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— Family members of a staffer for the former Democratic National Committee chair who was arrested this week while attempting to leave the U.S. for Pakistan once worked for several Southern California congressional offices. Imran Awan was fired Tuesday by Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the same day he pleaded not guilty to a bank fraud charge in connection with a $165,000 home equity loan, authorities said. His brother Abid Awan, was employed earlier this year by Democratic Reps. Ted Lieu, Tony Cardenas, and nearly 30 more House Democrats as a “shared employee”, according to Legistorm, a website that tracks congressional employment. March 10 was the most recent end date for Awan’s employment under both Lieu and Cardenas, records show. Lieu made headline in February for releasing a “how to” guide to help members of the Trump administration leak information to the media. In his role as a shared employee providing technical support, Imran Awan had also previously worked for former House Democratic Caucus Chairman and current California attorney general Xavier Becerra. Awan’s attorney, Chris Gowen, confirmed that his client was arrested at Dulles Airport on Monday. He says Awan was cleared to travel and had informed the House of his plans to visit his family before the scheduled trip. Gowen says the federal bank fraud count stems from a “modest real estate matter” and is motivated by anti-Muslim bigotry. He’s confident Awan “will soon be able to clear his name and get on with his life.” Hina Alvi, the wife of Imran Awan, also worked for Schultz and was fired Feb. 2 by Rep. Karen Bass’ office, records show. A second brother, Jamal Awan, was fired by Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) on that same day. Records show he was then terminated days later on Feb. 9 by Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside). FBI investigators say bank records show $283,000 was wired to two individuals in Pakistan, and that Awan purchased a flight to Doha, Qatar, and then to Lahore, Pakistan. He purchased a return flight for a date in Jan. 2018. In an affidavit, FBI Special Agent Brandon Merriman said agents followed Alvi in March to Dulles International Airport and that she was allowed to board a flight. She has not returned. She has a return flight for September 2017, but the agent said that he believes Alvi has no intention of returning to the United States. An arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 21, according to Gowen. (© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.) |
By By James Walker Apr 15, 2016 in Technology Apple recently published a webpage about its commitment to the environment. The page has attracted criticism for revealing the company expects iPhones to last just three years, not a long shelf life for a product costing hundreds of dollars. The statistics are specific to each product. They are measured on a "mixture of actual and modeled customer use data" and used in conjunction with four other aspects of Apple's product life cycle assessment to help determine the company's impact on the environment. Apple Despite the margin of error, Apple's admission that the $600 iPhone is Smartphones are full of heavy metals and rare elements that won't last forever. We won't be able to keep replacing devices continually and at some point longer lifecycles are likely to be considered. The fast pace of the technology market makes manufacturers reluctant to make their products more durable though, instead taking advantage of consumers' willingness to upgrade to make huge profits on devices. In the past, Apple has been accused of purposefully slowing down iPhones with software updates to push people towards buying a new device. The case recently Besides explaining how long its products last, Apple has also Interestingly, Apple fans were quick Despite the concerns regarding product longevity, Apple is known for taking a responsible approach towards their eventual demise. iPhones can be handed into Apple Stores for recycling for free. They'll be stripped down and then scavenged for parts for use in new devices. Apple published the information in a webpage titled "More answers to your questions about Apple and the environment." It assumes the average life of one of its products to be three years for an iPhone or Apple Watch and four years for a Macbook or Apple TV.The statistics are specific to each product. They are measured on a "mixture of actual and modeled customer use data" and used in conjunction with four other aspects of Apple's product life cycle assessment to help determine the company's impact on the environment.Apple bases the data on the time that a device's first owner will use it for. Products may remain operable for longer if they are resold or given to a friend or family member. This is more likely to occur for an iPhone than an Apple TV as few people exchange set-top boxes compared to smartphones.Despite the margin of error, Apple's admission that the $600 iPhone is designed with a three-year life in mind highlights how the technology industry depends on people regularly replacing products. Most people will get a new phone before three years are up, changing device every two years when a typical contract expires.Smartphones are full of heavy metals and rare elements that won't last forever. We won't be able to keep replacing devices continually and at some point longer lifecycles are likely to be considered. The fast pace of the technology market makes manufacturers reluctant to make their products more durable though, instead taking advantage of consumers' willingness to upgrade to make huge profits on devices.In the past, Apple has been accused of purposefully slowing down iPhones with software updates to push people towards buying a new device. The case recently sprung up again in the form of a lawsuit seeking $5 million from Apple for allegedly intentionally slowing down the iPhone 4s with the iOS 9 software update.Besides explaining how long its products last, Apple has also outlined its entire method for working out its impact on the environment. It models manufacturing phases to reduce waste during production, optimizes transport processes to reduce the effect on the environment, analyses the treatment steps required to recycle its products and then combines the results with greenhouse gas emission data to establish the environmental impact of each of its products.Interestingly, Apple fans were quick to note an apparent slip-up in the webpage's contents. The original version referred to Apple's OS X desktop operating system as "MacOS," potentially indicating a rebranding is in the works. Such a change would bring MacOS in line with Apple's other operating systems, iOS, watchOS and tvOS. The reference has since been removed from the page.Despite the concerns regarding product longevity, Apple is known for taking a responsible approach towards their eventual demise. iPhones can be handed into Apple Stores for recycling for free. They'll be stripped down and then scavenged for parts for use in new devices. More about Apple, Ios, Environment, iPhone, apple watch Apple Ios Environment iPhone apple watch |
A pair of Tasmanian devils are on display at the Los Angeles Zoo, making the zoo one of just four in the United States to have real-life versions of the carnivorous marsupials made famous by the "Looney Tunes" cartoons, officials announced today. The brothers are 3 years-old and came from Trowunna Wildlife Park, a private wildlife sanctuary in Tasmania, Australia. They arrived at the Los Angeles Zoo last week. "The arrival of the Tasmanian devils has been a long time coming, and we're pleased we can help educate the public on the plight of this endangered species," according to Jeff Holland, curator of mammals at the Los Angeles Zoo. While prominent in popular culture, Tasmanian devils have seen a 60 percent decline in their population and are considered endangered. Their numbers were largely affected by an outbreak of an infectious cancer called Devil Facial Tumor Disease, but they are also frequently run over by cars, killed by dogs or hunted by foxes, treated poorly by humans, fall victim to disease and suffer from low genetic diversity. Tasmanian devils have stocky builds and large heads, and can grow to between 20 and 31 inches and between 9 to 26 pounds. Their fur is mostly brown and black, with white stripes on their chest, side and rear end. They live to between five and eight years, whether in captivity or in the wild, and their diet consists of the carcasses of snakes, birds, fish, insects and other small or medium-sized prey. City News Service; Photo: Wikimedia Commons |
(CNN) -- A roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan killed a female Canadian soldier and wounded four other troops, the Canadian military said Tuesday. Trooper Karine Blais, 21, is the second Canadian female soldier to die in Afghanistan. Trooper Karine Blais was killed Monday when the troops' armored vehicle struck the bomb. The attack occurred north of Kandahar in the Shah Wali Kowt District of Kandahar province. Blais' death was the 117th Canadian troop fatality in the Afghan war, and she is the second Canadian female soldier killed in Afghanistan. The first, Capt. Nichola Goddard, was killed in a May 2006 firefight with insurgents in Kandahar province, where Canadian troops have been based during the conflict. Brig. Gen. Jonathan Vance, commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, called the 21-year-old Blais "an energetic soldier who gave 100 percent to every challenge she faced using a unique sense of humor based on her honesty and frankness." Vance said Blais "demonstrated the qualities of a future leader" and was "respected by all members of her squadron." "Our thoughts are with the friends and family of our fallen comrade during this difficult time," the Canadian Forces said in a news release. "All members of Task Force Kandahar are thinking of the family and friends of our fallen comrades during this sad time. We will not forget their sacrifice as we continue to bring security and hope to the people of Kandahar province." Blais, from the 12th Canadian Armored Regiment at Valcartier, Quebec, near Quebec City, was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22th Regiment Battle Group. A chopper evacuated the four other troops to a medical facility at Kandahar airfield. Before Monday's attack, the last Canadian deaths in Afghanistan occurred March 20 when four soldiers were killed in two roadside bombings. All About Canada • Afghanistan • Kandahar |
So that's how you beat them... So the streak is over - Sporting Kansas City's seven game winning start to the season finally came unstuck at Portland, where the Timbers also arrested their own record-breaking slide with the victory. Sporting's early season performances have been straight out of the 2011 Galaxy playbook of defensive solidity allied with an ability to take their chances when they arise and a tendency to squeeze the life out of their opponents. In midweek they faced a lively Vancouver side and swept them aside 3-1, despite having only 2 shots on target. Martin Bonjour's unfortunate own goal in that game was sandwiched by Aurelien Collin's scrambled finish and Kamara's deft flick home from Chance Myer's cross. Collin and Myers were to be key figures again in the Timbers game, but for very different reasons. Collin came into the Portland fixture having been an unlikely goalscorer in his previous two games, having shown a real willingness to get forward from the heart of defense. But his defensive duties dominated in this game, as his personal battle with Kris Boyd set the tone for the match, as the two skinheads harried, clashed, harangued and generally bullied their way through the game (both Boyd and Collin picked up bookings for their troubles). Boyd didn't score (again), so a minor victory of sorts for Collin, but nor did Portland back down from a KC side they clearly felt were there for the taking, after their tough week on the road. Myers meanwhile is a more traditional non-scoring defender (he's never scored in MLS), though you wouldn't have known it on Saturday night, when he executed a beautiful diving header, despite the close attention of Julio Cesar, to send the ball crashing past the keeper. Unfortunately the keeper was Jimmy Nielsen and for the second game running an own goal proved decisive for Sporting KC - this time not in their favour. It might not give too much heart to Sporting's pursuers, that the only defeat on their record was self-inflicted, but Portland's decision to put Palmer and Chara in positions to physically compete with Sporting's midfield paid dividends and may offer some further clues for those willing to risk going toe to toe with them. Despite their midweek exertions, Sporting had not showed up cautiously here (a mark of the confidence brought on by their start to the season), but watching Portland refuse to be bullied was a reminder of how important a physical dominance, alongside their more vaunted patient build up play, has been for SKC this year - and what can happen when it's challenged. For their part, Portland fans must have tensed slightly as the clock ticked past the 75 minute mark, after their propensity to give up late goals this season - but they held out to give some cheer to the Timbers Army - and the rest of MLS. GP Toronto's recovery thwarted in just 30 seconds (twice) Aron Winter is not a man given to excess emotion. So the sight of him turning away in disgust at the sight of Chicago's first goal yesterday was positively operatic in scale. It was understandable - he has pinned so much defensive hope on the returning Torsten Frings, so to see the German dispossessed on the edge of the box with 20 seconds gone, and then to see Oduro calmly knocking in the first goal 5 seconds later, must have been particularly galling for a coach who can't catch a break right now. Now Toronto's task began to look really daunting. As the half hour came up, it marked the 300th minute without a home goal this season and despite some lively approach play, it just wasn't looking like that was about to change. So when Reggie Lambe stepped up to score a magnificent goal from the edge of the box (one that was still rising as it hit the top corner), then followed it up four minutes later with an opportunistic shot home from a deflected cross, it must have seemed like a rare gift from the gods for Winter - not that his impassive face betrayed it. . He was right not to show relief. Toronto had experienced the unprecedented giddy heights of holding an MLS lead for just 30 seconds in 2012, when Lambe turned villain - allowing Segares in to equalize at the back post. From there Nyarko's second half winner for Chicago was almost expected and despite a late rally when Frings was pushed into a more advanced position, Toronto ended up with another defeat in the books. Will Winter persist with a back 3 built round Frings? Or will he accept the speed and stamina trade offs of trying to use him in a more advanced position, whilst understanding he'll get less minutes out of him that way in a more physically demanding area of the field? It's a particular MLS DP problem also known as the "Marquez Dilemma" - do you ask a player to function at a shadow of his former best in a familiar position, or do you try to build the team round his limitations to try and get a different kind of sustained value from him? Winter has gone for the latter and at the moment it's not working. Toronto would probably love the spotlight to be shifted off them by a rest week right now, but a trip to Salt Lake awaits next week. Meanwhile Chicago will be relieved to have played a full 90 minutes for the first time in weeks after their return from their own rest week was stymied by thunderstorms in last Sunday's game v Houston (with the game delayed and ultimately abandoned just after the hour mark). On a side note, there was some relief from the frustration as the Section 8 fans turned out, despite the lashing rain, to launch a new tifo whose inclusive message was perhaps all the more pertinent given the day's opponents, who were playing without the still-suspended Colin Clark. GP San Jose Reach The Summit Injuries, suspensions and fixtures were piling up for San Jose and into town came Western Conference leaders Real Salt Lake. But it is now the Earthquakes who lead the West. SJ had a little help from reckless RSL challenges — which saw the Utah side reduced to 9-men as Fabian Espindola and Jamison Olave were given their marching orders — but the 'Quakes were good value for the three points. After securing a 2-2 draw at Red Bull Arena against New York last weekend, (leading Thierry Henry to say San Jose as giving them a footballing lesson) the Earthquakes did not look jaded or leggy as they hosted Jason Kreis' side. SJ had chances early and hit the woodwork, and in the 30th minute RSL's top scorer Espindola was sent off for a two-footed lunge on Sam Cronin. On the stroke of half time Khari Stephenson hammered home to put San Jose 1-0 up. Yet after the break, they were pegged back, as Kyle Beckerman sauntered through their defense, slalom style, then slotted home to make it 1-1. The game changing moment came in the 70th minute, as the controversial figure of Steven Lenhart went clean through but seemed to be hauled down by Olave. The center back was sent off, under much protest, as Lenhart looked to have gone down easily but there was definite contact. The two-man advantage looked to have gone to waste, but Simon Dawkins and Chris Wondolowski, struck with headers in the 92nd and 93rd minutes. Wondo's was his eight of the season, making him the league's joint-top scorer. He has now scored in twelve of his last 13 appearances, scoring 14 goals. So after taking four points from New York and RSL in their last two games, SJ have proved they can step up week in, week out and mix it with the so called "star players" and teams in MLS. They looked solid defensively (currently boasting the third best defense in MLS with just five goals conceded) and ground out the win against an extremely stubborn Salt Like side. Would SJ have won in a similar scenario last year? San Jose returned to the top of the West for the first time since being refounded as an expansion team in 2008. It was also their first win against RSL since July 3, 2009. The result gave head coach Yallop his 100th MLS win. JPW Bruin brings it Will Bruin is not a name that pops up when you discuss the leagues top strikers but he might soon be. The Houston forward, in his second season as a pro, finally looks to be building on the huge potential he showed at the beginning of his rookie season and throughout his college career with the Indiana Hoosiers. On Saturday Bruin scored the opener and set up a late equalizer for strike-partner Brian Ching, in Dynamo's 2-2 draw with Columbus. That partnership with Ching has been a major plus points for Houston - although it is still early days, as Dynamo have played just five games thus far. The Ching soap opera over the offseason was unsavory for everyone concerned, as he was acquired by Montreal and then eventually traded back to the Dynamo. Last season Ching and Bruin showed in flashes what they were capable of. However due to injuries and form, the strikers only started up front four times together in their 38 combined total starts in 2011. Bruin also draws attention with his "dancing bear" goal celebration, which originates from a joke from head coach Kinnear on how Bruin looks when controlling a ball played into his chest. Bruin is the Dynamo's top scorer with two goals in his first five games, but it's his inventive running and work off the ball which has fans and teammates heaping praise on his broad shoulders. Brad Davis on the partnership: "Seeing those guys play well and combine together is good. The biggest thing is seeing Will get the opportunity, and then score, because forwards gain confidence when they score goals and get on a streak. One of the things that people don't recognize is their work off the ball in a big way. Ching's been doing that ever since he came to this club. He gets lumps kicked out of him every single game and maybe he doesn't score, but people don't recognize those little things. Will does it as well and they don't say anything." With Ching by his side, Bruin seems to have found the perfect mentor. Ching is one of the deadliest marksmen in MLS history, the former US national team star has scored 78 MLS goals over his 11-year career. And Bruin looks to be Ching, Mark II. Their onfield stature is very similar, although Buin is much more mobile than veteran Ching is today. Bruin was at times too eager to impress during his rookie season. Now he makes intelligent runs, puts his considerable frame to good use when holding play up and looks composed when in possession. His MLS start wasn't exactly prolific - five goals in his debut season, four of them in his first seven games. He scored a hat trick against DC United on April 29, but failed to find the net again until September 17. With Calen Carr and Carlo Costly waiting in the wings, Bruin knows he has to maintain this season's form. Special mention must also go to Crew midfielder Eddie Gaven, who scored twice in the 2-2 tie with Houston, his second goal a piledriver. JPW Fighting Philly The Philadelphia Union have gone back to basics. The result? Back-to-back 1-0 wins. Peter Nowak's team have shown fight, spirit, determination and above all defensive guile after being written off by almost everyone. Sure they had an awful start to the season, but now Philly are channeling their inner Rocky. After losing three of their first four games, Philadelphia visited a resurgent Chivas USA side aiming to prove last week's narrow victory over Columbus wasn't a fluke. Their fighting spirit was on show from the start as tackles flew in. But it was against the run of play when Philadelphia landed the sucker punch: Freddy Adu latched onto a loose ball in the box and sent his delicate back heel into the net via the far post. Michael Farfan's supreme dribbling ability in the lead up to the goal bamboozled Chivas defenders as he drifted past three with a shake of the hips. His twin brother, Gabriel, also made a name for himself later in the game but for entirely different reasons. In a weekend strewn with red cards (see San Jose v RSL) the Union added two of their own. First, on 75 minutes Keon Daniels was shown a straight red for a studs up challenge on Chivas winger Ryan Smith. Ten minutes later Gabriel Farfan lunged into a full-blooded tackle right in front of the benches. Cue the ensuing melee which seemed to end with Nowak being sent to the stands, as he raced onto the pitch to appeal to the referee. Both tackles warranted dismissals but with nine men for the last 5 minutes the Union held on. It may not be pretty but it got them a result. Chivas have now lost all four of their home games, all 1-0. Robin Fraser's men have the skill and technique to succeed, as they've shown during tough road trips in recent weeks. However their ability to dig in, roll their sleeves up and battle for points can sometimes be questioned. Union weren't more skillful, intelligent or well-organized, but Philadelphia did look like they wanted it more. That may be the most pressing issue for Fraser to address. JPW MLS standings MLS schedule |
You are here: Home A carrier-borne aviation force has been formally established as part of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, military sources said on Friday. Workers provide technological guarantee for tests of the carrier-borne J-15 fighters on China's first aircraft carrier the Liaoning . The forming of the force, approved by the Central Military Commission (CMC), demonstrates that the development of China's aircraft carriers has entered a new phase, the sources said. The force comprises carrier-borne fighter jets, jet trainers and ship-borne helicopters that operate anti-submarine, rescue and vigilance tasks. The sources said the carrier-borne force is vital to the strike force of China's aircraft carrier and a vanguard in transforming its navy. It will also play a key role in developing aircraft carrier groups and building a strong navy. Wu Shengli, a member of the CMC and commander of the PLA Navy, attended the forming event on Friday. The sources said the personnel of the force are more elite than the aviation forces within the PLA. To be able to fly fighter jets, the pilots should have flown at least five types of aircraft and their flight time must exceed 1,000 hours. Rich experience in joint drills and major drills is also a prerequisite. The pilots also received training in courses like warship theory, nautical basics, and maritime meteorology. Currently, China operates one aircraft carrier, the Liaoning , which was refitted based on an unfinished Russian-made carrier and delivered to the Navy on Sept. 25, 2012. The carrier's original design allows it to carry about 30 fixed-wing aircraft. The Liaoning has conducted successful take-off and landing tests of its carrier-borne J-15 fighters, the main strike force of China's carrier group. |
WALES manager Chris Coleman admits he’d be in trouble if he hadn’t patched up his differences with Newport’s James Collins. Injury has ruled out James Chester, the first choice to partner captain Ashley Williams at centre-back, for Saturday’s crucial Euro 2016 qualifier in Israel. And that means that West Ham defender Collins is set to win his 46th cap and his first since the friendly win over Iceland in March last year. Ahead of the top of the table clash in Haifa, Coleman has spoken of his relief that his clear-the-air talks with Collins 18 months ago were successful. Collins’ international career seemed to be over following the pair’s spat over availability at the end of the last qualifying campaign. Coleman claimed the Newport-born star refused to be called up off the stand-by list for a game against Serbia in September 2013. But the pair agreed to sort out their differences the following month and the former Cardiff and Aston Villa star was recalled to the squad. The 31-year-old has since seen Hull City’s Chester partner skipper Williams at the heart of the Wales defence in all four of their Euro 2016 qualifying games. But with Chester having failed to recover from a dislocated shoulder in time to be considered for Saturday’s clash, Coleman has admitted Collins has a chance to grab another opportunity. “I’m glad we had that coffee together,” said the national manager. “We made sure we had it in the middle of the hotel so it didn’t kick off between us and we could stay civil with the number of people around us! “But it’s great that he is with us and I think that perhaps what happened has helped him value playing for Wales even more. “We had our spat, but I have known him since he was a kid and always liked him and when he has been with us he has been right in the middle of everything. “His presence and personality are going to be very important going forward. “He has had to wait for his chance but this is an opportunity for him,” he told Media Wales. “He was brilliant in the last camp, as were Danny Gabbidon and Sam Ricketts, who did not play but were great round the dressing room in Brussels. “That is great for the younger guys because it is good to have advice from senior players. ‘Ginge’ likes the challenge and the atmosphere we will find ourselves in and it will be a dog-fight, which he enjoys.” |
But for most of Superman's existence, he's goodness personified ... or is he? Case in point: the earthquake in the first Superman movie. Lex Luthor launches a missile that triggers an earthquake on the West Coast. So naturally, Superman races the fault line, attempting to save as many lives as he can. The first thing he does is save a school bus from nose-diving off of the Golden Gate Bridge. After that, he prevents a train from derailing by literally standing in for the train track. The people who make his hair gel should design body armor. Continue Reading Below Advertisement After that, Superman takes the time to jet over to the Hoover Dam, which is near collapse. After saving some workers in the dam, Superman's next move is to rescue the increasingly annoying Jimmy Olsen from falling to his death. As he flies Jimmy to safety, the dam finally ruptures, spilling out an ocean of water heading straight for a neighborhood not too far away. These future corpses. Meanwhile, intrepid reporter/Superman boner-causer Lois Lane has run out of gas in the middle of the fault line. Hilarity ensues as Lois's car gets sucked into the ground and engulfed by dirt, burying her alive as she dies gasping for air. It gets funnier every time we see it. Continue Reading Below Advertisement Unfortunately, at the exact same moment, Superman is busy with the dam disaster -- he's creating a giant rock dam to stop the wall of water that is rushing toward the panicked town below. After exerting all of his strength, he finally creates the barrier needed to save the countless lives. Only after the town is saved does Superman finally fly to Lois's rescue, only to find out that he is too late. In a fit of rage, Superman flies up into the upper atmosphere. In a bizarre attempt to fistfight God. It's now that Superman gets an idea -- fuck time. In what is one of his most iconic moves, the Last Son of Krypton shoots as fast as he can around the planet Earth, somehow reversing the events that have just transpired. The wall of water flows backward into a repairing Hoover Dam, the earthquake destroys in reverse and Lois's car unburies itself in the ground. Otherwise known as Xenos ex Machina. Continue Reading Below Advertisement Cut to: Lois Lane sits in her recently broken-down car. Before she can be sucked into the ground, however, this time Superman is right there to help. He coolly flies in, helps her out of the car and engages in a cute conversation while simultaneously eye-fucking the shit out of her. "Wait, why do you look four minutes older than you should?" Just before he can make his move, in comes Jimmy Olsen, who thanks Superman for saving him from falling to his death. All is right again, and Superman flies off to go catch Lex Luthor and throw him in jail. YAY! Everyone lived! And by everyone we mean everyone who didn't live in that town that Superman just opted to drown. It was, after all, the whole freaking point of why Superman couldn't save Lois; he had to choose the greater good over what was going on in his tights. So when Superman goes back in time to try it all again, he shows up right as Lois runs out of gas -- a sequence we previously saw happen just as a giant flood of water is rushing toward the town. It can only be logical that he is choosing to not save the town this time around. After all, he then spends the next few minutes where he is supposed to be straining to contain the flood with rocks chatting it up with Lois instead. "By the way, there's one hell of a story just over those hills." For more baffling plot points, check out 6 Plot Threads Famous Movies Forgot to Resolve and 8 Classic Movies That Got Away With Gaping Plot Holes. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get sexy, sexy jokes sent straight to your news feed. |
