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Texas Investment Landscape: Dark Ages or a New Beginning LiveOak Venture Partners Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 22, 2016 Written by Venu Shamapant (General Partner, LiveOak Venture Partners) There has been a Medium post floating around recently that attempts to shed a light on the startup capital landscape in Austin. I hope that you find this (my first ever blog post) to be a helpful alternative perspective on early stage investment in Texas through the lens of a practicing venture capitalist. The blog post starts by mentioning an offer of investment from an Austin based “venture capital firm” (emphasis added by me). My partners and I have been investing in early stage companies in Austin for over 15 years now and have worked at or with most of the Austin based venture capital firms of relevance and we cannot imagine any one of them asking for those terms. Anyone that has participated in building a successful early stage company knows that highly punitive terms like that leave little incentive for the team to succeed and last I checked owning 100% of zero is still worth zero. So, I suspect there is a bit of a liberal definition of “venture capital firm” there. Since the only active firms cited in the article are LiveOak and Silverton, I want to be explicit that LiveOak has never done it and I am confident neither would Silverton. I don’t doubt that Richard did receive terms like this, but I can’t imagine it was from one of the large venture capital firms in Austin. A couple more factual observations that influence the article’s conclusions and then I will address the bigger themes: |
Story highlights Mother: "He was a friend. ... I never thought he would rape and kill my children" Police accuse a 30-year-old suspect of killing four children with a machete The suspect also raped one of the children, police say Carolina Jimenez says she was buying groceries when suddenly she felt something was terribly wrong. She left behind the food and rushed to her home in northern Honduras, where she encountered a horrifying scene: Three of her children were dead. One more was gasping her last breath. "I said, 'Daughter, why did they do this to you?' She wanted to tell me something, but all that was left in her was a whisper," Jimenez told CNN. Now, a 30-year-old man who had been staying with the family is accused of raping Jimenez's 13-year-old daughter, then using a machete to kill her and her three siblings (a 10-year-old, a 7-year-old and an 18-month-old). "He was a friend of ours. ... I never thought he would rape and kill my children," Jimenez said, crying as she described what happened. Sunday's gruesome slayings drew national attention in the Central American country, which has the world's highest murder rate It's far too common, experts say, for children to be victims of violence. In a report released this year, Casa Alianza, a children's rights organization, said nearly 3,800 youths under 23 had been killed in Honduras since 2010. Police said they apprehended the suspect in Sunday's killings, and identified him as Candido Rodriguez Castillo. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had legal representation, and he hasn't spoken out publicly about the case. "The most important thing in this case is that the perpetrator of these killings was captured," German Alfaro, deputy commander of the Honduran Military Police, told CNN affiliate Televicentro . He described the killings as an "isolated but also sinister incident." Jimenez said after the killings she confronted Rodriguez, who claimed he had nothing to do with it. "The machete he used belong to my husband," she said. "The only thing I ask for is for him to be killed the way he killed my girls." Honduras abolished the death penalty in 1956. Authorities said Rodriguez is being held in Trujillo, Honduras, on charges of rape and homicide. |
In this showpiece city, with its wide boulevards and ornamental hedges, there were scores to be settled. Sirte was once Gaddafi's dream in the desert, the gleaming city he built next to the place of his humble birth. Today it lies in ruins, testament to the folly of the fallen leader and the vengeance of men at war. The silken carpets and cool marble of the hotels and conference centres where he made his rambling bombastic speeches, pontificating on pan-African unity and other pet projects, are destroyed or defaced. In the stretches of city that saw the heaviest fighting, the Mauritanian district, Area 2 and the 1 September boulevard, barely a building remains unscathed. So fire-blackened and pulverised by cannon fire are some of the now skeletal structures that they look diseased. We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras. In a building speckled with bullet holes in District 2, two men were putting back together what had once been a shop. "People from Misrata were taking their revenge," said one of the men, who gave his name as Suliman. "They've taken everything – animals, horses, cars. They've made people get out of the cars and killed them. They killed two old men for a car." The other, giving his name as Ibrahim, added: "They say they are looking for weapons but if they see anything they like, they take it. Sometimes they break up the furniture deliberately. Nowadays they are in power – they're the ones with the weapons. There is no law at all." Misratans, who saw their own homes besieged and destroyed in April and May, appeared especially hungry to exact their revenge on Gaddafi's favoured city. "I ordered them to fire 106s into the city at night," confided one Misratan commander, "so as not to give them any chance to recover, so as to divide them." The effects are visible everywhere. Many of the homes are now too damaged to be rebuilt. An abandoned bus lies shot up in the street, its windows eaten away by bullet holes. A lone man picked through the rubble but ran away when he saw that he was being watched. There are pro-Gaddafi graffiti slogans scrawled on the walls in green paint – written by the residents or the fighters who held out here – and people do not want to be seen. Bullet casings still litter the ground and abandoned shells are scattered throughout the streets. At the centre of the city is the Ouagadougou Conference Centre, a grandiose folly built to host the pan-African summits as Gaddafi turned away from the Arab world and dreamed of a United States of Africa with Sirte as its capital. With the city under siege, it served as a fortress from where loyalist fighters held out for weeks. The domed hall has been hit by rockets. Inside, the once-lavish green marble tables have been hacked away. The walls are scrawled with graffiti. The TV screens that the rebels could not rip from the walls have been sprayed with bullets and the ground is thick with broken glass. The battle for Sirte began in mid-September, a few weeks on from the fall of Tripoli. Brigades from Misrata were the first to join the fight, congregating on the western edge of the city. They blasted away for weeks, firing indiscriminately into all of its districts. No one ever consulted a map. The daily routine was to gather on the outer ring road, then ride forward in pick-up trucks, releasing volleys of missiles in a teeth-rattlingly show of force. The rebels rarely stopped to aim. As the weeks wore on, they edged closer, aided by reinforcements from Benghazi who reached the eastern front in late September. With Sirte encircled, brigades began pushing into the outlying residential districts but encountered astonishing resistance. A few hundred hungry, exhausted loyalists held out against more than 20,000 well-fed rebel soldiers for more than a month. Ambushed as they tried to escape the advanced rebel army, two men were chased into a basement and shot dead underground. Their bodies were bandaged from numerous old wounds. As the fighting intensified, the vast majority of Sirte's residents fled. Those who stayed, the rebels reasoned, were those who loved Gaddafi. But those who did stay say they felt they didn't have a choice. "I didn't have anywhere to go," said Ramzi Mansour, who runs a café in Sirte. "This is my house. If I leave it, maybe they'd break in and steal things." Contrary to expectations, Sirte's citizens are returning. According to Ali Turjman from the NGO Acted, 50 per cent of the city's former population of 122,000 are said to have returned. Water and electricity are coming back. "It's difficult," he conceded, "but every day is better than the one before." Slowly, painfully, they are sweeping the streets, clearing the carpet of metal bullet casings that once covered the roads, filling the holes that pockmark every building. But they face the continuing wrath of the Misratan fighters who destroyed their city. On 24 October, Human Rights Watch reported finding the bodies of 53 men at the Mahari Hotel, a five-star hotel once on the frontline. "We found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gaddafi supporters, at an abandoned hotel in Sirte, and some had their hands bound behind their backs when they were shot," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, who investigated the killings. "The evidence suggests that some of the victims were shot while being held as prisoners, when that part of Sirte was controlled by anti-Gaddafi brigades who appear to act outside the control of the National Transitional Council." Ten further corpses were found in a water reservoir. Asked about the behaviour of the Misratan rebels, the head of the military council there, Ramadan Zarmoh, conceded that there may have been abuses. "It's possible. It's to be expected. The revolutionaries are thousands, and maybe there were a few who made mistakes." Two months on, the bodies have been taken away from the stark lobby of the Ibn Sina Hospital, where wounded Gaddafi loyalists were treated during fighting in the city. In their place is a television screen showing shots of 360 bodies, the unknown dead from the fighting in the city. Matug Ahmed was among those watching the grim slideshow, searching for his cousin Ali Mohammed. He didn't know if he'd been killed or imprisoned. Back at the Mahari Hotel, the swimming pools are filled with fetid water. The statues in the lobby are smashed. The layers of soundproofed glass that shielded the rooms are scattered across the floor. "It's such a waste," said Khalid, a construction worker who was surveying the ruins. "Libya is losing billions. We'll need four or five years to get back to how it was before. Not even to move forward." Rebel fighters made fires on the plush carpets to boil the water for their tea. Snipers hiding between sunloungers blasted into the city. "It's a bad place," say the guards. "Bad things happened there." We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads. Subscribe now |
Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. Poor Boy Scouts. Earlier this year, their leadership made a fairly dramatic change in policy to allow gay people to become troop leaders, following on the heels of last year’s decision to stop kicking out gay Scouts. The move to end discrimination has cost the organization some members and donations from religious groups that were outraged about the change. But it’s also suffered smaller, pettier indignities—like its banishment from this weekend’s Values Voter Summit, the premier political conference for evangelical Christians. The DC summit, organized by the conservative Family Research Council Action, is headlined by no fewer than seven GOP presidential candidates. For many years, the Boy Scouts have had a place of honor at the event, presenting the American flag as the color guard. This year, though, the Scouts are nowhere to be found. In their place are boys from Trail Life USA, the outdoor adventure and character development group created last year as a Christian alternative to the Boy Scouts. Joining them were American Heritage Girls, the religious alternative to the Girl Scouts. Trail Life was founded by a religious-right activist from Florida, associated with James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, who was active fighting the Boy Scout policy change. The group’s official policy on gays says: We believe that homosexuality is sinful and immoral, as is any sexual activity outside of the sanctity of marriage between a Man and a Woman. Consistent with this belief, we have specific policies that address membership and sin in both youth and adult members. Trail Life also excludes Mormons and Jews because they don’t subscribe to the group’s particular theology. A spokeswoman for the summit’s organizers didn’t respond to a request for comment. But Trail Life CEO Mark Hancock, at his booth in the convention hall, said his group was invited to replace the Boy Scouts color guard because of “the direction the Boy Scouts have taken. They think we’re a better fit.” Asked specifically if it was because of the acceptance of gays, Hancock demurred, saying it was simply the Boy Scouts’ “general departure from their traditional values” that prompted their exclusion. FRC head Tony Perkins lamented that the Boy Scouts were moving “away from their moral standard of being morally straight and clean and moving into open homosexuality.” Kim Luckabaugh, the DC-area coordinator for the more established American Heritage Girls, said her group replaced the Boy Scouts at the conference last year, when Trail Life was just getting off the ground, because “we are aligned ministerially. We are aligned in our values.” She says the FRC organizers have “been very kind and gracious to us.” The booting of the Boy Scouts from the event isn’t all that surprising. The Family Research Council, which sponsors the Values Voter Summit, has been an ardent opponent of the Boy Scouts’ acceptance of gays. Earlier this year, FRC head Tony Perkins lamented that the Boy Scouts were moving “away from their moral standard of being morally straight and clean and moving into open homosexuality.” He claimed that both the Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts “are done” as organizations because of their acceptance of gays. A regular speaker at the event, Mat Staver, with the legal group Liberty Counsel, said last month that the change in policy at the Boy Scouts meant that “you are going to have all kinds of sexual molestation. This is a playground for pedophiles to go and have all these boys as objects of their lust. This is insane, and we need to literally abandon the Scouts because the Scouts, unfortunately, have abandoned us.” The Values Voter Summit has long been a hotbed of anti-gay activism, but this year, organizers are going to great lengths to honor people who’ve personally discriminated against LGBT people, such as Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who refused to follow the Supreme Court edict and issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples; a florist who dissed her friend and refused to do flowers for his gay wedding; and a pair of bakers who refused to make a cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding. The organizers’ exclusion of the Boy Scouts seems only fitting, but perhaps they’ve done them a favor: The boys will be spared from associating with people who will be remembered on the wrong side of history. |
Standout stats for this year's Rising Star nominees The winner of the NAB Rising Star Award has been nominated by round four in half of its 24 years. That is a good sign for three favourites for this year's NAB Rising Star Award, Port Adelaide's Sam Powell-Pepper, Hawthorn's Ryan Burton and Essendon's Andy McGrath, who were all nominated in the first four rounds this season. All three fancies have merit with Powell-Pepper aiming to become just the third winner to record more than 100 tackles in a home and away season; McGrath the first No.1 pick to win since Brett Deledio in 2005; and Ryan Burton to become just the second player, after Byron Pickett, to win the award for a club that had won a premiership just two seasons earlier. It's a crack field with five of the first six players picked in last year's NAB AFL Draft nominated, as well as a father-son and 13 players who have been on the list for more than one season. All the latest NAB AFL Rising Star news Carlton's Charlie Curnow is equal 14th for contested marks while only two winners in the award's history, Ben Cousins and Jesse Hogan, have kicked more goals in the season they won than the 30 majors the Brisbane Lions' Eric Hipwood's managed in 2016. Richmond duo Jason Castagna and Daniel Butler kicked 49 goals between them as pressure forwards while Collingwood's Tom Phillips, the Lions' Alex Witherden and Hawthorn's Burton were the only three nominees to average more than 20 disposals a game in 2017. We've seen them in action but AFL.com.au went looking for the obscure statistic in which each of the nominees have shone in the past season. Sam Powell-Pepper (Port Adelaide) Port Adelaide's raging bull has broken 24 tackles this season to place him equal second with the Western Bulldogs’ Jake Stringer – by a long way, admittedly – behind Richmond's Dustin Martin, who has broken 62 tackles. Ryan Burton (Hawthorn) The balanced Hawthorn defender sits 18th in the comp for effective kicks in the defensive half and No.1 at Hawthorn for total intercepts. Brandan Parfitt (Geelong) He was brilliant early and heads into the finals with the fourth-best tackle efficiency at Geelong. Andrew McGrath (Essendon) The No.1 pick has the best defender rating of any player in the competition with at least six or more match-ups of 40 or more minutes. The defender rating is based on what you concede to your opponent compared to his average output. Eric Hipwood (Brisbane Lions) When the mobile forward was involved in a chain of play, the Lions scored 47 per cent of the time, ranking him 21st of anyone to play at least 15 games this season. Caleb Marchbank (Carlton) Against Collingwood in round seven, Marchbank took six intercept marks, the second-most intercept marks in a game by a Carlton player this season. Sam Petrevski-Seton (Carlton) Clean hands have seen Petrevski-Seton rank equal 15th in the competition for ground level balls won off a marking contest. Tim Taranto (Greater Western Sydney) After 12 games in his first season, with injury the only reason he has not played more, he is ranked fifth at the club for pressure acts per game. Tom Phillips (Collingwood) He has great numbers with 37 per cent of his kicks into the forward 50 resulting in a mark to Collingwood and he is ranked No.1 at the club and second in the competition of the top 200 players for kicks into the forward 50. Wayne Milera (Adelaide) Milera has averaged 6.92 disposals per turnover, which is the