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Editor’s Note: Reason columnist and Mercatus Center economist Veronique de Rugy appears weekly on Bloomberg TV to separate economic fact from economic myth. Myth 1: If a deal is not reached by August 2, the U.S. will default on its debt. Fact 1: The Treasury Department can prioritize payments in order to avoid a default. The Treasury Department is due to pay off $30 billion in maturing short-term debt. But we also know that the Treasury has the ability to prioritize its payments and pay that particular $30 billion out of the $172 billion it collects in tax revenue. As the Bipartisan Policy Center has calculated, after paying $30 billion in interest payments in August, Treasury could, if it ceased all other functions (see page 13 of this document), also pay for Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits, and payments to defense contractors. Technically speaking, there is no need to default in the absence of a debt ceiling agreement. This is not an ideal solution and it entails some significant risks (mainly timing difficulties), but it could be done if necessary. In addition, the Treasury could sell some of its assets in order to pay the bills. That’s an expensive option at this point, since it would probably mean selling them at a low price, but these are not normal times and a fire sale beats a default. Myth 2: If the debt ceiling isn’t raised the government won't be able to pay Social Security benefits. Fact 2: There are approximately $2.6 trillion dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund. Those assets can be used to pay benefits. Furthermore, there is already trillions of dollars of interagency debt that counts toward the $14.29 trillion debt limit. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner could convert that interagency debt into publicly-held debt, preventing not only a technical default but also preventing any delay in government payments. President Barack Obama has suggested that if the Treasury prioritized payments in order to prevent default on the debt, it might do so on the backs of seniors by not sending out their Social Security checks. This is a particularly troubling rhetorical move by the White House. As the president and his advisers know, there are ways for the government to pay these benefits—messy ways, yes, but still viable—in the absence of a debt-ceiling agreement. That’s what the president should be saying rather than trying to scare seniors. According to a Bipartisan Policy Center report, incoming revenue on August 3 will amount to $12 billion. At the same time, the government is scheduled to spend some $32 billion—most of it in the form of Social Security checks. How do we make up the difference? First, remember how Social Security works. Starting now, the difference between payroll-tax revenue and Social Security benefits is made up by redeeming the IOUs in the Social Security Trust Fund. In order to pay back this IOU, Treasury has to borrow the money, which increases the debt held by the public by the same amount. In other words, if Treasury were to redeem the needed Social Security bonds and issue new marketable Treasury bonds to make good on them, it would be a one-for-one swap. There is a potential glitch, however, having to do with whether Treasury has the authority to use payroll tax money to pay benefits rather than to “invest.” According to Washington Post “Fact Checker” Glenn Kessler, the Treasury has done it before: There is a technical wrinkle involving the fact that payroll taxes that are collected are supposed to be immediately turned into Treasury securities, but there could be ways around that, such as putting the monies in a noninterest bearing account, as during the 1985 debt crisis. “Although some of the Secretary’s actions appear in retrospect to have been in violation of the requirements of the Social Security Act, we cannot say that the Secretary acted unreasonably given the extraordinary situation in which he was operating,” the General Accounting Office later concluded.... Still, during the 1996 debt limit crisis, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin announced that Treasury did not have sufficient funds to pay Social Security benefits. Congress rushed to pass a special law that said the Social Security benefits did not count against the debt limit. Was this designed to pressure the Republican-led Congress, or had even a shrewd operator like Rubin run out of options? However, Congress later that year passed a law, 121-104, that codified Treasury’s authority to use Social Security trust funds to pay benefits and administration expenses in the event a debt ceiling is reached, which could give the administration the authority they need in the current crisis. |
Good news everyone: A Center City Police District has finally unveiled their bike registry Pilot program. Residents of that neighborhood can now use a website to register their bike with the local police district in case it gets stolen. The announcement comes amidst the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s call for a citywide bike registry program and Action News 6ABC’s detailed report on bicycle thefts in Philadelphia. “This is a Pilot program. We did it here because of the high concentration of bike thefts in the city, and housing here doesn’t really afford many [indoor] parking spaces,” says Lt. Gallagher of the 6th District. The District includes most of Center City proper east of Broad Street. According to our data, there were 999 reported bike thefts in that district between 2007 and 2012. The registry, continues Gallagher, has similar goals to those in the 17th and 26th Police Districts, as well as area schools: Deter bike thieves and, when they continue thieving, locate the bike they stole. Further, if the bike is recovered, registration cuts down on it sitting in a police warehouse indefinitely. Gallagher says since the district’s soft launch late last week, 10 people have registered their bikes. They hope for more as the weather gets better this spring. Here’s how it works: 1) Log onto PhillyPoliceBikeRegistry.com. 2) Complete the Registration Form and upload a photo of your bike. 3) There is no 3, unless your bike gets stolen. In that case, call the police. The end goal of the 6th District program: Expand it outwards to the entire city, which we totally support. The District doesn’t have a date for doing that but, rather, wants to see how the Center City registry works out. Therefore, if you live in the 6th Police District (or the 26th, or the 17th), we urge you register your bike. It’s easy. You can literally do it with your phone, in your house. Posted by Randy LoBasso at 2:35 pm Topics: research |
Not all science fiction films are blockbusters. In fact, some of the very best sci-fi films are smaller, independent movies made by first time directors who have to prove themselves before being entrusted by movie studios with big budgets and an A-list cast. Many filmmakers have done some of their best work early in their careers and on a shoe string budget. For these sci-fi movies, it is more about the concept, story, and themes than the special effects and action. Still, they are worth seeking out and viewing. You may be surprised at the hidden gems that are out there waiting to be discovered. Here are 15 obscure sci-fi films you should make a point of watching. 15. The City of Lost Children An international co-production from French directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen), the 1995 sci-fi film The City of Lost Children is haunting, surreal, and an experience that will stick with you long after the credits have rolled. Starring Ron Perlman as a circus strongman whose younger brother falls prey to an evil being who feeds on the dreams of children, The City of Lost Children explores a world populated by a bizarre cast of characters and creatures including conjoined twins, a cyclops, a dwarf, and a disembodied brain housed in an elaborate tank. Featuring a steampunk aesthetic and incredible production design, Caro and Jeunet’s film explores the darker side of capitalism, as well as the exploitation of children and the loss of innocence. Just as much sci-fi as it is macabre fairy tale, The City of Lost Children is one relatively obscure film that shouldn’t be missed. 2 14. A Boy and His Dog Based on a short story by Harlan Ellison, A Boy and His Dog is a deep cut cult film from 1975 following a teenage boy named Vic (a young Don Johnson) and his telepathic dog Blood, who travel the post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Southwestern United States in search of food and, in the titular boy’s case, sex. Predating the Mad Max series and taking a much more twisted approach to the post-apocalyptic narrative, A Boy and His Dog is deeply unsettling, featuring an unlikable lead character whose morals and ethics have been stripped away in the wake of nuclear holocaust. It’s never really made clear whether Blood is actually telepathic or if Vic is just hallucinating that he can talk but then, the entire film feels like a violent, sadistic fever dream of the nuclear era. If you can handle the rampant misogyny, there’s much to appreciate about A Boy and His Dog, if only because it’s so of a particular time and place. 3 13. Strange Days Kathryn Bigelow wouldn’t reach the ranks of A-list director until her 2009 Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker won her a Best Picture Academy Award, but she had been quietly building an impressive filmography for decades prior. Featuring a script co-written by Bigelow’s ex-husband James Cameron, 1995’s Strange Days is a sci-fi thriller with film noir elements focused on a futuristic virtual reality system that allows users to experience life as other people, but with some dark consequences as well, including the introduction of new types of crime. The film can be read as a commentary on the city of Los Angeles in the 1990s, a decade that saw a rise in police brutality and racism. Featuring stellar lead performances from Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett, Strange Days themes arguably resonate just as powerfully today as they did more than two decades ago and is a must-watch for any sci-fi fan. 4 12. 2010 You’d have to be crazy to try and make a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s genre-defining 2001: A Space Odyssey but it turns out someone not only had that idea but actually got it made too. Released in 1984, 2010 is an adaptation of author Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001 sequel, 2010: Odyssey 2 (1982). The big reason why 2010 is so often overlooked is because Kubrick had nothing to do with it. Instead, the film was directed Peter Hyams, who deliberately went out of his way to try and make something different that didn’t simply ape Kubrick’s filmmaking aesthetic. Whereas 2001 is a highly sensory viewing experience, Hyams’ film has more of a traditional narrative that is easier to follow. He also stuffs his sequel with characters who feel human, in a bid to create a more emotionally engaging film. Unfortunately for Hyams, this has helped make 2010 quite unpopular among fans of Kubrick’s film but if you can set aside the legacy of 2001, there’s actually a lot to like about the sequel, which is arguably a sci-fi classic in its own right. 5 11. Cube This 1997 Canadian sci-fi horror film was actually the Canadian Film Centre’s first feature film project and follows a group of characters kidnapped and held prisoner in a set of giant cube-shaped rooms. Featuring a cast of unknown actors, director Vincenzo Natali crafts a mysterious and horrifying viewing experience, in which you can never be quite sure who is going to be killed off next. In a way, the Saw series owes a debt to Cube, which introduced the room trap concept years before the first installment in the popular horror series was released. Fortunately, Cube is much more than just a torture porn horror experience, as the film’s true quality is its Twilight Zone-like premise, with Natali delivering on the film’s delightfully eerie premise. A cult classic, Cube went onto spawn two sequels but it’s the original movie that’s actually worth seeking out. 6 10. Time After Time (1979) Nicholas Meyer is best known for penning the screenplays to the great movies Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. However, before these successes, Nicholas Meyer made his feature film directing debut in 1979 with the sci-fi movie Time After Time. This is a smart and engaging time-travel film about author H.G. Wells (played by actor Malcolm McDowell of A Clockwork Orange fame), who pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century after the notorious killer uses the writer’s time machine to transport himself out of Victorian London. Tracking Jack the Ripper (played by Tron actor David Warner) to 1970s San Francisco, H.G. Wells meets and falls for a feminist bank teller named Amy (played by Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen), and finds he must save her when she becomes Jack the Ripper’s next target. While not having the biggest budget, Time After Time is still a fun and interesting movie, and one that hold up after all these years. Check out the hilariously dated trailer. 7 9. Primer (2004) The 2004 sci-fi film Primer epitomizes what is meant by an “independent sci-fi film.” Made on a paltry budget of only $7,000, the movie is about two scientists who build a time travel machine. With no real budget for special effects to portray time travel, the movie instead focuses on something stranger, but ultimately more believable – they decide to use the time machine to beat the stock market (wouldn’t you?). The two main characters, who are both engineers, succeed at first, but eventually things take a wrong turn. Made by first time director Shane Carruth, Primer is a smart and engaging movie that succeeds in making the viewer forget that there are no special effects to speak of in this movie about time travel. Instead we are left with a thought provoking morality tale that is the opposite of the dumbed down, big budget sci-fi films we mostly see in movie theaters today. 8 8. Slipstream (1989) The 1989 sci-fi film Slipstream was barely released and is extremely hard to find today. This is a shame, as it features two genre icons in actors Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker, and Bill Paxton of Aliens fame. Mark Hamill plays a futuristic bounty hunter who kidnaps a wanted murderer from two police officers so he can collect the bounty himself. What follows is an epic chase across a world that has been ravaged by nuclear war, and where the best mode of transportation is riding gliders on giant winds that sweep across the Earth known as the “Slipstream.” Co-starring Bill Paxton, as well as British actors Robbie Coltrane and Bob Peck, this movie was barely released in the U.S. and is difficult to find on DVD or Blu-Ray today. But it is a fun and interesting movie that is worth seeing. One of the better post-Star Wars films Mark Hamill ever made. And the special effects are interesting. The world in this movie is like an airborne Mad Max landscape. 9 7. Stalker (1979) The 1979 sci-fi movie Stalker was made by the Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky, who also famously directed the 1972 sci-fi classic Solaris. And while Stalker is not quite in the same league as Solaris, it is still worth checking out. But be warned that Stalker is a strange and intellectual movie that is challenging on a first viewing. It is also pretty damn weird. It is set in the remnants of a world destroyed by nuclear war, and in a post-apocalyptic wasteland known as The Zone. A mutant child leads the main characters (a writer and a scientist) into the heart of the nuclear devastation in search of a mythical place known only as The Room. Anyone who enters The Room will supposedly have their earthly desires immediately fulfilled. But, as is typical of dystopian settings, a gradual disintegration begins before the eventual devastation and reality of The Room is revealed. Intellectual sci-fi, you bet. But also dark and grim. A movie that is not for the faint of heart. 10 6. No Blade of Grass (1970) This thoughtful, low budget science fiction movie from 1970 remains relevant to this day. The movie is about a virus that attacks and destroys the world’s food supply, plunging humanity into anarchy and chaos, and forcing some people into cannibalism. British actor Nigel Davenport (best known for the film Chariots of Fire) escapes London with his family and heads to the Scottish Highlands for safety. There he runs into evil biker gangs and rapists and must fight for survival. Amid the dystopian backdrop and violence, the film expresses anti-government sentiments and environmental concerns. There is even mention of the death of bees and their importance to the food chain, a problem we are actually facing in real life. The clothes, music and style might seem dated today, but this post-apocalyptic sci-fi film contains a message that is as eerily relevant today as it was back in 1970. 11 5. The Blood of Heroes (1989) Writer David Webb Peoples and actor Rutger Hauer are best known for their work on the 1982 masterpiece Blade Runner. However, the two also collaborated on another excellent science fiction film – 1989’s The Blood of Heroes. Little seen during its initial release and largely forgotten since, The Blood of Heroes is a Mad Max type movie set in a post-apocalyptic world where a brutal, futuristic game resembling football is played. Rutger Hauer stars as a disgraced former star leading a rag tag group of Juggers, as the players of the game are known, to one of the remaining nine cities on Earth for glory and personal redemption. Co-starring actors Vincent D’Onofrio (fresh off his success with Full Metal Jacket), Delroy Lindo and Joan Chen, this movie is weird, wonderful and criminally hard to find. Fans of Blade Runner should pay homage to David Webb Peoples and Rutger Hauer and see this largely forgotten movie. 12 4. Alphaville (1965) Made by French auteur Jean-Luc Godard, the 1965 movie Alphaville is about as intellectual a science fiction film as you can find. It is a protest against people who are obsessed with science and logic. The movie takes place in a future world where emotions are considered obsolete and public exhibition of them is illegal. But lest you think the movie will be all philosophizing and talking, it is actually set against a hardboiled film noir backdrop and a futuristic sci-fi dystopian society. In the film, secret agent Lemmy Caution travels to the technocratic dictatorship of Alphaville on a three-tiered mission: To search for missing agent Henry Dickson, to capture and kill the creator of Alphaville, and to destroy the futuristic city’s dictatorial computer known as “Alpha 60.” While not a conventional sci-fi movie, Alphaville, surprisingly, works. The black-and-white cinematography turns mundane objects into a convincing future world. A sci-fi film for people who don’t mind English subtitles. 13 3. Quintet (1979) Given that Quintet was directed by Robert Altman and starred Paul Newman, you would assume that it would be a more mainstream sci-fi film. But this 1979 movie, set in a wintry post-apocalyptic future where a new ice age has ravaged Earth, confounded critics when released and ended up leaving audiences cold (pun intended). As a result, Quintet quickly left theaters and fell into obscurity. Yet time has been kind to this movie and it is worth finding now. Paul Newman plays a man named Essex, who is a survivor in a frozen wasteland. Essex lives day-to-day until he is drawn into a mysterious game called “Quintet.” The game, it turns out, is a kind of role playing one, but if you’re killed in the game, you’re also murdered in real life. (It’s a similar theme to the Stephen King story The Running Man). As director, Robert Altman does a solid job of creating atmosphere and a constant sense of impending doom. There are long stretches in Quintet where nothing really happens before the screen is punctuated with action and violence. As the star of the movie, Paul Newman gives a tightly coiled performance full of nerves and raw instinct. The international supporting case includes Fernando Rey of The French Connection and Swedish model Bibi Andersson. Not the most exciting of sci-fi movies, but one worth seeing for the director and star, if nothing else. 14 2. The Terminal Man (1974) Written by author Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain), The Terminal Man stars George Segal (playing against type) as Harry Benson, a genius computer programmer who suffers from seizures that cause him to act violently, leading to him killing two people. To curb his violent tendencies, he volunteers to have a tiny computer implanted in him that’s meant to control his behavior. But he finds that he enjoys being calmed down so much that he starts instigating more violent seizures in order to experience the calming down effect more often. Directed by Mike Hodges, who famously made the first Get Carter film, The Terminal Man was poorly received when released in 1974. Yet this is another movie that has aged well. George Segal gives one of his most atypical and impressive performances in this film, and the thoughtful tone is intriguing for what is, essentially, a cyborg movie. 15 1. Dark Star (1974) In the 1974 film Dark Star, we see the seeds of the movie Alien. Dan O’Bannon, who both wrote and acted in Dark Star, went on to write the screenplay for Alien. And both films are about a crew in deep space who have to contend with an alien creature on board. The difference is that Dark Star is played more for laughs and Alien more for horror. The first full-length film to be directed by genre legend John Carpenter, who would go on to direct Escape From New York and a remake of The Thing, Dark Star is a low-budget sci-fi movie about four astronauts in deep space, whose mission is to destroy unstable planets in star systems that are to be colonized. As their mission nears completion, the astronauts must deal with a runaway alien on the ship that resembles a beach ball (it is actually a beach ball), a faulty computer system, and a smart bomb that thinks it is God. If this sounds weird, it is because it is weird. Dark Star is kind of a stoner sci-fi film. In fact, the movie’s tagline is “Dark Star: The Spaced Out Spaceship.” Still worth seeing to appreciate the beginnings of John Carpenter’s career and to see the direction that sci-fi movies were heading in the 1970s. |
Education minister Christopher Pyne does the ASL ice bucket challenge, and nominates fellow pollies Sarah Hanson-Young, Anthony Albanese and Steven Marshall to do the same. Courtesy: Facebook/Christopher Pyne AMID a global frenzy over ice bucket challenges to help fund ALS research, the Government is being accused of pouring cold water on the very same work in Australia. Just last week Education Minister Christopher Pyne last week joined the ice bucket challenge. But to some researchers this is a stark irony in the wake of Budget cuts to the CSIRO and the Australian Research Council (ARC), which could risk efforts to end the scourge of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), often known in Australia as Motor Neurone Disease. The ARC lost $75 million in a Budget “efficiency dividend”, which was criticised by MND Australia. And there continues to be uncertainty about the scope and timing of the research which the Government hopes to fund with a $7 Medicare co-payment. One man closely watching the funding debate is Dr Justin Yerbury of the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute attached to the University of Wollongong. In 2012 he was given an award for his work on ALS, which he described along with other MNDs as “like a fire starting in one neurone and then spreading from cell to cell”. Dr Yerbury told news.com.au today his current groundbreaking efforts funded by an Australian Research Council grant would not be directly affected by Budget cuts but there were concerns for the future. “The Government is making it more and more difficult to do research,” said Dr Yerbury. MND research is expected to get about $1.5 million next year from money raised in Australia by the ice bucket challenge. But Dr Yerbury said of his work: “It’s very difficult to fund privately.” MND Australia has already expressed concerns cuts to research funding was “likely to result in a decrease in the number of ARC research projects funded over the next three years. “Proposed changes and cuts to other areas of scientific research, PhD scholarships, university infrastructure funding and education also have potential to impact negatively on MND research,” said the group of the Budget. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten today the CSIRO was shutting down its neuroscience research because of Budget measures. “Christopher Pyne can do all the ice bucket challenges he wants — it doesn’t change the fact that his Government is ripping billions of dollars out of research,” said Mr Shorten. He said: “If Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne really cared about science and research, they’d appoint a Minister for Science and reverse these disgraceful cuts. “And you don’t fund the search for the cures of tomorrow by imposing a new GP Tax on the patients of today.” |
Two leading intellectuals make separate and eloquent cases that the people of Gaza have the right to resist by any means – including by firing rockets – Israel’s efforts to slowly extinguish their right to self-determination, and possibly to life itself. They argue that the Palestinians have this right most certainly at a moral level, but also almost certainly at the level of international law. I recommend reading each article in its entirety but, knowing the constraints on readers’ time and attention, I have extracted the most salient points they make. Norman Finkelstein: It is not altogether clear what constitutes an indiscriminate weapon [a reference to Human Rights Watch’s judgment that all Palestinian rockets from Gaza are war crimes by definition because they are not “precise”]. The apparent standard is a relative one set by the available technology: If an existing weapon has a high probability of hitting its target, then any weapons with a significantly lower probability are classified as indiscriminate. But, by this standard, only rich countries, or countries rich enough to purchase high-tech weapons, have a right to defend themselves against high-tech aerial assaults. It is a curious law that would negate the raison d’être of law: the substitution of might by right. … The United States and Britain, among others, have staunchly defended the right of a state to use nuclear weapons by way of belligerent reprisal. By this standard, the people of Gaza surely have the right to use makeshift projectiles to end an illegal, merciless seven-year-long Israeli blockade or to end Israel’s criminal bombardment of Gaza’s civilian population. Indeed, in its landmark 1996 advisory opinion on the legality of nuclear weapons, the [International Court of Justice] ruled that international law is not settled on the right of a state to use nuclear weapons when its “survival” is at stake. But, if a state might have the right to use nuclear weapons when its survival is at stake, then surely a people struggling for self-determination has the right to use makeshift projectiles when it has been subjected to slow death by a protracted blockade and recurrent massacres. … Fully 95 percent of the water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption. By all accounts, the Palestinian people now stand behind those engaging in belligerent reprisals against Israel. In the Gaza Strip, they prefer to die resisting than to continue living under an inhuman blockade. Their resistance is mostly notional, as makeshift projectiles cause little damage. So, the ultimate question is, Do Palestinians have the right to symbolically resist slow death punctuated by periodic massacres, or must they lie down and die? www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/18618/hrw-whitewashes-israel-the-law-supports-hamas_some Chris Hedges: If Israel insists, as the Bosnian Serbs did in Sarajevo, on using the weapons of industrial warfare against a helpless civilian population then that population has an inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. The international community will have to either act to immediately halt Israeli attacks and lift the blockade of Gaza or acknowledge the right of the Palestinians to use weapons to defend themselves. … Violence, even when employed in self-defense, is a curse. It empowers the ruthless and punishes the innocent. It leaves in its aftermath horrific emotional and physical scars. But, as I learned in Sarajevo during the 1990s Bosnian War, when forces bent on your annihilation attack you relentlessly, and when no one comes to your aid, you must aid yourself. When Sarajevo was being hit with 2,000 shells a day and under heavy sniper fire in the summer of 1995 no one among the suffering Bosnians spoke to me about wanting to mount nonviolent resistance. … The number of dead in Gaza resulting from the Israeli assault has topped 650, and about 80 percent have been civilians. The number of wounded Palestinians is over 4,000 and a substantial fraction of these victims are children. At what point do the numbers of dead and wounded justify self-defense? 5,000? 10,000? 20,000? At what point do Palestinians have the elemental right to protect their families and their homes? … The Palestinians will reject, as long as possible, any cease-fire that does not include a lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza. They have lost hope that foreign governments will save them. They know their fate rests in their own hands. The revolt in Gaza is an act of solidarity with the world outside its walls. It is an attempt to assert in the face of overwhelming odds and barbaric conditions the humanity and agency of the Palestinian people. There is little in life that Palestinians can choose, but they can choose how to die. www.truthdig.com/report/page2/the_palestinians_right_to_self-defense_20140723 |