This is a brief talk I gave to the interns who joined us recently. If you are in the know, this might sound like an over simplification. It is intended to be so. Software For the purpose of this write up, let’s assume that any tool that addresses a particular need by executing a set of instructions(code) in a computer is considered as Software. How does it come into existence? Jane finds it repetitive to compute her daily expenses over and over again, John finds himself wondering if only there was an easier way to keep track of all the bills that he needs to pay — they are intuitively thinking of either a machine or piece of software to do the mundane, repetitive stuff and make their life easier. It’s hard to build a hardware machine (screws, nuts and bolts) to keep track of all the things you need to do on a daily basis. But hey, we have a dumb machine that can execute instructions we give it to them. Can it execute any instruction? Bill Bryson said: For a long time it puzzled me how something so expensive, so leading edge, could be so useless. And then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match. It shouldn’t be that hard to write a set of instructions to a computer to do something for you. Or so someone thinks and writes up a bunch of instructions(code) for the computer and thus a software is born. I say shouldn’t be because if it indeed is hard, why would there be 100s of ToDo apps for Android alone? Ever wondered even though there are 100s of apps, how it’s hard to find something that meets your needs? Coding isn’t hard but developing software is. Types of application software There are several types of software built by different people and organisations and are sold, subscribed to or given for free. Broadly speaking, there are 4 types (there are multiple ways to classify, but this is just a simplification of application software to an uninitiated user): COTS — commercial off the shelf software. These are applications like Microsoft Office, iMovie editor for Mac, Adobe PhotoShop, Oracle database, etc. You get a pre-built application that can use however way you please. SaaS — software as a service. This is when you don’t own the software but you pay for your usage. For example, Gmail for business is an application that you use via a browser but don’t install it using a CD (an installable) like MS Office. You pay for the usage, and can customise it to your business but you don’t own the piece of Gmail software, nor do you maintain it (bring the application up if it’s not running or fix issues or buy the servers yourself). Web applications — these are software built by companies that you use to access the company’s services. A bank website that helps you make online transactions is one example. An e-commerce site like Amazon or eBay is another. These are maintained by the companies themselves, and you as a user don’t pay for using the application itself. Mobile apps — the lifeline for most of us after smartphones became popular. Tiny bits of software that lives on your phone that either stand alone on the phone like the calculator or talk to a Web application to store and retrieve information like Uber. Lastly we have tools, utilities and modular pieces (called libraries) of software that helps us run these other software listed above. How are they built? To build a decent software(or an application, we will use them interchangeably), a lot of things has to happen. First, the idea for the application (mostly driven by need, sometimes by greed and sometimes by competition), for e.g — i would like an application that helps me manage my ToDo list. Second, what things should our application do. In technical parlance, this is called the backlog of features which is managed by a Product Owner — for e.g., I would like my ToDo application to remind me at a set date and time about a ToDo item and so on. Thirdly, how should the application look like — this used to be categorised as UI design but it is more broader and covers UX, user experience, managed by a Designer — for e.g., my ToDo application should have a prominent green + image which, when I touch it, should open up a form where I can add a new ToDo item. image which, when I touch it, should open up a form where I can add a new ToDo item. And lastly, the actual code that does all the features in our backlog — things like the application should store my to do list somewhere so that I can look at it later or I should be able to mark an item as done and it should be shown with a green tick mark next to it, etc. Have you built an airplane? Building a software application is very similar to building an airplane. A bunch of engineers sit, design and build the engine, wings, seats, cockpit, toilet, all the way down to the last screw and nut that goes in an airplane. Either a company like Airbus builds the A380 and sells it to an airline like Emirates (COTS) or you can rent an airplane for business or pleasure (SaaS) or you fly an A380 operated by someone and pay for getting from A to B (web/mobile applications). There are decades and decades of work and literature on how to write better code (or build airplanes). This post is not about that. Let’s fast forward a few months to the point where we have the airplane is built and is ready to take its virgin flight. In other words, the code is written and our ToDo list application is ready for use. I’m going to continue the airplane example but you can draw the analogy to our ToDo list application. Okay, we built the airplane. But who flies it and keeps it flying? After this point, some or all of the following things happen: There are problems in what we built— the seat belt of one seat is faulty— a.k.a a bug. User wanted the airplane to have more things like ability to order food from their seats by touching a button — a.k.a enhancements. Other concerns with the airplane— it takes too much fuel to fly, it can’t go fast enough, it needs frequent check ups to see if anything looks like it’s going to break — a.k.a performance issues, downtimes, etc. In most companies, the above things are left to be handled dedicated teams called the Operations/Run/Maintenance* teams(pilots, stewardesses and ground crew in our A380). Their job is to make sure the flight is up in the air, fly smoothly, none of the users face any discomfort, tighten a few screws here, and in some serious cases, land the airplane safely even the landing gear fails — software parlance: maintain uptime, provide minor bug fixes and enhancements. At times, Ops teams is not equipped to handle big issues like engine failures (a wrong formula or logic in code), in which case they call the people who built the engine to take a look (the developers who wrote the code). By the way, these developers, once their first release is done, either: Enhance the A380 with feedback from users — this happens in SaaS, COTS, mobile apps and a lot of web apps — and release the next version , the A380.1. OR As is usually the case with large corporations (a.k.a enterprises), the budget is allotted for the first version. Next year, some other team gets their budget and these developers are probably moved to other teams. The A380 they built (probably with bugs) flies till the time the issues/enhancement needs became so numerous that it’s no longer economical to keep it. So they end up buying the next awesome version A381 (ironically, built by the same team that had the buggy A380 and much in the same manner). This is what happens to your code (A380) Your code gets patched, updated, abused and pressure tested all the time after it goes live by inexperienced people, experienced people under pressure, people who are just coding while they wait to get into grad school. In fact, any decent application spends more time in maintenance phase than in development phase. [Even if the application is in high demand that users are constantly requesting new features, the number of things that an application can do (and do well) are rather limited. At some point, we will either run out of features to build or the money to build them or the technology would be outdated that we have to rebuild the application again. While this might not apply for technology companies/giants like Google/Facebook/Twitter/Amazon, it usually happens to Mom & Pop store websites, Enterprises web applications, etc.] People, who are unaware of what you were thinking when you wrote the code, will modify it in ways that would make any developer cower. [I’m not demeaning the work of maintenance teams but they just have to patch it up and keep the application up under tighter SLAs which means compromises have to be made and more often at the cost of code quality]. Commercial software is usually built under so much constraints, people start expecting it to have bugs. Which means, at any given time and altitude, our airplane has problems waiting to happen. But why should you, as a developer, care? Every time, you forget the common sense aspect of code, you make the life of a user and an ops/support person miserable. When you are on weekend support and a Platinum customer with an 1-hour SLA calls you at 3 AM on a Sunday, you better pick up. And if the logs and code doesn’t help me to figure out what’s going on, may God help you — I’m going to curse you, your mentors and teachers, parents, grandparents and will pray for your children. Early on in my career, I wrote some bad code. I never bothered to think what happens after I am done. Until, after 2 years, on a Friday evening when I was about to board a train, I got a call from our support team (I have put my name as author name in the code, best practice you see) asking me to help with an issue because they couldn’t see any logs and the code is 100+ lines of nested loops and if-else conditions. I looked at the code and couldn’t figure out what I was trying to do in the code. My own code. I managed to f**k myself in the future. Then I realised how many people’s Friday evenings were screwed up because of my code all this while. I took the job of an Ops person for a year to understand how developers look like through that lens. We ain’t pretty looking. What then, as developers, are we to do? Follow best practices and apply our common sense. Think about the passenger and the crew when building the airplane and all that goes in it. Optimize for good User Experience — I’d rather be comfortable than anything else(other than safety).Things like cramped leg room because we wanted to have more seats stuffed in, we can have only one door next to toilet because that’s how we have always built planes or because we built the seats first and now they can’t be moved are not adding up to good flying experience. Modular code — If we, as developers, don’t build airplanes well enough, a crew member might have to spend 30 minutes to figure out where exactly both ends of the seat belt goes. Because there could be plenty of other issues, 30 minutes of an Ops team’s time is too valuable. And you don’t want to remove the seat to fix the tray table or the toilet door. Logs — Issues are unavoidable, or so they say. So when an issue occurs, Give enough information so that it becomes easy for the flight crew or the passenger to figure out where the beeeeep sound is coming from. Instead of saying something went wrong , seat belt on 27c is not working would be much more helpful. Tested code —This is like a checklist. When the pilot fixes the oil leak which was the reason for the beeeeep, it would make his life easy if he has a checklist to make sure what a properly sealed oil compartment looks like. Readable code — Make sure the thing we built is easy to understand and change for others and under tight deadlines. Design Principles — Follow conventions, standards and principles in the area you are working on. Don’t have different types of seat belts for Boeing and an AirBus A380 just because we should think differently. I expect the Logout button to log me out and not open up a form for feedback. Build things that do one thing well. Your airplane doesn’t need a rocking option in the seat, though it would be cool. There are plenty of other best practices which are common no matter what programming language or tech stack you choose. Follow them. I don’t care if you write the most intelligent piece of code and do a billion operations in under x lines. If I can’t fix the plane while I’m flying it, the code is a liability no matter how beautiful. But we got DevOps, the silver bullet. All our problems will be vanquished! I can claim No, you didn’t get DevOps right! and be right roughly 95% of the time. While most consultants and vendors tell you DevOps is going to fix your problems, remember there is no silver bullet. If you rotate your developers across budgets (or products, whichever available) or you have a team of people who specialise in one thing (Linux experts vs Angular experts vs Java/C# experts) and are siloed, or you have people whose job is making sure processes are followed to the last letter without questions, reduce risks at any cost and charting graphs about developer productivity and optimise processes for a fixed story point burn down every sprint or a million other things that run counter to DevOps principles (if you Google DevOps principles, people have 4 or 3 or 5 principles. Seems like we can’t come to an agreement on what basic principles we agree on). chances are your problems are much worse that can be solved by implementing DevOps. TLDR; Your code spends most of its time in maintenance than under development. When you code, be empathetic of the other person(users, testers, ops, support, fellow developers, etc). The other person could be you. No, DevOps is not the silver bullet — either you are not ready, or you don’t need it yet. Notes: *Operations team is a blanket statement I used for all including monitoring, infrastructure, small bug fixes, emergency response teams, etc. Technically, there are huge chasms of difference when you get specific, but this article is an oversimplification. |
Southgate Police Chief Brian Klonowski Southgate Police Chief Brian Klonowski - Southgate has appointed a new police chief but concerns are being raised about the officer in line for the job. An assault in his past has some questioning the promotion of Brian Klonowski. The last time Klonowski was in the news, he was convicted of severely beating a woman at a party. It's an issue he says was so far in the past, it's no longer relevant. This is the face of the woman Brian Klonowski beat in 2004. They had just met at a party when she says, she turned down his advances. Then she says the officer yanked her into the ground from a chair, punching her until her eye hemorrhaged and her nose and her cheekbone broke. He was convicted with assault after pleading no contest, he was suspended without pay from the Southgate Police Department for one year. Although the city brought him back to work after only three months. He says he's changed. "I understand the unfortunate circumstances and embarrassing situation," he said. "It was 12 years ago. I dealt with that on three levels - criminally, civilly and departmentally and have attempted to put that behind me and have attempted to increase my professionalism." The lieutenant was appointed chief by the mayor and city council Wednesday night. He will start after a swearing in ceremony August 27. He says in the past years he's attended law school, risen in the ranks, and he is ready for his new role. "I believe every incident that can be negative and embarrassing, you reflect upon it," Klonowski said. "And use that to improve parts about yourself." City officials say of the several internal candidates, Klonowski came in first in a third-party written and oral exam. The mayor and city council members approved his new contract and say he's the best man for the job. "Nobody condones what he did, but everybody says what he did, he paid the price for," said John Zech, city administrator. "He's learned from it, he's apologized for it, he's gone forward and shown that it was something that happened one time and never happened again." For anyone who has any doubt, Klonowski says, he's willing to talk with them. "My door as a chief will be open," he said. "I have no problem speaking with citizens and giving them the chance to get to know me and trust me. I know I have some reputation to rebuild still, and I will be glad to do that." At the time he served 18 months probation but no jail time. The victim who was beaten by the newly appointed chief, along with her family, say they are sickened by this decision. This woman says she's moved on, and did not want to go on camera out of fear of any further police harassment. |
Nissan apparently has big plans for the infotainment system which will be available in the upcoming Leaf electric car. It is said this new system will offer “greater convenience, comfort and security for EVs, as well as provide real-world data that will be important to realizing a low-carbon society in the future.” The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system, as Nissan calls it, will wirelessly work in tandem with Nissan’s Carwings Data Center, through the car’s navigation system via the onboard Telematics Communication Unit (TCU), to provide a variety of specific electric vehicle related features. These include EV usage history, battery conditions, updates on nearby charging stations, how far one has left to be able to drive before needing a battery recharge and a ranking function that lets Leaf drivers “compete with each other in electricity consumption, traveling distance and the amount of charge produced by regenerative braking.” There’s a whole host of other stuff Nissan listed the ICT will do as well, including route planning, remote battery charging control, remote climate control, a calculation of how much CO2 emissions were reduced by driving EV (predicted rate) and lots more. Nissan added that, based upon the consent of the driver, Carwings “will retain historical driving, charging and electricity consumption information globally. Based on this data, it will analyze EV driving and charging data to measure how much CO2 is reduced through EV use and to evaluate clean energy usage.” The system, Nissan said as well, can be accessed via a dedicated website on multiple platforms to manage energy usage. Like what you are reading? Follow us on RSS, Twitter and Facebook to learn more and join the green technology discussion. Have a story idea or correction for this story you are reading? Drop us a line through our contact form. |
Today, I am very pleased to welcome royal historian and author Catherine Curzon with a fascinating guest post on the death of King George IV! “It has pleased Almighty God to take from this world the King’s Most Excellent Majesty. His Majesty expired at a quarter past three o’clock this morning, without pain.”[1] Before I even put pen to paper to write Life in the Georgian Court, I had a soft spot for all things George IV. I’m fairly uncommon in this, as George is a far from popular fellow thanks to his love of spending, excess and treating the world as though it was his and his alone. As the years flew past and the king, once the most fashionable man in the land, grew corpulent and sickly, his love of trouble did not desert him. Indeed, though George’s political days were long since over by the time the Duke of Wellington became Prime Minister in 1828, the king still found plenty of sport in teasing the Iron Duke. To Wellington’s dismay and annoyance, George falsely claimed to have been present at Waterloo, even giving himself the credit for some decisive victories on the field. Overweight, a habitual user of laudanum and suffering greatly from the pains that wracked his body, the king began to withdraw from society. As his sanctuary he chose Windsor as his father had before him. Yet whilst George III was unquestionably insane, George IV was mentally mostly sound and attended not by the fearsome mad doctors who had cared for his father but by his devoted long-time companion, Lady Conyngham. Now and again the king emerged from his seclusion to dabble in current affairs but his health was in catastrophic decline, his sight was failing and he was clearly not at all long for the world he had once painted so very red. Those enormous dinners and fine bottles of alcohol had begun to take a toll many years earlier and by 1830 the once fashionable, handsome young man was gone for good. In his place was an obese, disease-ridden alcohol and laudanum addict squeezed into a restricting corset and struggling with a body so huge that he could barely breathe when he laid down to sleep. Hearing of his state of health, his secret bride, Maria Fitzherbert, sent one last letter to her husband but he was too unwell to reply, leaving her to think herself ignored[2]. Under the care of his physician, Sir Henry Halford, George now lived out his days in solitude, forced to sleep in a specially adapted chair that could double as a bed. His waking hours were beset by agonising pain in his limbs and torso that no amount of bleeding could treat and as he battled discomfort and sleeplessness, deep depression seized the ailing king. In the twilight of his years he looked back on the wild days of his youth, when he had been the most celebrated young chap in town, when women fell at his feet and he lived the high life with hardly a care in the world. Now though there was only pain and the slow, creeping deprivations of old age as the world moved on without the increasingly bed bound king. On the night of his death, George retired to his chambers and that chair-cum-bed in the company of his friend, Sir Jonathan Wathen-Waller. It was in this very chair that the man Byron labelled “the Leviathan of the haut ton” died on 26 June 1830, his body exhausted. In his final moments, deep in the darkest early hours, George was seized with an attack of breathless agony. He reached out to clutch Wathen-Waller’s hand desperately, seeking some comfort in the throes of his fate as he gasped, “My boy, this is death”[3]. What he saw, heard or perhaps felt in those seconds we cannot know, but moments later, just before quarter past three in the morning, King George IV died. Perhaps we should let his legacy be told by The Times and one of the most brutal obituaries the British media has ever seen: “There never was an individual less regretted by his fellow-creatures than this deceased king. What eye has wept for him? What heart has heaved one throb of unmercenary sorrow? … If he ever had a friend — a devoted friend in any rank of life — we protest that the name of him or her never reached us.”[4] _______________________ [1] North Wales Chronicle (Bangor, Wales), Thursday, July 1, 1830; issue 144, p.3. [1] Maria died in Brighton on 27 March 1837. She never remarried. [1] Hetherington Fitzgerald, Percy (1881). The Life of George the Fourth. London: Tinsley Brothers, p.908. [1] Morison, Stanley (1935). The History of the Times: “The Thunderer” in the Making, 1785-1841. London: The Times (1950), p.268. About the Author Catherine Curzon is a royal historian and blogs on all matters 18th century at A Covent Garden Gilflurt’s Guide to Life. Her work has been featured by publications including BBC History Extra, All About History, History of Royals, Explore History and Jane Austen’s Regency World. She has also provided additional material for the sell-out theatrical show, An Evening with Jane Austen, which she will introduce at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, in September (tickets are available here). Catherine holds a Master’s degree in Film and when not dodging the furies of the guillotine, she lives in Yorkshire atop a ludicrously steep hill. Her book, Life in the Georgian Court, is available now from Amazon UK, Amazon US, Book Depository and all good bookshops! About Life in the Georgian Court As the glittering Hanoverian court gives birth to the British Georgian era, a golden age of royalty dawns in Europe. Houses rise and fall, births, marriages and scandals change the course of history and in France, Revolution stalks the land. Peep behind the shutters of the opulent court of the doomed Bourbons, the absolutist powerhouse of Romanov Russia and the epoch-defining family whose kings gave their name to the era, the House of Hanover. Behind the pomp and ceremony were men and women born into worlds of immense privilege, yet beneath the powdered wigs and robes of state were real people living lives of romance, tragedy, intrigue and eccentricity. Take a journey into the private lives of very public figures and learn of arranged marriages that turned to love or hate and scandals that rocked polite society. Here the former wife of a king spends three decades in lonely captivity, Prinny makes scandalous eyes at the toast of the London stage and Marie Antoinette begins her last, terrible journey through Paris as her son sits alone in a forgotten prison cell. Life in the Georgian Court is a privileged peek into the glamorous, tragic and iconic courts of the Georgian world, where even a king could take nothing for granted. Bibliography Anonymous. George III: His Court and Family, Vol I. London: Henry Colburn and Co, 1821. Baker, Kenneth. George IV: A Life in Caricature. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005. Black, Jeremy. The Hanoverians: The History of a Dynasty. London: Hambledon and London, 2007. David, Saul. Prince of Pleasure. New York: Grove Press, 2000. Hadlow, Janice. The Strangest Family: The Private Lives of George III, Queen Charlotte and the Hanoverians. London: William Collins, 2014. Hetherington Fitzgerald, Percy. The Life of George the Fourth. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1881. Huish, Robert. Memoirs of George the Fourth: Vol I. London: Thomas Kelly, 1830. Irvine, Valerie. The King’s Wife: George IV and Mrs Fitzherbert. London: Hambledon, 2007. Lloyd, Hannibal Evans. George IV: Memoirs of His Life and Reign, Interspersed with Numerous Personal Anecdotes. London: Treuttel and Würtz, 1830. Smith, EA. George IV. Bury St Edmunds: St Edmundsbury Press, 1999. Spencer, Sarah. Correspondence of Sarah Spencer Lady Lyttelton 1787-1870. London: John Murray, 1912. [1] North Wales Chronicle (Bangor, Wales), Thursday, July 1, 1830; issue 144, p.3. [2] Maria died in Brighton on 27 March 1837. She never remarried. [3] Hetherington Fitzgerald, Percy (1881). The Life of George the Fourth. London: Tinsley Brothers, p.908. [4] Morison, Stanley (1935). The History of the Times: “The Thunderer” in the Making, 1785-1841. London: The Times (1950), p.268. © 2015-2016 Mimi Matthews For more Romance, Literature, and History, follow me on: Facebook and Twitter |
If You Proclaim White People As “Awful,” You’re Good Enough For Harvard’s PhD Program Holly Michelle Wood’s Harvard dissertation focuses on the dating habits of Boston’s singles. She wants to dissect the modern trials of going out. — Boston Magazine illustrating why fewer and fewer folks are reading Boston Magazine Harvard PhD candidate Holly Michelle Wood, an anti-free speech extremist (i.e. anything that doesn’t accord with her politics is blatant harassment, racism or sexism), has resorted to repeatedly calling white people “animals.” Hers is a name many readers will be familiar with after the sensational, ideologically motivated Twitter unverification of Milo Yiannopoulos. Feminists have accused Yiannopoulos of “harassing” women by simply retweeting their butthurt responses to his work, including a recent article on start-up guru Paul Graham. Graham’s quite frankly common sense views on how capitalism and wealth inequality provide the incentive for entrepreneurship and innovation stirred intense hatred. Thousands were sent into a rabid frenzy because Graham, who has operated in the real world and not cloistered avant-garde communes populated by trust fund babies and other socially insulated individuals, made sensible claims that challenge the basic political platform of SJWs. These are just two of Holly Michelle Wood’s most recent rants on her Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/girlziplocked/status/685916286556176384 White people are awful! Look at Donald Trump or David Cameron! Ugh beasts. https://t.co/SFAzs61Sl3 — holly wood phd 🌹🔪 (@girlziplocked) January 9, 2016 Try tweeting “Black people are awful! Look at Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe!” and see how Twitter responds. And here is the original unacceptable misogyny supposedly engaged in by Yiannopoulos towards Holly Michelle Wood: https://twitter.com/Nero/status/685142015961645057 After his very violent screencapping of what Holly Michelle Wood herself had said, fellow feminist Catrin Cooper sounded the misogyny alarm: .@Support, @Jack, How many more women does this guy's account need to target before you do something? pic.twitter.com/ytinO5nXUK — Catrin (@catrincooper) January 7, 2016 With Holly Michelle Wood having tweeted publicly her response to Yiannopoulos’ article, she and Catrin Cooper alleged that he was engaging in harassment by simply redistributing her non-private announcement. Then along came white knight and Twitter manager Michael Margolis, a Hillary Clinton supporter and long-term Yiannopoulos hater, who also follows Anita Sarkeesian and tranny Brianna Wu, among others: After I asked Catrin Cooper how Milo’s tweets were harassing, she promptly blocked me. Here’s my highly abusive tweet to her: .@catrincooper oh so @girlziplocked says "white people are animals" & you think Milo is harassing by screencapping what she says? @Nero — David Garrett Brown (@DissidentDavid) January 10, 2016 Oh, it’s just Sociology 101 Holly Wood’s take that white people cannot experience racism is unsurprising. Plenty of left wing people, not just those calling themselves sociologists, have appropriated that warped view. But explicitly calling them animals is more unusual, even if most of us suspect that the agenda of many SJWs is a hatred of white men and whites in general. Michael Margolis, whose Twitter handle @yipe has now become synonymous with Chinese Communist Party-style online censorship, is yet to report Holly Michelle Word with the same public pride he exhibited when turning in Milo Yiannopoulos. Perhaps he’s done sociology, too. Nevertheless, it would seem he has been relegated to desk duty, his stupidly public actions having led to the number one Twitter trend, #jesuismilo, until it was halted by Twitter itself. The fundamental question is whether Harvard itself or Harvard’s Sociology Department support Wood’s contention that “white people are animals.” Return of Kings will be seeking comment from both in the coming days, including from the Dean of Sociology, Dr. Claudine Gay. Twitter is clamping down on any speech expressions fighting the SJW narrative Harassment now includes retweeting or screencapping someone’s own publicly accessible words. So says Michael Margolis, the Engineering Manager of a platform which has shed any remaining pretensions about supporting objectively non-threatening free speech. The days ahead for non-SJW users of Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and a plethora of other mediums are looking even bleaker than before. Harassment has become the most gerrymandered term for “abuse” in the history of humankind. The threshold for conservatives and traditionalists to be branded as harassers is simply showing the fallacies and histrionics of any SJW they come across. For SJWs like Holly Michelle Wood, even blanket-labeling ca. 800 million people as animals is perfectly acceptable language. Postscript: As of publication, Dr. Claudine Gay of Harvard’s Sociology Department has not returned my request for comment. Read More: 9 People In The Media Who Are Upset Jackie Coakley Wasn’t Raped By White Men |
Hitman: Absolution developer IO Interactive has said that, while standard multiplayer deathmatch modes were "always tempting", such offerings must always feel appropriate to the game in question. "The broader sense of synchronised multiplayer will always be tempting to investigate," Hitman: Absolution gameplay director Christian Elverdam told Eurogamer. "But it needs to fit the franchise." But there was no reason to say games must include a multiplayer mode as a requirement, he added. "If you look at the games industry right now, there's no silver bullet game saying: 'only multiplayer games from now on!' or 'only single-player games'. I think The Elder Scrolls is an example of game that did very well as a single-player game." EA exec Frank Gibeau recently suggested that all games must move from a "packaged goods, fire-and-forget business to a digital business that has a service component to it", explaining earlier comments that he does not green light single-player-only games. "If you look at the future I think players will be looking for social connectivity," Elverdam reasoned, in response to Gibeau's quote. "We want to see what our friends are doing. Even if you're a single-player guy who doesn't like twitch-reactions or synchronised multiplayer." "[But] there also exists a group of people who like to take things at their own pace. In Hitman there's obviously a story, but it's also about playing around with the AI. And that can be a real single-player experience." Absolution offers its own take on multiplayer: the challenge based mode Contracts, where players can build levels and set targets for their friends to beat. "We feel Contracts really does fit [Hitman]," Elverdam said, adding that there had been no pressure to include multiplayer component in the game. "We have a legacy with Hitman that's unique - it's this contemporary social stealth sandbox. [Contracts is] a way of sharing your creativity, in a morbid sense. It's actually inspired by the fans who started do this with Hitman: Blood Money, writing on forums saying 'what if this guy was the target?'" "So, Contracts is a multiplayer mode if you like, but also a social mode. It's kind of like a YouTube channel, you can use it to show off." |