third-best rate at ladder leaders Adelaide. Dan Butler (Richmond) His speed has been instrumental in getting the Tigers into the top four and he is fourth at Richmond for forward 50 pressure acts per game. David Cuningham (Carlton) Still finding his way but he was ranked sixth at the club for kicks inside the forward 50 being retained by Carlton, with the Blues holding on to 58 per cent of his kicks. Jack Silvagni (Carlton) He took 23 marks inside 50 and kicked 19 goals and Carlton retained 64 per cent of his kicks inside 50. Hugh McCluggage (Brisbane Lions) The old Antler has a step and he doesn't mind showing it, being second at the Brisbane Lions for baulks during the season. Blake Hardwick (Hawthorn) He might seem hard-nosed and rough around the edges but Hardwick had the equal fifth-best kicking efficiency of the top 300 kick-getters in the competition. Charlie Curnow (Carlton) A future star, Curnow is one of only five players in the competition to average at least 1.5 contested marks and 2.5 tackles per game. Alex Witherden (Brisbane Lions) Wins plenty of the ball, averaging 23 disposals a game, and is fifth in the competition for effective kicks in the defensive half since his debut in Round 14. Lewis Melican (Sydney) The reliable defender from Birregurra ranks first at the club in spoils, third for contested knock-ons, fourth for intercepts and fifth for intercept marks since his debut. Jason Castagna (Richmond) The other half of the dynamic Butler-Castagna duo ranks fourth in the competition for pressure acts applied inside the forward 50. Luke Ryan (Fremantle) He took nine intercept marks against Gold Coast in Round 20, the most by any player in the game this season. Dan Houston (Port Adelaide) Not only tough but he uses the ball well, launching the equal most scores from the defensive 50 of any Port Adelaide player. Ben Ainsworth (Gold Coast) The sort of leader interim coach Dean Solomon said could take the club forward. When Ainsworth was involved in chains of play, the Suns scored 39 per cent of the time, the third-best percentage at the club. Will Hayward (Sydney) Kicked 22 goals in 17 games in his first season with last year's grand finalists to sit fourth on the club's goalkicking table. Last-minute ladder lurches North Melbourne became the first team since Geelong in 1986 to move from second-last to fourth-last in the final round, meaning the Kangaroos have pick No.4 heading into the draft. West Coast and Melbourne swapped ladder positions nine times in that gripping final game, while only three of the top eight held their positions in the final round. They were top-placed Adelaide, and Port Adelaide and Sydney, which finished fifth and sixth respectively. Richmond had not been as high as its finishing position of third since round five and Greater Western Sydney had not been as low as fourth since the same round. Magpies' record low rolls on The Magpies have stuck with Nathan Buckley for another two seasons despite not being above 10th position for 50 rounds in succession, a streak that began in round 17, 2015, when the club dropped from ninth to 11th. It is the longest streak at such a low set of positions on the ladder in the club's history. Changes loom at Pies but Bucks gets new deal Flag defence fails as Dogs lose their bite An inability to hit the scoreboard was one of the reasons the Bulldogs could not make finals after their spectacular premiership. Their leading goalkickers were Jake Stringer and Liam Picken, who kicked 24 goals each. That is the fourth-lowest total from a leading goalkicker of the team that won the premiership the previous season. Lowest leading goalkicker totals for defending premier 17 - Frank Langley (Melb), 1901 20 - Charlie Moore (Ess), 1898 22 - Keith Bromage (Coll), 1954 24 - Charlie Pannam (Coll), 1904 24 - Jake Stringer/Liam Picken (WB), 2017 26 - Tom Wraith (Coll), 1918 28 - Len Mortimer (SM), 1908 Leading 2017 goalkickers at clubs outside the eight Dayne Zorko (Brisbane Lions) 34 Jamie Elliott (Collingwood) 34 Levi Casboult (Carlton) 34 Cam McCarthy (Fremantle) 25 Tom Lynch (Gold Coast) 44 Jarryd Roughead (Hawthorn) 38 Jeff Garlett (Melbourne) 42 Ben Brown (North Melbourne) 63 Tim Membrey (St Kilda) 38 Liam Picken/Jake Stringer (Western Bulldogs) 24 |
Image copyright Google Image caption The attack happened at about 19:00 BST on Friday, police said A woman has been dragged from her vehicle and raped in the car park of a John Lewis store, police have said. The victim, who is in her late 20s, was attacked at the retailer's branch in Cheadle, Stockport, at about 19:00 BST on Friday. Her attacker, described as a "monobrowed" Asian man aged about 40, dragged her into bushes before sexually assaulting her, police said. Greater Manchester Police said she had reported the attack on Monday. The woman had been parked near a cut-through, which joins the car park to the A34 Wilmslow-Handforth bypass, the force said. Staff 'shocked' Appealing for witnesses, Det Insp Richard Ennis said officers hoped the suspect's "distinctive" description would "jog someone's memory". The man was said to be of medium build, with black hair, and heavily pock-marked, open-pored skin on his face. He was wearing black jogging bottoms at the time of the attack and sported a "thick, black monobrow", Det Insp Ennis said. "We believe that the area close to where the victim was parked in her car is used as a cut-through between Wilmslow-Handforth bypass and the junction of Wilmslow Road and Etchells Road. "We are appealing for anyone that may have seen a man fitting this description hanging around this area, to please get in touch," he said. The company said the incident had left staff at the store "shocked". "We are doing everything we can to support the police in their investigations," added a spokeswoman. "Although we have been advised by the police that this type of incident is extremely rare, we are working with our landlord to immediately put in place additional security measures including extra security personnel and improved lighting and visibility in the car park." |
After a coordinated group of police officers from a bevvy of local agencies forcibly removed the approximately 20 tents from Sproul Plaza on the U.C. Berkeley campus in a surprise early morning raid, the protestors were under strict orders not to reestablish the type of tent encampment that has sprung up in urban centers across the country. Faced with the dilemma of wanting to continue their public demonstration against economic inequality, tuition hikes and a highly-reported incident of police brutality during an earlier Occupy Cal protest, the famously creative students of California's premiere public university decided to take an unorthodox approach. (SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO) During a meeting the following evening to discuss their next course of action, a group of activists pitched their tents, attached a few dozen balloons to each and let them fly above the plaza--getting their message across while not technically disobeying the university's ban. On that very same day, another group of protestors scattered books across the plaza, setting them up to look the tents that had just been removed. Earlier this week, the campus was the scene of a massive, 4,000-person, anti-Wall Street protest culminating with a speech at the plaza by U.C. Berkeley professor and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. |
Officer Price of Talladega police (YouTube) An Alabama man recorded himself shutting down two police officers who questioned him for jogging while black. The man, identified as Corey Dickerson, was out of breath and resting after a hard sprint when an officer pulls up in his patrol car to ask who he is and where he is going, reported The Free Thought Project. Dickerson, of Talladega, asks the officer if he has done anything wrong, and then he calmly and politely refuses to give his name or state his business. “You look like you been running,” the officer says, and Dickerson agrees he has been. “Where you been running from?” The jogger says he has been running “just around,” and says he’s headed “nowhere in particular.” Dickerson tells the officer he’s carrying identification and gives his first name, and the officer pulls over to park. “Well,” pants Dickerson, still out of breath, “looks like I’m about to get harassed.” Dickerson tells the officer he intends to stay at the front of the patrol car in full view of the dashboard camera, and he notifies the officer that he is recording the encounter on his cell phone, which automatically uploads video. “Look, my camera does the same thing, and you can tell them why I stopped you,” the officer says. “It is 12:30 in the morning, I’ve had a lot of burglaries and thefts. You can get this on camera, so now I’m just asking you for your ID.” Alabama is a “stop and identify” state, which means law enforcement officers may “stop any person abroad in a public place whom he reasonably suspects is committing, has committed or is about to commit a felony or other public offense and may demand of him his name, address and an explanation of his actions.” Dickerson is familiar with the law, and he repeatedly asks the officer, who agrees to identify himself as Officer Price, if he is suspected of a crime and, if so, which crime. A second officer arrives, and Dickerson says he had passed that same officer twice that night without being stopped. The second officer recalls seeing Dickerson jogging on a sidewalk, and then he tries to explain to the jogger that police must investigate any suspicious activity they spot while on patrol. “I’m not a lawyer, don’t even pretend to be one, but I know that in order to detain me, you’ve got to have some type of reasonable suspicion that I’ve committed some type of crime,” Dickerson said. “I’m minding my own business out here, I’m literally jogging — exercising.” The second officer explains that the first officer was reasonably suspicious that Dickerson was running in a neighborhood, but the jogger points out the first officer never actually saw him run. “He literally seen me just standing right here,” Dickerson says. “I was literally bent over right here, catching my breath.” Dickerson and the second officer take turns establishing their credentials as reasonable men with good intentions. The officer explains that police are on alert after a woman from Pennsylvania who lived nearby had been targeted twice by thieves, and Dickerson recalled later that he actually knew that woman, but those incidents had happened several years ago and the woman had since moved away. The officer also says police must be vigilant due to shootings in the area, but Dickerson said he was worried about gun violence, too, but pointed out that most shootings involved teenagers. “I’m a grown man, I’ve got three kids,” he says. Dickerson concedes he doesn’t follow every law all the time, but he said police had no reason to stop or search him. “I don’t mean to interrupt you, but I don’t trust police just because I got my hair pulled out, I was choked, tased, maced, beaten bloody — you hear me? beaten bloody — by four cops while I was in handcuffs,” Dickerson claims. “One bad apples spoils the whole bunch for me.” The second officer says they could search him for weapons if they chose to, but he says they don’t intend to take the encounter that far. “If he wants to push it far enough, he can even arrest you for failure to identify,” the officer says. “Is that a real law?” Dickerson asks. “I’m going to look that up tonight — if I don’t go to jail.” The officer tries to explain why his colleague was suspicious, and says all police wanted was his name and date of birth to determine whether he was wanted on an open warrant. “That’s another thing, I might have warrants, though,” Dickerson says. “I’d be a fool to give you guys my name, then I go to jail and lose my job. I don’t have no bail money, no bond money.” The officer asks if he has any open warrants, and Dickerson says he doubts it. “Last time I went to court (two weeks ago), nobody tried to arrest me,” he says. Dickerson explains he was cited for trespassing during a dispute with a girlfriend in Knoxville, and the officer agrees that he would have been arrested if he was wanted on another warrant. The video ends at that point as Dickerson called his sister, and he was not arrested. Watch video of the encounter posted online by The Free Thought Project: |
Featured on: Stretch-goal: We are proud to announce that once the campaign reaches $75,000 in pledges, all iPhone 5/5C/5S (8-Pin version) bKeys as well as all Micro-USB bKeys (Samsung, HTC, Blackberry, Windows, etc.) will be equipped with a larger capacity battery! This translates to a 17% increase in battery capacity for a total capacity of 270mAh, which will allow you all to talk, text and surf just a little while longer. In keeping with our mission to provide a highly portable and compact user experience, our engineers were able to accomplish this increase by adding a mere two (2) millimetres (approximately 0.079 inches) in thickness, while leaving the other dimensions unchanged. So please share, like, link, text and email bKey’s Kickstarter campaign with everyone in your network, so we can make this stretch-goal a reality. Battery life is key bKey in rubberized matte black and white gloss What makes bKey different? No cables, no cry Smartphone battery cases are bulky and can block the earphone jack. Small stand alone batteries are often too big for your pocket and require a cable to make them work. bKey easily fits in your pocket and everything is built right in to charge it and use it. You never have to remember to bring a cable or annoying adapter tips with you again. open bKey to reveal the USB charging & smartphone tips Why Kickstarter? Because of you, of course We're using Kickstarter to launch the company and ship our first products to you, our backers! With your support, the funds raised will be used to reach minimum order quantities with our parts suppliers, pay for new molds, manufacture and assemble the first production run, package and ship it to you. That's why we need your help to get the company moving, so we can put bKeys on your keychains. bKey charging a Samsung Galaxy S3 Size matters most bKey took over 2 years to develop because we wanted to get it just right. After doing extensive market research and working closely with focus groups, our R&D team found that the overwhelming majority of people preferred a cable-free battery that was small and convenient over a larger, bigger-charge alternative that requires the use of a cable. We found that people only really needed a boost or "bridge charge" from one fixed location to another (like end-of-day commutes on public transit) or as an emergency backup to make a few phone calls or send a few messages. bKey's ingenuity and innovation lies in its simple, sleek design. Convenience, portability & ease-of-use were paramount and we believe we hit the mark. bKey looking book smart How it works charge it bKey charges through a USB port on your computer or A/C wall adapter. A red light shows when bKey is charging, switching to blue once bKey is fully charged. bKey charging through a computer's USB port bKey charging through an A/C wall adapter use it To use bKey just plug the smartphone tip into your smartphone and bKey will release it's full charge into your phone. You can use your phone while it's charging. bKey charging an iPhone Need a boost? bKey's custom made 230 milliAmp hour lithium-ion battery is good for an additional 30 minutes of talk, text or surf time whenever you need it. bKey holds its full charge for over a month, so it's ready to go when you are. battery specs Dimensions bKey is small, lightweight and roughly the size of a typical car key. 75mm in length, 15mm in width at the USB male end, 30mm in width at the round end and just 6.5mm thick, it easily fits in your pocket or bag. Are you board yet? We designed our PCB board to be as small and compact as possible to allow for the largest size battery inside the bKey housing. Open bKey showing battery and PCB board Open bKey showing reverse of PCB board You Say You Want An Evolution bKey started as a crude drawing on a napkin and after two years of development and testing prototypes in Canada, we are ready to unleash bKey to the world. Here's a little bit of history on the evolution of the product design. From the crude napkin drawings, our designers created the first CAD drawings. original bKey prototype CAD drawing After our dimensions were settled, we manufactured the first hand-made prototypes of bKey and begun testing the product. The first bKey prototype compared to a key After months of beta testing bKey was ready for the first sample stage of production. Our original design had both the top (rounded) cap and USB cap completely removable. original bKey prototype - both caps removable After several tests of the new production samples, we decided that making a hinge on the top cap with a snap and groove closing mechanism allowed for a sturdier build and ensured that bKey would stay securely on the key-chain. We also made a more pronounced groove around the key-ring hole making it easier to take bKey on and off a key-chain. The changes were made and the final version of bKey was born. picture of the final version of bKey Add Ons If you want additional products besides what is included in your reward, all you need to do is adjust your pledge accordingly. Here's how it works: 1) Pledge for a bKey reward tier. 2) Increase your pledge in the "pledge amount box" by the total number of add-ons you'd like to add. For example, add $20 to your initial reward level for an additional bKey iPhone 4 or Micro USB. Add $25 to your initial reward level for an additional bKey iPhone 5. If you've already made your initial pledge you can always add items to it by coming back to this Kickstarter page and clicking the button that says "Manage My Pledge." After You Have Pledged Don't worry about anything else until this project ends. After the project ends (September 6th) we will send you a survey asking you for shipping address, which colour of bKey you like, and which type of smartphone you use. We will also ask you which items (if any) you are ordering from the add-ons section. Until then, you do not need to specify any details to us. Warranty We have taken all the necessary steps to make sure bKey will perform to the high standard we set for it. We have tested bKey numerous times and we have quality control personnel on hand to test bKey to make sure that they ALL work up to specifications. On the off chance that you should receive a bKey that doesn't perform up to specifications, we will gladly replace it within 60 days of delivery. Production and fulfillment plan stage 1 - projected September 2014 After the successful completion of our Kickstarter campaign, our first step will be to place our purchase orders with our parts suppliers to ensure we have the materials necessary for our first production run. The parts will be delivered to our main factory to assemble and package bKeys. stage 2 - projected October 2014 Main production run begins to manufacture the bKeys ordered through our Kickstarter campaign. stage 3 - projected November 2014 Post-testing begins. Each bKey will be tested as well from an independent quality control consultant hired by us to ensure that we have a perfectly functional product working to our specs before getting packaged. stage 4 - projected early December 2014 bKey are ready to be packaged and shipped to you! Thank you for your time and for your support |
