it had on Mrs Cullen. “Serious harm could have come about were circumstances different. The risk of harm to her is something you chose to ignore.” Judge Fuller said that if she had lost her footing and fallen she could have gone under the car. Twice during the sentencing hearing, Judge Fuller had to address Webber in the dock as he became 'increasingly restless'. Judge Fuller sentenced Webber to six months in prison and disqualified him from driving for 15 months. And at the end of the hearing Webber made the statement that he wish he had killed Mrs Cullen. |
Editors: Marc Fleisher (fleisher@mail.wsu.edu) Researchers: John Drobnicki and Julian Hendy Writer: John Drobnicki We begin by examining the arguments made by several revisionist authors regarding allegations that Nazis made soap from human corpses during the Second World War. We will see claims from Because "revisionists" often portray the soap allegations as an attack on Germans generally, Nizkor wishes to make one thing clear from the outset. We present information on Professor Spanner and the Danzig soap experiment, not because we feel this isolated case is relevant to the history of the Holocaust as a whole, nor because we believe it is especially important, but because the revisionists we cite have attempted to confuse the issue. They have conflated the Auschwitz RIF rumor and the Danzig experiment into one "soap story" and have presented statements about one or the other as though they referred to both. In order to eliminate this confusion, and to dissect this particular technique of denial, it is necessary to explain the evidence regarding the Danzig experiment in some detail. Nizkor takes no position as to the reliability of this evidence, as it is not clear to us whether there is consensus among historians on the issue. The reader may make up his or her own mind. The important thing is that the evidence does exist, and that the revisionist tracts we shall examine ignore that evidence in an attempt to confuse the lay reader. Weber's first claim: One of the most lurid and slanderous Holocaust claims is the story that the Germans manufactured soap from the bodies of their victims. [...] More important, this accusation was "proved" at the main Nuremberg trial of 1945-1946, and has been authoritatively endorsed by numerous historians in the decades since. [1] This is not true. What does the Judgment of the IMT actually say? After cremation the ashes were used for fertilizer, and in some instances attempts were made to utilize the fat from the bodies of the victims in the commercial manufacture of soap. [2] (Emphasis Nizkor's.) Note that the IMT did not say that soap was made from human remains -- on the contrary, they said that the Nazis tried to make soap from human remains. One can attempt something without being successful. The IMT also does not say that this attempt was widespread. Weber deliberately misinterprets what the IMT said in an attempt to discredit that body's judgments. Weber's second claim: ...Holocaust historians have grudgingly conceded that the human soap tale is a wartime propaganda lie. [3] Contrary to what Mr. Weber has said both here and above, the overwhelming majority of Holocaust historians have never believed that the Nazis mass produced human soap. He is trying to imply that people such as Yehuda Bauer and Deborah Lipstadt have suddenly changed their minds on this issue, especially because of what the revisionists have proved. This is not the case, for Bauer and Lipstadt (and many others) never believed it or mentioned it in their published histories of the Holocaust. Even Weber's fellow revisionists Richard Harwood and Ditlieb Felderer contradict him by complaining that many Holocaust books do not mention anything about human soap (see below). Weber's third claim: Even British prisoners of war interned at Auschwitz in 1944 testified later about the wartime rumors that corpses of gassing victims were being turned into soap there. [4] Actually, the Nuremberg documents contain the testimony of only one British POW who mentions the soap rumor at Auschwitz. This is what that POW, Douglas T. Frost, had to say: The German civilians often threatened the inmates that they would be gassed and made into soap. We were told that quite a few times by the inmates and I personally heard the German civilians make those threats many times. Also I heard the Germans joking among themselves about the same thing. I didn't take it seriously at first but later I wondered whether it might not be true after all. Though I have no personal knowledge, I got the impression that the manufacture of soap from inmates was being done at Auschwitz by rendering the fat from the gassed bodies. [5] (Emphasis Nizkor's.) As we shall later see, two British POWs testified to soap production at the Danzig Anatomic Institute, not Auschwitz; whether Weber has confused these deliberately or accidentally is impossible to know. Those testimonies were of activities witnessed firsthand, indeed participated in -- not reports of rumors. Polish war crimes prosecutors confirmed the testimonies with forensic testing which determined that human fat was one of the components in soap found in 1945. Note that Frost merely testifies to rumors, and that Weber deliberately does not mention that Frost placed the blame for the rumors on the Germans who worked at Auschwitz. In fact, we know that human soap was not made at Auschwitz. In discussing soap taken from Auschwitz, Michael Berenbaum explained that "The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum tested several bars of soap reported to be composed of human fat but no such fat was found." [6] The negative test result was confirmed also in a letter to the present authors from Steve Friesen of the USHMM, 30 May 1995. But although human soap was not actually made at Auschwitz, many people there apparently believed it at the time, and German civilians there taunted inmates that they would be made into soap, as Frost pointed out in his deposition. Weber's fourth claim: [Soviet prosecutor] Smirnov quoted at length from an affidavit by Sigmund Mazur, an Institute employee, which was accepted as Nuremberg exhibit USSR-197. It alleged that Dr. Rudolf Spanner, the head of the Danzig Institute, had ordered the production of soap from corpses in 1943. [7] This is correct: the most damning and vivid description of the Danzig Anatomical Institute comes from Mazur, who worked there from January 1941 until the capture of Danzig. Note that Weber does not attempt to discredit Mazur at all. Weber's fifth claim: A human soap "recipe," allegedly prepared by Dr. Spanner (Nuremberg document USSR-196), was also presented. [8] Actually, the "recipe," which is in German, does not contain the word "human" in it, but it was a recipe for soap made from fat typed on the letterhead of the Danzig Anatomical Institute. Weber's sixth claim: Over the years, numerous supposedly reputable historians have promoted the durable soap story. Journalist-historian William L. Shirer, for example, repeated it in his best-selling work, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich . [9] What, exactly, did Shirer say? One Danzig firm, according to a document offered by the Russian prosecution, constructed an electrically heated tank for making soap out of human fat. [10] Notice that Shirer did not endorse, confirm, or "promote" the soap allegations. Nor does he mention mass production of soap by a factory. He merely states that there was one firm which made one tank -- according to an IMT document, USSR-272 to be precise. (The document was the written testimony of a British corporal and POW, namely William Anderson Neely.) |
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