: 1, but the poll doesn't work yet Elsa, Anna, Rapunzel, and Kairi make up four of the new Princesses of Heart. Come theorise who the last three Princesses will be ! Details Published on December 19, 2012 @ 10:06 pm Written by Arielle Jump Festa 2013 will be starting in just two more days, so check out this new scan of KINGDOM HEARTS 1.5 HD ReMIX that is in this week's issue of VJump! Update: Thanks to Zephyr, we now have translations of the scan! Cool Disney Adventure!! Three works from the KH series in HD to play! Introducing the first work in the mixing! Full of Disney characters! In the adventure,there are 14 worlds you can explore! Sora was separated from his homeland and is looking for his friends Riku and Kairi, he begins his adventure in various worlds. Meeting different parts of the heart of friends influencing him, together they go against the enemies they're confronting. Riku, Sora, Kairi receive a new makeover! Sora changes costumes in certain worlds! Summoning Tinkerbell's magic! During battle, you can summon other characters! In Halloween Town, Sora changes to adapt to the world!! In Atlantica, Sora also takes on the appearance of a dolphin!? Fighting familiar FF characters in the coliseum! A long sword swordsman that boasts overwhelming force, a character from FFVII appears, Sephiroth participates in the coliseum! Please have fun in other additional worlds! Source: bKvEBVAvUq via Twitter |
*This post may contain affiliate links. Please view Full Disclosure . What is Diatomaceous Earth? Diatomaceous earth (DE), also called Kieselguhr is a light-colored, chalk-light sedimentary rock that is composed of the siliceous shells of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. The diatoms have fossilized over millennia in old fresh water lake beds. One of its main components is silicon dioxide. When mined and ground into fine powder, the result is diatomaceous earth. (Source: Britannica) It is commonly used as a natural insecticide, deodorizer, filter cleaner and health supplement. It’s even been named the Bug Killer You Can Eat! Food Grade Vs. Non-Food Grade Only use food grade quality DE around your house and as a health supplement! Non-food grade DE is strictly for industrial purposes, such as industrial filtration systems; insulation for restaurant grade ovens, boilers and blast furnaces; hazardous chemical insecticides, herbicides and fungicides; and even dynamite. It can be extremely dangerous for you, your family, and pets because it is artificially treated. Be sure to buy food grade quality DE. If you are unsure, ask the store manager or look elsewhere to a trusted online source, like DiatomaceousEarth.com. I recently purchased food grade DE (for cheap!) at my local health foods store. If you are an Amazon shopper, DiatomaceousEarth.com offers a 10lb bag for $19.92. Why You Should Use It Home Uses Deodorizer for garbage cans, cat litter boxes, cloth diaper pails, etc. Food storage – absorbs moisture so food (beans, rice, corn, etc.) stays fresh Grease and oil remover for cement and carpet Metal and brass polisher when mixed with water or lemon juice Pest control Non-Toxic Pest Control DE works as an organic pesticide, effectively ridding pests by attaching its absorbent particles to an insect’s exoskeleton and dehydrating it. It is a safe way to rid pest problems without fear of accidental poisoning in children and pets. Another important benefit is pests cannot develop immunity to DE like mainstream chemical pesticides because it is a mechanical reaction. Here are some examples DE can help with: Household & Garden Pests aphids ants bed bugs beetles cabbage root flies carrot root flies caterpillars cockroaches dust mites earwigs fleas flies gnats grasshoppers lice pillbugs slugs spiders termites ticks … and more! Note: DE will not kill earthworms! Totally awesome for the avid gardener! Pests around the Farm DE provides numerous benefits around the farm! Add it to animal feed to prevent caking, internal parasites and worms, and bug invasions. Apply directly on animals (avoiding eyes, nose and mouth) to help keep bugs away. Sprinkle it throughout the barn or chicken coop to soak up moisture to discourage flies and mosquitoes from laying eggs. Natural Flea & Tick Treatment for Household Pets Since it works to kill fleas and ticks AND it’s non-toxic to animals, DE makes an excellent flea and tick treatment for cats and dogs! Try it next time instead of buying expensive veterinarian prescribed treatments. Health Supplement Note: These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and should only be used for reference purposes only. Always consult your primary physician before trying out new health claims. Here is a list of possible health benefits from consuming diatomaceous earth according to DiatomaceousEarth.com. better digestive health more regular bowel movements detoxifies healthier colon reduced cholesterol better food absorption better night’s sleep clearer skin stronger teeth and gums (Add to regular toothpaste.) healthier hair and nails less joint and ligament pain helps arthritis less sickness more energy soothes burns insect bites clears skin rashes less acne (Mix with regular facial cleanser or make paste with water and use 1-2 per month for natural exfoliation.) possible antiparasitic could lower Candida levels Consumption recommendation: Mix 1/2 teaspoon in each 6-8oz water or juice. Do not consume more than 1 tbsp daily. Amazon shoppers: DiatomaceousEarth.com sells a 1lb bag for $7.95 if you want to start with a smaller amount. Though, it is significantly cheaper to buy in bulk. AND MANY, MANY MORE BENEFITS… Now for an AMAZING Giveaway! This is by far one of the best giveaways I’ve been able to offer my readers. There will be THREE prizes. Are you ready??! Prize #1: Chicken Coop + 10lb DE Prize #2: iPad Mini + 2lb DE Prize #3: Seed Vault + 5lb DE You read right… I am giving you a chance to win an actual CHICKEN COOP ($549.95 value), iPAD MINI ($249 value), and SEED VAULT ($149 value) + your own bag of miracle powder Diatomaceous Earth ($10.99-$19.99 value)!!!! Enter to win using the rafflecopter below. You should enter for me too since I’m unable to win these awesome prizes! 😉 Good luck everyone! Related Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by DiatomaceousEarth.com and The Homestead Blogger’s Network . Mommy & Love is not responsible for prize fulfillment. Please email homesteadbloggers@gmail.com with any questions regarding the giveaway. |
Glasgow Rangers: Players turn down pay cut proposal Despite on-field success - Rangers currently hold a 17 point lead at the top of League One - the club remains in a perilous financial position after announcing a £14.4m loss in the 13-month period up to July. Rangers' chief executive Graham Wallace has undertaken a review of the club's finances with the former Manchester City director calling in consultant Phillip Nash to assist him in trying to overhaul the Ibrox club's finances. The annual wage bill for the playing staff at the club is thought to be between £6m to £7m a year. Sky sources understand manager Ally McCoist had been informed in advance by Wallace that cuts to his playing staff would be necessary. The suggestion that the club's players would be asked if they would take a pay cut appears to have been raised in a meeting between Wallace, McCoist and club captain Lee McCulloch on Wednesday. Wallace admitted at the club's AGM last month the League One outfit's cost base was too high, "even for a top-flight club". And a Rangers spokesman said: "The manager and chief executive continue to examine ways as to how Rangers can live within their means." Last week, McCoist saw his reported £850,000 annual wages halved after agreeing to a pay cut last year, while finance director Brian Stockbridge handed back a £200,000 bonus awarded to him after Rangers won the Third Division last season. Uncertainty surrounding the club's finances saw around three million shares worth an estimated £750,000 traded in the club on Tuesday. Richard Hughes, co-founder of Zeus Capital, sold 2m of his shares to Guernsey-based hedge fund group Damille Investments Ltd. The Herald reported on Thursday that the sale of the shares - which give Damille a 3% stake in the club - have netted Hughes an estimated profit of £500,000. |
Success doesn't always lead to improvement. Success most often leads to repetition, where people try to recreate what worked so well the first time. Failure, on the other hand, is a much better motivator when it comes to improvement. When something fails, you're motivated to figure out what went wrong and then change it. I bring this up because today I'm going to talk about a bunch of big lessons I've learned concerning Magic and how in each case one or more larger mistakes led me to the breakthrough. This will lead up to a big breakthrough I've had recently, based on a recent mistake, that I've yet to share with all of you. Mistakes are a topic I've hit upon before. Back in November of 2002, I wrote an article called "Mistakes? I've Made a Few," where I walked through a bunch of mistakes (at a card level) I'd made. Then in November of 2003, I wrote an article called "Make No Mistake," in which I examined some of the biggest mistakes in Magic history. In 2011, I wrote a three-part article about my time working on Roseanne called "A Roseanne by Any Other Name," where, among other lessons, I explained how to cope with making a big mistake. With that out of the way, it's time for me to dive into some of the bigger mistakes I've made while making Magic and the lessons that came from reflecting on those mistakes. Odyssey Block I've always been a bit of a rebel. When my teacher said that we shouldn't do something as part of a report, I always wanted to figure out how to do it. So back in the day, when I was about to start my fourth round of Magic design and my second large set design, I was obsessed with proving players wrong. You see, at the time, there was a lot of Magic theory being tossed back and forth. One of the big theories was about something known as "card advantage." The short version is that having more cards than your opponent was good and things that netted you card advantage (often trading one card for more than one card) would ultimately win you the game. What if, I thought, I made a set where the correct strategy was card disadvantage? Odyssey would go on to be a graveyard-themed set with the mechanics of threshold and flashback that made you value cards in your graveyard. To play into this theme, I put a lot of cards that allowed you to discard cards as the cost of an effect. The trick was that the effect wasn't even the reason to discard the card. You might discard all seven of the cards in your hand, for instance, to give a creature first strike seven times, not because you even cared if it had first strike at all but because it got you to threshold. The set did poorly, as just because discarding your whole hand was correct strategically didn't mean it was something the majority of players wanted to do. This, of course, led to the following lesson: Make the players do something they inherently want to do, not something you, the game designer, force them to do. As a game designer, you have a lot of power because you can encourage your players to do whatever the game wants them to do. Players will win even at the cost of doing something they don't enjoy. The problem is that the players have an even greater power than yours—they can stop playing your game. If you don't make the game enjoyable for them, they'll move on to a game that does. Odyssey taught me that with game design comes great power, but also great responsibility. (Who knew I had so much in common with Spider-Man?) Champions of Kamigawa Block Interestingly, I was not on the Champions of Kamigawa design team, but I was on the development team. When the set got handed over from design, it had a lot of different themes running through it. There was a top-down Japanese flavor, there was a war, there was a tribal component (built mostly around Spirits), there was a "legendary matters" theme. My big note as one of the developers was that the set wasn't focused enough and we had to figure out which aspect we wanted to put front and center. I kept asking this question until the development team finally gave me an answer. They wanted to focus on the legendary aspect. After all, it was the Champions of Kamigawa. Okay, I said—if that were true, we had to pump up the theme, as it wasn't loud enough. The problem was, legendary wasn't something we did at lower rarities. At the time, it was done almost exclusively at rare (this was before mythic rare was a thing). My idea was pretty bold. What if we made every rare creature legendary? I also advocated making some uncommon legendary creatures. If we were going to do it, we had to strongly embrace our theme. This idea proved to be a disaster. There's a reason we limit how many legendary creatures we make: because we want them to be special. By making all of the rare creatures legendary, I guaranteed that we'd have to make some bad legendary creatures, because all of the rare creatures can't be good. Even worse, it didn't really help the problem at hand. You had to open up a lot of Champions of Kamigawa boosters to even get an inkling that there was a legendary theme. This led me to the following lesson: If your theme isn't common, it isn't your theme. This idea is a simple one, but it wasn't until I made this big mistake that I recognized the issue. R&D can state whatever theme they want is the main theme of the set, but if the players can't see it, it doesn't matter. A theme is not just what you intend but what the audience recognizes. If our intended theme is hidden, then the players will pick out something they can see and assume that's the theme. And then guess what? That is the theme. Time Spiral Block This block started out as a block built around the theme of time. We had an interesting time-based mechanic (suspend), and I was eager to see if we could use time as an inspiration to build a block around. The time theme led me to divide the three sets in the block into the themes of past, present, and future. The past theme then pushed us toward a very nostalgia-driven design that encouraged us to bring back a lot of old mechanics. The returning mechanics weren't counted as full mechanics for complexity purposes, as we felt most players would remember them. Once we said it was okay to bring back old mechanics, we just started bringing back more and more. Time Spiral had ten returning mechanics in addition to three new ones (well, two new ones and flash finally being keyworded). And that wasn't counting numerous mechanics like those on Slivers and Thallids and Spellshapers that weren't keyworded. Planar Chaos added in vanishing, a new twist on fading. Then Future Sight went bonkers. I made a series of mix-and-match cards that blended Magic mechanics from across time, bringing back a giant number of mechanics that hadn't even been in Time Spiral or Planar Chaos. I then made future-shifted cards with mechanics that might exist one day. All in all, Future Sight had almost as many mechanics as Magic had in total before the set came out. The issue went beyond just mechanics, though. Part of doing a nostalgia theme was designing cards that were callbacks, mechanically and creatively, to old cards. Many of the cards didn't even make sense if you didn't understand the in-joke of what the cards were referencing. The result? The heavily enfranchised players who got most of the references and did know the reprinted mechanics loved it. However, most players had problems. There were way too many mechanics to process and the in-jokes went over their heads. For the first time ever, tournament attendance was going up and sales were going down. This led to this important lesson: Every set is someone's first set. It's so easy to forget what you once learned. Things that become second nature weren't always that way. At some point you had to learn it. If designers and developers forget that sets have to be accessible to new players, we run the risk of killing the game. New blood is essential to Magic's health because people will always leave for various reasons. If there aren't new players to offset that exodus, the game shrinks until it is no longer sustainable. Lorwyn Block This block started with two simple themes. One, Onslaught block had been popular with its tribal theme and we wanted to do another tribal block. Two, Bill Rose had challenged me to come up with a way to do a four-set block, so I had with the idea of two mini-blocks (the precursor to the modern two-block model) where a radical event would change the world to justify two very different mini-blocks, each with its own mechanical identity. The tribal theme in Onslaught was bigger than any tribal theme before it, but I recognized there was room to make it bigger. Not only that, I made an important realization. Since Onslaught, we had introduced the race/class model for creature types (things like Human Soldier). By accessing race/class technology, we could have creatures that have two tribal axes (the plural of "axis"). We could access races in Lorwyn (races went first as there were more of them) and classes in Morningtide. I didn't realize my mistake until the Employee Prerelease for Morningtide. I was sitting across from an employee who was far less experienced, and the intricate web of tribal interactions was mind-melting to them. The Goblin Warrior could be affected by Goblin tribal and Warrior tribal, but the Goblin Wizard was affected by Goblin tribal and Wizard tribal. And then there was the Human Wizard. Goblin tribal would affect the first two but not the third, while Wizard tribal would affect the last two but not the first. Now add in ten more creatures and the board was impossible to digest for most of the players. For the first time, we saw people leaving the Prerelease after only one match. Interestingly, Time Spiral block had taught us the importance of not overwhelming the audience, so we were very careful to make sure that we didn't use too many mechanics and kept word length to a minimum, especially at common. Lorwyn and Morningtide taught us that cards could be easy to read and understand in a vacuum and still be overwhelming when seen in play. This led us to this important lesson: There are different types of complexity, and we have to monitor each type. This lesson led us to the idea of New World Order, the concept that we have to treat commons differently in order to lower the barrier to entry for new players. We broke complexity into three types—comprehension complexity, board complexity, and strategic complexity—and started to think differently about how complexity worked. (For more on New World Order and the three types of complexity, you can read my article on the topic.) Battle for Zendikar Block When I started working on Battle for Zendikar, I began with only one given—we were going back to the world of Zendikar. What that meant, what was going to happen there, and how the design was going to work was all left up to me. At the time, we hadn't yet embraced the new push for story (Magic Origins design actually started after Battle for Zendikar design, even though it was coming first chronologically, and even then, the realization of what Magic Origins was going to become didn't happen until halfway through that set's design), so I had nothing to work with regarding the story as I started up exploratory design. I looked back at where the Zendikar block ended. The Eldrazi had gotten released from their thousands-of-years imprisonment and were causing great destruction to the world of Zendikar. The Zendikari gathered together their heroes to fight the Eldrazi—and scene. The block ended. What happened to Zendikar or the Zendikari or the Eldrazi? None of that was explained. That was a pretty big cliffhanger, so I decided that we needed to follow up on that storyline. For those who read my preview articles about the design of Battle for Zendikar (part one and part two), you'll remember that I walked through how we went about bringing the battle of the Eldrazi versus the Zendikari to life, but I didn't spend much time examining why the story had to be about a battle. The reason for that is that I never examined a different story. Our previous visit ended on a cliffhanger, the cliffhanger implied conflict, and Magic is, at its core, a game about fighting. I never even considered any other possibility. Of course the return to Zendikar was going to be an epic battle between the Eldrazi and the Zendikari. What else could it be? And that was my mistake. It was a pretty big one in retrospect. To understand it, I'll need to first fill you in on some facts about the block. Original Zendikar came about because I was convinced we could do a cool design built around land mechanics. Most everyone else was skeptical, but I'd earned enough goodwill that I was given some time to prove the concept. I succeeded and it led to us making a high adventure world inspired by things like Dungeons & Dragons and Indiana Jones. Original Zendikar was very popular, as was Worldwake, the small set that followed it. But because there was some hesitance with my idea, the plan was to have the third set, a large set, take place on its own world. The creative team didn't have the resources to build a whole new world, so they came up with a story conceit for why the last set could reboot the mechanics yet stay on the same plane. This is how the idea of the Eldrazi came about. Rise of the Eldrazi was very different from the first two Zendikar sets. It made use of what was called "battlecruiser Magic," where the gameplay discouraged faster strategies to allow for giant creatures (either straight-up goliaths like the Eldrazi or built-up-over-time ones like the level-up creatures). The unorthodox Limited gameplay was embraced by the enfranchised players, who still today list the set as among one of the best Limited environments ever made, but was firmly rejected by the less-enfranchised players, who were just lost. Basic strategies that had always worked became traps where less-enfranchised players would lose time and again. As a result, the set sold poorly, especially when compared to the very popular Zendikar. We chose to return to Zendikar because the original set was so popular, but instead of embracing what made it popular, I embraced the very aspect that we knew was the least popular part about it. Even worse, to make room for the battle between the Eldrazi and Zendikari, I had to exclude all the adventure world tropes—the very stuff that I now believe was what made the first set so lovable. Here's my analogy. I took my family to Disneyland. They had a great time. They loved all the rides and the characters and the treats. At the end of the last day, I was exhausted, so I took them to the Hall of Presidents so I could rest in an air-conditioned room. They were antsy the whole time because they could care less about animatronic presidents—except my wife, who actually found it interesting. Many years later, it's time to return to Disneyland because I know my family loved it. What do I do? I take my family to all the animatronic shows. This brings us to my lesson: When returning to a world, you have to return to the things that players loved about it the first time you visited. Shadows over Innistrad is the perfect example of us embracing this philosophy. We didn't return to Avacyn Restored. We returned to Innistrad. Battle for Zendikar, in contrast, didn't return to Zendikar. We returned to Rise of the Eldrazi. Looking forward, I know that returning to worlds is something we're planning to do half the time, so this lesson is a very important one for me to learn. Lessons Learned The day I stop making mistakes is the day I stop learning. I've learned not to be afraid of mistakes but rather to be willing to recognize them when they happen and take the time and energy to learn from them. Today was just another column trying to demonstrate that making Magic is hard and we don't always get it right, but we're trying our hardest and are constantly learning how to get better. That's especially true for me now, working on my 21st year on the game. As always, I'm eager to hear your thoughts on today's column. You can email me or contact me through any of my social media accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Instagram). Are there mistakes we've made that you don't think we've recognized? Or are there things we think of as mistakes that you don't? If so, please let me know. Join me next week, when I'll finally get around to telling you what our new introductory product is going to be. Until then, may your mistakes bring you wisdom. "Drive to Work #328—Meet My Daughter" My drive to work has changed a bit, as I'm now driving my daughter to school each morning. As she carpools every day, it seemed only right to let her join me for a podcast. This is another in my "Meet My Family Member" series. "Drive to Work #329—20 Lessons: Human Nature" At the Game Developers Conference this year, I gave a speech called "Twenty Years, Twenty Lessons" where I talked about many of the things I've learned about game design from having worked on the same game for 20 years. This has inspired me to start a new podcast series called "Twenty Lessons, Twenty Podcasts," where I plan to go through each lesson for a whole podcast. I start today with Lesson #1: Fighting Against Human Nature Is a Losing Battle. |
TV Reviews All of our TV reviews in one convenient place. The Crazy Ones The Crazy Ones The Crazy Ones B+ The Crazy Ones The Crazy Ones B+ B+ The Crazy Ones Season 1 Created by David E. Kelley Airs Thursdays, on CBS at 9 PM Eastern Format Half-hour single-camera situation comedy. 18 episodes watched for review F. Scott Fitzgerald, former celebrity golden boy of American letters turned failed screenwriter, wrote that there “are no second acts in American life. “ In the long morning-after hangover of his last years, Fitzgerald failed to understand that time is a flat circle. 35 years ago, Robin Williams, a 27-year-old actor-comedian just two years out of Julliard, became an overnight star on Mork & Mindy. A teenybopper throwback to the contrived dopiness of My Favorite Martian and I Dream Of Jeannie, Mork & Mindy became something of a critics’ darling, because of the freshness of Williams’ buoyant presence and his improvisational technique. In a TV sitcom, in 1978, actors making up their own lines was as revolutionary as—well, as revolutionary as some of the things that had been going on in movies and theater that really were revolutionary. Magazine profiles of Williams noted admiringly that parts of the scripts for the show consisted of the simple stage direction, “Robin does his thing.” Advertisement The Crazy Ones, Williams’ return to series television after more than three decades of work, much of it amazing, in movies and on stage and TV, has the name of a star producer, David E. Kelley, in the credits, and a solid grounding in the experiences of John R. Montgomery, a former ad man who feeds the writers ideas based on his 33 years in the business. But the built-in selling point of the show comes down to the same thing that was at the heart of Mork & Mindy’s appeal: Watching Robin do his thing. Some things have changed since 1978, the most obvious costing the show its most prospective viewers right off the bat: Williams has been riffing, at the drop of a hat and sometimes at excessive length, on talk shows, one-man gigs, and any other forum that would have him for a long time now, and the freshness got beaten out of his act ages ago. He’s still a game little rooster, though, and he’s not fool enough to try to carry this show by himself. He enjoys seeing the sparks that other funny actors can give off and works and plays well with others. The good news is that the sitcom form has gotten a lot more receptive to loose byplay between comedians since Garry Marshall’s heyday, and The Crazy Ones surrounds Williams with a supporting cast that’s a big improvement on Pam Dawber and Conrad Janis. The Crazy Ones has come a ways since its pilot, a tame affair that incorporated the name of an actual fast-food hamburger chain to such a degree that it was worth wondering if the producers had worked out some kind of secret weekly-sponsorship deal with a different company for every episode. As Erik Adams noted at the time, the pilot’s greatest pull came from the rapport between Williams and James Wolk as Williams’ star writer, Zach. As the star of Kyle Killen’s tragically short-lived Lone Star, Wolk made himself instantly likable by sheepishly downplaying his own good looks and embedding a trace of shyness in the self-promoting con-man hero. But as the enigmatic Bob Benson on Mad Men, Wolk showed that he could make a strong instant impression when it’s called for. He gets to combine his assets here: Zach isn’t just a brilliant ad writer, he’s the living embodiment of salesmanship, partly because of his own attractive packaging, and partly because he’s so completely shallow that he doesn’t know anything but salesmanship. Williams, who treats his staff as family, unabashedly embraces Zach as his favorite, which could have easily bee used to generate tension between him and both Andrew (Hamish Linklater), the art director, and Williams’ daughter and business partner, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. But Wolk plays Zach’s shallowness as his source of vulnerability, which is both fresher and surprisingly touching. He sometimes picks up hints that there’s some plane out there where good looks and glibness aren’t the only prized qualities, and it troubles him. In one recent episode, Zach’s Teflon-composure fell apart completely when he ran into the girl who got away, and she explained to him that she didn’t fall out of love with him—she’d never loved him and their relationship was purely physical. It was like seeing HAL 9000 react to being disconnected by getting drunk and embarrassing himself on the dance floor. Advertisement Generally speaking, the women on The Crazy Ones have not fared as well as the men, though it’s hard to tell whether that’s because the writers don’t know what to do with them or because they’ve been sticking to what the writers give them more diligently than Williams, Wolk, and Linklater. Amanda Setton, the unlucky actress who was dropped from The Mindy Project after half a season, is mostly stuck with cringe-comedy one-liners about what a perverted weirdo she is when she’s not at work, but she does her best to give them some spark. Gellar is the show’s weakest link, and in her case, she’s definitely hampered by the writers’ conception of her character. The big joke is that Sydney is, and always has been, the grown-up in her relationship with her father. This is now extended to the workplace, where she’s the grown-up in an office full of zanies. Just how hard did Gellar take the cancellation of Ringer? She’s a little young to be turning herself into Margaret Dumont. In the early episodes, the show tried to lay track for future storylines by suggesting that Andrew and Sydney are in love but that she’s too gun-shy to make the first move, and he’s too shy, period. Traces of that subplot still tentatively surface from time to time, but there’s no chemistry between them, and it’s hard to see anything ever coming of it without both the writers and actors dropping everything else, getting behind it, and pushing, hard. The Crazy Ones doesn’t seem to be in much danger of becoming that kind of show though. It’s not for people who want to get caught up in a game of “will they or won’t they?’ but for hardcore aficionados of comic acting, who may or may not keep track of the plot points, but will patiently wait for the moments when the people onscreen hit a sustained groove together and start to cook. Linklater executes some of the best cooking, as his performance here, after being trapped in his awful smug-villain role on The Newsroom last summer, constitutes a return from the dead. Of all the candidates for “future character development” in the early episodes, the one that’s worked out is the idea that Zach and Andrew, who look as if they’re fated to be rivals, are actually in a symbiotic relationship, which the show likens to that of a shark and a suckerfish. The show treats Sydney’s love life as a series of gags, with zero emotional carryover from one week to the next. But when Andrew’s head is turned by a new, more modest collaborator, and the partnership is threatened, it’s both funny and genuinely distressing, and Wolk’s big eyes are never shinier or more childlike in their pained bewilderment than when he sees Linklater working with someone else. Zach and Andrew—Wolk and Linklater—are the real love pairing of the TV season. They complete each other. |