H.P. stands for Highland Park, but it also stands for "highest paid." Two members of Highland Park High School's class of 2006 now sit atop the lists of highest paid athletes in two major sports. The Detroit Lions signed quarterback Matt Stafford to a five-year, $135 million extension Monday. Stafford's annual salary of a little more than $27 million per year makes him the highest-paid player in the NFL. Fellow Fighting Scot Clayton Kershaw was already the highest paid Major League Baseball player. He'll earn $35.5 million this season after signing a seven-year, $215 million contract in 2014. Stafford and Kershaw grew up playing sports together in Dallas before going on to star in their respective sports at Highland Park. As freshmen, Kershaw was Stafford's center on the football team in the fall. In the spring, Stafford was Kershaw's catcher on th baseball team. Stafford went on to play quarterback at Georgia before being selected first overall in the 2009 NFL Draft by the Lions. Kershaw was drafted seventh overall in the 2006 MLB Draft by the Dodgers. |
Whether it is the price of oil, deteriorating environmental conditions, or the household electric bill, energy is affecting all of us more acutely these days. Demand for energy is rising worldwide, and that demand can no longer be met by simply building more power plants. With transmission and distribution systems overburdened and global warming threatening the environment, both utilities and consumers will have to pay closer attention to where, when, and how energy is generated and used. Though acclaimed by the National Academy of Engineering as “the most significant engineering achievement of the 20th century,” the electric power grid is outdated; it’s a mechanically monitored, centrally managed system that has yet to take advantage of Internet-based information technology. If it did, and if it could integrate innovations such as solar panels, wind turbines, advanced batteries, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, the grid could be transformed into an intelligent, self-optimizing network. This “smart grid,” which would deliver clean and efficient power, would be as consequential to the power industry as the Internet has been to the economy at large. To illustrate the pressing need for a smart grid, consider a single emerging technology: plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. General Motors will release the Chevy Volt, the first such car scheduled to reach the market, in 2010. But a study by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory determined that 160 new power plants would be required if everyone plugged in such hybrids in the early evening, when electricity demand is already high. With smart grid technology, utilities could stagger charging times and offer consumers lower rates for off-peak electricity. This capability, dubbed “smart charging,” would virtually eliminate the need for new power plants, according to the study. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates that the poor reliability of the electric grid costs the U.S. economy $100 billion today, but that a $200 billion investment in the smart grid would generate $2 trillion in annual GDP by 2020. This will not happen overnight (nor did the Internet), but the investment is well worth it. Ultimately, the smart grid will dramatically transform the way we generate, consume, and think about energy–because it will make each one of us a relevant point on the grid. The key to implementing a sustainable smart grid will be technology that scales to accommodate future energy needs, increases operational efficiency, and establishes a mutually beneficial relationship among utilities, consumers, and the environment. GridPoint, a company I founded to advance energy efficiency technology, offers a comprehensive platform that applies information technology to the electric grid. If we bring utilities, consumers, regulators, and legislators into concert, we will be able to achieve the often conflicting societal goals of energy security and environmental responsibility. The combination of national energy goals and market-driven carbon management policies will create new technologies, new jobs, and new business models. |
THE MEN AND WOMEN OF OREGON WILL TRY TO SWEEP THE NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR THE SECOND-STRAIGHT YEAR THIS WEEKEND IN COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon track and field team heads to the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend in College Station, Texas, seeking a repeat of last year's indoor title sweep, and 15-time NCAA champion Edward Cheserek pursues NCAA history. The top-ranked Women of Oregon will send 10 athletes in 13 events to Texas, as well as a 4x400-meter relay team and a distance-medley relay team, as they aim for their seventh NCAA Indoor title in the last eight seasons. The Ducks will bring the most athletes to College Station of any team in the field, men or women. The Men of Oregon will travel eight student athletes in 11 individual events, as well as a distance-medley relay team. The Ducks are seeking their fourth-straight NCAA indoor title and fifth overall. Coverage: The NCAA Indoor Championships will be broadcast live on ESPN3, and a link to live results will be available on the track and field schedule of goducks.com. Live updates from the meet will be provided via Twitter on @OregonTF and @Run4Ducks. Entries - Women: The Ducks' impressive sprinting trio of Hannah Cunliffe , Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington will all run both the 60 and the 200 meters, making for huge scoring opportunities for the Women of Oregon. Cunliffe set the collegiate record in the 60 meters this season (7.07) and is second in the 200 meters behind Stevens (22.65), the 2016 U.S Olympian. Washington, another Olympian for the Ducks, will look to add indoor titles to her resume after sweeping the 100 and 200 meters outdoors last season. Three-time national champion Raevyn Rogers will try to add to her trophy shelf in the 800 meters after winning the event in both indoors and outdoors last year. Rogers is also slated to run both relays for the Ducks, joining Makenzie Dunmore , Elexis Guster and Stevens in the 4x400 and Lilli Burdon , Ashante Horsley and Katie Rainsberger in the DMR. The Ducks' currently own the collegiate record in the DMR (10:48.77). Rainsberger, the standout freshman who took fourth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, will run the 3,000 meters after taking over the NCAA lead (9:01.21). Rainsberger will be joined by Samantha Nadel and Alli Cash , making for a big scoring event for the Ducks. NCAA leader Sasha Wallace will go for her first indoor national title in the 60-meter hurdles, and she will be joined by all-American Alaysha Johnson . Senior Maggie Schmaedick rounds out the list of entries for the Women of Oregon in the 5,000 meters after a huge performance at the MPSF Championships in Seattle two weeks ago. Entries - Men: Fifteen-time national champion Edward Cheserek will have a chance to make history as he goes for his 16th national title, which would be the most in NCAA history. He is entered in the mile after breaking the collegiate record last Sunday (3:52.01), as well as the 3,000 and 5,000 meters. Cheserek won indoor titles in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters as well as the DMR last season, completing only the second triple in NCAA history. Sophomore Matthew Maton will join Cheserek in both the mile and the 3,000 meters, and he and Cheserek are slated to be joined by Cameron Stone and Mick Stanovsek in the DMR. Tim Gorman , a senior transfer from Dartmouth, also joins Cheserek and Maton in the mile, making for an another big scoring opportunity along with the 3,000 meters. Another senior transfer, Kyree King , will wrap his indoor career in the 60 meters for the Ducks, and senior Marcus Chambers was a late add to the 200 meters after a late scratch. Junior transfer Damarcus Simpson will compete in the long jump after breaking the school record earlier in the season (8.01m/26-3.5), and freshman Braxton Canady qualified for the Championships in his first season as a collegiate in the 60-meter hurdles, where he qualified with a time of 7.74 seconds. Senior Mitch Modin wraps up the entries for the Ducks in the heptathlon after qualifying at last weekend's MPSF Championships with a personal-best score of 7,474 points. Cheserek Chasing History: Entered in three individual events at the Indoor Championships, Edward Cheserek is on the verge of making NCAA history. Cheserek completed a historic triple at the NCAA Indoor Championships last year (5,000, 3,000, DMR), and went on to join former Duck Galen Rupp as the only men to win the NCAA cross country title, the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meters and distance medley relay, and the outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 meters in the same academic year. The historic season ran Cheserek's NCAA championship count to 15, tying him with Suleiman Nyambui (1979-82) for the most combined national cross country/track and field championships won in NCAA history as he makes his final lap for the Men of Oregon. Cheserek Breaks Collegiate Mile Record: Edward Cheserek made history at the Boston University Last Chance Meet on February 26, breaking the indoor collegiate mile record in a blazing 3:52.01. Competing in a field of almost exclusively professionals, Cheserek topped the two-year old record of 3:52.88 by Arizona's Lawi Lalang, further adding to his incredible resume as a collegiate. Men Win MPSF Title, Women Take Second: The Ducks enjoyed a productive weekend at the MPSF Championships two weeks ago, with the Men of Oregon taking home their third MPSF title and the Women of Oregon finishing second with multiple impressive performances. Oregon came away with seven individual titles and multiple Ducks moved into qualifying position with their performances. Katie Rainsberger won the mile in a PR 4:35.60 after already taking the nation lead in the 3,000 meters. NCAA-leaders Hannah Cunliffe and Sasha Wallace each took the MPSF crowns in the 60 meters and the 60-meter hurdles, respectively, with Cunliffe winning in 7.15 seconds and Wallace in 7.95 seconds to each break the MPSF meet records. Alli Cash came away with the conference title in the 3,000 meters with a winning time of 9:09.18. For the men, Senior Mitch Modin came away with a huge performance in the heptathlon to move into qualifying position for the NCAAs, winning with a career-high 5,747 points and hitting a big PR in the pole vault (4.90m/16-0.75). Senior Marcus Chambers won the 400 meters in a career-best 46.40 seconds, and Kyree King won the 200 meters in 21.04 seconds. Ducks Lead NCAA in 7 Events: The Ducks hold seven NCAA-leading marks entering the NCAA Indoor Championships, with five coming on the women's side. Hannah Cunliffe leads in the 60 meters (7.09), Deajah Stevens leads the 200 meters (22.65), Sasha Wallace leads the 60 meter hurdles (7.91) and the women's distance medley relay team took over the NCAA lead at the Columbia East-West Challenge in New York while setting the all-time collegiate record (10:48.77). Freshman Katie Rainsberger gave the Ducks the NCAA lead in the 3,000 meters two weeks ago with a blazing time of 9:01.21. On the men's side, Edward Cheserek took over the lead in the 5,000 meters with a PR time of 13:32.59 at the Husky Classic in Seattle, and his collegiate record in the mile (3:52.01) moved him to the top of that list. Rankings: The Women of Oregon remain as the top-ranked team in the latest USTFCCCA computer rankings, while the Men of Oregon slot in at No. 3. Bowerman Watch: After landing a record five athletes on the February watch list for the top individual award in the sport, the Women of Oregon placed four Ducks on the latest March edition. Raevyn Rogers and Ariana Washington remain on the watch list from the preseason, and Hannah Cunliffe and Sasha Wallace have joined them after tremendous indoor seasons. Deajah Stevens is receiving votes on the latest watch list. |
Too many veterans have received less-than-honorable discharges due to their sexual orientation. OutVets, a group of gay military veterans, march in a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston in March 2015. (Photo11: Steven Senne, AP) Congress’s repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a watershed moment that ended institutionalized discrimination unjustly targeting gay, lesbian and bisexual service members. Yet thousands of service members who were discharged because of their sexual orientation still bear the scars of that discrimination. We have introduced a bill called the "Restore Honor to Service Members Act" that would finally correct the record and properly honor our gay, lesbian and bisexual service members. Since the Second World War, more than 100,000 service members are estimated to have been discharged from the military because of their sexual orientation, many with less-than-honorable discharges that have barred them from the benefits that they earned. Without a bill to protect these veterans, thousands of Americans who risked their lives to serve this country will continue to be denied access to the GI Bill and veterans’ health care, and they will have a more difficult time finding civilian employment. Even those whose discharges were deemed “honorable” still face a high risk of discrimination. Many times, the reason for their discharge may indicate their sexual orientation, threatening their privacy when they share their paperwork with employers and landlords who may use that information to deny them a job or housing, either overtly or under a false pretense. For the tens of thousands discharged before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” went into effect in 1994, it is nearly impossible to prove that they were discriminated against and discharged from the military because of their sexual orientation. The military did not openly admit its prejudice against gay, lesbian and bisexual service members, but it still used sexual orientation to decide that many service members were unfit to serve, and kicked them out. For many of these veterans, there was no additional aggravating circumstance surrounding their other-than-honorable discharge — only sexual orientation — yet since this discrimination is often not captured in a service member’s record, it is difficult to correct. The Department of Defense has already begun working to give service members who were discharged solely because of their sexual orientation the chance to restore their records to reflect their honorable military service. However, that process remains onerous for many service members, often requiring them to retain legal counsel to navigate red tape and produce paperwork that they may not have. Moreover, there is no legal requirement that the appeals process always remain available to gay, lesbian and bisexual veterans seeking corrective action. POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media Our bill would turn the Defense Department’s temporary policy into permanent law. And while we believe that the bar to prove one’s military service should remain high, it would simplify the paperwork requirement necessary for service members to initiate a review, making it clear that the lack of documentation cannot be used as the basis for denying a review. Finally, it would require the historians of each military service to review cases where service members were discharged for their sexual orientation before the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” This would improve the historical record that the Defense Department can use to help gay, lesbian and bisexual veterans correct their records. We are in the middle of a historic moment for gay rights in America. We have struck down "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell," and we have legalized same-sex marriage. Now, let us restore the honor that is long overdue to our gay, lesbian and bisexual service members. Congress should pass this bill and give our veterans the clean, honorable record they deserve. Sen. Brian Schatz is a Democrat from Hawaii. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is a Democrat from New York. Rep. Mark Pocan is a Democrat from Wisconsin. Rep. Charles Rangel is a Democrat from New York. Their bill, the “Restore Honor to Service Members Act” has 109 cosponsors, including four Republicans in the House and 37 cosponsors in the Senate. In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors.To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1iTMQlb |
'Cremate me with my Padma Shri': Tragedy of weaver whose award 'ruined his livelihood' Sita Ram Pal, 72, believes receiving the prestigious Padma Shri award damaged his business as a blanket weaver Poverty, poor health and government negligence have driven a Padma Shri awardee from Uttar Pradesh to desperation. Sita Ram Pal, the 72-year-old blanket weaver who received the country's fourth highest civilian award under social work category in 1981, has written to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting them to cremate him along with his award after his death. Frail and bedridden, Pal was once renowned for his artistic blanket weaving. Even the then President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy had termed his work as classically and culturally rich while conferring the award on him. "Although I suddenly became very famous in the area, the carpet manufacturers stopped giving me work fearing that the government will get annoyed with them if I was employed as a daily wager. So my bad days started with Padma Shri award," says Pal, a resident of village Sherpur Kalan in Ghazipur district. He lost his eyesight in 1986 because of lack of money and medication. "I wrote to the central and state governments about my condition. As a result, I was listed for old age pension of Rs 300 per month and got a house under the Indira Awas Yojana. "But that didn't change my fate. My son also lost his eyesight because there was no money to pay for the doctors," he rues. His son, Shrawan Pal, says: "Our life was not bad before the government awarded my father Padma Shri. We had thought our life would transform after that. It really transformed, but in a bad way. My father has been jobless since then. We couldn't learn the art that he knew because we didn't see any hope of livelihood in it. "Since there was no electricity in our house, I got cataract which finally took my vision." The father claims the government did not come to their help despite several pleas. "I have written at least 20 letters to the governments in last three decades and met many Presidents, Prime Ministers and chief ministers for help. But they didn't realise my woes. Nobody came to ask about my wellbeing. Since I am on the death bed now, my last wish is to cremate me with my medal." |