Linz Schuldirektor bricht Vortrag nach Kritik an FPÖ ab LINZ. In Oberösterreich gehen die Wogen nach dem Abbruch eines Vortrags des Extremismus-Experten Thomas Rammerstorfer in einer Linzer Schule hoch. Dem vorgezogenen Ende der Schulveranstaltungen waren Beschwerden freiheitlicher Politiker vorausgegangen. Ein Vorfall am BORG Honauerstraße erhitzt die Gemüter. Am Mittwoch hatte Schuldirektor Wolfgang Oberndorfer einen Vortrag über Extremismus des Welsers Thomas Rammerstorfer, freier Autor und Finanzreferent der Grünen, abgebrochen. Gerüchteweise hieß es, dass ein FPÖ-Politiker vor dem Abbruch beim Schulleiter interveniert haben soll. Diese Intervention bestätigt gestern im OÖN-Gespräch Roman Haider, FP-Abgeordneter zum Nationalrat. Der Vortrag an der Schule seines Sohnes sei "eine unfassbare Zumutung mit politischem Kalkül", sagt er. Sein Sohn habe den Vortrag unter dem Titel "Die extremistische Herausforderung" zwangsweise besuchen müssen. Rammerstorfer referierte vor 70 Schülern der 8. Klasse über Salafisten, Staatsverweigerer, Graue Wölfe, aber auch über Burschenschaften und die FPÖ. "Mein Sohn hat mir per WhatsApp Bilder der Folien des Vortrags geschickt", sagt Haider. In diesen Unterlagen sei die FPÖ mit Extremismus in Zusammenhang gebracht worden, berichtet er. "Es ist eine Frechheit, eine Parlamentspartei mit Extremismus in Zusammenhang zu bringen. Extremismus bedeutet, Demokratie abzulehnen. Das lasse ich mir nicht unterstellen. Solche Ansichten haben an einer Schule nichts verloren", sagt Haider. Rammerstorfer sei "als grüner Wolf im Schafspelz" an der Schule gewesen, sagt Haider. Noch bevor der Vortrag zu Ende war, rief er Schuldirektor Wolfgang Oberndorfer an und beschwerte sich über die Veranstaltung. Mit Erfolg. Oberndorfer ließ die bereits laufende Diskussion abbrechen. Eine Entscheidung, die er gestern gegenüber den OÖN nicht kommentieren wollte. Landesschulratspräsident Fritz Enzenhofer verteidigt den Abbruch: "Es ist nicht zulässig, eine demokratisch legitimierte Partei mit Extremismus in Verbindung zu bringen. In der politischen Bildung ist auf Ausgewogenheit zu achten." Die Schulaufsicht werde sich mit dem Lehrer und der Direktion in Verbindung setzen, um den Vorfall zu besprechen. Rammerstorfer hingegen verteidigt seinen Besuch an der Schule. "Die FPÖ kommt im Vortrag nur sehr am Rande vor und wird geschichtlich korrekt dargestellt. Ich habe niemals die Freiheitlichen mit Terrorismus gleichgesetzt", sagt er. "Wenn es im Titel des Vortrags um Extremismus geht und dann ständig die FPÖ erwähnt wird, ist das zumindest suggestiv", kontert Enzenhofer. Auf Facebook sieht sich Rammerstorfer durch den Abbruch in seiner Meinungsfreiheit eingeschränkt: "Witzigerweise habe ich in meinem Vortrag mehrmals das Vorgehen von Erdogan und Putin gegenüber kritischen Medien thematisiert. Da hat der Abbruch dann eigentlich sehr gut gepasst, sozusagen als Anschauungsunterricht." "Ich hätte nicht abgebrochen" - Reaktionen Gemeinsam mit dem freiheitlichen Bildungssprecher Wendelin Mölzer kündigte Haider am Freitag via Aussendung eine parlamentarische Anfrage an die zuständige Bildungsministerin Sonja Hammerschmid (SPÖ) "in Bezug auf einen linksextremen Vortrag" an. Landesschulratspräsident Fritz Enzenhofer berichtete von Anrufen von FPÖ-Politikern, u.a. von Landtags-Klubobmann Herwig Mahr, hielt aber fest: "Ich habe den Abbruch nicht veranlasst und ich habe mich auch Leuten, die den Abbruch wollten, gegenüber verwehrt." Als er in der Schule telefonisch nachgefragt habe, was los sei, sei der Vortrag bereis vorzeitig beendet gewesen. "Ich hätte nicht abgebrochen", sagte Enzenhofer, betonte aber, er stehe sowohl hinter dem Direktor als auch hinter dem Lehrer. Demnächst soll es ein klärendes Gespräch zwischen dem Landesschulinspektor, dem Direktor und dem Lehrer geben, kündigte Enzenhofer an. Mahr argumentierte, dass man in Schulen Wert auf Ausgewogenheit legen müsse, etwa durch Politikerdiskussionen, bei denen alle Parteien vertreten seien. Dass er sich durch die Intervention den Vorwurf der Zensur bzw. ein Eigentor in der Wahrnehmung der Schüler eingehandelt haben könnte, glaubt er nicht: "Man muss den Schülern nur erklären, dass ein objektives Bild vermittelt werden muss." Er wolle jedenfalls nicht, dass Rammerstorfer weiter Vorträge an Schulen halte. Bildungsreferent LHStv. Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) betonte, dass Parteipolitik an Oberösterreichs Schulen grundsätzlich nichts verloren habe. "Bei politischen Veranstaltungen an Schulen ist daher eine sorgsame und politisch ausgewogene Auswahl der Referenten zentral", blieb Stelzer vorsichtig. |
Recent Posts The Bethesda Style, 2: Progression by Performance Posted by Roger Travis in Articles I apologize for not replying to comments on the first post of this series! I’ll remedy that now, and promise to be more vigilant with this post! Digital RPGs have a wide variety of ways to allow the player-performer to progress their player-character towards greater prowess. The process is universally referred to as leveling... read more The Bethesda style of oral formulaic epic, part 1 Posted by Roger Travis in Articles In a series of essays starting in 2004 and including a series of posts here on Play the Past, I’ve described player-performance in adventure games of various genres as examples of what Albert Lord, in The Singer of Tales, the seminal work on oral formulaic composition of homeric epic, calls thematic recomposition. Briefly put,... read more Videogames and Memory Posted by Peter Christiansen in Articles Public Memory is a concept that is intertwined with history in many different ways, so it’s no surprise that memory is a theme that has come up over and over again here on Play the Past. Memory and videogame intersect in a number of different ways, from prompting us to reflect on the memories of real events to using... read more History’s Creed: Episodes 6 to 10 Posted by Gilles Roy in Articles, Video Below are episodes 6 to 10 of History’s Creed, and ARTE Web Series on History in Video Games. To read Play the Past’s introductory remarks on the series, please click on this link. Episodes 1 to 5 are discussed here. Note: if subtitles do not autoplay, please click on the settings wheel at the bottom right of the... read more History’s Creed: Episodes 1 to 5 Posted by Gilles Roy in Articles, Video Below are episodes 1 to 5 of History’s Creed, and ARTE Web Series on History in Video Games. To read Play the Past’s introductory remarks on the series, please click on this link. Episodes 6 to 10 are discussed here. Note: if subtitles do not autoplay, please click on the settings wheel at the bottom right of the... read more History’s Creed: ARTE Web Series on History in Video Games Posted by Gilles Roy in Articles, Video Fresh on the heels of our editorial team transition, Play the Past is pleased to announced that the French-German TV channel ARTE is releasing a new web doc series on the treatment of history in video games. The series, commissioned by ARTE Creative and produced by Tournez s’il vous plait, is hosted by popular French History... read more |
If you think Spencer’s been crying a lot in season 7 of Pretty Little Liars, prepare yourself for at least one more “tearful goodbye.” EW caught up with Spencer herself, Troian Bellisario, and show creator Marlene King to talk about what’s coming up as the show’s summer season comes to an end. After Spencer and Caleb ended things in last week’s episode, Bellisario says she hopes that Spencer takes some time to “figure out who single Spencer is,” but odds are, her makeout with Marco will come back to bite her. After all, Rosewood is a very small town. King teased that Spencer has another tearful goodbye coming up in Tuesday’s episode, which also features the return of Jason. And speaking of Jason, King revealed that he “had a moment in time, a relationship with one of the Pretty Little Liars over the last five years.” Hit the comments with your guesses! Pretty Little Liars airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform. |
A train company has been branded a “disgrace” after it emerged some of its new fleet will be without toilets. Passengers on Southern Railway services between Brighton and Portsmouth face travelling for up to 90 minutes without the facilities. The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) criticised Southern Railway’s decision to introduce these trains, dubbing the operator “greedy” and “money-grabbing”. The class 313 trains will be rolled out on the line from December but cannot be fitted with toilets because they are too old. They were bought from London Overground to help overcrowding on the network and are being rolled out on lines across the county. Southern said they are being “refreshed” with new information systems and space for wheelchairs and bicycles. A Southern spokeswoman said: “In December, we will be introducing more trains onto the network to increase capacity for passengers. Some of them will not have on-board toilets. “These will run in areas where short journeys are typical, such as along our south coast route where the majority of passengers do journeys of less than 30 minutes. “These trains are available now which means we can provide additional passenger capacity on our busy trains as quickly as possible.” A spokesman for the Department for Transport said there were no rules on whether or not toilets should be available on trains. |
Spinolestes xenarthrosus’s 125m-year-old remains, found in Cuenca, Spain, with earlobe, lung, liver and furry pelt, is 60m years older any other mammal found with soft tissues preserved A small rat-like mammal that lived and died in a swamp 125m years ago was so well preserved by the fossilisation process that its fur, skin and organs are still visible today. The remains, unearthed in a quarry near Cuenca in central Spain, are more than 60m years older than other fossils that record the soft tissues of prehistoric mammals. The animal’s ear lobe, lung and liver are all fossilised, along with its furry pelt and tiny hedgehog-like spines on its lower back that likely protected it from predators. Researchers even found evidence of a fungal skin infection in the remains. Named Spinolestes xenarthrosus, the insect-eating furball was discovered in 2011 when fossil hunters at the Autonomous University of Madrid, were prising apart thin leaves of fine limestone sediment in the Las Hoyas Quarry. “The preservation of its soft parts is stunning,” Thomas Martin, a professor of paleontology at the University of Bonn who studied the fossil told the Guardian. “The hairs have the same structure and diversity as those seen on modern mammals.” Small, stiff spines on the animal’s lower back are thought to have offered some protection from predators such as pelecanimimus, a many-toothed, metre-long ostrich-like creature that lived alongside Spinolestes. The back spines may have come off easily, filling predators’ mouths with hard, rigid spikes. These defences were bolstered by tiny scales on the animal’s lower back, much like primitive versions of armadillos’ plates. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Artist’s impression of Spinolestes in the Cretaceous-period Las Hoyas wetland. Photograph: Oscar Sanisidro Martin believes the creature was so well preserved because bacterial films grew over the animal within hours of its death. These biofilms can form a protective coating, preserving the soft tissues long enough for them to fossilise over much longer periods of time. Spinolestes, meaning “spiny robber”, belongs to an extinct lineage of early mammals called triconodonts. At 24cm long and no more than 70g, it was no bigger than a modern rat. The specimen is the first example of a Mesozoic mammal with fossilised soft tissues in the thorax and abdomen. Tiny bronchiole structures of the lung were found in the remains, along with reddish, iron-rich residues from the liver. The parts were separated by what appears to be a diaphragm. Together, they form the earliest-known record of mammalian organs. Some of the hairs on the creature were unusually short, which the scientists describe in the journal Nature as evidence for a fungal skin infection. In a separate report published in the journal, Plos One, researchers in Belgium describe a prehistoric nest of baby Saurolophus dinosaurs complete with prehistoric egg shells. Leonard Dewaele at Ghent University and colleagues found the remains of three or four babies with two broken egg shells at a site called Dragon’s Tomb in Mongolia. The dinosaurs are thought to have been born into a nest on an old river bank in the Upper Cretaceous and died either in their eggs or soon after birth, only later being buried by river sediment during the wet summer season. |
PALO ALTO — Living the fantasy of every homeowner who’s faced the prospect of a nuisance project next door, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has bought four homes adjacent to his own 5-bedroom crash pad in one of Palo Alto’s toniest neighborhoods. Zuckerberg paid top dollar — more than $30 million in total — for the four residential properties located next door and behind his own home. But he has no plans to build a Taj Mahal on the land, according to a person with knowledge of the transactions, who said Zuckerberg is leasing the existing homes back to the families that live there. The 29-year-old multibillionaire acted after he learned of a developer’s plan to buy one of the properties next door to the Facebook co-founder, said the source. “The developer was going to build a huge house and market the property as being next door to Mark Zuckerberg.” Zuckerberg is one of several prominent tech CEOs who own homes on Palo Alto’s tree-lined streets. Yahoo’s (YHOO) Marissa Mayer and Google’s (GOOG) Larry Page live there, as did the late Apple (AAPL) chief Steve Jobs. Page created a modest stir a few years ago when he bought four adjoining properties in a fashionable, older neighborhood where he’s building a 6,000-square-foot abode. Zuckerberg, who lived for many years in modest rented digs, reportedly paid $7 million two years ago for the 5,000-square-foot home in Palo Alto’s Crescent Park neighborhood where he lives with his wife, physician Priscilla Chan. Zuckerberg, whose personal fortune is estimated at $19 billion, also owns a home in San Francisco. Although he tries to keep his personal life low-key, Zuckerberg’s Palo Alto residence drew pickets last February when he hosted a political fundraiser there for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Zuckerberg’s shopping spree started in December last year, when public records show the home directly behind his was sold to a legal entity associated with Iconiq Capital, a San Francisco firm that handles financial matters for Zuckerberg and other wealthy individuals. Then last month, two more homes behind Zuckerberg’s and one next door were bought by entities associated with Iconiq, according to public records. The sales were first reported Thursday by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Zuckerberg paid different prices for each home, shelling out more than $14 million for one 2,600-square-foot dwelling. A local real estate agent called the amount “absurdly high,” even for that pricey neighborhood. But James Yang, an agent with Sereno Group who focuses on Palo Alto and neighboring towns, said the price is less surprising “if somebody wants to buy a property and the sellers don’t want to sell.” Spokesmen for Facebook and Iconiq declined to comment or couldn’t be reached Thursday. Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey. |
Among the anti-Semites and white supremacists rallying behind Donald Trump is Christian writer and conspiracy theorist Texe Marrs, who declared on a radio program recently that Trump just might be God’s instrument for finally destroying Israel and the Jews. While speaking with Jeff Rense, a fellow right-wing extremist, Marrs made the case that Trump has a lot in common with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, which he meant as a compliment. After Rense complained that Hitler was one of the most unfairly maligned and misunderstood leaders in all of human history, Marrs declared that Stalin was plotting to arrest and imprison every Jew in the Soviet Union, but was murdered before he could carry it out. But, Marrs said hopefully, Trump might be able to pick up where Hitler and Stalin left off. “Israel is going to be destroyed and it is going to happen so fast we’ll all be shocked about it,” Marrs said. “It’s going to happen and I’ve been wondering if maybe, let me just say something here, could Trump be the instrument of God in this? He doesn’t have to be a Hitler, he doesn’t have to be a Stalin, he can simply be a good guy.” “He’s going to have to move very fast against these people,” Marrs warned, because the Jews will work to take him down, just as they supposedly did to President Nixon. But Trump “may be so smart though, and intelligent that he outwits them,” Marrs stated. “He’s their friend, he’s their pal, he’s their buddy and then it’s suddenly, wow. He takes the woman, the whore, so to speak, Mystery Babylon the Great and suddenly he destroys her, in one single hour she will be destroyed.” After engaging in a bit of Holocaust denial, Marrs declared that a Trump presidency “may turn out quite surprising.” “I pray that they will get what is coming to them,” Marrs said of the Jews. “These people who have done such horrible things over the years and who, right now, are plotting such horrible deeds against gentiles and others, I hope they get what they deserve. I hope they do and I hope maybe Trump could be the instrument of it.” |
Florida is now the 35th state in the U.S. where people have the option to register to vote or to update their registration online. The system went live Sunday, more than two years after the Legislature passed a bill requiring online registration to take effect by Oct. 1, 2017. The site, in English and Spanish, is here. Applicants are required to provide information, such as the date their driver’s license was issued and the last four digits of their Social Security number. The 2018 election for U.S. Senate and governor will be the first in Florida to use online registration. The new option has been years in the making. County election supervisors lobbied for it for years, saying it will save money, improve accuracy of voter rolls and improve convenience for voters. But Gov. Rick Scott’s administration strongly resisted it, citing “potential risks and challenges” and the possibility of cyber-attacks, more than a year before Russians attempted to hack the state’s voting system in the 2016 election. Scott’s chief elections official, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, raised those concerns in a detailed analysis of the proposal, saying: “Malicious cyber-attacks and non-malicious malfunctions could potentially wreak havoc on an online voter registration system.” The state Legislature in 2015 provided Detzner $1.8 million to encourage him to support online registration and agreed to delay its implementation until Sunday. The 2015 law was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth. Twelve lawmakers, all Republicans, voted against it. Scott signed it into law, citing reservations. Read Scott’s concerns. So who was the first Floridian to register online? The answer: It’s a secret. The Legislature years ago exempted from public disclosure “information relating to the place” where a person uses to register to vote. Floridians can still register to vote by mail, at tax collectors and driver license offices and at county elections offices. As of Aug. 31, according to state data, Florida had 12,845,086 registered voters. Democrats accounted for 37.6 percent of all voters, Republicans 35.4 percent, and voters with no party affiliation or members of minor parties the remaining 27 percent. The state’s three most populous counties, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, together accounted for nearly 3.5 million voters, or more than a third of the state total. |
Allow me to introduce the amazing new word processor that will be released with Calligra Suite 2.4 in 2012. It is fast and nible to use, and using the powerful Calligra Engine we have made sure it can load .doc and .docx and ODF documents. And with so astonishing quality, that it will be your favourite for viewing such documents. For writing and editing we are developing an efficient and innovative user interface. It has a lightweight menu bar with only the basic File, Edit, View, Settings and Help menus. Everything else is manipulated through the sidebar. And by choosing ODF as our native loading and saving format, we have ensured that your documents can be exchanged easily with other users. ODF is chosen by many governments and users around the world. Our aim is to become the word processor of choice for everyone. In the following releases we will gradually expand and improve our user interface so you can insert and manipulate more of the fantastic features hidden in our engine. But even in the first release you can add and manipulate many of the basic document elements like tables and lists plus more special elements like footnotes, endnotes, autoupdating table of contents, graphics (the text flows around it) and even a bibliography. We are still in beta phase of development which means we fix bugs and improve the stability, but we are no longer adding new features for the first release. We are regularly releasing beta snapshots and would like to invite you to thoroughly test and report any issues you find. Especially in the areas of editing and saving. This way you can be part of making Calligra Words the best it can be when we finally release. |
When the townhouse at 252 West 12th Street appeared on the market last July, it was unrecognizable from the disjointed multi-family building it had been just a six years before. It’s owner—one Ardk Holdings, according to property records, who purchased the space in 2010—enlisted awarded architect Steven Harris to transform the space into a luxurious yet livable single-family house, a move that was very much reflected in the townhouse’s new asking price. Purchased for $6.8 million, the townhouse reappeared on the market in July 2016 asking over three times as much, at $19.6 million. The ask, it turns out, was not over ambitious: the newly sold townhouse appeared in public records today, showing it sold for $19 million. For that price, its new buyers have purchased an old home with modern amenities. The 1910 townhouse was “gutted to the core,” as its listing says, and updated with maximized ceiling heights, radiant heat flooring, zoned central air, and new AV systems. The garden was recrafted to include terraced landscaping and a trellis, and a penthouse terrace includes a hot tub surrounded by a “privacy hedge.” As for the interiors, an open living room with a wood-burning fireplace leads into an eat-in kitchen with a wall of windows overlooking the backyard. The third floor master suite includes an en suite with a quirky clawfoot tub and a walk-in closet that’s so extravagant, it itself includes two additional walk-in closets. There are six bedrooms in total, most of which have en suite baths. Check out a few before pictures here for context. |
