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Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has become the first Canadian bank to sell bonds with a negative yield, and it had no problem selling the debt even though buyers are guaranteed to lose money if the debt is held to maturity. The bank raised almost $1.8 billion via a bond sale of six-year debt that yields minus 0.009 per cent. That means anyone who bought the debt paid $100.054 for the right to get $100 back from the bank in 2022. Despite the seemingly poor return, the bank had no trouble selling the euro-denominated bonds on Monday. The bond sale was two times oversubscribed, which means there were people willing to buy twice as much debt as there was debt available for sale. Going negative The bond sale makes CIBC the first Canadian bank to dip into a current appetite for negative-yielding bonds. But the lender is far from the only one to be selling investments guaranteed to lose money. According to Bloomberg data, there is almost $12 trillion US worth of negative-yielding debt in the world now, much of which has come from governments and central banks that have cut their interest rates to record lows in order to stimulate the economy. "Low yields may be great for governments, but they are lousy for savers and investors," Hilltop Securities managing director Mark Grant said in a note. Investors have an appetite for such debt because the forecast for other assets is even worse. With stock returns looking dodgy due to fears about the global economy, lending money to a bank can seem appealing even if it's guaranteed to lose a few pennies per dollar over time. "As expected returns on 'safe' assets have diminished, investors have been forced up the 'risk curve' to obtain satisfactory returns," Scotiabank said in a recent note to clients. "The search for yield will only become more desperate." The CIBC bonds are doubly appealing, because they are what's known as covered bonds. That means they are backed by Canadian mortgages, so investors in the bonds have the right, theoretically, make a claim against those mortgages in the unlikely event the bank ever defaults on its loans. That gives investors two layers of protection, both in the bank's creditworthiness, and from that of the underlying assets — the mortgages themselves. The bonds have yet to be rated by an agency, but they are expected to get a pristine AAA rating for safety and creditworthiness, according to Bloomberg. |
The Australian parliament has been thrown into chaos today, as it was revealed that longtime Senator and senior Greens member Scott Ludlam is legally a citizen of New Zealand, and therefore not eligible to sit in Parliament. Members of both houses of parliament have expressed shock at the news, with many MPs not having previously realised that New Zealand was legally an independent country. Greens leader Mark Di Stefano expressed his deepest condolences to Mr Ludlam, describing it as a mistake that could “happen to anyone”. “Frankly I was shocked to learn Scott was a Kiwi,” said the Senator’s longtime colleague this evening, “I’ve never once seen the man even make so much as a furtive glance at our livestock.” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was equally surprised at the news, stating “As much as we may have disagreed on policy, I’ve never once questioned Scott’s loyalty to this country. To me the man always seemed as True Blue Aussie to me as pavlova, ANZAC biscuits, and Russell Crowe.” Constitutional experts have also expressed shock at Mr Ludlam’s resignation, describing the issue as “legally muddy at best”. Many experts say that Mr Ludlam may not have even been required to step down, as neither the word “foreign” nor “power”, could fairly be used to describe New Zealand in any way shape or form. Doctors have taken the opportunity to remind the Australian public that any one of us could be suffering from New Zealand citizenship without even realising it, as the symptoms are often difficult to spot. “Scott Ludlam’s unfortunate diagnosis today is an important reminder to everyone to regularly have your citizenship papers checked.” said the Chief Surgeon in a PSA this evening. “If you’re feeling unwull, lutheerjuk, or stangely turned on by your lamb casserole, please, seek help before it’s too late.” Representatives of New Zealand were not able to comment in relation to this piece, as a translator could not be located in time for publication. |
California is hiking the statewide minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2023, and San Diego is getting a head start on the higher wage mandate—and, maybe, the consequences of it. Rather than inch upward from $10 per hour to $10.25 per hour in January 2016, as the rest of the state was doing, San Diego jumped its minimum wage to $11.50 per hour. In the year and three months since then, the number of food service jobs in San Diego has dropped sharply, with perhaps as many as 4,000 jobs lost, or never created in the first place. "If job growth in the restaurant sector had just kept pace with the state's performance … the industry could have created 5,200 jobs instead of the 1,300 that took place," Lynn Reaser, chief economist of the Fermanian Business & Economic Institute at Point Loma Nazarene University, told Dan McSwain, a columnist with the The San Diego Union-Tribune. Economists say the restaurant industry is a good barometer for the consequences of minimum wage increases because those businesses rely heavily on low wage workers, operate on small margins, and have high rates of turnover (that is, restaurants tend to pop-up quickly in some areas and go bust just as quickly in others). That seems to be what's happening in San Diego. While the growth of food service jobs in California has slowed since the higher wage mandates went into effect in 2016, McSwain reports, those jobs have actually dipped into negative growth within the borders of San Diego. "San Diego's head start, which places many of its employers at a temporary disadvantage, makes the city a test bed for competing theories about whether the overall economy is harmed or helped by large increases to wage floors," McSwain writes. So far, that test is going about as you'd expect. Restaurateurs are raising menu prices and laying off workers to keep revenue ahead of expenses. McSwain's whole piece is worth a read as it does a fantastic job of breaking down the arcane economic math into real world consequences for small business owners and their employees. San Diego might be the latest real life test case for the consequences of hiking the minimum wage, but it's hardly alone. Thanks to progressive activists, we're getting a real life economics experiment on a grand scale. In addition to Washington, D.C., local officials in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York have approved laws mandating $15 per hour. Whole states are following suit, with measures already passed in California, New York and Oregon. It's no secret what will happen after these laws take effect. "Economically, minimum wages may not make sense," admitted California Gov. Jerry Brown just moments before putting his name on a bill that could cause disastrous economic consequences for the already-impoverished rural parts of his state. "A $15-an-hour national minimum wage would put us in uncharted waters, and risk undesirable and unintended consequences," wrote Alan Krueger, a former chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, in the New York Times last year. San Diego's decline in restaurant jobs might be a blip based on a small sample size or caused by some other factor, but there's no doubt that it's part of an emerging trend in cities where minimum wage hikes have been enacted. Like Washington, D.C., where restaurants shed 1,400 jobs during the first six months of 2016, following an increase in the city's minimum wage. Meanwhile, restaurants in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs added 2,900 jobs during the first six months of the year. "Despite what we hear from unions, the Fight For 15 crowd and other minimum wage advocates, the evidence from D.C.'s restaurant industry—an industry often considered as 'ground zero' for minimum wage effects—demonstrates that demand curves for low-skilled workers actually do slope downward," Mark Perry, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank based in D.C., told me at the time, referring to the basic law of economics that says demand for a product or service will decrease as the cost increases. Perry took to Twitter this week to highlight a sharp decline in restaurant jobs across the whole country. US Restaurant Job Growth Fell to a 6-Year Low in March. Are Minimum Wage Hikes (and Threats) Causing a Restaurant Recession? pic.twitter.com/nZfAGZl4jO — Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) April 7, 2017 Even if it's only a small part of the reason, the economic data should start to worry city and state officials who have backed radical minimum wage hikes over the coming years. Perhaps more officials will do what Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh did earlier this month. Though she had supported a higher minimum wage during last year's campaign, Pugh decided to veto a proposal to set a $15 per hour minimum wage in Baltimore, citing concerns raised by businesses and nonprofits in the city. The Wall Street Journal reports this week that four municipalities in Cook County, Ill., have opted out of the county government's move to raise the minimum wage in the Chicago suburbs to $13 an hour by 2020. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, approved legislation in March to roll back higher minimum wages already approved in four counties. In Flagstaff, Ariz., council members just amended a minimum-wage increase approved by voters in November to slow the pace of increases. The populist left led the push for upping the minimum wage—initially calling for $10.10 per hour, which quickly ballooned to $15 per hour—during the latter half of the Obama administration. Minimum wages going up, though, is pushing employment opportunities down. San Diego's restaurant recession is another data point suggesting that making it more expensive to employ people causes fewer people to be employed. Sometimes it's really that simple. |
Rock 'N Roll Case Study: GET BACK The "lost" Beatles album One of the recurring themes that we have brought to the rock 'n roll case study are "lost" albums by major rock 'n roll artists. In this installment we will discuss the original Beatles 1969 "Get Back" album, which eventually saw official release as the "Let It Be" album a year later in a much modified form. Entire books have been written on the subject of the "Get Back" project, so this essay will be just a reader's-digest version, with a quick overview of what happened and why. Regular readers of EAR CANDY have probably noticed that we have been promising an article about Get Back since October of 2002. But, with other interviews and articles, the story kept getting pushed to the back of the pile until March of 2003. So, it was quite ironic that Rolling Stone featured Get Back-The Full Story Behind the Album That Never Was in February of 2003. However, their article insists that the recently uncovered 500 tapes are unheard true Beatle fans know that these have been available on a number of bootlegs since the 70s! GET BACK The "lost" Beatles album By Ronnie Right: The original intended cover for the GET BACK album. I. BEGINNINGS OF THE ALBUM By 1968 the Beatles were in trouble. Their manager Brian Epstein had died; they had quit touring to become a studio-only band; they formed Apple records with a naive utopian vision and very little business sense. While The Beatles visit to the Maharishi in India injected new energy into the band, it was short lived. The resulting songs on the "White Album" and the "Hey Jude/Revolution" single. Tensions were high during the recording of the "White Album", in fact Ringo quit the band for a short time. II. THE CONCEPT/THE RECORDING Paul's solution was for the group to "get back" to their roots, i.e. record their album like they used to without studio gimmicks and overdubs. Paul also wanted to Beatles to "get back" to playing live and a couple of locations were discussed (such as a Roman amphitheatre, or as Lennon sarcastically suggested, "an insane asylum"!) and it was originally agreed to film the rehearsals for a TV documentary. (It's interesting to note that Paul continued this theme with the original Wings!) Additionally, the songs written for 'Get Back' just weren't as strong as those from the 'White Album', perhaps resulting from the fact that the Beatles basically jumped right into their new project without having much time to write any new material. This time there was no luxury of a couple of months in India to compose the songs. However, the concept for 'Get Back' kept changing. The first incarnation of the project was to be a documentary of the Beatles at work on a new album. The project started on January 2nd 1969 at Twickenham Film Studio with tensions right from the start. The early morning filming schedule wasn't very productive for a band that was accustomed to late night recording at Abbey Road. At one point a bed was moved in for Yoko, whose presence merely aggravated an already tense situation. By mid-January the project was starting to collapse, with George Harrison leaving the group for a short time. Also, the location changed from the Twickenham Studios into the Apple Building. During the recording at the Apple building, Billy Preston was brought in as a supplemental keyboardist for the band. His presence helped ease tensions a little and the whole atmosphere was 'lighter' than the Twickenham sessions. Finally, a compromise on McCartney's original "live concert" concept was reached as the Beatles gave what was to be their last live performance on the roof of the Apple building for a noontime audience on January 30th. A total of 11 songs were performed at this "concert", which was captured on film. Also shown in the film was the havoc it wreaked on the local business district that day, with the police finally arriving to shut down the distraction. On the next day, January 31st 1969, the final Get Back recordings were held and the project was officially ended. Right: LET IT BE - the album that evolved from GET BACK. III. THE ORIGINAL LAYOUT OF THE "GET BACK" ALBUM The Beatles had virtually washed their hands of the "Get Back" project - no one in the group had the heart to revisit and finish the project. Despite the bad feelings that had occurred, the Beatles once again rallied their forces for a "last hurrah" - starting their last album, "Abbey Road" in April of 1969. Meanwhile, Glyn Johns (the engineer and unaccredited producer from the "Get Back" sessions) assembled an album out of the material recorded in January. A bootleg resulted when some radio stations received "promotional copies" of "Get Back" in mid-1969. Here is the intended song lineup for the Glyn Johns album: One After 909 Rocker Save the Last Dance For Me Dont Let Me Down Dig a Pony Ive Got a Feeling Get Back For You Blue The Walk Teddy Boy Two of Us Maggie Mae Dig It Let It Be The Long and Winding Road Get Back (reprise) John Lennon supplied the album cover concept when he suggested a parody of the cover of their first album "Please Please Me". The Beatles were photographed in the exact same place they had posed 6 years earlier. With their longer hair and mustaches, the picture was intended to show that The Beatles had gone full circle from 1962. Although the photo did not adorn the cover of "Get Back" when the project fell through, it was eventually used as the cover of the 1933 compilation album, "The Beatles 1967-1970" (known as the 'blue' album). IV. WHAT HAPPENED? During the time that the 'Get Back' project was on hold for a year, the Beatles actually broke up, this time John Lennon being the one to quit. However, John was persuaded to keep quiet about the dissolution of the group until new manager Allen Klein could re-negotiate their contract with Capitol. Meanwhile, Klein had decided to market the film as a full-length motion picture hoping to satisfy the Beatles film contract (they still owed one film). By this time nobody, especially the Beatles themselves wanted to touch the 'Get Back' project. So, Klein brought in legendary producer Phil Spector to piece an album together out of the virtual miles and miles of tape. Although Spector's "wall of sound" production might seem contrary to the original concept of "The Beatles As Nature Intended," Spector did an admirable job considering what he had to work with. Plus, his work must have pleased at least two Beatles, since Lennon and Harrison employed Spector well into the 70s as producer on solo albums. By this time, the title of the project had changed from "Get Back" (which had been released as a single in 1969) to "Let It Be". Right: The photo shoot from the GET BACK album was eventually used for THE BEATLES 1967-1970. V. FINAL RELEASE AS "LET IT BE" Over a year after the original start date of "Get Back", the Beatles entered the studio for the very last time on January 3rd, 1970. The band (minus Lennon) recorded "I Me Mine", which had been featured in the film but not properly recorded. Phil Spector finished the re-production of the "Get Back" tapes on April 2nd and the album, "Let It Be" was released on May 8th. The film opened on May 13th with none of the Beatles in attendance. On April 10th, 1970 the Beatles official split up. While most of the songs on "Get Back" are on the "Let It Be" album, there are some notable differences. The following songs did not make it on "Let It Be": Teddy Boy (which ended up on McCartney's first solo album and eventually on the Beatles "Anthology") Rocker Save The Last Dance For Me Don't Let Me Down (a different version became the b-side of the "Get Back" single) Dig It (a four minutes version as opposed to the 58 seconds version which made "Let It Be") Plus, the version of "'The Long And Winding Road" was originally intended to be un-orchestrated (more like the version on the "Anthology"). VI. PLANNED RELEASE OF THE ORIGINAL GET BACK? Even 30+ years later, the "Get Back" project is still finding its way into the news. Paul McCartney himself even mentioned a possible official release of the original "Get Back" album. McCartney was talking about the "Let It Be" film adding, "You know what would be really cool? If we put the naked version of the record out as well. It's not announced or anything yet, but that's what's in the pipeline." Regarding the movie, Paul added that he wanted to "get the film remastered and everything, so it's all nice and clean and the sound's great." [BEATLEFAN Issue #136 May-June 2002] As if there weren't enough "Get Back" session bootlegs...On January 10, 2003 it was announced that police raids in England and the Netherlands had recovered what could be about 500 original Beatles' tapes that were stolen in the 1970s, including some never-released tracks from the "Get Back" sessions. However, these turned out NOT to be never-heard-before songs (well, they are still technically unreleased songs from the Get Back) but rather film crew reference tapes that have been much bootlegged before. On January 31, 2003 it was officially reported that the un-Spectorized version of "Let It Be" would be released in the fall of 2003. But curiously it was also reported that the album will have the same track listing as the "Let It Be" album that was released in 1970. This poses one problem - two of the tracks on the 1970 album were NOT recorded during the January 1969 sessions. These two songs, "Across the Universe" and "I Me Mine". Although it probably isnt the real Get Back album, it will be interesting to see what will appear on the revised Let It Be" album. The Get Back saga continues Return to the EAR CANDY homepage |
Rant hidden for viewing pleasure You can't just 'give' a ship a better fire control system, to include Radar; that ship has to be built around it as it consumes a sizable chunk of the ship's internals. On top of that, it weighs a lot. As in 2580 tons (long) 'a lot' for the Iowas', all things considered. To give the Yamato a Fire Control System as powerful as the Iowa's, she has to either lose all of her Secondaries and Anti-Air guns and give up a full two inches of her belt armor and over an inch of her deck armor or lose a full 3 knots of speed. Keep in mind, the Yamato's 16.1in Belt Armor only weighed 3158 tons. This still does not address where they would find the room to put the machinery, and the Yamato was already a cramped and twisting labyrinth as it was. Either way, the Iowa would be the clear tactical winner as basically any naval battle between them would come down to the Iowa kiting Yamato until she either sank or ran out of fuel, because if she gave up speed her power plant would have to work overtime to get the same battle speed. Likewise, you can't just 'give' a ship a better anti-air suite, something has to go to compensate (just as the Yamato lost two of her 6in turrets for her AA upgrade that still left her paling in comparison to the Iowa's early war AA suite when people called her naked). The Yamato's full AA-Suite weighed only 408.165 tons, the Iowa's weighed 1000.56 tons. To give the Yamato an Anti-Air suite as powerful as the Iowa's, either lose ~1.2 inches of belt armor and her (remaining) 6in guns, or lose a knot of speed. Either way, the Iowa would be the clear winner for aforementioned reasons. Shells are also a factor that is designed with the ship in mind and vice versa (The Yamato's shell hoists could not handle the American 18in Super Heavy shells), but this is a negligible point that is easy to fix. You give Yamato all of what you say and she would just be a really slow Iowa with trash armor and slightly more powerful guns that still could not hit the broadside of a barn OR a very powerful coastal monitor that still could not hit the broadside of a barn. The Japanese thought that a ~500 yard ranging error (1.08% of range) and a ~210 yard deflection error (0.45% of range) was excellent when fire was spotted for and the ship was sitting still. Fire control system would not help here without post-war technology, it was effectively gun error. While that looks good, and indeed it is, it's actually bad when compared to the Iowa's; and, mind you, that accuracy was from the Japaneses' Navy's (gunnery officers off the Yamato-class) own mouths (post war), so the reality was probably worse. The Iowa's guns in WW2 had a ranging error of only 164 yards or 0.387% of range and a deflection error of 43 yards or 0.101% of range, while the ship was maneuvering, and this was from data collected from their actual performance of the time (verses land targets) that was largely critical of the Iowa's performance! (Note: with '80s technology, the gunfire from the Iowas only got more accurate.) Also, Nathan Okun, the world's leading expert on Naval Armor, insists that the Iowa-class battleship had what was literally the world's best belt armor scheme in history (and, as of 2013, still insists that the Iowa's belt armor would handily defeat the Yamato's 18in shells). Her compartmentalization was also far superior to the Yamato's, allowing her to ship almost as much water before rolling over (that '57,450 tons of reserve buoyancy' claim by the Japanese is baloney at worst and highly optimistic at best). (Note : The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia states on the Yamato's compartmentalization... "The ships had the controversial longitudinal bulkheads that characterized Japanese cruiser design between the wars, which may have actually increased the risk of capsizing due to flooding on one side of the ship.") The Iowa's power plants were and are of legendary capabilities, and were much less fuel hogs than the Yamato's, and they took a simply massive amount of space. The Iowa could be front and center on the line where the Yamato was held in the rear... on the same (resource) budget. In the end, which is the better gun when you need it, the slightly smaller one you have with you or the slightly bigger one you left at home? So, yes, the Iowa had very real advantages over the Yamato built into her design, as did the Yamato compared to the Iowa. The two ships were virtually equals design wise, except the Iowa had the critical edge of being better capable of situation control. That being said, if you really want to argue technological advancement decided the ordeal, let's consider age of the ships. Compare the North Carolina and the Yamato, since they were roughly design contemporaries. The North Carolina enjoyed far superior accuracy, fire rate, radar, fire-control, anti-air, handling, compartmentalization, damage control (yes, a good deal of this was built into the design) and a superior power plant (durability), but suffered from similar speeds, comparatively paper-thin armor, and moderately weaker guns (that were still capable of wrecking the Yamato's deck armor at any range beyond roughly 23,000 yards because of reduced charges). So, a skilled Designated Marksman with a .308 and a 20 power scope verses a moderately capable Rifleman that has been given an .50cal M107 and no scope. I would like to point out that the North Carolina fired more practice shots in her training/gearing up period alone than the Yamato did in her entire service career. That being said, my money would be on the Showboat with American Blue Jackets as crewmen, circa 1944. Oh, so that was not the type of Technological Advancement you meant? Doesn't matter, the differences between the two nations' naval and industrial technology levels is what makes a superior design; otherwise, everyone would be sailing around in dinghies armed with bows and arrows. Tk3997 said: Iowa would benefit less from this, as while with a theoretical budget for major refits some notable improvement to her protection might be possible it still wouldn't bring her up to Yamato's level. This is also bovine excrement considering that the US Navy saw fit to remove parts of the Iowa's excellent belt armor scheme right after WW2 because it cost too much to maintain (and promptly paid for this in Korea, which was then fixed cheaply, giving us their present effective thickness. If they wanted to spend the money; the Torpedo Defense System could easily be overhauled, additional deck armor installed, a thicker STS Shell plate and an extra inch of belt armor applied just by replacing the Quad 40s with the new immediately post-war (but developed during the war) 3in guns (less of them) and removing most of the the 20mms and 2 of the 5in Twin mounts. They would only have ended up as heavy as they were in the 80s. The US Navy also passed up on many fire control upgrades to the Iowas that were underway at the end of the war (a few of these would be rushed into service for Korea), several radar upgrades (these did eventually get applied), and an entirely new faster burning powder type. Also, longer (but lighter) barrels were considered to extend the range of the Iowa's guns, since they found that roughly only 70% of the powder was burning in the 50 caliber barrel length; but this was discarded for obvious reasons (barrel life). So, sorry, no; the Iowas could have had many improvements made with major refits during an extended WW2 time frame; there was just no point to it when ~20 Essex-class CVs were sailing around the ocean. |