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Sep. 16, 2014, 11:24 AM GMT / Updated Sep. 16, 2014, 11:51 AM GMT ISIS has kidnapped and threatened to behead an Iraqi journalist who refused to work for the terrorist organization, according to media watchdogs. The threats follow the release of ISIS videos showing the beheadings of two American journalists and come as Iraqi media organizations warn many other local journalists have been kidnapped. Reporters Without Borders said it was gravely concerned over the fate of Raad Mohamed Al-Azzawi, a cameraman with Sama Salah Aldeen TV who was taken prisoner by ISIS on Sept. 7. Zyiad Al-Ajily, director of the Iraq-based Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, said Azzawi was one of 20 men seized by the militants in an attack on the village of Al-Samra, east of Tikrit. Azawi’s brother also was taken, Ajily added. Ajily said that the beheading threat came after ISIS learned that Azzawi had filmed Iraqi security forces fighting against the group and refused to work for the militants. “Then ISIS announced that they were going to behead Raad for working with the government,” He told NBC News. While Ajily said efforts are underway to negotiate Azzawi’s release, “we are dealing with human beings who turned into monsters." Ajily said he has a list of other Iraqi journalists who are in the hands of ISIS, including a freelance cameraman who was released after 10 days in ISIS custody and a female anchor for Al-Mosulyah TV who is still missing. Ajily’s organization – which is partnered with Reporters Without Borders – has also confirmed that ISIS publicly threatened nine journalists by name in Mosul and Salahuddin provinces, demanding they cease their work and join ISIS or face execution. IN-DEPTH |
The idea alcohol has negative effects on the brain isn’t anything new. Previous studies, however, have only measured these effects through behavior and post-mortem studies — not scans of the actual brain. A new study published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism, finally makes use of the technology to gain a deeper understanding of the long-term effects alcohol has on white brain matter. “Frontal white matter tracts are the pathways that connect the frontal lobes to the rest of the brain,” study co-author Catherine Brawn Fortier, a neuropsychologist and researcher at the VA Boston Healthcare System and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, explained in a press release. "The frontal cortex is the integration center for all other parts of the brain that are important to behavior and cognitive function. These pathways support self-monitoring, planning, judgment, and reasoning." Not only that, but Fortier added these frontal pathways drive the ability to learn and change new patterns and behaviors. By using high-resolution structural magnetic resonance (MR) scans to create and assess a 3D structure of "global and regional white matter," Fortier and her team could see reductions in middle-aged recovering alcoholics' white matter pathways compared to non-alcoholics. Recovering alcoholics included participants who were five years sober after 25 years of alcohol abuse. Damage to the brain’s white matter was a result of higher quantity and exposure. Basically, the more you drink, the more damage you do to your brain. Gray matter is negatively affected by years of heavy drinking, too. Gray matter is a major component of the central nervous system, and it's a large group consisting of neurons responsible for brain function. The structure of this group processes the information from our sensory organs and other gray regions of the brain. And like white matter, reduced gray matter worsens a person's planning, prioritizing, impulse, and memory. The message is clear: The longer and more a person drinks, the worse their control and judgement is, lessening the chances of sobriety as they get older. Heavy drinking hurts the brain's ability to function and heal all at once. The time to get help for alcoholism is now. "Our data demonstrated possible recovery of tissue of the left inferior frontal gyrus with maintained abstinence in those alcoholics who successfully stopped drinking prior to their fifth decade," Fortier said. "This finding is important because it demonstrates a possible critical threshold; excessive heavy drinking after a certain age — our data indicated age 50 — may lead to permanent brain changes, whereas earlier in life there may be more chance for brain recovery with sobriety." Source: Frontier C, Keane TM, Leritz E, et al. Widespread Effects of Alcohol on White Matter Microstructure. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. 2014. |
Tesla Motors Inc.’s bold plan to build the world’s largest battery factory highlights a strategic tension building that makes battery suppliers anxious: the format that Tesla uses for its batteries. The 18/650 cell, a cylindrical battery that is 18 mm wide and 65 mm tall, is going out of favor. Tesla already is the primary buyer of this format, with laptop makers being the others. Tesla uses 8,000 such cells, specially formatted with its own chemistry, to provide the energy to its 85 kWh Model S. An average laptop uses four cells. Every other carmaker is using far fewer, much larger batteries. These high-power batteries are being built in various factories in the U.S., all of which received subsidies from the U.S. government, and all of which are operating well below full capacity. More on this after the jump… |
A male driver died after his car hit a concrete barrier westbound, throwing him from the vehicle, which then exploded into flames around 4 a.m. Monday. Police reopened the westbound lanes from Fox Drive to 149 Street just before 11 a.m., after crews cleared the site. Investigators spent hours at the scene and said speed was likely a factor in the spectacular crash. The driver died before emergency crews could arrive. The car hit the centre concrete barrier before skidding across the westbound lanes, where it came to a stop. The traffic fatality is the city’s 19th of the year. The death comes less than 24 hours after a 53-year-old woman was killed 2 p.m. Sunday when the motorcycle she was driving struck a concrete barrier on the Groat Road Bridge. That single-vehicle crash, involving a Honda Shadow motorcycle, was in the northbound lanes of the bridge. Paramedics and fire crews responded to the scene, but the woman died before she could be taken to hospital. Neither speed nor alcohol were believed to be factors in the motorcycle crash. The woman’s death followed two separate motorcycle fatalities Sunday, Sept. 10. A 23-year-old woman who was a passenger on a motorcycle died around 9 p.m. that day when it collided with a car near the bottom of Victoria Park Road hill at Groat Road. The 30-year-old male rider suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Two hours later, a 29-year-old man was killed on Parsons Road when his motorcycle also collided with a car. |
George Korda hosting his "State Your Case' radio talk show. (Jack Lail / News Sentinel) The Facebook meme depicts a children’s book cover illustration of man about halfway down a multi-colored slide. He’s wearing a brown uniform and sporting a swastika armband. The title: “Everyone I Don’t Like is Hitler; The Emotional Child’s Guide to Political Discussion.” That’s a pretty fair summary of much of the talk surrounding Presidential Campaign 2016. The media, social and otherwise, is decorated with various complaints, particularly about Donald Trump being, acting like, reflecting, emulating, mimicking, or portending a return to the policies of Adolf Hitler. This detailed knowledge of Der Fuhrer’s life and history is interesting in a country packed with many people who struggle to identify America’s first president, who don’t know what nations won World War II, or who can’t find Israel or Iraq on a map if you spot them on which end of the Mediterranean Sea to start looking. The probability is higher of an uncomfortable number of Americans knowing the dates that a Kardashian last took off her clothes, which team won a particular Super Bowl, or what we celebrate on July 4 (cookouts and fireworks). It’s not as if such Hitlersteria is anything new. A lengthy list of U.S. political leaders have been said to behave in a manner that corresponds to that of the master of the Third Reich. Just last year, in a Jan. 13, 2015 Chicago Sun Times article, Chad Merda explored this tendency in a column headlined, “A brief history of politicians being compared to Adolf Hitler.” Listed in Merda’s column as being likened to Hitler by politicians, an educator, and various adversarial foreign leaders were President Barack Obama; President George W. Bush; and President Ronald Reagan. This Hitler fetish has been noticed, and has occurred, north of the border, up Canada way. In the Sept. 12, 2012, Huffington Post Canada, Bernie Farber, identified as a human rights advocate, wrote a blog item headlined, “Before You Compare Something to Hitler and Nazis…Don’t.” Wrote Farber: “And the past is replete with examples from both the left and right of the political spectrum of those who it seems temporarily lost their minds with visions of Hitler and Nazism. “In accepting his Nobel Peace Prize a few years ago, former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore used the Hitler analogy to compare world leaders ignoring climate change to those who ignored the potential threat emanating from Nazi Germany's early days. “Here at home, the leader of our Green Party, Elizabeth May, used similar hyperbole, comparing our government's environmental plan to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis in 1938.” When Donald Trump came to Knoxville on Nov. 16, 2015, he delivered a “speech,” so to speak, that was remarkably un-presidential. It was instead a stream of consciousness, and occasionally profane, subject-to-subject soliloquy that sounded more like what a bunch of guys would say while sitting around a bar after hoisting a few. Sometimes Trump makes sense. Sometimes, his words and statements range from head-shaking to distressing. But Hitler he’s not. Inevitably the evolution of the argument proceeds along this simple path: a candidate or politician a person doesn’t like is another Hitler, which is followed by the same person denying it and becoming angry if a politician they favor is equated with Hitler. Several years ago at a demonstration in Washington D.C., a woman interviewed by a national cable television network said it was awful that detractors of President Barack Obama had depicted him with a Hitler mustache. Asked how she felt about President George W. Bush being caricatured the same way, she said that if someone were to be characterized in such a fashion, “wouldn’t he be the right one?” And therein is the problem. Take Bernie Farber’s advice: before comparing someone to Hitler and Nazism…don’t. George Korda is political analyst for WATE-TV, appearing Sundays on “Tennessee This Week.” He hosts “State Your Case” from noon – 3 p.m. Sundays on WOKI-FM Newstalk 98.7. Korda is a frequent speaker and writer on political and news media subjects. He is president of Korda Communications, a public relations and communications consulting firm. |
MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski has fired back at Donald Trump's prolonged attacks on the media and 'fake news' by saying his term is a 'fake presidency.' The Morning Joe co-host questioned the administration's credibility as she and Joe Scarborough listed false statements made by the president's advisors on Thursday morning. 'You have Kellyanne spreading alternative facts, saying things that aren't true, selling clothing,' she said alluding to Conway's endorsement of Ivanka Trump's fashion line. MSNBC's Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski called Trump's presidency fake Thursday morning after she and Scarborough listed false statements made by the Administration Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough charged Kellyanne Conway with lying - or being out of the loop and 'blathering' on TV on Wednesday You have Kellyanne spreading alternative facts, saying things that aren't true, selling clothing - Mika Brzezinski on the Trump Administration 'You have Miller describing the powers of the presidency in an incorrect, inappropriate and lying fashion,' she added. Scarborough chimed in and made note of Trump adviser Stephen Miller's claims about New Hampshire being 'stolen' during the presidential election. 'One lie on top of another lie, on top of another lie, and then the president goes out and says "what a great job he did,"' the host said. 'It's a fake presidency,' Brzezinski added. Trump, pictured with on Friday with his grandchildren, has had an interesting relationship with the news station,and has criticized MSNBC long before he was elected as president 'Fake presidency': The Morning Joe hosts were critical of Trump advisers Kellyanne Conway and Stephen Miller saying the two 'say things that aren't true' and describe the 'the powers of the presidency in an incorrect' fashion We know for a fact that she tries to book herself on this show. I won't do it because I don't believe in fake news or information that is not true, and every time I see her on television something is askew, off, or incorrect Brzezinski on Kellyanne Conway That same morning, Donald Trump sent tweets once again condemning the media and referring to them as 'fake news.' The presenters have been especially critical of the Trump Administration calling the president and his staff 'not credible.' But Conway's recent remark about National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, saying he had 'the full confidence of the president,' right before he resigned, was the breaking point for the hosts. Morning Joe announced on Wednesday that Kellyanne Conway will no longer be allowed on the show. 'We know for a fact that she tries to book herself on this show. I won't do it because I don't believe in fake news or information that is not true, and every time I see her on television something is askew, off, or incorrect,' Brzezinski said. The president has also been a critic of MSNBC long before he was elected. Trump fired off a series of tweets in August about the co-hosts vowing to tell 'the real story' of Joe and Mika and referring to them as 'two clowns.' On Wednesday, Trump blasted the left-wing media outlet, but praised Fox News. 'The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. MSNBC & CNN are unwatchable. Fox and Friends is great!', he tweeted. FAKE NEWS: Trump tweeted the same morning saying the media 'makes up stories and sources' |
As he sought input from the right-wing Heritage Foundation, Donald Trump’s shortlist of Supreme Court nominees is certain to be roundly, virulently anti-LGBT. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Monday that he’ll release a list of up to 10 people he would nominate to the Supreme Court if he’s elected president, reports Time magazine. “I’m not appointing a liberal judge,” he promised. Trump made the comments during a press conference at the construction site of the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office Building in Washington, D.C., notes Time. He was supposedly responding to claims made by one of his Republican rivals, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, that a President Trump might nominate a progressive to the highest court in the land, should Republican senators keep their promise to block President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy left by the death of conservative stalwart Justice Antonin Scalia last month. The list of potential candidates, which Trump said he will release next week, will be compiled with the input and backing of the Heritage Foundation, a staunchly anti-LGBT organization based in Washington, D.C., that Right Wing Watch describes as “the best-known and most influential right-wing think tank.” The Heritage Foundation “is a massively funded right-wing powerhouse that is home to, among others, anti-marriage-equality activist Ryan Anderson, who is urging social conservatives to resist the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling,” according to RWW. Former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint currently serves as the president of the Heritage Foundation, after earning notoriety (or infamy) for claiming on the Senate floor in 2010 that gay people and sexually active single women shouldn’t be allowed to be teachers. In 2013, the Heritage Foundation teamed up with the antigay National Organization for Marriage to organize a March for Marriage, warning conservative voters that widespread legal marriage equality would threaten the health and safety of the nation. On its own website, the Heritage Foundation celebrated Indiana’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act as “good policy,” despite widespread opposition claiming the 2015 bill was a “license to discriminate” against LGBT people, and a nationwide backlash that ultimately prompted Indiana legislators and Gov. Mike Pence to amend the legislation last April. The foundation’s blog, The Daily Signal, has also taken aim at equal access for transgender people, coming out in favor of an unprecedented anti-trans “bathroom bill” approved by the South Dakota legislature that was ultimately vetoed by the state’s Republican governor. The blog post inaccurately claimed that the bill required “reasonable accommodation of students who identify as transgender through the provision of alternate facilities if requested.” In reality, barring transgender students from using the facilities that correspond with their gender identity stigmatizes trans youth, who are already at a greater risk of harassment, depression, self-harm, and other adverse reactions of the societal rejection so many of them face. Furthermore, while more than 200 trans-inclusive public accommodation ordinances exist in cities around the country, there has never been a verified instance of someone “pretending” to be trangender to gain access to women’s restrooms and harass cisgender (nontrans) women. Nevertheless, just days later The Daily Signal peddled a specious story out of Seattle, where a cisgender man allegedly entered a women’s locker room at a public pool, took off his shirt, and pointed to trans-inclusive access policies as evidence that he had “a right to be there.” Pool staff reportedly removed the man from the locker room after female guests complained, and told local TV stations that the man did not identify, verbally or visually, as a woman. While independent Seattle newspaper The Stranger reports that the incident “reeks of a stunt” — as it occurred just days after the Washington Senate refused to repeal a statewide rule that allows trans people to use the public facilities that correspond with their gender identity — The Daily Signal presents the story with little real-world context. The piece closes with a quote from the director of a Heritage Foundation division, the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, claiming that “Washington’s policy gives short shrift to the legitimate concerns of women who feel their privacy is being violated by the presence of men identifying as women in women’s locker rooms and showers.” |