The father of “clock boy” Ahmed Mohammed saw his lawsuit against conservative pundit Ben Shapiro and others dismissed Thursday and was ordered by the court to pay Shapiro’s lawyer fees. Mohammed achieved notoriety in 2015 when he brought a homemade clock to school, the appearance of which apparently led his teacher to believe it was a bomb and call the police. The incident sparked a backlash against perceived Islamophobia, an outpouring of support from public figures like President Barack Obama, and quite possibly the stupidest media circus of the year. Not among his defenders was Shapiro, who charged on Fox News that the incident was “a hoax” and that President Obama fell for it because “it confirms a couple of his prestated biases against police and against people who he perceives to be Islamophobic.” A year later, Mohammed filed a defamation lawsuit demanding an apology from Shapiro, Fox News, The Blaze, Glenn Beck, and an entire host of conservative commentators and outlets. Shapiro enlisted the services of attorney Kurt Schlichter (also a conservative pundit) and fought the lawsuit. The 162nd District Court of Texas awarded an early and decisive victory for Shapiro, granting his motion for dismissal with prejudice. Shapiro crowed his victory with an intentionally ironic headline: “IMPLOSION: ‘Clock Boy’ Lawsuit Against Shapiro Dismissed, Shapiro Awarded Attorneys’ Fees.” “This is an excellent day for free speech,” Shapiro said. “Using law as warfare is perhaps the most disgusting tactic of politically correct activists across the country, and we couldn’t be more excited to stand up against such frivolous use of our court system.” [Image via screengrab] — >>Follow Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) on Twitter Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com |
The Roman Remains In Caerleon Roman Fortress of ISCA Sections of the Roman fortress wall still survive ... despite locals in times gone by using the more accessible facing stones for their own building purposes. Many premises in the village are constructed of 'Roman' stone! The more adventurous visitor may like to walk along the path that runs on top of the southern corner of the fortress wall. Caerleon is proud to be a member of the Walled Towns Friendship Circle. The amphitheatre stands just outside the walled area. It once could seat a whole legion - up to six thousand spectators. Nowadays it is sometimes used for open air events and re-enactments. Entry is free (except for special events) and there is free parking nearby in Broadway (off High Street). For more information about the amphitheatre and its excavation follow this link. For amazing film of the amphitheatre from above follow this link. Caerleon has the finest remains of Roman barrack buildings in Europe. This block housed a century - 80 men. The larger rooms in the foreground were for the centurion. Legionaries shared quarters - eight men to a room. The National Roman Legion Museum houses a superb display of artefacts found in the region, as well as having demonstration rooms and the reconstruction of legionaries' quarters. Like other National Museums and Galleries of Wales, entry is free. The museum organises an excellent variety of events right through the year (there is a small charge for some of these). Admission free. Location: High Street, opposite Broadway. Tel.: 0300 111 2 333 Email the Museum National Museums and Galleries of Wales website click here. The Roman Baths Museum nearby uses modern technology to give the visitor a vivid image of its former grandeur. The museum is run by CADW, so opening times are not exactly the same as the Legionary Museum. Audio guide and videos available. Admission free. Location: High Street, parking in the Bull Inn car park. Tel.: 01633 422518 Email Cadw CADW website click here, & here for Caerleon page |
CALGARY — Near-empty skyscrapers and rising vacancy rates are pressuring landlords to offer big incentives – such as a year of free rent or money for renovations – to keep a shrinking number of tenants in their downtown Calgary towers. [np_storybar title=”Not even movers can catch a break in Alberta’s oilpatch, where fleeing homeowners are selling everything” link=”https://business.financialpost.com/news/energy/not-even-movers-can-catch-a-break-in-calgary-where-fleeing-homeowners-are-selling-everything”%5D Alberta is losing residents at a rate not seen since the Great Recession, but this time cash-strapped families are selling up before shipping out to save moving costs. Continue reading. [/np_storybar] And with more than two million square feet of new construction set to become available, the soft market for Calgary landlords is expected to last for as long as a decade. “Not only are the rental rates lower, but the inducements to individual tenants for improvements and/or free rent are all going up,” said Randy Fennessey, president and partner with Colliers International in Calgary. Fennessey said that landlords would rather sign a lease with higher contractual rental rates and then give tenants the option of moving in a year early free of charge rather than drop their prices. Tenants in the energy sector currently looking for space, he said, have been taking those deals with the expectation that the worst of the downturn is over. “That’s a common negotiating tool today because a lot of tenants, particularly in the energy sector, are trying to control their general and administrative costs,” Fennessey said. Calgary Economic Development president and CEO Mary Moran said 25,000 people that had been working in the city’s downtown core have lost their jobs in the past two years, which has contributed to the city’s empty office towers. Moran said she was concerned about those buildings that are more than half empty and her organization is actively trying to encourage companies outside the province to relocate to Calgary now to capitalize on falling rental rates and available labour. Commercial real-estate firms estimate the overall vacancy rate in the city core to be close to 22 per cent — double what developers call a market in balance — but a handful of buildings, such as bankrupt Sanjel Corp.’s old headquarters, are virtually empty. That will increase the city’s overall vacancy rate and put pressure on landlords to offer big incentives to fill the space. This week, TransCanada Corp. put 11 floors of office space back on the market in an attempt to find a tenant to sublease their office space in a 25-floor building. As TransCanada moves out and consolidates its staff at or closer to its headquarters, the older building’s vacancy rate will rise to over 50 per cent, with more floors available in 2017. It’s far from the only building with sky-high vacancy. A few blocks south, Brion Energy Corp. is poised to move out of Encana Place and into a new tower, which would leave its current address more than 90 per cent empty and only the building’s landlord, Aspen Properties Ltd., in the 30-storey tower. Many other towers are over half empty and energy producer’s efforts to control real-estate costs is putting pressure on landlords at both old and new buildings. It’s those landlords that have rested on the fruits of the oil and gas industry for the last 15 years that haven’t felt the need to reinvest in their properties that are going to be hit the hardest. Only one tenant, for example, has moved into Eau Claire Tower, a 25-floor building completed in 2015. Peyto Exploration and Development Corp. occupies two floors in the glass tower, which is fully leased but currently sits 90 per cent empty. Corine Bushfield, senior vice-president and chief financial officer at Long Run Exploration Ltd., said he company is planning to move into the Eau Claire Tower next summer but noted that Long Run, like other oil and gas producers, is looking “at all dollars and costs that the company has, and if there are ways to save we are looking to do that.” Dan Harmsen, partner and vice-president at Calgary-based Barclay Street Real Estate said, “this is a tenant business, this is not a building business. Landlords have been doing everything possible to keep tenants and keep tenants positive in these trying times.” At the same time, he said, “there will be a flight to quality,” as has happened in many other energy and commodity price cycles. He said some landlords have reinvested their money in older buildings, doing renovations and maintaining upscale office amenities in order to hold onto tenants as brand new buildings have opened. Those that haven’t face more challenges. “It’s those landlords that have rested on the fruits of the oil and gas industry for the last 15 years that haven’t felt the need to reinvest in their properties that are going to be hit the hardest,” Harmsen said. Vacancy rates are projected to rise further as three new towers – Telus Sky, Brookfield Place and Manulife’s 27-floor building on 7th Avenue – will add close to 2.5 million square feet of space to the market by 2018. Each of those buildings could open to the market with large blocks of un-leased space. “There’s all these different pressures all compounding on each other and, the point is, the Calgary office market is going to be soft for a while,” said Sandy McNair, a data curator and analyst with real-estate market research firm Altus Group. A second quarter market update from Colliers notes that “at historical absorption rates, it could take five to 10 years before returning to a balanced downtown market vacancy rate of eight per cent to 10 per cent.” If energy prices rise, and activity returns to 2012 levels, the report said the market could return to balance sooner. “I think what we’ll hopefully see is some of those older buildings, the ones built between ’78 and ’82, will go looking for another life,” McNair said. Given the number of older buildings that are well over 50 per cent vacant, Moran said her organization is concerned and is discussing plans with real-estate executives to turn older office towers into condos or apartments. She also notes that some in the real estate industry have discussed tearing down older buildings given vacancy rate projections. “There are a lot of people in Calgary that would say, ‘We’re not overbuilt, we’re under-demolished.’ So there are some products that probably could go,” Moran said. Financial Post gmorgan@nationalpost.com Twitter.com/geoffreymorgan |
Suspicious activity in Jan Dhan accounts were detected in Kolkata, Midnapore, Ara, Kochi and Varanasi. Highlights Sudden surge in cash deposits in Jan Dhan accounts post demonetisation Suspicious activity in accounts in Kolkata, Varanasi, Midnapore and Kochi Jan Dhan accounts have a deposit limit of Rs 50,000 The Income Tax department has detected undisclosed monies of Rs 1.64 crore and other "inconsistencies" in its countrywide investigations into the sudden popping up of suspicious amounts in Jan Dhan accounts.The department has detected the suspicious activity in these accounts in banks in Kolkata, Midnapore, Ara (Bihar), Kochi and Varanasi even as officials said some other accounts in over half-a-dozen cities are under the scanner of the taxman.The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), policy-making body for the I-T department, said, "Rs 40 lakh has been seized from one such account in Bihar."Such accounts have a deposit limit of Rs 50,000."Investigation being conducted by the I-T department across India into the sudden surge in cash deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have revealed various inconsistencies."Undisclosed monies of approximately Rs 1.64 crore deposited by persons who have never filed returns of income being below the taxable limits, into their Jandhan accounts have already been detected at Kolkata, Midnapore, Ara (Bihar), Kochi and Varanasi," it said in a statement.The CBDT added that the "undisclosed income so detected will be brought to tax as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 apart from other actions depending upon the outcome of investigations."As per updated data till November 23, the Jan Dhan accounts have seen a huge surge in deposits, with Rs 21,000 crore being parked in such accounts following demonetisation announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8.Following the currency scrap, the total balance in these accounts had crossed Rs 65,000 crore to Rs 66,636 crore. As of November 9, the balance in about 25.5 crore such accounts was Rs 45,636.61 crore.With a view to increasing banking penetration and promoting financial inclusion and with the main objective of covering all households with at least one bank account per household across the country, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) was launched on August 28, 2014.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier said that the government is looking into sudden 'popping up' of money into these zero-balance accounts.The CBDT said it "once again urges the account holders not to consent to any kind of misuse of their accounts which would expose them to the dangers of being held responsible for the tax evasion by unscrupulous elements." Taxman had earlier warned people against depositing their unaccounted old currency in someone else's bank account, like Jan Dhan, the department will slap charges under the newly enforced Benami Transactions Act against violators that carries a penalty, prosecution and rigorous jail term of a maximum seven years. |
It was the famous clinical psychologist and celebrity researcher Jim Houran who once said that "powerful people tend to gravitate toward other powerful people." When it comes to celebrity couples, one plus one equals millions – $283 million, to be precise, the estimated combined sum earned by The World’s Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples between May 2010 and May 2011, according to data from the latest Celebrity 100 list. Coming first on our ranking is the powerful duo formed by supermodel Gisele Bundchen and NFL superstar Tom Brady. Thanks to a monster year filled with fashion and endorsement deals, not to mention a few business ventures that could put her on the road to becoming the world's first billionaire supermodel, Bundchen pocketed a massive $45 million over the 12-month period. Not to be overshadowed by his more famous wife, Brady – who signed a four-year, $72 million contract extension in September with the New England Patriots, NFL’s richest deal on an annual basis – brought home another $31 million, putting the couple’s combined annual earnings at $76 million. Music’s most powerful couple, Beyonce Knowles and Jay-Z hauled in some $72 million over the past year, making them No. 2 on our list. The Houston-born R&B diva pulled in $35 million, thanks mostly to business-focused deals such as a clothing line with Dereon and endorsement deals with L’Oreal, DirecTV, General Mills and others. As for Jay-Z, his earnings come from the 10-year $150 million Live Nation deal that he signed in 2008 and the cash he collects as a shareholder in New Jersey Nets, 40/40 Club chain and ad firm Translation. Hollywood royalty Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt came in third place on our list, with a combined $50 million annual income. The highest-paid actress in the world is the only woman making bank for playing action heroes in Tinseltown these days: Salt, which was originally written for Tom Cruise, earned $300 million at the box office. Her other movie from last year, The Tourist, made another $280 million worldwide. As a result, Jolie folded about $30 million last year, while her husband, Brad Pitt, cashed in some $20 million. With his Plan B production company, Pitt has become as active a producer as he is an actor. But don’t write him off the big screen just yet, as his latest movie appearance (on Terrence Malick's The Tree Of Life) is already generating Oscar buzz. Apart from the fact that he is yet to popularize soccer in America, David Beckham, along with his former Spice Girl wife Victoria, are the world’s fourth Highest-Paid Celebrity couple, with combined earnings of $45 million between May 2010 and May 2011. Beckham’s pitch prowess has declined in recent years as the 36-year-old’s career winds down, but he still collects big endorsement checks from companies like Adidas and, more recently, Samsung, for which he will be the global brand ambassador during the 2012 Olympic Games in London. His pay check last year: $40 million. Victoria, which is better known on this side of the Atlantic by her nickname Posh, responds for the other $5 million from the couple’s annual income, thanks to the percentage of sales that she collects from her fashion lines of wool dresses and $3,000 purses. Coming last, but not least, is Twilight’s Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, who have both earned $20 million last year thanks to the franchise's global success, making their combined annual salary $40 million. With the end of the Twilight franchise in sight, they both are preparing for a post-vampire career. Pattinson has taken the lead in more “serious” projects, like Remember Me, which earned $56 million on a budget of $16 million. In the meantime, Stewart’s non-Twilight career hasn’t been as promising as her co-star and real-life boyfriend's so far. Her 2010 film The Runaways grossed only $4.6 million at the box office. But there’s still hope for Stewart: next year she will be seen in cinemas playing the leading role in the film Snow White and the Huntsman. |
Get the biggest daily news stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email A seven-year-old girl stumbled across a 4ft sword in the same lake where King Arthur's Excalibur was said to have been thrown. Matilda Jones was paddling waist-deep in Dozmary Pool in Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, when she came across the blade while on a family holiday. The lake is said to be the spot where legendary medieval leader King Arthur is said to have returned Excalibur after being fatally wounded in the Battle of Camlann. Ironically, dad Paul Jones, 51, had recounted the famous folklore of King Arthur to Matilda and her four-year-old sister Lois just before the recovery. (Image: SWNS.com) (Image: SWNS.com) Paul, of Doncaster, south Yorks., said: "It was a blistering hot day and Matilda asked if we could go for a paddle. "She was only waist deep when she said she could see a sword. "I told her not to be silly and it was probably a bit of fencing, but when I looked down I realised it was a sword. It was just there laying flat on the bottom of the lake. (Image: SWNS.com) "The sword is 4ft long - exactly Matilda's height." Legend has it that King Arthur first received Excalibur from the Lady of Lake in Dozmary Pool after rowing out to receive it. (Image: SWNS.com) After being mortally wounded in the Battle of Camlann he asked to be taken there so he could return the sword to her. After three attempts, his loyal follower Bedivere cast it into the water and the Lady of the Lake's arm rose to receive it. The pool, in the civil parish of Altarnun on Bodmin Moor, was said to be bottomless until droughts in 1859 and 1976 dried it out completely and revealed it is, in fact, and shallow pond. And Matilda's dad reckons the sword is probably only around 30 years old. "I don't think it's particularly old," he said. "It's probably an old film prop." |
Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League today announced that Phoenix Coyotes prospect Max Domi of the London Knights is the OHL Player of the Week for the week ending February 2 with six points in three games scoring twice with four assists along with a plus-minus rating of plus-2. Domi earns the award for a second time this season after helping the Knights pick up three wins on their Eastern Conference road trip extending the club’s winning-streak to five games. On Thursday night he had an assist as part of a 9-4 win over the North Bay Battalion, then earned first star honours on Friday night in Sudbury where the club honoured Dale Hunter by retiring his Wolves number 15 jersey. In that contest he scored a shorthanded goal plus an assist in the Knights’ 3-2 win. Domi and the Knights then rolled into Barrie on Saturday for their third game in three nights facing the Colts in a rematch of last year’s OHL Championship Series. The Knights emerged with a 5-4 win with Domi scoring the game-winner and adding two assists as second star of the victory. Domi, an 18-year-old from Toronto, ON, is playing in his third OHL season with the Knights. Selected by the Coyotes 12th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft, he has 25 goals and 45 assists for 70 points in 44 games and is tied for seventh in OHL scoring with teammate Chris Tierney. Click here to watch highlights of Domi and the Knights against the Colts Click here to watch highlights of Domi and the Knights against the Wolves Click here to watch highlights of Domi and the Knights against the Battalion Also considered for the award this week was defenceman Jesse Graham of the Saginaw Spirit who scored three goals and two assists for five points in three games, and Washington Capitals prospect Andre Burakovsky of the Erie Otters who had four goals and two assists for six points in four games. In goal, Dalen Kuchmey of the Windsor Spitfires picked up two wins in two starts including a shutout victory with a goals-against-average of 0.50 and save percentage of .982. 2013-14 OHL Regular Season Players of the Week: Jan. 27 – Feb. 2: Max Domi (London Knights) Jan. 20 – Jan. 26: Josh Ho-Sang (Windsor Spitfires) Jan. 13 – Jan. 19: Justin Nichols (Guelph Storm) Jan. 6 – Jan. 12: Connor Brown (Erie Otters) Dec. 30 – Jan. 5: Franky Palazzese (Sudbury Wolves) Dec. 16 – Dec. 29: Remi Elie (Belleville Bulls) Dec. 9 – Dec. 15: Max Domi (London Knights) Dec. 2 – Dec. 8: Andreas Athanasiou (Barrie Colts) Nov. 25 – Dec. 1: Dane Fox (Erie Otters) Nov. 18 – Nov. 24: Zac Leslie (Guelph Storm) Nov. 11 – Nov. 17: Alex Fotinos (Windsor Spitfires) Nov. 4 – Nov. 10: Matt Murray (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds) Oct. 28 – Nov. 3: Spencer Martin (Mississauga Steelheads) Oct. 21 – Oct. 27: Brock McGinn (Guelph Storm) Oct. 14 – Oct. 20: Scott Kosmachuk (Guelph Storm) Oct. 7 – Oct. 13: Connor Brown (Erie Otters) Sept. 30 – Oct. 6: Scott Laughton (Oshawa Generals) Sept. 23 – Sept 29: Gemel Smith (Owen Sound Attack) Sept. 19 – Sept. 22: Michael Dal Colle (Oshawa Generals) |
People are increasingly aware of the side-effects of caffeine - but do they know the volume of the drug they’re drinking in their favourite beverages? Get the data here There’s a drug whose appeal shows no sign of slowing. It’s a stimulant for the central nervous system and it was an ingredient in 136 million bags exported around the world in 2012. Those bags were coffee and the drug was caffeine - but there’s a lot more to it than just the one beverage. Tea, energy drinks, chocolates, chewing gum, sweets and even weight-loss tablets have all got a caffeine content. We compare them here. 2 cups of tea = 1 cup of coffee There are 20mg of caffeine in your average 100g of brewed tea compared to 40mg in the same amount of black filter coffee. But the type of tea, as well as the brewing time makes a difference. 2 colas = 1 tea We were surprised too. 100g of your average cola contains just 8mg of caffeine - although for reduced sugar varieties that number goes up to 15mg. More caffeine in coffee than Red Bull One of the biggest brands in high-sugar energy drinks, Red Bull, has just 30mg of caffeine per 100g which still leaves the traditional americano in first place in the caffeine contest. But a look at other energy drinks shows that Red Bull is a relative light-weight in the alkaloid department. New energy shots like Ammo (whose site claims “was developed for the U.S. Military Special Forces like Navy Seals, Green Berets, and Delta Force) are supposed to be drunk in low volumes but 100g of the stuff would contain a dizzying 570mg of caffeine - that’s 14 cups of coffee. Here are the ten most caffeinated energy drinks - along with brand names that are as neon as the liquids within. Caffeinated alcoholic drinks There’s also a growing trend for mixing drugs - in this case alcohol and caffeine. The US Food and Drug Administration lists (not without a note of caution) 70 of these products. One of four companies adding caffeine to their alcoholic malt beverages which the FDA warned was an “unsafe food additive” Photograph: Fda It’s not just drinks From jelly beans to energy infused potato chips, caffeine is increasingly coming in a chewable form. Foosh energy mints have 5,555 mg of caffeine per 100g - that’s 139 cups of coffee (and, we assume, without the halitosis). Buzz Bites Chocolate Chews were the second highest on the adult sweeties list with 1,639mg of caffeine per 100g. It’s not all plain (highly alert?) sailing though - when gum giant Wrigley attempted to launch a caffeinated chewing gum earlier this year they ended up having to halt production after officials raised concerns about children and adolescents consuming the stuff. Companies are coming up with increasingly creative ways to cash in on consumer fatigue Photograph: /Designtaxi Drugs in drugs From Aspirin to Triaminicin (used to reduce fever and relieve pain) several doses of drugs will also contain a hit of caffeine. There are 65mg of caffeine in Aspirin Bayer Select Maximum Strength and 40mg in Repan (used to treat headaches). Many of the weight-loss supplement pills listed by the US authorities also include high dosages of caffeine - presumably in the belief that it may act as an appetite suppressant. For those who are seeking a direct fix, a range of caffeine tablets are also widely availble that have dosages between 175mg and 200mg. You can compare the main caffeine products from cola to dark chocolate coated coffee beans in the chart below. You can get all the data, published by the US Food and Drug Administration here. Do these numbers surprise you? Tell us about your caffeine habits in the comments below. Update: Several commenters wanted to see caffeine contents per portion as well as per 100g. All those numbers are available in the spreadsheet but we’ve summarised a few in the table below in case it’s helpful. |
This posting is dedicated to the the 29 men who lost their lives on the Edmund Fitzgerald lake freighter 38 years ago. May they rest in peace. In a heated tent set up beside the park’s lighthouse, Abair and other museum volunteers displayed mural-size photos and a model of the famed ore carrier that sank in Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975, in a gale. Source: The Detroit Free Press “It’s appropriate to have this here because the ship was built 1,000 yards south, and it unloaded all the time 1,000 yards north,” said Tom Abair, 62, codirector of the River Rouge Historical Museum. As the winds of November whipped through a park beside the Detroit River, 29 lanterns flickered at the water’s edge and bagpipes wailed as about 60 people gathered Sunday evening to remember the 29 men who lost their lives on the Edmund Fitzgerald lake freighter 38 years ago. Lyrics: The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they called “Gitche Gumee” The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty, that big ship and true was a bone to be chewed when the Gales of November came early The ship was the pride of the American side coming back from some mill in Wisconsin As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most with a crew and good captain well seasoned, concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms when they left fully loaded for Cleveland And later that night when the ship’s bell rang, could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’? The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound and a wave broke over the railing And ev’ry man knew, as the captain did too ’twas the witch of November come stealin’ The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait when the Gales of November came slashin’ When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain in the face of a hurricane west wind When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin’ “Fellas, it’s too rough t’feed ya” At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said, “Fellas, it’s bin good t’know ya!” The captain wired in he had water comin’ in and the good ship and crew was in peril And later that night when ‘is lights went outta sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Does any one know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours? The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay if they’d put fifteen more miles behind ‘er They might have split up or they might have capsized; they may have broke deep and took water And all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings in the rooms of her ice-water mansion Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams; the islands and bays are for sportsmen And farther below Lake Ontario takes in what Lake Erie can send her, And the iron boats go as the mariners all know with the Gales of November remembered In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed, in the Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call “Gitche Gumee” “Superior,” they said, “never gives up her dead when the gales of November come early” |
More than three million LGBTQ youth in the United States could benefit from access to youth mentoring programs – in particular over 1.6 million at-risk LGBTQ youth, according to a new study. The new report by the Williams Institute makes recommendations that youth mentoring programs and local, state, and federal governments can follow to ensure that access. Titled, “Ensuring LGBTQ Youth’s Access to Youth Mentoring Programs,” the study is co-authored by Williams Institute executive director Brad Sears; senior counsel Christy Mallory; counsel Alex Susman; and Amira Hasenbush, Jim Kepner Law and Policy Fellow. “Programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters and Boys and Girls Clubs of America have the potential to provide life-changing experiences for LGBTQ youth,” Sears said. “Trainings for staff and mentors and outreach to LGBT youth are just a couple of effective strategies organizations can use to help reduce the currently high LGBTQ youth involvement with the juvenile justice system.” Research shows that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, which may be due, in part, to selective enforcement of criminal laws against them. They also experience higher rates of family rejection, school harassment and bullying, homelessness, and a host of other factors related to their identity that put them at increased risk of involvement with the system. Youth mentoring organizations are designed to address the challenges at-risk youth face in their daily lives, but there is evidence showing that some organizations are unwelcoming of LGBTQ youth, and discriminate against them when they try to seek services. “We estimate that less than one in five (just over 300,000) of at-risk LGBTQ youths have had a formal mentor,” Mallory said. “That means that more than 1.3 million at-risk LGBTQ youth have never had a formal mentor despite evidence that high-quality, enduring mentorships can lead to a host of positive outcomes for the young people involved.” The study recommends the following policies and practices to break down the barriers LGBTQ youth face: • Adopting internal policies and practices: Youth mentoring programs can adopt a number of policies and practices to ensure that their programs are accessible and welcoming to LGBTQ youth, as well as LGBTQ mentors. Such policies and practices include: 1. Sexual orientation and gender identity non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, and confidentiality policies; 2. Inclusion of LGBTQ identity-affirming language on websites and other materials; 3. Staff trainings focused on “best practices” for mentoring LGBTQ youth; 4. Outreach practices targeting LGBTQ youth and LGBTQ-affirming mentors. • Establishing LGBTQ-focused youth mentoring programs. Government and foundations can encourage development of private programs for mentoring LGBTQ youth. • Implementing non-discrimination requirements in youth mentoring program grants: To further the objectives of youth mentoring programs, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention within the Department of Justice has the authority to issue guidance prohibiting grantees from discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity, to designate LGBTQ youth as an underserved population, and to specifically fund programs for LGBTQ youth. • Enforcing existing legal protections: Several existing laws protect LGBTQ people to some extent, including Title VII, Title IX, constitutional provisions, and state non-discrimination laws. • Adopting new legal protections: Laws explicitly prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination can be passed at the federal, state, and local levels. Click here for full report. |