One in three of us sleep naked as it is revealed 'buttoned-up' Brits are more likely to go nude at night than other nations 30 per cent of Britons wear nothing at all when they are in bed We might have a reputation for being more restrained than our transatlantic counterparts. But a new study has revealed that far from being buttoned-up, Britons are more than twice as likely as Americans to sleep naked. When asked about their bedroom attire, 30 per cent of Brits admitted to nodding off in the nude – compared with 12 per cent of respondents from the US and just 9 per cent of Germans. In bed: Britons are more likely to sleep naked than citizens of many other countries, new research reveals The International Bedroom Poll, published by the US National Sleep Foundation, studied the nighttime rituals of people from across the globe. They also found 7 per cent of us go to sleep with socks on – compared with 16 per cent of people in America and 19 per cent of Canadians. The poll also looked into bedroom hygiene, where it was discovered that 55 per cent of British people change their sheets once a week. This makes us over three times cleaner in the bedroom than the Germans, where just 18 per cent change their sheets every seven days. Perhaps this is an attempt to block unpleasant smells because 91 per cent of us claim bad body odour - either their partner’s or their own - distracts them from trying to sleep. Housework: More than half of Brits change their sheets daily, unlike their counterparts in many other countries Professor Jay Born, who specialises in behavioural neuroscience, said: ‘It is important to look at cultural differences in sleep. 'This shows intriguing cultural variations on how we tackle this nightly biological ritual.’ David Cloud, National Sleep Foundation CEO, said: 'No matter what your nationality, you will spend about a third of your life in bed.' Bizarrely, 13 per cent of us sleep with our blinds and curtains open, while one in ten sleep with a pet. Additionally, one in five Brits use three or more pillows - while only three per cent of people in Japan do the same. |
Apple's proprietary iPhone calibration machine via Motherboard "We already manage iPhone repairs at our facilities, but because of the devices' specialized security features, the current process requires them to be shipped to Apple for final testing and calibration before being returned to customers," said Georgia Rittenberg, President of ComputerCare. "Having a calibration machine onsite helps us to remove that extra step in the process and dramatically reduces turnaround times." Getting an iPhone repaired at select Apple-authorized repair shops is about to get a lot faster for customers. ComputerCare , a computer repair shop in Santa Clara, California, today announced that it has been selected as one of only three Apple Authorized Service Providers in the United States to participate in a new pilot program that will allow it to manage iPhone repair and calibration completely onsite.As part of this pilot program, ComputerCare and two other yet to be named repair shops have received a specialized and proprietary calibration machine from Apple to ensure that iPhone repairs are fully compliant with Apple's specifications and security requirements for features such as Touch ID and Multi-Touch.ComputerCare said the calibration machine is compatible with the iPhone 6s and newer, although Apple has been using the machines since as early as 2013 . The calibration process is said to take approximately 15 minutes to complete.With an in-house calibration machine, ComputerCare said it will be able to drastically speed up repair times for its customers, as it will no longer need to ship repaired iPhones to Apple for final testing and calibration.Apple already has iPhone calibration machines in the back of every Apple Store, enabling Genius Bar employees to perform same-day repairs for most issues. But, not every customer lives near an Apple Store, so expanding the machines to select third-party repair shops is convenient.If the pilot program is successful, Apple will presumably consider providing a larger number of Apple Authorized Service Providers with calibration machines in the future. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. |
Measures of variability gives how “spread out” the data are. Interquartile range Recall that, quartiles divide the data into 4 parts. Note that, the interquartile range (IQR) - corresponding to the difference between the first and third quartiles - is sometimes used as a robust alternative to the standard deviation. R function: quantile(x, probs = seq(0, 1, 0.25)) x : numeric vector whose sample quantiles are wanted. : numeric vector whose sample quantiles are wanted. probs: numeric vector of probabilities with values in [0,1]. Example: quantile(my_data$Sepal.Length) 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 4.3 5.1 5.8 6.4 7.9 By default, the function returns the minimum, the maximum and three quartiles (the 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 quartiles). To compute deciles (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, …., 0.9), use this: quantile(my_data$Sepal.Length, seq(0, 1, 0.1)) To compute the interquartile range, type this: IQR(my_data$Sepal.Length) |
State and local investigators looking into the personal finances and campaign accounts of freshman Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) are also looking into his relationship with a political consultant who has received $817,000 in fees from Rivera’s campaigns or affiliated political committees since 2006, The Miami Herald reports.The consultant, Esther Nuhfer, is the same consultant who received $150,000 in the weeks before Election Day from the Miami-Dade Republican Party, but who never provided the party with detailed invoices of where the money went. The Herald now reports that Rivera paid Nuhfer $250,000 — including $150,000 in “bonus” money — for a State Senate campaign that he ended up abandoning in order to run for Congress. As was the case when TPM tried to ask Rivera about Nuhfer, the Herald had to address questions to an e-mail account for his campaign. While it was unclear to TPM who was writing the responses from the account, the Herald says responses came from Rivera himself: In campaign reports, Nuhfer is described as a fundraising consultant. But in a written response to questions from The Herald, Rivera listed some 41 different functions Nuhfer performed for the Senate campaign, including: “general consulting,” “political consulting,” “collateral material development,” “coalitions building,” “consultant liaison,” and “travel coordination, school site outreach program, web-site development, GOP auxiliary organizations liaison, precinct analysis, et cetera.” Rivera said the bonus payments to Nuhfer from his State Senate campaign were a “contractually-obligated expenditure for the campaign having successfully reached the fundraising bonus threshold,” but he did not provide a copy of his contract with Nuhfer to the Herald. The Herald also details how close Nuhfer worked with Rivera when he was in Florida’s House of Representatives: During the legislative session, Nuhfer was a constant presence in Rivera’s office: She often could be found sitting at or near his desk, using the telephone or typing on her laptop next to Rivera’s legislative aide, Alina Garcia, who was Nuhfer’s roommate in Tallahassee. Nuhfer is no longer registered as a lobbyist in Florida, and the Herald reports that she has been spotted in Rivera’s new DC office. Read the rest here. |
Getty Images One of the less talked-about aspects of the NHL season has been the utter failure of the Dallas Stars, a team that was one win away from a Conference Final just last year. They’re 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, but that includes a three-game losing streak. In fact, the Stars have seven streaks of at least three losses this season. They’ve only won three in a row once. Scroll to continue with content Ad The extent to which this club struggled was, as I’ve said many times, foreseeable. You knew the goaltending situation was going to be horrendous, and here we are with a team .900 save percentage versus a league average of .913. Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi have cost the team a collective 28 goals, probably about nine points in the standings, give or take. [Follow Puck Daddy on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr] But those nine points only get the Stars to 80 in 74, which still isn’t close to a playoff spot here. You’re not wrong to blame the goaltending, but the problems go much deeper. The loss of Jason Demers and Alex Goligoski to free agency for what ended up being effectively nothing (Arizona gave up a fifth-round pick for the rights to negotiate with Goligoski) had a huge negative impact on this team’s ability to remain competitive, especially because GM Jim Nill had no plan to deal with their loss. Story continues Esa Lindell went from having 56 minutes of TOI in the NHL to being the team’s No. 2 defenseman. It hasn’t gone well: he has a negative possession impact, only 14 points despite well over 21 minutes a game. Dan Hamhuis has been a somewhat effective replacement for Demers insofar as he’s performing well enough on the second pairing (though providing only one goal and 15 points doesn’t help much), but after that it’s a mess. Jordie Benn and Johnny Oduya, before they were traded, were having more mediocre years in a long string of them. The other guys? Well, clearly Lindy Ruff didn’t trust many of them. Julius Honka only got about 16:30 a night in his 10 games. Greg Pateryn, coming over from Montreal, is getting less than that. Jamie Oleksiak isn’t doing much of anything in sporadic appeances. So the question for Nill quickly becomes: How do you move this team forward without just committing to a full-on rebuild? The idea that you’d in any way bail on a Seguin-and-Benn-in-their-primes group with a solid support cast is foolish, as is the idea that you’d trade either Seguin or Benn (or both?) in pursuit of worse finishes. Probably safe to say, too, that just continuing to fly by the seat of your pants as you did this year is a waste of everyone’s time, energy, and money. The good news is they have some money coming off the books. Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, and Jiri Hudler save you $11.9 million if you don’t re-sign them. And they only have to retain role players and lower-end guys coming off their ELCs. Maybe you even buy out one of these awful goalies. That gives you money to spend. But here’s the problem for Nill: You need a couple top-six forwards, clearly. You need at least two middle-pairing defensemen, but ideally a top-pairing and middle-pairing guy. How many of those are going to hit the market this summer? The list of pending UFA defensemen isn’t exactly star-studded this year. That’s going to become increasingly true as time goes on, because the ability to draft, develop, and retain puck-movers is the Next Big Thing in hockey, if it’s not already. Who do you identify as a guy — ideally in his mid- or late-20s — who fits that role? The amount of money someone’s going to throw at Karl Alzner this summer is already unconscionable, and after that your best option honestly might be Brendan Smith. At least Nill already knows Kris Russell isn’t worth pursuing. The picture is also pretty bleak up front. Unless you want to throw yourself into the Alex Radulov sweepstakes (assuming there is one, and you can get Lindy Ruff to actually play him despite his nationality), what kind of difference-makers are you even going to find up front to fill out that top six? T.J. Oshie? Thomas Vanek? Teddy Purcell? These aren’t good options either. And you probably have to dramatically overpay for them given the small number of options available to you. Then there’s the goalies. Even if you buy out one of your two current problems in net, what do you spend the rest of the money on? Not Ben Bishop, right? A Steve Mason reclamation project? Maybe Brian Elliott or Chad Johnson? There just aren’t a lot of good options here either. Maybe you hope the Vegas Golden Knights kick some stuff loose for you, giving you the option to make some trades. It’s a tough situation, but Nill has kind of painted himself into a corner. You look at the problems this team has on the ice, too, and a lot of it boils down to not generating enough quality chances, and allowing too many. Pretty simple formula for problems, and while you can say it’s one that springs from personnel, you also have to say Ruff has no concrete answers here. The problems have only gotten worse as the season progresses here, and they’re bigger now than they’ve been at any point in the past two years. [Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Hockey contest now] Perhaps you blame the talent sell-off (which was the responsible thing for Nill to pursue) but they’ve been around a lot longer than the deadline. Yahoo Would the Stars fire Ruff and go out in search of a new coach? Tough to say. Should they? I’d argue yes. Because if you’re getting these kinds of performances from a veteran coach given the quality of the top half of this roster, why not see what new ideas do for you instead? Other coaches have done more with less. Ruff’s doing less with more. Not that firing the coach necessarily fixes the problems this team obviously, predictably has. But it at least starts a process whereby you can say “We’re trying to fix this.” It’s the easiest change to make at this time and probably moves you in the right direction. If results don’t improve under a new coach — and I would expect they wouldn’t take any sort of huge step forward — then you kick the tires on bigger, more institutional changes. But if the Stars’ window is already closing, given the talent they have at the top of of that lineup, it’s a big problem, and you can’t come close to blaming anyone but Nill. Depth should be the easiest problem to correct, but here we are anyway. Having traveled down the only logical road this team could have taken, the path out shouldn’t be this difficult, should it? What We Learned Anaheim Ducks: Seems like maybe Brandon Montour is a player. Arizona Coyotes: Clayton Keller, come on down. Boston Bruins : Charlie McAvoy and Jacob Forsbacka Karlsson, also come on down. Buffalo Sabres : Tough to think of anyone who’s having a better second half than Jack Eichel. Calgary Flames : Folks, Brian Elliott has one regulation loss — and 13 wins — in his last 15 games. Carolina Hurricanes : This is a 10-game point streak for the Hurricanes. They’re now five points out of a playoff spot with two games in hand on everyone in front of them. This is getting wild. Chicago : Jonathan Toews was really mad his team lost 7-0 to the Panthers and that’s because he’s a Good Leader and not because losing 7-0 is something everyone hates to do. Colorado Avalanche : This is the headline of the year. Columbus Blue Jackets : You’ll never guess why Columbus is winning again. It’s almost like their success is wholly dependent on one player. Dallas Stars : Patrick Sharp, everyone likes him. Detroit Red Wings : Folks, Steve Yzerman, who is the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, played for the Red Wings. Not sure if you heard about that but it’s true. One of those Mike Modano or Daniel Alfredsson things where he played one year there. Edmonton Oilers : Jordan Eberle has been around long enough to play 500 games? I am a thousand years old. Florida Panthers: Twenty-eight goals is a lot for a guy they got basically for nothing. Hmm. Los Angeles Kings : Well, uh, yikes. [Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Baseball: Get in the game and join a league today] Minnesota Wild : If you’re getting demolished at home by the Canucks, you’ve got big problems. And many of those problems rhyme with Bevan Bubnyk. Montreal Canadiens : I think it’s safe to say they have the division wrapped up at this point. Nashville Predators : I think this is what they call Peaking At The Right Time. New Jersey Devils : I feel so bad for Taylor Hall. New York Islanders : Maybe if you get six power plays you should have more than 19 shots in a game. Maybe. New York Rangers : What’s truly amazing is that every time Henrik Lundqvist missed time in the past few years, his backups have been almost unbeatable. What a thing to happen. Ottawa Senators : I mean, y’know, they’re not that good. Philadelphia Flyers : Hey what team did this Bobrovsky guy used to play for? Just wondering. Pittsburgh Penguins : These are the takes I need in my life. San Jose Sharks : Send anyone who is still, in the year of our lord two thousand seventeen anno domini, a “Joe Thornton Hater” to me. I will deal with them roughly, as is fitting. St. Louis Blues: Well they, uh, got the point at least. Tampa Bay Lightning: I hate this! Toronto Maple Leafs: Best Leafs highlight on Saturday night? Eichel scoring an effortless goal and celebrating directly in front of a few Leafs fans who made the trip down to Buffalo. Vancouver Canucks : What a day for this guy. Vegas Golden Knights: Amazing, truly. Washington Capitals : Just a big ol’ kid out there, even now. Winnipeg Jets : Journalists aren’t supposed to lie to their readers. Play of the Weekend Ryan Donato, hello. Ryan Donato must not be feeling well because that was sick!@Harvard_Hockey leads 2-0. pic.twitter.com/WHoEdOWtRB — NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 26, 2017 Gold Star Award MANCHESTER, NH – MARCH 26: Andrew Oglevie #15 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates his overtime winning goal against the Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks during the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Northeast Regional Championship final at the SNHU Arena on March 26, 2017 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Fighting Irish won 3-2 and advance to the Frozen Four in Chicago. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images) College hockey is the best hockey. Don’t let anyone tell ya different. Minus of the Weekend If you have a small daughter who knows how to skate, please don’t let USA Hockey convince her to play at Worlds. They’re getting desperate, and no one wants to be a scab for them. Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Year User “Le Grec” is Going For It. To NYI: Duchene, Landeskog To COL: Nelson or Strome, Lee, Barzal, Pulock or De Haan, 2017, 18, 19, first round picks… Signoff When you go home tonight, there’s gonna be another story on your house. Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here. (All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.) MORE FROM YAHOO HOCKEY: |
Update: The House on Friday passed the Waxman-Markey bill, 219 to 212. The story below was written ahead of that vote, but its focus on how environmental groups hope to improve the bill in the Senate remains timely. Environmental groups are downplaying hopes that their allies in Congress will be able to strengthen the American Clean Energy and Security Act once the House begins debate on the bill later this week, though some officials from climate action groups remain optimistic that the bill can be strengthened later in the legislative process. Kate Sheppard / GristThe key concern for the environmental community is the deal worked out this week between the bill’s authors, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who had threatened to torpedo the bill if his demands on a range of farm-state issues weren’t met. Even though concessions made to Peterson drew fire from many green groups, the precarious nature of the Waxman-Markey compromise has most environmental groups wary of trying to overhaul the bill during the House debate. “It doesn’t feel likely that there will be opportunities to offer amendments on the floor that are going to be the big fixes,” said Navin Nayak, director of the Global Warming Project at the League of Conservation Voters. “At this point, it’s more about meeting the deadline that they’ve set for the end of this week.” Most of the big environmental organizations, including the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, and Environmental Defense Fund, are holding to the “strengthen and pass” motto. Sierra Club Energy and Global Warming Program Director David Hamilton told Grist he thinks that the bill will be amended to encourage more government purchasing of renewable energy. Hamilton said Waxman and Markey asked for suggestions on how to improve it without threatening the fragile compromise with Peterson. “They said give us things that won’t screw up the deal, but be creative about where you get them,” he said. What can be done? The biggest flaws environmental organizations have identified in Waxman-Markey include the removal of the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas regulations under the Clean Air Act, the grandfathering of old coal-fired power plants in the initial years of the cap-and-trade program, and the delay in considering the climate impacts of indirect land use in biofuel production, among others. Sierra Club’s Hamilton, like many others in the environmental community, said he is not expecting there to be too much room for improvement in this week’s debate. Amendments can be submitted up until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, but the Rules Committee — consulting closely with House leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Waxman, and Markey — gets to decide which amendments get a vote. Due to the tenuous nature of the deal Democrats have forged, it’s unlikely that the Democratic leadership would permit amendments that could jeopardize the deal. They will likely, however, permit minor strengthening amendments to please more progressive members and to prevent floor debate from being limited to only Republican amendments. “I think there is minimal opportunity for strengthening on the House floor,” said Hamilton. LCV’s Nayak said the Democrats’ tight hold on how the House debate will unfold means there will be few opportunities for opponents to weaken the legislation. “A lot of the deals that have been cut have chipped away at it already,” said Nayak. “So I think there’s hope that some of the big weakening issues … will be avoided.” Both Nayak and Hamilton stressed the importance that passing Waxman-Markey this week will play in creating additional opportunities for improvement. “We believe if we’re going to have a chance to strengthen the bill, you’ve got to get it through the House,” said Hamilton. Hamilton said his group is already in discussions with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, under the leadership of Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). “We’re trying to figure out what are the most strategic ways to plug what we see as holes in this thing without completely scotching the deal that Waxman came up with,” said Hamilton. Boxer has said that her committee will produce a climate bill by the end of August that would serve as the Senate counterpart to Waxman-Markey. “My sense is that they will use the Waxman bill as a guide, but they will not be averse to making some strategic changes where they think they are useful,” said Hamilton of his conversations with Boxer’s committee. Dan Lashof, director of the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council, echoed similar optimism about the Senate’s likely approach. “The dynamic there is a little different. because the committee is very friendly to this,” he said, comparing it to the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee, which includes more lawmakers from rural and energy-producing districts. “We can fix some problems in the House bill in committee.” The chief threat to Boxer’s approach comes from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which last week approved a bill that had environmental groups cringing. Next Page >>> |
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup, New Mexico, plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month to cope with mounting costs of litigation arising from claims of child sexual abuse by members of its clergy, the church confirmed on Tuesday. The Gallup Diocese, which includes several Native American reservations, would become the ninth U.S. diocese or archdiocese to file for bankruptcy protection since 2004 in financial fallout from child molestation cases against the church. Child sex abuse litigation has cost the U.S. Catholic Church some $3 billion in settlements in the two decades since the ongoing scandal erupted with a series of molestation cases uncovered in Boston in 1992. In a letter read to parishioners over the weekend, Gallup Bishop James S. Wall denied that the diocese was filing for Chapter 11 "to avoid responsibility for what happened or to hide anything." "I firmly believe that the process of Chapter 11 is the best and only way that will allow us to work constructively with all those who suffered from sexual abuse," wrote Wall, who became bishop in 2009. "Those who have been abused deserve the church's respect, compassion and love." Covering 53 parishes in a geographic area of more than 55,000 square miles, Gallup ranks as the poorest diocese in the United States, according to the diocese spokesman, the Rev. Tim Farrell. NBC's Claudio Lavanga talks with MSNBC's Craig Melvin to talk about Pope Francis's efforts to confront sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Farrell said he could not put a dollar figure on how much potential liability the diocese faced from the 15 to 20 sex abuse cases pending against it, "but it's more than we have." Some of the cases stem from alleged incidents that occurred in areas that are no longer part of the diocese, and some that date back 50 to 60 years, he said. Robert Pastor, a Phoenix attorney who represents plaintiffs in 13 sex abuse cases against diocese clergy, said the bankruptcy filing would delay litigation of the claims. "The bishop has done what we see all the other bishops do - they run to bankruptcy perhaps seeking financial protection but more importantly protection from the discovery process," Pastor said. He noted that Bishop Wall was due to be deposed in an abuse case on September 18, which could be delayed if the bankruptcy is filed before then. Farrell said the filing may not occur until the end of the month. Related: This story was originally published on |
In the days after the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Auston Matthews first overall at the 2016 NHL draft, he and his father, Brian, began to do their homework. It started with a Google search of three words. “Cystic fibrosis Toronto.” One of the top results was for the SickKids’ Cystic Fibrosis Centre. The Matthews quietly reached out to the hospital, even before they had set foot in the city. They had a personal connection to the disease and wanted a way to give back in what would be their new home. Fifteen years earlier, when Matthews was three and a half years old, his uncle Bill passed away from cystic fibrosis in his early 30s. Bill Matthews was an avid hockey fan — a season-ticket holder with the then-Phoenix Coyotes — and had introduced his young nephew to hockey by taking him to his first NHL games. “He was the only one in our family that has had it,” Auston Matthews told The Athletic‘s... |