Definite Clause Grammars Not Just for Parsing Anymore Abstract Definite Clause Grammars (DCG) have proved to be a system to build parsing systems simply and effectively. Unfortunately, DCG are so effective as a parser building tool, that their other uses are too often ignored -- it seems that DCG have been pigeon-holed into a parser building niche. This paper demonstrates the common usage of DCG and then expands these common usage patterns into areas other than parsing, showing that DCG are effective means of increasing programming efficiency while simultameously maintaining (or even clarifying) declarative semantics. Introduction to DCG Definite Clause Grammars (DCG) are syntactic extentions to Prolog that allow a subset of definite programs 1 to be written as Prolog programs. DCGs, and the definite programs they represent, facilitate, among other things, an almost unchanged translation of grammars defined in Bacchus-Naur Form (BNF) into (parts of) Prolog programs -- DCG is a useful tool for generating parsers and scanners. Take, for example, a simple command-control language for, e.g. a robot-arm, 2 issuing commands as per the following: up down up up down An example representation of the above grammar in BNF for the above language is as follows ... < move > ::= < step > < move > < move > ::= < step > < step > ::= up < step > ::= down ... and the equivalent Prolog program using DCG is the following: move --> step, move. move --> step. step --> [up]. step --> [down]. This nearly direct translation is simply amazing, especially as compared to other programming language families. It is inconceivable in other programming languages to construct a scanner for the above language so concisely in the native representation. The other amazing facet, not discussed here, is that the scanners and parsers scale with the grammar's complexity linearly ... writing scanners and parsers in other programming languages becomes much more difficult with increasing complexity, because, usually, such scanners and parsers increase in complexity polymonially or even exponentially to the complexity of the grammar. Unfortunately, perhaps, because the above scanner and associated parsers are so facilitated by DCGs, the other uses of DCGs are too often overlooked. Let's step back from the application of DCGs and examine the essentials -- DCGs provide a system: accepting some atoms and updating the state of the world or rejecting others and backtracking to find a match, so DCGs provide (in other words, guarantee) a limited subset symbols and associated actions on those symbols. Type systems can be viewed in a similar fasion: they accept some inputs (compiling and executing on accepted instantiated values) and reject others (causing a compilation failure). The advantages of typeful systems has been covered exhaustively in the literature, and programming systems developed recently accept programming with types as a matter of course. Viewing DCGs in a similar light of types can convey the advantages of types in a programming language without types. One of the oft-trumpeted advantages of programming with (static) types is that programs with type declarations execute faster than equivalent programs without types (or with dynamic typing). Why? Types form a duality: those things acceptable to perform computations, and those other things that are not to be used in the computation. Given that duality, the system can perform the computation in the safety that all the values are valid (in that they conform to the formal type). Under a dynamic typing system, the system must first check the type of each value, ensuring that the value's type is acceptable, before it can perform any computation. In a statically typed system, every check is compiled away (verified) before execution occurs. Definite Clause Grammars can provide the same service that static typing does. In the usual case, a scanning/parsing system receives a language (set of data) that (we hope) conforms to the grammar. However, we can build a system where we control the grammar definition AND the input data set. A good example to examine where this approach yields effective results is in the domain of generate-and-test problem-solvers. SEND + MORE = MONEY (Cryptarithmic problem solvers) Cryptarithmic problem solvers take a trivially encrypted mathematical problem and determine what that problem represents. The most general case is that a symbol stands for any digit at each position, e.g.: 6 . . x # . . ------------- # . . # . . . + # 5 . 5 ------------- # . 5 . 4 . where # stands for any digit other than 0, and . stands for any digit The above problem solved in the usual manner would take the generate-and-test approach: digit(0). digit(1). digit(2). digit(3). digit(4). digit(5). digit(6). digit(7). digit(8). digit(9). first_digit(X) :- digit(X), X > 0. And would provide ways to construct representations of (composite) numbers and translations to and from these representations and the "actual" numbers they represent (so, for example, the system can use the standard operators to perform arithmetic): as_number(Digits, Number) :- as_number_aux(Digits, 0, Number). % an auxilary pred to make the above interface pred tail recursive 3 as_number_aux([], Num, Num). as_number_aux([Digit|Digits], Num, Result) :- NewSum is Digit * 10 * Num, as_number_aux(Digits, NewSum, Result). as_list(0, []). as_list(N, [Digit|Rest]) :- N > 0, Digit is N mod 10, Remainder is N // 10, as_list(Remainder, Rest). Then, using the above, one converts the problem as written into the equivalent representations and asks the system to find the solution (note that the above list representation puts numbers in reverse order: units are the first element of the list): dots([SixNum, Multiplier, Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Solution]) :- digit(A), digit(B), as_number([B, A, 6], SixNum), digit(C), digit(D), first_digit(E), as_number([C, D, E], Multiplier), Ones is SixNum * C, Ones < 1000, Tens is 10 * D * SixNum, Tens < 100000, Fivers is SixNum * E, as_list(Fivers, [5, _, 5, _]), Hundreds is Fivers * 100, Solution is Ones + Tens + Hundreds, as_list(Solution, [_, 4, _, 5, _, _]). A Pentium Windows system using SWI Prolog solves this problem in 0.79 seconds, or 476,919 inferences in 0.79 seconds (602827 Lips). Pretty impressive, and, for this general type of problem there's no need to improve on this generic generate-and-test methodology. What happens with a cryptarithmic problem with more stringent constraints, such as uniqueness? To solve the equation ... SEND + MORE ------ MONEY ... one could use the generate-and-test approach, and enforce that each letter represents an unique digit: send_more_money([Send, More, Money]) :- first_digit(S), first_digit(M), digit(E), digit(N), digit(D), digit(O), digit(R), digit(Y), all_different([S, E, N, D, M, O, R, Y], []), Send is S * 1000 + E * 100 + N * 10 + D, More is M * 1000 + O * 100 + R * 10 + E, Money is M * 10000 + O * 1000 + N * 100 + E * 10 + Y, Money is Send + More. all_different([], _). all_different([Num|Rest], Diffs) :- not(member(Num, Diffs)), all_different(Rest, [Num|Diffs]). And such an approach, as above, is simple to implement, and easy to understand, but the runtime cost is enormous -- it took 1,571,755,688 inferences in 1817.34 seconds (864865 Lips) to find the solution. Instead, let us reexamine the problem constraint (uniqueness) and use it to provide information to the problem solver so as to facilitate its effort, and at the same time retain the clarity of the declarative syntax. The uniqueness constraint tells us that each letter must represent an unique digit. This can be described inductively: S can be any first_digit, or [1..9]; E can be any digit except the digit captured by S, or [0..9] - [S]; N can be any digit except the digits captured by S and E, or [0..9] - [S, E]; ... etc. Looking at the above inductive description of the unique constraints shows a consumer pattern very much like how a DCG system consumes symbols from a list. So, we'll implement just such a system; in this particular case the symbols of the list are digits. As we rewrite the system to use DCG to replace the generate-and-test predicates, the digit/1 predicate becomes a definite predicate that consumes a digit from the (input) digit list and the first_digit/1 predicate becomes definite, as well: takeout(X, [X|Y], Y). takeout(X, [H|T], [H|R]) :- takeout(X, T, R). digit(X) --> takeout(X). 4 first_digit(X) --> digit(X), { X > 0 }. Then the solution predicate changes in that it now operates under the structure of DCG with the input list being the enumerated ten digits (and we also include an interface predicate so that the user is not burdened with providing the digits): send_money_quickly([Send, More, Money]) :- do_send_moola([Send, More, Money], [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], _). do_send_moola([Send, More, Money]) --> first_digit(S), first_digit(M), digit(E), digit(N), digit(D), digit(O), digit(R), digit(Y), { Send is (S * 1000) + (E * 100) + (N * 10) + D, More is (M * 1000) + (O * 100) + (R * 10) + E, Money is (M * 10000) + (O * 1000) + (N * 100) + (E * 10) + Y, Money is Send + More }. Did you notice that the above code now has no uniqueness check? By translating the code into a definite predicate, we guarantee that each logical variable holds an unique digit at unification! What is occuring here, by using DCG to assign unique digits is equivalent to creating a type for each logical variable, and each successive type is more restrictive than its predecessor. The code (algorithm) changed very little structurally, but what does this DCG-as-types modification buy us? Quite a bit. The reduction in cost at runtime is astounding! This new system solves the equation using only 8,215,467 inferences in 36.91 seconds (222562 Lips). This is nearly fifty times faster than the fully nondeterministic version presented first. By iteratively restricting the search space with DCG we have simulated a type system that allows the system to find a solution much more efficiently without sacrificing the clarity of the declarative semantics of the problem description. Summary for DCGs as Types The above example demonstrates when one needs to search a restricted solution space, DCG can provide runtime benefits over pure nondeterminism without sacrificing clarity of code (as so many other "optimization" techniques do). The above example also demonstrates that if the search space becomes more restrictive in a predictable way over the duration of the search, DCG can provide enormous runtime benefits. DCG Implementation of Dynamic Programming DCGs are effective parser generators and are commonly used as such, we've also seen that DCGs can simulate types and reap the benefits of static type systems in a dynamically typed environment. DCGs have other uses as well. One such use is to simulate dynamic programming, 5 which computes solutions from an iterative bottom-up approach instead of (usual for Prolog and other languages that rely on recursion) the recursive top-down approach. Dynamic programming shines where the solution must be approached incrementally from a known-good set of states, usually these are situations were a declarative top-down description of the solution leads to a combinatorial explosion of attempted solutions that can overwhelm any computational resource. An excellent example of such a problem is computing the nth Fibonacci number. Only some Fibonacci numbers declaratively Below is the formula to find the nth Fibonacci number: fib n | n == 0 = 1 | n == 1 = 1 | otherwise = fib (n-1) + fib (n-2) Or, as translated (naively) into Prolog: naive_fib(0, 1). naive_fib(1, 1). naive_fib(X, Y) :- X > 1, Idx1 is X - 1, Idx2 is X - 2, naive_fib(Idx1, A), naive_fib(Idx2, B), Y is A + B. This is all very well and good, but, unfortunately, the above specification is exponentially recursive ... not only does it take a long time to find a solution, but it can only find the first few decades of solutions before running out of available computational resources (memory). A query of naive_fib(20, X) takes 65,671 inferences in 4.54 seconds (14476 Lips) to find the solution, but a call for the 30th Fibonacci number causes an "out of local stack" error. The problem with the top-down approach is that it attempts to find the solution by finding the two previous (unknown) solutions, until it locates a known answer. Unfortunately, the bottom is too far down to be reached with the resources available, and the problem does not make conversion into a tail-recursive solution practicable. Any Fibonacci, quickly, with DCGs DCGs solve this problem by simulating dynamic programming ... approach the solution from a set of known states, and keep building from that known state until the system finds the solution. This approach has the additional advantage that since it is iterative, it eliminates the exponential recursive explosion that the previous declarative approach suffered. The idea is use a list 6 to memoize the result set as the solution space grows, until the system reaches the desired solution; 7 that is where DCGs assist us in maintaining a declarative description while controlling resources. Declaratively, then, if the requested Fibonacci number is at the head of the solution list, then return it: fibonacci(X, [X|_]) --> []. Otherwise, if we're at then end of the list and still have not found the solution, push the next two Fibonacci numbers onto the result set and keep searching: fibonacci(X, [A, B]) --> next_fib(X, A, B, Fib1), next_fib(X, B, Fib1, Fib2), fibonacci(X, [Fib1, Fib2]). Finally, if we're in the middle of the result set and have not found the solution, keep searching: The DCG housekeeping methods are what one would expect: % Ensures the current fib is not the one we need, generates a new % one, and pushes the current one onto the result set. next_fib(X, fib(Idx1, Num1), fib(Idx2, Num2), fib(Idx3, Num3)) --> succ_push(X, fib(Idx1, Num1)), { Idx3 is Idx2 + 1, Num3 is Num1 + Num2 }. % add a definite branch to gt that pushes the compared-to element % onto the end of the list (transformed into a difference list) succ_push(A, B, Old, New) :- gt(A, B), concat([Old|T1] - T1, [B|T2] - T2, New). 9 As before, we retain the declarative nature using DCGs to solve the problem, but we also obtain the benefit of much more powerful computational ability with much less runtime cost, 10 to wit: quick_fib(1450, X) finds the solution using 12,327 inferences in 0.02 seconds (615464 Lips) -- out-of-reach and impossibly fast for the top-down standard predicate. 12 Conclusion Definite Clause Grammars (DCGs) have long been known to be an effective tool to generate scanners and parsers. In this article, we explore alternative uses for DCGs, such as emulating static type system and implementing dynamic programming system. We have seen that, unlike other "optimization" techniques, DCGs maintain or even improve the clarity of declarative specifications while at the same time providing the benefits of these other systems. These benefits are manifested as improvements by orders of magnitude in both computational power and the speed at which the runtime achieves desired solutions. Endnotes 1 Definite programs and Prolog programs using DCG to model definite programs is discussed in detail in [DM93]. 2 This example is developed in [Bratko01], chapter 21, with two alternative BNF representations offered. 3 A naive version of as_number/2 would be ... as_number([], 0). as_number([Digit|Digits], Result) :- as_number(Digits, Rest), Result is Digit + 10 * Rest. ... but this is not tail recursive, an so may not benefit from optimization from the Prolog system. In general, this kind of transformation from a "naive" recursive system to one that uses an accumulator is known as folding, and is the result of the fruits of research in the functional programming community. 4 We use takeout/3 instead of delete/3 because delete/3 is not reversible, eliminating the desired backtracking to explore alternate solutions. The definition, use, and a wonderful explanation of takeout/3 come from [Fisher99], § 2.7. 5 Dynamic programming is discussed in detail in [RL99], which provides an implementation of a generic dynamic programming algorithm in the Haskell programming language. 6 Actually, [RL99] uses a dictionary, not a list, as the data structure to memoize the known state, but the difference list approach was so effective that it was unnecessary to use a different data structure. 7 As each Fibonacci number is computed from the previous two Fibonacci numbers, I found it most convenient to use (specifically) a difference list as the data structure to memoize the results. 8 We have two iteration branches for this predicate. The first adds two more Fibonacci numbers when we've come to the final two Fibonacci numbers in the result set; the second continues iteration because there are more than two remaining Fibonacci numbers. As we need two Fibonacci numbers to compute the next Fibonacci number, these two branches guarantee that we perform that computation when we reach the last two numbers, and not before. This approach forms the basis of this dynamic programming system. 9 The implementation of concat/3 is straight from [Bratko01], § 8.5.3. ( concat(A1-Z1, Z1-Z2, A1-Z2) ). 10 Not only that, but this solution also provides the history of all the Fibonacci numbers prior to the requested one in a difference list by calling fibonacci/4 directly; 11 the traditional top-down solution provides no such history. 11 The resulting difference list can be converted into human-readable form with the following predicate: simple_list([]) --> []. simple_list([H, Datum|Diff] - Diff, L0, List) :- simple_list(H, [Datum|L0], List). 12 An implementation using monads in Haskell for the fibonacci computer is available at logicaltypes.blogspot.com Works Consulted [Bratko01] Prolog Programming for Artificial Intelligence, 3rd ed. Ivan Bratko, Pearson Education Limited, Essex, England, 2001. [DM93] A Grammatical View of Logic Programming, Pierre Deransart and Jan Mal/uszyn'ski, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993. [Fisher99] prolog :- tutorial , J. R. Fisher, http://www.csupomona.edu/~jrfisher/www/prolog_tutorial/contents.html, 1999. [RL99] Algorithms: A Functional Programming Approach, Fethi Rabhi and Guy Lapalme, Addison-Wesley, Essex, England, 1999 Definitions backtrack(ing): exploring alternate solutions by attempting new values before the point of failure. BNF: Bacchus Naur Form is a system to describe grammars of (programming) languages. DCG: Definite Clause Grammar(s) difference list: Difference lists are list that allow access to elements within the list directly; they avoid the need to "cdr down" (a Lisp term mean to walk the list from its first element to the desired element) the list to reach the desired elements. Lips: Logical Inferences Per Second memoize: To memoize a result is to keep that result locally active so that it is not necessary to recompute it. Solutions to Problems The dots problem has the following (only) solution: 645 x 721 ----- 645 12900 + 451500 -------- 465045 The solution to SEND + MORE = MONEY is 9567 + 1085 = 10652. The 20th Fibonacci number is 10946 (computed from fibonacci(fib(20, X), [fib(1,1), fib(0,1)], A, B) ). The 1450th Fibonacci number is 7.79078e+302; the 1500th Fibonacci number causes a floating-point overflow error. |
Get the Mach newsletter. April 21, 2017, 4:58 PM GMT / Updated April 21, 2017, 4:58 PM GMT / Source: Space.com By Hanneke Weitering, Space.com Astronauts have successfully grown lettuce and other plants on the International Space Station (ISS), but what happens to seeds during spaceflight? To better understand how plant seeds react to microgravity, the Tomatosphere project is sending tomato seeds on a round-trip to the ISS. Upon their return to Earth, the tomato seeds are distributed to thousands of classrooms across the U.S. and Canada so schoolchildren can study how the spacefaring seeds grow compared to seeds that have never left Earth. While the kids are learning about biology and space science, the results of their study can help organizations such as NASA figure out how to feed astronauts on long-duration missions, like a trip to Mars. Related: Plants in Space: Photos by Gardening Astronauts This year students are growing seeds that went to space for 37 days on a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship that flew to the space station last summer. Those seeds were shipped to more than 20,000 classrooms this spring, NASA officials said in a statement. The last batch of tomato seeds to complete trip hitched a ride on another Dragon that launched on Feb. 18 and returned to Earth 28 days later. All 1.2 million of the seeds on board — as well as some seeds that didn't go to space — will be distributed to schools in the spring of 2018. Because it is a blind study, participants won't find out which seeds went to space until they complete the project. "They're noting the germination, when it starts to grow; the differences in sizes of the plants; how fast they grow; how big their leaves are; the color of their leaves — visual differences, basically," Ann Jorss, secretary and treasurer of First the Seed Foundation, which implements the program in the U.S., said in the statement. "The goal has always been to give students an understanding about where their food comes from and get them excited about agriculture." First the Seed is one of many partners on the Tomatosphere project. It was originally founded by a Canadian organization called Let's Talk Science, which manages operations in Canada. Other sponsors include NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, as well as tomato seed suppliers HeinzSeed and Stokes Seeds. In a video message recorded on the ISS, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet showed off bags stuffed with tomato seeds and explained how the Tomatosphere project will help future space travelers. "Tomatoes can benefit our environment by removing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen and water to the air we breathe," Pesquet said. "Tomatoes could be a space superfood, and this is where the Tomatosphere comes in ... Who knows? Maybe you will be studying how to grow the food that you will one day eat as an astronaut." Tomatosphere asks students to not just report their observations, but also eat or donate the tomatoes they grow. Learn more about the Tomatosphere project and find out how to participate at tomatosphere.org. Original article on Space.com. Editor's Recommendations Follow NBC MACH on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. |
At DigitalOcean, we are making some changes to the recruitment process of back-end developers. We simplified the job description and the interview process, and added a step that asks the candidate to write us some code. This is an account of my experience on hiring processes and their use of code reviews. Around 2005, I had interviewed for a management position at a Globo.com, the Internet arm of the largest Latin American media conglomerate. I was coming back to product development from a couple of years as a consultant, and super excited about the opportunity. The week before I started, my new boss sends me an email with what would be my first task: hire four people to join the four others already on my team. It was a weird situation; I couldn’t even tell what kind of people I would need as I hadn’t started working yet! I began thinking about what kind of people I knew would be perfect for almost any engineering job, the people I would try to poach. I then thought about what particular traits or habits these people shared. Soon enough, I realised a common pattern: the people I thought were great for almost any engineering jobs would be always reading books. Not just the reference books everybody reads for their daily jobs, but texts on software architecture, object-oriented design, arcane programming languages, and advice on how to get better at their profession. I had a somewhat popular programming blog in Brazil, and I wrote a job ad as a blog post. I described the job the best I could, and asked people to send me their resumé and a list of the three last books they had read. The response was excellent. The temporary email address I had set up was full resumés, and I was able to confirm my hypothesis: the most interesting resumés correlate with a list containing books from the categories above. At Globo.com, we’ve hired a large team following this process, and some of us alumni still use something similar in our new organisations. Fast forward a couple of years, and I apply for a job at ThoughtWorks. I had worked for some international companies in the past, where I would be required to speak English when interacting with other offices, but this would be the first time I would speak English continuously for more than one hour. And over Skype. And having people assess me on my coding skills. I was freaking out. Luckily ThoughtWorks had a process that was a bit different from the usual standards companies had back then. After a quick recruiter screening, they sent me three options of a code challenge, a small problem I could solve in any programming language I would like to use. My code submission would then be used during follow-up interviews, including a pairing session where a ThoughtWorker and I would try to extend my code adding a new feature. I spent four years at ThoughtWorks and saw this process producing consistently good results over and over. It was also important that it didn’t particularly dictate what languages or tools a candidate would have to use. My experience with ThoughtWorks was that I could either choose an interesting project or an interesting programming language (I’ve written Internet-scale web crawlers in Drupal and timesheet software in F#), so we truly practiced the hire for attitude, not skill. After all those years it was time to move on. I’ve had mostly a good experience at ThoughtWorks, but my last project there was probably my worst. As I looked around for a new position, I dreaded having to go through whiteboard coding sessions on some useless puzzle—the kind of stuff my friends reported the big Internet companies had them go through. Once more I was lucky and ended up applying for a position at SoundCloud. Back then it was just a handful of engineers, and just like ThoughtWorks their process started with a recruiter screen and a coding challenge. Differently from ThoughtWorks, though, their code challenge wasn’t a puzzle but something closer to the work one would perform there. SoundCloud wanted me to build an uploader, from the user interface down to any back-end layers I thought I’d need. There was one particular challenging part: how to implement a real-time-ish progress bar. As brain-dead as I was after eight hours at my project, I found myself thinking about possible solutions whilst on the train from East Croydon back to London, and immediately heading to my favourite late night coffee shop in Old Street to work on it. Solving the problem was a lot of fun, and if you want to check out what was in vogue in Clojure in 2011 and how one can pretend to know JavaScript by writing Scheme with curly brackets you can see the code here. A couple of weeks later, I get the gig and move to Berlin. As it happens with small organisations, even before my probation period is over I start reviewing code for new candidates. Unfortunately, the experience was quite disappointing. It turns out that most people would put together a Rails app with more lines on their Gemfile than lines of actual code they wrote. Worse, way too often people would just get an Adobe Flash uploader from a random Flash component website and not even write a single line of code. As pragmatic as a plugin plus minimal glue code might be, this wasn’t good use of the candidate’s time or mine: I needed them to write some code we could read before inviting them for more interviews. And then we came up with a different challenge. This time, we would be a bit more strict. We would still not limit whatever programming language the candidate used (just like with ThoughtWorks, in a small startup like SoundCloud was back then we needed T-Shaped people more than anything), but we would ask you to use just your language’s standard library, no third-party libs or frameworks. To make it more feasible, we didn’t ask for a web app but for something all platforms would offer: a socket-server interface and a simple string protocol. To drive it closer to the needs of a company that grew from 10 to 100 million users in less than one year, we also included the need for clients to handle hundreds of clients at once. But we’ve also done something else. Something that would improve the candidate experience by assuring them that their code fulfils the functional requirements before they expose it to us. Something that has saved us a lot of time by avoiding having to review code that obviously didn’t even work. With the problem description, we sent to candidates a functional test suíte, a binary that when started would try to connect to the candidate’s server implementation, open lots of sockets, sends lots of messages, and verify the results against what the problem description stated. The candidate was instructed only to send their submission once it passed the functional test on their local box. The best submission ever was definitely from Flávio Brasil, now at Twitter, who not only found a bug in our test harness but decompiled the (Scala!) code, wrote a patch and submitted it as part of his solution to the challenge. We received code submissions written in every language under the sun. We had so much qualitative data, I even gave a talk on some particular problems we found in code submissions using Node.js. For this iteration of our recruitment process at DigitalOcean, I am trying to use as leverage these past experiences as much as possible. Overall the code challenge is very similar to the one we developed at SoundCloud, but there are some stark differences. The first major change is that we are trying a simplified interviewing process, closer to ThoughtWorks’. Previously we had some ad-hoc whiteboarding or pairing sessions. This time, we will be giving the candidate an opportunity to talk about the code they wrote, instead of some generic question already catalogued in a best-selling book. Another change is that we give more emphasis to path-to-production, or in how the application is tested, built, and executed. Irrespective of how product-centric we are, DigitalOcean is an infrastructure company and we break the fourth wall all the time during application development. Showing interest in build and runtime tools is a good indicator of culture fit. But the most significant change is how the code is sent to review. In previous jobs, as a reviewer I would receive the code and the candidate’s resumé. Over the past few years, the industry and academia have built compelling evidence that our prejudice influences our decisions when it comes to deciding what good or bad code is. To help keep our bias at bay, we are asking candidates not to add any personally identifiable information to the submission. We will let reviewers know roughly at which level the candidate is and how many years of experience they have, but we will not disclose gender, name, nationaility, geographic location, or which schools or companies they have been through. This requires a lot of work from our incredibly awesome recruiting team, and a lot of patience from our reviewers, but preliminary results were quite good. I am super excited about this first iteration of the new process, and more than just finding the right people to grow our team I hope we have enough data to share with the industry at some point in the near future. |
It's Friday, and the fines are in. While there are more than a few NFL players who were hit with fines for Week 3 incidents, it was Cincinnati Bengals second-year linebacker Vontaze Burfict who was hit the hardest. NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported that Burfict received a total of $31,000 in fines stemming from two incidents that took place during the Bengals' win over the Green Bay Packers. Burfict was fined $21,000 fine for a hit on a defenseless receiver and $10,000 for striking Packers tight end Ryan Taylor in the groin. Other fines, as confirmed by the league: » Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate was fined $21,000 for striking a defenseless player, safety Dwight Lowery, in head/neck area in Seattle's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Lowery suffered a concussion on the play. »Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was fined $10,000 for violating the league's uniform policy. Newton has been wearing clips on his helmet that are made by Under Armour, with whom Newton is signed. Forbes noticed the violation and reported on it earlier in the week. » Detroit Lions defensive tackle Nick Fairley was fined $10,000 for unnecessary roughness during the team's win over the Washington Redskins. » Pittsburgh running back Jonathan Dwyer was fined $21,000 for a crown-of-the-helmet hit on safety Chris Conte during Sunday night's loss to the Chicago Bears. The play was not flagged for the illegal hit. » Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown was slapped with a $7,875 fine for a late hit on Conte following an interception. » Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant received a fine of $7,875 for his "throat-slash" celebration after scoring a touchdown in the Cowboys' win over the St. Louis Rams. » Philadelphia Eagles kicker Alex Henery was fined $15,750 for a horse-collar tackle during the team's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on "Thursday Night Football." »Texans pass-rusher Whitney Mercilus was fined $15,750 for his hit helmet-to-helmet hit on quarterback Joe Flacco in Houston's blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens. |