U.S. Supreme Court Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79 (1915) Burdick v. United States No. 471 Argued December 16, 1914 Decided January 25, 1915 236 U.S. 79 ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK Syllabus Acceptance, as well as delivery, of a pardon is essential to its validity; if rejected by the person to whom it is tendered, the court has no power to force it on him. United States v. Wilson, 7 Pet. 150. Quaere whether the President of the United States may exercise the pardoning power before conviction. A witness may refuse to testify on the ground that his testimony may have an incriminating effect, notwithstanding the President offers, and he refuses, a pardon for any offense connected with the matters in regard to which he is asked to testify. There are substantial differences between legislative immunity and a pardon; the latter carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it, while the former is noncommittal, and tantamount to silence of the witness. There is a distinction between amnesty and pardon; the former overlooks the offense, and is usually addressed to crimes against the sovereignty of the state and political offenses, the latter remits punishment and condones infractions of the peace of the state. 211 F. 492 reversed. The facts, which involve the effect of a pardon of the President of the United States tendered to one who has not been convicted of a crime nor admitted the commission thereof, and also the necessity of acceptance of a pardon in order to make it effective, are stated in the opinion. Page 236 U. S. 84 MR. JUSTICE McKENNA delivered the opinion of the Court. Error to review a judgment for contempt against Burdick upon presentment of the federal grand jury for Page 236 U. S. 85 refusing to answer certain questions put to him in an investigation then pending before the grand jury into alleged custom frauds in violation of §§ 37 and 39 of the Criminal Code of the United States. Burdick first appeared before the grand jury and refused to answer questions as to the directions he gave and the sources of his information concerning certain articles in the New York Tribune regarding the frauds under investigation. He is the city editor of that paper. He declined to answer, claiming upon his oath that his answers might tend to criminate him. Thereupon he was remanded to appear at a later day, and upon so appearing he was handed a pardon which he was told had been obtained for him upon the strength of his testimony before the other grand jury. The following is a copy of it: "Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, to all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting:" "Whereas George Burdick, an editor of the New York Tribune, has declined to testify before a federal grand jury now in session in the Southern District of New York in a proceeding entitled, 'United States v. John Doe and Richard Roe,' as to the sources of the information which he had in the New York Tribune office, or in his possession, or under his control at the time he sent Henry D. Kingsbury, a reporter on the said New York Tribune to write an article which appeared in the said New York Tribune in its issue of December 31st, 1913, headed, 'Glove Makers' Gems May Be Customs Size,' on the ground that it would tend to incriminate him to answer the questions; and," "Whereas the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York desires to use the said George Burdick as a witness before the said grand jury in the said proceeding for the purpose of determining whether any employee of the Treasury Department at the Custom Page 236 U. S. 86 House, New York City, has been betraying information that came to such person in an official capacity; and," "Whereas it is believed that the said George Burdick will again refuse to testify in the said proceeding on the ground that his testimony might tend to incriminate himself;" "Now therefore be it known, that I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, in consideration of the premises, divers other good and sufficient reasons me thereunto moving, do hereby grant unto the said George Burdick a full and unconditional pardon for all offenses against the United States which he, the said George Burdick, has committed or may have committed or taken part in in connection with the securing, writing about, or assisting in the publication of the information so incorporated in the aforementioned article, and in connection with any other article, matter, or thing concerning which he may be interrogated in the said grand jury proceeding, thereby absolving him from the consequences of every such criminal act." "In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the Department of Justice to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington this fourteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth." He declined to accept the pardon or answer questions as to the sources of his information, or whether he furnished certain reporters information, giving the reason, as before, that the answers might tend to criminate him. He was presented by the grand jury to the district court for contempt, and adjudged guilty thereof and to pay a fine of $500, with leave, however, to purge himself by testifying fully as to the sources of the information sought of him, "and in event of his refusal or failure to so answer, a Page 236 U. S. 87 commitment may issue in addition until he shall so comply," the court deciding that the President has power to pardon for a crime of which the individual has not been convicted and which he does not admit, and that acceptance is not necessary to toll the privilege against incrimination. Burdick again appeared before the grand jury, again was questioned as before, again refused to accept the pardon, and again refused to answer upon the same grounds as before. A final order of commitment was then made and entered, and he was committed to the custody of the United States marshal until he should purge himself of contempt, or until the further order of the court. This writ of error was then allowed. The question in the case is the effect of the unaccepted pardon. The Solicitor General, in his discussion of the question, following the division of the district court, contends (1) that the President has power to pardon an offense before admission or conviction of it, and (2) the acceptance of the pardon is not necessary to its complete exculpating effect. The conclusion is hence deduced that the pardon removed from Burdick all danger of accusation or conviction of crime, and that therefore the answers to the questions put to him could not tend to or accomplish his incrimination. Plaintiff in error counters the contention and conclusion with directly opposing ones, and makes other contentions which attack the sufficiency of the pardon as immunity and the power of the President to grant a pardon for an offense not precedently established nor confessed nor defined. The discussion of counsel is as broad as their contentions. Our consideration may be more limited. In our view, of the case it is not material to decide whether the pardoning power may be exercised before conviction. We may, however, refer to some aspects of the contentions of plaintiff in error, although the case may be brought to Page 236 U. S. 88 the narrow question, is the acceptance of a pardon necessary? We are relieved from much discussion of it by United States v. Wilson, 7 Pet. 150. Indeed, all of the principles upon which its solution depends were there considered, and the facts of the case gave them a peculiar and interesting application. There were a number of indictments against Wilson and one Porter, some of which were for obstructing the mail and others for robbing the mail and putting the life of the carrier in jeopardy. They were convicted on one of the latter indictments, sentenced to death, and Porter was executed in pursuance of the sentence. President Jackson pardoned Wilson, the pardon reciting that it was for the crime for which he had been sentenced to suffer death, remitting such penalty with the express stipulation that the pardon should not extend to any judgment which might be had or obtained against him in any other case or cases then pending before the court for other offenses wherewith he might stand charged. To another of the indictments, Wilson withdrew his plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty. Upon being arraigned for sentence, the court suggested the propriety of inquiring as to the effect of the pardon, "although alleged to relate to a conviction on another indictment." Wilson was asked if he wished to avail himself of the pardon, to which he answered in person that "he had nothing to say, and that he did not wish in any manner to avail himself, in order to avoid sentence in this particular case, of the pardon referred to." The judges were opposed in opinion, and certified to this Court for decision two propositions which were argued by the district attorney of the United States, with one only of which we are concerned. It was as follows: "2. That the prisoner can, under this conviction, derive no advantage from the pardon without bringing the same judicially before the court by plea, motion, or otherwise. " Page 236 U. S. 89 There was no appearance for Wilson. Attorney General Taney (afterwards Chief Justice of this Court) argued the case on behalf of the United States. The burden of his argument was that a pardon, to be effective, must be accepted. The proposition was necessary to be established, as his contention was that a plea of the pardon was necessary to arrest the sentence upon Wilson. And he said, speaking of the pardon, "It is a grant to him [Wilson]; it is his property, and he may accept it or not, as he pleases;" and, further: "It is insisted that, unless he pleads it, or in some way claims its benefit, thereby denoting his acceptance of the proffered grace, the court cannot notice it, nor allow it to prevent them from passing sentence. The whole current of authority establishes this principle." The authorities were cited, and it was declared that "the necessity of pleading it, or claiming it in some other manner grows out of the nature of the grant. He must accept it." There can be no doubt, therefore, of the contention of the Attorney General, and we have quoted it in order to estimate accurately the response of the Court to it. The response was complete, and considered the contention in two aspects: (1) a pardon as the act of the President, the official act under the Constitution, and (2) the attitude and right of the person to whom it is tendered. Of the former it was said that the power had been "exercised from time immemorial by the executive of that nation [England], whose language is our language, and to whose judicial institutions ours bear a close resemblance; we adopt their principles respecting the operation and effect of a pardon, and look into their books for the rules prescribing the manner in which it is to be used by the person who would avail himself of it." From that source of authority and principle the court deduced and declared this conclusion: "A pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of Page 236 U. S. 90 the laws, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed. It is the private [italics ours], though official, act of the executive magistrate, delivered to the individual for whose benefit it is intended." In emphasis of the official act and its functional deficiency if not accepted by him to whom it is tendered, it was said: "A private deed, not communicated to him, whatever may be its character, whether a pardon or release, is totally unknown, and cannot be acted on." Turning, then, to the other side -- that is, the effect of a pardon on him to whom it is offered -- and completing its description and expressing the condition of its consummation, this was said: "A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not complete without acceptance. It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered, and if it be rejected, we have discovered no power in a court to force it on him." That a pardon, by its mere issue, has automatic effect resistless by him to whom it is tendered, forcing upon him by mere executive power whatever consequences it may have or however he may regard it, which seems to be the contention of the government in the case at bar, was rejected by the Court with particularity and emphasis. The decision is unmistakable. A pardon was denominated as the "private" act, the "private deed," of the executive magistrate, and the denomination was advisedly selected to mark the incompleteness of the act or deed without its acceptance. Indeed, the grace of a pardon, though good its intention, may be only in pretense or seeming; in pretense, as having purpose not moving from the individual to whom it is offered; in seeming, as involving consequences of even greater disgrace than those from which it purports to relieve. Circumstances may be made to bring innocence under the penalties of the law. If so brought, escape by Page 236 U. S. 91 confession of guilt implied in the acceptance of a pardon may be rejected, preferring to be the victim of the law rather than its acknowledged transgressor, preferring death even to such certain infamy. This, at least theoretically, is a right, and a right is often best tested in its extreme. "It may be supposed," the Court said in United States v. Wilson, "that no being condemned to death would reject a pardon; but the rule must be the same in capital cases and in misdemeanors. A pardon may be conditional, and the condition may be more objectionable than the punishment inflicted by the judgment." The case would seem to need no further comment, and we have quoted from it not only for its authority, but for its argument. It demonstrates by both the necessity of the acceptance of a pardon to its legal efficacy, and the court did not hesitate in decision, as we have seen, whatever the alternative of acceptance, whether it be death or lesser penalty. The contrast shows the right of the individual against the exercise of executive power not solicited by him nor accepted by him. The principles declared in United States v. Wilson have endured for years; no case has reversed or modified them. In Ex Parte Wells, 18 How. 307, 59 U. S. 310, this Court said: "It was with the fullest knowledge of the law upon the subject of pardons and the philosophy of government in its bearing upon the Constitution when this Court instructed Chief Justice Marshall" to declare the doctrine of that case. And in Commonwealth v. Lockwood, it was said by Mr. Justice Gray, speaking for the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, he then being a member of that court, it is within the election of a defendant "whether he will avail himself of a pardon from the executive (be the pardon absolute or conditional)." 109 Mass. 323, 339,. The whole discussion of the learned justice will repay a reference. He cites and reviews Page 236 U. S. 92 the cases with the same accurate and masterful consideration that distinguished all of his judicial work, and the proposition declared was one of the conclusions deduced. United States v. Wilson, however, is attempted to be removed as authority by the contention that it dealt with conditional pardons, and that, besides, a witness cannot apprehend from his testimony a conviction of guilt, which conviction he himself has the power to avert, or be heard to say that the testimony can be used adversely to him, when he himself has the power to prevent it by accepting the immunity offered him. In support of the contentions, there is an intimation of analogy between pardon and amnesty, cases are cited, and certain statutes of the United States are adduced whereby immunity was imposed in certain instances, and under its unsolicited protection testimony has been exacted against the claim of privilege asserted by witnesses. There is plausibility in the contentions; it disappears upon reflection. Let us consider the contentions in their order: (1) To hold that the principle of United States v. Wilson was expressed only as to conditional pardons would be to assert that the language and illustrations which were used to emphasize the principle announced were meant only to destroy it. Besides, the pardon passed on was not conditional. It was limited in that -- and only in that -- it was confined to the crime for which the defendant had been convicted and for which he had been sentenced to suffer death. This was its emphasis and distinction. Other charges were pending against him, and it was expressed that the pardon should not extend to them. But such would have been its effect without expression. And we may say that it had more precision than the pardon in the pending case. Wilson had been indicted for a specific statutory crime, convicted, and sentenced to suffer death. It was to the crime so defined and established that the Page 236 U. S. 93 pardon was directed. In the case at bar, nothing is defined. There is no identity of the offenses pardoned, and no other clue to ascertain them but the information incorporated in an article in a newspaper. And not that entirely, for absolution is declared for whatever crimes may have been committed or taken part in "in connection with any other article, matter, or thing concerning which he [Burdick] may be interrogated." It is hence contended by Burdick that the pardon is illegal for the absence of specification, not reciting the offenses upon which it is intended to operate -- worthless therefore as immunity. To support the contention, cases are cited. It is asserted besides that the pardon is void as being outside of the power of the President under the Constitution of the United States because it was issued before accusation or conviction or admission of an offense. This, it is insisted, is precluded by the constitutional provision which gives power only "to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States," and it is argued, in effect, that not in the imagination or purpose of executive magistracy can an "offense against the United States" be established, but only by the confession of the offending individual or the judgment of the judicial tribunals. We do not dwell further on the attack. We prefer to place the case on the ground we have stated. (2) May plaintiff in error, having the means of immunity at hand, that is, the pardon of the President, refuse to testify on the ground that his testimony may have an incriminating effect? A superficial consideration might dictate a negative answer, but the answer would confound rights which are distinct and independent. It is to be borne in mind that the power of the President under the Constitution to grant pardons and the right of a witness must be kept in accommodation. Both have sanction in the Constitution, and it should therefore be the anxiety of the law to preserve both -- to leave to each Page 236 U. S. 94 its proper place. In this as in other conflicts between personal rights and the powers of government, technical -- even nice -- distinctions are proper to be regarded. Granting, then, that the pardon was legally issued and was sufficient for immunity, it was Burdick's right to refuse it, as we have seen, and it therefore not becoming effective, his right under the Constitution to decline to testify remained to be asserted, and the reasons for his action were personal. It is true we have said (Brown v. Walker, 161 U. S. 601, 161 U. S. 605) that the law regards only mere penal consequences, and not "the personal disgrace or opprobrium attaching to the exposure" of crime, but certainly such consequence may influence the assertion or relinquishment of a right. This consideration is not out of place in the case at bar. If it be objected that the sensitiveness of Burdick was extreme because his refusal to answer was itself an implication of crime, we answer, not necessarily in fact, not at all in theory of law. It supposed only a possibility of a charge of crime, and interposed protection against the charge, and, reaching beyond it, against furnishing what might be urged or used as evidence to support it. This brings us to the differences between legislative immunity and a pardon. They are substantial. The latter carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it. The former has no such imputation or confession. It is tantamount to the silence of the witness. It is noncommittal. It is the unobtrusive act of the law given protection against a sinister use of his testimony, not like a pardon, requiring him to confess his guilt in order to avoid a conviction of it. It is of little service to assert or deny an analogy between amnesty and pardon. Mr. Justice Field, in Knote v. United States, 95 U. S. 149, 95 U. S. 153, said that "the distinction between them is one rather of philological interest than of legal importance." This is so as to their ultimate effect, but there are incidental differences of importance. They Page 236 U. S. 95 are of different character and have different purposes. The one overlooks offense; the other remits punishment. The first is usually addressed to crimes against the sovereignty of the state, to political offenses, forgiveness being deemed more expedient for the public welfare than prosecution and punishment. The second condones infractions of the peace of the state. Amnesty is usually general, addressed to classes or even communities -- a legislative act, or under legislation, constitutional or statutory -- the act of the supreme magistrate. There may or may not be distinct acts of acceptance. If other rights are dependent upon it and are asserted, there is affirmative evidence of acceptance. Examples are afforded in United States v. Klein, 13 Wall. 128; Armstrong's Foundry, 6 Wall. 766; Carlisle v. United States, 16 Wall. 147. See also Knote v. United States, supra. If there be no other rights, its only purpose is to stay the movement of the law. Its function is exercised when it overlooks the offense and the offender, leaving both in oblivion. Judgment reversed, with directions to dismiss the proceedings in contempt, and discharge Burdick from custody. MR. JUSTICE McREYNOLDS took no part in the consideration and decision of this case. |
With the ongoing controversy surrounding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server and what may or may not have been on it, a number of media outlets are telling us that panicky Democrats have reportedly begun to wonder about Ms. Clinton’s viability in the 2016 general election. Also taking comfort from this media-driven Servergate frenzy are supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.). Sanders fans are littering liberal message boards with a variety of polling references indicating that Mr. Sanders is doing as well as, or even better than, Ms. Clinton in certain head-to-head matchups against leading Republican contenders. This flurry of often cherry-picked polling data comes in response to those who scoff at the notion that a self-proclaimed socialist (like Mr. Sanders) can actually be elected president of the United States. (A brief aside here, to address the inevitable howls of indignation from Sanders backers that their hero is not a capital-S Socialist but a “democratic socialist,” and that this is different from being a Marxist-Leninist or even a European-style social democrat: Yes, yes, there is a distinction there, but do you really think it is a distinction that most people will get?) While polling on the presidential horse race is of very limited value this far out from the election, what should be of more interest to us is what the public says about what type of candidate it is willing to support. At any rate, those who follow politics closely know only too well the perils of paying very much attention to early polling matchups, especially those involving a candidate like Mr. Sanders who hasn’t yet taken a single punch from a single opponent. (More on this point later.) If you have any doubts as to the lack of utility in the relative popularity of presidential candidates 15 months or more before the general election, let’s ask President Michele Bachmann (R) and President Howard Dean (D) how much stock they put in such polling. While polling on the presidential horse race is of very limited value this far out from the election, what should be of more interest to us is what the public says about what type of candidate it is willing to support. Gallup, Inc., delved into this topic recently, releasing on June 22nd the results of a poll asking 1,527 voting-age respondents whether they would vote for any of 11 different types of candidates for president: a woman; candidates of black or Hispanic ethnicity; candidates from various religious traditions, including Catholics, Jews, evangelical Christians, Muslims or Mormons, as well as atheists; a gay or lesbian candidate; and a socialist. The survey, which had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent, found that 47 percent would vote for a socialist, 50 percent would not, and 3 percent offered no opinion. Naturally, how people viewed the results tended to depend on which side of the American ideological divide on which they fell. Liberals, led by media outlets such as the Huffington Post, hailed the results as indicating that nearly half of Americans would vote for a socialist. Conservatives, represented by the Washington Times and other right-leaning media, hailed the results as indicating that Americans would be leery of voting for a socialist. (Liberals might take heed of the truism offered in 2002 by two of their own, James Carville and Paul Begala, who wrote in their book, Buck Up, Suck Up and Come Back When You Foul Up, that 49 percent in business means you’re rich, but 49 percent in politics means you’re through.) What is more telling than either partisan view of the poll results is the headline of Gallup’s story announcing those results: “In U.S., Socialist Presidential Candidates Least Appealing.” That’s right. Of all 11 categories tested by Gallup, the percentage of respondents willing to vote for a socialist not only came in dead last, but far behind atheists (58/40) or Muslims (60/38), the next two rungs upward at the bottom of the ladder in terms of electability. The fact that more respondents were willing to vote for a member of these two highly maligned groups than they were to vote for a socialist hardly bodes well for the Senator from Vermont. The key question, in such an election, would be whether Sanders would tank the entire Democratic Party, up and down the ballot, along with himself. Diving more deeply into the numbers, the percentage of voters who expressed a willingness to vote for a socialist also brought up the rear among Republicans, independents AND Democrats. Only 59 percent of Democrats polled indicated they would vote for a socialist, compared to, for example, the 66 percent of Democrats who indicated they would vote for an evangelical Christian. Given the very serious political divide between Democrats and evangelical Christians, the fact that even self-identified Democrats would be more open to an evangelical president than a socialist one should ring a few alarm bells about the viability of Bernie Sanders in a general election. What are the realistic prospects of victory for a Democratic nominee who may win as few as three out of every five Democratic votes? (Think of names like Mondale and McGovern.) Bernie Sanders may be flying pretty high right now—though, in fairness, he is still losing to Ms. Clinton in national polls by large margins—but much of the public that will vote in November 2016 still does not know very much about him, including the fact that he is a self-proclaimed “Democratic socialist.” Neither Ms. Clinton nor the Republicans are defining him at this point with negative advertising, so he has not yet had any negative publicity. The fact that the Republicans, in particular, are not attacking Mr. Sanders, is a clear “tell” in poker terms. Any Republican strategist reading Gallup’s numbers must be anticipating a Sanders nomination with unmitigated glee. Given the results of the June 22nd Gallup poll, it is a certainty that Republicans would greet a Sanders nomination with a barrage of ads letting voters know that Mr. Sanders himself has admitted on many occasions that he is a socialist. If Gallup’s numbers are a correct reflection of the electorate’s willingness—or lack thereof—to vote for a socialist, then a 2016 general election featuring Mr. Sanders as the Democratic nominee would present the easiest advertising campaign for Team Red since Michael Dukakis put on that helmet and climbed into a tank. The key question, in such an election, would be whether Sanders would tank the entire Democratic Party, up and down the ballot, along with himself. With Democrats already controlling only 46 percent of the U.S. Senate, 43 percent of the U.S. House, 36 percent of governorships and 30 percent of all state legislative chambers, it may well be terrifying for Team Blue to ponder whether it can actually go any lower. Cliston Brown is a communications executive and political analyst in the San Francisco Bay area who previously served as director of communications to a longtime Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. Follow him on Twitter: @ClistonBrown |
President Barack Obama has criticized his administration for over-classifying sensitive government information, despite calling it the "most transparent" ever. The president said in an interview on Sunday that some government departments, including in the White House, sometimes treats information as a state secret when it shouldn't be. NATIONAL SECURITY As the Snowden leaks began, there was "fear and panic" in Congress Just a few minutes after the first NSA leak was published, the phones of US lawmakers began to buzz, hours before most of America would find out over their morning coffee. Read More "What I also know, because I handle a lot of classified information, is that there are -- there's classified, and then there's classified," said Obama. "There's stuff that is really top-secret, top-secret, and there's stuff that is being presented to the president or the secretary of state, that you might not want on the transom, or going out over the wire, but is basically stuff that you could get in open-source." The president said in 2013 that his administration was the "most transparent ever," but that track record has repeatedly come under fire from reporters, who all too often have fallen into the firing line with the government. The Wall Street Journal took aim at the administration's transparency track record in 2015, accusing it of using private email servers and records in defiance of public records laws, calling it an "off-grid" government. Obama's interview comments come a few weeks after US intelligence chief James Clapper sent a memo to several intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the NSA, asking officials to overhaul the government's system for classifying information. Aaron Mackey, a legal fellow at the privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a blog post that Clapper's effort to reduce the amount of classified information in government is "potentially a game changer." "If done correctly they have the potential to reduce the amount of material kept secret by intelligence agencies," said Mackey. But any effort remains to be seen, given that the intelligence community's actions and operations are widely governed by secret laws and rules that dates back to the Cold War. Former NSA analyst turned whistleblower William Binney warned in a 2015 interview that the government' use of Executive Order 12333, which despite its public text has a top-secret internal interpretation, is a "blank check" for the intelligence community when other legal authorities fail. Binney, now retired, called the secret law a "direct threat to Americans' privacy." |