Over and over again, we’ve heard public health officials argue that we simply do not have enough scientific data to be certain that electronic cigarettes are a safe alternative to tobacco. But the truth is that research is abundant and every month, we have new studies that point to the truth. The latest study to hit the scenes is shaming critics and shocking public health officials with undeniable evidence that vaping is safe and effective. The new study was published in “Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology” and showed what exactly is hiding in ecig vapor compared to the contents of cigarette smoke. Scientists ran tests on three flavors of Blu ecigs and two flavors of SKYCigs. They also tested Marlboro Golds and Lambert & Butler cigarettes. Finally, they tested the ordinary room air as a baseline to use as they compared the results. The researchers specifically looked for 8 toxins in this study: carbon monoxide, carbonyls, phenolics, volatiles, metals, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, polyaromatic amines, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. It was no surprise that tobacco cigarette smoke was full of poisonous chemicals. But researchers were shocked to see that the toxins in ecigarette vapor were quite similar to the normal toxins found in regular room air. In fact, there was no major increase in toxins between normal air and ecig vapor. Instead of deadly toxins, the ecig vapor only contained propylene glycol, water, and small traces of flavoring and nicotine additives. In order to register any degree of toxicity, the scientists had to use 99 puffs of an ecig to get even the tiniest measurement of 0.18 milligrams of HPHC’s. To put that in perspective, a single puff of a Marlboro Gold cigarette measured 30.6 milligrams. In a puff-to-puff comparison, the cigarettes had 2000 times more toxins than the e-cigs. But researchers were shocked to see that the toxins in ecigarette vapor were quite similar to the normal toxins found in regular room air. This study makes it clear that ecigs are a far better alternative for smokers. They are now scientifically proven to have harm reduction properties and there is no way that lawmakers can argue that public vaping is harmful after looking at these lab reports. The next time you hear someone complaining that public vaping is dangerous, point them to this study. Science is our number one weapon to stop critics and spread the truth about all the incredible benefits of vaping. |
With two trilogies of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth books behind him, Peter Jackson has had plenty of experience crafting the world for the big screen. But, in a new DVD extra from the third The Hobbit film, Jackson reveals how trying a process bringing that second trilogy to life was. An extra on the The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies DVD takes an honest and open look at the production of the entire The Hobbit trilogy and the problems they faced when Jackson took over the films from Guillermo del Toro. “Because Guillermo Del Toro had to leave and I jumped in and took over, we didn’t wind the clock back a year and a half and give me a year and a half prep to design the movie, which was different to what he was doing,” Jackson says in the extra. There had been years of preparation with del Toro, but Jackson obviously had a different vision for the film, which had to be fit into a truncated pre-production process and often in the midst of shooting. “…As a result of it being impossible, I just started shooting the movie with most of it not prepped at all,” Jackson explains, referencing the small time period between the start of production between The Hobbit and The Adventures of Tintin, in addition to Jackson falling ill for a number of weeks. “If I was a director that hadn’t had that 25 years of experience doing this in the past, it would have just been almost impossible,” Jackson says. “We would just tell the crew to take an extended lunch for an hour or so because I wanted to just get my head completely clear and plot it through. I spent so much of The Hobbit feeling like I was not on top of it.” The Battle of the Five Armies is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. |
Bolt Cutters and Chrysanthemums by C.S. Hagen | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | News | CAVALIER, N.D. – He kept the plans secret for months. Not even family knew he planned to shut down North Dakota’s Keystone Pipeline. Chilled, early morning air stabbed his lungs as he stepped from the rental car and into a beet field, bolt cutters in one hand, yellow chrysanthemums in the other. The pipeline’s emergency shut-off valve, a secluded area wrapped by a wire-link fence, was only a stone’s throw away from where he parked along a dirt road. He’d already scouted the area, had done his homework, but Michael Foster’s pulse quickened. Finally, I get to do something real, shut down the Keystone 1 Pipeline. How quickly can law enforcement arrive? Can I get through the locks in time? Where is the valve? Will the valve be difficult to turn? He had traveled grudgingly by plane nearly 1,500 miles from Seattle to become what is known as a valve turner. Foster had a vivid daydream that sheriff’s deputies would be waiting for him. Militarized police videos he’d seen from the standoff at Standing Rock were chilling enough. Surely his little group of environmental activists – white, middle class, middle-aged, and suburban – had committed mistakes, triggering algorithms. Only the night before, on October 10, 2016, in a hotel pub, eating a plate of fries and ketchup, Foster couldn’t speak with comrades of his intentions for fear of being overheard, but now a live streamer and a filmmaker followed his every move, revealing him to the world as he committed felonies. But the internet signal was intermittent, keeping Sam Jessup’s live stream from broadcasting Foster’s initial moments. I challenge this oil going through this pipeline. It’s illegal, and I have to stop it. Follow protocol: the pipeline companies were notified – twice – before Foster stepped up to the first barrier. Cameras were in place. “We called the pipeline companies about 10 to 15 minutes before, to give them the opportunity to shut down remotely or do whatever they wanted to do,” Foster said. “The point wasn’t to do anything risky, the point was to do it procedurally, and respectfully, and stop the flow. Kind of the opposite of terrorism.” The first lock snapped easily as a bicycle’s chain, he said. So did the second, which secured the valve, a four-foot-wide iron wheel. “From then on I was in this euphoric moment, and was like ‘damn, I’m in the right moment at this right place in history,’” Foster said. “And there was fear, just because any time you are dealing with heavy machinery you have to be humble.” The valve slid easily, righty-tighty lefty-loosey. Foster spun – fast – wanting to complete his mission before law enforcement arrived. “At first it was easy,” Foster said. “And then it wasn’t. It started to get really tough by the time I was thinking I was done. I had been at it for awhile. I thought they had turned it down remotely.” He gave the valve one more turn, then another for good measure. Then another, and then another. The wheel kept turning. “He is the only one of us who actually turned off manually the pipeline,” Leonard Higgins, another valve turner who shut down a Montana pipeline the same day, said. Higgins’ target was automated, and he had more difficulty cutting the locks than he did with the valve. “Michael turned this huge wheel like a hundred times.” Eventually, the valve could move no more. Foster locked it down with his own chain, and placed the flowers as a symbolic statement for the world to move to alternate energy. Job finished, he had time to think before law enforcement arrived. He was going to jail. In a way, his trip to North Dakota had brought his environmental activism life full circle: he grew up where the pipelines end in the Gulf of Mexico, and now he was waiting for arrest where the crude oil from Canada entered the United States. His awareness of environmental issues and global warming have taken their toll, and then some. His insistence on reducing the family’s carbon footprint has affected his life. He is no longer married, and currently unable to see his two children. As a child, he barely knew his parents. His mother left, and his father was gunned down outside a Houston bar; mostly his grandparents, “mom and pop,” raised him. Foster, 52, spent 20 years as a mental health therapist before he volunteered to become a valve turner. His thoughts turned to his children, and how much he loves them. Although he was educating youth across Puget Sound, his own children were no longer by his side. “I was about to break the law to stop fossil fuels, something I told them not to do because it alienates people.” Foster remembered thinking. “Plus, I would never want them to go get arrested, but we’re out of time now. I needed to do something to stop the flow and burning of oil right away, or they’re toast.” Currently, Foster is involved with Climate Direct Action and Al Gore’s initiative, the Climate Reality project. In the last five years, Foster has spoken to more than 13,000 people from behind pulpits to rallies about global warming issues. He is also a kayaktivist with the Mosquito Fleet Rapid Response Team, trying to delay oil rigs, ships, and pipelines, what he refers to as “monster death stars” for as long as possible. The morning on October 11, 2016 was cloudy, cold. Shivers followed the euphoria of shutting down the pipeline. “That wind was blowing. It was cold, I was glad when he showed up.” Still amazed that the plan worked, Foster greeted the sheriff’s deputy when he arrived. The deputy nonchalantly rolled down the window, and asked what was going on. “I guess we looked like what he expected to find,” Foster said. “We were white, and we were not doing anything when they arrived. We weren’t defending, we were just standing there, bolt cutters in hand, waiting. Kinda like in my dream, we came here to shut off the pipeline.” Foster told him, showed him everything, retraced his steps, handing over the bolt cutters. “We agreed ahead of time that we were going to share exactly what we had done and why,” Leonard Higgins said. Handcuffs followed, and he was later charged with and arraigned on crimes that could lead to 81 years imprisonment. Jessup and documentary filmmaker Deia Schlosberg were arrested in Walhalla, North Dakota for shutting down Transcanada’s Keystone pipeline. Scholsberg was to spend 48 hours in solitary confinement because no other women were in lockup, Foster said. “The state was pretty heavy-handed,” Foster said. “There were FBI agents there to just chat with me while I was sitting there in jail. But I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do this.” Foster recently returned to North Dakota for court proceedings. “If I can think of something that can be done, and I don’t do it, I couldn’t live with myself. Whatever inconvenience I might face is nothing compared to the suffering or the vibrancy of the living world to come. There’s a world calling being made, there are voices, and creatures, and animals and plants, and people, I know they’re coming, just as sure as we have ancestors we have never met, just as we will have descendants we will never meet. I cannot be an observer.” Foster later learned that the collective act of climate disobedience halted 15 percent of US oil consumption for the day. On October 13, 2016, oil stock prices dipped. The White House brought up oil pipeline infrastructure issues the next day. Keystone employees called him and his comrades terrorists. The five activists were involved in the “most expansive, coordinated, takeover of fossil fuel infrastructure ever attempted in the USA,” according to Reuters. “There’s years and years of living with this despair and being aware of these issues,” Foster said. “Whatever it is, there’s that sense of we have to do something.” “And so we stopped all the tar sands from Canada to the US. I still look at my hands sometimes and say, ‘wow, I turned off the Keystone Pipeline.’” Big Oil and the state’s response While sitting in the lunchroom at Balkowtisch Enterprises, Inc., a medical product line distributor in Bismarck, Foster and Higgins recalled some of their greatest fears of shutting down the Keystone Pipeline. With thousands of gallons of hot bitumen deleted with toxic chemicals pouring through the pipeline every minute, what if something went wrong? What if they couldn’t finish their missions before police arrived? “When Transcanada called the sheriff, they called it a terrorist attack,” Foster said. “But they did not shut off the valve remotely. If that was your pipeline carrying 590,000 barrels of bitumen at 150 degrees F across the continent and you thought there was a terroristic attack on your pipeline, you should shut it down.” “We were thinking that maybe they wouldn’t believe it, and that’s why we had people to live stream,” Higgins said. Nothing did go wrong, however, except that nearly 2.3 million barrels of bitumen were stopped, for a time. All five pipes, two in Minnesota, one in Montana, one in North Dakota, and one in Washington, were shut down simultaneously. In the Pembina County seat, Cavalier, Foster originally faced seven charges, which have been dropped to five, with a potential 23 years in prison, he said. “I feel like I have already gotten 50 percent off,” Foster said. “We planned for the necessity defense, and the whole plan included staying out there until law enforcement arrived.” A necessity defense is used to shield people who must break the law in order to prevent greater harm. The five valve turners include Foster, Ken Ward, 59, of Corbette, Oregon, who was recently found technically guilty, but received no additional jail time in Skagit County Superior Court in Washington State. Foster’s day is coming on October 2, in Cavalier, North Dakota. Other valve turners, Emily Johnston, 50, of Seattle, Washington, Annette Klapstein, 64, of Bainbridge Island, Washington, and Leonard Higgins, 64, of Eugene, Oregon, are still awaiting their court dates. If the State’s Attorney throws the book at Foster, he’s ready, he said. “Let them, I don’t get to choose that,” Foster said. “I got to choose whether to cut the chains, whether to turn off the flow of this poison. The court has to decide what justice looks like for me. But I am going to have the ability to tell them why I did what I did.” Foster is no spy, he’s not a hero, he is just a middle-aged man trying to warn people about the future. After spending two days in jail, he’s grateful he has the chance to tell his story. “I get to walk around telling this story, like I am some James Bond or Indiana Jones. I didn’t do squat, comparatively speaking, and the people who are paying the price are not me. I get all the benefits even when I mess up and draw down the wrath of the oil companies and the oil state, and they all want a piece of me, I still got all the benefits.” He believes his chances of a not guilty verdict on October 2 aren’t good. Michael Hoffman, a Bismarck trial lawyer, is defending Foster. The nonprofit Climate Defense Project, three Harvard-trained attorneys, the Civil Liberties Defense Center, and the Climate Disobedience Center, are providing support. “I’m going to try to prove to a jury of my farmer peers that what I did was not a crime because I was protecting their crops, was protecting their fields, and I was protecting their kids,” Foster said during a speech earlier this year. “I probably won’t win, but I’m going to do a heck of a job trying to convince them to open up that conversation, open up that door.” Some call him an eco terrorist, but the title doesn’t faze him or Higgins. “Really, for me my case is about proving the crime that took place that day, October 11, was when the oil company came and cut the lock off the valve that I put there and turned that oil back on,” Foster said. “That was a crime against humanity and nature.” “The real terrorists are the people that are perpetrating this violence on the earth,” Higgins said. August 16, 2017 The life of activism is full of dizzyingly short victories and long dry spells of defeats. When defeat hits home, Foster sleeps. “Really, I sleep,” Foster said. “So what do I do about that? I just carry it with me, it fills my head. It distracts me. It keeps me awake. I try and write something; sometimes I manage something, sometimes I don’t. Call somebody, just in conversation find some friends and allies, and see if I can help them see things my way, that’s all I can do.” Tension revolving around climate change issues is only worsening now with President Donald Trump in office. “More people are joining the fight,” Higgins said. “That’s the opposite side of the same coin.” “We’re working on a lot of false solutions,” Foster said. “And I’m having a tough time speaking out against it. A lot of people in the environmental movement put in a lot of time and hours into something that will be just a dead end. It’s a dead end. “But I’m pretty far out there as far as policies and solutions, because I really am focused on getting the planet back to a stable climate.” Shutting down the Canadian Keystone pipelines was the brainchild of Climate Direct Action, a nonprofit activist group founded by Foster, Higgins, and other like-minded people. The decision stemmed from a question asked in the spring of 2016 of people involved with Climate Direct Action: would you be interested in having a conversation that would put you in danger of arrest? “Everyone who got involved in this conversation was already 100 percent in, and once we got into the conversation, there were different levels. How much do you want to be involved? There were wonderful, long conversations where people could share their feelings and fears. Everyone was free to decide on how much they felt good about.” “There was a larger discussion that was theoretical and then that discussion finished and the core group went forward,” Higgins said. “When the core group went forward, the others were involved in some way.” For months, Foster feared that their little group of middle-aged men and women had somehow alerted authorities, and that their mission was doomed. “There were some messages that were sent, some calls that were made that made us go ‘oops.’ I had a pretty strong feeling that the sheriffs were going to be waiting for us, here in North Dakota and everywhere. Somebody, somewhere, we tripped some algorithm and they’ll be waiting for us to show up.” Foster has only one regret about shutting down the Keystone Pipeline. “We wrestled with the idea that shutting off the pipeline is good because it stops X barrels of bitumen, then shutting off the pipeline X times would be that many more times better,” Foster said. “I only wish I could have stopped more oil. This system is wrong, it’s a crime, it has to stop, and I’m here to stop it. At times, Foster’s eyes water, his voice cracks not with sadness, but with conviction. Despite the upcoming trial he jokes. “I just wish I could have locked it with some kind of radioactive, kryptonite lock. “When they removed my padlock to reopen the flow of tar sands oil to heat the planet, they committed a crime against humanity and nature as deadly as any gas chamber,” Foster said. “Every gallon of gasoline burned to drive our kids to school traps 40 million times more heat energy over the centuries. It’s a crime with a distinct fingerprint. “Reopening that valve legally pulled the trigger on our kids 30 years from now.” In states where the temperatures easily dip well below zero during the winter months, changing to alternative energy is not a simple matter, Foster said. “But if we can’t live the solution, we really have no right to talk,” he said. “That’s a question I want all of us to wrestle with every single day,” Foster said. “If burning fossil fuels is a crime against humanity, why are we still doing this? Why should I be contributing to the demise of those I love in 2017? We need to resist this system.” Downsizing, installing rocket stoves that burn wood, solar panels, and wind power are all viable options, he said. The earth needs one trillion trees, that’s 150 new trees planted by every person on earth. While the planet begins to cook, some people say it’s over, we blew it, now let’s party, Foster said. Others turn a blind eye, kicking the problem for future generations. “What does it mean to be alive on a planet that is dead man walking?” Foster said. “I don’t know how bad it has to get to force change. We need everybody doing everything all the time. It’s criminal not to take action today.” Civilization has existed for 10,000 years, Foster said, the next 10,000 years depend on the human race today. “One person cannot change the world.” Foster’s eyes twinkle. He folds his hands and leans closer. “But one person can change the world.” |
Image caption DEA agent Derek Maltz shows a poster with the names of common designer drugs Anti-drug agents in the United States say 225 people have been arrested in a major international operation against synthetic drugs. Some 1,100 lb (500kg) of drugs have been seized in the US, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials said. Arrests have been made in the US, Australia, Canada, Barbados and Panama. The drugs are sold largely to "teenagers and young adults" under names such as K2 and Vanilla Sky, said DEA chief of operations James Capra. "The bottom line is that these drugs are being marketed to the most vulnerable part of our society," said Mr Capra. 'Bath salts' Designer drugs are produced in clandestine laboratories and sold in colourful packaging, which the authorities say are aimed at appealing to younger consumers. The operation was "a terrific result for law enforcement agencies across the globe," acting Australian ambassador to the US Graham Fletcher told the AFP news agency. Project Synergy was launched in the US in December 2012, targeting the "upper echelon of dangerous designer drug trafficking organisations," says a DEA statement. The drugs are often marketed as herbal incense or bath salts. They are also sold as herbal blends, with chemicals that mimic the effects of cannabis and can be smoked. "Designer synthetic drugs have caused significant organ damage as well as overdose deaths," says the DEA. The millions of dollars in profits generated by the illegal production and sale of synthetic drugs are sponsoring terror groups in the Middle East, said Mr Capra. |
Their history, which includes just three winnings seasons and two playoff appearances since 2002, doesn't suggest it. And neither does a roster which includes just a handful of recognizable names to the average fan. Yet after seven weeks of this NFL season the Arizona Cardinals, the Eagles next opponent, are the best team in the NFC. Here are five reasons why. 1. Records don't lie: Arizona's 5-1 mark is second-best in the conference, only because it already had its bye while Dallas has not. The Cards' only loss has come to the best team in the AFC, Denver, and they actually stood toe-to-toe with the Broncos until they had to go to their No. 3 quarterback. Arizona has also beaten the 49ers, the only team to beat both the Cowboys and the Eagles. An opening-night win over a decent San diego team wasn't bad, either. 2. The Quarterback:There was a time when Carson Palmer was considered the third best quarterback in football behind only a couple of guys named Brady and Manning, that's Peyton, not Eli. Sure that was back in 2005 and 2006. After a slow meltdown in Cincinnati and two years of wasting his time in Oakland, Palmer is playing pretty well. Now that he's back and healthy his quarterback rating of 101.3 reminds of his good days with the Bengals. 3. No mistakes:Arizona's three quarterbacks have thrown just one interception in its six games and the Cards have turned the ball over just four times the least amount of any NFC team. As far as plus/minus in turnovers go, they are a plus-7, which ranks third best in the league and second best in the NFC. Not turning the ball over is a good way to go about winning games. 4. The Defense:The Cardinals play old-school football. There's no hurry up offense, no trying to outscore the opposition, 45-41. They keep it close to the vest, don't make mistakes and count on the defense to stop the run and force 2nd and 3rd and long situations. So far it's worked. Arizona's run defense, which allows just 72.5 yards per game, is the best in the league. And the Cards allow just 19.8 points per game, which is second best in the conference. 5. The Coach:Bruce Arians, in just two years as a NFL head coach, has made a case for being one of the best. He won 10 games in his rookie year with the Cards and has his team off to a 5-1 start this year. Arians showed in his interim year with the Colts (when Chuck Pagano was battling cancer) how good he can be. Heck, he showed it at Temple years ago. Follow Mark Eckel on Twitter at @MarkEckel08. Find NJ.com Sports on Facebook.Contact Mark Eckel at mjeck04@verizon.net. |
Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. Pima County, Arizona, has found a new tool in the quest to save lives along the US-Mexico border: data. On Monday, the county medical examiner’s office and Humane Borders, a human rights group based in Tucson, unveiled the Arizona OpenGIS Initiative for Deceased Migrants, an online mapping tool that allows anyone to search the hundreds of known deaths of migrants in the county since 2001. The app, based on information compiled by the medical examiner and other sources and made possible by an anonymous $175,000 grant to the county, could help identify the unclaimed bodies of migrants and reunite them with their families. The data can be sorted by gender, cause of death, approximate location, and the victim’s last name, if known. The medical examiners “get these calls from people—’My loved one disappeared three months ago, five months ago, at this point,'” says John Chamblee, a researcher at the University of Georgia who helped create the app. “Or they’ll get a call like, ‘The smuggler called me,’ and they left their loved one at this point and they try to find out about them.” Now can just create a custom map using whatever information they have, and sift through the results. The Pima County data’s impact is potentially far-reaching. Humane Borders hopes better tracking will help reduce the number of fatalities across the borderlands by giving aid workers an idea of where to place food and water. The data can also be used to trace shifts in migrant traffic and how policing strategies affect migrant safety. In Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the number of migrant deaths jumped from 52 in 2011 to 129 last year, an alarming increase immigration experts attributed to more effective strategies to block crossings in Arizona. Researchers like Princeton University sociologist Douglas Massey have attributed the swelling number of deaths along to the militarization of the border: With easily followed geographic corridors closed off, migrants are forced to travel through less navigable terrain, where they may become lost or run out of supplies. According to the Border Patrol, there were 463 migrant deaths in the Southwest in 2012, the highest total since 2005. But Pima County is mostly alone in its quest for better information on migrant deaths. Only a handful of other counties, such as Imperial in southeastern California, have even produced reliable data. Data collected by the Border Patrol is unreliable, and not very specific. (One of Chamblee’s challenges was to reconcile often contradictory data sets maintained by the border patrol, foreign consulates, and the Pima County medical examiner.) As Mother Jones has reported before, the Pima County medical examiner is unique because it is wholly independent of law enforcement, which means it faces less political pressure and fewer distractions. In some smaller counties in Texas, for instance, coroner is just a part-time job. It’s not that officials in other counties don’t care about the issue; they’re just worried that the data would be misused. “Some of them think politically don’t think it’s a good idea to create this,” said Kat Rodriguez, a program director at Coalición Derechos Humanos Arizona. “Suddenly the narrative would be, ‘Oh my God, look how much money is being spent on these illegals.'” The Pima County project looks at a slice of a larger dataset that does not exist for now. Draft legislation floated by the White House in February included language requiring US Customs and Border Protection to collect statistics on deaths along the border. It would be required to publish those statistics at least once a quarter and issue a report within one year of the bill’s passage analyzing any trends and recommending actions to prevent such deaths. The draft immigration bill being considered in the Senate has no such provision, nor do any proposed amendments. In the meantime, Pima County’s program will have to do. |