Former FBI Director James Comey will begin a speaking tour designed to hype up the “ethical leadership” he supposedly exhibited during the early part of the Trump administration. Comey is joining the ranks of people like former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the Washington Speaker’s Bureau (WSB) lecture tour. The lectures are expected to focus on the “moral compass” that guided his decision making during and after the 2016 presidential election. “Throughout his decades-long career in public service, James Comey has been committed to doing the right thing – at the expense of partisan politics, popular opinion, and even personal friendships,” according to the former FBI director’s bio on the WSB website. The group is known for hooking Washington, D.C. sophisticates into the lecture pipeline. Comey raised the hackles of both conservatives and liberals during his time with the agency. Many Democrats claimed his decision to re-open an investigation into then-candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails one month before the election cost her the presidency. He eventually closed the probe after determining the emails did not contain material that could be used to bring charges against Clinton. Many political analysts perceived Comey’s move to re-open and immediately close the probe as a blunder on his part. Conservatives, meanwhile, consistently blasted Comey’s refusal to publicly acknowledge that the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s alleged participation in the election was not specifically targeting President Donald Trump. The president fired Comey in May after Attorney General Jeff Sessions suggested that the FBI’s reputation and credibility have suffered “substantial damage” under the beleaguered director’s tutelage. Comey wrote at least nine memos of his conversations and interactions with Trump. Some of the documents, which the former director turned over only after leaving the FBI, reportedly contained classified material. He also provided at least one of those memos to a friend with instructions to leak information from the documents to The New York Times. That document memorialized Comey’s conversation with Trump in the Oval Office Feb. 14, the day after then-senior adviser Michael Flynn was fired from his position. Comey claimed in the memo that the president requested investigators back off Flynn, who was fired for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about conversations he had with Russia’s ambassador. Follow Chris White on Facebook and Twitter. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. |
By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Oct 31st 2015 07:51Z, last updated Wednesday, Nov 16th 2016 16:32Z A Metrojet (former Kogalym Avia, Kolavia) Airbus A321-200, registration EI-ETJ performing flight 7K-9268 from Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) to St. Petersburg (Russia) with 217 passengers and 7 crew, was climbing through FL307 out of Sharm el Sheikh over the Sinai Peninsula (Position N30.16 E34.17, 60nm south of Al-Arish) at 04:12Z when the aircraft disappeared from radar, no indication of any problem was received prior to the aircraft's disappearance. The main wreckage of the aircraft, main wings and fuselage, was later located in mountaineous terrain in Wadi Al-Zolomat (Valley of Darkness) at coordinates N30.1691 E34.1725 about 60nm south of Al-Arish (Sinai, Egypt), straight below the last transmitted transponder position, the debris field according to satellite images below expanding 350 by 3190 meters (1150 by 10460 feet), according to statement by Egypt's Air Accident Investigation Commission (EAAIC) the wreckage extends over a length of 13 km/7nm with several parts of the aircraft still missing. The tail section of the aircraft was found at coordinates N30.1527 E34.1858, 2230 meters/1.2nm south of the main wreckage and south of the last radar position. No survivors were found. The search and recovery Egyptian sources were reporting the aircraft was believed crashed, a search for the aircraft in Sinai was ongoing. Egypt's Prime Minister confirmed the aircraft has crashed. In the evening of Oct 31st 2015 the Prime Minister reported that 129 bodies have been recovered and taken to Cairo. Egyptian Authorities reported first parts of the wreckage have been located. There is no evidence of hostile/missile activity around the flight path of the aircraft. 50 ambulances have been dispatched to the crash site, any injured would be flown to Cairo with helicopters. The flight data recorder as well as the cockpit voice recorder have been recovered, both recorders are in good condition. By morning of Nov 1st 2015 175 bodies have been recovered. An area in excess of 16 square kilometers/6 square miles needs to be searched for wreckage and bodies. Reuters quotes an Egyptian Offical involved in the ongoing rescue operation, that the aircraft has broken up in two major parts, a small part being the tail plane caught fire, the other larger part impacted a rock. Bodies still belted to their seats are around the crash site, around 100 bodies have so far been recovered, the rest still inside the wreckage, however, there are also voices heard from inside a part of the wreckage. 50 ambulances have been dispatched to the crash site. Russia's Rosaviatsia (Civil Aviation Authority) reported the A321 of Kogalym Avia carried 217 passengers and 7 crew. A ground observer reported a large number of helicopters are departing their Cairo airbase in the direction of Sinai. The Russian Embassy to Egypt reported, that no survivors have been found at the crash site, all occupants of the aircraft perished. On Nov 2nd 2015 a first flight brought 144 bodies to St. Petersburg, where the bodies are going to be identified. On Nov 2nd 2015 Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that the search over 20 square kilometers has been completed, the search for bodies has now been expanded to 30 square kilometers. A second flight to return bodies to St. Petersburg has been scheduled for Nov 3rd 2015. The sequence of events Airbus confirmed the loss of EI-ETJ, that disappeared from radar while flying overhead Sinai, with 217 passengers and 7 crew. The aircraft, built in 1997 and powered by IAE V2533 engines, had accumulated approximately 55,772 flight hours in 21,175 flight cycles. The airline reported the captain of the flight was experienced with more than 12,000 hours total and 3,800 hours on type. Sources in Sharm el Sheik reported the captain of the flight reported technical problems and requested to return to Sharm el Sheikh. Egyptian media report with reference to an Egyptian government meeting that the crew reported engine (V2533) trouble, subsequently lost control of the aircraft and communication ceased. Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority reported that there was no Mayday Call from the crew, communication with the aircraft was normal until the aircraft disappeared from radar. Russia's Transport Ministry called a video surfacing in the Internet claiming to show the shoot down of 7K-9263 by Islamic State as not credible and fabricated. The investigation Egypt's Accident Investigation Commission (EAAIA) opened an investigation. The chairman stated, that preliminary facts point towards a technical failure. The French BEA representing the state of manufacture have dispatched two investigators and 6 advisors to Egypt to join the investigation led by Egypt. Germany's BFU representing the state of construction joined the investigation with two investigators as well as did Russia's MAK representing the state of operator with four investigators. On Nov 2nd 2015 The Irish AAIU representing the state of registration of the aircraft dispatched two investigators and an advisor to Egypt to join the investigation, too. Late Nov 4th 2015 Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority, Accident Investigation Authority, reported that the flight data recorder has been successfully read out, the data are now being analysed by the accident investigation team. The cockpit voice recorder was found damaged and a lot of work is required to extract the data from it. The examination of the wreckage on site is continuing. Further information will be released in due course. On Nov 5th 2015 Russia's Ministry of Transport (Rostransnadzor) reported that the last C-Check of the crashed aircraft had been performed on March 18th 2014 in Turkey by the maintenance organisation "Turkish HABOM" certified by EASA. The last check for airworthiness was conducted by Ireland's Civil Aviation Authority (IAA) in the first quarter of 2015 and resulted in the extension of the airworthines certificate of the aircraft. An unscheduled inspection of the airline was conducted by the Russia's Ministry of Transport to check whether the Ministry's requirements of maintenance have been complied with and to establish a risk assessment. As result of this inspection the airline was instructed to, within specified time, implement a number of extra checks and corrective measures "in the light of the sudden destruction of the construction of the Airbus A321 in cruise flight at high altitude". The Ministry stated the airline "leases aircraft from Ireland, registered in its territory and must undergo maintenance in organisations approved by the European Security Agency EASA. In accordance with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation the Aviation Authority of the Republic of Ireland is responsible to carry out the verification of airworthiness of aircraft. Ireland inspectors are required to periodically verify the technical condition of the aircraft." On Nov 7th 2015 Egypt's Air Accident Investigation Commission (EAAIC) reported in a press conference, that: - the wreckage is distributed over a length of more than 13km consistent with inflight breakup, several parts of the wreckage are missing. - Initial observation of the wreckage does not yet allow to determine the cause of the inflight break up. - The FDR was successfully downloaded, preliminary review of the data suggests the recording stopped 23 minutes 14 seconds after becoming airborne, last recorded altitude was 30,888 feet MSL, last recorded airspeed was 281 knots IAS, autopilot 1 was engaged, the aircraft was still climbing. - The CVR was successfully downloaded and a first listening was done, the transcript is currently being compiled, a noise was heard in the last second of the recording. Spectral analysis is trying to determine the nature of this noise. - Parties reporting facts outside of the investgation should provide their evidence to the accident investigation commission (Editorial note: this appears to be a reference to British and US Intelligence suggesting the aircraft was brought down by a bomb). On Nov 8th 2015 the EAAIC re-iterated, that only the information provided during the press conference on Nov 7th 2015 is official. With reference to new media reports (editorial note: claiming based on Egyptian investigators that the sound at the end of the CVR is 90% consistent with a bomb explosion) the chairman of EAAIC stressed, that this information comes from unnamed sources not associated with the EAAIC despite claims those sources were Egyptian investigators. On Nov 17th 2015 the website of Russia's President issued a summary of a meeting conducted on Nov 16th 2015, during which the director of Russia's Federal Security Service stated: "Mr President, we have studied the passengers personal belongings and luggage and fragments of the plane that crashed in Egypt on October 31. An expert examination of all these objects has found traces of foreign-made explosives. According to our experts, a self-made explosive device equivalent up to 1 kg of TNT was set off on board, which explains why the fragments of the aircraft were scattered over a large area. We can say with confidence that this was a terrorist act." The website continues quoting the President: "We will act in compliance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which envisages the right of a state to self-defence. Whoever tries to help the perpetrators ought to know that they would bear full responsibility for any attempts to harbour them. I would like all our special services to focus on this work." On Dec 14th 2015 Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority reported, that the preliminary report has been finished and has been sent to ICAO as well as all participants in the investigation. The investigation has extended 16km from the main wreckage site. The forensic medicine group is awaiting DNA probes from Russia to identify victims. Extensive photos using an advanced 3D camera have been taken, metallurgy examination of the wreckage has been initiated. The flight data recorder has been read out and contains all flights of the 5 days prior to the crash, in addition a total of 38 computers on board were removed from the wreckage and taken for detailed examination. The maintenance group is checking all maintenance records going back to 1997. The press release by Egypt's CAA concludes: "up to date the committee did not receive any information indicating unlawful interference, consequently the committee continues its work regarding the technical investigation." On Aug 30th 2016 Egypt's CAA announced that a delegation from Russia has arrived in Egypt to meet with their counterparts of Egypt and Germany in order to prepare a meeting at a secure location at Cairo Airport, where all wreckage of the aircraft have been taken to. The meeting is to determine the initial point of where the fuselage started to disintegrate. Representatives from Ireland, France and the United States (representing the the countries of design, manufacture of aircraft and engines) plus an expert from Airbus are going to attend that meeting, too. On Sep 8th 2016 Egypt's CAA announced, that in the meeting with Russian and other counterparts a specific area was identified, where most likely the disintegration of the fuselage began. The related parts of the wreckage have been sent to special laboratories to further analyse the causes of the disintegration. On Oct 31st 2016 Russia's MAK stated, that a specific area of the aircraft was identified during a meeting in Cairo in Sep 2016, where the disintegration of the airframe began. Evidence suggests that the airframe was exposed to high energy elements from the inside to the outside and explosive decompression. The various fragments of the aircraft are undergoing further examination and analysis. On Nov 16th 2016 Egypt's CAA released an interim statement listing all activities by the accident investigation commission so far, however providing little insight into the sequence of events so far. Noteworthy details are the examination of the cabin pressure controllers and the spectrum analysis of the cockpit voice recorder's last second recordings. The statement also stated: "In the scope of continuous mutual work among the States participating in the investigation, and to reach all the available information about the accident, the committee received a report issued by Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. After studying the report, the committee decided to submit the report to the General Prosecutor, implementing the article 108 of the Civil Aviation law, as, it included some suspects of accident criminal act." Immediate reactions Lufthansa and Air France announced they are going to avoid overflying the Sinai until the cause of the crash has been determined. There have been warnings issued by the FAA to American Operators as well as by Germany to German airlines to operate above FL260 while flying over the Sinai. According to flightplan the aircraft was tracking between waypoints TBA (Egypt: N29.362420 E34.475080) and PASOS (Cyprus FIR, N32.216667 E33.100000) when it disappeared. Eurocontrol's Air Flow Traffic Management (CFMU) issued a note to all operators along the route TBA-PASOS and vice versa shortly after the aircraft disappeared, that due to technical problems all flights will be tactically rerouted via MELDO (N32.033611 E31.077778) until further notice. The notice was removed a couple of minutes later. Airway UL550, connecting PASOS and TBA, remained in use throughout the day. On Oct 31st 2015 around 19:00Z Eurocontrol's Air Flow Traffic Management (CFMU) issued following statement by NMOC Brussels: "Attention to Aircraft Operators: The point PASOS in LCCC (Cyprus) FIR is not available for flight planning. FPLs filed via this point will be rejected by IFPS. Please re-file via points: LAKTO or RASDA." LAKTO's position is N32.633333 E32.083333 on airway J863 to Port Said, RASDA's position is N33.100000 E30.950000 on airway A16 to BALTIM, both routes west of Sinai avoiding the Sinai. Following the release of the statement movements along airway UL550 ceased. On Nov 1st 2015 CFMU issued following statement by NMOC Brussels: "Attention to Aircraft Operators: Egyptians authorities have asked to stop traffic from flying over point PASOS. Therefore point PASOS in LCCC (Cyprus) FIR is not available for flight planning. FPLs filed via this point will be rejected by IFPS. Please re-file via points: LAKTO or RASDA. Still waiting for a HECC (Cairo ) NOTAM. NMOC is monitoring the situation and will advice of any development NMOC Brussels." Following the release of this note the air space above the Sinai peninsula remained basically empty with lots of traffic being rerouted around the Sinai via Cairo. On Nov 1st 2015 Rostransnadzor (Russia's Ministry of Transport) ordered Metrojet to suspend all A321 operations pending the investigation. Another decision may be taken on Monday, Nov 2nd, following a risk assessment. Fuel supplies in Samara were found in compliance with all regulations and requirements, Russian authorities reported the aircraft had last been refueled in Samara before its departure to Sharm el Sheikh, the result of a fuel analysis of Sharm el Sheikh is not yet known. On Nov 2nd 2015 the restriction of PASOS waypoint has been withdrawn, airway UL550 and Sinai are open again. On Nov 4th 2015 the office of the British Prime Minister reported that the office was following the progress of the investigation closely. According to a phone conversation of the British Prime Minister with the Egyptian Prime Minister it can not be ruled out that the aircraft was brought down by an explosive device. As result departures of British Aircraft from Sharm el Sheikh will be delayed for additional security checks. On Nov 5th 2015 the British Foreign Minister stated, that based on intelligence from the UK and the USA there was a significant possibility the Metrojet was downed by a bomb on board of the aircraft, although there is no firm evidence to confirm this as cause of the crash. The UK is reacting to this possibility however, flights to Sharm el Sheikh by UK airlines are suspended and may resume on Nov 6th, in the meantime the government is working to ensure British travellers in Sharm el Sheikh can return home. On Nov 5th 2015 Egypt's Aviation Minister countered the claims from the UK however stating that all Egypt Airports are in compliance with international standards in safety. There is no evidence or substance to the claims, that an explosion internal to the aircraft brought the aircraft down. Egypt is keen to maintain the integrity and accuracy of the investigation. On Nov 6th 2015 Russia decided to suspend all flights between Russia and Egypt (not just Sharm el Sheikh). On Nov 6th 2015 the United Kingdom performs a number of flights, both scheduled and ad hoc, to Sharm el Sheikh to take their citizens home. Passengers are permitted to bring their hand luggage, checked luggage is not being taken aboard such flights and will be transported separately. The history of the airframe The aircraft suffered a tailstrike in Cairo on Nov 16th 2001. It's then operator had been Middle East Airlines (MEA), its tail number then was F-OHMP. The aircraft was on an ILS approach to runway 05R when the aircraft began to oscillate around the glide path, above and below the glidepath, causing manual corrections by the crew, which resulted in a hard landing and tail strike at touch down and in substantial damage to the aircraft, that nonetheless taxied to the apron where the passengers disembarked normally. The Aviation Herald is currently investigating the extent of damage and who did the repairs. So far inquiries, with the aim to receive the final report of the tail strike in 2001 as well as clarify the extent of damage and who performed the repairs to Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority Accident Investigation, Airbus, Metrojet, Middle East Airlines have not been answered. In a press conference the chairman of Metrojet said however, that the repair in 2001/2002 was done by Airbus. Fragment of the aircraft under examination (Photo: MAK): The tail section of the aircraft (Photo: AFP): The tail section of the aircraft (Photo: APA): Satellite Images showing the crash site, red main wreckage, blue debris, yellow recovery services (Photo/Graphics: AFP/RIA): Impressions from crash site Nov 1st 2015 (Photos: Reuters/Mohamed Ghany): Impressions from crash site Nov 1st 2015 (Photo: AFP/Khaled Desouki): More impressions from the crash site (Photos: STR/EPA/Picturedesk): Egypt's Prime Minister at the crash site (Photos: Reuters/Stringer): First impressions from the crash site: Aerial overview of the area at the time of crash, aircraft position over Gulf of Suez viewing north from southern entry into Suez Canal towards Al-Arish and Mediterranean Sea at the top: Infrared Satellite Image VISSR at 03:00Z (Graphics: AVH/Meteosat): Map of wreckage distribution and last radar position (Graphics: AVH/Google Earth): Map (Graphics: AVH/Google Earth): |
Garry Marshall, who created some of the 1970s’ most iconic sitcoms including “Happy Days,” “The Odd Couple,” “Laverne and Shirley” and “Mork and Mindy” and went on to direct hit movies including “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries,” died Tuesday in Burbank, Calif. of complications from pneumonia following a stroke. He was 81. Marshall went from being TV writer to creating sitcoms that touched the funny bones of the 1970s generation and directing films that were watched over and over: “Happy Days” helped start a nostalgia craze that has arguably never abated, while “Mork and Mindy” had a psychedelically goofy quality that catapulted Robin Williams to fame and made rainbow suspenders an icon of their era. “Pretty Woman” likewise cemented Julia Roberts’ stardom, while “The Princess Diaries” made Anne Hathaway a teen favorite. “Happy Days” star Henry Winkler credited him for launching his career, tweeting “Thank you for my professional life.” GARRY MARSHALL Rest In Peace .. Thank you for my professional life. Thank you for your loyalty , friendship and generosity . — Henry Winkler (@hwinkler4real) July 20, 2016 Richard Gere, who starred in “Pretty Woman,” issued a statement about Marshall late on Tuesday: “Garry of course was one of those truly important people one is blessed to meet in one’s lifetime. Besides being the pulse and life force of ‘Pretty Woman’… a steady helmsman on a ship that could have easily capsized… he was a super fine and decent man, husband and father who brought real joy and love and infectious good spirits to every thing and everyone he crossed paths with. Everyone loved Garry. He was a mentor and a cheerleader and one of the funniest men who ever lived. He had a heart of the purest gold and a soul full of mischief. He was Garry.” Marshall had one of his first substantial hits when he developed and exec produced an adaptation of Neil Simon’s play “The Odd Couple” in 1970 for ABC. The show drew several Emmy nominations for outstanding comedy series and wins for stars Jack Klugman and Tony Randall over the course of its five-season run. (In 2015 Marshall served as a consultant on a CBS remake of the series that starred Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon.) Marshall penned the 1971 pilot for “Happy Days,” which was recycled in 1972 as a segment of ABC’s comedy anthology series “Love, American Style” called “Love and the Happy Days.” George Lucas asked to view the pilot before deciding to cast Ron Howard, who starred in it, in “American Graffiti,” released in 1973. “Happy Days” debuted as a series on the network in 1974, riding high on the wave of 1950s nostalgia generated in part by the success of “American Graffiti.” During its peak, “Happy Days” was the No. 1 show on television during the 1976-77 season, No. 2 in 1977-78 and No. 4 the following year, and Winkler’s the Fonz became a cultural touchstone, with his leather jacket eventually landing in the Smithsonian. Years later Marshall acknowledged being the one behind the idea, for a 1977 episode, of putting Fonzie on water skis — an idea so outlandish that it spawned the phrase “jumped the shark,” said in reference to a show that is clearly past its prime. Nevertheless, “Happy Days” spawned “Laverne and Shirley,” which Marshall created with Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman, and “Mork and Mindy,” which Marshall created with Dale McRaven and Joe Glauberg. Both were as successful in the ratings as “Happy Days,” with “Laverne and Shirley” No. 1 for two seasons and “Mork and Mindy” peaking at No. 3. “Laverne and Shirley” starred Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall, Garry’s sister, who would go on to her own successful career as a director of feature films, while “Mork and Mindy” began the career of star Williams. Garry Marshall shared an Emmy nomination, his fifth, in 1979 as “Mork and Mindy” drew a mention for comedy series. His first bigscreen blockbuster was 1990’s “Pretty Woman,” starring Julia Roberts as an idealized prostitute and Gere as her client-cum-Prince Charming. The romantic comedy grossed $463 million worldwide. Roberts was Oscar nominated for best actress, the film was nominated for a Golden Globe for best comedy/musical — and Marshall scored a Cesar nomination as “Pretty Woman” drew a mention in the French awards’ foreign-film category. |