The Vikings are 5-2! That's pretty good, I think. To that end, there's not much controversy over the fact that the Vikings—for the most part—have played well so far. We see this discussion every year for different teams; whether or not their record is a "true" representation of how good they are. Typically, that discussion revolves around undefeated teams, like the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs in 2013 or the current Carolina Panthers before (and honestly, after) they took it to Seattle. Many times, that discussion pans out like the skeptics expect: the overhyped team on a weak schedule falls flat and limps into (or misses) the playoffs. More often than not, the hype about hype is overblown. That can be for several reasons, but it can all circle around one: it's very difficult to go undefeated and not be good. An average team typically has a 65-70% chance of beating an awful team in a neutral stadium (this week, for example, the Giants are favored at -135 against the Bucs at Tampa Bay, which is roughly a 57% win rate on the road and would be about 80% at home). In a seven-game schedule against the worst teams, the average team has an 8.2 percent chance of emerging undefeated, a 24.7 percent chance of earning six wins and a 31.7 percent chance of coming out with five wins. A good team (like the Patriots) can be expect to beat a bad team a little more than 9 out of 10 times. In the same schedule, they would end up undefeated about half the time, have six wins 37 percent of the time and underperform to get five wins 12 percent of the time. So, if the only information we had about a team were their wins and losses, as well as their "strength of schedule," we could get a reasonable estimate on how good they were. You can do that in a lot of ways that are more sophisticated than I am capable of doing, but for the most part if you have a chart of what the likelihood of a certain class of team having a certain record is, you can really crudely do it. Speaking of crude, here is that chart! Awesome. So anyway, a five-win team against a slate of teams that is all bad is most likely a good-ish team! If we wanted to separate the tiers from 0.5 (bad team) to 0.9 (very good team) into five sets (below average, average, above average), there's a 21 percent chance that a five-win team is a little below average, 25 percent chance they are average, 22 percent chance they are above average and 10 percent chance they are very good. Remember, if you're expected to be .500 against bad teams, you yourself are a bad team—which is why I didn't get into the tiers below the .500 rate. This may be why NFL.com said the Vikings were set to tumble and why Ben Goessling said the Vikings may not be "real." That all seems to be pretty simplistic though, yea? What about how the Vikings played? What about the eye test? What about the fact that most measures of the Vikings strength of schedule (opponent wins) don't take into account the fact that many of the Vikings' opponents themselves had tough strengths of schedule (think about it—the Bears had the Packers, Cardinals and Seahawks to start out, while the Lions dealt with Arizona and Seattle as well, along with Denver)? To some extent, DVOA does take care of most of that and both articles linked above cite Football Outsiders' DVOA metric. Their opponent adjustments take into account how well a team did and how their opponents did—not just against them, but their opponents—and iteratively, how those guys did against their opponents and so on. In this metric, the Vikings rank 27th. According to that metric, the Vikings had the weakest schedule thus far, and the strongest upcoming schedule. But that's not the only metric we can use to evaluate a team's quality after accounting for their schedule. Fivethirtyeight's Elo system has a natural strength-of-schedule adjustment to it, and there the Vikings rank ninth. There are a lot of systems to this end, and they have different conclusions for the Vikings. TeamRankings' model has the Vikings 11th, while Prediction Machine ranks them 17th (which is the same as how opponent-adjusted point differential ranks them). Numberfire has the Vikings in between, in fifteenth. The wide range of outcomes for the Vikings isn't because some of the models are bunk—after all, all of them are doing extremely well when tracking their picks. The Vikings are just in a unique situation for some of the models—the Vikings and the Raiders had the most variance in the models, while the Patriots had the least. The average of those models is here: Team Rank New England Patriots 1 Cincinnati Bengals 2 Arizona Cardinals 3 Denver Broncos 3 Green Bay Packers 5 Seattle Seahawks 6 Pittsburgh Steelers 7 Carolina Panthers 8 New York Jets 9 Philadelphia Eagles 10 Kansas City Chiefs 11 St. Louis Rams 12 Atlanta Falcons 13 Buffalo Bills 14 Oakland Raiders 15 Minnesota Vikings 16 New York Giants 17 Baltimore Ravens 18 New Orleans Saints 19 Miami Dolphins 20 Indianapolis Colts 21 Dallas Cowboys 22 San Diego Chargers 23 Washington Redskins 24 Houston Texans 25 Cleveland Browns 26 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27 Tennessee Titans 28 Detroit Lions 29 Jacksonville Jaguars 30 Chicago Bears 31 San Francisco 49ers 32 The Vikings rank 16th, though move up to 14th if you drop every team's highest and lowest ranking. All of this assumes, of course, that the San Francisco game has a lot of meaning when it comes to determining the Vikings' quality as a unit. The research Football Outsiders has done indicates that it is meaningful (or rather, that early-season games, even outliers, improve prediction accuracy), but I can believe any number of arguments that would mark that game as an exception, particularly because the Vikings are going to suffer from brutal SOS implications once Blaine Gabbert plays for the 49ers. Incidentally, five-win team in a six-game schedule (assuming the Vikings who played San Francisco have no bearing on the Vikings now) is very likely to be good despite the opponent adjustments—with a 54.2 percent chance of being in the top two tiers. One model I like a lot, in part because it does a very good job against Vegas in the final five weeks of the season, is Game Script. I talked about it two years ago in the Blind Power Rankings I was producing here. Quoted: One more thing that would be fun to add, which I've stolen from Football Perspective's Game Scripts concept is the average margin of victory throughout the game. More specifically, we know that if a team is winning by 30 points for three quarters of a game and then gives up garbage time touchdowns to bring the score within 9 points, that the "true" quality of the game is not measured by point differential. Instead, using the point differential for each individual second in the game and averaging it out might allow us to use a popular piece of data (points) while providing for significantly more points of data with which to draw conclusions. If a team has a last-second come-from-behind victory, they may have a negative average margin of victory, which would best encapsulate the strength of that team's play over the course of the game and do a better job predicting future quality. The wording isn't as clear as I'd like it to be, so to reiterate: it measures the average point differential a team has over every second of the game. I like eliminating/reducing garbage time in this, even though it's prone to weight early defensive or special teams touchdowns too heavily. Those rankings are below, and they include the iterative adjustments (your opponents quality, your opponents' opponents quality, your opponents' opponents' opponents quality and so on) that I mentioned earlier. Rank Team Game Script SOS SOS-Adjusted GS 1 NWE 8.91 -1.35 7.57 2 CIN 5.40 1.31 6.71 3 ARI 7.31 -0.79 6.52 4 GNB 4.64 0.61 5.26 5 DEN 3.51 1.09 4.60 6 SEA 3.73 0.86 4.59 7 OAK 3.33 0.74 4.07 8 PIT 1.04 2.10 3.14 9 KAN 2.39 0.67 3.06 10 DAL -0.37 2.37 2.00 11 NYG 2.24 -0.44 1.80 12 STL -0.14 1.63 1.48 13 NYJ 1.34 -0.06 1.28 14 CAR 3.96 -2.70 1.26 15 NOR 1.21 0.04 1.25 16 MIN 2.33 -1.24 1.09 17 PHI 0.51 0.54 1.06 18 BAL -3.00 2.02 -0.98 19 CLE -2.50 1.09 -1.41 20 ATL 0.58 -2.06 -1.49 21 BUF -1.11 -0.47 -1.59 22 CHI -4.93 3.02 -1.91 23 WAS -1.63 -0.66 -2.29 24 SDG -4.90 1.80 -3.10 25 DET -5.45 1.99 -3.46 26 MIA -1.50 -2.16 -3.66 27 SFO -7.29 2.86 -4.42 28 JAX -2.37 -2.48 -4.85 29 TAM -2.06 -3.05 -5.11 30 TEN -0.99 -4.16 -5.14 31 IND -4.46 -1.29 -5.75 32 HOU -7.38 -2.71 -10.09 If you remove the Minnesota-San Francisco game, they jump up to 9th. This also says, unlike Football Outsiders and PFR's opponent-adjusted point differential metric, that the Vikings rank 23rd in strength of schedule so far. That fits because Detroit actually kept close to Seattle and Denver (the Broncos broke out ten points in the fourth quarter), while Chicago kept it very close to Green Bay in Week 1 and has generally had one of the toughest game script schedules. These are all better, in my opinion, than opponent record if only because accounting for how well you played is much more important than if you played a good team or a bad team when figuring out if a team has quality. While they unfortunately played it pretty poorly against Chicago recently, they took care of Detroit and controlled Kansas City while hanging in with Denver—all things that game script and several other models take into account. Good teams beat bad teams handily, and the Vikings beat a few of them handily. The Vikings are in a situation where their subjective strength of schedule is pretty easy to determine as well. They have not played a team that suffered from a serious injury in a way that would affect past or future performance (the Giants' win over Dallas doesn't look as good in some models as it should, because of Romo's injury and the Cassel/Weeden circus in there to replace him—not to mention Dez Bryant). Not to mention the Vikings look like a cohesive team who can contend and be a Wild Card hopeful. A stout defense is spearheaded by a good defensive line, athletic and smart linebackers, the top safety in the game and a solid secondary. It's playing at the moment like a top ten defense regardless of the metrics and flashes top five ability. The offense is functional and often takes the points its given (seriously, they rank 18th in points per drive despite everyone's complaining about Bridgewater—and that includes Adrian Peterson's liabilities and the offensive line's issues). The offense is performing better with Stefon Diggs in the lineup and the defense is performing better with Eric Kendricks receiving more snaps. Possibly, this team is not very much at all like the one that laid in egg in the bay. It's not a world-beating team, but it has the parts to beat good teams and consistently put away bad ones. They demonstrated that in Denver and against San Diego, as well as their recent Detroit and Kansas City games. Inconsistency is a problem—it almost always will be for a young team—but talent, technique, instinct and smarts are giving the team a chance in every game. If that's not at least an average team, if not better, I don't know. |
Industry’s Best Picture and Sound with New 4K Movies Available Tomorrow; DIRECTV Selected as 2015 CES Innovation Awards Honoree EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Nov. 13, 2014 – DIRECTV continues its two-decade legacy of TV innovation this week by becoming the first multi-channel video provider to offer 4K Ultra HD programming direct to customers’ TVs. Tomorrow, DIRECTV will begin offering a variety of new releases, popular films and nature documentaries in 4K, the industry’s best picture quality that features life-like clarity with nearly four times the resolution of HD. DIRECTV has teamed up with Samsung, the leading brand in UHD TVs, as its exclusive CE 4K UHD launch partner. Customers who have DIRECTV’s Genie HD DVR will be able to watch 4K programming on supporting 2014 Samsung UHD TVs. “For more than 20 years, DIRECTV has been changing the way people watch TV as the first to move the industry from analog to digital to HD and now the ultimate TV experience with 4K TV,” said Romulo Pontual, executive vice president and CTO, DIRECTV. “The picture quality and depth of detail that 4K provides is nothing short of remarkable and we will continue to expand our 4K lineup as consumer demand grows and evolves.” DIRECTV’s 4K Ultra HD programming is delivered in the highest resolution available and enables viewers to see sharper detail, smoother lines, and a richer color palette – even up-close images are clearer and more realistic. At launch DIRECTV will begin offering nearly 20 movies from both Paramount Pictures and Havoc with more titles to be announced soon. Movies include: Forrest Gump Star Trek (2009) Amistad The Terminal McLintock! Transformers: Age of Extinction The Last Reef Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs Antarctica Dolphins Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag Dinosaurs Alive! Coral Reef Adventure Space Junk Yellowstone Legends of Flight Rescue The Ultimate Wave Tahiti Mysteries of the Great Lakes Customers will need an Internet-connected Genie HD DVR (HR34 and above), and a Samsung UHD TV that is DIRECTV 4K Ready. Pricing for 4K movies will range from $3.99 – $15.99, and will be on a per-movie-basis. DIRECTV has been recognized as a 2015 CES Innovation Awards Honoree for its 4K Ultra HD VOD lineup delivered via the DIRECTV Genie HD DVR and DIRECTV 4K Ready TVs. The DIRECTV Genie HD DVR, which is currently in millions of DIRECTV customer homes, now allows receiver-less connections to supporting Samsung UHD TVs and creates instant availability of DIRECTV 4K VOD movies directly to those televisions. About DIRECTV: DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is one of the world’s leading providers of digital television entertainment services delivering a premium video experience through state-of-the-art technology, unmatched programming and industry leading customer service to more than 38 million customers in the U.S. and Latin America. In the U.S., DIRECTV offers its 20 million customers access to more than 195 HD channels and Dolby-Digital® 5.1 theater-quality sound, access to exclusive sports programming such as NFL SUNDAY TICKET™, Emmy-award winning technology and higher customer satisfaction than the leading cable companies for 14 years running. DIRECTV Latin America, through its subsidiaries and affiliated companies in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, and other Latin American countries, leads the pay TV category in technology, programming and service, delivering an unrivaled digital television experience to more than 18 million customers. DIRECTV sports and entertainment properties include two Regional Sports Networks (Rocky Mountain and Pittsburgh), and minority ownership interests in Root Sports Northwest and Game Show Network. For the most up-to-date information on DIRECTV, please visit www.directv.com. |
Instead of getting wrapped up in all the new movie’s problems, dig into these much better selections. There’s a potential joke in the headline. The Mummy is supposed to be the start of a big new mega-franchise, and I’ll be surprised if it leads to as many as eight more installments. But this isn’t about all those planned Dark Universe remakes (which so far include Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame). It’s about older movies, chosen as further essential viewing. I don’t need to tell you to go back and watch the 1932 original version of The Mummy, since I already assigned it in my list of movies to see in anticipation of the releases of 2017. Plus, it’s kind of a given. You can also just follow through with the others — the sequels and remakes and other full reboots (check out our ranking of the Mummies of the whole lot of these films). They’re all better than the latest one. Instead, here are eight other picks I think are relevant recommendations. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) The new version of The Mummy turns out to have a lot more Henry Jekyll and Eddie Hyde than I expected, so since I hadn’t also assigned any homework to prepare for him/them, now’s the time. The dual-sided character originates in the 1886 novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson, and the book has been adapted many times, starting with a lost one-reeler by Otis Turner in 1908. Other shorts from 1912 and 1913 are in the public domain and available to watch online. As with The Mummy, most early screen versions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are worth your time. Paramount’s 1931 feature earned star Fredric March his first Oscar for Best Actor (albeit in a tie). Victor Fleming’s 1941 remake for MGM (there was actually an attempt for it to completely supplant the one a decade prior, as in destroy all copies), while arguably miscast with Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman (not that they’re not always watchable) is significant for its makeup effects. Then there’s Paramount’s 1920 silent feature, not to be confused with two other adaptations from the same year (including F. W. Murnau’s unauthorized The Head of Janus). Starring John Barrymore in a dual performance so good he didn’t even need much in the way of makeup or camera effects to achieve his transformation from Jekyll to Hyde, this movie is more faithful to Stevenson’s work than most adaptations and features the better, darker ending. But as became the norm for the property, it also features changes originating from Thomas Russell Sullivan’s 1887 stage version, including the addition of a fiancee for Hyde. This movie, too, is in the public domain, but getting a hard copy rather than watching on YouTube is encouraged. Mad Monster Party? (1967) The interesting thing about Jekyll/Hyde in the Dark Universe franchise is he/they weren’t originally a part of the Universal Monsters canon, despite the fact that the 1913 two-reeler was co-directed and produced by Universal founder Carl Laemmle and put out by the then-fledgling Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Rights to their use went all over Hollywood before the character(s) landed back at the studio for Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, their only other Universal involvement until now. But while the latest Mummy reboot is the first time Jekyll/Hyde interacts with the other Universal Monsters in a Universal release, he/they did join up with Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, his Bride, the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Mummy, and the Wolf Man (many of them renamed knockoffs) in this Rankin/Bass stop-motion animated feature — yeah, it’s by the people who made all your favorite old holiday specials. A legitimate tie to the Universal classics can be found in the voice of Boris Karloff, who plays “Baron Boris von Frankenstein,” whose party the rest attend. It’s an underrated or at least under-known gem of animation of that style and era, and you can’t go wrong with Phyllis Diller voicing the fake Bride of Frankenstein. Speaking of which, Rankin/Bass also produced a prequel five years later titled Mad Mad Mad Monsters about the wedding of the Monster and his “Mate.” That one isn’t quite as necessary. It’s traditional hand-drawn animation, and nothing special at that, plus while all the same characters are on board, Karloff and Diller are not — instead they have vocal impersonators. Three Kings (1999) At the start of The Mummy, Tom Cruise and Jake Johnson are US soldiers on their own in the Iraq desert looking for treasure. If that sounds familiar, you might have heard of David O. Russell’s best movie, Three Kings. George Clooney stars alongside Ice Cube, Mark Wahlberg, and Spike Jonze, all soldiers in the US Army who wander off from base at the end of the Gulf War in search of a cache of stolen gold bullion. Also of note in the cast is Wonder Woman‘s Said Taghmaoui as an Iraqi soldier and a very young Alia Shawkat as a little Shi’ite girl. Not only does Russell manage to make an unlikely plot seem plausible and grounded, but that’s all the situation that’s needed for a terrific and often very funny (post-) war satire. The Mummy is basically Three Kings meets Indiana Jones for a few minutes until its treasure, an Egyptian burial site, is uncovered during a battle against insurgents, then it’s on to whatever other things the movie does (it does many other very different things). But unlike the characters in Three Kings, the military personnel depicted in The Mummy never seem based in any sort of reality, not even within the fantastical world of the Dark Universe. Reign of Fire (2002) Another movie with more conviction while still also being a fantastical monster movie, Reign of Fire similarly opens with a construction crew working on the London Underground who accidentally uncover something buried long ago. Instead of a tomb of Crusaders, here it’s the home of a bunch of hibernating dragons. They’re more like the Mummy, though, in that they’re unleashed and go on a killing spree. Unlike the Mummy, they’re not consumed in a quest to bring about pure evil. They instead just kill off most of humanity. Years later, enough time to go by that there’s no way to show kids the real Star Wars and so it’s acted out live for their entertainment, Christian Bale leads a group of survivors who encounter an American militia headed by Matthew McConaughey. That’s a dream duo no matter what the movie, but they’re dudes teaming up to kill dragons, which is as awesome as anyone could hope for. It’s a shame that The Mummy is what’s expected to start a mega-franchise while this movie actually deserved to be the start of a series. It could have even been a cinematic universe for all I care. Part two would have them fighting trolls or evil mermaids or man-eating unicorns. |
Apple is under some intense competitive pressure these days, particularly from Samsung and its omnipresent Galaxy S4 flagship smartphone, but at least one analyst sees the company weathering the storm until it releases its next-generation iPhone 5S in the fall. Per Barron’s, Detwiler Fenton research director Mark Gerber says that iPhone sales in North America “remain resilient” despite the added pressure it’s facing from rival vendors. Gerber says that while the Galaxy S4 has sold well in North America so far, its total sales are only up 15% over where the Galaxy S III’s sales were at the same time after its release last year. The result, he says, is that while Samsung continues to dominate the Android market in North America, Apple’s overall market share will likely remain mostly unchanged. |
posted by on October 30 at 13:20 PM I’m paraphrasing, but that subject-line statement is essentially the pick-up line used by a Catholic priest who allegedly slept with a woman he met in his confessional. From ABC News: A Catholic priest allegedly seduced a distraught woman after hearing her confession, telling her to have an affair with him because it was “ordained by God,” the Queens, N.Y., woman claims in a lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, Father Elvis Elano professed his love for her immediately after her first confession at the Church of Our Lady of the Snows in Queens, N.Y. “Your presence struck me like a thunderbolt,” Elano allegedly told Rodrigues-Lytwyn, who says she was distraught over her recent divorce and her ex-husband’s alleged drug use. The lawsuit, first reported by The Smoking Gun, claims Elano immediately began courting her and encouraging her to have sex with him to overcome her grief over her divorce and “because it was ordained by God.” Rodrigues-Lytwyn “immediately became overwhelmed” by Elano’s advances and embarked on a four-month-long affair with him, the lawsuit says. Extra-creepy closing details: According to the lawsuit, Elano ordered Viagra over the Internet and arranged sexual encounters with Rodrigues-Lytwyn at her house and at a hotel in Montauk, N.Y. She claims she broke off her relationship after Elano admitted that he had developed a rash in his groin area and legs. So, God ordained the affair, but refused to help Father Elano with his erectile disfunction or protect the priest from whatever rashed up his groin. Full story here. |
Two climbers on the same team have died from altitude sickness while descending from Mount Everest and two other climbers are missing in the high slopes closer to the summit. Dutch climber Eric Arnold, 35, had enough bottled oxygen with him, as well as climbing partners, but he complained of getting weak and died Friday night near South Col before he was able to get to a lower altitude, Pasang Phurba of the Seven Summits agency said. Just hours after Arnold died, Australian climber Maria Strydom, 34, who goes by the name Marisa, also showed signs of altitude sickness Saturday afternoon before she died, Phurba said. Strydom was a finance lecturer at Monash University's business school in Melbourne. The school posted on Facebook that the community was deeply saddened by her death. Arnold was from Rotterdam, according to his Twitter account, which was updated on Friday with a post that he had reached the summit on his fifth try. Difficult to recover bodies The two climbers who died were on the same expedition team. It was undecided when and if their bodies would be brought down from the high altitude and it would depend on the team and family members, Phurba said. Carrying bodies down Everest takes at least eight Sherpas since they become frozen and heavier than normal. More details were not available because of communication difficulties on the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) mountain. The two deaths were the first confirmed this year on Everest, during a busy climbing season that follows two years in which the peak was virtually empty due to two fatal avalanches. Indian climbers missing Meanwhile, two Indian climbers went missing on the mountain on Saturday in the high slopes known as "death zone," said Wangchu Sherpa of the Trekking Camp Nepal company. "They are out of contact for more than 30 hours now and it is not clear if they had climbed the peak," Sherpa said, adding that two other Indians were being escorted by sherpa guides to lower camps with injuries and frost bite. More details were not available because of poor communication with the team, he said. Some 30 climbers have developed frostbite or become sick near the summit of Mount Everest, a mountaineering official said Sunday. Most of the sick climbers suffered frostbite while attempting to reach the summit or on their descent, Mountaineering Department official Gyanendra Shrestha said. Favourable weather has allowed nearly 400 climbers to reach the summit from Nepal since May 11, but the altitude, weather and harsh terrain can cause problems at any time. Climber with frostbitten hands, feet airlifted Several Sherpa guides carried one sick climber from the highest camp, at nearly 8,000 metres (26,240 feet), to camp two, at 6,400 metres (21,000 feet), where attempts are being made to pick her up with a helicopter, said Pemba Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks agency in Kathmandu. Seema Goswami of India had frostbite to her hands and feet at the South Col camp and was unable to move. "It took a big and risky effort but we were able to save her," Sherpa said, adding that an Iranian climber identified only as S. Hadi had been brought to Kathmandu and was recovering in a hospital. A Norwegian woman, 45-year-old Siv Harstad, suffered snow blindness and was helped down from the summit Saturday, the Norwegian news agency NTB said. In an interview earlier this year with RTV Rijnmond, Arnold noted that the risks of climbing the world's highest peak did not end at the summit. Descent very dangerous "Two-thirds of the accidents happen on the way down," he said. "If you get euphoric and think 'I have reached my goal,' the most dangerous part is still ahead of you." Strydom and her husband were attempting to climb the seven summits, the highest peaks on the seven continents, according to the Monash Business School's website. She had already climbed Denali in Alaska, Aconcagua in Argentina, Mount Ararat in Turkey and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the website said. Strydom said she felt well-prepared for her attempt to climb Everest, and that depending on whether she reached the summit, her mind would likely turn to her next adventure. Thousands of people have summited Mount Everest since it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953. But more than 250 people have died in the attempt. Trekking companies were anxious to see foreign climbers return after two years of disasters. The devastating earthquake last year caused the season to be cancelled, and climbing attempts were largely abandoned in 2014 after an avalanche above the base camp killed 16 Sherpa guides. |
Mayor John Tory doesn't expect a "special levy" on legal marijuana sales will allow Toronto to smoke its way to paying for subways or social housing repairs, but he's still pursuing one. And while one insider expects Tory will get what he wants, at least one councillor has criticized the move, suggesting the city should be doing more consultation work before getting into conversations with the province. Earlier this week, Tory wrote a letter to Premier Kathleen Wynne calling for a levy to help pay for city costs he's predicting will increase once weed becomes legal next summer — spanning everything from law enforcement to public health to property zoning work. Tory says he expects that if the province takes in money — perhaps by applying HST to pot sales — the city will get a cut. He calls it "a matter of fairness." The federal government plans to legalize marijuana by next Canada Day, if not before. But it will be up to the province to determine who can buy it, and how and where the drug is sold. Coun. Jim Karygiannis wants the city to draw the line between medical and recreational marijuana use. (CBC) Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi's office is holding public consultations about what the legal weed landscape should look like, including whether or not it should be sold at LCBO outlets. Tory says he wants the city to have a "seat at the table" in those discussions. However, given the province's rejection of road tolls and, in a closer parallel, its refusal to allow Toronto to charge a local alcohol tax, he says he's not expecting marijuana's legalization to be a windfall for the city. "I don't look to marijuana or anything else as an answer for our other problems at this point in time," he told reporters following a tour of the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant this week. Councillor blasts lack of debate on city's pot plans Coun. Jim Karygiannis says the city should be consulting with Torontonians about their concerns around marijuana rather than jumping into talks with the province. Karygiannis says there should be a line drawn, for example, between medical marijuana use and recreational use. "What about people that are suffering with PTSD?" he said, adding residents in his ward have already reached out with questions about the potential tax. "This was not even thought about." While he supports Toronto getting a cut of whatever the province makes, Karygiannis says Tory should have discussed the idea with council. "There was no engagement on a big decision like this." 'Downstream' costs coming to city Omar Khan, a former chief of staff with the provincial Liberals who now advises the marijuana industry, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning he thinks Wynne will likely be open to Tory's request. Because the province and city both pay for things like policing, Khan says, they'll both have "downstream" costs as a result of marijuana legalization. However, Khan says he expects any taxation to be moderate as the government tries to stamp out black market operations. "This is probably one of the most complex policy and regulatory decisions of our time," he said. "I think it's absolutely legitimate for the mayor of Toronto and the mayor of all cities to want to be involved." |
We now have a pretty good idea of what hell sounds like, thanks to medieval sheet music painted on a sinner’s butt. This original contribution to human knowledge comes from Amelia, a music and information systems double major at Oklahoma Christian University. She also likes to blog about nerd things, for which we're eternally grateful. Late one night, Amelia and her friend Luke were examining The Garden of Earthly Delights, the surreal triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, when they discovered something amazing: “...music written upon the posterior of one of the many tortured denizens of the rightmost panel of the painting which is intended to represent Hell.” After she stopped laughing, Amelia decided to transcribe the notes and record the song based on what she knew of Gregorian-era chants. Here's the result: This inspired wellmanicuredman, another blogger, to turn Amanda's work into a full choral arrangement. It's everything you were hoping it would be: Hieronymus Bosch - The Music Written on This Dude's Butt [Choral Arrangement]. Shared from wellmanicuredman using Embeddlr The 600 year old butt song has gone viral and Amelia's now working with her college’s music department to improve the accuracy of the transcription. Best independent study ever. Read more from GlobalPost: These Thai parents cryonically froze their toddler who died of cancer, hoping one day she'll live again We have a problem: The science behind rising seas The 30 most unlikely, adorable animal pairs |