Please enable Javascript to watch this video MILWAUKEE -- Three young women were killed in a crash at 2nd and Clybourn in downtown Milwaukee early on Sunday, October 23rd, an Uber driver is recovering in the hospital -- and Milwaukee police are now seeking two suspects accused of running from the scene. Police say the wreck happened around 2:45 a.m. A Lexus was southbound on 2nd Street when it apparently disregarded a solid red light and slammed into a Ford that was westbound on Clybourn. Officials say the two male occupants of the Lexus fled the scene on foot after the crash. The 41-year-old man who was driving the Ford was acting as an “Uber” driver. He suffered what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital. His passengers, two women from Illinois, ages 30 and 32, died at the scene from their injuries. A third woman, also believed to be in her 30s, died from her injuries at the hospital. Police say their identification of the occupants of the Lexus is ongoing. Police said Sunday there are so far, no reports to indicate the Lexus was stolen. PHOTO GALLERY Two Uber spokeswomen issued the following statements to FOX6 News regarding this crash: “We are devastated to hear of this tragic accident and extend our deepest thoughts to all those grieving for the loss of their loved ones.” Kayla Whaling/Uber "Our hearts and thoughts are with our driver partner and the grieving families impacted by this horribly tragic incident. We will support the police investigation in every way possible.” Tracey Breeden/Uber Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story. |
On Friday, IFC will release to select theaters and via On-Demand, Sini Anderson's 80-minute documentary on the life and career of Kathleen Hanna, The Punk Singer. The film traces Hanna's early days at Olympia, Washington's Evergreen State College through her tenure leading iconic riot grrrl group Bikini Kill, her post as the lead singer of Le Tigre, and her current band the Julie Ruin. Feminist rock icons like Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, Joan Jett, and Kim Gordon are part of the film's venerating chorus, and Hanna's personal life (including father-based trauma, her marriage to Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, and her debilitating bout of Lyme disease) is explored in greater detail than ever. Throughout The Punk Singer, its subject remains as outspoken as we've come to expect. That outspokenness only extended when I met Hanna in her film publicist's office a few weeks ago to discuss all of the above. While she is still clearly coping with all of the blowback she received as a female when punk seemed closed off to women, she also said this about the loving portrait that The Punk Singer ultimately is: "I wish there would've been more criticism and [The Punk Singer] would've been less glowing, because I feel like, for my buck, I want that." I couldn't have expected a more Hanna-esque review. Despite the rabid puppy-eater man intimidated journalists or fellow musicians have made her out to be, her politics have been marked by more reason than we expect from someone who's so firm in her beliefs. Below, Hanna and I discuss her evolving relationship with the press (her Bikini Kill years were marked by a media blackout, in part), her beauty, sexual trauma, and why she thinks it's "kind of great" that Miley Cyrus recently labeled herself a feminist. What appears below is an edited version of our conversation. Gawker: It's kind of a rite of passage, as a singer, to be immortalized in a documentary. Does it feel that way? Is there a certain honor in this kind of a portrait? Kathleen Hanna: Totally. I mean, there's a poster of a really cute picture of me. [Laughs] I just feel really lucky that people give a shit and that they care about my work. I always said in my head when people were throwing chains at my head that I would be on the right side of history. And I was. I just feel like going, "Nanny-nanny-boo-boo," in everybody's face. I'm like, "Guess what, fuckers who said I sucked? I have a movie made about me!" Are you still affected by the shit that you got, especially early on in your career? I think I am when people ask me that very question. Or, "How do you feel that your work is archived at NYU and now you're a part of the canon?" Or a part of academia, or whatever. I think because of taking all that shit, I'm like, "It's great!" People are like, "The '90s are back. And do you think people are just getting into you because of nostalgia?" And I'm like, "I don't care. All I know is they're coming up to me, they have smiles on their faces, they don't want to punch me in the face, they're totally excited to meet me, and I am happy." There's a lot of baggage with being in Bikini Kill. Even in Le Tigre, it wasn't always easy. I'm just soaking it in, like, "This is what I waited 25 years for." Not being you, I had no sense of the shit that you've gotten over the years, before I saw The Punk Singer. To me, you were just, like, always the coolest. It still blows my mind to think that anybody would fuck with you, because you've always been so reasonable within your messaging. I don't know what kind of opinion you have about it, but I think the internet has a way of making people sort of cry wolf. There's a lot of outrage in the name of feminism that seems to me to undo the entire goal. You have to pick your battles, you know? Yeah. For you to have been up there 25 years ago, to already be so much more enlightened than most of the current discourse—and I don't mean to blow smoke up your ass at all… But you are, and it's totally enjoyable. Well, good. I'm glad it's enjoyable. But people didn't think it was reasonable. Really? I actually did an interview with Sarah Marcus, who wrote Girls to the Front, about riot grrrl, and she's younger than me by, I don't know, 10 or 15 years. She was interviewing me and I was like, "You know, I got pulled off the stage by my ankles at a show, and I had beer spat in my face." In interviews it has come up occasionally that it was a lot of guys in the punk scene, and men in general, journalists who would write stuff like, "She's a fat-ass." In either Melody Maker or N.M.E., underneath a picture of me and one of my bandmates, the caption was: "Don't hate me 'cause I'm fat and retarded." It's kinda funny. I kept it. There's so much archival footage in The Punk Singer. You putting the zine together, for example. Was it always part of your ethos to document as much as possible? Nonononono. No? You didn't really care about that? I always thought I'd be a visual artist. I kept every flyer I ever made. I made flyers for so many punk shows in Olympia. And I kept all the art I made, I kept a bunch of writing I made, just talking about how bad things got. And during that time, I wrote about the frustration of living within that, and I kind of refuted a bunch of the claims against riot grrl itself and did all this writing. But I was too scared to put it out. But I kept it. And so it's all in the archive. But I wasn't a big one for being filmed. And I wasn't—there weren't very many interviews of me talking on camera, those are really hard to find. How much involved were you with actually assembling this movie? I wasn't. Were you taken aback by anything that people said about you? It seems like you have a lot of good friends. I know. It must have been touching. I wish there would've been more criticism and [The Punk Singer] would've been less glowing, because I feel like, for my buck, I want that. But it wasn't my movie, so it wasn't my call. I had a bit to do with the graphics because it was really important, just to me, that it looked like my fan—there was elements of fanzine, kind of aesthetic in it, and that the film retained my aesthetic throughout it. The only thing that shocked me was my bandmate now, Kathy [Wilcox], who was also in Bikini Kill, at the beginning when she said, "You couldn't ask for a better frontperson." I didn't know she felt that way. I was just like, "Oh my God, she thinks that?" And then I was like, "Of course she thinks that." She was in a band with me for seven or eight years and now she's in a band with me again! But at the same time it just means so much more when it comes from a friend and you hear it from their mouth. I was really… I was shocked. And I was shocked they picked that first spoken-word piece at the very beginning. 'Cause I hate that. I'm so embarrassed by it. It's like, Spoken word, oh my God, how '90s. You know what I mean? And it's really intense, and if you look in the background, if you're a music fan you can see that Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto from Fugazi are stuck in that coffee shop. And I know where the door is, and I know that they couldn't leave. And so I started doing this thing, and I'm rocking back and forth, and it's so, you know, tapestries weaving. But it's about incest. The content of your work has made you vulnerable in many ways throughout the years. But this was the first, in my recollection, time that I've seen you actually be so overtly sensitive. Was it hard to let that through, given your history and what you've put up with? Or do you even think about it? I don't really think about it. As you can tell, I'm a pretty sensitive person. That's just how I am. And being sick [with Lyme disease] really pushed the honesty button in me, where I was just like, "I'm not lying any more. I don't want to toe the party line and just say the same shit over and over." Obviously I'm doing press so I'm going to repeat myself sometimes, but I'm trying to be in the moment and really say what I feel even if it's not the best thing I could possibly say. The one time I watched it I watched as if I was watching a character in a movie, and not myself. It's just too creepy if I think about it as myself. I guess the other shocking thing for me in the movie was there was a lot of still beauty shots of me. I saw it on a big screen and I was just like, "There's a lot of pictures of my fuckin' face!" And that's weird. But they didn't have a lot of interviews and stuff, so they used a lot of still images 'cause that's what I had. I don't mean to seem condescending or to compartmentalize your beauty, but do you think that being cute worked for or against you? It confounds the idea of the puppy-eating radical. It seemed like you were playing off of it. Not in an arrogant way, but cute is cute. Cute is cute. I was, I think it's pretty obvious that because everyone in all my bands has been, in my mind, been incredibly good-looking and dynamic and charismatic, has led to the fact that I'm the one on the poster. You know what I mean? My band got more attention than certain people in other bands because we had a look, we had a style. White. Attractive, by traditional standards. I've never seen it as hurting my message. I've seen it as giving me a platform because people want to put my picture in their magazine, or pictures of my band in their magazine because we're good-looking and that's what's…I'm not bragging about myself… No, I brought it up… …but I'm hot. I am hot. That has given me power. I don't want to lie about that or be like I don't know that that's true. But on the same token, I was born like this. I don't want to try to change how I look with how I fit in with some stereotype or try to diminish my power over something that has made me lucky. It's given me privilege and I acknowledge and it's not fair. It's not fair. It's something that I've taken advantage of. In the film, when you discuss the quote about your dad raping you being fabricated, you clarified by saying that he was, in fact, sexually inappropriate. You didn't go beyond that to explain it, though. Why? 'Cause my dad's still alive. It's really personal. The specific things that he did to me will be in my book after he dies. That's the one thing I still can't touch with a 10-foot pole with anybody but my husband and my closest friends. And even then, when does it come up? When did you come back around on the press? What ended your media blackout? When I moved to New York and I just put out the Julie Ruin solo record. I was dating someone with a publicist and a manager and I was like, "Oh, those are real jobs?" I wondered what it would feel like to do press. And so I did it, and I had a lovely time at it. I was able to say, "I don't like that question, let's go to another question." I got to have the review in the Village voice, which was absolutely hilarious. My husband's in the Beastie Boys, and they got a review of their latest. He's two years older than I am. It said about Julie Ruin, "Oh, Katheleen Hanna, why don't you just give it up? You're too old to make this kind of music." I was 30. And then Mr. 32-year-old had the review next to mine. I got like a C-, and he got like an A, and it said, "Oh! A breath of fresh air!" What do you think about feminism in pop music? Miley Cyrus recently called herself a feminist. I feel bad that I don't pay that good of attention. I was just talking about that Lady Gaga quote: "I'm not a feminist…I hail men, I love men..." That depresses me. I don't give a shit if you want to call yourself "Martha Washington." If you're out there in the world and doing a non-traditional job or if you're expanding the definition of what it means to be saying it's OK that I have traits that are traditionally masculine and it doesn't make me any less of a person. You can be doing feminism out in the world and not call yourself that. I don't care. What bothers me is when people refute it using a stereotype. Lady Gaga didn't say, "Feminists hate men," but that's what she means. To me, feminism is also about liberating men from the stereotypes that they have to be the breadwinners, that they have to be a certain way, and they can't explore their feminine sides. That's crippling men. That's crippling how fully men can experience their emotional lives and everything. They have to bond with each other by putting women down? That's sad. What about having real friendships? Wouldn't that be great? I feel like feminism is something that can change the world. It's not just white women climbing the corporate ladder. It's about challenging all the binaries, ending racism, ending classism. It's not about hating men! That's not even part of the conversation in my mind. But that's kind of great to hear a little freak like Miley Cyrus say that she's a feminist. She's such a weirdo. I think that anything that opens a discussion is positive, but I want to find a way that we can go beyond talking about twerking to actually working on change. |
Freelancers are changing the definition of success. It’s no longer about the corner office in a soulless glass tower. It’s about building and sharing real value together -- investing in time, community, and well-being. For years, our members have told me about how they're leading this new, more mindful approach to work -- and it always reminded of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. In Maslow’s Hierarchy, people must take care of their most basic needs (food, shelter, etc.) before being able to move closer to “self-actualization” -- the state where we each reach our own full potential. Successful freelancers know that journey all too well. You start out scrambling, searching for those first few gigs to get you started. Over time, you find a couple steady clients and a small but mighty network. Then, you’re able to start choosing what gigs you take and which you pass up (or pass on to friends). But just being financially stable isn’t the ultimate goal. When people are coming to you for advice on how to live that balanced, self-actualized freelance life, that’s when you know you’re living a “360 freelance” life. But that path isn’t always so clear from the start. That’s why we created this: “THE FREELANCERS PYRAMID OF SELF-ACTUALIZATION” The pyramid is a roadmap to a truly fulfilled freelance life. At each new level, you can achieve a greater sense of the connection and passion that makes freelancing so rewarding. This isn’t a path driven solely by money (though you do need enough money to get by). Instead, it’s a journey toward community and sharing. Here are the five levels of the Freelancers Pyramid of Self-Actualization: **The Unfree Freelancer **-- You’re constantly stressed out about money -- getting enough gigs to pay your rent and put food on the table is your only priority. See full description here. **The Hustling Freelancer **-- You’ve finally got some gigs, but they’re sporadic. Of course, things like insurance or savings or a real plan for the future are still out of reach. See full description here. The Empowered Freelancer -- You’ve got some steady clients and maybe can even find some time for a vacation (but still check your email from the beach). Your network is small but growing. See full description here. The Influential Freelancer -- Clients are finding you. Your peers are asking your advice. You’re financially stable and healthy -- you might even have life insurance! But you’re still missing that thriving community you need to be a truly successful freelancer. See full description here. The 360 Freelancer -- Congratulations, you have achieved self-actualization! You are living a New Mutualist life! You’re looking to the future and seeing that you’re more successful when you work with your network. You’re happy and healthy and giving back -- living a 360-degree freelance life. You might even start a cooperative business! See full description here. Over the coming weeks, we’ll have more about each level -- and tips on how you can move up from one level to the next. Don't miss the next dispatch! Join Freelancers Union today. |
Jorge Valencia reports on nine North Carolina laws going into effect Dec. 1. Nine North Carolina state laws are set to go into effect today, including criminal defendants' ability to waive their right to a jury trial and a law that makes it a felony to poach the carnivorous Venus Flytrap plant. Criminal Jury Trials The right to waive a jury trial was approved in a constitutional amendment on Nov. 4 by 53-percent of voters. It's common throughout the country and applies to defendants facing felony charges, except for defendants facing the possibility of the death penalty. Venus Flytrap Poaching The Venus Flytrap is a rare carnivorous plant native to swamps near Wilmington, and its numbers have dwindled in part because of people stealing them from protected lands. Now, poaching them is a felony punishable by up to 25 months in prison. Offenders can now also be fined up to $150 for stealing other state-protected plants such as lilies, pitcher plants, Dutchman's breeches and orchids. The previous maximum fine was $50. Each plant taken is considered an individual offense. Other laws in effect allow jails to sell e-cigarettes to inmates, and make it a felony to give a prisoner a cell phone. |
Recently by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.: The Unthinking Right Eisenhowers farewell speech was a long and nearly hysterical argument for the Cold War. He presented it as more than a military policy against Russia, but rather as a grand metaphysical struggle that should take over our minds and souls, as bizarre as that must sound to the current generation. A Century of War: Linc... John V. Denson Best Price: $4.02 Buy New $9.95 (as of 03:20 EST - Details) His words were Wilsonian, even messianic. The job of U.S. military policy is to foster progress in human achievement and enhance dignity and integrity the world over. Thats a rather expansive role for government by any standard. But he went further. An enemy stands in the way of achieving this dream, and this enemy is global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. This great struggle commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. Because some crusty apparatchiks are imposing every manner of economic control over Russia and a few satellites, U.S. foreign policy must absorb the whole of our beings? So much for limited government. The rhetoric had to be hysterical to overcome a few obvious problems. Russia is a faraway country and the notion of an invasion was about as likely as one from Mars. Russia, an authoritarian state operating under the ideological cover of Communism, had only a few years earlier been declared our valiant ally in the struggle against Japan and Germany. Great Wars and Great L... Ralph Raico Best Price: $7.98 Buy New $12.95 (as of 12:35 EST - Details) But Americans woke up one day to find that the line had suddenly changed: now Russia was the enemy to be defeated. In fact, the Russian government already in deep economic trouble as a socialist regime was bankrupted by World War II and dealing with incredible internal problems. The Soviets couldnt begin to manage the world of Eastern Europe that had been given as a prize for being the ally of the United States during the war. It was for this reason that Nikita Khrushchev began the first great period of liberalization that would end in the eventual unraveling of this nonviable state. The U.S. not only failed to encourage this liberalization, but pretended it wasnt happening so as to build up a new form of socialism at home. Indeed, the entire Cold War ideology was invented by Harry Truman and his advisers in 1948 as: 1.) a political trick to keep from losing more congressional backing, 2.) a way to circumvent political pressure for postwar disarmament, and 3.) a method to maintain U.S. industrial dependence on government spending, particularly with regard to American corporations operating overseas. It was an unprecedented form of peacetime socialism, designed to appeal to big business, and Eisenhower became its spokesman. Savvy libertarians knew exactly what was going on and supported Cold War opponent Robert Taft for the Republican nomination in 1952. But the nomination was effectively stolen by Eisenhower, with massive establishment backing. He repaid his backers with his support and expansion of Trumans program. Read the rest of the article The Best of Lew Rockwell The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. |
Print-debugging is most likely the first way that every new programmer uses to debug their code, probably even before they know what “debugging” is. That should be no surprise: printing a message is usually among the first things we learn about a programming language. And that is why I would like to discuss it first. Now, there will be people that will arrogantly tell you that prints should never be used to debug programs, but let me make this clear to you from the start: Console prints are just another tool in a developer’s toolkit. - Franklin D. Roosevelt, probably Keep in mind though that they certainly are not the best tool for many use cases, but sometimes useful nevertheless. Like any tool, printing has its strengths and weaknesses, and a skilled developer knows when to use a tool as well as when not to. The latter part of this post will focus a bit more in the implementation details of Python than some other posts, but I hope that the first part will still be useful to a more general audience. In Python 3 printing is of course done like this: >>> print ( "Now I am become Death." ) Now I am become Death . Prints are a quick and easy way to get some feedback of the execution of your code. For example: def enlist ( name ): print ( "Enlisting..." ) soldiers . append ( name ) soldiers = [ "Alvin York" , "Ira Hayes" ] enlist ( "Audie Murphy" ) would print Enlisting... , and we would know that the function enlist is really executed by studying the output of the program. The next logical step is printing the values of variables to know that they are what they should be. print ( "Enlisting:" , name ) would of course in the first example print Enlisting: Audie Murphy . Printing as a debug-tool The main reason prints are still commonly used is how easy they are to apply for variety of purposes. Prints can be inserted to inspect the flow of the program and to output the values of variables. These are of course the two first use cases a debugger would be used for, and I strongly encourage to use one, if present. But sometimes we do not have the benefit of having a debugger ready to use. Prints, on the other hand, are almost always available. For example, one time I was working in an environment where we used QtCreator to develop a QML-application. The only problem was that the pre-installed version of QtCreator had a bug: QML-side variables could not be inspected during debugging. The easiest solution? Well placed console.log s. This was of course an issue with the work environment, but installing a new version of the IDE was not trivial at that point. So prints were a necessary substitution for the time being: sometimes we need to make use of what we have. Be sure to escalate these sorts of problems though. Sometimes a debug build can also be quite heavy, and slow the execution of the program so that some conditions are hard to reach. Prints can be used to debug in a situation like this, though keep in mind that when investigating a threaded timing issue, even an added print can slow the program enough to make the problem seem to disappear. Binary search The typical way of using prints is to binary search the code for the part where the bug appears. You start top-down by inserting prints at a high level hierarchy, as near as the place you think the bug has occurred. If your assumption is correct, you then move to inserting a print to an earlier point where you think the bug should not have yet happened. When you track down the bug to for example a single function call, you can then move down in the hierarchy to the function level and continue with the same tactic. Of course this kind of debugging is quite tedious and time consuming, and efforts should be made to make it unnecessary. Be sure to remember the topics of the previous post, too. For example, it the code spits an error, you can most likely see the problematic area from the error message. The root cause itself might of course be somewhere earlier in the code, but that would be the first place to start the search. Disadvantages and how to deal with them The top reasons of being concerned about using prints include at least the time it usually takes compared to other methods, and the impact it has to code quality. When using a language like C++, adding prints iteratively will force us to recompile the code with every cycle, and that can be slow in a big project with a ton of dependencies. This is a situation when the normal ease and speed of prints is not present - you should really think of something else, for example logging. Luckily with scripting languages like Python this is less of a problem. If you use a lot of prints to track down a problem, you will end up with a codebase littered with useless prints when the problem is finally solved. This is of course a problem: to keep your code clean you should remove the prints that do not add any value. You can make the cleanup easier by removing unnecessary prints on the go: if you track down the problem to a more specific part of the codebase, you should at the same time remove the more general prints. At this point, having and using a version control system (such as git) helps with the cleanup. We can use the VCS to get a diff of the project and to discard the changes to files