By Alejandro Werner (version in Español and Português) The turn of the year usually brings a fresh dose of optimism. Yet, worries dominate across much of Latin America and the Caribbean today, as 2015 marks yet another year of reduced growth expectations. Regional growth is projected at just 1¼ percent, about the same low rate as in 2014 and almost 1 percentage point below our previous forecast. Challenging external conditions are an important drag for many countries. Still, it’s not too late for some good New Year’s resolutions to address domestic weaknesses and improve growth prospects. Winners and losers from cheaper oil Commodity prices have continued to decline, reflecting unexpected demand weakness in several major economies, including China. The most notable mover recently has been oil, where increased supply has also played an important role in depressing prices. In this environment, our forecast for global growth has come down again, and now stands at just 3½ percent for 2015. Prospects for U.S. growth have improved, but weaker dynamics in the euro area, China, and Japan are weighing down global activity. The drop in oil prices is expected to be broadly neutral for Latin America and the Caribbean at large, but has very different effects across individual countries. Venezuela’s economy will take the largest hit, and is now forecast to contract by 7 percent in 2015. Indeed, each $10 decline in oil prices worsens Venezuela’s trade balance by 3½ percent of GDP, a bigger effect by far than for any other country in the region. The loss in export revenue causes mounting fiscal problems and a sharper economic downturn. To a more moderate extent, lower oil prices are also dampening growth prospects for Bolivia(whose large exports of natural gas are linked to oil prices), Colombia, and Ecuador. In all three countries, fiscal balances will suffer from falling oil revenue, but initial positions are strong enough to weather the impact. Mexico, in turn, has protected its 2015 oil revenue through financial hedging, and the petroleum sector plays a relatively modest role in the economy, so the overall impact is limited. The rest of the region should generally benefit from cheaper oil. The biggest beneficiaries are countries with high oil import bills, notably in Central America and the Caribbean. However, some caution is warranted, as several of these countries have been relying on subsidized oil deliveries from Venezuela under the Petrocaribe arrangement. With growing economic strains in Venezuela, its Petrocaribe support has started to diminish. For most recipients, the lower market price of oil should outweigh a potential loss of favorable financing terms from Venezuela, but some countries could face short-term cash flow pressures in the public sector. Over the longer run, persistent weakness in oil prices would also limit the potential from developing untapped hydrocarbon resources in countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Dimmed prospects in South America Even if lower oil prices, on balance, do not change the near-term regional outlook much, the story doesn’t stop there. South America, in particular, is facing stiff headwinds from disappointing global growth and the continued decline in the prices of metals and agricultural commodities. At the same time, it benefits little from the stronger U.S. recovery. As a consequence, exports are now expected to grow by only 1 percent on average this year. The economic challenges facing South America are even more apparent from investment, which has slowed every single year since 2010 and is forecast to decline in 2015. Beyond the impact of worsening external conditions, a variety of domestic issues are also at play: A leading example is Brazil, where private sector confidence has remained stubbornly weak even after the election-related uncertainty dissipated. Economic activity is anemic, with output projected to expand only 0.3 percent this year. On the upside, the authorities’ renewed commitment to rein in the fiscal deficit and reduce inflation should help to shore up confidence in Brazil’s macroeconomic policy framework. Growth expectations in Chile and Peru are comparatively favorable but have also been pared back further since October. In Chile, uncertainty over the impact of policy reforms seems to be weighing on investment. In the case of Peru, weak exports and investment have driven a sharp recent slowdown, though concerted policy action and new mining operations are expected to support a significant rebound this year. Despite some easing of exchange rate pressures and a better-than-expected growth outturn in 2014, Argentina continues to struggle with large macroeconomic imbalances. We expect the economy to contract in 2015. Brighter conditions up North Mexico, in turn, is projected to grow by 3.2 percent this year—a solid prospect, though less than previously expected, as lingering sluggishness in domestic demand offsets the positive spillovers from stronger U.S. growth. On the bright side, the outlook for Central America has improved as a result of lower oil prices and the robust U.S. recovery. Remittances grew 9 percent (year-on-year) in the first three quarters of 2014 and, together with stronger exports, will continue to underpin domestic activity. Similarly, the tourism-dependent economies of the Caribbean have started to see a long-awaited recovery in tourist arrivals. Turning to policies… Lower oil prices will alleviate external and fiscal vulnerabilities in some countries. They also provide a great opportunity to phase out costly and poorly targeted energy subsidies, which are common across the region. In much of South America, meanwhile, the broad weakness of commodity prices has widened current account deficits further. Flexible exchange rates can help cushion this external shock. However, fiscal policy will also need to adjust to the reality that earlier forecasts for commodity revenue and output growth are no longer realistic. Beyond such adjustments, the difficult current outlook underscores the urgency of supply-side reforms outlined in our recent Regional Economic Outlook reports. Boosting growth prospects and sustaining poverty reduction in a more challenging external environment will require determined efforts to improve the business environment, raise productivity, and increase saving and investment. It’s not too late yet for good New Year’s resolutions. |
While previous urban battlefields in Iraq's war against IS were largely depopulated, Mosul still sheltered a million-plus people when an offensive to retake it was launched (AFP Photo/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE) Mosul (Iraq) (AFP) - The Iraqi forces that retook east Mosul from jihadists last month have moved on to their next battle, leaving a security vacuum that has residents complaining of a job half-done. The traffic jams in the streets and the crowds swarming the shops of the eastern neighbourhoods that the Islamic State group controlled only weeks ago are deceptive, residents say. "Everything looks like it's back to normal but people know that bloodshed could be just around the corner and they live in constant fear," said Omar, from a civil society group that has been trying to breathe life back into Iraq's second city. "Everybody is talking about the liberation but Daesh (IS) is still here," the 25-year-old said. "Their drones are flying above our heads, target our homes, our hospitals and our mosques." The Joint Operations Command that has been coordinating Iraq's fightback since IS seized a third of the country in 2014 announced that the east bank of Mosul had been "fully liberated" on January 24. The Iraqi tricolour has replaced IS's black flag above official buildings but the atmosphere is tense. "The suicide car bombs are back and that brings back memories of Daesh," said Umm Sameer, a resident of Al-Zuhoor neighbourhood. On February 9, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a popular restaurant in east Mosul, injuring several people, according to officials. Contrary to some expectations, roughly three-quarters of the population of east Mosul stayed home and weathered the fighting that engulfed their neighbourhoods when elite forces from the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) punched into the city to take on the jihadists. - Fresh displacement - Yet some of them are leaving now, despite the fact that their areas have been officially liberated. Nuriya Bashir, in her sixties, left her home with her children and grandchildren this week. "My daughter's husband was killed when a drone dropped a grenade. Daesh knew where he was that evening. The sleeper cells are everywhere," she said, speaking from the Hasansham displacement camp east of Mosul where she and her family found shelter. "Just after the announcement that east Mosul was liberated, many displaced people left the camp to return to their homes," said camp manager Rizqar Obeid. "But over the past few days, we have received around 40 families who couldn't bear the situation in the city any longer," he said. There are security forces deployed in east Mosul but Umm Sameer accused them of "negligence" in their work. CTS fighters have now moved out to prepare for an assault on the city's west bank. "We have handed over this part of the city to the army," Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a top CTS commander, told AFP. He admitted that insecurity remained in the east and blamed it on the fact that "jihadists on the west side continue to fire mortar rounds." - IS still here - But weaponised drones and mortar fire are not the only security concerns for east Mosul residents. "The security shortcomings in east Mosul are obvious," said Amer al-Bek, an activist with a local civil society group, criticising "the lack of professionalism of some of the security forces." Residents of four villages that lie just north of the city limits on the east bank of the Tigris have said that armed IS fighters are still in their midst. "There are around 100 of them in the area, walking around freely with their weapons and combat gear," said one resident who would not give his name for fear of retribution, adding that the jihadists had recently executed several villagers. "Why is the army not liberating our villages," another resident asked. In the city proper, the number of residents who stayed on during the fighting made effective screening almost impossible. The Institute for the Study of War said last week that the "inability to find a suitable hold force is also creating openings for IS to reinfiltrate, as shown by several attacks in eastern Mosul." Besides the immediate impact on the lives of civilians, the think tank warned that such "re-infiltrations" could also affect upcoming efforts to retake the west side, "forcing the ISF (Iraqi security forces) to fight on two fronts to recapture the city." |
OPINION Korea has started building two new nuclear reactors, reaffirming its unwavering commitment to developing atomic energy. The government hailed the 1,400-megawatt reactors as “a new milestone” in Korea’s nuclear technology development, as their key components, such as the man-machine interface and reactor coolant pumps, were all designed and produced locally. The two reactors, both based on the nation’s Advanced Power Reactor design, will be built at the Uljin power plant on the southeastern coast. One will be completed in April 2017 and the other by late February 2018. During a ground-breaking ceremony on Friday, President Lee Myung-bak stressed that atomic power was “not an option but a must” for an energy-scarce country like Korea. He reiterated that “nuclear power is still the only viable alternative to fossil fuels.” We share Lee’s view that Korea has no option but to rely on nuclear energy until renewable energy sources become a viable means of generating power. We also recognize the localization of the core reactor components as an important achievement that testifies to Korea’s world-class nuclear technology. Yet public confidence in Korea’s nuclear safety standards has recently been rattled by a series of scandals. In February, a 12-minute blackout occurred at the Gori-1 reactor in Busan. Officials in charge of the nation’s oldest reactor attempted to cover it up. The blackout did not lead to any accident, but it called into question not only the integrity of the officials operating nuclear power plants but their claims that Korea’s safety levels are the highest in the world. It simply demonstrated their disregard of the plant operation manual and the safety of the public. Public trust in the safety of nuclear power plants was further undermined by allegations of corruption involving officials of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., the operator of the nation’s 21 nuclear reactors. Thus far six KHNP officials have been arrested on charges of taking money from parts suppliers in return for allowing them to supply unapproved parts to power plants. More officials are expected to be arrested as the prosecution expands its investigation. We suspect some of the malfunctions that have taken place at nuclear plants had to do with non-genuine parts supplied by the contractors involved in the corrupt deals. During his speech at Uljin, Lee said the government would reform the parts supply system to uproot the corrupt practices. We will watch closely how the system is reformed. KHNP officials should clean up their act to avoid fueling the growing anti-nuclear movement. |
by Photo by Tar Sands Blockade | CC BY 2.0 Third parties, especially during presidential election years, are subjected to a variety of criticisms from supporters of the candidates of the duopoly and their corporate media enablers. The level of virulent denunciation in 2016 of the Green Party’s presidential candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, by Democrats and partisans of Hillary Clinton may be a reflection of how paranoid they have become over the thought that a misogynistic and xenophobic white nationalist like Donald Trump might actually win the election. Although that is highly doubtful, especially given the demographics, the Greens have become, nonetheless, a target to be browbeaten and censured. At the core of much of these criticisms is a profound misunderstanding of what a vote for a third party like the Green Party means. To denigrate that vote as merely a “protest” neglects the fact that people have strong political perspectives and deep values for which voting is only one manifestation of those perspectives and values. In addition, the presumption by HRC supporters that Green Party proponents are engaging in “white privilege” or self-indulgent moralism overlooks the criticisms of HRC by Black Lives Matter and other groups promoting racial justice, the level of diversity within the Green Party, and the degree to which many Greens also operate out of a strategic and tactical sense for their voting. Thus, the blanket condemnation of anyone voting for the Green Party’s ticket of Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka, even in states that Clinton will dominate, such as California, Oregon, Massachusetts, etc., is a reflection of the inability to acknowledge the adoption by individual or organized Greens of a “safe-state” strategy. One also sees among some of the hysterical attacks on the Green Party a level of fear mongering that infects much of the Democratic Party electoral strategy. While there is certainly much to dread about Trump, Pence, and the right-wing politics of the Republican Party, that in no way negates the neo-liberalism and warmongering that is openly advocated by Clinton, Kaine, and the Democratic establishment. One can also find evidence of deliberate distortion and misrepresentation of the positions of Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka. For example, the baseless allegation that Stein does not support vaccinations continues to rear its ugly head even after myriad statements by Stein of her endorsement as physician of vaccinations. Ajamu Baraka’s perspectives on Barak Obama have been taken out of context and used to diminish his important voice as a human rights activist within and outside the African American community. Another major problem confronting third parties like the Greens is that the electoral system is rigged to favor the duopoly. Only in certain cities can one find ranked-choice voting or Instant Runoff Voting. It is on the ballot in Maine for the November election and looks like it might pass, becoming in the process a template for electoral reform around the country. Beyond this change in voting, there are so many other reforms needed that are not on the duopoly’s agenda that working for an alternative voice and movement like the Green Party is essential if there is ever going to be substantive change in the political life of this country. |
Mike Pence is on a media blitz to insist the Trump administration will fund Hurricane Harvey relief. But fully funded disaster relief wasn't something he supported when he was in Congress. Mike Pence is on a self-serving blitz of radio appearances this week, touting the Trump administration’s response to Hurricane Harvey. That includes promises to have federal funds ready to go for relief — something he cruelly opposed when he was in Congress. Pence had the nerve, during his several radio interviews Monday, to repeatedly refer to his time in Congress as proof he understands the importance of passing legislation to provide for disaster relief. “We’re very confident that the Congress of the United States is going to be there to provide the resources necessary,” Pence told the host at Houston’s KHOU. He added that he will work with legislators to “make sure that the disaster assistance that already some 22,000 Texans have signed up for is available and is there.” But when thousands of citizens affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 needed Pence’s help, he had other priorities. He was instead focused on bludgeoning those citizens by attaching his extremist political ideology to disaster relief bills, holding up vital support that was urgently needed. Pence said that funding for Katrina relief should be paid for with cuts to Social Security and Medicare, ideas that the right has championed for decades, even though they have proved to be unpopular and destructive again and again. Justifying his cruelty, Pence told reporters at the time that Katrina relief and the rebuilding of devastated areas like New Orleans just had to wait, because “it is not acceptable to take a catastrophe of nature and turn it into a catastrophe of debt.” He also said on the floor of the House, “When a tree falls on your house you tend to the wounded, you rebuild and then you figure out how you are going to pay for it.” Ignoring the dire situation in the region, Pence lectured victims and offered up right-wing talking points. “Let’s pay for the cost of Katrina by reducing the size and scope of government,” he said. Pence even said that legislators should have considered delaying a $40 billion prescription drug benefit for seniors, and use that money for Katrina relief — instead of approving new funding in Congress. Those statements, in contrast to his platitudes during Hurricane Harvey, show how Pence and his fellow Republicans have often instigated mealy-mouthed concerns about “debt” when they are out of power, only to disregard them when they are in charge. Pence is not alone in his hypocrisy. Other Republicans have argued that disaster relief must be “offset” by cuts to necessary programs. It’s a despicable way to exploit a national disaster to target programs Republicans have long sought to dismantle. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is pushing for hurricane relief now, but when Superstorm Sandy hit New York and New Jersey, he voted against the emergency aid package to help the victims. He complained at the time that the bill had been loaded up “with billions in new spending” unrelated to the storm. Like Pence, he also invoked worries about “debt” to justify his stance. The claim was also untrue. Cruz recently made the same claim while defending his Sandy spin, and it was fact checked by the Washington Post, which awarded him “three Pinocchios” for his ugly lie. “The bill was largely aimed at dealing with Sandy, along with relatively minor items to address other or future disasters,” the Post noted. Mick Mulvaney, currently serving as Trump’s budget director, was in Congress during Sandy as well, and he was among those who also called for budget cuts to offset storm relief. It is unlikely he will do so now from inside the White House. Pence, Cruz, and Mulvaney have been exposed as hypocrites. When they were out of power, they didn’t think twice about holding up disaster relief so they could engage in political experimentation for the right. But now, when the storm is on their watch, all the hand-wringing about “debt” has evaporated into thin air. As if it was always a cynical and callous ruse all along. |
Well, the next Pearson family get-together should be eventful. If, you know, Kevin gets out of jail in time. Titled “Number Three,” the fall finale of This Is Us (and the final installment of the Big Three trilogy of episodes) ended with a criminal cliffhanger of sorts — Kevin (Justin Hartley) was arrested for DUI with a stowaway Pearson, Tess (Eris Baker), in his backseat — but throughout the hour, it was a showcase for the brainy, anxious family man named Randall. Teenage Randall (Niles Fitch) tried to find his place in the world as he considered colleges; his father Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) was thinking something covered in Ivy, while he was more intrigued by Howard University and the chance to connect with his African-American heritage. In the present day, Randall found himself with an agonizing decision when Deja’s mother, Shauna (Joy Brunson), got out of jail earlier than he thought she would, and after threats of lawsuits, he opted to let Deja (Lyric Ross) — that guarded foster child who entered his heart much faster than he imagined — reunite with her mom. (Perhaps you’re still wiping away tears from her farewell to Randall in the driveway; that’s okay, Randall surely still is.) And Randall saw the day get even more upsetting and challenging, as the family received a call from the police telling them Kevin — who showed up at his house in rough shape and then vanished — was now in custody (with Tess!), prompting Randall to say, “I’ll kill him!” to which Beth responded, “Not if I don’t kill him first.” Let’s use our one call to ring the Emmy-winning actor who shone brightly in the final hour of This Is Us in 2017, Sterling K. Brown. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Brothers — what are you gonna do? STERLING K. BROWN: Yeah, I’m going to kill him. But only metaphorically speaking. My six-year-old son was watching a part of that episode with me. He said, “Are you really going to kill your brother?” I said, “No, man, I’m not really going to kill him, but he made me so angry by endangering my child that those words just came out. If anybody ever placed you in harm’s danger, I think that’s the only time that I could actually rationalize those kinds of words coming out of my mouth.” Now has Kevin bottomed out? Yes. I would say that this is Kevin’s low point. Listen, if he hadn’t got pulled over for a DUI, with his niece in the car, we could’ve said that losing the necklace was sufficient itself. But he gets hit with the news about his sister’s miscarriage. He winds up leaving the house inebriated, not present enough to recognize that my daughter was in the car with him. I don’t know, maybe I cut him some slack for that; maybe I don’t cut him some slack for that. But you have two brothers historically who have had a contentious relationship, who have constantly been working their way back towards one another. I don’t think Randall wants to throw all of that away, but it’s not going to be the easiest thing for him to do. Randall and Kevin have been through some serious ups and downs over the years and they had that major breakthrough in “Jack Pearson’s Son.” How is he going to process it when he learns his brother has fallen prey to addiction? His first reaction after the phone call is straight anger, but there is so much more to that story. I can tell you that is something that we address directly when we come back from our break. And it’s complicated because it has to do with the nature of why Kevin thinks he’s an addict, and it has to do with whether or not Randall validates his brother’s perspective, because when you think about the nature of memory, everyone tends to highlight those things that reaffirm their own perspective of truth. And Kevin, Kate, and Randall all have their own different versions of what their childhoods were that shaped who they are, and then they have very different ideas of how other people perceive themselves. That’s about all I can say, except for the fact that we deal with it head on in the next episode…. In 2018, you see Randall working very hard to extend graciousness to his brother because his brother was present for him at one of the lowest points of his life, and now he wants to reciprocate that. But it’s hard to do that when you endanger somebody’s child. Should this family have been paying closer attention to the signs of addiction given everything they’ve been through with Jack? I mean, Sophie (Alexandra Breckenridge) was a nurse, and then you’ve got Kate (Chrissy Metz), who has twintuition with Kevin, and then Randall asks him if it’s a little early to be drinking. as he’s looking rough. I know they’re distracted with a lot of other drama, but… Everybody has life to deal with, in varying forms. I know Kate, in particular, because of their twinning ways, her and her brother, she really feels like, “I should’ve seen this one coming.” And it’s interesting too, because I have a real strong relation to Kevin in that when you’re out in the spotlight and everything seems as if you should not have any problems, people aren’t apt to pick up on the fact that not all that glitters is gold. And so Kevin is experiencing a professional boon, doing films with Stallone and Ron Howard, and everything seems to be on the upside that it’s probably easy to dismiss: I still have struggles. I still have things that I’m working on. So yeah, the family probably could’ve been a bit more attuned. Let’s back up into the past. Jack and Randall’s relationship goes a level deeper in this episode. Present day Randall seems like the member of the Big Three least saddled with guilt over his father’s death, and though he’s clearly had some issues with his father in the past — I’m thinking of that conversation at the restaurant when Jack and Rebecca explain that they’re taking a breather — this moment between them at the Vietnam Memorial only appears to reinforce the idea of their strong connection. As at peace as you can be with the parting of a parent, is Randall the one of the three headed there the most, based on what we just saw with that connection? Absolutely. First, that scene was so great and I actually just texted Milo to tell him how beautiful his work was in it. For those two people to be able to find this unique point of connection — an older white man and a young black boy both feeling out of place, Randall’s due to his race, and Jack’s due to his status as a veteran and reintroducing himself to polite society and how he went back and forth in terms of finding his place and losing it, and finding it and understanding that that was the dance of life. That was what he signed up for after leaving the war and he recognized that you, my son, are going to have to go through a very similar sort of thing, and while it’s not exactly the same, I do have empathy for you. What I love about that in terms of our show, it doesn’t make us more separate. It shows us just how much we have in common when it seems like we shouldn’t. When it seems like you can’t possibly understand what I’m going through, he says, “Well I may not understand it exactly, but I do have something that’s analogous that allows me to understand enough to say, “I’m sorry, and I’m here for you to support you in whatever way that I can.” He seems the most at peace and maybe one of the reasons why he feels like he’s at peace is because he got everything that he wanted from his dad while he was alive. I don’t think he felt lacking in the relationship. I feel like everything that needed to be said or done, the love that needed to be affirmed was affirmed, and so the baggage of it isn’t as heavy as it might be for his brother or sister. This episode also explores the idea of what is the best environment for Déjà. Linda tried to explain to Randall that this isn’t an exact science. Do you think we see enough growth in Shauna to think that she’s a more capable mother this time around? Objectively, where is the best place for Déjà? That’s a wonderful question. There are arguments for either side, but what there is no argument for — from my perspective as the person who plays Randall — is that you have a mother who desperately wants to be with her child and is actively making strides to provide a home for her, and you have a daughter who wants to be with her mom, and if both parties want to be reunited, and the social worker is witnessing the necessary steps to make that possible, then who are Beth and Randall to insert themselves into two people that were together before, and wish to be together again? I think that’s the bottom line. There could be an argument made for, “But Shauna can’t give them what Beth and Randall can give them,” but she can give her everything that she has and she’s her mother. When Déjà is saying goodbye, she tells Randall, “You know I don’t want you to think that just because I want to go home doesn’t mean that I don’t like living with you.” Even though he says, “I know that. You don’t have to worry about that” — and even though she calls him her foster dad during the science presentation — how validating and important was it for Randall to hear her say that in the driveway? It meant the world to him because he loves her. He said this from the beginning — he recognizes seeds of himself within her and I think what he relates to in Déjà, besides just who she is as an individual, is the enormity of her potential, and that’s something that people were able to recognize within him as a young man, and his parents were able to guide him in such a way that he was able to realize his potential. She is bright and curious, and she has shown a willingness to try new things, and expand her horizons even though there was resistance in the beginning. But gradually, slowly but surely, she’s opening herself up to this family, to the point where she could actually make that statement. I think that means everything to him. He and Beth collectively are in this place where at the end of the episode while they’re experiencing loss, they also recognize that we don’t want to hoard what we have, and we have the potential to be of service to another child, and we also have the potential to have our lives enriched by another child, but you have to stay open. And so her being able to share that with Randall shows to him that, “All right, you know, I may not have gotten it exactly right or wrong, but I’m doing something right, and I would like to do that something again.” There’s good closure in the driveway goodbye, but is that not the final goodbye? Could Déjà make a return? I’m sure she could. I have not shot anything with her as of yet. I’m crossing my fingers. RELATED: This Is Us producer answers fall finale burning questions NEXT PAGE: Brown on how soon a new foster child might be coming, why Tess is upset, and that ominous final scene |