Lions defensive end Ziggy Ansah chases Minnesota Vikings running back Jerick McKinnon in the second half Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016 at Ford Field in Detroit. (Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, DFP) Quarterback Matthew Stafford completed eight straight passes to start Thursday’s game, then fell on hard times. Stafford finished just 23 of 40 for 232 yards with one touchdown and no turnovers, and seemed out of synch with his receivers on several throws. He did drive the Lions for a late field goal on a possession that started inside the 2-yard line, and he ran for 30 yards and converted two third-and-longs with his feet. Grade: C-plus Running backs The Lions didn’t run the ball enough – just 15 times on designed running plays – but once again their backs didn’t give them much reason to feature the ground game. Dwayne Washington had five carries for 19 yards and missed a blitz pickup on a fourth-quarter sack. Theo Riddick finished with nine carries for 45 yards, but wasn’t much of a factor in the pass game (five catches, 13 yards). Grade: C-minus ►Related: Lions use late turnover to beat Vikings, 16-13 ►Related: Seidel: Lions follow same script, pull out another miracle Wide receivers/tight ends Andre Roberts had a mental lapse when he pulled up on a catch late in the first half as if he was going to make a move upfield. When Xavier Rhodes pushed him out of bounds, officials kept the clock running, which helped keep the Lions from scoring on the drive. Roberts also turned the wrong way (or Stafford threw to his wrong shoulder) on a potential big-gainer in the second quarter. Golden Tate appeared to make a nice route adjustment to get to the sideline on his 41-yard catch that set up Matt Prater’s second-quarter field goal and Anquan Boldin had seven catches for 69 yards and made a nice block early to spring Riddick for a 12-yard run, but Eric Ebron did not catch a pass. Grade: C-minus Offensive line The Lions gave up eight quarterback hits and two sacks against one of the NFL’s best defenses. Larry Warford made a good block to spring Riddick for an early 12-yard gain, but he didn’t trade off his pass-rusher in time to pick up Anthony Barr on his third quarter sack. Sixth offensive lineman Corey Robinson missed a block when Zach Zenner was stopped on fourth-and-1 late in the second quarter. And while Taylor Decker played well at left tackle, Graham Glasgow was benched for a large chunk of the game in favor of Laken Tomlinson. Grade: C-minus Defensive line The Vikings did their best to get the ball out of Sam Bradford’s hands quickly, but it still was disappointing to see the Lions go sack-less for a second straight game. Ziggy Ansah nearly got his first of the year when he beat T.J. Clemmings, but Bradford’s fumble was ruled an incomplete pass on replay. Haloti Ngata (on a fourth-and-2 play) and A’Shawn Robinson had big tipped passes at the line of scrimmage. Stefan Charles got turned sideways on Matt Asiata’s 5-yard touchdown run, and the Vikings averaged 5.1 yards per carry for the game. Grade: B-plus Linebackers Tahir Whitehead and the rest of the Lions’ linebackers have taken a lot of heat for their play this year, but both he and Josh Bynes had nice games Thursday. Bynes timed a handoff perfectly to throw Jerick McKinnon for a 4-yard loss on Minnesota’s second offensive series, and Whitehead chased Matt Asiata down in the left flat short of the first-down marker to get off the field on the next play. Whitehead also made a good play to stop Cordarrelle Patterson for a 4-yard loss on a bubble screen, and Bynes had a key third-down stop in the fourth quarter. Grade: A-minus Defensive backs Darius Slay had the biggest play of the game Thursday when he jumped a Bradford pass intended for Adam Thielen for an interception. Slay was called for a questionable pass interference penalty early that negated a Minnesota turnover, and Nevin Lawson had a defensive holding penalty that gave the Vikings a first down. Tavon Wilson had an active first series with four tackles, but he got dragged the final few yards on Matt Asiata’s 5-yard touchdown run. And Miles Killebrew made big third-down stop on Asiata to hold Vikings to field goal. Bradford completed 31 of 37 passes, but much of that was a product of the quick passing game. Grade: A-minus ►Related: Lions stock watch: Three who helped, hurt case vs. Vikings Special teams Matt Prater made his fourth game-winning field goal of the year, a 40-yarder as time expired. Prater made three kicks overall Thursday, while Sam Martin netted 42 yards per punt on not his best day kicking. The Lions lost the field position battle to the Vikings, but neither team got much out of its return units. Antwione Williams did have a holding penalty on a fourth-quarter punt. Grade: B-plus Coaching Jim Caldwell used his two challenges early in Thursday’s game. He was right to ask for a review on a second-quarter pass interference penalty on Tahir Whitehead, when A’Shawn Robinson tipped pass at the line of scrimmage. But Caldwell took an unnecessary risk when he challenged the spot on Zenner’s failed fourth-down run. It’s rare that spot challenges succeed. Jim Bob Cooter’s offense didn’t do much for the second straight week, though the Lions came out more ready to play than they did last week. The Vikings aren’t very good on offense, but Teryl Austin defense continues to make timely plays. Grade: B Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android! |
We should be worried about the Adverse Secondary Effects of making child porn illegal. A few days ago, I brought you this post about a cop who got busted for filming the perfectly legal (in Texas) act of having sex with a dog. In it, I hinted that he also got tapped for possession of child porn, and that this was a rant for another day. Welcome to that rant. Unsheathe your rage. I am going to make the case for legalization of child pornography – or at least to argue against long-standing beliefs about why possession of it should be illegal. I am not talking about production. If you actually make child porn, I think our laws are not harsh enough. Producers of actual child porn should not only go to prison, but should be put into a special kind of hell space, where they beg for death for the entirety of their sentences. But, lets talk about mere possession. Prior to 1982, child pornography was not categorically outside First Amendment protection. In order to be convicted of an chid porn offense, the porn had to also be "obscene" under Miller v. California. Miller v. California allows a conviction for obscenity, so long as the state can prove three elements: Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law, Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary and/or artistic, political, or scientific value. Most juries would likely say that any child porn would fit that test. "Prurient interest" generally means "an appeal to a morbid, degrading, and unhealthy interest in sex." Pretty much anything a normal person would think of as "child porn" would fit that description. Patently offensive? That too. Serious value? Well, that will save Nabakov, but not what we all know we're talking about when it comes to "child porn." In other words, with Miller, we already had enough ammunition to go after child porn. But, in 1982, along came New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747 (1982). In that case, the Supreme Court held that states could ban the sale of child porn, even if it was not "obscene" as defined by Miller. It simply created a new category of unprotected expression. And who wants to argue against that? For most of my career, I took the "what's the big deal" approach to Ferber. After all, who cares about some child pornographer? I am starting to think I was wrong. Constitutional rights are like a nice spicy soppressata. You slice off one piece of it. Just a nibble. But, then you've got that exposed end. And, you've got a taste for it. And then another slice. And another. And it doesn't take long until you've eaten the whole thing. (Ok, the analogy breaks down because soppressata is meant to be eaten… but you get my point) That first slice made the rest of the soppressata irresistible. Ferber explained that if we ban the commercial market for child porn, we dry up the incentive to produce it. Sort of like banning ivory is supposed to stop us from killing endangered elephants. Ferber left the question of possession open, and it seemed that someone could still possess it, in the privacy of their home. After all, we had Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (U.S. 1969) and its inspiring pronouncement of what freedom means. If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds. Id. at 558. However, Stanley struck down a statute where the justification was to, paternalistically, protect the viewer. The rationale for the regulation was that you, Jane Q. Citizen, could not watch an obscene movie without it seeping into your mind and destroying it. While Stanley threw that out, that theory persists — even for non obscene content — in the minds of those who want to control what you can read, see, and hear. See PORN! PORN! PORN! WEB PAGES OF DEATH! and see a debate at Mimesis Law where Chris Seaton argues to make all porn illegal, and Mario Machado argues against it. Therefore, after Ferber, we had a quandary. Everyone hates child porn. But, how to could we justify banning the mere possession of it? Enter Osborne v. Ohio, 495 U.S. 103 (U.S. 1990) which sliced off another piece of that soppressata. The court held: Ohio does not rely on a paternalistic interest in regulating Osborne's mind, but has enacted its law on the basis of its compelling interests in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors and in destroying the market for the exploitative use of children by penalizing those who possess and view the offending materials. See New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 756-758, 761-762. Moreover, Ohio's ban encourages possessors to destroy such materials, which permanently record the victim's abuse and thus may haunt him for years to come and which, available evidence suggests, may be used by pedophiles to seduce other children. Osborne, relying on Ferber's market-effect justifications, sliced off just a little bit more of the First Amendment. Child porn is bad. Therefore, if it is illegal to even have it, much less produce it, we will dry up the market even more. Sure, you and me weren't using that piece of the Constitution anyhow, so who cares? Well, are you sure? Child porn is not limited to depictions of child abuse. Prosecutors have gone after innocent content like baby pictures. I personally have slapped my wife's camera out of her hands as she readied herself to take a picture of one of our kids in the tub. Why? Because I know that the day may come that some prosecutor decides that he wants to shut my ass up – and what better way than to drag me through the streets, accused of possessing and creating child porn? Sure, it is just a wee baby picture. And maybe that's how the jury would see it too. But, I'm never taking that chance. Baby pictures must be clothed in my house. Lets look at the other (seemingly reasonable) Osborne justifications. It seems a reasonable argument that if someone actually abuses a child on film, that child gets re-victimized, to some extent, each time someone looks at that picture. I think there are good logical arguments against that, but I'll buy it. So why not remedy that with civil claims? I myself have brought cases on behalf of child porn victims. In one, I and secured a $385,000 judgment against the scumbags who published it. In others, we had less public resolutions, but we felt justice was done. Civil remedies do not present the same constitutional fears as criminal remedies (for example, criminal libel statutes vs. civil remedies for libel). If we remove that justification as otherwise-provided-for, what is left? Pedophiles might use existing child porn to seduce other children? Well, then lets ban vans and candy. Done. So we are back to the Ferber market-draining analysis. Since 1982, that has hardly done much except drive the market underground and create an insane "market" in wildly illogical sentences and prosecutions. As one example, we have this guy who was having perfectly-legal-sex with a 17 year old, who posed for pics for him. He got 15 years for that. Fifteen years for taking a photo of a girl that he could, without any state interference, have sex with. In others, teenagers sexting each other have wound up on the sex offender list for life. When a law can be used irrationally, it will be. And this has. But that's not the only place where Ferber raises concern. You see, the really scary thing about Ferber is that its logic dangles out there like so much irresistible bait to the would-be-censors. In United States v. Stevens, for example, the government tried to ban depictions of animal cruelty. Why? In large part, relying on the Ferber logic of a) animal cruelty is bad, b) people watching videos of animal cruelty is bad, c) if nobody can sell or buy the videos, it will dry up the market for animal cruelty. I get it. Nobody wants to be the one to say "hey, maybe child porn ought to be legal." I expect to have this very post used against me in the future. But, think beyond the nightmare scenario. Think about your stash of baby pictures, and how those could get you tossed in jail with a lifetime on the sex offender list. Think about your 17 year old son with pictures of his 17 year old girlfriend winding up in jail and on the sex offender list for life. Think about the irrationality of how the law is already being used. Then think about how the infection we picked up in Ferber could spread. Find the most censorious ass-hat you can think of. Think of Katherine MacKinnon or Gail Dines arguing that "porn makes people think less of women, thus as a matter of drying up the market for porn, it should be illegal." Or, imagine Donald Trump's administration saying that "this specific expression creates a market for Islamic extremism." Don't we want to "dry up the market" for sexism or terrorism? Who wants to argue against that? Imagine anyone prepared to deem a thought "dangerous" and then taking a knife to our soppressata. Imagine banning Mein Kampf or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, because we want to "dry up the market for racism." How about banning Fight Club or A Clockwork Orange because we want to "dry up the market for violence." How about abortion? You think that's far fetched? Guess what? 18 U.S.C. § 1462(c) already bans talking about abortion. Sure, no prosecutor has been dumb-enough to try and bring any charges under that section, but what about if Trump gets impeached and President Pence has that weapon in his hand? Is prevention of child abuse any less grave than "preventing the killing of the unborn?" I once said "go ahead and take child porn, who cares about that anyway?" But, I now think that was a cowardly position. If we slice off pieces of the Constitution, just because it makes our stomach turn, we've caught a constitutional infection. I think that it is time for us to re-think Ferber or at least Osborne. In doing that, yes, we might make it legal for some creep to have a shoebox full of child porn images. But, that is a small price to pay to exorcise the infection we have been carrying around since 1982. Edited to add: Ken has a partial dissent. Marc Randazza is the national president of the First Amendment Lawyers Association Last 5 posts by Randazza |
Updated, Feb. 11: Dominion has responded to Style Weekly regarding the concerns expressed by local creatives and the move by individuals to pressure bands to boycott this year's Dominion Riverrock. David B. Botkins, director of media relations and communications with Dominion Virginia Power and Dominion generation e-mailed the following statement: "Virginia’s waterways are just as important to Dominion and its employees as they are to you. We want to make sure everyone understands our plan for ash pond closures. Here’s the bottom line: We have never nor will ever dump coal ash into our waterways. We are closing coal ash ponds to prevent accidents like those that have happened in other states. Water from pond closures will be filtered, treated, tested then released. We will not allow ash or toxic water to flow into the James – and the process is regulated to make sure that doesn’t happen. Water monitoring data will be available to the public on our website. Coal ash is classified as non-hazardous waste by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an important fact that often gets unreported. The ash pond closures taking place is a positive environmental development. We are following sound, established practices as well as the letter of state and federal law. We are being pro-active, safe and working with a sense of urgency. This effort is part of Dominion’s moving away from coal as an energy source while cleaning the environment, as mandated by the EPA. Botkins also asked that we share a "video explainer" that you can view here. In addition, he noted that regarding meeting with the bands, "we look forward to scheduling that and clearing up the inaccurate information that has been circulating on this issue." Musician DJ Williams told Style that he had been invited by an employee of Dominion to a Neighborhood Association meeting that will be held on Feb.23. Original story below: The recent announcement for this year's Dominion Riverrock Fest, organized by Venture Richmond and Sports Backers and sponsored by Dominion Resources, seems to have come at an awkward time. People are still steamed about the news of Dominion getting a permit to dump treated coal ash wastewater into the James River -- and they're letting the musicians slated to perform at the large weekend event know about it. The musical artists for the event billed as the "nation's premier outdoor sports and music festival" include headliners G. Love and Special Sauce, Keller Williams and local acts such as DJ Williams Projekt, Mikrowaves, Big Mama Shakes and Jackass Flats. It drew an estimated 100,000 people last year over the weekend. click to enlarge DJ Williams is one of the local artists scheduled to play at this year's Dominion Riverrock Fest which will be held on Brown’s Island and Historic Tredegar from May 20-22. Musician DJ Williams has recently responded on his Facebook page and his post is being widely shared. In it, he asks that people not blame the bands for the behavior of Dominion and notes that some of the bands are working to donate proceeds or in some other way raise awareness about the River. You can read his response below. The outdoor sports and music festival, scheduled for May 20-22, has faced anti-Dominion messages in previous years. But regarding this new effort aimed at bands, Williams tells Style by e-mail: "It's been mainly posting propaganda on our artist/personal pages and saying things like we will lose respect for you and will boycott all your shows as a result -- as if I worked directly on the board at Dominion Power." The closed Facebook group RVA Music for the James is a coalition of artists and musicians dedicated to helping the river. In recent days, some of its 130 members have been encouraging people to speak out to musicians booked at the festival. Chanelle Vigue, owner and co-host of Radio Rubber Room, a weekly music podcast, says this effort is about "more than one boycott" but rather spreading awareness. She isn't advocating threats of future boycotts to the artists but does hope that festival organizers will look for a different sponsor than its namesake Dominion next year. She points to the "irony" of a festival by the river that’s "sponsored by same company planning to dump toxic waste into the river at less than prescribed standards." "As far as RVA Music for the James, we are looking at bringing together Richmond's music community around an issue people feel strongly about," she says by phone. "This is about longterm preservation of the river. Individuals may have posted things on artist pages ... but the conversations on our site have been productive, discussing multiple perspectives. ... It's a big debate right now." Vigue could not speak to whether there will be any planned protest on the weekend of the event. She does note that there has been ongoing discussion about more music-related events in the future to raise awareness and donations for the river. Here is Williams' original post from Facebook: So, there has been a lot of messages sent out to the bands performing at this years Riverrock Festival on Brown's Island this May. The majority of these messages containing people's discontent of the actions of Dominion Power and there involvement with said festival. I don't normally take any kind of stand on social media for a number of personal reasons but some of these messages have been very disrespectful to not only myself but also my fellow musical family and that is something I will not tolerate. I completely understand the grounds for the disapproval of Dominion and in no way agree with what they are doing to our river system and see that this festival has come at a very sensitive time. I was approached by someone who I highly respect in the RVA community to be a part of this event and have never conducted business with anyone in Dominion Power. I feel it would be very disrespectful to pull my band out of this event. We (the bands) have all been talking to see how we can bring some positivity to this whole matter by setting up a charity, donating proceeds, or creating awareness in some way about our lovely James River. I have given my time to a lot of fundraisers, charities, and other events to give back to the city and community that I very much love and respect so right now I'm asking for the same in return. Let's not blame the bands but let's find a way to voice our opinions respectably and make a change. Style has reached out to others involved with the weekend and will update when possible. Opponents of the permit who hope to see it repealed and the wastewater treated to drinking standards are holding a march ("Dump Dominion: A March For Our Rivers") on Monday, Feb. 15 at noon. |
Pro-Clinton group re-ups demand for Gowdy to turn over his emails An outside rapid-response and research group dedicated to defending the records of Hillary Clinton and other Democrats running for president repeated its call Wednesday for Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, to release his own work-related and private emails and those of his staff. A letter from Correct the Record founder David Brock, sent Wednesday and shared exclusively with POLITICO, follows another sent March 11 in which Brock also urged Gowdy to release his own private and work-related email as he called for Clinton to turn over her server. Story Continued Below Clinton’s campaign earlier this month turned over the server that the former secretary of state used for email correspondence during her time at the State Department, along with a thumb drive containing the work-related emails. “I asked earlier what it is you may have to hide by not releasing your own emails and I recognize that I am unlikely to receive a response,” Brock wrote in a letter to Gowdy (R-S.C.) dated Wednesday. Correct the Record’s website also features a timer counting the days, hours, minutes and seconds since Gowdy received Brock’s initial request. “The Select Committee on Benghazi may have uncovered Hillary Clinton’s unusual and unprecedented email arrangement, but it is the FBI that is investigating it. As such, it would be more appropriate for this group to direct its request to the FBI,” said committee spokesman Jamal Ware. In the letter, Brock goes on to “hazard a few educated guesses” as to why the chairman has not released the emails, speculating that he is “hiding correspondence with GOP presidential candidates, the Republican National Committee or other political committees” that would show a “campaign of character and political assassination against Hillary Clinton in an effort to win a political campaign.” “Perhaps you are hiding emails which would reveal how, after you pledged not to use this investigation to raise money for the GOP, you managed to attend fundraising events where Benghazi was specifically raised in a political context,” Brock wrote. “Almost certainly you and your team are hiding correspondence with numerous media outlets, the New York Times being one, which would show that the committee, and perhaps you personally, has selectively leaked erroneous and dishonest information to smear Hillary Clinton.” Brock then writes: “If these hypotheses seem preposterous to you then the remedy is clear: release your emails and those of your committee staff.” Clinton is set to testify before the Benghazi committee on Oct. 22, while two of her former top aides at State, Cheryl Mills and Jake Sullivan, will appear before the panel privately on Sept. 3 and Sept. 4, respectively. |
According to an unconfirmed report in The Sun (UK), Bruce Willis is considering a suit against Apple over the terms and conditions of its iTunes service. The actor has collected a huge music library, and "wants to leave the haul to his daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. But under iTunes' current terms and conditions, customers essentially only 'borrow' tracks rather than owning them outright. So any music library amassed like that would be worthless when the owner dies." [SEE BELOW: Awaiting further confirmation that this may be either a false story, or an offhand thought blown out of proportion. That never happens on the internet!] Die harder, indeed! Willis may set up a trust for his tunes to get around the problem, but in the meantime, he is "also backing legal moves to increase the rights of downloaders," according to The Sun. The story quoted London estate attorney Chris Walton, as saying, “Lots of people will be surprised on learning all those tracks and books they have bought over the years don’t actually belong to them. It’s only natural you would want to pass them on to a loved one.” This is obviously a slight story on a holiday weekend, but it raises an important issue, both about digital media in general and also about user's awareness of the terms and conditions of the sites they patronize. If we are used to "owning" our music and then we switch to another method of purchasing it, how much does Apple need to do to change our perception that we do not still "own" our downloads? As with many other things in tech (privacy on Skype, for instance) it is more a matter of not correcting our misconceptions than engaging in outright deception. The family angle, Willis' celebrity and his penchant for populist advocacy, gives his challenge to iTunes a broad appeal. Apple would do well to address his concerns politely. I thought I owned my tunes, too! UPDATE: Like many sourceless rumors, this one may well be untrue. TechCrunch has just published a Twitter exchange with the current Mrs. Willis, Emma Heming-Willis, where she flat out says, "it's not a true story." See exchange below. Heming-Willis, nor Willis' publicist has yet responded to my inquiries. Curious to know where the rumor came from, if not Willis. More soon... |
Our Community, Our Plan: Building Climate Resiliency in Northern Manhattan About the Author: Tina Johnson, a mother of three and a lifelong resident of West Harlem, New York, is concerned with community issues related to health, education and environmental resiliency. Through her work in the community as a tenant leader, she has become a proud and faithful member of the WE ACT for Environmental Justice organization. I live in a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) development called Grant Houses. Looking out my 18th floor window, there is another NYCHA development across from Grant: the Manhattanville Houses. We both sit at sea level. Our neighborhood is bordered by a major state highway and a bank of the Hudson River. Development is happening all around us, but progress seems to pass by us. Contrary to public perception, low-income and working class people – like me – care about our communities and how climate change will affect our future and the future of the next generation. I don’t like feeling helpless. Becoming an active member of the community-based organization WE ACT for Environmental Justice, an organization that has received long-term funding from the EPA, including the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program, has been a way to participate in the climate-related decisions that impact me and my community. Last winter, WE ACT offered a challenge to its Northern Manhattan communities. The challenge involved a grassroots process to facilitate community planning around climate change. I loved the way WE ACT structured the challenge, which linked me to other community members who are concerned with similar challenges. The challenge was based on a fast-paced game that mirrored real time climate events. As a group, we had to conceptualize what it means to be prepared for climate change through the lens of extreme weather “reality” in action. We participated in group brainstorming with real time feedback from the other participants and groups who were focusing on different systems related to government policy, health care, communication, transportation, food systems and the resulting lack of regularly accessible resources. This exercise, both grounding and clarifying, taught me about the efforts required to maintain a healthy community in the face of potential upheaval. I identified responses to challenges required by myself and my government to maintain resilient “wholeness” in my community. Working within a group provided me with alternative viewpoints. Different ideas were developed around the idea of resilience, but we discovered more common ground than differences. We were able to identify a shared vision in how to promote a local, green economy that supports low-income residents. From this collaboration, we began planning how to design short-term and long-term resiliency strategies to address extreme weather events. Participating in these group exercises helped me envision development in achievable parts. It became clear to me that a cohesive emergency preparedness and civic participation action plan was necessary for my community. One of the parts I am currently working on is identifying a location site for the installation of an informational kiosk on the Grant and Manhattanville NYCHA properties. I am working with an artist, an architect and other WE ACT members to design a community kiosk structure which will serve as an information hub about climate change. This is one component of WE ACT for Environmental Justice’s Northern Manhattan Climate Action Plan to tackle climate change and social inequality in my community. With assistance from EPA resources on emergencies, the kiosk will allow the local residents to learn about climate change and how to act in emergency situations. The kiosk will share evacuation routes and other resources necessary during climate-related emergencies. Its design will be unique to its geographical area and it will inform the community about the specific challenges and needs of the area. The kiosk will also serve community members who may be subject to loss of services and isolation during an emergency. In this way, the kiosk will stand as a sign of my community’s efforts to survive and thrive in the face of chronic, extreme weather events that will stress its fabric by substituting action for worry and uncertainty. Editor's Note: The views expressed here are intended to explain EPA policy. They do not change anyone's rights or obligations. You may share this post. However, please do not change the title or the content, or remove EPA’s identity as the author. If you do make substantive changes, please do not attribute the edited title or content to EPA or the author. EPA's official web site is www.epa.gov. Some links on this page may redirect users from the EPA website to specific content on a non-EPA, third-party site. In doing so, EPA is directing you only to the specific content referenced at the time of publication, not to any other content that may appear on the same webpage or elsewhere on the third-party site, or be added at a later date. EPA is providing this link for informational purposes only. EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of non-EPA information provided by any third-party sites or any other linked site. EPA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies, internet applications or any policies or information expressed therein. |