where only prints were added, then manually remove the rest in the list (we did make a commit before starting the bug hunt, didn’t we?). Debug-prints should definitely not be pushed to a central repository: they have the tendency to stay there and bother others. Make everyone a favor and just remove unnecessary prints if you encounter them. With git diff you can easily track the changes to your files. Having a huge amount of useless prints can actually even make the console cluttered with noise, making it hard to spot the relevant prints. When you notice you are using a lot of prints and for some reason you also need to keep them, it is a good time to switch to a logging framework that will have useful features like different log levels and logging to a file. I will make a separate post of logging later. Print techniques in Python When you want to make your prints a bit more informative, you need to know how to format your strings to make the output appear like you want it to. This knowledge will also be useful when implementing a logging system or a command line interface, or in general when you need to operate with strings. There are two primary ways of formatting output in Python: the old way of using % , called string interpolation, and the new way: string.format . Python 3.6 will also feature a new, more compressed way. I’ll cover all of them briefly: # String interpolation >>> print ( "I hereby grant % s to % s % s." % ( decoration , rank , name )) # String formatting >>> print ( "I hereby grant {} to {} {}." . format ( decoration , rank , name )) # Python 3.6 f-strings >>> print ( f "I hereby grant {decoration} to {rank} {name}." ) I hereby grant a Medal of Honor to Lieutenant Audie L . Murphy . At the time of this post, most of the time I would use string.format , but at some point you will most likely encounter formatting done with interpolation, so it is good to understand the syntax. F-strings will probably become popular when 3.6 comes out. These are just basic examples, especially the newer ways are very flexible in what you can print and how. PyFormat.info has a great overview of the first two techniques, I recommend you to at least skim it through. F-strings are explained extensively in this PEP. __str__ and __repr__ When printing instances of your own classes, you have probably noticed that sometimes the output is not as helpful as you would like. Let’s consider the following example: class BattleShip ( object ): def __init__ ( self , name ): self . name = name ship1 = BattleShip ( "USS Arizona" ) ship2 = BattleShip ( "USS California" ) position = "The captain of {}." print ( position . format ( ship1 )) ships_available = [ ship1 , ship2 ] print ( ships_available ) What this script will output is something like this: The captain of <__main__.BattleShip object at 0x7fdca3d8f4a8>. <__main__.BattleShip object at 0x7f7cc78504a8>. [<__main__.BattleShip object at 0x7f7cc78504a8>, <__main__.BattleShip object at 0x7f7cc78504e0>] So not very handy, at least from a debugger’s point of view. Of course in the case of the first ship, we could use position.format(ship1.name) , but for the sake of learning, let’s dive into some other means. Let’s first talk about __str__ . __str__ is one of Python’s special methods or dunders (double underscore). When implemented, the __str__ method will be called for example when the value is printed or converted to a string with str() . It is of course expected that the method returns a string. __str__ can be quite useful sometimes - you could do something like this: class BattleShip ( object ): def __init__ ( self , name ): self . name = name def __str__ ( self ): return "battleship {}" . format ( self . name ) ship1 = BattleShip ( "USS Arizona" ) position = "The captain of {}." print ( position . format ( ship1 )) This would change the ouput to: The captain of battleship USS Arizona. However, __str__ will not work with the second case, for that you need __repr__ . It is meant to be unambiguous, so define your __repr__ to return a string that you expect to be unique. For example: class BattleShip ( object ): def __init__ ( self , name , code ): self . name = name self . code = code def __repr__ ( self ): return "<Battleship object: {}>" . format ( self . code ) ship1 = BattleShip ( "USS Arizona" , "BB-39" ) ship2 = BattleShip ( "USS California" , "BB-44" ) ships_available = [ ship1 , ship2 ] print ( ships_available ) Now the list would be printed like this: [<Battleship object: BB-39>, <Battleship object: BB-44>] Much more useful when reading the prints! pprint The pprint module comes also handy for a debugger when printing data structures. In the example of our lists (and combined with __repr__ ), using pretty printing can make the output much more readable, especially with nested structures. >>> patrol_shifts = [[ ship1 , ship2 ], [ ship1 ], [ ship2 , ship3 ]] >>> print ( patrol_shifts ) [[ < Battleship object : BB - 39 > , < Battleship object : BB - 44 > ], [ < Battleship object : BB - 39 > ], [ < Battleship object : BB - 44 > , < Battleship object : BB - 61 > ]] >>> from pprint import pprint >>> pprint ( patrol_shifts ) [[ < Battleship object : BB - 39 > , < Battleship object : BB - 44 > ], [ < Battleship object : BB - 39 > ], [ < Battleship object : BB - 44 > , < Battleship object : BB - 61 > ]] The output certainly is easier to examine when formatted with pprint . Conclusion Using prints as a way of debugging is certainly popular and sometimes even necessary, but that is also why every developer should understand the limitations and disadvantages of the technique. Most of the time when a project grows, you are probably better off replacing prints with logging or using a debugger. Even so, the understanding about string formatting in python will not be useless: the principles described here are used elsewhere too. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. |
For years I’ve used YSlow and PageSpeed to profile page performance on 4chan. Page performance has always been important to me for two big reasons: 1) I browse 4chan daily and can’t stand slow websites (especially one I control!), and 2) the site is both operated on a shoe-string budget and quite large, so even small changes that result in savings are worth investigating. To that end, we’ve done our best to adhere to best practices. One thing that YSlow and PageSpeed have complained about for years is that we’ve served static content from a cookied domain, adding unnecessary request overhead. If you’ve been linked directly to a Facebook photo, you may have noticed the domain wasn't facebook.com, but instead something like fbcdn-x-x.akamaihd.net. Large sites load static content from special domains for a few reasons, but primarily to reduce request overhead, and sometimes security. So we recently switched our static domains over from 4chan.org to 4cdn.org, resulting in one large improvement, and one small side benefit. First, the small side benefit. When considering a domain to use, I had the option of choosing between a longer domain (ie. images.4chan-cdn.org) and a shorter one (ie. i.4cdn.org). The average page may have ~125 or so of these links, and the difference in page size between the two is around ~50 bytes compressed. 50 bytes may not seem like a lot, but when you’re serving 500 million pageviews per month, it adds up. This small change will save us about 23 gigabytes of transfer per month, and ~275 GB over the course of a year. The larger savings will be realized by users. Despite doing our best to keep cookie size down, our use of Google Analytics puts the average user’s cookie size around 1 kilobyte. Because these cookies are sent with every request made to content hosted on 4chan.org, the average user must send 4chan roughly 100 KB of data per page load to receive the response. On mobile networks or for users with home internet with data caps, this can be significant. By migrating to the new domain, end users now save roughly 100 KB upstream per page load, which at 500 million pageviews per month adds up to 46 terabytes per month in savings for our users. I find this unreal. Are these optimizations the first place to start? No, certainly not—the reason we made them is we had exhausted almost every other page performance trick. But at the scale of large sites like 4chan (especially those run on a shoe-string budget!), it’s important to remember: little things do add up. |
WASHINGTON — AS night fell on what had been a scorching August day in Hadhramaut, Yemen, in 2012, four large explosions shattered the quiet. When the smoke cleared a few minutes later, Sheik Salem Ahmed bin Ali Jaber, a respected and openly anti-extremist cleric, his cousin, a young local police officer named Waleed Abdullah bin Ali Jaber, and three other men, who have been identified in news reports as likely extremists, lay dead — reportedly by an American drone strike. Late last year I met Faisal bin Ali Jaber, a Yemeni civil engineer, and came face to face with the very real consequences of drone warfare. Faisal’s brother-in-law Salem Jaber and nephew Waleed Jaber were two of the five people killed in the strike. Neither had any terrorist ties. It appears they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Faisal’s journey to the United States Capitol was a remarkable pilgrimage to share his family’s anguish and to remind us of the human toll of the drone campaign that has been a feature of the war on Al Qaeda since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In a fight against a hidden enemy who operates in lawless safe havens, drones offer many obvious advantages and have taken many dangerous adversaries off the battlefield. But the idea that warfare can be precise, distant or sterile is also dangerous. It can easily blind us to the human cost of those inadvertently killed. And it can cause us to lose sight of the strategic imperative that we not multiply our enemies by causing the inadvertent loss of innocent lives. There was precious little I could say to Faisal. What I did tell him was that, unlike the terrorists we target, America places a high value on the lives of innocent civilians. I also told him that our personnel make extraordinary efforts to ensure that civilians will not be killed or harmed by any strike. But I could not say whether anyone from the United States government would ever be able to tell him just what had happened, or why. |
As usual, Bitcoin Examiner goes back a few days and helps you remember the news that made the week. From new Bitcoin services to the judicial decision that announced that cryptocurrency can be considered “currency or a form of money”, we had some busy days. Khan Academy started accepting Bitcoin donations You can now support the well-known Khan Academy‘s work with your Bitcoins, through Coinbase. As most of you know, Khan Academy is a non-profit organization that provides free education for people around the planet. Through quality online educational materials, like instructional videos or practice exercises, the academy supplies personalized help for users of all ages and origins. From the beginning, they had lessons about math, science or history. But a while ago they added Bitcoin to their study plans, so nothing more logical than start accepting cryptocurrency donations as well. CoinForest is the new discount Bitcoin market CoinForest wants to be the online store that gets the best deals for consumers and businesses in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Kind of like Groupon, but with Bitcoins, like On Bitcoin describes it. Besides Bitcoin related goods and services, CoinForest will also be selling 3D printing services, online education services, all you need to develop software and let’s not forget about services for startups and online businesses. Crypto Street is the first US-based altcurrency exchange There’s a new exchange that can convert Bitcoin, Litecoin and Feathercoin. The name of this service, which is currently running its beta testing phase, is Crypto Street. This Delaware-based altcurrency exchange is the first of its kind to be born in the United States and is focusing all its attention on these first three cryptocurrencies that gather new users every day. Although this doesn’t mean Crypto Street is the only altcurrency exchange, since companies like the Bulgarian BTC-e already existed before, the new platform is relying on its origins to succeed: “people like and trust an American-based platform and that’s presently what we offer for an altcoin exchange”, says Shamoon Siddiqui, the founder and CEO of the company. Casascius physical Bitcoins get cracked at Defcon The Defcon researchers Stits and Datagram only needed 10 minutes to crack the system of a Casascius Bitcoin for the first time. However, at the hacker conference, the experts said that with a little practice they could recover the private key of a Casascius unit in just one or two minutes. For the people that still don’t know what the Casascius are, these physical Bitcoins have a little card embedded inside, which contains a digital currency wallet linked to an account with the same value as the one engraved on the coin. The devices are protected by a layer of holograms and an 8-digit code and it was supposed to be very difficult to tamper with one of these, but this year’s Defcon conference showed the contrary. Check the method used by the researchers here. Mt. Gox is working with Akamai and new trading engine Mt. Gox announced this week it was now supported by Akamai, a leading cloud platform that safely “enables any experience on any device” and will soon put its new trading engine, Midas, in action. The new features were revealed in an extensive update published online by the exchange. According to the company, “there are many things happening right now at Mt. Gox (…) that are important to our customers worldwide and to the Bitcoin community”. The platform addressed three main issues in this update: “site speed and security, upcoming currency integrations and the administrative issues with depositing and withdrawing currency”. Find out more about the changes at Mt. Gox here. VC3: Bitcoin regulation conference happens on August 14th The federal approach to regulation of new money transfer technologies. This is the main theme of the first Virtual Currencies Compliance Conference (VC3) that is happening on August 14th, at the New York City Bar Association. The event, hosted by the National Money Transmitters Association, will have a special guest: James H. Freis, the former director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, also known as FinCEN. VC3 will be particularly helpful for the industry members who need to be enlightened about the new rules: virtual currency entrepreneurs now have to implement anti-money laundering programs, get state-licensed and register with FinCEN. Otherwise, they will be facing criminal charges. Why Bitcoins are more expensive in Argentina According to Coindesk, people living in Argentina are paying more for their Bitcoins than the users living in the United States. The reason? An annual inflation rate of around 25 percent is making them turn their backs on their national currency. Official numbers place the annual rate of inflation in the country at around 10%, but private economists estimate it to be more than the double. BtcTrip has news to its customers BtcTrip, the online platform that allows you to buy plane tickets with your Bitcoins, is preparing to launch three new services. Bitcoin Examiner talked with the CEO Martin Fernandez and he told us that the startup “is moving to the next level” by developing the programs “Rent a Car & Hotel”, “BtcTrip Miles and Points” and “BtcTrip Surfing”. After its launching in July, “BtcTrip has been received exceptionally well by the community”. After the first two weeks in business, the platform registered a boom in the business. “We started with a movement that will increase, day by day, by the enthusiastic comments and support from the Bitcoin community”, he adds. Sure, it helps that “the major players like BitInstant or the Bitcoin Foundation” are helping to promote the company by getting tickets with BtcTrip, mainly thanks to their new business travel account. CoinTerra teams up with Open-Silicon The Bitcoin Magazine reported this week that CoinTerra selected Open-Silicon as their ASIC design and development partner. As a semiconductor engineering company, CoinTerra seeks Bitcoin mining solutions using ASICs, in order to produce high quality chips for customized Bitcoin mining solutions. Coinbase announced micro-transactions without any fees After recently announcing instant Bitcoin transfers for verified users, Coinbase launched a new feature: off blockchain micro-transactions between the platform accounts. And the best? These operations charge zero fees. The first “user” to try the new feature was Coinbase’s CEO. Brian Armstrong sent himself 1 Satoshi (0.00000001 Bitcoin). According to a statement posted on the platform’s blog this Monday (5), the operation was super fast: it arrived instantly, it was confirmed instantly and, like you already know, it costed zero in fees. Coinpunk wins grant conceded by the Bitcoin Foundation Coinpunk, the open source and self-hosted ‘do it yourself’ Bitcoin wallet that you can run on your own server recently won a grant conceded by the Bitcoin Foundation – the second of this year – and will get a major full-featured new version. Although Coinpunk is still under development, the first users and some developers, hardware wallet manufacturers and other organizations can already enjoy some of the features of its current version. The creator of the service, the veteran startup founder Kyle Drake, cannot give any deadlines for the project, but hopes he can release the new version by the end of late summer. BitWall aggregates Bitcoin micro-payments for digital content There’s a new Bitcoin service launching this month: BitWall will allow its users to sell low-value digital content using everyone’s favourite cryptocurrency. The San Francisco-based company plans to aggregate micro-payments in order to reduce the weight of the fees charged to the buyers. Very small transactions (usually considered micro when the values are around $1) have been a knotty feature of the online e-commerce field, especially when we’re talking about digital content monetization, like apps or mobile games. Bitcoin already charges a smaller fee than credit cards – around 0.0005 BTC, which is equivalent to about five cents in US dollars at the current exchange rate -, but BitWall wants to make this deal even more beneficial to the users by aggregating several micro Bitcoin payments. Briefcase converts pocket change into Bitcoin The creators of a new robotic briefcase that can convert money into Bitcoin presented the device at the Defcon hacker conference, in Las Vegas. Coindesk reported that the Raspberry Pi-powered device allowed the users to put their loose change into the coin slot and in return they received a QR code printed on a receipt paper that they could use to redeem their Bitcoins. According to one of the developers, the briefcase was made to increase awareness of Bitcoin. The briefcase cost around $250 to build and, besides the Raspberry Pi computer, has a mobile 4G modem. Judicial decision about Bitcoin can open a “broad precedent” If anything good has come out of the Ponzi scheme set up by Trendon Shavers – more known in the cryptocurrency world as ‘pirateat40? – is the decision of a Texas judge, who has recently ruled that “Bitcoin is a currency or form of money”, meaning that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can go ahead and sue the suspect. You can check the document signed by the North-American magistrate here. In this memorandum, judge Amos L. Mazzant makes an analysis of the case regarding the Bitcoin Savings and Trust (BTCST), a “business” founded and operated by Shavers. Bitcoin Examiner spoke with Marco Santori, chairman of the Regulatory Affairs Committee at theBitcoin Foundation, about this issue. Among other things, the attorney said that judge Mazzant’s opinion might open the way for a change in the world of cryptocurrency. “Practically, though, lawyers, judges, policy makers and regulators can be expected to use it as a very broad precedent. For example, a financial regulator may use it to support their position that Bitcoin exchanging should require a money transmission license. A lawyer might use it in to convince a judge in a different state that his client’s stolen Bitcoins had real-world value, which would support a claim for damages. The implications are far-reaching”, he explained. |
Isn’t the internet awesome? We use it for work, entertainment, socializing and as a scapegoat for all our problems. Not only does the web prevent us from getting any serious work done, it also kills our social lives and replaces it with likes and shares. My father in-law recently started using the internet. He has spent almost six decades of his live happily offline and now, after just three weeks of having high speed broadband he’s already complaining that he doesn’t read books anymore. Blaming the internet has become a popular sport for both young and old, not just relating to our media consumption, but especially when it comes to our social lives. In May 2010, the Mental Health Foundation released a report called The Lonely Society. They found that 53% of 18-34-year-olds had experienced depressions due to loneliness. Nearly a third of the young people also said they spent far too much time communicating online and not enough face to face. Most of us make the connection without being prompted: it must be the net and Social Media which makes people lonely. Platforms like Facebook make people depressed because they can’t keep up with the “popularity contest”. Looking at photos of other people’s holidays, cars and kids may make less fortunate people feel like underachievers and failures. According to psychologist Dr Aric Sigman, online communication in general and smartphones in particular are among “the most significant contributing factor to society’s growing physical estrangement”. People are less physically and socially present. Everyone’s zoned out in their own private space with ear-buds and their private glowing rectangle. Add to this the findings of another study that “loneliness is as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes a day”, and you start to wonder whether to leave the internet and never look back. Loneliness Is Not A Matter Of Exterior Conditions For many years psychologists have tried to pin down the factors that create loneliness, but they all only apply temporarily and under certain circumstances. For example, people who are married are generally less lonely than non-married people, but only if their spouses are confidants. If the spouse is not considered a confidant, marriage can even increase loneliness. Similarly, a 1990 German study tried to link people’s religious feelings to symptoms of loneliness. Some people who believed in God were less lonely than others, but it depended on whether their idea of God was positive enough. The mere belief in God, however, was found to be relatively independent of loneliness. John Cacioppo, considered by some the world’s expert on loneliness, wrote in his landmark 2008 book Loneliness: Forming connections with pets or online friends or even God is a noble attempt by an obligatorily gregarious creature to satisfy a compelling need […] but surrogates can never make up completely for the absence of the real thing. While it’s interesting enough that he links instant messaging to whispering prayers, Cacioppo also admits that Social Media can both lead to more integration and isolation, depending on how we use it. Are we passively consuming or are we actively contributing? Does our social engagement consist of simply clicking a button, or do we use these tools to organize meetings and collaborate creatively? Loneliness In Outer Space While for each study which claims that Facebook makes people more lonely, there is one that states the opposite — the real problem here is one of coming to terms with the social aspects of digital dualism. It’s not by definition less “real” to engage in meaningful conversation online. People do not always automatically feel more connected just by literally rubbing shoulders with a big crowd of people. There’s probably no better way to illustrate this than to look at the behavior of astronauts. They live and work together, far away from home and their families in a tiny cramped space for months on end. This can make them feel both crowded and lonely at the same time. Chris Hadfield, astronaut on the International Space Station and prolific tweeter puts it like this: In the centre of every big city in the world, surrounded by noise and teeming millions of people, are lonely people. Loneliness is not so much where you are, but instead is your state of mind. On Station with the world in our window, people on the radio, family just a phone call away, and other crew members to chat with, plus a full plate of experiments and work to do, loneliness is no more of a problem than it is everywhere else. It’s no secret that in modern society, we often use technology to physically isolate ourselves. Whether it’s the ear-buds, the smartphone or even the time-tested method of reading a book on a subway, aren’t we all a little bit like astronauts, orbiting in our own private space stations around our daily schedules? In other words, if someone who sits in a tiny space crammed with technology, circling the earth every 90 minutes 350km above our heads doesn’t feel disconnected and lonely, how can we blame gadgets and software for our loneliness? Maybe we should not give up on ourselves that easily, and instead of looking for reasons why we aren’t happy just start living the life we want to live, one step at a time. UPDATE: – On The Net, Everybody’s an Astronaut Has this been helpful? |