The outspoken Del Nido has been one of the main driving forces behind the effort to persuade Real and Barca to adopt a system of collective bargaining and income sharing for TV rights similar to those used in other major European leagues. Thanks to their colossal individual deals with broadcasters, Spain's big two maintain a stranglehold over TV revenue which helps make them the world's richest clubs by income and they can buy and pay the best players while their Spanish peers are left trailing far behind. Del Nido, detailing the outcome of a meeting of Spain's professional football league (LFP) in Madrid on Thursday evening, said the group of clubs pushing for change had grown from the original five or six to 13 out of the 20 clubs in the top flight. "The message is feeding through because we started with five or six clubs and now the situation is changing drastically," he told reporters. "We have made a great deal of progress, more than we expected, and the number of clubs will continue to increase, to 15 or 16," he added. "That will mean that we will have to agree a distribution of TV [cash] that is not only fair but also equitable." Analysts have long argued that Spain needs to adopt collective bargaining or more clubs will follow Real Zaragoza, Real Betis, Racing Santander and others into administration. However, Real and Barca have shown little sign they are prepared to give up their dominant position and a recent collective deal struck by the English Premier League, which will boost revenue by 70 percent over three years, makes it even less likely they will accept change, the analysts have said. |
On March 24th, a few founding members of the Toronto Whisky Society were given the opportunity to tour the Hiram Walker Distillery and we want to share that experience with you in a few posts over the next few days. For any of you who don’t know, the distillery was built in 1858 by Hiram Walker, an American businessman who helped grow Canadian whisky to be the dominant whisky genre in the world for a time, and established brands that are still around today. The operation in Walkerville, Windsor, Ontario has survived (and thrived in the face of) challenges including religious opposition, prohibition, intense competition, and a number of mergers & acquisitions and today is still the largest beverage alcohol distillery in North America. Brands made at Hiram Walker include J.P. Wiser’s, Lot No. 40, Gooderham & Worts, McGuinness liqueurs, Malibu Rum, Lamb’s Rum, Polar Ice Vodka, as well as a number of other competitor brands that they contract distill for. The Toronto Whisky Society has built relationships with people at Hiram Walker and Corby Spirit and Wine, its parent company, and had a Reddit AMA with Dr. Don Livermore 3 months ago, one of only a handful of people with a PhD in brewing and distilling in the world! Dr. Don joined Hiram Walker in 1996 as a microbiologist and worked his way up to his current post as Master Blender. When Don offered to bring a few of us from TWS in for a full-day tour, where we’d get to see the entire whisky process from grain to glass we were very enthusiastic participants! Through descriptions and pictures, we’ll try to give you a feel for the experience! The First Impression The first thing you notice when driving along Riverside Drive by the distillery – especially if you’ve been to any local craft distilleries before – is just the sheer scale of this operation. Hiram Walker is BIG! There are about a dozen buildings in the couple of blocks of street the distillery encompasses all dedicated to different parts of the operation, and connected via pipes and overpasses. It’s seriously impressive! We met up with Don at their Brand Centre, got an overview of the day, and then went to take a walk to the first step in the on-site process. The walk from brand centre to grain receiving is about 750m, and there are buildings on the right and left the entire way. While we walked, Don gave us a really neat overview of Canadian whisky from its inception as home-based moonshining operations, through the American Civil War, Canada’s birth, the prohibition era, booms and busts all the way to the present day. He also tested us with some ‘alternative facts’ thrown into the middle of the story and we quickly got a sense of his dry sense of humour, which made the stories even more entertaining! Here are some pictures of the brand centre and the walk along Riverside Drive: Grain Receiving & Storage When we got to the far end of the distillery grounds, we were met by Kristy Fregonese, who is the gatekeeper of the grain at Hiram Walker. The distillery takes in tens of thousands of trucks of grain every year, and each one is tested for its quality and for various diseases and impurities that occur in grain. Kristy showed us the various grain types they bring in, some examples of grain loads that failed the QA inspections, and told us about the diseases she tests for and how the tests are done. Interestingly, one of the most-used and most reliable tools is Kristy’s olfactory system! She has trained her nose to detect certain smells that belie a disease or quality issue, and can reject an entire load of grain on smell alone! We then jumped ahead to the very end of the process, where the spent grain is collected and processed as “distiller’s grain,” a protein-rich starch-less product that is sold to farmers as cattle feed. This process of using distillery by-product for animal consumption has been happening for centuries, and completes the whisky cycle from farm to farm. Notice the differently coloured layers in the cross-section of the pile, that almost look like strata in a rock face. Those are layers of different grains (lighter = corn/wheat, darker=rye) that pile on top of each other as different mashes are distilled over time. The grains travel from the distillery building to the vents in the roof via underground pipes and are constantly pouring in. We then went to the grain silos, and walked around on top of the building. They use sonar to detect the grain level in each individual >100ft column, which is a bit of an upgrade vs the original method of dropping a rope in from the top and measuring! We then went outside for a magnificent view of the distillery, the Detroit River and the Detroit skyline. It was a sunny 20 degrees out, which made for some incredibly breathtaking vistas. A huge thanks to Kristy for showing us around the grain operations at Hiram Walker. We learned a ton about grain and got a new appreciation for the impact that grain quality has on the final product! Mashing & Fermenting We then took a walk back to the mash-house and distillery itself, all while getting more jokes and stories from our host, Don. We then heard about the mashing and cook process, which at Hiram Walker is highly automated, and incredibly precise. The grain at Hiram Walker is hammer-milled into a fine flour and is then piped into a large continuous mash tun, where it gets mixed with warm water, nitrogen & enzymes and cooked to begin the process of breaking down starches into sugar. We got a taste of the wort, or end product of this process, which is a fairly sweet yet starchy porridge. The wort is then pumped into fermentation tanks. Having seen these at multiple distilleries before, we weren’t prepared for the scale of these things Sitting dozens of feet tall and with a capacity of nearly 200,000L each, they are absolutely MASSIVE! And on top of that, there are 39 of them, all continuously at various stages of fermentation, draining or sterilization. Yeast and enzymes are added to the wort, and the yeast begins to convert the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. We looked into a few fermenters at various stages, and what looks like a rolling boil inside, is really just the CO2 bubbling to the surface constantly. We got a taste of the fermenting corn that sits at about 15% ABV and it was less sweet and quite tasty. I suggested they consider releasing it as a beer, but there wasn’t much of an appetite for it… oh well. They ferment their mash for 3 days and then it’s ready for the next step: distillation. But for that, you’ll have to come back to the site tomorrow when we cover Part 2 of our day at Hiram Walker where we see the stills and head to the warehouse!. And here’s a link to Part 3 of our visit where we do custom blending and check out the archives! |
NATO Is Winning in Afghanistan Like the United States Was in Vietnam The Pentagon released a sobering report on December 10, 2012 on the war in Afghanistan. The report was ready before the United States presidential election in early November but not made available to “respect” the election cycle. The delay from the Pentagon can only be viewed as an attempt by the Obama administration to keep the bleak findings of the report from the American public before they went to the polls. During the election charade, the 11-year war in Afghanistan, like any other meaningful US foreign-policy topic, was conveniently ignored by both candidates. The war is unpopular, and it has slowly but surely become the forgotten war, even though 68,000 US troops are still involved in Afghanistan’s quagmire. Endless war or transition to a Taliban takeover The raw numbers are grim, as the prospect of a real withdrawal by the US in 2014 seems increasingly unlikely, unless the Obama administration declares victory and shortly afterwards just lets the Taliban take over. According to the Pentagon, only one of the 23 brigades of the Afghan National Army would be able to operate without NATO support. According to official data from the Department of Defense, since 2001, the conflict has cost US taxpayers more than $500 billion, and 2,146 American troops have died. In this war of attrition, thousands of NATO troops have already died and will keep dying in vain. The Pentagon report spans from April 1 to September 30, 2012. “During the reporting period, enemy initiated attacks (EIAs) were up one percent compared to the same period last year. The campaign continued to face challenges including a rise of insider attacks. The insurgency’s safe havens in Pakistan, the limited institutional capacity of the Afghan government, and endemic corruption remain the greatest risks to long-term stability and sustainable security in Afghanistan. The Taliban-led insurgency and its al-Qaeda affiliates operate from sanctuaries in Pakistan. Although the insurgency’s kinetic capabilities have declined from their peak in 2010, the insurgents remain resilient and determined, and will likely attempt to regain lost ground and influence through continued assassinations, intimidation, high-profile attacks, and the emplacement of IEDs ( improvised explosive devices). Widespread corruption continues to limit the effectiveness and legitimacy of the Afghan government,” says the 172 page Pentagon report. US taxpayers should know that, according to the Pentagon, the estimated cost of the report or study for the Department of Defense was around $161,000 for the 2012 fiscal year. This included $23,000 in “expenses” and $138,000 in “DOD labor.” Lesson from Vietnam: Defeating a skilled and determined guerrilla army is militarily impossible History is not America’s forte. The United States of America suffers from amnesia when it comes to the valuable lessons that the country should have learned from Vietnam. If people had done their research in Washington before impulsively invading Afghanistan in 2001, they would have reconsidered their actions after learning that nobody has ever defeated recent history’s best guerrilla force: the Pashtuns. The Taliban are mostly Pashtuns, and this fearless tribe has won the well-deserved reputation of providing a “burial ground” for empires. They did this with the British empire and, in the 1980s, with the Soviet Union. The Reagan administration played a pivotal role in arming and funding what he called Afghanistan’s “freedom fighters” when they were taking on the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union. A few decades later, Reagan’s freedom-fighter friends became the Taliban. Washington never made an effort to understand the Taliban and the reasons why they are such a tough and resilient enemy. The late French President General Charles de Gaulle once said: “You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.” De Gaulle was correct in his assessment of America’s geopolitical IQ. More than 50,000 US troops died in vain in Vietnam to maintain an illegitimate and corrupt government, all in the name of countering the danger of communism’s “domino effect.” Three million Vietnamese were killed in that conflict. The same cold-war rationale was at play when Reagan was a crucial ally of Osama Bin Laden and his friends. This absurdly short-sighted, one-train-behind, US foreign policy is now being applied to Afghanistan, Pakistan — with the drone attacks — and of course Syria, where the US is de facto supporting a Talibanization of the country. |
Democrat Jon Ossoff, who placed first in the special election for Georgia’s sixth congressional district with 48% of the vote but who needed 50% to avoid a runoff, overcame a great deal of adversity. The 30-year-old political neophyte beat back charges that he didn’t live in the reddish district, which previously elected the likes of Tom Price and Newt Gingrich. The NRA falsely accused Ossoff of growing up in dreaded Washington DC in a commercial. Meanwhile, Republican attack ads showing him as a college student cavorting in a Han Solo costume only seemed to improve his star power. Screenshot Share Pinterest Email But some competitors in the race sought to burden Ossoff with one more handicap: his religion. And in the Atlanta area, one’s belief system can spell trouble for someone, as it did more than 100 years ago. After all, it was in Atlanta where the infamous Leo Frank case occurred. It’s a story that former Democratic Georgia Governor Roy Barnes, who works with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) told my students at a talk about one year ago. Frank, a Jewish executive at the National Pencil Factory, was accused of murdering 13-year-old Mary Phagan back in 1913. He was convicted on evidence so flimsy that the outgoing Georgia Governor overturned the death sentence, commuting it to life in prison. A mob chased Governor John Slaton from office, and then turned their wrath on Frank, dragging him from prison and lynching him. Then ringleaders helped restart the Klan. Evidence shows Jews in Atlanta faced a great level of insecurity after this incident. Though Georgia is hardly a hotbed of anti-Semitism, as it was in the days of Leo Frank, five years ago someone painted a swastika on a public utility unit right near my house, not far from the district Ossoff hopes to represent. I painted it over, and it has never reappeared. And at Augusta collegiate campuses, and others across the country, leaflets touting “protection of European heritage” or “European Christian heritage” have recently been distributed. The languages merits scrutiny. When I moved to Georgia in 2001, the term “Judeo-Christian heritage” was far more common. Will Kremer, reporting for georgiapol.com, observed that one of the Republican candidates in the race, Mohammad Ali Bhuiyan, wrote on his campaign’s Facebook page, “As you know, Jon Ossoff (an Orthodox Jew) has already accepted millions from special interest groups and will be under the control of Jared Kushner (Trump’s Son-in-Law) and in turn under the control of Donald Trump.” Other Facebook posts also highlighted the “connection” between Kushner and Ossoff. Bhuiyan, a Muslim Republican who ultimately won a scant .022 percent of the vote in the special election, also took shots at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution at a candidate forum, calling it a “Jewish-owned newspaper.” Ossoff, who marketed himself as a moderate, also found it necessary to criticize the “deeply offensive” words from his political mentor, Rep. Hank Johnson, who labeled Jewish settlers in Israel as “termites,” according to the Atlanta Jewish Times. But that didn’t keep the Democrat from being accused of having ties to Al-Jazeera, “a mouthpiece for terrorists,” in a commercial funded by a super PAC affiliated with House speaker Paul Ryan (Ossoff’s documentary film production company counted the cable channel as a client). By and large, the election was conducted professionally, with little mention of Ossoff’s religion — until he opened his large lead. Did that help or hurt him? On one hand, the former congressional aide received more than twice as many votes as the four more politically experienced Republicans who finished after him; Ossoff came within a whisker of winning outright in a district that hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress since 1979. On the other hand, who knows if Ossoff just barely missed the 50% mark because of the injection of his Jewish faith into the contest. John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Ga. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is JohnTures2. This story "Did Jon Ossoff’s Jewish Faith Keep Him From 50%?" was written by John A. Tures. |
The Flaming Lips: "Flaming Side of the Moon" (via SoundCloud) On Sunday, the Flaming Lips released Flaming Side of the Moon, which they billed as a companion album to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Now, it seems to have been an early April Fools' Day joke, or prank, or something, produced in conjunction with Funny Or Die. The Soundcloud stream does in fact loosely sync up with Dark Side of the Moon, which means that the release makes at least as much sense as any one of the Flaming Lips' endless string of wacky stunts. But this one comes with a meta concept. The premise is that the Flaming Lips are now "selling out". Which would be a good joke... if the Flaming Lips hadn't been fully embracing "selling out" for years now. Funny or Die has also posted a fake ad for Flaming Lips cereal "Flames and Lips" ("includes 11 essential vitamins and minerals AND DRUGS ;)), as well as "I'm All In", an essay credited to Wayne Coyne that makes fun of Alec Baldwin's recent New York magazine confessional "Good-bye, Public Life". He writes, "I, Wayne Coyne, do hereby announce that I am retiring from indie life. I am ready to fully embrace the mainstream. I’m ready to go all in." They've also produced a series of videos. First, the Flaming Lips sell out. (There's a Pitchfork jab, but we won't give it away): Embedded content is unavailable. Then, they hire Michael Bay to direct an adaptation of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: #iframe:http://www.funnyordie.com/embed/e1ff526fc0|||||| Followed by Fred Armisen joining the band to replace Wayne Coyne as singer: Embedded content is unavailable. Which culminates in the recording of Flaming Side of the Moon: #iframe:http://www.funnyordie.com/embed/c7562ab266|||||| |
You, the intelligent, novel-reading, eloquent reader is probably in search of NCAA Tournament analysis. We like to provide you with well thought out breakdowns and opinions on all things mid-major basketball at this site, and that’s definitely something that you can find on the site in the coming days. However, if that’s the type of analysis you’re looking for, I have some bad news for you. This article isn’t for you. I, the good blogger boy, am here to deliver the takes that you don’t want to hear, but need to hear. The takes are fresh out of the oven, so handle with caution. MID-MAJOR MASCOT POWER RANKINGS 1. Northern Kentucky Norse 2. Kent State Golden Flashes 3. South Dakota State Jackrabbits 4. New Orleans Privateers 5. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 6. Nevada Wolf Pack 7. UNC Wilmington Seahawks 8. Wichita State Shockers 9. Bucknell Bison 10. Jacksonville Gamecocks T-11. Saint Mary’s Gaels T-11. Iona Gaels 13. Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers 14. East Tennessee State Buccaneers 15. Troy Trojans 16. North Dakota Fighting Hawks 17. Dayton Flyers 18. Vermont Catamounts T-19. VCU Rams T-19. Rhode Island Rams T-21. New Mexico State Aggies T-21. UC Davis Aggies T-23. Princeton Tigers T-23. Texas Southern Tigers T-25. Winthrop Eagles T-25. Florida Gulf Coast Eagles T-25. North Carolina Central Eagles 28. Gonzaga Bulldogs All mascot rankings are final, please do not @ me on such matters. Thanks. |
Playing horror games can be a lot of fun, and that is why you need to check out the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 download that we offer! However, what is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (FPP)? Developer and Publisher: Scott Cawthon. PC Release date: 10.11.2014. Platforms: PC, iOS, WP, AND. Five Nights at Freddys 2 free Download This is a horror game in which you play the role of a security guard whose main purpose is to make sure that nothing happens at theduring the night shift. However, this is easier said than done, as the animatronics come to life and they are ready to make your life a living hell. You can’t reach the animatronics firsthand, as you will monitor them via security cameras located all over the precinct. While the main purpose of the game is to stay alive, the situation quickly becomes very strange, as all animatronics will try to kill you. The only way to avoid them is to wear a Freddy Fazbear mask that will fool them, and thus you will be able to carry out your plan. The best thing about Five Nights at Freddys 2 Download is that by getting the title you will get to find new, redesigned versions of the animatronics in the original title, as well as new characters that will make the whole experience an scarier one. The reviewed game on metacritic received 62/100 possible points which gives a decent result. Additionally, through the Fnaf 2 free Download you have the opportunity to see the main differences between the title and its predecessor, as well as enjoy even more content that includes the world’s most famous animatronics. Even if you die, you get the option to play some mini-games that will show you why the pizzeria has such a reputation, and how the animatronics got their life. In order to finish Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 you will need to survive 5 consecutive nights, each one of them having an increased difficulty. The interesting thing about the indie game is that even if you finish these nights, you will unlock a harder, final one, as well as a Custom Night mode where you can customize your experience by adding your own set of challenges as well as choose the AI difficulty. Five Nights at Freddys 2 Trailer Through the Five Nights at Freddys 2 Download you can see that this is a game that takes adventure and horror gaming to a whole new level. With a simple plot that you can relate to, interesting characters and lot of challenges, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 successfully manages to stand out and provide you with one of the most interesting and scary experiences that you will ever receive from a video game. If you want to know more, get new games download. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 comes with a highly demanding experience in which your choices can bring you either life or death. It’s a highly interactive exploration game where everything is not as it seems, and as such you can have a lot of fun as you try to figure out what is really happening and what is actually driving the animatronics to have such a behavior. If you like the second part of the game, you should be interested in Five Nights at Freddys 3. FNaF 2 is a very interesting game, one that has impressed countless people all over the world and which you can experience right away. Just check out the Five Nights at Freddys 2 Download and immerse yourself in one of the best gaming experiences of the recent years! For the needs of the game, the proprietary Clickteam engine was used to provide an amazing graphic experience and soundtrack. Five Nights at Freddys 2 Download Free on PC Minimum hardware requirements: Five Nights at Freddys 2 Download Free Song FNaF 2 Cracked warez-bb Five Nights at Freddys 2 Torrent mygully Five Nights at Freddys 2 Steam Bonnie Five Nights at Freddys 2 foxy rap thepiratebay FNaF 2 PC map unblocked Intel Pentium IV 2.0 GHz1 GB RAM1 GB Geforce GTS 450 / Radeon HD 5670 or better250 MB HDDWindows XP / Vista / 7 |
Law Enforcement Explorer patch (Photo: Courier-Journal) It would have never happened this way if cops weren't involved. If police were hearing persistent rumors that leaders of a youth organization were having sex with the teens they were overseeing, they would have investigated. But apparently, that's not the case when the rumors are about the police themselves. Or at least it wasn't the case when former Lt. Curtis Flaherty was running both the Louisville Metro Police Department's Youth Explorer Program AND the department's Public Integrity Unit, which is supposed to investigate bad cops. If investigative records released recently are accurate, former Officers Brandon Wood and Kenneth Betts were allowed to victimize teenagers for years despite the fact that at least four police officers had heard rumors and suspected something was up. Two of the cops had been Explorers themselves, and while they said they never actually witnessed any sexual misconduct, the rumors abounded. One was another adviser in the Explorer program and one was an internal affairs investigator. The latest: Police didn't keep notes or record Scout's claim against cop now accused of sexual abuse Police sex abuse case: Scouts detail encounters with two cops accused in Explorer sex abuse scandal More: Ex-cop accused in new lawsuit of raping another former Explorer Scout But none of them called for a full-scale investigation of the Youth Explorers Program that Betts and Wood allegedly used to recruit children they could abuse. No one got to the bottom of this until after Flaherty was removed as the head of the Public Integrity Unit and replaced by an officer with no ties to the Explorer program. Go ahead and be outraged. But at whom? Certainly, if Betts and Wood are guilty of the charges, you should be outraged at them. That's the easy part. Be outraged at the damage done to the children. Be outraged at the millions of dollars that the city likely will have to pay out to settle lawsuits over Wood's and Betts' alleged behavior. Just be outraged. NEWSLETTERS Get the Breaking News newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Breaking news alerts Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-866-2211. Delivery: Varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Breaking News Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Betts allegedly swapped inappropriate photos with teens — in one case trading police equipment for a nude photo. He allegedly took the teens on "ride-alongs" to secluded spots where he would remove his gun belt, unzip his pants and ask for oral sex. Wood wasn't quite so brazen. He allegedly invited them to parties where they had access to alcohol and worked his way into their lives. He bantered with them on social media about sex before moving in for the kill, according to the court records. More from Joseph Gerth Bevin deserves credit for tackling pensions, but hard work is ahead Volunteer sheriff's deputy from Louisville shows why NFL players take a knee Chief Conrad talks about protecting children amid LMPD sex-abuse scandal A lawyer for Wood has said his client is innocent. Lawyers for Betts have refused to comment. But the investigative records suggest that Betts and Wood are both predators who stalked their victims in different ways. They are the easy ones to blame, and they'll likely get what's coming to them. They've been charged with felonies, and if they are convicted, and there is justice, they'll spend years in a state prison. But, assuming they are guilty, they aren't the only villains here. What about Flaherty, who has never been charged and who may never be charged? In 2013 when a 16-year-old girl complained that Betts had sent her inappropriate text messages, Flaherty didn't demand a full investigation; he sent a couple of investigators who apparently didn't even file a report. There were no recordings made of an interview the investigators did with the girl and her parents. One of the investigators who worked for Flaherty told new police investigators last year that she may have made notes but she can't really remember. There's not even evidence that they looked into Betts' record, either before or after he joined the force, to see if there were any warning signs. Not surprisingly, Flaherty's investigators found in this perfunctory investigation that no law was broken. Explorer sex-abuse findings:: Police left to police themselves, violated victims' trust In-depth look: Sexual abuse of Explorer Scouts has gone on for decades across the nation In their minds, it raised no suspicions that a police officer overseeing a youth program asked a 16-year-old girl to meet him behind a church. You have got to be kidding me. So, with Flaherty's approval, police kicked the case to the department's Professional Standards Unit, which investigates violations of department policy. Betts then resigned in 2014 before that investigation was completed. Unbelievably, LMPD Chief Steve Conrad then ordered the investigation closed without demanding more information about what Betts had been doing and without ever seeing a completed investigatory report. A full-scale investigation that called for interviewing current and former Explorer Scouts may have shaken free evidence about not only what Betts stands accused of doing but also about Wood, who remained on the force where he had access to impressionable teens until he was fired this year. Flaherty and Conrad failed in their duty to protect children. So did every other police officer who had suspicions about Wood and Betts and didn't speak up. Outrageous. Joseph Gerth's column runs on most Sundays and at various times throughout the week. He can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courier-journal.com. Read or Share this story: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/joseph-gerth/2017/10/24/louisville-police-sex-abuse-scandal-explorer-scouts-investigation-failure/754291001/ |