The UAE plans to introduce a ban on supersized fizzy drinks in a bid to reduce the country’s chronic obesity problem, the government says. Several measures designed to promote healthier living were agreed during a ‘brain-storming’ session attended by the UAE cabinet, according to the state news agency WAM. The measures include “limiting the size of fizzy drinks, imposing controls on [the] advertisement of unhealthy foods and showing calories of food items,” according to a statement. No further details were given as to when the ban on large sodas would be imposed or a likely maximum size for drinks containers. The UAE ranks as the fifth fattest nation in the world, according to a 2012 study published by a BMC Public Health journal. According to the International Diabetes Federation, more than 745,000 people have diabetes in the UAE. Infographic: UAE's soft-drink consumption (Design by Farwa Rizwan / Al Arabiya News) Caroline Kamil, a Dubai-based nutritionist, hailed the move and said the measure could raise awareness about the health implications of sugary drinks. “This is a great move by the government,” Kamil told Al Arabiya News. “Even the smaller cup sizes of these pop drinks contain eight spoons’ of sugar, surpassing an individual’s sugar requirements for one day or more,” she added. “We do not know the side effects of these natural sweeteners as well,” the nutritionist warned, adding that some people who suffer from obesity or diabetes still consume large quantities of these drinks. Others said that supersized fizzy drinks are not directly to blame for obesity. Antoine Tayyar, Director for Public Affairs and Communications at Coca-Cola Middle East, emphasized that a balanced diet and pursuing an active healthy lifestyle are key to wellbeing. “No one single food or beverage alone is responsible for people being overweight, obese or diabetic,” he said. “All calories count, whatever food or beverage they come from.” Tayyar also explained that “there is widespread consensus that weight-gain is primarily the result of an imbalance of energy – specifically too many calories consumed and not enough calories expended. There are no good or bad calories, only good and bad diets.” In 2009, Coca-Cola put a calorie count on the front of almost all the drinks it sells around the world. This took effect in the UAE and the Gulf region in 2011. “We strongly believe in the importance and power of ‘informed choice’, and continue to support fact-based nutrition labeling and education and initiatives that encourage people to live active, healthy lifestyles,” Tayyar said. A ban on supersized fizzy drinks in the UAE would follow a similar proposal made in New York City by the outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg, who will leave office in January, proposed a ban on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces. The initiative has faced legal challenges, however, and the ban is yet to be enforced. The UAE ‘cabinet retreat’ examined thousands of proposals, including many related to health. “The health of our citizens cannot be measured by any cost and treatment anywhere is a vested right for them,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE’s Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, in a statement. Other UAE health initiatives announced this week include an early cancer-detection program, a national database for medical records, and the implementation of common standards for healthy food in government and private schools. Last Update: Wednesday, 11 December 2013 KSA 11:43 - GMT 08:43 |
Shot quality has been a topic of late on hockey twitter and various sites. Only a few weeks ago, the Hockey-Graphs Hockey Talk was centered around this topic. Shot quality is a lightning rod and much of the talking at or past one another that people often do stems from a single issue: there is no agreed-upon definition of what people mean when they say “shot quality.” Well, I like what our own Nick Mercadante had to say on the subject: @77PGC and that’s where guys like @RK_Stimp and @Vallys_View come in with the tracking work. Give me a base repeatable skill to analyze. — Nick Mercadante (@NMercad) January 17, 2016 Establishing a base, repeatable skill that accounts for pre-shot movement and an increased likelihood of a goal being scored are what we need to properly analyze player contributions. Quantifying passing also gives us another actionable piece of data that everyone understands and coaches can use as well. Often, the simplest metric or method is the best. And, we should able to do that now that we’ve obtained a significant set of data. This chart may look familiar, but it’s essential to understanding how important passing is to goal-scoring. This is from all tracked passing sequences from the six teams (Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, and Washington Capitals) that we tracked last season. From this point on, I want you to forget whatever it is you think of when you hear the term, “shot quality.” When I hear shot quality, I think we should be talking about any aspects of a shot that consistently increase the chance of a goal being scored. The reason we value Corsi and Scoring Chances is that they are both rather basic, repeatable, and predictive. What we are going to do in this post is examine the value in a single, repeatable metric that can tell us anything about what happens before the shot is taken. Specifically, we’re going to evaluate what we can learn from the shot assists a player generates. For those unfamiliar with my work, I have been tracking passes, shot assists, and a whole bunch of other stuff over the last three seasons. Over the past two seasons, many people have joined me in this pursuit of better data to make better evaluations of players. Today, we can do just that. You can learn more about the project here and please reach out if you’d like to volunteer. Let’s get into it, shall we? All data you will see is from 5v5 situations. We’re going to use the 72 forwards that played in at least 60 games for the 2013 – 2014 New Jersey Devils, and then the Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, and Washington Capitals from the 2014 – 2015 season. I chose this number as I wanted a good enough sample from their respective seasons and playing at least 75% of the season seemed like a good place to start. What we’re going to do is look at how well the rate at which a player assists on shots (makes the final pass before a shot) predicts their assists and primary points over the rest of the season (from their 1st game played to their 60th). To begin, we’ll look at the repeatability over the course of a season for both a player’s own shots (yes, I’m a Micah Blake McCurdy convert and have come to express shots as tantamount to shot attempts as it’s more intuitive) and those they assist on. We see that the rate at which a player assists on shots closely follows the rate at which they shoot the puck themselves. Naturally, we would expect a player’s own shot rates to be slightly more repeatable as they have full control over that event. All of us have witnessed a player make a pass and expect another player to shoot, only to fumble the puck or take too long deciding. However, these are fairly close and we can identify that primary shot assists is a talent. Next, we’ll combine a player’s shots and shot assists into one metric called Primary Shot Contributions. Due to the random nature of secondary point allocation in the NHL, most people tend to value a player’s Primary Points higher than their total points. As such, we will now look at the repeatability of a player’s Primary Shot Contributions/60 with the above chart. As logic would tell us, a player’s Primary Shot Contributions/60 follows the same pattern for repeatability as its two components do. Now we will look at using a player’s Primary Shot Contributions and predicting their Primary Points over the course of a season. This tells us that a player’s primary shot contributions (again, their own shots and those they set up for others as the final passer) can more accurately predict their primary points over the remainder of a season and can do so far, far quicker. In fact, you need only eleven games of data to find the strongest correlation between a player’s Primary Shot Contributions/60 (hereafter PSC/60), and how many Primary Points/60 (hereafter PrP/60) they’ll score over the rest of the season. A correlation, mind you, that is never that strong using PrP/60. In short, if you want to know how many points a forward will score over the remainder of the season, you’re much better off using their Primary Shot Contributions than Primary Points. Points can be deceiving. Shot Contributions are more exact. Next, we will take a look at the predictive aspects of a player’s own shots versus those he sets up for others. Some of you might be saying, “Well, how much of this predictive power is simply due to the shots a player takes? How much impact are his passes actually having? Which is more important?” What we learn when we break down PSC/60 into its two components – Shots/60 and Shot Assists/60 – is that a player’s ability to set up others has a much stronger influence over the remaining number of primary points they will score than their own shooting does. Lastly, we will look at predicting Primary Assist rates using PSC/60. Again, we see how quickly we can predict the remaining Primary Assists a player will score over the course of a season. After only 8 games, the correlation is as its zenith (0.261) and you would need to wait until a player’s 41st game to find a stronger correlation using their A1/60 (0.269). At this point, the season is already half-over. So What? One of the aspects of hockey that has never been quantified is what is often referred to as “pre-shot movement.” What I’ve done here is accounted for one aspect of that by creating a rate metric of shot assists created by passes. Passing accounts for several things: sustained possession, pace and speed of play, particularly in the offensive zone, and an implication that the goalie is moving to track the puck and has to then get set. All of that is now contained in a repeatable and predictive metric that enhances player evaluation and surpasses existing goal metrics of Primary Points and Assists that may have been viewed as superior for predicting future goal involvement. So, why is this important? In a nutshell: More accurately predict player points in a given season More accurately identify players that generate offense The ability for GMs to quickly evaluate talent in order to re-sign, trade, or waive accordingly Exploit market inefficiencies by investing wisely in players that can pass effectively By tracking passes in the way that myself and many others have done, we have finally provided the hockey community with a baseline metric to account for shot quality. A baseline metric, mind you, that is both repeatable and predictive, two things that are essential if you want to convince people how to quantify and define shot quality. Next Steps Having established this baseline, the next step is to continue to test it as we accumulate more of our publicly available data. The goal is to complete the tracking of this entire season by the end of this year. Also, I’ll gradually include other aspects of what we track (one-timers, Royal Road passes, multiple passing sequences, etc.) to weight our events in the same fashion as existing expected goals models. Provided, of course, those are also repeatable and enhance what we already have. Certain events may sound important in theory, but ultimately become noise as the sample grows. This is the first step in cutting through the noise that is shot quality. |
Forget everything you read or heard about Lester Holt being a Republican. After Matt Lauer dared to ask Hillary Clinton a couple of very fair questions at the Commander-in-Chief Forum and was savaged by the likes of WaPo, The New York Times and MSNBC, Lester Holt made sure that he didn't end up being the story in the MSM tomorrow. The first part of the debate was actually all right for Holt, but the wheels flew off when they got to how each candidate would handle healing the racial divide in the U.S. Holt went for the birther issue with Trump, which isn't off the table but has very little relevance to what faces our next president. Had Hillary brought it up it would have been fine. For Holt to interject it during what was supposed to be a substantive discussion on race relations made it seem as if he were being fed questions directly from Clinton HQ. Holt then hit Trump with a question about him saying that Hillary didn't have a presidential "look," which obviously just served as a platform for Hillary to call Trump a sexist. It was George- Stephanopoulos-are-you-going-to-ban-contraception bad. His final question asked the candidates if they would both accept the will of the voters in November, which is the kind of thing one might find precocious and adorable if asked by a third grader but was groan-worthy coming from a grown man. The number of vulnerable areas he pressed Hillary about was zero so I can't give you any examples of those. Having said all that, Trump still could have done much better. He seemed like he was trying to cover ALL the ground with every answer. That meandering took away a lot of his bite. He would have been better off picking three or four really vulnerable areas (emails, Benghazi, etc.) and hammering away at those until she became irritated and imperious, as she always does. I know the press loves to talk about him being easily provoked, but she may still have the thinnest skin in this election. He wouldn't have to push her buttons too many times to get her into the "We are not amused..." zone. |
After thousands participated in a hide-and-seek event at a store in Belgium last summer, Ikea has decided to cancel several planned events at Dutch stores due to safety concerns. Ikea Group spokeswoman Martina Smedberg said in a Bloomberg report: "It's hard to control. We need to make sure people are safe in our stores and that's hard to do if we don't even know where they are." It's hard to control. We need to make sure people are safe in our stores and that's hard to do if we don't even know where they are. - Martina Smedberg, Group spokeswoman, Ikea Several thousand people were reportedly due to participate in hide-and-seek events across Ikea stores in Eindhoven, Amsterdam and Utrecht. Over 32,000 people had signed up over Facebook to participate in the event at Ikea's Eindhoven store with 19,000 reportedly registered as interested in a game in Amsterdam and 12,000 in Utrecht. Following the announcement, organisers are now looking for alternative locations for the games. The last hide-and-seek event took place at a store in Wilrijk, Belgium, in July, according to Sky News. Ikea granted permission for the event after 29-year-old Elise De Rijck put it down on her list of 30 things to do before her 30th birthday. "Sometimes it's fun just to do some childish things. Ikea is like an extremely large living room," said Rijck. Rijck who organised the event said people were reportedly hiding in fridges, below stuffed toys and the blue Ikea shopping bags. Some people were also found hiding in the storage space under beds. "We played hide-and-seek the whole day," said Rijck. "It was really exhausting, but so much fun." An estimated 500 people participated in the event, said Ikea spokeswoman Annelies Nauwelaerts. |
PolitiFact: Sean Hannity Falls For Hoax Website's Claim That U.S. Is Taking In 250,000 Syrian Refugees. An October 26 fact check by PolitiFact analyzed Sean Hannity's repeated claims that, "The president said he's going to bring in 250,000 refugees into this country." PolitiFact's Jon Greenberg ultimately awarded Hannity's claim a "Pants-on-Fire" rating, after concluding that, "in plain fact, President Barack Obama never said that, nor as far as anyone can tell has any member of his administration." Additionally, PolitiFact noted that Hannity's only potential source for this claim appeared on the hoax site, "realnewsrightnow.com," which cites the non-existent "State Department spokeswoman Cathy Pieper." From PolitiFact: "You see the backlash emerging now in Europe over the refugee problem for Syria and Iraq," Hannity said. "The president said he's going to bring in 250,000 refugees into this country." [...] In plain fact, President Barack Obama never said that, nor as far as anyone can tell has any member of his administration. In September, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Obama "informed his team that he would like them to accept -- at least make preparations to accept -- at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year." [...] We reached out to Hannity's program and did not hear back. The figure he used seems to have emerged in early September on a website called realnewsrightnow.com. The website reported that State Department spokeswoman Cathy Pieper announced that 250,000 Syrian refugees would be resettled on tribal reservation lands in Arizona and North Dakota. We could find no Cathy Pieper working for the State Department. Other articles on realnewsrightnow.com claim that "Obama will exercise his presidential powers" ending term limits and that Pope Francis claimed that "God Has Instructed Me to Revise the Ten Commandments." [PolitiFact, 10/26/15] |