Image copyright PA Image caption Police figures indicate crime remained static for the first time since 2002-03 Sexual offences recorded by police in England and Wales increased by 20% in the year to March, newly released figures show. Analysts attributed some of the rise to a greater willingness on the part of victims to come forward in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. The spike comes after intense scrutiny of how police record crimes. Meanwhile, separate figures indicated offending rates fell by 14% to their lowest level since 1981. If crime is going down year on year… clearly that has an impact on the number of police officers you need on the street Norman Baker , Home Office minister That drop was recorded by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), which estimates crime levels based on how many people say they have been a victim of crime and includes offences not reported to the police. 'Yewtree effect' In the 12 months to the end of March 2014, police recorded 64,000 sexual offences, while the figures showed rape had risen by 27%, the highest level for more than 10 years. Other types of sex crime were up by 17% in the covered period. But, according to the police figures, there was no change in the level of overall crime between April 2013 and March 2014. It is the first time recorded crime has remained static since 2002-03. Mark Bangs, from the ONS, said: "Part of the rise in sexual offences is related to the effect of the Operation Yewtree investigation, which has brought to light a large number of historic sexual offences. "The increase is also likely to reflect a broader Yewtree effect, whereby more victims are coming forward to report sexual offences to the police." The Victim Support charity said it was supporting hundreds of people who had come forward to report historic sexual abuse. "We know how much courage it takes them to come forward, so it is encouraging to see an apparent rise in confidence in people reporting this appalling crime," assistant chief executive Adam Pemberton said. "However, it is critical that more of the right kind of support is put in place to help these victims cope and recover from their ordeal, particularly when they give evidence against their abusers in court." 'Less for police to do' The victims' charity also said the figures suggested an "alarming" failure to solve serious crimes. The police data, from 28 forces in England and Wales excluding the Met, showed that in April and May this year more than half of crimes were classed as "investigation complete, no suspect identified", effectively closing the case pending any new evidence. The Home Office stressed that investigations could be reopened, but the figures showed this happened in 73% of criminal damage and arson cases, 72% of theft cases and 56% of robbery. Analysis Danny Shaw, Home Affairs correspondent Rape up 27%, fraud up 17%, violence up 6%. Is this a crime wave? No it is not. These are the figures of offences reported to and recorded by police. Their methods for counting crimes have come under intense scrutiny and criticism - and as a result it is highly likely police are logging more crimes than they did a year ago, as opposed to more crimes being committed. As for rape and other sex offences, that rise is largely due to the greater confidence of victims to come forward. Overall, levels of police-recorded crime are stable, after years of decline - again a reflection of revised police practices. However, if they begin to edge upwards in the months leading up to the general election crime might once again become a key political issue. Separately Home Office figures revealed that the number of police officers has fallen to its lowest number for 12 years. There were 127,909 officers in 43 police forces, down 1,674 compared with a year earlier - the fifth consecutive annual fall. The number of police civilian staff and community support officers also fell. Home Office minister Norman Baker said he was encouraged by the figures. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Norman Baker: "There is less for the police to do." "People are showing more confidence in the police and reporting more crimes that they hereto weren't reporting," he told BBC News. He also suggested there were less demands on police as a result of the fall in crime, adding: "Crime goes down year on year so, in that sense, there is less for the police to do. "If crime is going down year on year… clearly that has an impact on the number of police officers you need on the street." The police figures show deaths by dangerous driving rose to 282 offences from 174 the previous year, Violence was up 6%, by around 33,000 offences. However, the Crime Survey showed a different picture, with 1.3 million violent incidents in the period covered, a drop of 20%. |
Dryrun 7: The Power of DPOS The power of DPOS is a currious thing, Make one man weep, make another man sing, .... You don't need money, don't take fame Don't need no credit card to ride this chain Its strong and its sudden and it forks sometimes But it might just save your life Thats the power of DPOS First time you see it, it might make you sad Next time you see it it might make you mad But you'll be glad baby when you've found That's the power makes the world go round rm -r ~/Library/Application\ Support/BitShares\ XTS Start your engines, we are going back to 15 second blocks with a few new features:1) You can now upgrade registered accounts to delegates and reduce your pay2) Accelerated transaction validation times3) All transactions must now expire in less than 48 hours, and by default expire in 24 if they are not included in the chain.This is a new chain, if you do not delete your data directory from the last chain things may not work. |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The trucks were parked overnight in Samangan province, as they headed from Uzbekistan towards Nato forces in the south. A bomb planted by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan has destroyed 22 Nato fuel tankers carrying supplies to coalition forces, local officials say. The vehicles were hit by a pre-dawn explosion which triggered a huge fire that engulfed them in flames, they say. At the time, the trucks were parked overnight in Samangan province, as they headed from Uzbekistan towards Nato forces in the south. Police told the BBC that the fire caused by the bomb is still burning. An intelligence official said the device was attached under one of the trucks, which were parked close together. "Since it was early in the morning, there were not a lot of people around. Otherwise, it could have caused a lot more casualties,'' the official told the BBC. In a statement, the Taliban said they carried out the attack, which officials say is the first of its kind in northern Afghanistan. The trucks were attacked in the same province where well-known Afghan politician Ahmad Khan Samangani was killed in a suicide attack on Saturday while attending his daughter's wedding. Nato has relied heavily on overland supplies from Central Asia since last November when Pakistan banned Nato convoys after US airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border. Although Pakistan lifted its blockade earlier this month, Nato traffic has yet to return to normal. While attacks on Nato tankers have been commonplace in Pakistan in recent years, correspondents say such attacks in Afghanistan have been much less frequent. |
Monday’s presidential inauguration was a television event that was heavily promoted by all of the networks covering it. But one network was conspicuously short of viewers during President Obama’s speech and throughout the broadcast day. While overall viewing was down for all three cable news networks compared to 2009’s inauguration, Fox took the deepest dive. CNN led during the President’s address with 3.1 million total viewers. MSNBC came in second with 2.3 million. Fox was dead last with 1.3 million. In the critical 25-54 year old demographic the numbers for Fox were even more dismal: CNN had 1.1 million in the demo. MSNBC had 706,000. Trailing significantly was Fox News with only 294,000, which was less than half of MSNBC and just over a quarter of CNN. To some extent it is not surprising that the network that appeals most to Obama haters did not deliver their audience of whiny-ass sourpusses. It’s a constituency of sore losers who aren’t interested in staying informed and were probably busy cuddling their Bushmasters and forwarding chain emails about tyranny and the collapse of civilization. What’s most startling in the ratings data is the relative disparities between the networks and their declines. Fox News was off a jaw-dropping 75% (82% demo) from 2009. CNN sunk a hefty 61% (67% demo). MSNBC, by comparison did fairly well with a mere 25% decline (37% demo). Digging deeper, these numbers tell us something that is even more foreboding for Fox. The percentage of their audience composed of the lucrative younger demos falls way below that of their competitors. CNN’s demo audience was 35% of their total viewers. MSNBC has 31% in the demo. But only 22% of Fox’s viewers are 25-54 years old. That means that the next generation of news consumers is avoiding the severely conservative channel in droves. What’s more, MSNBC’s primetime anchors Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell were number one in their time slots for 2012 in the 18-34 demo. MSNBC has also led in African-American and Latino viewers. So by every measure MSNBC is positioned for future gains, while Fox is bracing for the bottom to fall out. These numbers are not merely tabulated for bragging rights. They represent the potential for ad revenue. As the numbers fall, so do Fox’s profits. And with their dearth of the desirable youth demos, the advertising Fox maintains will command lower rates. To top it off, Fox is actually advertising their own unpopularity. Today an article on Fox Nation beamed that “Viewership of Obama’s 2nd Inauguration Plunges.” It’s one of those rare occasions when Fox Nation posted something that was true. However, it is also true that the lion’s share of that plunge was the 75% of Fox viewers who tuned out. Apparently Fox is so intent on publicizing information that they believe reflects badly on the President that they didn’t even notice that it looks even worse for themselves. Well, nobody ever accused them of being brainiacs. |
BENGALURU: The 200-odd member units at the Electronic City will have a new sewage treatment plant (STP) for the entire township from Wednesday .The unit will treat 300 kilolitres of water a day.The Electronic City Industrial Township Authority (Elcita), which is the urban local body for Electronic City , has built the plant. Elcita provides services such as water supply and sewage disposal for member industries, hotels and educational institutions.According to NS Rama, CEO of Electronic City Industries Association (Elcia), the IT hub generates 6,000 kilolitres of waste water every day , about half of which is currently treated and reused. While large industries like Infosys , TCS and Wipro have their own treatment plants inside their campuses, smaller industries, hotels and educational institutions lacked the expertise or resources to run individual STPs.The new STP will recycle the waste water collected from industries and the treated water will be used for construction and watering of trees, said Ramadas Kamath, nominated member of Elcita. Pollution Control Board chairman Lakshman will inaugurate the unit, the event of which will take place at 11 am near HCL in Electronic City phase I.The inaugural event will be followed by an interactive session on safe disposal of used cooking oil and generation of bio fuels, led by experts from Eco Green fuels and Hasiru Dala. |
Smoke billowed over southwest London as fire crews dealt with an early morning fire. The London Fire Department was called to the fire at Hully Gully The Ultimate Toy Store just before 5 a.m. Thursday. Fire officials say they were able to stop the blaze before entered the storefront but the fire did extensive damage to a storage facility that housed boats and ATV’s in the back. Officials say damage from the fire could exceed $1 million. Fire crews had the blaze contained by 8 a.m., there’s no word on the cause of the fire. READ MORE: House explosion in London’s east end sends one to hospital “We told the crews to maintain a defensive position because of the explosion and the subsequent collapse of the structure itself. We had flames 100 feet in the air and very turbulent black billowing smoke. It was quite a significant fire,” said District Chief Andy Britton. The Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office has been called in to investigate. There’s no word on what caused the fire and no word on whether anyone was injured. Eight trucks and over 30 firefighters were needed to contain the blaze. Fire crews battle an early morning fire at Hully Gully, at the corner of Wonderland Rd and Wharncliffe Rd pic.twitter.com/GCE1qTjDpx — 980 CFPL London News (@AM980News) December 28, 2017 READ MORE: One person hospitalized after fire at supportive housing facility in London One firefighter was treated for non-life threatening injuries in hospital and released. Fire crews were even able to save a guard dog on the property. “When we arrived we were told there was a guard dog in the back, in a cage. The workers couldn’t retrieve him because the smoke and the flames were too heavy. We were able to get the dog, he’s safe,” said Britton. Wharncliffe Road South and Wonderland Road South were both closed for a short time while fire crews battled the blaze. |
Buy Photo Letter to the Editor (Photo: Democrat files)Buy Photo What started as a simple interaction between Tampa Bay Buccaneers star quarterback Jameis Winston and Special Olympics Florida athlete Jacob Sare turned into a moment of a lifetime for several dozen Special Olympics athletes. Jameis’ genuine interest in Jacob’s passion for leadership and sports inspired him to extend a personal invitation to Special Olympics Florida athletes to attend the Jameis Winston Youth Football ProCamp. On May 20 and 21, our athletes ran skills and learned new drills side by side with their typical peers. Special Olympics Florida athlete Anna Shoop said, “Jameis was super awesome. I was the only girl on my team, and he told me I can throw.” This event brought individuals of all abilities together in the spirit of inclusion to show we are more alike than different. Jameis’ offer to include our athletes in his camp has had a positive impact on the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, and reflects the work of a true champion. Sherry Wheelock, Special Olympics Florida Read or Share this story: http://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/readers/2017/06/05/letter-jameis-winston-inspires-inclusion-local-special-olympics-athletes/370960001/ |
This story originally appeared in the March 23, 2015, issue of Sports Illustrated. You can subscribe to the magazine here. Did you notice what was missing? Or did the way UConn defeated Kentucky in last year’s national championship game just seem normal? The victors in Arlington, Texas, scored 60 points, and not a single one came on a post-up. CBS made no mention of this fact in its broadcast, and it didn’t inspire any think pieces that night or the following day. There was no moment of silence for back-to-the-basket, low-block scoring because it didn’t perish all at once. It has been fading for years. The last time a post-centric team won the national title was in 2009, when North Carolina relied on heavy doses of forwards Tyler Hansbrough and Deon Thompson. In the six seasons that Synergy Sports Technology has been widely tracking Division I games, the average team has gone from using 10.0% of its possessions on post-up scoring attempts (in ’09–10) to 8.2% through the end of the regular season, and film study confirms that back-to-the-basket play accounted for a much bigger portion of offense in the 1980s and ’90s than it has in this millennium. The game goes through phases, and in its current one centers and power forwards roam farther from the basket. In basketball’s original No-Post Era, before World War II, big men were viewed as little more than goonish impediments to a running sport. That changed with the emergence of George Mikan, a bespectacled, 6' 10" teenager who gave up plans to join the priesthood and began playing basketball at DePaul. The coach there, Ray Meyer, taught Mikan how to make unblockable hook shots with either hand, grooming him to become the 1945 and ’46 national player of the year and later the NBA’s original franchise center. The post movement began with Mikan, in Chicago, and if a revival takes place in this year’s NCAA final, a product of Chicago is likely to be responsible. **** Before 6' 11" Jahlil Okafor arrived at Duke, spearheaded the country’s best post-centric offense and became a finalist for the Naismith and Wooden awards as a freshman, he was an eighth-grader who’d already drawn the attention of Mikan’s alma mater. In January 2010, Okafor went with his father, Chukwudi (Chucky, for short), to Allstate Arena, near O’Hare International Airport, for a Syracuse-DePaul game. The Okafors were there at the invitation of the Blue Demons’ coaches. It is within NCAA rules to recruit eighth-graders, and Okafor, a 14-year-old in nearby Rosemont (Ill.) Elementary School District 78, had obvious appeal. He had already been excelling at national AAU events for five years and was 6' 71⁄2" and 225 pounds. He was projected to reach 7' 2". After the game Jahlil and Chucky met Tracy Webster, who was then DePaul’s interim coach, outside the locker room. He extended a verbal scholarship offer to Jahlil—and when word got out to a local recruiting website a few weeks later, and then stories appeared on ESPNChicago.com and in the Chicago Tribune, Okafor’s name was suddenly everywhere. The hype had arrived early, and it was not going to subside. The important thing, Chucky felt, was to ensure that when his son did appear in college, he would prove the hype was warranted. Chucky was a 6' 5" wing in college who, for various reasons, was kicked off the teams at all three of his stops—Westark Community College in Fort Smith, Ark.; Carl Albert State in Poteau, Okla. (a junior college); and West Texas A&M in Canyon. From 2004 to ’12 he was a senior admissions adviser at American InterContinental University in suburban Chicago, and he would often train Jahlil in a gym near his office. Jahlil had put in enough work on his vertical that he was dunking by the sixth grade, but as an eighth-grader he was reliant on just one post move: “Face up, jab-step right, dribble left, and spin back right,” Jahlil says. “I just kept doing that no matter what the situation was.” What Okafor needed was refinement. How he got it, says Chucky, “was just one of those things that was meant to be.” A coworker at AIU had recently gone to Rick Lewis, a trainer in Chesterton, Ind., for weight-loss workouts; because Lewis was also a basket-ball skill-development guru and the son of a famed high school coach in East St. Louis, Ill., the coworker recommended him to Chucky for Jahlil. When the Okafors drove to Indiana in February 2010 for a trial run, they found a trainer whose idea of what Okafor could become meshed with their own. Chucky, whose father was a Nigerian immigrant, had been showing Jahlil YouTube videos of Hakeem Olajuwon, and Lewis was also an admirer of classic big men: Olajuwon, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ralph Sampson, Patrick Ewing and Tim Duncan. The plan for Jahlil was to draw on those influences to make him a complete, throwback center—and it started with his feet. Chris Keane for Sports Illustrated “People will say now on TV, Oh, my god, how does he have such great footwork for a big man?” the 55-year-old Lewis says. “It’s because he’s been doing these drills for five years. Jahlil is not by happenstance. He’s by design.” The design began with cones on the floor of a YMCA gym in Chester-ton, and continued in gyms in Chicago, including at Whitney Young High, where Jahlil enrolled the following fall and both Chucky and Lewis became assistant coaches. The cones were guides that helped lengthen Okafor’s strides and trained him to use crossover (rather than shuffle) steps when he faced up and attacked diagonally off the bounce. They also established patterns for post moves that could be mirrored on either side of the basket and finished with either hand. Jahlil might have been on a pro trajectory no matter what. He has the rare combination of height, wingspan (7' 5"), softball-glove-sized hands with great touch and, as Lewis puts it, a frame “that’s solid from his big toe to his forehead.” But Okafor’s preternatural ability to take what he learned in these drills and almost immediately use the moves in games took him to another level. He went from not being able to dunk with his left hand, to learning the proper steps with Lewis, to throwing down a lefty jam on a one-bounce attack from the left block in an eighth-grade tournament—all in a matter of days. With repetition and time Okafor’s game-usable options have become complex and polished enough to resemble some of Chucky and Lewis’s historic references. When you see Okafor now as a Duke freshman in the post, where he has scored 274 of his 567 points through the end of the ACC tournament, averaging 17.7 per game, don’t mistake his maneuvering as improv. What he’s doing is strategic sampling. That move from a Dec. 3 win at Wisconsin, when Okafor caught the ball just off the left block against his prime competition for the national player of the year awards, 7-footer Frank Kaminsky, drove hard (left) along the baseline, sensed that Kaminsky was taking away the reverse, planted hard and pivoted 180 degrees back for a left-side layin? That was a slightly less graceful Olajuwon. When Okafor received a feed off either block against North Carolina or Virginia or almost all of the opponents who double-teamed him, and waited . . . and extended the ball out with one hand . . . and waited . . . to see if a second defender was going to commit, before making a decision to pass to an open shooter or attack? That’s Old Kareem, from the stage of his career when he was an adept distributor. And when Okafor begins his favorite scoring progression, starting from the right block, turning his right shoulder in and dribbling with his left hand—and then either spins back right for a layup or hook, or powers directly through his defender’s body, or dribbles into the middle of the lane for a scoop shot? That’s Duncan, but not in the sense that it’s a mirror image of Duncan. It’s only in the sense that everyone knows what Okafor’s options are, yet no one defender can thwart him. [pagebreak] Jah, let’s do 10 Timmy D’s. This is the order Duke associate head coach Jeff Capel gives to Okafor after nearly every practice, and this Monday afternoon in March is no different. Okafor is taking bank shots from a spot between the left block and left wing while Capel critiques his mechanics: the bend in Okafor’s knees, the flick of his wrist, the arc on his release. Capel frequently instructs Okafor to make a prescribed number of Duncan’s signature shot—a face-up jumper off the glass—because it’s valuable against defenders who sag. This is one of the few weapons Okafor did not have when he came to Durham but he added it to his arsenal in no time. He hit a Timmy D for his first post-up bucket at Duke, in the opener against Presbyterian, and made it a staple of his repertoire. When Spurs legend David Robinson visited Duke with his son, Justin, who’s joining the team as a walk-on next season, the Admiral told Okafor he reminded him of Duncan. This was meaningful to Okafor. Duncan is his lone influence who’s an active NBA player, and when Okafor immersed himself in basketball as an escape from the emotional toll of having his mother, Dacresha Benton, die from complications from bronchitis when he was nine, he would shoot alone on Chicago courts and pretend he was making post moves against Duncan. “The imaginary Duncan didn’t have anything on me,” Okafor says, “but the real one definitely does.” Chris Keane for Sports Illustrated The real one does now. But as a freshman post scorer in the ACC? No way. The 6' 11" Duncan was a redshirt candidate at Wake Forest in 1993–94 until high-profile frontcourt recruit Makhtar N’Diaye was ruled ineligible. Duncan scored no points in his college debut against Alaska--Anchorage and averaged 9.8 points that first season as an auxiliary option to star guard Randolph Childress. Capel, whose Duke playing career overlapped Duncan’s at Wake, says, “There’s no comparison at the same stage: [Okafor] is way more advanced offensively.” (Defense, where Okafor has struggled, is a different story—but that’s for a different story.) Duke knew long before Okafor arrived that he could be an immediate offensive centerpiece. As a 17-year-old on the gold-medal-winning team at the 2013 FIBA U19 world championships in Prague, Okafor shot 77.2% from the field and was an all-tournament selection. “He was playing against guys two years older, with an NBA-sized lane, and he was still dominant in the post,” says Florida’s Billy Donovan, who coached the U19s. The last time the Blue Devils had a true superstar center was Elton Brand, and it wasn’t until his sophomore season (1998–99) that he could anchor a post-heavy offense. “Jah was accomplished right away in the post,” says Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “We knew we had the best player in the country coming in . . . and it was going to be fun coming up with a system where [feeding him] is the first option.” Duke’s guards have been committed to providing for Jah. According to Synergy Sports Technology, he finishes 8.9 post-up possessions per game, more than any player in the NCAA tournament and more than any freshman big man who became a lottery pick in the past five drafts. Because the Blue Devils are the lone college team to install SportVU, the laser-tracking system that has revolutionized NBA statistics, they have richer analytics that reinforce Okafor’s value. According to a data set provided to SI by Duke’s basketball director of information technology, Kevin Cullen, covering 15 home games and four others in NBA arenas with SportVU, the team averaged 1.29 points on possessions in which Okafor gets a post touch and 1.18 points when he doesn’t. This is why Okafor has received the ball in the post an average of 18.3 times per 36 minutes; the post-up volume of the NBA’s leader in that department, the Hornets’ Al Jefferson, is 16.9 posts per 36 minutes. The SportVU data shows Okafor being functional from both blocks, too: 53.5% of his post-ups have been on the left side (with a team efficiency of 1.34 PPP) and 46.5% have been on the right (with an efficiency of 1.24 PPP). Okafor’s most frequent supplier is freshman point guard Tyus Jones, whose passes have led to 30.2% of the big man’s points in the regular season. The first time Jones, who’s from Apple Valley, Minn., fed Okafor in the post was during the fall of their ninth-grade season, when they participated in a USA Basketball camp in Colorado Springs. They developed such a bond during national-team and AAU events over the next three years that they became the greatest package deal in recruiting history: the No. 1 center and No. 1 point guard committing to Duke in simultaneous press conferences held 344 miles apart on Nov. 15, 2013. One thing Jones loved about Okafor was that he knew who he was. If that sounds insignificant, you haven’t seen how many AAU games are marred by the perimeter delusions of oversized players. “Jahlil is one of the few big guys nowadays who takes pride in being a low-post big man,” Jones says. “That’s what separates him: that he’s accepted what his best position is and is trying to perfect that craft.” The low post, Okafor says, “is where I feel like I belong.” **** Okafor’s growth didn’t come in spurts. He has been bigger than everyone else on the floor from the time he played on his first team, a second-grade club sponsored by baby-food manufacturer Gerber, in Fort Smith, Ark., where he lived with his mother. It’s always made sense to stay close to the basket. And as anyone who’s coached Okafor has realized, he’s not interested in volume shooting; he’s interested in shots he’s unlikely to miss. “The kid is a perfectionist,” Chucky says. “I used to want him to step out because he’s so skilled, but he wants to do what’ll give him the best chance of going 100% in a game.” As a Duke freshman Okafor has hit 75.2% of his shots at the rim and 66.9% of his attempts overall, giving him the second-highest field goal percentage of any player in a major conference. Okafor has a slow, baritone laugh befitting a much older giant. His idea of a joke, one that’s been running between him and the Duke coaches since he was in high school, is that his alter ego is Kyrie Okafor: That, if they would only loosen the reins, he could pull down defensive boards and run the point by himself, in the manner of former Blue Devil and current Cleveland Cavalier Kyrie Irving. But again, this is a joke. When Okafor studies other players on film, he prefers to watch not Irving or LeBron James but rather the post players to whom he was introduced by Chucky and Rick Lewis. One morning earlier this month in the pressroom at Cameron, Okafor was reviewing old footage on a reporter’s laptop, laughing as college Duncan—the polished, upperclassman version—destroyed Duke with close-range moves. Timmy D tape, to Okafor, isn’t boring. “This is fun,” he says, taking multiple looks at Duncan executing a perfect, turnaround-fadeaway bank shot against Stanford. “This is relevant to me.” At the behest of Coach K and Capel, Okafor has been doing more of what they call “Shaq--posting”—using his physical advantage to bully defenders for easy points—but he prefers post craftsmanship to brute force. When it came to artistry and natural feel, Olajuwon was the master, and as the reel transitions to clips of the former Rockets center, Okafor nods in silent -regard. After the Dream’s feign-middle, spin-baseline move on the left block leaves first the Celtics’ Kevin McHale, then the Suns’ Tom Chambers frozen and helpless, Okafor is asked what he’s focusing on. “[Olajuwon’s] inside foot,” he says. “Before he caught the ball, he felt the defender and already knew he was going to spin.” It takes a pause-and-rewind for the reporter to catch what Okafor saw right away: Olajuwon turning his right foot perpendicular to the baseline to set up each dunk. Okafor pulled off an approximation of this spin earlier in the season, but there are many other Dream combos he’s still trying to process. He exhales audibly after watching a five-parter in which Olajuwon drags Robinson out to the left corner, faces up, crosses him over, fakes a reverse, pivots back and adds another shot fake before scoring. “Unreal, how fluid that is,” Okafor says. “Can I see that again?” As the clip plays a second time, Okafor is asked how old he was when it happened. The overlay graphic says Olajuwon made that move in the height of the NBA’s post era, during the Western Conference finals in 1995. “I wasn’t born until that December,” he says, “but I was on my way.” |