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration proposed banning powdered medical gloves on Monday, saying the powder can inflame wounds and cause scars to form between organs and tissue after surgery. The powder is added to the gloves by manufacturers to make it easier to put them on and take them off. But experts have known for some time that the powder can cause harm. The agency did not specify the precise percentage of gloves that now have powder, but a spokesman for the agency, Eric Pahon, said it was very small. The proposal is open for public comment for 90 days. The agency started to warn about the gloves in 1997 but refrained from banning them then, largely because it determined that pulling them from the market at the time could have caused shortages and been disruptive to the practice of medicine. The ban would apply to powdered surgeon’s gloves, powdered patient-examination gloves and absorbable powder for lubricating a surgeon’s glove. |
The leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage has admitted he doesn’t believe himself capable of running the country, despite leading one its most prominent parties. While Farage is hoping UKIP will make dramatic gains in the general election on May 7, he clearly doesn’t believe he possesses adequate leadership skills to run the country. Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, the politician said he wasn’t sure being PM was “his role in life,” adding, “I don’t think I’d be very good at it either.” The party leader used his appearance on the show to spin a positive light on some of UKIP’s more controversial policies. He argued that immigration, something UKIP pledge to drastically reduce, had had a positive effect on Britain’s cuisine. “Just look at the food! I am just about old enough to remember when it was awful and going out was actually quite difficult.” “If you control immigration sensibly and do it properly it can be a benefit to the country and it can enrich the culture too, no arguments about that,” he said. Farage also showed his human side, speaking frankly about the effects of politics on his home life, and relationship with German wife Kirsten. “UKIP has been a DIY political party, I mean most of us have never been involved in politics before,” he said. Kirsten revealed last week she had become solely responsible for the organization of their household because her husband’s job meant he was often away. She added that Farage didn’t even know where basic household equipment was. READ MORE: Farage set for Westminster win, as ‘Nazi dance troupe’ trolls UKIP conference “He just called me and asked where do we keep the ironing board as he needed to iron his shirt,” she said. “I'm not that surprised. It is a bit worrying,” she said. Farage told the television channel his wife was “somebody who was completely honest, with no particular side, who said pretty frankly what she thought and how she saw things and I quite liked that.” He added the family might have benefitted if he hadn’t gone into politics. “I mean to be honest with you, I think my whole family would rather I had never gone into politics, I'd stayed doing what I was doing, I can't even pretend to have a normal family relationship at this moment in time because I don't.” Farage’s personal interview comes as another UKIP parliamentary candidate is facing an internal party investigation over a fresh social media blunder. Richard Hilton, candidate for Mitcham and Morden, southwest London, is being investigated after posting a message claiming Mohammed Emwazi, recently identified as Islamic State executioner Jihadi John, should have killed himself. The Tory defector tweeted yesterday: “Jihadi John ‘contemplated suicide’. It’s a shame he didn’t. Don’t understand media attempts to blame MI5 for his evil.” He removed the tweet and later posted an apology on his Facebook page. “‘Jihadi John’ of Islamic State is one of the most evil men on the planet and the world would be a better place without him. “I was not advocating suicide and as I realized the tweet could be misconstrued I deleted it. “However, I am gay and Islamic State are throwing gay people off roofs before stoning their bodies, so I am not going to apologize for wishing that Jihadi John and the murderous Islamic State were not around.” |
U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous says the conflict in Syria is now a full-scale civil war, AFP reports. The comments come after reports that the Syrian government has lost "large chunks of territory" in some cities. The U.N. also reported members of its observer team in Syria were attacked by angry crowds as they tried to reach an embattled mountain village near President Bashar Assad's hometown. The vehicles also were later shot at. Annan says the attacks against the observers Tuesday were deliberate, Reuters reports. None of the observers were injured. The global body says the observers' vehicles were surrounded Tuesday before they could reach rebel-held Haffa -- a village about 20 miles from Assad's hometown of Kardaha. The U.N. says the crowds hurled stones and metal rods at the vehicles, which then turned back. It says shots were fired at the three vehicles as they were heading toward Idlib. The U.N. says the crowds appeared to be residents of the area but the source of the gunfire was unclear. On Tuesday, at least 10 people died as Syrian forces hit the eastern city of Deir el-Zour with mortar shells after an anti-government protest, and clashes broke out elsewhere in the country, activists said. The International Committee of Red Cross said that its impossible to respond to all humanitarian needs at once due to simultaneous fighting that has spread to several parts of the country, Reuters reports. The ICRC is trying to locate hundreds of citizens believed to have fled throughout Homs in search of safe areas, a spokesman told Reuters. Syria has intensified its onslaught against the opposition in recent days, ignoring an Annan-brokered ceasefire plan, mounting international condemnation and increasing economic pressure aimed at the government of President Bashar Assad. Annan, the former U.N. Secretary-General, has been working with little success to end the Syrian conflict since he was appointed in February The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
May 07 2011 Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad — but is it true? In response to critics that TFA teachers don’t have enough long-term impact, TFA replies with the statement from their annual survey “Nearly two-thirds of Teach For America alumni work in the field of education, and half of those in education are teachers. Teaching remains the most common profession among our alumni.” Now a statement like this is pretty strong and probably shuts up those critics, though it also probably leaves them scratching their heads. How could this statement possibly be true? I decided to investigate a bit to see how much of this was fact and how much was PR spin. Before I get started, though, I’d like to explain something about myself to people who don’t know where I’m coming from with my occasional criticisms of TFA. It’s not that I want TFA to fail. There are two things I don’t like about misleading PR: 1) Politicians often believe it and then make policies based on it, like “those TFA teachers keep teaching so we can solve the education crisis by firing all the overpaid veterans and replacing them with these TFA teachers.” and 2) TFA seems to believe the PR themselves and don’t seem to feel the need to improve their ability to get more alumni to teach beyond the two years. The first thing that you should notice when looking at a stat like “one third of alumni are still teaching” is the careful choice of words. You’re only an alum if you don’t quit before you become an alum. And since somewhere between ten and fifteen percent of people who start in TFA do not complete their commitment and therefore become alumni, they are not considered in that stat. That alone would move the number down to 30%, but that’s just the beginning. The first report I looked at was the 2007 report. At the bottom there was some fine print that said “The information in this report is based on self-reported data as of April 2007 and represents more than 57% of our alumni network.” Well, 57% is pretty low, considering that it’s self-selecting. This is not a random sampling by any means since those who are in education are more likely, I think, to respond to the alumni survey. The 2008 report says “Percentages that reflect current data — as opposed to cumulative data — are drawn from our 2007 alumni survey, which received 4,097 responses, and represent 35 percent of our alumni network at the time.” This doesn’t sound very reliable statistically. The 2009 report says “Except where noted, percentages that reflect current data — as opposed to cumulative data — are drawn from our 2008 alumni survey, which received a 57 percent response rate and went out to our alumni from corps years 1990-2006.” So now it’s back to 57 percent. Finally, the recent 2010 report says “Data is self-reported and reflects 72 percent of our total alumni population.” This is quite a jump, so I wanted to examine it. Of course the size of the new corps is rising so if they were able to get 100% of the new CMs to respond, that would help. There were 17,000 alumni the year before and 3,000 new ones that year. But if they kept the 57% of the original 17,000 and got all the new 3,000 to respond, that would still be only 63%. To get the 72% they claim, they would have to not only get all the new 3000 to respond, but they’d have to get 67% of the 17,000 people who they tried to get before. I don’t think this is feasible since as the years go on, it gets harder to track people who you’ve lost. I do admit that it’s possible that they made a huge effort to get those numbers up to answer criticisms about the low self-reported turnout. Just under the ‘two thirds in education and one third in teaching’ stat in the 2010 report it also says ‘Nearly half of our corps members stay in their initial low-income placement schools for more than two years.’ Now, this, I believe. CMs do often stay for a third year. I did, though it was mainly because I needed to make up for the damage I had done my first year. Still, this is a true stat. But it also skews the ‘one-third of alumni are teachers’ statistic. If you take the 3,000 new ‘alumni’ (there were 17,000 alumni from first 18 years, so 3,000 is a big percent of alumni) of which 1,500 are teaching a third year, that accounts for a large percent of the alumni who are still teaching. I think of those third-year people as part of their own category which is definitely worth reporting and even bragging about. However, if you don’t count them among the alumni who are still teachers (I know they are officially alumni, but it does cause a misleading stat), you would be down to about 25% alumni teaching, which still doesn’t account for the people who quit and never became alumni. The one-third stat makes it seem like one out of every three alumni have chosen to become career teachers, while I’d say the number is more like ten or fifteen percent (of which I’m one of them.) I think that ten or fifteen percent is actually pretty impressive considering that most of them (like me) weren’t planning to become career teachers before doing TFA. They should be proud of the people who are still teaching, but be honest about their retention rate. |
After part 2 I received a couple requests to add in a couple other rust serialization libraries. So one thing led to another, and now I’ve got a benchmark suite I’m calling rust-serialization-benchmarks. Really creative name, eh? This includes all the other benchmarks I referred to previously, as well as capnproto, msgpack, and protobuf. language library format serialization (MB/s) deserialization (MB/s) C++ rapidjson JSON (dom) 233 102 C++ rapidjson JSON (sax) 233 124 Go encoding/json JSON 54.93 16.72 Go ffjson JSON 126.40 (not supported) Go goprotobuf Protocol Buffers 138.27 91.18 Go gogoprotobuf Protocol Buffers 472.69 295.33 Go go-capnproto Cap’n Proto 2226.71 450 Go go-capnproto Cap’n Proto (zero copy) 2226.71 1393.3 Rust serialize::json JSON 89 18 Rust rust-msgpack MessagePack 160 52 Rust rust-protobuf Protocol Buffers 177 70 Rust capnproto-rust Cap’n Proto (unpacked) 1729 1276 Rust capnproto-rust Cap’n Proto (packed) 398 246 I upgraded to OS X Yosemite, so I think that brought these numbers down overall from the last post. |
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption US military bases have been given permission to shoot down drones when appropriate The Pentagon has given US military bases permission to shoot down or otherwise destroy consumer drones flying overhead and nearby. A spokesman revealed that guidance was issued on 4 August. He said the exact terms of the policy were classified. The move comes days after the US Army ordered its own troops to stop using drones made by Chinese manufacturer DJI because of alleged "cyber-vulnerabilities". Privacy worries It became illegal to fly personal drones within 400ft (122m) of the US's 133 military facilities in April. The Federal Aviation Administration announced at the time that those who disobeyed the order would face financial penalties and possible criminal charges. The watchdog has forecast that US-based hobbyists will own more than 3.5 million drones by 2021, and that there could be a further 1.6 million commercial models in operation. The technology's growing popularity has raised privacy and safety concerns. There have already been incidents in which members of the public have shot down drones flying over their own properties. And the new guidance is intended to clarify what steps military bases can take, and warn local communities of the potential counter-measures. "We retain the right of self-defence and when it comes to... drones operating over military installations, this new guidance does afford us the ability to take action to stop those threats," Navy Captain Jeff Davis said in a written statement, adding that this included "tracking, disabling and destroying" the aircraft. Military ban The US Army's ban on DJI drones was first reported on 2 August by the SUAS News website. It published a memo revealing that the armed forces had been told to cease all use of the Shenzhen-based firm's drones, to uninstall its applications and to disconnect any storage media from its devices. Image copyright DJI Image caption DJI has emerged as the drone market's best-selling brand DJI is the best-selling drone brand in North America, according to Skylogic Research. The firm indicated the development had caught it by surprise. "We do not market our products for military customers, and if military members choose to buy and use our products as the best way to accomplish their tasks, we have no way of knowing who they are or what they do with them," said a spokesman. "The US Army has not explained why it suddenly banned the use of DJI drones and components, what 'cyber-vulnerabilities' it is concerned about, or whether it has also excluded drones made by other manufacturers." The US Army had little to add on the matter. "We can confirm that guidance was issued; however, we are currently reviewing the guidance and cannot comment further at this time," a spokesman said. The UK's Ministry of Defence told the BBC it had not purchased any of DJI's drones and had nothing further to add on the subject. |
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon threatened legal action against the former Navy SEAL who has written a book recounting his role in the May 2011 raid that killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. Just days before the release of the first-hand account of the operation on Pakistani soil, the Pentagon’s top lawyer, Jeh Johnson, told the author he had broken his promise to abide by a strict non-disclosure agreement signed before he retired from the military this year. “In the judgment of the Department of Defense, you are in material breach and violation of the non-disclosure agreements you signed” and the Pentagon is considering “all remedies legally available,” Johnson said in a letter to the author, who writes under the pseudonym Mark Owen. The former Navy commando’s book “No Easy Day” is due to be released next week but has already sparked a wave of publicity and controversy. He signed documents during his service and before he retired promising “never to divulge” classified information and to submit any manuscript to the Pentagon before publishing, Johnson said. The Pentagon’s general counsel noted that some copies of the book had appeared on Wednesday — before next week’s scheduled release — and warned: “Further dissemination of your book will aggravate your breach and violation of your agreements,” it said. The letter did not indicate whether the book had revealed secrets that could endanger US forces but made clear that simply by failing to clear the manuscript with the military, the Navy SEAL had broken faith with his obligations. Top military and intelligence officials, who met to discuss the book on Wednesday, have combed through the text in recent days looking for any disclosure of sensitive tactics or techniques but so far have not pointed to any worrisome revelations. The Navy SEAL team member’s version of bin Laden’s death at his Abbottabad compound differs from previous accounts offered by President Barack Obama’s administration and comes amid a politically-charged debate about the handling of state secrets in the wake of the raid. The Pentagon made clear that the publisher, Penguin’s Dutton, also faced potential legal jeopardy over the book. “I write to you to formally advise you of your material breach and violation of your agreements, and to inform you that the Department is considering pursuing against you, and all those acting in concert with you, all remedies legally available to us in light of this situation,” it said. The publisher has moved up the scheduled release date from September 11 to September 4, as media coverage has fueled a flood of orders for the book. The book provides fresh details about the May 2011 raid, describing how bin Laden was first shot in the head as he peered out of a door and then pumped with bullets as he convulsed on the floor. Previous official accounts said bin Laden had appeared in a doorway and ducked back into his bedroom, leading the US commandos to suspect he might be retrieving a weapon. But the author said bin Laden was shot in the head by the SEAL team when he leaned out of the doorway and was found bleeding from his wound when commandos made their way to his room, according to excerpts cited in media reports and confirmed to AFP by defense officials. The Al-Qaeda leader was mortally wounded and twitching on the floor as two women cried over his body. The team pushed aside the women and then fired more shots at him, according to the book. We “fired several rounds,” the author wrote in the book. “The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless.” Fox News has revealed what it says is the identity of the author, a former Navy SEAL who also took part in the 2009 operation that rescued Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates. Obama administration officials have appeared anxious to avoid having to discuss or defend in detail an operation they deem a major triumph, while suggesting the book did not shed any new light on the raid. |
Just kidding, you’re totally cool, especially if you’re one of my many customers who rides custom bikes… This is really intended as a buyers guide to help you navigate the world of no-longer-stock motorcycles to find one that actually suits you. Which is really the whole point of a custom anyway, isn’t it? Before I get any deeper in to this subject, I need to get some things off my chest: If you have never ridden a motorcycle before, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE BUY SOMETHING CUSTOM/VINTAGE/BLING/FAST. Buy the ugliest stock bike you can find that runs and rides, pay no more than $1500, and sell it next year for the same price. Do not ask me to build you a replica of someone else’s custom bike. I can do it, but I will multiply my normal price by 5. Pictures for inspiration are great, especially when you point out features you like. However, asking me to assemble a copy of another bike is both extremely boring and unfair to the builder I’m plagiarizing. If you like what a particular builder is doing, you should probably be talking to them. Many custom bikes you see on the fancy motorcycles sites are either rolling advertisements for an aftermarket parts company or were built by people with a huge surplus of disposable income and/or free time. The results can be cool to look at, but they often don’t make any sense as motorcycles. They are customized for the sake of customization rather than to achieve some coherent design goal. Buyer beware: many custom bikes are in fact completely unridable. If I have not yet succeeded in scaring you away, let’s get down to business. It should be obvious from the preceding discussion that I’m seriously offended by custom motorcycles that are not basically functional. If a completed build cannot navigate a parking lot without endangering everyone in the area, I cannot call that build successful. The large number of bikes that are uncomfortable to sit on, extremely heavy, overpowered, with no ground clearance and evil handling should be immediately disqualified from consideration. Anyone who would buy a bike like that has more money than brains. To my mind, the core of building a custom bike is tailoring the machine to its intended use. For me, that means creating something that is nimble and light enough to maneuver in traffic, with enough suspension and tire to rip the occasional gravel road, enough motor to reach 100mph flat out, and a riding position that allows me to corner aggressively. All the bikes that I build and sell are basically set up to do this. If you are commissioning or building a bike, think long and hard about how it will be used – for real in your actual life and not in your fantasies about being in a motorcycle gang. Let that thinking drive the design. I love the look of old stripped down hardtails, but I’ll probably never own one because it’s just never going to be any good for what I use my bikes for. Too many potholes where I live, and not enough long straight roads. But maybe that’s the perfect bike for your needs. The point of customization is that everyone’s situation is different. It’s the builder’s job to balance the performance goals with cost and coolness to create a motorcycle that fits the rider’s needs. (Part 2) [subscribe2] |
Comedy legend Jerry Seinfeld will tour Australia next year for his first stand-up shows in this country since 1998. "Australia may be far in miles but I feel very close to the people because of our mutual comedy connection," the 62-year-old New Yorker said in a statement issued through the tour's promoter, TEG Dainty. "I couldn't be more excited about seeing everyone there again." Seinfeld, who currently presents the web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, has been performing live comedy since 1976, but became an international superstar with the success of his eponymous TV series, co-created with Larry David in 1989. The show ran for nine seasons before a burnt-out Seinfeld called it quits, turning down an offer of $5 million a show for one more season. The finale aired in May 1998 to an audience of 76 million viewers in the US, with 30-second advertising slots selling for $1 million apiece. |
Introduction Hello again wonderful winners! This newest installment will make sure you never lose your lane again. And that's not even the best part! It's my great pleasure to announce that from this week onwards, your favourite guide to kicking ass in League of Legends comes with high quality video material! None other than the fantastic Matt 'WhatTheMoose' McDermott will be working in tandem with me to bring alive the theory contained in Playing to Win.Furthermore, the usual walls of text will be split up into different pages for your convenience. For easy navigation and quick look-ups, each page will start with an index just like the one at the top of this page!In the Lulu and Hecarim patches, games tend to snowball pretty hard. A direct consequence of this is that the laning phase has a very large influence on the outcome of the rest of the game. Flat rather than scaling stat bonuses are very dominant, Doran is making a fortune selling rings and blades, and everyone is down at the Bellagio grinding out the gold without risking too much. AP and AD carries typically optimize their pre-game builds to deal more damage to minions than to Champions, while mitigating as much damage as possible from the latter. Defensive Summoner Spells triumph over aggressive ones. I'm looking straight at you flat AD and flat MR runes. You know you're guilty Summoner Heal.Riot Games is not exactly happy with this situation, so they decided to take affirmative action by readjusting the value of numerous runes and changing the Champion kill experience system. However, these changes will go only part of the way towards decreasing the amount of turtling going on in lanes. So, the various ways to abuse the laning phase that I'm about to show you are still quite relevant in the latest patch. Enjoy. |
A recent livestream from the team behind Ubisoft's upcoming open-world action game Watch Dogs answers several fan questions, including why the game was delayed and how its drop-in multiplayer will function. According to lead game designer Danny Belanger, players who aren't interested in unexpected visits from other players can easily switch the function off. "All the online activities are just part of the menu," Belanger said. "They're a choice. But if someone is not into that .... they can totally turn it off." Additionally, Watch Dogs has a system in place to keep players from being bombarded by invading hackers. "There's also something important called the shield. If someone comes into your game, they can't come in right after so you can't be spammed in that way — unless you become aggressive and you start going into other people's games," Belanger said. "Then you really become available. But it's just a player choice in the end." Belanger added that the game's multiplayer is not about being aggressive, but instead features a "hide-n-seek" focus that involves hacking and getting hacked. For more on the game, check out the stream. Last week, Ubisoft confirmed that up to eight players will be able to roam freely through the game's multiplayer mode. Following a delay last year, Watch Dogs will launch on all current platforms — with the exception of Wii U — May 27. The Wii U version is expected later this year. |