State fire investigators are reviewing, among other leads, the owners' support of President-elect Donald Trump as a potential motive in the intentional burning of a $300,000 car in Aberdeen Friday night. The 2015 McLaren 650S Spider was reported on fire in front of 1040 Hardees Drive in Aberdeen by the vehicle's owner at about 8:22 p.m., according to a notice of investigation by the Office of the State Fire Marshal. The Aberdeen Fire Department responded and brought the fire under control in about 20 minutes, but the loss to the high performance vehicle, which is prized by collectors, is estimated at $300,000. Investigators identified the vehicle's owners as Albert J. Dicocco and Robert A. Dicocco. Robert Dicocco said Monday the vehicle had vinyl detachable decals, similar to Trump's campaign signs, placed on its sides. Dicocco said an unidentified man confronted him Friday about the Trump signage, while the car was parked in front of a Hardees Drive warehouse where Dicocco had been working. Dicocco said the man allegedly threatened Trump, as well as police officers, and that he considers the incident a "hate crime." The car was lettered on Sept. 9 and used at various car shows, including at the National Rifle Association car show in Fairfax, Va., where it won best in show public vote, according to Dicocco. "It always drew a crowd and we always had 'spirited' political conversations," he wrote in an email. The fire remained under investigation Monday, according to Senior Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire, a spokesperson for the Fire Marshal's Office. "Our investigators are aware the owner reflected his support for President-elect Trump in the signage he displayed on the involved vehicle," Alkire stated. "The fire is currently under investigation, and deputy state fire marshals will thoroughly follow up on each lead." According to investigators, the fire originated in the vehicle's interior passenger compartment and was the result of "an unknown person breaking into the vehicle and igniting the interior with a road flare." Anyone with information is asked to call the Northeast Region of the Fire Marshal's Office in Bel Air at 410-836-4844. The McLaren 650S was introduced in 2014, according to the Los Angeles Times, and immediately dubbed the company's next generation of "supercar." The 650 stands for metric horsepower. Like other McLarens, the vehicle has distinctive dihedral, or gull wing, doors that open upward. An April 2014 First Drive Review by Car and Driver talked about the car's "eyeball sucking performance" on a test track with a McLaren test driver behind the wheel. The tested vehicle had an MSRP of $349,500. The engine was rated at 641 horsepower at 7250 rpm. Estimated performance standards by Car and Driver were: zero to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds, zero to 100 mph in 5.9 seconds and top speed of 207 mph. |
Vancouver still suffers from gang crime—from drug trafficking to targeted shootings—but local historian and author Aaron Chapman theorizes that it’s easier for regular folk to steer clear of that kind of clustered activity these days than the brazen, in-your-face approach of the youth gangs from the 1960s and ’70s. Chapman’s latest book, The Last Gang in Town (out now on Arsenal Pulp Press), explains how hundreds of East End kids from low-income backgrounds and troubled family dynamics locked down in spaces like Riley Park and Brewers Park at night to hold their territory, putting the scare into outsiders that dared crossed their greenways. While today it’s just as likely to find million-dollar properties in East Van as it is in Kerrisdale, Chapman notes that back then the East Side was a “hard scrabble place,” and no group was more feared on the turf than the Clark Park Gang. “Everybody talked about how the Clark Park Gang was the toughest, the meanest, the most evil of all those people,” Chapman explains, noting that even growing up in town in the ’80s left him with a head full of violent hearsay about the crew. “The gang were like a bit of a boogieman, a ghost story that you’d tell kids: ‘Watch out! Don’t go out to East Van at this time of night or the Clark Park gang will get you!’ That myth fascinated me. I wanted to get the truth out of the myth.” Chapman’s professional interest in the Clark Parkers stems from a 2011 Vancouver Courier piece that dealt with their legacy—a legacy raised sky-high because the gang was blamed for a Molotov cocktail-tossing brawl with police outside of a Rolling Stones concert at the Pacific Coliseum in 1972. The Last Gang in Town breaks down how the Clark Parkers were more of an apolitical, fists-up kind of force to be reckoned with: a crew of over 200 that were bouncing in and out of the juvenile detention system after dabbling in street violence, vandalism, arson, and theft. The book also examines the tragic police shooting of 17-year-old gang member Danny Teece, who had been escaping a stolen car with a few other boys from the group when he was killed. Another major focus of the tome is the Vancouver Police Department (VPD)’s just slightly under-the-radar H-Squad, who would go into the parks undercover to target the status-quo-threatening Clark Parkers. One gang member was picked up and thrown into the water in not-so-nearby Steveston Harbour. Perhaps starting more problems than it solved, this led to the Clark Parker stealing a car to get back home. “This is before, of course, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada, where police are given a little more mandate and direction,” Chapman explains of the H-Squad. “These are the wild and woolly ‘70s, where you could get away with a lot more. [But] even back then, they would’ve been considered really colouring out of bound with what that gang task force.” For The Last Gang in Town, Chapman reached out to a number of former gang members and retired police officials. Access to surviving Clark Parkers was fairly easy, with many having reformed, and the statute of limitations on other crimes having long passed. Getting the H-Squad on record proved a bit trickier. Chapman reveals: “I filed a Freedom of Information request with the VPD and they didn’t have anything on file. Whether it had all been destroyed or not, it’s hard to say, because some of the record-keeping in the 1970s was not very good. Unless you have a specific incident number, it’s hard to find.” But from the existing police transcripts and photos, to the press coverage from the time, to the anecdotes offered present-day, The Last Gang in Town is a fascinating look at how gang life in the city has evolved. “These guys, they were sort of the dinosaurs before the comet hit,” Champman theorizes, suggesting that today’s gangs come from a more upper-middle-class background than the Clark Parkers, who scattered by the end of the ‘70s. “Within a couple of years, the stakes are raised. No longer are the gangs interested in some minor breaking-and-entering, or territorial squabbles. Now they’re interested solely in the traffic of drugs.” Chapman continues: “I didn’t mean to make the Clark Park Gang guys any more noble or anything like that, but they were less motivated by the greed and avarice of money. They sort of stuck together, there was a bit more of a code: things they would do, some things they wouldn’t touch, or whatnot. It was a different time. They were the last of their kind in that sense.” Read more history stories here. |
With Godzilla Resurgence doing incredibly well at the Japanese box office, I decided to check it out and I was surprised at how good it was, not least because it modernized Godzilla but also because it was full of classic Gainax motifs. Godzilla Resurgence, or Shin Godzilla in Japan, puts the titular Godzilla in modern Japan and effectively acts as a reboot for the Toho series. In addition, it has no narrative connection to Legendary’s 2014 Godzilla film either. Like all classic Godzilla movies before it, Resurgence deals with Godzilla appearing in Tokyo and laying waste to the city, as humanity is rendered powerless against this new foe. What’s very different here is how the focus of the narrative is much more on the governmental and infrastructural side of things. In many ways, this new movie is a searing indictment of how the 2011 Tohoko earthquake and tsunami as well as the Fukushima disaster were mishandled by the Japanese administration. In that, the old guard with their overly complex and corpulent bureaucratic ways were simply unable to deal with a crisis in any kind of efficient or fluid way. This is shown repeatedly in Resurgence, as the high-ranking members of the cabinet, comfortable in their positions of power, use the hierarchical nature of the system they reside within to protect their own positions, at the expense of the lives of their citizens. Naturally, Godzilla itself ups the ante and the result is that younger and more individualistic figures have to figure out a way to neutralize this immense threat. It’s at this point in the movie when things start to hark back to classic Gainax anime, which should come as no surprise as Hideaki Anno wrote and co-directed the movie along with Shinji Higuchi, who handled the surprisingly decent special effects. From shots of complex infrastructure and oblique camera angles, as well as the constant use of text to explain the names and roles of everyone involved, it all feels very much like the original Neon Genesis Evangelion at times. This is also hammered home when Shiro Sagisu’s score kicks in and many of the cues are straight out of Evangelion, as the Decisive Battle track also pops up in Resurgence. For fellow film score buffs, the original track in Evangelion was obviously inspired by John Barry's score used in the James Bond movies. In terms of things that didn’t work so well for me, the few times the characters speak English was painful to listen to and some of the acting felt amateurish at times. However, unlike some I enjoyed much of the narrative ambiguity and emphasis on infrastructural complexity, not only to show how the latter can be misused but that ultimately it’s correct use can also neutralize a threat like Godzilla. As for Godzilla itself, I am not hugely fond of the new design. While it looks more organic and menacing than the older versions, the googly eyes just makes it look silly. That said, I really liked the way Godzilla is handled in this new movie, as it feels a lot more like the God Soldier short that both Anno and Higuchi worked on. However, when all is said and done I actually really enjoyed this movie. As someone that lives in Tokyo, seeing familiar places decimated was unnerving and I am assuming that was the intent. Though translating that cultural element will be challenge in terms of its foreign release. This is also a big point to consider, Godzilla Resurgence is a culturally Japanese movie. Much of what makes it interesting is about understanding the context of all the governmental intrigue. Even so, with all that taken into account Resurgence has a far more coherent plot than Legendary’s 2014 adaptation. For a modern Godzilla movie to be this good definitely surprised me and I am curious to see how Toho will take this new version forward in forthcoming installments. Already at the time of writing, Resurgence has taken over 3 billion yen at the Japanese box office, beating out Legendary’s 2014 effort in the process. It’s clear that both Anno and Higuchi did something right here and at the very least watching a giant monster destroy an inept and corrupt government never gets old. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and do toy reviews over at hobbylink.tv. Read my Forbes blog here. |
The Navy has said "yes" to toe shoes like Vibram FiveFingers, as well as other minimalist or barefoot-like shoes for wear with various physical training! Thumbs up, Navy! BREAKING NEWS! In what has become an ongoing saga, the Navy has officially given the "thumbs up" (toes up?) to "Minimalist or barefoot-like footwear (current types such as the Vibram Five Fingers, Nike Free Shoes, Vivo Barefoot Shoes, Inov-8 Shoe, and Feelmax)." More specifically, NAVADMIN has authorized the wearing of these shoes "with the Navy Physical Training Uniform (PTU) during command/unit directed physical training (PT), individual PT, and activities to include the semi-annual physical readiness test (PRT)." As you'll recall, the Army took a not-so-friendly stance to toe shoes back in late June, much to the chagrin of many FiveFingers fans. You can read the official unclassified release after the jump — apologies for all caps, that's just how these types of communications ship (apparently). UNCLASSIFIED// ATTENTION INVITED TO ROUTINE R 051519Z AUG 11 PSN 075960K27 FM CNO WASHINGTON DC TO NAVADMIN ZEN//OU=DOD/OU=NAVY/OU=ADDRESS LISTS(UC)/CN=AL NAVADMIN(UC) INFO ZEN/CNO WASHINGTON DC BT UNCLAS QQQQ SUBJ: MINIMALIST FOOTWEAR UNCLASSIFIED// FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1// TO NAVADMIN INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1// UNCLAS //N01000// NAVADMIN 238/11 MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/AUG// SUBJ/MINIMALIST FOOTWEAR// REF/A/DOC/NAVPERS 156651/01JAN03// AMPN/REF A IS NAVY UNIFORM REGULATIONS// RMKS/ 1. THIS NAVADMIN AUTHORIZES THE WEARING OF MINIMALIST FOOTWEAR WITH THE NAVY PHYSICAL TRAINING UNIFORM (PTU) DURING COMMAND/UNIT DIRECTED PHYSICAL TRAINING (PT), INDIVIDUAL PT, AND ACTIVITIES TO INCLUDE THE SEMI-ANNUAL PHYSICAL READINESS TEST (PRT). 2. MINIMALIST FOOTWEAR IS DEFINED AS SHOES THAT ALLOW THE FOOT TO FUNCTION NATURALLY WITHOUT PROVIDING ADDITIONAL SUPPORT OR CUSHIONING. ANY SHOE THAT IS MARKETED AS MINIMALIST OR BAREFOOT-LIKE FOOTWEAR (CURRENT TYPES SUCH AS THE VIBRAM FIVE FINGERS, NIKE FREE SHOES, VIVO BAREFOOT SHOES, INOV-8 SHOE, AND FEELMAX) ARE AUTHORIZED FOR WEAR WITH THE PTU. 3. FILE THIS NAVADMIN UNTIL CHANGES ARE INCORPORATED INTO THE QUARTERLY BUPERS DIRECTIVE CD-ROM CHANGE CONTAINING REF A. IN THE INTERIM, FOR MORE INFORMATION ON UNIFORMS AND UNIFORMS POLICY, VISIT THE NAVY UNIFORM MATTERS WEBSITE AT HTTP://WWW.PUBLIC.NAVY.MIL/BUPERS-NPC/SUPPORT/ UNIFORMS/PAGES/DEFAULT2.ASPX. 4. POINTS OF CONTACT: A. MR. ROBERT B. CARROLL, OPNAV N131U, VIA E-MAIL AT ROBERT.B.CARROLL(AT)NAVY.MIL; CMDCM(SW/AW) MARTHA KASTLER VIA E-MAIL AT MARTHA.KASTLER(AT)NAVY.MIL; PSC(SW/AW) SHAWN LAFFERTY VIA E-MAIL AT SHAWN.LAFFERTY(AT)NAVY.MIL. 5. RELEASED BY VADM MARK FERGUSON, N1.// BT #1553 NNNN UNCLASSIFIED// (Source) Thoughts? Any reason toe shoes make sense for the Navy but not the Army? Opine below! Thanks to all those who sent in this tip! |
I bought these to press into service with an older receiver as "near field" monitors for my PC -- which besides listening to music also does video editing. They were an attempt to evade paying $500+ for a set of powered monitors which I wasn't sure if I'd like, and can't audition easily in this area - there's just nowhere that sells that sort of gear in this immediate area. First impression is that they're surprisingly heavy for their size. That's good; construction is solid and appears to be thick MDF. I detect no rattles or resonances. $1,000 professional monitors they are not. But they cost $50 for the pair - not $500+ each. Paired with an older but perfectly-servicable Pioneer receiver I had laying around they get plenty loud and are surprisingly well-balanced. The bass is reasonably tight but not copious -- but for a small bookshelf speaker what do you want in that regard? Imaging is pretty good; much better than I expected. For reference I have a pair of KEF 104/2s in my family room as my "mains", so I know EXACTLY what I'm listening to should sound like. The soundstage is pretty good and has some 3-dimensional quality to it; surprising for this price-point. Be warned that I can easily detect audio artifacts in lower-bitrate MP3s on these speakers! KEFs these are not, but again, we're talking about "for the money." The low end is a bit muddy and lacks some definition, but compared to the "pc-style" speakers I had connected before these blow the "computer speaker" genre to beyond the orbit of Mars. Surprisingly the usual "midbass" hump in response that you typically find in smaller speakers is blissfully muted -- almost missing. If you want it then dial it in with your equalizer or just turn on Loudness compensation in your amplifier. Just don't expect the walls to rattle; there's not enough driver in these to get there without a sub for help. I could mix on these. I'd have to be careful with the low end, but I could do it. That cannot be said for most small bookshelf speakers; they are simply not flat enough and most have wildly-exaggerated mid-bass and a peaky treble that borders on shrill. These are blissfully missing both. If you can't tell I'm quite impressed with these little things. You have to spend a LOT more money to do better; if you're willing to pop into the $300+ range then there are a number of very credible choices, but for $50 for the pair these are amazingly capable. I have them on my desk in "nearfield" about 3-4' from me. If I was on a budget I could tolerate these as mains and surround speakers for a modest home theater setup as long as you add a decent sub and don't want IMAX-style volume. Highly recommended. Read more |
Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. Israel notified the Palestinian Authority that five Palestinian cities – Ramallah, Hebron, Tulkarem, Jenin and Kalkilya – would be allowed to expand from Area A into Area C, MK Ahmed Tibi (Joint List) told Army Radio on Thursday night. Tibi spoke prior to the anticipated return of US envoy Jason Greenblatt to the region, who was last here two weeks ago to speak with Israelis and Palestinians about US President Donald Trump’s peace efforts. The expansion plan fits into the contours of an emerging US effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of a vision of a wider peace deal that would involve some of the Sunni Arab states.The US wants Israel, the PA and some of the Sunni Arab states to take steps to benefit one of the other sides of this triangle, thereby significantly improving the atmosphere to facilitate the renewal of negotiations.Washington is believed to be pressing Israel to “moderate” settlement construction and enable more Palestinian development in Area C.The White House is also pushing the Palestinian Authority to end payments to terrorists in Israeli prisons as well as their families and to halt incitement.Trump has also reportedly asked Saudi Arabia to lift its ban on the overflight of Israeli planes headed east, a move that would reduce the travel time bertween Israel and places like India and China.Right-wing politicians are up in arms over the idea of expanding Palestinian cities into Area C, viewing such a move as a de facto transfer of that territory to the PA.Its clear that once those cities are given territory in Area C, that land would not be part of Israel’s borders in any final status agreement with the Palestinians.Late Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed a report on Channel 2 that the security cabinet in 2016 authorized 14,000 new homes for Kalkilya allowing it to expand into Area C.Area C is under Israeli military and civil control.All the Palestinian cities, including Kalkilya, are under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority and are located in Area A of the West Bank.On Thursday, Environment Minister Ze’ev Elkin wrote to Netanyahu explaining that the Kalandiya plan was never approved by the Security Cabinet.Prior to Trump’s visit last month, the Security Cabinet also approved Area C construction for Palestinians, but very few details were made public.Likud Ministers Miri Regev, Yariv Levin and Haim Katz called on Netanyahu to cancel the Kalkilya plan.Regev said that Netanyahu must first authorize more settlement building in Area C.“Construction in Beit El must come first,” Regev said in a video statement to the press.“Only after that can we discuss the housing crisis in Kalkilya. Our rights over Judea and Samaria are not theoretical, and it must be expressed by building freely throughout Judea and Samaria. I expect that in our next meeting we will authorize marketing thousands of housing units in Judea and Samaria.”Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also expressed vigorous opposition to the plan Thursday, noting that she and her ally, Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett, voted against it in October 2016 when it was approved.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned in response that Bayit Yehudi’s appetite in the settlements had grown too great.Speaking in an interview with the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) radio station Kol Chai, he noted that in 1992, when the right-wing Tehiya Party helped topple former Likud prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, he was replaced by Labor leader Yitzhak Rabin, who ended up signing the Oslo Accords. Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>> |
On Saturday Bradford Jamieson IV made his first start in MLS, and quite honestly, he could not have been more impressive. Bradford started as a withdrawn striker, playing under the target man Gordon, and just as we've seen him do for Los Dos when paired with Jack McBean, Bradford thrived in the role. It really matters with the formation, but as far as today goes, playing behind someone like Alan Gordon I feel a lot more comfortable. Getting the ball and being able to turn and go at guys at numerous times today when I was getting it at counter attacks and just being able to run it and not being stuck on the wings. It gives you a different angle to look at the game. Now I like Bradford Jamieson IV a lot. I've been hard on him in the past, but only as a winger. As a forward, I think he has an incredibly high ceiling. What impresses me the most about Bradford is not just his pace, which is electric, but the intelligence of his runs. In fact, I think he is already farther along in this regard than Gyasi Zardes. BOOM! Yes, you read that right. Let me explain. If I had to describe Bradford's performance on the night in one word, it would have to be: Proactive: Controlling a situation by making things happen or by preparing for possible future problems The art of the striker is not in finishing or any physical trait, but the reading of the game and determination of where the ball is going to be, and how to get to that position unmarked. It can also be described as the art of creating opportunities for your midfielders to play you into goal scoring positions, and not vice-versa. In reality, this can be summed up much simpler. The art of the striker is the art of the run, and to me, this is where Bradford Jamieson IV excels well beyond his years. Here are 8 highlights to demonstrate this fact. 1. Bradford started the night strong by pulling left and seeking the ball. During this sequence he pulls defenders out of shape, and we saw some of that technical skill the scouts are raving about on the cutback across the defender for the cross. 2. Like a young Landon Donovan, this kid is absolutely electric on the counter and has the ability and audacity to wrong foot any defender and leave them in his dust. 3. Here is a great example of a proactive off-the-ball run from Jamieson. Watch as he feigns a far post run then slyly peels from it and snakes around the defender off his back shoulder and into position to possibly be played through on the near post. That's not where the ball ended up going, but had it, the defender would have been a good two or three steps late to react. It's the type of slippery run we used to see all the time from Landon Donovan when he played as a forward. 4. This one is small, but it's just a great example of Bradford being proactive. People often associate chance creation with crafty passes from crafty passers, but often times forwards are the ones making runs that invite these throughballs. They are, in essence, creating chances with their runs. This is one such run as Bradford is inviting a throughball. 5. Again, watch this kid bob and weave, peeling off one defenders back shoulder to position himself to peel off the next. This is really smart movement, folks, and it's normally not something you see from someone so young. Again, there is a reason I stated earlier that I believe Bradford's runs are already ahead of Gyasi's. Just watch this. 6. This one is kind of ruined by the cut away from the broadcast, but just watch how he uses his pace to make a run into dangerous space, then watch where he ends up after the cutaway. 7. This one is an absolute peach. Bradford utterly toys with the defender, dragging him right only to dart left, then back right again feigning a far post run just enough to get the defender to hesitates as he cuts inside to the near post for the shot. Did Di Vaio come out of retirement? No, Bradford is just that good. 8. And if you are going to play the kid on the wings, it's gotta be as an attacking winger in something other than a 4-4-2. Watch him use those same zig zag skills to receive a ball in a dangerous position outside the box. Proactive, folks. This kid is constantly looking to make stuff happen with his feet, and he has the spatial intelligence and speed to be downright elite in this league as a striker. Bradford's only real struggles on the night came in the distribution department, the speed of MLS proving to be a bit too much for him, which only goes to further my point that this kid needs to be playing up top. So where does Bradford fit into this team? That's a big question and one that kind of puts a damper on things. Alan Gordon has pretty much solidified himself as Bruce's super sub. It's also unlikely that Gyasi Zardes gets unseated any time soon. His production is way down and analytics point to him probably having a down year, but that's not really how this team operates. So back to USL Pro for Bradford? It just doesn't seem right. The kid is MLS ready now and is at an absolutely crucial time in his development. He needs to be tested at the highest level and has proven that's where he belongs. Sound off on where you think Bradford belongs. |
New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Razor & Tie) Starset's debut studio album Transmissions is now available for pre-order on iTunes (http://georiot.co/STARSET). When fans pre-order the album, they will receive instant grat tracks of the songs " Transmissions will be released on July 8th 2014 via Razor & Tie. The album was produced by Rob Graves (All That Remains, Red). The band's first single, " Watch the New Album Trailer Here at Revolver: http://bit.ly/1tKd9Jz You can read more about http://starsetonline.com/ http://thestarsetsociety.org/ W/ June 7 - Modesto, CA - Twin Rivers Saloon June 8 - Hermosa Beach, CA - Sainte Rocke June 9 - Scottsdale, AZ - Pub Rock June 17 - Dallas, TX - Trees June 18 - Lubbock, TX - Jake's Backroom June 20 - Corona, CA - M15 Concert Bar & Grill June 21 - Las Vegas, NV - Backstage Bar & Billards June 22 - Sacramento, CA - Assembly Starset's debut studio album Transmissions is now available for pre-order on iTunes (http://georiot.co/STARSET). When fans pre-order the album, they will receive instant grat tracks of the songs " My Demons " and "Carnivore." An additional song will be also be available with the iTunes pre-order in coming weeks. Merch pre-order bundles are also available here Starset.merchnow.com.Transmissions will be released on July 8th 2014 via Razor & Tie. The album was produced by Rob Graves (All That Remains, Red). The band's first single, " My Demons " is now in the Top 20 at Rock Radio.Watch the New Album Trailer Here at Revolver: http://bit.ly/1tKd9Jz Starset will hit the road again in June with Framing Hanley and Devour The Day (tour dates below). Starset is a rock band from Columbus, Ohio formed by Dustin Bates (he was formerly the lead singer with the group Downplay that was signed to Epic). A singer, songwriter and accomplished musician, Bates also boasts some serious scientific credentials. A PhD candidate in electrical engineering from Ohio University, he has done research for the U.S. Air Force and taught at the International Space University. In 2013 Dustin formed Starset after being contacted by an organization called The Starset Society and its President, Dr. Aston Wise. Bates was asked if he was interested in forming a band to promote the organization's message. At its core, the message is a warning that involves a scientific discovery that is currently being controlled and manipulated by an elite few.You can read more about Starset and The Starset Society here:http://starsetonline.com/http://thestarsetsociety.org/ Starset - Tour DatesW/ Framing Hanley and Devour The DayJune 7 - Modesto, CA - Twin Rivers SaloonJune 8 - Hermosa Beach, CA - Sainte RockeJune 9 - Scottsdale, AZ - Pub RockJune 17 - Dallas, TX - TreesJune 18 - Lubbock, TX - Jake's BackroomJune 20 - Corona, CA - M15 Concert Bar & GrillJune 21 - Las Vegas, NV - Backstage Bar & BillardsJune 22 - Sacramento, CA - Assembly |
Mariners win! Seattle has waited a long time to hear these words in the month of October. And while it’s not a World Series title they’re celebrating, being acknowledged as a leader in environmental awareness makes the Mariners baseball club a champion in our book. It’s one of 50 companies and organizations selected for the Washington Green 50, the first such listing Seattle Business magazine has compiled from its annual Green Washington Awards competition. Why create the Washington Green 50? Because so many of our nominees deserve recognition for believing that forthright stewardship of our resources is good business. We continue to single out honorees in specific categories on the pages that follow (see links below), but we also salute the dozens of businesses that took the time to enter, and those that, in the opinion of our judges, deserve to be among the first members of the Washington Green 50. Here are the members of the Washington Green 50 in alphabetical order. Alaska Airlines, Seattle Commercial air carrier Alchemy Goods, Seattle Bag and accessory manufacturer Animal Critical Care and Emergency Services, Seattle & Renton Veterinary hospital Bay Hay & Feed, Bainbridge Island Nursery, feed store and clothing emporium Canyon Creek Cabinet Company, Monroe Manufacturer of custom cabinetry Columbia Hospitality, Seattle Hotel management and consulting company Engineered Compost Systems, Seattle Manufacturer of composting systems and equipment Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle Hotel FSX Inc./FSX Reconditioning/FSX Equipment, Granite Falls Manufacturer of diesel particulate filter cleaning equipment General Biodiesel, Seattle Producer of low-carbon fuel from recycled cooking oil Gordon Trucking Inc., Pacific Trucking company IslandWood, Bainbridge Island Outdoor learning center Itron, Liberty Lake Utility monitoring and delivery firm Kenworth Truck Company, Kirkland Manufacturer of heavy and medium-duty trucks Lake Washington School District, Redmond Public school district for Kirkland, Redmond and part of Sammamish McKinstry, Seattle Full-service design/build/operate/maintain (DBOM) firm Merriman, Seattle Investment adviser Mt. Baker Bio, Everett Life-sciences supply company NanoICE, Bothell Supplier of technology and machines for chilling and preserving food Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Freeland Shipbuilders Northwest Energy Angels, Seattle Clean technology investment organization Pacific Market International, Seattle Manufacturer of food and beverage containers Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center, Seattle Information non-profit PCC Natural Markets, Seattle Certified organic grocery cooperative The Port of Seattle, Seattle Governing body for land, sea and air shipping Transformative Wave Technologies, Kent HVAC technology firm ReBinder, Seattle Office supply manufacturer Sage Environmental Services, Seattle Facilities maintenance firm Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle Hospital Seattle Mariners, Seattle Major-league baseball team Sellen Construction, Seattle Commercial general contractor ShelterKraft Werks, Seattle Designer/builder of innovative housing and structures Skanska USA Building, Seattle Construction company Starbucks, Seattle Beverage company Starline Luxury Coaches, Seattle Tour bus company Stemilt Growers, Wenatchee Tree-fruit grower, packer and shipper Talyst, Bellevue Provider of hardware and software for pharmacies The Miller Hull Partnership, Seattle Architecture and design firm Turner Construction Company, Seattle Construction company Unico Properties, Seattle Real estate investment company University of Washington, Seattle State university Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle Health care facility Viva Farms, Burlington Sustainable farming support organization Walmart, Bellevue Retail chain Washington State Convention Center, Seattle Event facility Washington State University, Pullman State university Waste Management Northwest Region, Kirkland Provider of garbage pickup and recycling services in Washington, Oregon and Idaho Watson Furniture Group, Poulsbo Office furniture manufacturer Weyerhaeuser Company, Federal Way Forest products company Wilridge Winery & Vineyard, Seattle & Yakima Winery |
OCEAN CITY, N.J. — I met North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky the other day in Chapel Hill. He rolled up in his 1997 Toyota Camry, a hand-me-down from his grandmother, with 170,000 miles on the odometer. Politely, he talked about his workout routine, throwing with his Tar Heels teammates, and said he needed to keep busy to prevent the pre-draft craziness from driving him crazy. The Browns, his hometown team, had been in the news, with longtime beat writer Mary Kay Cabot reporting an internal split—which I’ve heard is true—between a faction favoring Texas A&M pass-rusher Myles Garrett with the first overall pick, and a faction favoring Trubisky. The pressure of being picked high was intense enough, I mentioned to him. But being picked number one, by a team that has lost forever, in your own hometown, with a history of a black cloud over the franchise, with the fans frothing for a quarterback savior, and with Trubisky starting all of 13 college games in his life … wouldn’t that be just too much weight on his shoulders? “No,” he said. “I think that is the type of pressure you dream of, and no exterior pressure is greater than the pressure that I put on myself. If I would go back home it would be special, just like anywhere else. They say be careful what you wish for, but this is what I wished for, this is what I worked for and this is what I dreamed of. I just want to play football, so all the craziness that comes with it, that's just bonus. I'm going to black that out when I go to work. Football is what makes me happy, not the media, all the attention. That's where the craziness comes in.” Yes, but this kind of craziness wouldn’t help you play quarterback. It would hurt, actually. A lot. Being the first overall pick? By Cleveland? Ahead of Myles Garrett? Man, that would be one pressurized start to a savior’s career. * * * Mitch Trubisky and Myles Garrett would be quite the first-round haul for the Browns, who own both the No. 1 and No. 12 overall picks. Getty Images (2) On Sunday, Mike Mayock was in the home stretch of his NFL Network draft prep in this Jersey Shore beach town. The Atlantic Ocean was outside his picture window on an overcast, raw afternoon, but I don’t think he saw the surf or the sand. This is the place Mayock goes, 75 minutes from his Philadelphia home, to cram in the days before the draft, and to take calls from virtually every NFL decision-maker about what they’re thinking on the eve of the draft. The story, as Thursday’s first round in Philadelphia approaches, obviously is this: WWCD? What Will Cleveland Do? Mayock crystallized my thoughts when he said what should be happening in the Browns’ facility this week in Berea, Ohio, as the franchise’s combo platter of traditional football guys (coach Hue Jackson leading that group) and progressive analytics side (with director of strategy Paul DePodesta and GM Sashi Brown) prepares to figure out what to do about the eternal need for a quarterback in a city so desperate for a franchise passer. “In the building,” Mayock said, “I think there’s got to be a conversation about the quarterback situation. The only way you don’t run Myles Garrett up there in minute number one [of the draft] is if the entire building is uniform and says there’s a quarterback in this draft that, A, we think is a franchise QB; B, he will be the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns for the next eight to 10 years; and C, we will win a lot of football games with him. “If you believe all of that, then take him at one. But my feeling is, that QB isn’t in this draft. So it’s got to be Myles Garrett.” I agree with Mayock—to a point. That quarterback might be in this draft. But “might” is the operative word there. We don’t know. The Browns don’t know. This is one of the foggiest drafts for quarterbacks in years. The Browns have drafted three first-round quarterbacks in the