Here's What People Are Doing Sunday Night To Avoid Watching The Oscars Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin Jaako/Flickr Creative Commons Kevin Jaako/Flickr Creative Commons If you're tired of overwhelming whiteness at the Academy Awards, you're in good company. Famous people and normals alike have expressed indignation over the fact that for the second year in a row, zero people of color were nominated for any acting award. BuzzFeed compiled a list of celebrities, like Snoop Dogg and Will Smith, who will be boycotting this year's Oscars over that fact. Turns out, there is plenty to do Sunday night besides waiting to see which white person will get a prize. For instance, Ava DuVernay will attend a benefit to support the victims of the Flint water crisis, along with Creed director Ryan Coogler, Janelle Monae and comedian Hannibal Buress, who's hosting the event. Spike Lee, who received an honorary Oscar last year, will be spending the night courtside at a New York Knicks game this year. April Reign, creator of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, has asked people to join her in watching and live-tweeting The Wood, a 1999 comedy starring Omar Epps. Others will still be attending an awards ceremony — but it won't be the Oscars. All Def Digital, a Russell Simmons venture, is hosting its own awards ceremony in a clear counter-programming snub at the Academy, where they'll shout out the best of the best in categories like "Best Helpful White Person" and "Best Black Survivor in a Movie." Tony Rock, brother of Chris, who's this year's Oscars host, will be the master of ceremonies, and you can watch the whole thing over at Fusion. Noncelebrities have also been proactive in creating Academy Award alternatives. CineSPEAK, a nonprofit based in Philadelphia, arranged a "Boycott The Oscars" series, where they'll give tribute to films that were overlooked by the Oscars in the past. The series will debut with a screening of Spike Lee's 1986 She's Gotta Have It and a panel discussion on race and film. If you're a) not a celebrity and b) can't get to Philly in time, don't fret. Code Switch has scoped out some more ways you can celebrate film — and the work of people of color in film — Sunday night. Here are a few we liked. If you want to spend the evening alone: Try curling up with one of these books about people of color in Hollywood, courtesy of Bustle. They range from serious (like bell hooks' Reel to Reel: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies) to funny (Mindy Kaling's Why Not Me?) If you're looking to hang out with some friends: Do a Facebook search for "boycott Oscars." You'll find all sorts of events at local shops and bars for like-minded Oscars naysayers. Asheville, N.C., for example, will host an Anti-Oscars Film Screening at a local coffee shop. If you still want Oscars glam, plus a few more black and brown people: |
Sometimes, when two unevenly matched teams face off, it’s the underdog who secretly holds the upper hand. “The most nervous guy in the playoffs is Barry Trotz,” said Don Cherry, who joined The Andrew Walker Show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan, along with Ron MacLean, to talk about the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs—and in particular, the Washington Capitals’ series versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. According to Cherry, Trotz has reason to be nervous because a first-place team facing a lowly underdog faces pressures to prove its might. “All Toronto has to do is win one game and the whole season’s wiped out,” he said. If the Capitals are haunted by the ghosts of playoffs past, it’s in part because of experiences like their first-round matchup with the Montreal Canadiens back in 2010. Montreal, the eighth seed, came away victorious thanks in large part to goaltender Jaroslav Halak standing on his head. As the Capitals prepare to take on the Leafs, Cherry thinks Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen could be a difference-maker. “That Andersen, he’s capable of turning into Halak,” Cherry said. “It all depends on the goalies,” he added. “You’ve got a good goalie, the goalies are hot, you win. That’s the whole thing.” That’s not to say that the Leafs are all that likely to escape their first-round matchup with the Capitals, though. But they’ll be facing lower expectations than the Presidents’ Trophy winners. “Talk about guys cutting it fine,” Cherry said of the Leafs earning a playoff berth in their penultimate game of the regular season. “That was some game, I’ll tell you,” he continued. “You’ll never get in the playoffs [with a] better game than that.” The Leafs’ odds of defeating the Capitals might not be great, but which of the five Canadian teams is most likely to make it past the first round? “I would say Ottawa,” Cherry remarked. MacLean, though, is betting on the Edmonton Oilers. “I think San Jose looks like they’re a little banged up,” he said. Cherry was less certain, because the Sharks are still a fearsome team. Whatever happens, it’ll be must-watch hockey. “Boy, that’s gonna be a war out there,” Cherry said. |
By Hemanth Kumar Follow @crhemanth Rating : 4/5 Cast : Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah, Anushka, Nasser, Sathyaraj Directed by : SS Rajamouli Produced by : Shobu Yarlagadda, Prasad Devineni Music : MM Keeravaani Release Date : July 10, 2015 In an era when films don’t inspire awe or respect, like they once used to, SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus Baahubali makes a strong case to believe in the power of dreams. Nothing is impossible to achieve and the film is proof enough that Telugu cinema has finally arrived at the cinematic altar, although a tad too late, to raise its head high and redefine the rules of the game. Rajamouli accomplished that to a good extent with his previous film, Eega and he has truly evolved as a filmmaker with Baahubali. How else would you describe a grand spectacle that Baahubali is? It’s a spellbinding film almost till the end, and then it ends so abruptly that it leaves you with so many questions that it feels inconclusive, which in itself is a gutsy move. Baahubali is a folklore which focuses on Shivudu’s (Prabhas) journey to discover his true identity, which sets him on a path to fulfil his destiny. He lives with his foster parents at the edge of a mammoth waterfall and right from his childhood, he is told to stop thinking about what lies beyond the waterfall. With time, his curiosity about what lies beyond the waterfall increases and that, in turn, drives him to explore unchartered territories. One fine day, he comes across a mask, which sparks even more curiosity to scale the waterfall. He does just that in search of a mysterious warrior woman Avanthika (Tamannaah). Elsewhere, in the kingdom of Mahishmathi, ruled by Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati), we are told that Devasena (Anushka) has been held captive and like everyone else, she’s waiting for Baahubali (also played by Prabhas) to put an end to the atrocities in the realm. The rest of the story is about how Shivudu discovers his royal lineage and the legend of Amarendra Baahubali himself. Without giving away too much, let’s just say that Baahubali, the film, is a tribute to the Chandamama Kathalu, which were filled with magnificent tales of warriors and kings. In a way, the film has reinvented folklore, as a genre, for the current generation, nearly three decades after Telugu filmmakers stopped telling such stories. It’s a visual spectacle right from its onset and it boasts of several stunning sequences which are loaded with visual effects. A case in point being the kingdom of Mahishmathi itself. Everytime the camera looms over the kingdom, the sheer magnitude of the landscape is palpable. And then, there’s the much-talked about war sequence itself which is the epitome of what happens when a filmmaker executes his vision to near perfection. It has no parallel in Indian cinema and that in itself is the single most bang-for-the-buck segment in the end. Like Rajamouli’s previous films, Baahubali has a strong emotional undercurrent throughout the film. A young man who is yet to discover his destiny; a tyrant king who is engulfed with rage and arrogance; a woman who never gives up on her burning desire to kill the king; and above all, a warrior who would do anything to protect the people in his kingdom. Bhallaladeva’s struggle for power to wrest control over Mahishmathi makes him blind to all rules of justice and on the other end of the spectrum is Baahubali, who commands respect and affection from everyone. Apart from Bhallaladeva and Baahubali, the other two interesting characters in the film are Devasena and Shivagami (Ramyakrishna); however, we are only given a glimpse of the complexity in their characterisation. Both Anushka and Ramyakrishna shine in their roles and it makes you want to see more of them. And the same goes for Tamannaah, who might very well be the Indian avatar of Katniss Everdeen (from Hunger Games). This is also the first time that a Rajamouli’s film had such strong characterisations for women and it’ll be interesting to see how they have an impact on Baahubali’s life in the second part of the film. For the first time in his career, Rana Daggubati makes you stand up and take notice of what he is capable of doing. Take that scene where he interacts with Devasena for the first time - the baritone of Bhallaladeva’s voice and the subsequent build up to the interval scene makes you wonder what’s brewing in his mind. And then, there’s PRABHAS. The actor looks every bit a king and a warrior as Baahubali, and it’s a treat to watch him in the battlefield. And by the time the credits roll, you know that no other actor would have carried off this role with such panache. The film gives us plenty to talk about Senthil’s exemplary cinematography, Sabu Cyril’s production design and the visual effects, supervised by Srinivas Mohan, which are by far the best in Indian cinema. Most of the song, scored by MM Keeravani, as used a background theme songs to describe the characters and that works quite well. Watch out for the terrific background score in the war sequence and it’ll make you want to scream with joy. Kudos to Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni, who produced the film under Arka Mediaworks, for believing in Rajamouli's vision to make a truly epic film. All said and done, the film still feels incomplete and true to its name, Baahubali - The Beginning is more of a prelude to what’s in store for the audience for the second part, which is due for release in 2016. There are several unanswered questions and the backstories of Devasena, Bhallaladeva’s rise to power, Shivagami, Kattappa (Sathyaraj) and Bijjaladeva (Nasser) power games, and Avantika are yet to be revealed. The first part of Baahubali gives an explanation to Shivudu’s question - “Nenu eppudu choodani kallu, nannu devudi la choosthunnayi. Nenu Evarni? (The eyes which I have never seen before are looking at me as if I’m their god. Who am I?)” And the climax comes to an abrupt end which itself is quite a surprising move by Rajamouli. Perhaps, a move like this has never been attempted before in Telugu cinema so far and it leaves you wanting for more in the end. For the uninitiated, Rajamouli’s films usually unravel like an orchestra. The beginning is slow and then the tempo rises to a crescendo when the story comes a mid-point. The second half is the key to his storytelling and Baahubali is a classic example of his style. The lows are intentional and they provide the perfect launchpad to elevate the hero’s characterisation at the right moment. Back in 2009, when he made Magadheera, it led to a notion that this is best we can do given our resources and budget. And in less than six years, he has grown so confident about his vision that Baahubali feels like the best Indian film industry can offer given its limited resources compared to Hollywood. He has arrived on the national scene with a bang and how! In the end, it’s not about the budget or time spent to make the film. It’s not even about what one might think of Prabhas or Rajamouli or every other actor present in the film. Baahubali is not just a film, it’s an idea. An idea that makes you gasp in wonder and makes you fall in love with movies all over again. An idea that you can dream big and not be afraid because there are no limits to what you can dream of. At a runtime of 2 hours 39 minutes, the film feels short once you get hooked into the storytelling. If you thought the climax was abrupt, despite watching it for more than 2.5 hours, it is meant to be that way. For now, Baahubali just gives us a glimpse of life and power games in Mahishmathi. The real drama is in Baahubali - The Conclusion. And going by the first part of the film, it looks like the wait will be totally worth it. (Hemanth Kumar is a Hyderabad-based film journalist. This review was first published on idreampost.com) |
Former CIA Director John Brennan’s Tuesday confirmation of troubling contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian operatives was actually good news, according to the White House. Hours after Brennan testified before the House Intelligence Committee that evidence of those contacts troubled his agency enough to prompt a major federal investigation, the Trump administration released a brief, anonymous statement eliding that bit of his testimony. “This morning’s hearings back up what we’ve been saying all along: that despite a year of investigation, there is still no evidence of any Russia-Trump campaign collusion, that the President never jeopardized intelligence sources or sharing, and that even Obama’s CIA Director believes the leaks of classified information are ‘appalling’ and the culprits must be ‘tracked down,'” the statement read. The Trump administration has long argued that the sprawling probe into Russia’s election meddling and potential collusion with Trump aides is a “witch hunt,” and that the slow drip of leaked information about that investigation is the “real story.” While Brennan did criticize leaks in Tuesday’s hearing, he expressed worry that Russia managed to “gain the cooperation” of people associated with Trump’s campaign, even without their knowledge. Brennan also testified that if the President shared highly classified Israeli intelligence with Russian officials at the White House as reported, he violated intelligence-sharing protocol. “It appears as though, at least from the press reports, that neither did it go in the proper channels nor did the originating agency have the opportunity to clear language for it,” Brennan said. “That is a problem.” In a separate Tuesday hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats declined to comment on a report that Trump asked him to publicly push back on the FBI’s probe. “I have always believed that given the nature of my position and the information which we share, it is not appropriate for me to comment publicly on any of that,” Coats said. |
Journalists and activists have been asking me this week about the news that the Obama administration is now considering whether to support the latest version of the FBI's "Going Dark" legislation. Here are some points to add to the discussion. This is far from law currently. Nobody's even published any proposed text. Right now the White House is considering whether to back it, and now is a great time to help them understand how dangerous it would be for America. Forcing backdoors in communication tools is a mandate for insecurity. Haven't they been paying attention to just how much these same systems are under attack from foreign governments and criminals? Did they not learn any lessons from the wiretapping scandals in Greece and Italy, where CALEA backdoors were used to surveil politicians, without law enforcement even knowing about it? You cannot add a backdoor to a communications system without making it more vulnerable to attack, both from insiders and from the outside. The Justice Department is being really short-sighted here by imagining that the world is black and white. We've heard from people at the FBI, DEA, NSA, etc who use Tor for their job. If we changed the design so we could snoop on people, those users should go use a system that isn't broken by design — such as one in another country. And if those users should, why wouldn't criminals switch too? In any case, it seems likely that the law won't apply to The Tor Project, since we don't run the Tor network and also it's not a service. (We write free open source software, and then people run it to form a network.) The current CALEA already has an ugly trickle-down effect on the citizens of other countries. Different governments have different standards for lawful access, but the technology doesn't distinguish. So when the Egyptian general plugs in his telco box and sees the connector labelled "lawful access", he thinks to himself "I *am* the law" and proceeds with surveilling his citizens to stay in power. To put it bluntly, America's lawful intercept program undermines its foreign policy goals. And lastly, we should all keep in mind that they can't force us to do anything. You always have the alternative of stopping whatever it is you're doing. So for example if they try to "force" an individual directory authority operator to do something, the operator should just stop operating the authority (and then consider working with EFF and ACLU to establish precedent that such an attempt was illegal). And so on, all the way up the chain. Good thing the Internet is an international community. |
Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard pounds the gavel marking the end of the first day of the 2016 legislative session Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, at the State House building in Montgomery, Ala. Hubbard's ethics trial begins Tuesday, May 24, 2016. (Photo: Albert Cesare, Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser) MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A trial will begin Tuesday that could cut through Alabama politics like a coroner's knife, with all the grisly revelations that follow. Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker should hear opening arguments in Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s trial on 23 felony ethics counts, after a possible hearing dealing with outstanding motions in the case Tuesday morning. Prosecutors with the Alabama Attorney General's Office say Hubbard used his public offices — first as Alabama Republican Party chairman, then as House Speaker — to secure consulting clients and business investments in violation of the Alabama Ethics Act. Hubbard, a Republican from Auburn, maintains his innocence and his attorneys say the transactions were proper. The proceedings may pull in other notable political figures, including Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley; former governor Bob Riley and dozens of legislators, lobbyists and staffers, who all could testify in the case. Hundreds of emails Hubbard sent and received between 2011 and 2013, already included in the case file, will add to the debate by attorneys about the meaning of actions and transactions Hubbard had with dozens of politicians, lobbyists and business leaders inside and outside of Montgomery. Beyond the courtroom, the outcome of the trial could have a significant effect on Alabama politics and the House of Representatives at a time when Bentley and Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore find themselves stuck in their own controversies. The case The charges against Hubbard fall into four broad categories: • Prosecutors accuse the speaker, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party from 2007 to 2011, of steering party advertising and printing business to the Auburn Network, his consulting firm, and Craftmasters, an Auburn-based printing firm in which Hubbard held a partial interest. • Hubbard also is accused of using his office to secure consulting contracts — one with the Southeast Alabama Gas District worth $12,000 a month — and of soliciting lobbyists, including Riley, for jobs or investments. • The speaker also is accused of inserting language in a General Fund budget that would have benefited the American Pharmacy Cooperative Inc., a consulting client, and later voting for that budget. • Hubbard also faces charges of lobbying Bentley and Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield on behalf of clients. Conviction on any one of the counts would leave Hubbard facing up to 20 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. It also would trigger his removal from office. The attorneys in the speaker’s case are under a gag order until the conclusion of the trial, but potential arguments have emerged in the hundreds of filings made since a grand jury indicted Hubbard in October 2014. In a February 2015 motion, prosecutors argued that Hubbard, who lost his job with sports marketing firm IMG shortly after becoming speaker, went to lobbyists to make up the difference. “Hubbard was motivated by his financial problems, including the loss of his employment with IMG, to solicit lobbyists and principals for things of value (i.e. consulting contracts for Auburn Network, financial favors, etc.),” the filing stated. “Hubbard’s solicitation of persons with interests before the Alabama legislature was also directly related to his service as a public official.” “There are a lot of problems presenting ethics cases. You don’t know what the jury’s attitude is. Some jurors may take the attitude, ‘Yeah he’s guilty, but so is everyone else.’” John Carroll, a professor at Cumberland School of Law and a former federal judge Hubbard has defended some of the transactions. The speaker argues Craftmasters allowed economies of scale that saved the party money and notes the Alabama Ethics Commission approved the $12,000 per month contract with Southeast Alabama Gas District. Hubbard also says his American Pharmacy Cooperative Inc. contract focused on out-of-state issues. But the speaker’s defense team said relatively little about the charges over the last 18 months as they focused on an unsuccessful attempt to have the case dismissed over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. In a filing last September, attorney Mark White, who represented Hubbard until January, addressed the counts in a broader filing seeking to dismiss the case on grounds that the Alabama Ethics Act — which Hubbard championed and voted for — was unconstitutionally vague and broad as applied to the speaker, and wrote that Hubbard had a First Amendment right to lobby for his clients. “The Act, as applied, simply does not provide the citizens of Alabama fair warning as to what constitutes legal versus illegal conduct,” White wrote. Walker denied the motion in February. During jury selection, Hubbard attorney David McKnight suggested a possible defense strategy, telling potential jurors Hubbard was “an entrepreneur and a businessman and a salesman” who may have been “pushy” but did not break any laws. John Carroll, a professor at Cumberland School of Law and a former federal judge, said Friday the prosecution would have to keep the jury “organized” as it presents the 23 charges, though he said the job would be easier because of the overlapping nature of most of the counts. The defense, he said, would have to convince the jury “the facts don’t amount to an ethics law violation.” But making the case, he said, was more challenging than prosecuting violent crimes, where there are clear victims. “There are a lot of problems presenting ethics cases,” he said. “You don’t know what the jury’s attitude is. Some jurors may take the attitude. ‘Yeah he’s guilty, but so is everyone else.’ ” Follow Brian Lyman on Twitter: @lyman_brian Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1TGWur8 |
Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. FRANCE is bracing itself for more disruption after 1.1m-2.7m demonstrators took to the streets, in hundreds of towns across the country, as part of a 24-hour national strike against President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reform. The turn-out was better than trade-union leaders had hoped for, and far higher than a previous day of action in June. Train drivers, teachers, post-office staff, air-traffic controllers, and other mostly public-sector workers, some wheeling children's buggies, others banging festive drums, took part. Flush with their success, union leaders are now hoping to press the government for further concessions. Mr Sarkozy wants to raise the minimum legal pension age from 60 to 62 years. This is a relatively modest change by the standards of some other European countries, which are pushing the retirement age up to 65 or even 67. The government forecasts that retirement at 62 will reduce by €18.6 billion the €42 billion state pension-fund shortfall expected by 2018. Tax increases, including a raise in the top income-tax rate from 40% to 41%, will make up a further €4 billion; the rest will come from general government spending. Yet the reform is symbolically important. France has not touched the legal retirement age since the early 1980s, when it was cut to 60 years. Previous governments have tinkered with contribution rules to try to make the numbers add up, but never dared to meddle with retirement at 60. Back in 1995 Alain Juppé, prime minister under President Jacques Chirac, was forced to withdraw a more modest pension reform after weeks of chaos on French streets. Union leaders and the opposition Socialist Party, which is also against the reform, argue that the government cannot afford to appear deaf to such this week's show of public opposition. Martine Aubry, the Socialist boss, called the reform “unfair”, and called on the government to “go back to square one”, and withdraw the legislation, which is currently going through parliament. “If we are not listened to, there will be further protests,” declared Bernard Thibault, leader of the powerful Confédération Générale du Travail. Union chiefs now need to decide whether to call another national strike this month. Some are talking about another one-day strike later this month, when parliament is due to vote on the reform. Mr Sarkozy is in an awkward corner. His popularity has dropped to record lows. His own political camp is restless, and some deputies fear he has lost his political touch. The Socialist Party is freshly confident, and has started to believe in its chances of election at the next presidential poll in 2012. Mr Sarkozy says he will not budge on the retirement age. But he will be tempted to give some ground, in order to thwart further disruption. Certain concessions at the margin, over issues such as special rules for those who have done hard labour (pénibilité), would not necessarily make for a bad deal. But to go too far would only save him trouble in the short run. It would do nothing to restore his credibility as a reformer and a leader ready to take unpopular decisions, without which he has no chances of re-election in 2012. |