Interracial adoption (also referred to as transracial adoption) refers to the act of placing a child of one racial or ethnic group with adoptive parents of another racial or ethnic group. Interracial adoption is not the same as transcultural or international adoption though in some circumstances an adoption may be interracial, international, and transcultural. Statistics [ edit ] Based on the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) in the U.S., the fiscal year of 1998 showed that approximately 64% of children waiting in foster care were of non-Caucasian background; 32% were white. Out of all foster children waiting for adoption 51% are black, 11% are Hispanic, 1% are American Indian, 1% are Asian/Pacific Islander, and 5% are unknown/unable to determine. Data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) in the U.S. show that adoption of an unrelated child was most common among childless white women and those with higher levels of income and education. The most recent estimate of interracial adoption was performed in 1987 by the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and it found that 1% of white women adopt black children, 5% of white women adopt children of other races, and 2% of women of other races adopt white children (estimates include foreign-born).[1] The US Census 2000 found that "White (and no other race), not Hispanic children made up the majority of all categories of children of householders under 18: about 58 percent of adopted children, 64 percent of biological children" and "Of the 1.7 million households with adopted children, about 308,000 (18 percent) contained members of different races."[2] Between 2008 and 2009, approximately 2,700 white children were adopted compared to only 410 mixed-race children and only 90 black children in the UK. Approximately 1 in 10 children in care is black and 1 in 9 children in care comes from a racially mixed background. Black, mixed-race and Asian children typically wait to be adopted on average three years longer than white children. Children of mixed ethnicities are more likely than other children to be placed for adoption. The Children Act 1989 and Adoption and Children Act 2002 state that in England and Wales an adoption agency must give due consideration to a child's religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background; this requirement was repealed for England in the Children and Families Act 2014.[3] Adoption placement of children of mixed ethnicities is difficult because it is influenced by values, ideology and anti-oppressive practices that need to be considered within the practice. Mixed ethnicity children are subject to racism and complete inclusion of both parts of their heritage. Mixed children will struggle with discrimination from both parts of their ethnicity, desiring solidarity from both parts of their ethnic backgrounds.[4] Interracial adoption grew significantly from 1999 to 2005 where it reached its peak year at 585 adoptions to the United States. Following 2005, interracial adoption into the US declined with 288 adoptions in the year 2011. From 1999 to 2011, there has been 233,934 adoptions into the United States from other countries across the globe. Of the total adoptions, 39.4% (92,202 children) were under the age of 12 months.[5] Also, 63% (146,516 children) were female. Overall, children from China were the most common to be adopted. 66,630 were from China and Russia was the second largest country with 45,112 children. History [ edit ] Before World War II it was very rare for white couples to adopt a child of a different race and every effort was made in order to match a child with the skin color and religion of the adoptive family. Then in 1944 the Boys and Girls Aid Society took an interest in the increasing number of minority children waiting to be adopted which focused on children from Asian American, Native American, and African American heritage. Children of Asian and Native American heritage were most easily placed outside of their racial group while those of African Americans heritage proved more difficult. The campaign was called "Operation Brown Baby" and its objective was to find adoptive homes even if from a different race, the first candidate in this operation, Noah Turner, was a Chinese baby adopted into a Caucasian family in 1947. Then during the civil rights movement, interracial adoptions in the United States increased dramatically and the numbers more than tripled from 733 cases in 1968 to 2,574 cases in 1971. (There are now about 6,500 cases a year.) It was then that the National Association of Black Social Workers condemned interracial adoption citing that adoptees were at risk for developing a poor racial identity due to lack of contact with role models of the same race. In the 1990s the placement of black children into non-black homes virtually came to a complete stop.[citation needed] Additional information [ edit ] Families formed across racial, national, and biological boundaries represent a growing demographic, adding to the pervasive, historical diversity of family forms in the United States (Coontz, 2008). Since 1990, the number of U.S. adoptions of foreign-born orphans has increased in unprecedented numbers, rising from 7,093 children to 12,753 in 2009—an 80% increase: China ranked as the top sending country, and Vietnam ranked as the seventh highest (U.S. Department of State, 2009). Whereas diversification in the family form is not a new phenomenon, it often appears so, given that family communication scholarship on nontraditional families is a relatively recent development.[6][7][8] Law [ edit ] In 1994 the Howard M. Metzenbaum Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) was passed. It prohibits an agency that receives Federal assistance and is involved in foster care and adoptive placements from delaying or denying the placement of a child based on race, color, or national origin of the child or adoptive/foster parent. Then, in 1996 it was amended with the Interethnic Adoption Provisions, also known as the Interethnic Placement Act. These provisions forbid agencies from delaying or denying the placement of a child solely on the basis of race and national origin. The purpose of these revisions was to strengthen compliance and enforcement of the procedures, remove any misleading language, and demand that discrimination would not be tolerated. Another important law regarding interracial adoptions was the Adoption and Safe Families Act that was implemented in 1997. The purpose of this law is to reduce the time that a child spends in foster care by implementing a two-year limit and therefore hopefully moving a child closer to permanent adoption. The purpose of this act was to reduce the instability and abuse problems in the foster care system. Critics argue that it also takes the emphasis off of trying to keep children with their biological parents. Academic research [ edit ] Adolescent adjustment [ edit ] One study found that interracial adoptees fare sometimes better, sometimes worse, but overall about the same as their same-race adopted counterparts across the 12 adjustment measures investigated. These measures investigated indices of academic, familial, psychological, and health outcomes for 4 groups of interracial and same-race adopted adolescents. Specifically, interracial adoptees had significantly higher grades and significantly higher academic expectations but marginally more distant father relationships and higher levels of psychosomatic symptoms than their same-race adopted counterparts. Also, Asian adolescents adopted by white parents had both the highest grades and the highest levels of psychosomatic symptoms, whereas black adolescents adopted by black parents reported the highest levels of depression. On the other hand, black adoptees reported higher levels of self-worth than non-black adoptees. Appearance discomfort [ edit ] Another report suggested that adjustment problems among their children at approximately the same levels as were reported by the parents of intraracially adopted whites. Yet, evidence also showed that extra-family forces, for example societal racism, did negatively impact adjustment outcomes. Particularly, experiences of discrimination generated feelings of appearance discomfort. The research suggested that black and Asian children, who appear unmistakably different from whites, are most likely to encounter such societal discrimination. Apparently, many Latino children with European physical features can safely escape such expressions of racism. One of this study's most interesting findings showed that interracial adoptive parents' decisions on where to live had a substantial impact upon their children's adjustments. Interracial adoptive parents living in predominantly white communities tended to have adoptees that experienced more discomfort about their appearance than those who lived in integrated settings. Identity development [ edit ] Transracial adoptees are posed with the challenge of understanding the differences between their own view of identity and the identity reflected and modeled by their parents. Identity entails, not only race, but also heritage, culture, ethnicity and many other descriptors. Studies have sought to explore how children of interracial adoption are affected in these varying categories in an effort to counter the argument that transracial adoptions can have confusing and conflicting effects on a child's view of self-identity. Research suggests that the age of adoption and parenting acculturation styles may influence the way in which transracial children construct and build their own identities.[9] Many groups continue to argue that children put up for adoption should be matched with same race parents in an effort to better help the child assimilate culturally and racially. This idea is commonly known as race-matching, when the adoptee and adoptive parents are paired based on race. In 2008, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute reignited the interracial adoption debate with its recommendation that race should be considered in selecting adoptive parents for children awaiting placement. These reports examined adoption of black children by white parents. They found that interracial adoptees face additional and complex challenges coping with being "different", particularly if they grew up in homogeneous white communities struggling to fit in with both their adoptive families and the black community, feeling awkward and out of place in both settings, developing a positive racial/ethnic identity, acknowledging racial differences but without expressing racial pride, and managing racial prejudice and discrimination. The findings from the Donaldson report links the challenges that interracial adoptees face with socialization practices of adoptive parents that minimize racial differences, particularly when parents do not facilitate their children's understanding of and comfort with their own ethnicities. However, there has also been academic research on transracial adoption that has shown that black children can build strong racial identities when adopted by white parents.[10] In light of this debate, much research has been specifically designed to analyze how transracial adoption affects the construction of a child's personal identity, and whether the circumstance of transracial adoption present such acclaimed negative influence on development. One study[11] compared black children who had been placed with black adoptive families and black children who had been transracially adopted. They measured self-esteem and perception of racial identity. While there was no difference in perception of racial identity, there was a difference in how they perceived their own racial identity. Transracial children were "more likely to identify themselves as being adopted and to use racial self-referents than in racially adopted children" (McRoy, 1982). This study relates back to the importance of how influential transracial adopted parents acculturation, socialization, and awareness of race plays into fostering a positive racial identity for the child. A study involving Korean adoptees was designed to obtain information on how family involvement in culturally related activities factored into a child's ethnic identity. Results showed that children exposed to higher levels of involvement in Korean cultural activities attributed to a higher measure of Korean identity. In addition, these children were more easily able to communicate openly about their adoption. Children are able to express the adoption that they experienced. The implications of this study suggested that involvement of cultural activities of the child's native culture may help in the child's development of integrated ethnic identities.[12] Another study, conceptually similarly, looked at both the parents and the children to measure how color-blind racial attitudes would affect engagement in activities of the adoptees native culture. Color blindness is the sociological concept that race, or racial characteristics, do not exist amongst people. The study found that parents scoring lower on color-blind racial attitudes positively correlated with high scores on acculturation and socialization levels, meaning parents that were aware of their cultural differences took part in more cultural activities of their adoptee.[10] It is important to note that this study looked at international adoptions, which subsequently includes transracial adoptees, but is not specifically focused on this particular subset of individuals. Another study, again focused on Korean transracial adoptees, sought to explore self-concept and acculturation through measurements of Religion, Honesty, Relationships with Opposite Sex, Physical Appearance, general self-concept, math, emotional stability, and relationships with parents in relation to age of placement of Korean adoptees. The significant findings in this study highlighted that the later the age at which the Korean adoptees were placed, the higher Honesty self-concept scores were.[9] The implications of this study presume that the older in which a child is adopted, the more secure they are in their ethnic identity. Due to a longer amount of time, exposed to their native culture, the longer they had to develop a sense of identity of that culture before their adoptive parents' culture. Ethnocentric bias [ edit ] Finally, some research has examined the empirical studies of interracial adoption themselves. These studies address whether past research that claims that interracial adoption positively benefits children of color, particularly black children, may have methodological difficulties. Specifically, these studies analyze the presence of an ethnocentric bias in legal and scientific assessments of children's well-being and adjustment. Assimilation into the family [ edit ] Multicultural families have both similarities and differences from the biological family. A family that has participated with interracial adoption shares similar roles, life stages, and transition points as other families. The challenge comes, however, with the pursuit of a shared family identity through communication. Linda D. Manning conducted a research study on this topic titled "Presenting Opportunities: Communicatively Constructing a Shared Family Identity". The research question she posed initially was, How do members of a multiracial adoptive family communicatively co-construct a shared family identity that emphasizes similarities and allows for difference? The results of the study found that having "cultural artifacts" in the home allow for the embrace of the differing cultures represented in the family. It "creates a worldview that embraces diversity – not just races and ethnicities directly related to those embodied by family members. The choice to embrace multiple races and ethnicities... affirms the multiethnic experience" (Manning, 2006). The study also showed that parents, in any family, present the family identity and the child responds. This is where an interracial family would share the similar roles as in a biological family. The parents act as educators and spokesperson. The children act as compliant participant, challenger, and expert. The research also showed that in an interracial family, there is tension between uniqueness and conformity. It is difficult but essential to balance these two qualities within the family identity. Manning concludes the research study by describing how "the constructs of a shared family identity is both a process and a product". The process includes roles and themes within the family while the product is developed through communication. "A shared family identity is a group identity that encompasses individual identity characteristics shared by each family member, allows for salient differences between and among family members, and accounts for dialectic tensions that exist within family interactions, as well as between the family and the community". Education prior to interracial adoption [ edit ] The United States Department of State offers multiple resources for parents wanting to adopt such as the "Intercountry Adoption from A-Z" publication, Adoption guides, Adoptive families committees, FAQs, and Visa information. All of these and more are available on their website.[13] The article, "Adoptive Parent's Framing of Laypersons' Conceptions of Family" by Elizabeth A. Suter, Kristine L. Reyes, & Robert L. Ballard, addresses the importance of parents preparing for outside comments from others. This study showed that families that had participated in interracial adoption had experienced comments such as "their families violated the canonical view of family in terms of racial dissimilarity between members, construction of family via adoption, and adoption of a child born out of the United States". The article uses a battleground as a metaphor for an adoptive family. The external view of the family does pose as a challenge for interracial families. The results suggest that prior to interracial adoption, parents "should be made aware of social stigmas... and be provided with opportunities to develop a critical consciousness about such stigmas". The research also suggests and encourages required statewide courses for prospective parents. Support and opposition [ edit ] Support [ edit ] A dichotomy exists in reference to the subject of interracial adoption. Critics of race matching say there is a darker side involving whites with lingering racist beliefs against mixing races. They argue that children are hurt most by the practice. "One of the problems with race-matching policies," says Donna Matias, a lawyer with the Institute of justice, "is that it leaves the children in the system to wait. They are thrown into a vicious cycle where the chances plummet that they will ever get adopted."[14] Never getting adopted has been shown to have a negative impact on children. After aging out of foster care, 27% of males and 10% of females were incarcerated within 12 to 18 months. 50% were unemployed, 37% had not finished high school, 33% received public assistance, and 19% of females had given birth to children. Before leaving care, 47 percent were receiving some kind of counseling or medication for mental health problems; that number dropped to 21% after leaving care.[15] Opposition [ edit ] Opposition to interracial adoption has been reactionary to extreme misuse of adoption practices; for example Australian aborigines were taken from their parents, sterilized and then adopted for Christian upbringing. Similar cases happened with Native Americans. The National Association of Black Social Workers, which consisted of twelve members, opposed interracial adoption, saying it was "cultural suicide", but their opposition was opposed by such groups as the NAACP.[16][17][18][19][20][21] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ] |
Animation is an inherently visual art, and I believe that there need to be visual tools to assist us in creating them. Not unlike Bret Victor, I think that the gap between the input and the output of the creative process should be minimal, and iteration should be painless. I’m also incredibly lazy and believe that making animations (or anything, for that matter) should be quick and easy. I develop an app called Stylie in my free time, a tool that tries to satisfy these ideals. Among other things, Stylie lets me stretch my creative legs with regard to UI/UX design. I’m not a designer by any means, but I can generally identify UI elements that obviously do or don’t work. All of the UI decisions I make with Stylie are deliberate and carefully considered. I like the current UI, and I’m careful about cluttering it up with unnecessary or awkward features. In other words, I don’t want it to become The Homer. At the same time, I want to automate as much of the process of scaffolding an animation as I can, because I use Stylie quite a bit and get annoyed with repeating certain actions over and over again. Ironically for an adamant Vim user, I’ve found that using my mouse to work with the UI is far easier than using the keyboard to tweak an animation, so I’ve worked to optimize that workflow. In doing so, I inadvertently developed a way to develop complex CSS animations without using the keyboard at all. My Stylie workflow While Stylie is a web app and will work on any modern browser on any desktop platform, I develop it on OS X. Therefore, Stylie has an even more optimized mousing experience on late-model Apple laptops and desktops with a Magic Trackpad. If you are on OS X, you can enable three-finger dragging: This feels weird at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll have no idea how you got by without it. It makes the overall dragging experience feel more natural and gestural. When using it to select blocks of text, it feels like you are “drawing” around the text you want. Happily, three-finger drag works perfectly with Dragon, the jQuery dragging plugin that powers Stylie. It’s not magic, three-finger drag just invisibly inputs the initial click that would initiate a drag motion. This makes any interface that requires lots of cursor dragging much more elegant, so I highly recommended enabling the feature. The first thing I’ll do is create however many keyframes I’ll need (by clicking the “+” button in the upper right of the Keyframes panel or hitting “K” on the keyboard) and drag them around with three fingers. However, the positioning of the points often needs some finessing, so I’ll usually have to tweak the corresponding values in the Keyframe panel. There are several ways to interact with Stylie’s number fields, all of which are designed to be similar to Chrome Dev Tools: Re-type the value Hit “up” or “down” on the keyboard to tweak the values Hover the text input with the mouse and scroll up or down to tweak the values The last method is the most useful for me, as it’s both quicker and more fun than switching to the keyboard to change the values. Personally, I wish I could scroll the mouse to increment any number input on the web, so I built it into Stylie. So, rather than clicking around and re-focusing the various number fields (which there are a lot of), I’ll just hover my mouse and “scroll” the values. This feels like a much more efficient and natural way to tweak numbers, to me. This is particularly useful when modifying rotation values (RX, RY, and RZ for each keyframe). Next, I’ll tweak the easing formulas. Stylie supports all of the “classic” Robert Penner formulas, but you can also create your own with the curve tool. To use a custom easing curve, just link it on a per-property basis in the Keyframes panel. The drag handles on the easing tool work the same as the keyframe crosshairs, so you can three-finger drag those as well, or just scroll the number fields. A lot of animations also call for some kind of rotation. While you can achieve full three-axis rotation by tweaking the keyframe number fields as I explained earlier, it’s easier to hold the Shift key on the keyboard (I know, I’m going against the title of this post) to bring up the rotation Cubelets. You can just click and drag (or three-finger drag!) the Cubelets until they face the way you want for the various points in the animation. Once I’m done with tweaking an animation, I’ll grab the generated code from the CSS panel and I’m done. With this workflow, I’ve found that using Stylie is a fluid and somewhat gestural way to quickly create and tweak an animation. Rapid prototyping and iteration is a key component of making animations that work well within a game or application, and I hope to keep developing Stylie to explore what other methods are effective for simplifying what is normally a pretty painful process. |
That deal soured when Mr. Guo tried, without success, to name directors to Founder Securities’ board and became locked in a dispute with his former business partner, Li You, who was the chief executive of the brokerage’s state-owned parent, according to a report by Caixin, a Chinese news company. Mr. Guo, using turns of phrase that wouldn’t be out of place in “The Godfather” or “The Sopranos,” said He Jintao was working against him. “To be honest, if I could publish evidence about you, He Jintao, I promise that in 24 hours, 10 million people will take to the streets and will eat you alive,” Mr. Guo told Mirror Media. Mr. Guo, who also goes by the name Miles Kwok, did not offer any proof of wrongdoing by the He family. But for all his bluster, there is some documentation to support his assertion that the family had a financial stake in Founder Securities. In 2015, New York Times reporters working in Beijing, Hong Kong and the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu mapped out the financial network of He Guoqiang’s family, examining shareholding records and verifying relationships by interviewing a member of the family. Those documents and interviews show that the family did appear to control, indirectly through a series of shell companies, a stake in Founder Securities, which has a joint venture in China with Credit Suisse, the Swiss bank. |
As of today, President Trump has signed the fewest bills into law by this point in any president’s first year at least as far back as President Eisenhower. Throughout 2017, the President and Republican leaders in Congress have touted their passing of the most legislation in modern history. On his 100th day in office, the President announced he had signed the most bills of any president since Truman — and repeated it many times (it wasn’t entirely true to begin with). House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy recently tweeted that the House of Representatives passed more bills in the President’s first 11 months than in the same time period of the five most recent presidents. By his own standard, the President has sunk to last place with 94 bills signed into law by his 336th day in office (today). That’s 8 fewer than President George W. Bush and not even half as many as presidents Bill Clinton (209) and George H.W. Bush (242): See the methodology for noes on Truman, Johnson, and Ford. The President has not held the title of signing the most new legislation since his 101st day and has been in the bottom half for most of his presidency: (The 10 presidents are the same as in the first graph.) The counts today are on the heels of major legislation the President is expected to sign soon, like the 185-page tax reform bill (which includes a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate) which the President has said he will sign in January. A law to avert a government shutdown will likely be signed tomorrow. Other major policy initiatives, such as disaster relief, a legislative fix to DACA, full repeal or replacement of the Affordable Care Act, and increasing infrastructure spending may soon come into play. But past presidents had major legislation coming up at this point in their terms too, and without a major turn-around the President will remain at or near the bottom. Counting bills is not a measurement of legislative productivity There are many reasons why counting bills is not a valuable measurement of productivity, and we might not be writing this post at all if the President had not portrayed his early successes as being about volume. (This tweet was added to this post after we first published it.) Not all bills are equally important — the 10 bills this year naming post offices, creating memorials, and naming citizens to boards come to mind. The size of legislation signed is a better measurement of substance than the count of presidential signatures, and when we looked at pages of bills signed into law, President Obama had signed more than 15 times as much legislation than President Trump by their 100th days. But if you were happy Trump hasn’t signed much legislation, think again. Today, Trump’s 2,038 pages put him in 4th place — well behind Obama’s 3,473 pages but more than twice as much as George W. Bush by this point in their first years. On the other hand, not all short bills lack substance. Several dozen of the new laws this year repealed regulations in only one or two pages, and those wouldn’t be given a fair shake by looking at page counts only. And many Americans — including the President — would prefer there to be fewer laws and shorter laws, not more and more complex laws. (Indeed, the President has celebrated repealing regulations, i.e. the laws created by federal agencies when authorized by laws passed by Congress.) But it takes a law to repeal a law, and only the few people who are content with the status quo would want lawmaking to stop completely. What everyone wants is good laws, not more laws. Counting legislation is only as meaningful as the substance in it. What else the President has done Signing bills sent to him by Congress is only one way the President creates law or takes action. While there have been few bills signed, there has been presidential action in other ways: The President has appointed the most appellate judges in any president’s first year, though he lags in civilian appointments to top federal agency positions. The President has issued many major executive orders, many on immigration issues, creating federal policy without Congress. Many of those executive orders were halted in the courts, however. The President has also made many foreign policy changes, such as pulling out of the Paris climate change agreement and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The President has claimed that he has slowed the growth of federal regulations, but that’s in question. What People Are Saying (Spoiler alert: False.) Kyle is an MSNBC producer. Daniel is a Canadian journalist tracking the President’s lies. (This section was added after initial publication.) Methodology We counted laws using our legislative data on GovTrack based on information from the Library of Congress (congress.gov) and the Statutes at Large published by the Government Publishing Office. Our counts are of all enacted legislation, including joint resolutions, from inauguration day through December 21st of each president’s first year in office. Eisenhower is the first president for which data is readily available. You can see the full list of Trump’s laws on GovTrack, but this link starts at the beginning of the congressional session so it includes one law signed by Obama the morning of inauguration day. Trump’s 94 laws are Pub.L. 115–2 through Pub.L. 115–94, plus S. 1266 which is not reported as signed but probably will be by the end of the day. New laws, and pages of new laws, by this point in each president’s term. Trump is in 10th place, after Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, and Obama. Truman, Johnson and Ford are excluded from this analysis because their first years in office did not coincide with the start of a congressional session, as was the case for the other presidents. But, for reference, Truman signed 126 bills into law in his first 100 days. Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon signed a large number of so-called “private laws,” which generally addressed immigration issues of one person or a family. Removing private legislation from the counts does not significantly change the rankings. Do you like facts too? Support our work with your one-time or monthly support, and then head to www.GovTrack.us to track exactly what Congress is up to. |
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