Meghan McCain (screen grab) A senior reporter for Fox News edited out any mention of “Russian” while reporting on Donald Trump Jr.’s emails. Chief Intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reported on “key sections” of the Trump Jr. email changes, while editing out mention of Russia, Media Matters for America documented. “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” the email read. “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information … I can also send this info to your father via Rhona but it’s ultra sensitive so wanted to send it to you first,” Herridge reported the email read, completely skipping over mention of Russia while reporting on investigations into Russian collusion. When Fox News’ on-screen graphic conveniently edits out mention of the Russian gov’t when showing Trump Jr.’s emails https://t.co/P15p2d23jz pic.twitter.com/2A0Rp4EzkF — Lis Power (@LisPower1) July 11, 2017 The June 9, 2016 meeting with Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower included namesake son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort. “Shortly after Herridge’s report, co-host Meghan McCain filled in the missing quote about the Russian government, noting that it is “the biggest concern in these emails,” Media Matters noted. “Fox has consistently tried to either ignore, or downplay news surrounding Trump and Russia, and has gone as far as creating an alternate reality to distract its viewers. The network’s reaction to these new developments is just the latest example.” Watch the video below, via Media Matters: |
As you’ll have seen from past group reviews and our trip to Hiram Walker last month (Pt1, Pt2, Pt3), we’re pretty big fans of what Dr. Don Livermore and the team at Corby/Pernod-Ricard are doing in the Canadian whisky category. From their Union 52 blend that includes some 52yr old Highland Scotch, to Last Barrels – a sour mash bourbon-style whisky, – to the use of virgin oak, cask strength and interesting finishes on the upcoming Northern Border releases, Don is demonstrating that Canadian whisky doesn’t always have to follow the same formula. The story of this next bottling in the Rare Cask Series goes back many years, and is integrally tied to Don’s own story at Pernod-Ricard/Corby. Don started as a technician in the QA lab at Hiram Walker, testing batches of whisky to ensure they met the quality standards of the company and government. He then joined the Product Development & Research team and helped develop new releases for over a decade. In 2012, Don was promoted to the position of Master Blender and has since overseen a boon of innovative new releases. Dr. Don Livermore’s career progression at Hiram Walker (approximation) During his time at Hiram Walker, Don first earned his Master’s degree, and then became one of only a handful of people in the world with a PhD in brewing and distilling. He did this using about 114 barrels of various whiskies: corn, rye, pot distilled, column distilled, char #2, char#4 and seeing how the wood interacted with the different spirits over time. He wanted to discover what impact the wood has, and discovered that a lot of the difference in end flavor after 3 years is actually due to the distillation method, and the flavor compounds you remove or leave in the whisky. In the end, Don developed a testing system that can determine the quality and impact a barrel will have on the spirit, and made discovered interesting things like repeated re-fills of a barrel don’t have much variation in the wood impact on the whisky, a #2 char allows more extraction than a #4 char, most of the extraction happens in the first couple months etc. Some graphics he shared with us are below and you can read about these findings and more by checking out his thesis! After all of the experiments were done, those 114 barrels sat in the warehouses for over a decade, maturing and waiting. In 2017, Don decided it was time to use them in a commercial release and the result is J.P. Wiser’s Dissertation, a celebration of Don’s accomplishments in the industry and in academia. Pre-release, it has already won accolades, earning the title of World’s Best Blended Limited Release at the World Whiskies Awards, and a Gold Medal at the 2017 Canadian Whisky Awards, leading many to speculate what it’s all about. Here are some details on what went into this award winning whisky! J.P. Wiser’s Dissertation: Specs Approximately 12 years old (all barrels from 2004/2005), but non-age-stated. (all barrels from 2004/2005), but non-age-stated. A blend of 60 barrels , all virgin oak using #2 (88%) or #4 (12%) char. , all virgin oak using #2 (88%) or #4 (12%) char. The blend is 87% rye , mostly column & pot-distilled (distilled to ~80%) plus some column distilled Rye (distilled to ~70%). The rest is double column distilled corn (distilled to ~94%). Essentially this whisky is a blend of 12yr Lot no. 40, 12yr Red Letter and 12yr virgin oak Double Still Rye. , mostly column & pot-distilled (distilled to ~80%) plus some column distilled Rye (distilled to ~70%). The rest is double column distilled corn (distilled to ~94%). Essentially this whisky is a blend of 12yr Lot no. 40, 12yr Red Letter and 12yr virgin oak Double Still Rye. The rye and corn whiskies are put into the barrels at ~58% and ~76% , and drained at ~55% and ~72% respectively. , and drained at respectively. ABV: The more science-inclined reader may see 46.1% and recognize it as the atomic weight of an ethyl alcohol molecule! The only other whiskies we could find at this ABV are some single casks, and the standard releases from Mackmyra, which their CEO confirmed were not related to this chemical property! The more science-inclined reader may see and recognize it as the atomic weight of an ethyl alcohol molecule! The only other whiskies we could find at this ABV are some single casks, and the standard releases from Mackmyra, which their CEO confirmed were not related to this chemical property! Non-chill-filtered : a big deal for whisky fans, as it means more oils and congeners are left in the whisky, imparting more flavor. : a big deal for whisky fans, as it means more oils and congeners are left in the whisky, imparting more flavor. No colour added : another plus for whisky fans, and given the amount of colour the virgin oak imparted, it obviously wasn’t necessary! another plus for whisky fans, and given the amount of colour the virgin oak imparted, it obviously wasn’t necessary! Limited Release: only 60 barrels were used for this LCBO-exclusive release, BUT there are another 54 barrels from Don’s PhD left in the warehouse! Whether they get released as a “Dissertation 2.0” or used in other blends is unknown at this point, but there will be more to come in the future! The Toronto Whisky Society was given a pre-release bottle of J.P Wiser’s Dissertation to review. We distributed samples in late April and aggregated the results with common tasting notes and scores. All reviews were done before we had any of the specs or details mentioned above (aside from ABV), to ensure an unbiased review process. This is the first review you’ll find posted of the whisky, and we’re very excited to bring you this exclusive pre-release look! NOTE: receiving a bottle does not impact how we review or score a whisky. TWS will always review a whisky on its own merit, without consideration of how it was sourced. J.P. Wiser’s Dissertation Group Review This whisky was well received and got above-average scores for this group. Here are some quotes with stats and tasting notes below: “One of the better Canadian whiskies I’ve had…with big bold interesting flavours instead of the traditional quiet and sweet profiles most are used to. I’m looking forward to getting my own bottle of this once released” “An overall great dram that pushes what is currently on the market for Canadian whisky. This is the kind of whisky I’d give an American whisky fan.” “This is so easy to sip, and for those lovers of Lot 40, or rye whiskies in general, is absolutely worth a purchase.” “The nose of this is very good and better than most Canadian whisky.” “This dram is a testament to where Corby’s and Dr. Livermore are taking Canadian whisky as a segment; the future is bright indeed!” “This is a very well constructed whisky. It’s got complexity and great balance. I’m a big fan and will definitely pick up a bottle or two of this once it hits shelves!” Nose notes: rye , vanilla, spice, oak, apple, maple, corn, cherries, cinnamon, caramel, butter, banana Palate notes: rye, spice, oak, pepper, caramel, cinnamon, sweet, vanilla, apple, Finish notes: vanilla, rye, spice, pepper, creamy, medium-long finish Mean Score: 83 Max Score: 87 Min Score: 75 Overall, the group found it very rye-forward and spicy, which, given its components, makes a lot of sense, as does its overall quality and depth! It would have benefited from an even higher proof, and given TWS members have some Red Letter and Lot 40 at Cask strength, we might just custom blend an approximation of Dissertation CS to see how it compares! Dissertation hits LCBO shelves this week, so if you liked what you read here, be sure to pick up a bottle! Don is well known for his interactions with fans on the web and can be found on Twitter, Instagam, and Reddit (where he did an AMA in 2016). Be sure to contact him with questions if you want to know more! |
John Ross to Titans at No. 5 in Jordan Plocher's first mock draft By Jordan Plocher • Apr 14, 2017 Pro Football Focus’ first ever “Mock Week” continues with Jordan Plocher’s breakdown of Round 1. From April 10–14, look for a new mock each day for a unique perspective on the 2017 NFL Draft from our analysis team. I have the tremendous opportunity to anchor PFF’s Mock Week. My unorthodox mock draft should take the pressure off my colleagues for their own contributions, and also has the potential to ruin your weekend. For this mock, I used the PFF Draft Board as my framework for each selection, but deviated wildly from it at times, as this is what I would do at each pick given my view of how the league is trending. If you have an old-school, run-first mentality about the NFL, then chances are you’ll disagree with many of my selections. In a league where 11-personnel is now much more “regular” than 21-personnel and nickel is the new base defense, my emphasis with each selection is on how much a prospect can impact the passing game, with special consideration for versatility and mismatch players. Now, in the NFL, teams need to have different styles of pass-catchers, coverage defenders, and pass-rushers in order to have a better chance of finding highly-coveted personnel mismatches on a weekly basis. 1. Cleveland Browns Myles Garrett, Edge, Texas A&M Garrett’s edge-rush ability and freaky athleticism make him the top pick in my mock, as he will be able to make game-changing defensive plays to negatively impact the opposition’s passing game. Garrett has racked up 31 sacks, 35 QB hits, 98 total pressures, and three batted passes on 976 pass-rushing snaps over the past three seasons, despite being the focus of opposing teams’ game plans. 2. San Francisco 49ers Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford McCaffrey is arguably the best offensive player in the draft class, and pairing his versatility with a creative offensive mind like Kyle Shanahan is too much to pass up. Historically speaking, the tree that Kyle Shanahan and Bobby Turner come from would prefer to find a RB late and have Turner mold him, but this is an exception, as McCaffrey is more than just a running back — he can also play the wide receiver position just as well as a true WR. McCaffrey becomes a deadly open-field runner after the catch, and forced 21 missed tackles as a receiver on 38 receptions in 2016. He is a four-down player, as he can make a nice punt return and then stay on the field with the offense for all three-downs, play multiple positions, and be a mismatch player in the passing game. The return on investment with this selection would be high. https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/832009163937107968 3. Chicago Bears Jonathan Allen, DI, Alabama Senior Analyst Steve Palazzolo also had this pairing in his recent three-round mock draft. Quarterback needs to be strongly considered here, but I’m giving new GM Ryan Pace the benefit of the doubt on free-agent signee Mike Glennon. The Bears take the best available non-quarterback in Jonathan Allen. Allen can provide a three-down inside player and a valuable inside pass-rush presence for the Bears. In 2016, Allen generated 13 sacks, 13 hits, and 41 hurries on 463 pass-rush snaps; any NFL team would love that type of pass-rush production coming from the interior of its defensive line. 4. Jacksonville Jaguars Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson The Jaguars have had up-and-down performances from quarterback Blake Bortles, and inconsistency at the position is hindering a young team from reaching the next level. Deshaun Watson will bring instant competition to the roster, and either propel Bortles to play at high level consistently, or Watson will take the job and possibly provide the stability the team needs. Watson is a much more experienced and polished passer than Bortles was as a prospect, and he’s highly accurate, with an adjusted completion percentage of 76.1. The two are stylistically different, which should make for an interesting competition. Best-case scenario: The Jaguars quickly determine one of the QBs is their guy, and trade the other for some form of compensation. 5. Tennessee Titans John Ross, WR, Washington John Ross is so explosive and deadly that he would bring a fantastic weapon for quarterback Marcus Mariota. Ross would also bring a different element to the Titans’ offense, which is designed for the “exotic smashmouth” approach, but could use a little more exotic. Ross generated 17 touchdowns and 386 yards after the catch in 2016. Furthermore, Mariota and Ross have good personal chemistry already, and Ross could make an impact from Day 1 with the Titans. 6. New York Jets Jamal Adams, S, LSU Our analysts were not high on the Christian Hackenberg selection in the second round of last year’s draft, and although I was tempted to take a quarterback here for the Jets, I decided to give them another year to see what they have at the position. Safety Jamal Adams has the coverage ability to play on the back end, in the slot, or even at cornerback, if needed. Adams is a fluid and versatile coverage player with 251 of his 802 coverage snaps last year coming from the slot. His ability to impact the passing game in so many ways makes him a valuable pick here. https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/833113624478638080 7. Los Angeles Chargers Patrick Mahomes II, QB, Texas Tech Obviously a replacement for Philip Rivers needs to be found, and this selection of Patrick Mahomes gives the Chargers long-term stability at the quarterback position. Mahomes reminds me a great deal of Brett Favre between the lines, as he is willing to take risks to make plays and has the arm to back them up. Mahomes can push the ball deep, and in 2016, he threw 15 touchdown passes on deep passes (throws targeted 20 or more yards downfield). The talented-but-unorthodox Mahomes can learn behind the talented-but-unorthodox Rivers for a year or two and then give the city of Los Angeles a young face of the franchise. https://twitter.com/PFF_Jordan/status/852633281669365760 8. Carolina Panthers O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama The chance to pair an outstanding tight end prospect with Cam Newton long-term is too much to pass up. Greg Olsen is still a productive player, so the Panthers can use two-tight end personnel groupings more frequently until Olsen begins to decline (if that in fact ever becomes the case). Howard can be used in a variety of ways much like Olsen, as they can both be split out wide, line up in the slot, or in a traditional in-line role. Howard can get open downfield, as well, and his four deep receptions (20 or more yards downfield) rank fifth in the draft class. Newton to Howard for years would be a scary combination 9. Cincinnati Bengals Derek Barnett, Edge, Tennessee Derek Barnett is the best pass-rusher not named Myles Garrett in this draft class, and the Bengals would love to add his pass-rushing production to their defense. Barnett consistently generates pressure at a higher rate than other edge-rushers, as he generated pressure on the QB on 20.0 percent of his rushes (the NCAA average was 10.0 percent). Barnett generated 34 sacks, 43 QB hits, 110 hurries, and two batted passes on 1,126 pass-rush snaps over the last three seasons. He is a technically-sound pass-rusher, and 45 of his 78 pressures came to the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle in 2016. 10. Buffalo Bills Mitchell Trubisky, QB, North Carolina Trubisky’s small sample size scares me, but he is a talented passer. The Bills get another quarterback for the same reason Jacksonville selected one, hopefully coming to a long-term conclusion about either their incumbent or the newcomer. The big concern with Trubisky is sample size, but he has shown he can handle pressure well in his time on the field. In 2016, Trubisky’s adjusted completion percentage was 75.1 with no pressure; it only dropped to 66.7 under pressure, which ranks fifth-best in the draft class. His 76.9 adjusted completion percentage against the blitz ranks third in the draft class. 11. New Orleans Saints Marshon Lattimore, CB, Ohio State Colleague Josh Liskiewitz also had this same selection in his Mock Week draft. The Saints are thrilled that the best cornerback in the draft falls to them. Lattimore has the size, speed, athleticism, and ball skills that teams want in their top cornerback. Opposing quarterbacks only recorded a 30.2 QB rating when throwing into Lattimore’s coverage in 2016. He can make an instant impact for the Saints. 12. Cleveland Browns Malik Hooker, S, Ohio State Three quarterbacks are gone, so the Browns get a leader for their defense instead with Malik Hooker. He represents production in the way of disrupting the passing game of opponents both in the slot and as a centerfielder. Hooker has the range, instincts, and ball skills one would want if they were creating a free safety in a video game, as evidenced by his seven interceptions in 2016. He can also clamp down on slot receivers, surrendering only 73 yards for the season when covering a receiver in the slot. 13. Arizona Cardinals Tre’Davious White, CB, LSU Adding another CB that can play man coverage opposite of Patrick Peterson is the biggest impact the Cardinals can make with this selection. It instantly makes the entire defense more effective, as they can blitz as often as they like when they know their two starting cornerbacks can handle the opposition’s best two wide receivers without any help. Opposing quarterbacks only recorded a 60.6 QB rating when throwing into White’s coverage in 2016, and his 12 pass breakups tied for third-most in the FBS. 14. Philadelphia Eagles Corey Davis, WR, Western Michigan Building around Carson Wentz is of the utmost importance for the Eagles, especially as young quarterbacks can be streaky their first few years. Corey Davis has averaged 8.1 yards after the catch per completion over the last three seasons, and will make plays for the young Wentz both after the catch and on contested passes. 15. Indianapolis Colts Mike Williams, WR, Clemson Andrew Luck has the aggressiveness as a passer to target Mike Williams consistently, and Williams has the size and skill-set to make spectacular plays routinely for Luck. Williams caught 14 deep passes in 2016 (targets 20 or more yards downfield) and can help open up the offense and move the chains. 16. Baltimore Ravens Reuben Foster, LB, Alabama One of the better defensive players in all of college football gets plugged into the middle of the Ravens’ defense. Foster can play on all three downs, making a passing-game impact. A player this good is too much to pass up, even though Baltimore needs a pass-rusher. Foster finished the season with an 86.5 coverage grade and didn’t allow a touchdown in coverage all season. 17. Washington Redskins Solomon Thomas, Edge, Stanford Thomas represents the best pass-rushing value here, as he can rush from the DE position in base defense and DT in nickel. Thomas recorded 10 sacks, 12 hits, and 22 hurries on 394 pass-rushing snaps in the 2016 season, and only appears to be getting better as a pass-rusher. 18. Tennessee Titans Carl Lawson, Edge, Auburn I first had a cornerback in mind, but Defensive Coordinator Dick LeBeau’s scheme places a lot of emphasis on having versatile outside linebackers who can rush the passer at a high-level. Lawson has multiple pass-rush moves at his disposal, and generated nine sacks, 13 QB hits, and 45 hurries on 364 pass-rush snaps in 2016. Lawson is one of the better pure edge-rushers in the draft class, and will help make people around him better. 19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers David Njoku, TE, Miami Njoku is a big, long, rangy mismatch player in the passing game, and can provide another big target for QB Jameis Winston. Njoku has the size and receiving chops to line up in the slot, where he caught 31 passes in 2016, or to split out wide to exploit mismatch advantages. Njoku will dwarf safeties when he is running down the seam, and hauled in four deep passes (targets 20 or more yards downfield) last season. Winston has confidence in his arm and doesn’t mind fitting passes into tight windows to let his man get the ball — Njoku’s big frame gives him another option. 20. Denver Broncos Ryan Ramcyzk, OT, Wisconsin The Broncos could use some help protecting their two young quarterbacks long enough to figure out which one is their long-term answer at the position. Senior Analyst Mike Renner called this pick the “best possible scenario” for the Broncos in his recent Mock Week draft. Ramczyk can help in the pass protection department, as he only allowed one sack, three QB hits, and eight hurries on 373 pass-blocking snaps in 2016. Ramcyzk was PFF’s highest-graded offensive tackle, and the top tackle on our draft board, so this is a natural fit. 21. Detroit Lions Kevin King, CB, Washington King has tremendous length for the position at 6-foot-3 with 32-inch arms and explosive athleticism, which was on display at the combine. King did not allow a touchdown in coverage in 2016, but intercepted two passes and broke up another four. Opposing quarterbacks only recorded a 55.6 QB rating when targeting King in coverage in the 2016 season. 22. Miami Dolphins Forrest Lamp, OG, Western Kentucky The Dolphins add the best all-around offensive linemen in the class. Although Lamp played tackle at a high-level in college, he might be an even better fit at guard, and could also play center. Lamp’s versatility will give the Dolphins options to get their best offensive linemen on the field. At tackle in 2016, Lamp didn’t allow a sack, with only three QB hits and two hurries surrendered on 415 pass-blocking snaps. 23. New York Giants Garett Bolles, OT, Utah The Giants could use some help at left tackle to keep the aging Eli Manning upright and functional. Bolles gets pushed up here due to lack of depth in the offensive line class. He is difficult to bull-rush and athletic enough to protect the corner. Bolles allowed three sacks, one QB hit, and 16 hurries on 472 pass-blocking snaps in 2016. 24. Oakland Raiders Haason Reddick, Edge, Temple The selection of the athletic and versatile Reddick not only fills a void at inside linebacker, but his pass-rushing ability makes him a chess piece in the Raiders’ defense that could blitz or rush off the edge on third downs. Reddick recorded 10 sacks, four QB hits, 29 hurries, and one batted pass on 248 pass-rushing snaps in 2016. 25. Houston Texans DeShone Kizer, QB, Notre Dame The Texans get some competition for Tom Savage, and possibly their long-term answer at quarterback. DeShone Kizer has ideal size and strength for the position, and has shown an ability to respond well to pressure, as his adjusted completion percentage only drops from 68.0 with no pressure to 59.5 with the heat on. 26. Seattle Seahawks Ahkello Witherspoon, CB, Colorado Ahkello Witherspoon is an outside press corner with impressive measurables, explosive athleticism, and high football IQ. At 6-foot-3 with 33-inch arms, Witherspoon has rare length at the position that allows him to make plays other cornerbacks simply cannot. His length reduces the size of passing windows and allows him to still wrap his arm around and break up slants where he has already given up inside leverage. Opposing QBs recorded just a 50.9 passer rating when throwing into Witherspoon’s coverage in 2016; he allowed 28 receptions on the year and broke up 13 passes. Witherspoon’s ability to recognize route combinations or releases pre-snap and effectively communicate that to this teammates is impressive, and indicates that he spends time in the film room. Witherspoon fits exactly what the Seahawks like to do on defense, and could quickly emerge as a starter in Seattle. https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/842186419506409473 27. Kansas City Chiefs Cordrea Tankersley, CB, Clemson The Chiefs could use another good young cornerback, because every team can actually use another good young cornerback. Tankersley only allowed one TD in coverage in 2016, but also intercepted four passes and broke up another nine. Opposing QBs recorded just a 40.6 passer rating when throwing into Tankersley’s coverage. He should immediately contend for playing time opposite of Marcus Peters. 28. Dallas Cowboys Adoree’ Jackson, CB/PR, USC Simply put, Adoree’ Jackson is a freak. His long speed is ridiculous, and he can make touchdown-saving tackles on the far side of the field look routine. Jackson is an elite athlete who can make an impact as a cover corner, a punt and kick returner, and even a wide receiver. He has very good ball skills, and has recorded six interceptions and 19 pass breakups over the last three seasons. Jerry Jones has to consider the Deion Sanders-type impact that Jackson’s skill-set would bring back to the Cowboys. https://twitter.com/PFF/status/852722077513789440 29. Green Bay Packers Chidobe Awuzie, CB, Colorado The Packers are a team that can use more than one defensive back, so in this case, they get a DB that can play multiple positions. Chidobe Awuzie can line up outside at corner, at safety, or in the slot. He is also a highly-effective blitzer who has collected eight sacks, six hits, and 17 hurries over the past two seasons. 30. Pittsburgh Steelers Takkarist McKinley, Edge, UCLA The Steelers could use some edge-rush production, and McKinley excels at that very task. He can rush from either side successfully, with 32 pressures from the right and 24 from the left in 2016. McKinley has very long arms and can win with that length or with athleticism off the edge. The former Bruin generated 15 sacks, 24 QB hits, 72 hurries, and three batted passes on 758 pass-rushing snaps over the past three seasons. 31. Atlanta Falcons Jordan Willis, Edge, Kansas State Willis provides more of a base-end-type physical presence opposite of the very athletic Vic Beasley. Willis has been super productive as a pass-rusher. In 2016, Willis had 15 sacks, eight QB hits, 57 hurries, and three batted passes on 524 pass-rushing snaps. Willis is also stylistically very different from Beasley, relying more on strength and technique than Beasley’s agility and burst. That style difference will make it difficult on opposing offensive tackles that have to block one after the other. 32. New Orleans Saints Evan Engram, TE, Ole Miss All credit due to colleague Gordon McGuinness for calling this one first in his Mock Week draft on Tuesday. Engram is one of the premier mismatch weapons in the passing game in this draft class, as he is too big for cornerbacks and too fast for linebackers. Engram’s 2.59 yards per route run ranks first among all tight ends in the class. He would be a fun weapon to hand Sean Payton. as he can be used to stretch the ball deep — his seven deep receptions (targets 20 or more yards downfield) top the draft class. Engram is also a dynamic option in the slot, where his 44 receptions for 685 total yards both rank first in the draft class among tight ends. https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/845629127424135168 |
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