High-altitude nuclear explosions are the result of nuclear weapons testing. Several such tests were performed at high altitudes by the United States and the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1962. EMP generation [ edit ] The strong electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that results has several components. In the first few tenths of nanoseconds, about a tenth of a percent of the weapon yield appears as powerful gamma rays with energies of one to three mega-electron volts (MeV, a unit of energy). The gamma rays penetrate the atmosphere and collide with air molecules, depositing their energy to produce huge quantities of positive ions and recoil electrons (also known as Compton electrons). The impacts create MeV-energy Compton electrons that then accelerate and spiral along the Earth's magnetic field lines. The resulting transient electric fields and currents that arise generate electromagnetic emissions in the radio frequency range of 15 to 250 megahertz (MHz, or fifteen million to 250 million cycles per second). This high-altitude EMP occurs between 30 and 50 kilometers (18 and 31 miles) above the Earth's surface. The potential as an anti-satellite weapon became apparent in August 1958 during Hardtack Teak. The EMP observed at the Apia Observatory at Samoa was four times more powerful than any created by solar storms, while in July 1962 the Starfish Prime test, damaged electronics in Honolulu and New Zealand (approximately 1,300 kilometers away), fused 300 street lights on Oahu (Hawaii), set off about 100 burglar alarms, and caused the failure of a microwave repeating station on Kauai, which cut off the sturdy telephone system from the other Hawaiian islands. The radius for an effective satellite kill for the various Compton radiation produced by such a nuclear weapon in space was determined to be roughly 80 km. Further testing to this end was carried out, and embodied in a Department of Defense program, Program 437. The mechanism for a 400 km high-altitude burst EMP: gamma rays hit the atmosphere between 20–40 km altitude, ejecting electrons which are then deflected sideways by the Earth's magnetic field. Drawbacks [ edit ] There are problems with nuclear weapons carried over to testing and deployment scenarios, however. Because of the very large radius associated with nuclear events, it was nearly impossible to prevent indiscriminate damage to other satellites, including one's own satellites. Starfish Prime produced an artificial radiation belt in space that soon destroyed three satellites (Ariel, TRAAC, and Transit 4B all failed after traversing the radiation belt, while Cosmos V, Injun I and Telstar 1 suffered minor degradation, due to some radiation damage to solar cells, etc.). The radiation dose rate was at least 60 rads/day at four months after Starfish for a well-shielded satellite or manned capsule in a polar circular earth orbit, which caused NASA concern with regard to its manned space exploration programs. Differences from atmospheric tests [ edit ] In general, nuclear effects in space (or very high altitudes) have a qualitatively different display. While an atmospheric nuclear explosion has a characteristic mushroom-shaped cloud, high-altitude and space explosions tend to manifest a spherical 'cloud,' reminiscent of other space-based explosions until distorted by Earth's magnetic field, and the charged particles resulting from the blast can cross hemispheres to create an auroral display which has led documentary maker Peter Kuran to characterize these detonations as 'the rainbow bombs'. The visual effects of a high-altitude or space-based explosion may last longer than atmospheric tests, sometimes in excess of 30 minutes. Heat from the Bluegill Triple Prime shot, at an altitude of 50 kilometers (31 mi), was felt by personnel on the ground at Johnston Atoll, and this test caused retina burns to two personnel at ground zero who were not wearing their safety goggles. Soviet high-altitude tests [ edit ] The Soviets detonated four high-altitude tests in 1961 and three in 1962. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, both the US and the USSR detonated several high-altitude nuclear explosions as a form of saber rattling. The worst effects of a Soviet high-altitude test occurred on 22 October 1962, in the Soviet Project K nuclear tests (ABM System A proof tests) when a 300 kt missile-warhead detonated near Dzhezkazgan at 290-km altitude. The EMP fused 570 km of overhead telephone line with a measured current of 2,500 A, started a fire that burned down the Karaganda power plant, and shut down 1,000-km of shallow-buried power cables between Tselinograd and Alma-Ata. The Partial Test Ban Treaty was passed the following year, ending atmospheric and exoatmospheric nuclear tests. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 banned the stationing and use of nuclear weapons in space. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty of 1996 prohibits all kinds of nuclear explosions; whether over- or underground, underwater or in the atmosphere. List of high-altitude nuclear explosions [ edit ] Starfish Prime test, as seen from a KC-135 aircraft at 3 minutes. The debris fireball and aurora created by thetest, as seen from a KC-135 aircraft at 3 minutes. Starfish Prime flash as seen through heavy cloud cover from Theflash as seen through heavy cloud cover from Honolulu , 1,300 km away. Mission Date Yield Altitude USA Hardtack I – Johnston Atoll, Pacific Ocean Yucca 28 April 1958 7006170000000000000♠ 1.7 kt 7004262000000000000♠ 26.2 km Teak 1 August 1958 7009380000000000000♠ 3.8 Mt 7004768000000000000♠ 76.8 km Orange 12 August 1958 7009380000000000000♠ 3.8 Mt 7004340000000000000♠ 34 km USA Argus – South Atlantic Ocean Argus I 27 August 1958 7006170000000000000♠ 1.7 kt 7005200000000000000♠ 200 km Argus II 30 August 1958 7006170000000000000♠ 1.7 kt 7005240000000000000♠ 240 km Argus III 6 September 1958 7006170000000000000♠ 1.7 kt 7005540000000000000♠ 540 km Soviet Union – 1961 tests – Kapustin Yar Test #88 6 September 1961 7007105000000000000♠ 10.5 kt 7004227000000000000♠ 22.7 km Test #115 6 October 1961 7007400000000000000♠ 40 kt 7004413000000000000♠ 41.3 km Test #127 27 October 1961 7006120000000000000♠ 1.2 kt 7005150000000000000♠ 150 km Test #128 27 October 1961 7006120000000000000♠ 1.2 kt 7005300000000000000♠ 300 km USA – Dominic I – (Operation Fishbowl) – Johnston Atoll, Pacific Ocean Bluegill 3 June 1962 failed Bluegill Prime 25 July 1962 failed Bluegill Double Prime 15 October 1962 failed Bluegill Triple Prime 26 October 1962 7008410000000000000♠ 410 kt 7004500000000000000♠ 50 km Starfish 20 June 1962 failed Starfish Prime 9 July 1962 7009140000000000000♠ 1.4 Mt 7005400000000000000♠ 400 km Checkmate 20 October 1962 7006700000000000000♠ 7 kt 7005147000000000000♠ 147 km Kingfish 1 November 1962 7008410000000000000♠ 410 kt 7004970000000000000♠ 97 km Soviet Union – Project K – Kapustin Yar Test #184 22 October 1962 7008300000000000000♠ 300 kt 7005290000000000000♠ 290 km Test #187 28 October 1962 7008300000000000000♠ 300 kt 7005150000000000000♠ 150 km Test #195 1 November 1962 7008300000000000000♠ 300 kt 7004590000000000000♠ 59 km See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] US Government Films: |
Counsel assisting the child sex abuse royal commission has made damning submissions of 77 potential findings regarding the Jehovah’s Witness organisation. They include that the policy of shunning those who leave the organisation is in conflict with the belief that Jehovah God is a compassionate god. In submissions published today, Angus Stewart SC said the Jehovah’s Witness organisation receives three to four reports of allegations of child sexual abuse each month and since 1950 the Jehovah’s Witness organisation has received allegations of child sexual abuse against 1006 of its members relating to at least 1800 victims. Read Next He submitted in that period, the organisation has not reported a single allegation to the police or other authorities, even though 579 of those against whom allegations were made confessed to having committed child sexual abuse. He submitted it was open for the commission to find that it is the policy and practice of the Jehovah’s Witness organisation in Australia not to report allegations of child sexual abuse to the police or other authorities unless required by law to do so. “There is therefore an element of hypocrisy in the Jehovah’s Witness organisation claiming credit for having obtained clearances for working with children for its elders and ministerial servants, but at the same time not reporting the offences of its elders and ministerial servants which would prevent them from being able to obtain working with children clearance,” Mr Stewart said. He advised the commission could find the documented practice of the Jehovah’s Witness organisation of not reporting child sexual abuse to the authorities undermined the efficacy of the working with children check system — “a system to which the organisation says it subscribes and with which it says it complies”. Mr Stewart submitted the Jehovah’s Witness organisation’s policy of requiring its adherents to actively shun those who leave the organisation is cruel on those who leave and on their friends and family who remain behind. It was particularly cruel on those who have suffered child sexual abuse in the organisation and wish to leave because they feel that their complaints have not been adequately dealt with. He submitted the policy of shunning is not apparently justified by the Scriptures which are cited in support of it, is adopted and enforced in order to prevent people from leaving the organisation and thereby to maintain its membership. He further said the policy is in conflict with the organisation’s professed support for freedom of religious choice and the belief that Jehovah God is a compassionate God who recognises the worth and dignity of all human beings. Submissions by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia rejected or amended almost all of the suggested findings. |
For the past week or so, pockets of the internet have been a blaze about the recent surfacing of ‘official’ Microsoft renders for the upcoming flagship smartphones. From tech enthusiasts sounding off in comment sections on their favorite tech blogs to avid Microsoft devotees and detractors mincing words in volatile Reddit threads, everyone seems to have an opinion on Microsoft’s rumored devices. I skipped around the internet over the weekend attempting to quench my insatiable thirst for more information about the devices. The journey was two-fold as it also inflated a confirmation bias I had developed regarding the proposed flagship offerings from Microsoft. I personally thought the renders were half-assed and lackluster. While many of the mainstream tech sites regurgitated the photos and posted bullet point spec sheets, I found much deeper discussions about the devices and predictions on Microsoft’s future in the comment sections. Judging by what I read, Microsoft should be apprehensive about releasing these phones. However, taking a step back from my long-standing involvement with the Windows Phone ecosystem, I realistically asked myself, are Microsoft’s upcoming Cityman and Talkman the flagship devices Windows 10 Mobile needs? Yes! (in Christian Bale’s Batman voice) Similar to other die hard Windows Phone fans, my first reaction to the renders was to ‘kill it with fire.’ When the images first posted, what I initially perceived was an insult to both my sensibilities and the patience I awarded Microsoft as a fan. It seemed that after watching countless flagships from Apple, Sony, LG, HTC, and Samsung pass me by, Microsoft finally got around to offering me a Lumia 640 and 640XL with a camera bump. My rage was quickly washed over by a sudden sinking realization that once again, Microsoft over promised and under delivered, and I had fallen for it, yet again. However, after reading a couple hundred or so comments all ringing the same bells of “it looks like a low-end device” or “Microsoft is dropping the ball” I began looking for deviations in the conversation. Almost on the turn of a dime, I started looking for dissenters just to see what counter-arguments they could muster for the lifeless and seemingly soul crushing renders Microsoft had to offer. It was in the few counter points being offered that I made the realization, that the Cityman/Talkman devices are the phones that Microsoft and Windows Phone fans need, right now. [pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”with each new phone or operating system update, Microsoft traded one set of unresolved issues for another”[/pullquote] Over the past couple of years, Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform has bled users from a thousand tiny cuts, many self-inflicted by the company. Without apps, users left or avoided the Windows Phone platform. Without iteratively building on flagship designs or concepts, users left the Windows Phone platform. Without a single representative device on every carrier, or equal international distribution, users left the platform. Without a cohesive software strategy or operating system feature parity with its own platform and others, users left the Windows platform. Without a cohesively branded marketing effort or device specific story, users left the Windows platform. The list goes on and with each new phone or operating system update, Microsoft traded one set of unresolved issues for another. The Rationale The way I’m beginning to rationalize the Cityman/Talkman renders is by accepting that Microsoft has missed the smartphone behavioral cycle. Unfortunately, Microsoft was slow to offer a competing product when users were shaping new behaviors around using smartphones. As Microsoft raced behind iOS and Android to provide feature parity, smartphone users were developing smartphone behavioral navigations and etiquette on other platforms. For instance, the whack-a-mole app paradigm commonly used by iOS and most Android developers is a seemingly impenetrable learned behavior. Most, if not all attempts to reroute user behavior away from excessively jumping in and out of apps to navigate an OS have all but fallen into obscurity. Another example, the idea of modernizing the web has taken a backseat to the buffet-style native app selection users have grown accustomed to. Similar to how Windows helped change the behavior of personal computing and interacting with GUI interfaces rather than command prompts, iOS and Android are changing how people use smartphones. Sadly, Microsoft has been forced to sit on the lawn and listened to the muffled sounds coming from within the house party. However, Cityman/Talkman offer Microsoft the chance to grab people’s attention when they inevitably leave the party. Ironically, I see Cityman/Talkman renders as the physical manifestation of Windows 10. Similar to how Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices offer mirrored disjointed representations of one another, so too does Windows 10 and Cityman/Talkman renders. Arguably, Windows 8.1 was about late bolted-on additions and repacking previously shunned paradigms in Windows. The continued use of colorful tiles, mixed with a half-hearted return to the desktop was the PC story for Windows 8.1. On the mobile side, brightly colored phones adding basic and long overdue features, many of which contradicted the early spirit of Windows Phone was the story for much of 8 and 8.1’s development cycle. While Windows 8’s poor reception may have had a small part in dragging down Windows Phone 8’s adoption, Windows 10 may have a much larger part in the adoption of Windows Phone 10. The idea of Windows 10 isn’t so much to pretty up the operating system as much as Microsoft is trying to change the way people interact with it. Understandably, the company is smoothing out animations and redoing flat design where necessary help modernize the Windows platform for casual users. However, items such as Cortana, user feedback submissions, default encryption, bundled software apps, Windows Hello, and One-Microsoft account IDs are essential in the way Microsoft supports the reshaping of user engagement in Windows 10. Judging from the Cityman/Talkman renders, that’s exactly what the two devices are offering as well. Neither of the two devices are showstopping works of art. However, their physical simplicity will act as a canvas for new user behaviors through cross-platform exposure. Hardware, Software, Accessories Beginning with the hardware, it looks like Microsoft is taking a similar approach to developing something created by the request of users. Understandably, die-hard Windows Phone users may have been spoiled by fan created renders that left many salivating on the possibilities of the next flagship. Unfortunately, reality tends to be less satisfying than fantasy. However, hardware-wise, both Cityman, and Talkman offer the hardware users have been pitching for with each subsequent Lumia release. From built-in Qi wireless charging to an Iris Scanner, both Cityman and Talkman offer an uncompromising spec list. Future proofing devices with a robust spec list affords Microsoft a longer window of opportunity to deliver a refined software experience. Cityman/Talkman users will also benefit from a stacked spec list with the ability to hold onto their device for a longer period. As contract subsidies are changing (at least in North America), upgrading phones becomes a bit more of research intensive experience. Rather than mechanical up-front price drops for yearly contracts, phones will now need to prove their longevity in favor of reduced monthly payments for many smartphone owners. Having a phone built for the future such as the Cityman/Talkman, will be a compliment to a changing behavior in smartphone shopping. Much of the conversation currently surrounding Cityman/Talkman is in regards to the hardware or the ‘looks’ of the device. Perhaps, two of the most important aspects these new devices is being overshadowed or lost in knee-jerk reactions and conversations. Chiefly, the software. As a Windows 10 Mobile Insider, I encourage armchair designers to refocus their frustrations and verbal acumen towards the upcoming release of Windows 10 Mobile software. Microsoft and Nokia arguably made one of the best competing phablets of 2013 with the Lumia 1520. However, the device was hobbled by the Windows Phone 8 and subsequent Windows 8.1 user experiences. The smartphone powerhouse quickly became relegated to the what-could-have-been section of conversations. With Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 being predominantly a portrait user experience, without stylus support or specialized software, the 6-inch real estate became a cumbersome detractor to the device for many. During the early phablet adopter stage, the Lumia 1520 was a missed opportunity, mainly due to its software. Ideally, Cityman and Talkman will avoid a similar fate. Windows 10 Mobile is tied to Windows 10 PC development. Fortunately, for Windows Mobile fans much of Windows 10 responsive landscape orientation is being ported to the Cityman/Talkman devices enabling long overdue versatility for the operating system. For better or for worse, Windows 10 Mobile is shaping up to offer a more granular experience for smartphones. Like the Surface, a Cityman/Talkman device could offer a similarly powerful yet portable computing experience for users. As a Windows Phone fan, I’ve decided to stop harping on rounded corners, placement of flash modules on cameras and the use of polycarbonate, and rather demanding more Surface Pen-like integration in the software. As more people begin to use Windows 10 software, Windows 10 Mobile should run in stride with their experiences. Rather than forcing people to adhere to the segregation of user experiences due to hardware, Cityman/Talkman software could help reshape concepts around fluid computing. The Surface has begun chipping away at the walls of segregated computing, Cityman, and Talkman devices are poised to continue that effort. Beyond the hardware and software Cityman and Talkman are sporting, it seems these devices are finally incorporating a useful ecosystem. Not to be mistaken with the commonly interpreted app paradigm; I’m referring to covers, stylus, device hubs, and other phone accessories. While they are only unconfirmed rumors at this point, we’ve heard of a slew of accessories specifically designed for the two devices. Surface Pro 3-like pens, smart covers to display Windows 10 Mobile notifications and USB Type-C powered docking stations for Continuum are allegedly being released within months of Cityman and Talkman’s debut. Prior to this news, the best Windows Phone users could hope for when it came to accessories was a rehashed One M8 or Galaxy smart cover. Worst yet, Windows Phone users are often left hoping the back of a third party accessory that reads ‘mobile’ rather than iOS and Android specific compatibility. As the smartphone becomes the mobile computing hub for most, its usefulness becomes more apparent in its ability to extend computing to peripherals. While Android is the most used mobile operating system, Apple has arguably been more successful in extending its single device into a varied 3rd party accessory ecosystem. As Windows 10 Mobile hitches its development to Windows 10, feature specific accessories and standards coming to Windows 10 like Continnum, and various WiFi and Bluetooth standards will make their way down to these more than capable devices. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”No matter how attractive the next Microsoft phone should be, behaviors around using smartphones have solidified around a couple of ecosystems.”[/pullquote] Living inside a tech bubble, some of us routinely compare tech to the other tech and search for trends and historical precedents to predict the future. It’s the behavioral changes that gradually come out of nowhere and level current markets more often than not. Google changed behaviors with search, Apple did so with smartphone computing, Facebook and Amazon are doing it with social communication and retail shopping. As much as it saddens me to say, Microsoft effectively missed the smartphone behavioral train. No matter how attractive the next Microsoft phone should be, behaviors around using smartphones have solidified around a couple of ecosystems. So, when asked, are Microsoft’s upcoming Cityman and Talkman the flagships Windows Mobile needs? My answer remains a confident yes. When people eventually wrap their heads around how smartphones are being used rather than the designs or specs they hold, it’s the behaviors that begin to surface to the conversation. What Cityman and Talkman may lack in looks, they are poised to make up in a user experiences that can help shape the next user behavior around mobile computing. Both devices (dependent entirely on Windows 10 Mobile execution of course) are set up to offer powerful and productive computing across PCs, tablets, and phones. Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices claimed to do just that, however, the reality was only surface deep. Since most Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 devices were under-powered and feature-deficient, shared experiences were done mainly through OneDrive and some small theme options in Windows. While it remains to be seen, Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile will share everything from kernel codes to app settings, as well as cloud-connected information across platforms. More importantly, Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile should be on very similar if not identical development paths. Being on the same development paths should see Cityman/Talkman become the recipients of Windows 10’s rapid release cycles. Iterative updates versus glacial pacing have been something sorely missed from every phase of Windows Phone development. |
Cadillac CTS-V Coupe Race Car to Appear in iRacing Giuseppe Nelva February 9, 2012 10:45:30 AM EST iRacing.com announced today with a press release that the developer stroke a deal with Cadillac to add the CTS-V Coupe Race Car to the range of high performance cars available to iRacing players. The Cadillac CTS-V race edition cars are currently being prepared by Team Cadillac based on the 556-horsepower CTS-V Coupe for the 2012 Pirelli World Challenge season. According to the press release iRacing personnel will travel to the Team Cadillac race shop, Pratt & Miller Engineering, near Detroit in the coming weeks to begin the process of creating a digital version of the CTS-V. In addition to utilizing CAD files and blueprints, the iRacing vehicle dynamics engineers will take precise measurements of one of the Pirelli World Challenge Cadillacs to insure the authenticity of the car’s appearance and performance. The iRacing team will develop a prototype for testing and development in order to insure the virtual Cadillac CTS-V drives like the real one. iRacing’s Cadillac CTS-V is expected to be available to iRacing members in the spring of 2012. iRacing.com and Cadillac are also planning a joint marketing campaign to maximize the benefits of their new partnership, with details scheduled to be anounced soon. |
Last month, Russ Roberts interviewed organic farmer Lisa Turner for EconTalk. Mrs. Turner is a civil engineer, and she and her husband are the owners of Laughing Stock Farm in Maine. Laughing Stock Farm sells to restaurants as well as to individuals through a community-supported agriculture (CSA) scheme and at farmers markets. The conversation covers everything from the socialist aspects of CSAs to capitalism, and from a typical day in the life of Mrs. Turner to the federal government’s grab of the organic label in the early 2000s. I have learned a lot while listening to it, and a lot of this might eventually inform my lecture on local and organic agriculture in my food policy seminar. You can download or stream the hour-long podcast by clicking here. HT: Jayson Lusk. |
Arrow star Stephen Amell looks back on season one and previews season two in a new Digital Spy interview. Amell - who plays Oliver Queen - talks the "learning curve" of embarking on his Arrow journey and his dynamic with "charming" co-star Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity Smoak). The 32-year-old actor also explains how the death of Tommy (Colin Donnell) in Arrow's 2013 finale will "inform the entire second season" and reveals whether or not he'll star in a Justice League movie. Season two of Arrow will introduce DC Comics hero The Flash - played by Glee's Grant Gustin - and heroine The Black Canary - portrayed by Mad Men actress Caity Lotz. Arrow Season 1 is out today on Blu-ray and DVD. Season 2 starts on Sky1 HD this autumn. Watch a trailer for Arrow season two below: |
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