past 10 years: Brady Quinn (2007), Brandon Weeden (2012) and Johnny Manziel (2014). None has worked out. None has come close to working out. That isn’t to say the Browns shouldn’t take a quarterback at number one. But they should take a quarterback number one only if the entire organization can get behind it enthusiastically—coaches and ownership and front office and the new analytics faction (which, by the way, I heartily respect). And it’s clearly not the case right now that the entire organization, including all the key people, is behind the selection of Trubisky at number one. The draft isn’t a democracy in any organization. But if your head coach, quarterback mentor Hue Jackson, is not behind the quarterback you’re taking first overall (which Cabot reported), that’s called trying to force a square quarterback peg into a round hole. It’s not smart. I say this as much for Trubisky’s benefit as I do for people inside the team: He should not be the Browns’ first overall pick. It’s fine to say the pressure he puts on himself is greater than any external pressure. But it’s just not so, and he’d find that out early in Cleveland. Anything less than playoff contention in year two and he’d hear it from the Dawg Pound. When you draft a quarterback first overall, and he flounders, it’s much different than picking Cody Kessler 93rd and seeing him flounder. It’s the weight of expectations. By any definition, there’s no Andrew Luck or Troy Aikman in this draft. If Trubisky goes to the Browns, and is forced to play early by the ravenous public when the team’s struggling, he could end up a battered mess, like Tim Couch, or one whose confidence gets shot early, like David Carr. That’s not even considering the local-kid angle, which just adds to the mayhem. In talking to those around the league over the past few days about the quarterbacks in this draft, two themes come up about Trubisky: They don’t know enough about him (those 13 career starts), and he was shaky frequently enough to make evaluators need to see more. In his last four college games, Trubisky and North Carolina lost to then-3-6 Duke, 5-6 North Carolina State and 9-3 Stanford while beating FBS team The Citadel. Trubisky’s footwork is good, his decision-making (mostly) good, his accuracy (68.0 percent in 2016) is quite good. He’s a tempting prospect. But seeing enough in a quarterback with eight collegiate victories to make him your franchise guy with the first pick? It’s a leap of faith, a very big one. Mayock said: “I’m pretty old school, but 13 games isn’t enough for me with the first pick in the draft. It’s a major level of concern for me.” Some also think Trubisky’s personality isn’t take-charge enough to win over a team. I’m not dismissing that, but it’s not nearly as big as the experience factor. Eli Manning and Drew Brees have a lot of Boy Scout in them too, and they win and command respect. If I’m Cleveland, I’m taking the guy number one on the vast majority of NFL boards, Garrett. And this draft is a buyer’s market, with each team from No. 2 through 7 in the first round interested in trading down. Barring a surprise like San Francisco taking Trubisky at number two, the Browns, with five picks in the top 65 and four in the top two rounds next year, will be able to use some of those picks to move up to take him if they really want him that badly. • DRAFT NEEDS AND ANSWERS: Andy Benoit and Emily Kaplan find the biggest (non-QB) hole on all 32 teams and fill it with the best prospect * * * In a loaded draft for running backs, talented players like Dalvin Cook could slip out of the first round. Mike Ehrman/Getty Images On other draft-related matters three days before Philadelphia hosts round one: • Mayock on Myles Garrett’s lackluster final year at Texas A&M: “People complain about him having half his sacks in one game against Texas-San Antonio. You can pick apart anyone. Put the UCLA tape on [his opening game, before he hurt his ankle]. He was dominant there. If you compare him to Von Miller, he has the same explosion off the ball, and he’s 20 pounds heavier. In my opinion, there’s only two ways he can fail: Either he gets hurt, or he doesn’t want it bad enough.” • I’m not saying it’s likely, but there’s a chance off-field concerns about Dalvin Cook could push the highly regarded Florida State runner into the second round. • Interesting response from Mayock when I asked what this draft would be known for five years down the road: “There’s more medical concern with high draft picks than I’ve ever seen in a draft before. So four or five years from now, there’s a good chance that three or four really good prospects won’t make it, because of injury over anything else.” • One GM told me he sat with his medical staff for five hours the other day to go over medical records of prominent players. “Never have I been part of a draft with so many medical red flags,” the GM said. • Whither Malcolm Butler? The Saints (picking 11, 32, 42, 76, 103 in the first three rounds) are still interested in Butler, but someone familiar with their thinking believes they are leaning toward keeping their first three picks. The Saints believe that their board between 25 and 75 has a slew of players capable of contributing immediately, with grades close to each other, and the thought of dealing one or more picks for Butler, then paying him a huge contract, is less attractive than it once seemed. • Whither Joe Mixon? I’m hearing the Oklahoma running back, who had the 2014 incident of punching a female student in the face, has garnered the most interest from Cincinnati, Minnesota, Green Bay and Jacksonville. I won’t be surprised to see the Bengals take Mixon with the 41st overall pick. Owner Mike Brown has taken chances in the past on players with off-field issues, leaving it to the coaching staff to keep those players in line. • I won’t be surprised if the Giants (seeking a tackle), scheduled to pick 23rd, or the Texans (seeking a quarterback), scheduled to pick 25th, move up into the teens. Baltimore (16) and Tennessee (18) would be happy to move down. • Great stat from Mayock: Dallas, badly in need of an edge rusher, used 28 of its 30 on-campus visits with draft prospects on defensive players. • For a rookie GM (John Lynch) and coach (Kyle Shanahan), the Niners have done a good job not telegraphing what they’ll do at two. Most of the mocks have Stanford defensive lineman Solomon Thomas there, but I’m not so sure. My thanks to Mike Mayock for making time Sunday in his busiest of seasons. You can hear him Tuesday on “The MMQB Podcast With Peter King.” And you can catch him doing his real job, when Mayock unveils his mock first round (he does only one mock draft) Wednesday night on NFL Network at 8 p.m. ET. You also can see him and the NFL Network team Thursday evening through Saturday for all 253 picks of the draft, live from Philadelphia. • INSIDE THE FILM ROOM WITH SOLOMON THOMAS: Andy Benoit of The MMQB breaks down game tape with Stanford’s projected top-10 D-lineman—and talk about what position he’ll actually play * * * My First-Quarter Mock Draft Safety Jamal Adams is widely considered the best defensive back in the draft. Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images The suspense will kill you! Top eight picks here today, and I’ll follow Tuesday with the entire round of 32. Why the split mock? A) I wasn’t ready to put it to bed on Sunday night … B) Traffic (I hope) will be better Tuesday. Here goes, with brief explanations: 1. Cleveland DE/OLB Myles Garrett, Texas A&M Time to stop projecting and hoping, Browns. Take the surest thing. 2. San Francisco DL Solomon Thomas, Stanford Not a position of great need, but a building block who will be solid inside and outside. 3. Chicago S Jamal Adams, LSU Cleanest player in the draft. That’s what smart people keep saying. Thomas also a factor. 4. Jacksonville RB Leonard Fournette, LSU Jags’ needs do not match this draft. Need a tackle. Watch for Deshaun Watson here too. 5. Tennessee CB Marshon Lattimore, Ohio State But Titans want to deal down to recoup second-round pick lost in Conklin deal last year. 6. Cleveland (from N.Y. Jets) QB Mitch Trubisky, North Carolina Browns trade 12th, 33rd and 181st picks for No. 6 overall. Still not sure it makes sense to trade up for Trubisky, but Browns have the picks to do it. 7. Los Angeles Chargers S Malik Hooker, Ohio State New defensive coordinator Gus Bradley gets his Earl Thomas, but Hooker must improve tackling. 8. Carolina RB/Slot/Returner Christian McCaffrey, Stanford Counter to GM Dave Gettleman’s meat/potatoes style, but multiple weapon for Cam. Toughest call here is McCaffrey. But the Panthers and Cam Newton are coming off an abysmal year and a stunning 52.9 percent passing season. Think what the Panthers want: easy completions. Imagine Newton dumping off five throws a game to McCaffrey, one of the best combinations of runner and receiver we’ve seen coming out in years. It would be like a detached running game, an extended handoff in space. So we’ll see. I’ll have my complete list tomorrow here at The MMQB. In the meantime, keep yourself entertained with this Mock Draft Challenge game on SI.com. Create your own 1-32 predictions with easy-to-use, drag-and-drop functionality and featuring the top 64 prospects. Then compare your picks to other fans and to mine on Tuesday and wonder how in the world I can be so wrong. • ANDY BENOIT’S FILM ROOM: Don’t Bring Any Disrespect at Jamal Adams * * * Please Manage Draft Emotions Accordingly The draft offers hope for the future, but there’s no guarantee of success. (From left: Jason Smith, Blaine Gabbert, JaMarcus Russell and Eric Fisher.) Getty Images (4) The 17 drafts of this century prove one thing: Drafting in the NFL is the most inexact of sciences. Teams spend untold millions to shape draft boards, and then JaMarcus Russell happens. Jason Smith happens. Dion Jordan happens. And, on the other side, Tom Brady happens. So don’t say we didn’t warn you. Have a sane Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and remember: Jimmy Johnson, borderline savantish in the draft room, centered his draft philosophy around acquiring as many picks as he could. “Because I knew it gave me a chance for a better batting average,” he said. “We all screw up in the draft.” Examples of that, year by year, in this century: 2000: The Niners, in need of a quarterback of the future, pick Gio Carmazzi of Hofstra 65th overall. The Patriot take Tom Brady 199th. 2001: Picks 8-9-10: David Terrell, Koren Robinson, Jamal Reynolds. Combined Pro Bowls: 1. Picks 30-31-32: Reggie Wayne, Todd Heap, Drew Brees. Combined Pro Bowls: 18. 2002: I’ll never forget being in the Cowboys draft room an hour before the draft started. Phone rings. Jerry Jones answers. Detroit GM Matt Millen on the line. Wants an offer, any offer, for the third pick in the draft. Not enthusiastic about Joey Harrington, from the sound of the phone call. Jones doesn’t want the pick, nor the quarterback. Harrington goes third, to Detroit. Bad idea. Oh, and my favorite player not selected in the 261-player draft: James Harrison. 2003: Titans draft cornerback Andre Woolfolk in the first round. Chargers draft cornerback Sammy Davis in the first round. Asante Samuel and Ike Taylor, cornerbacks, go late in the fourth. 2004: The Raiders, with the second overall choice, pick Iowa tackle Robert Gallery, bypassing Larry Fitzgerald, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger and Vince Wilfork. 2005: Drafted ahead of Aaron Rodgers—Troy Williamson, Travis Johnson, Erasmus James, Matt Jones, Fabian Washington. 2006: Drafted between picks 118 and 135: Stephen Gostkowski, Brandon Marshall (the receiver), Domata Peko, Elvis Dumervil, Kyle Williams (the defensive tackle), Rob Ninkovich. 2007: Fixated on JaMarcus Russell for months because of his big arm, Al Davis drafts him with the first overall pick. Russell plays three awful seasons with the Raiders and never is signed by another team despite once offering to play a season for free. That, my friends, is the biggest draft bust in NFL history. 2008: Undrafted: Danny Amendola, Wesley Woodyard, Jerell Freeman, Mike Tolbert, Danny Woodhead, Marcel Reese. 2009: The Rams make tackle Jason Smith the second pick in the draft. He lasts 26 starts. He is out of the league in five years. 2010: Wait! A competent drafting year! First seven picks: Sam Bradford, Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy, Trent Williams, Eric Berry, Russell Okung, Joe Haden … Wait! An incompetence factoid! Antonio Brown is the 22nd wide receiver selected. 2011: Cautionary Tale Alert: Jake Locker 8, Blaine Gabbert 10, Christian Ponder 12. 2012: Be Careful What You Wish For Alert: Robert Griffin III 2, Kirk Cousins 102. 2013: Hard to imagine a less impactful top 12 in history than Eric Fisher, Luke Joeckel, Dion Jordan, Lane Johnson, Ziggy Ansah, Barkevious Mingo, Jonathan Cooper, Tavon Austin, Dee Milliner, Chance Warmack, D.J. Fluker, and D.J. Hayden. By “less impactful,” I mean, “really stinks.” • THE TERRIBLE 2013 NFL DRAFT: Jenny Vrentas on what went into making it the worse first round in memory—and what to learn from it 2014: The Rams make tackle Greg Robinson the second pick in the draft. By Week 11 of the 2016 season, he is a healthy inactive for the Rams. This is year four. Robinson will compete for a starting job in camp. He may be on the Jason Smith track. 2015: Great example of the fairly new draft credo of you-can-get-impactful-picks-ways-down-the-line: David Johnson 86th overall, Jay Ajayi 149th. 2016: Great example of keeping your draft-day emotions in check: Cowboys are desperate for Paxton Lynch in round one, late, and try to trade for him; fail. Cowboys are desperate for Connor Cook atop the fourth round; fail. Cowboys put on a happy face when picking Dak Prescott 135th. • 2017 DRAFT BIG BOARD: Ranking the top 40 prospects * * * Quotes of the Week President Donald Trump welcomed Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and the Patriots into the White House last week to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl 51 win. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images I “Need some help?” —Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, peeking into White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s daily press briefing last week, during the Patriots’ trip to Washington to celebrate their Super Bowl victory with President Donald Trump. Spicer said he was okay. II “We would hang out and we would talk. When we first exchanged numbers, he called me over and said, ‘Hey I just want you to know, you’re my guy. If you need anything let me know, I will help you out if I can. But I just want you to know, if you f--- me over, I’ll kill you.’ I sort of laughed a little bit, and I said, ‘Don’t worry, I got you. I’ll take care of you.’” —Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, a former Patriots beat reporter, to The MMQB’s Kalyn Kahler for her “Talking Football,” on a meeting he had early on in his relationship with Aaron Hernandez. III “One weekend, the computer spit out 297 schedules we considered playable. We threw them all in the garbage.” —Howard Katz, the NFL’s vice president of broadcasting and chief schedule-maker, to me, on the process of making the schedule and how it’s gotten so much more advanced over the past few springs. IV “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” —Steelers heir Art Rooney II, with the last words at the funeral of longtime owner Dan Rooney on Tuesday in Pittsburgh. V “He was special. Like, rare. Not as a player, but as a man and as a leader and as a teammate. And I hope I never have to speak at one of these again.” —New Orleans coach Sean Payton, on Will Smith, giving a victim-impact statement to the court in New Orleans at the sentencing hearing of Cardell Hayes, who received 25 years in prison for the murder of Smith, the former Saints defensive end. VI “I don’t have an issue with anything. My job’s to play baseball and win. This isn’t seventh grade, man. You know what I mean? I just play baseball. That’s it. I’m not the baseball police.” —Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, asked about the legality/possible dirtiness of a slide by Baltimore’s Manny Machado on Friday night that left him with a spike wound in his calf and took him out of the Red Sox lineup Saturday. That comes via Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. * * * Stat of the Week Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez came into the NFL in the same draft (2010) and immediately contributed for the Patriots. Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Bill Belichick runs his 18th draft with the Patriots beginning Thursday night, from his bunker in Foxboro. Let’s reflect for a moment on Belichick’s 11th draft, and the fruits of it, and the nightmare of it. In 2010, the Patriots chose two tight ends: Rob Gronkowski (42nd overall), and Aaron Hernandez (113th). After two seasons, in terms of impact, it was hard to tell the difference between the two. The stat lines of the Gronkowski and Hernandez through two seasons, including postseason games: Player Gms Touches Yards YPG TDs Super Bowl TDs Gronkowski 36 153 2,196 61.0 30 0 Hernandez 32 160 1,827 57.1 16 1 In five years, lives changed quite a bit for the men who were 1A and 1B some Sundays as Tom Brady’s go-to men in the passing game. Today, Gronkowski is on his way to Hall of Fame contention. Hernandez, according to Massachusetts prison authorities, committed suicide Wednesday while serving a life sentence without parole for murder. • AARON HERNANDEZ, ACCORDING TO JOURNALISTS: Three writers who covered the late ex-Patriot share their stories * * * Factoids That May Interest Only Me Alex Smith and the Chiefs enter the 2017 season coming off back-to-back appearances in the AFC divisional playoff round. Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images The All-Schedule-Release edition: • Some clarification about the number of prime-time games a team can have. I was wrong the other day when I wrote that Oakland has the most prime-time games you can have, five, this year. Actually, the broadcast rules state that three teams can have six prime-time games. As of now, only one has six. That is Kansas City—and the Chiefs’ sixth prime-time game really doesn’t matter much. The sixth is on Saturday, Dec. 16 (Week 15) at 8:25 p.m. ET. The NFL has two national games that day, at 4:30 and 8:25, and with each being a standalone national game on a weekend day, it’s not much of a difference. • From Halloween until the Patriots wake up on Christmas Eve, they play once in Foxboro. • I’ve never seen a team with three straight on the road, followed by three straight at home, with no bye to break it up. That’s Cincinnati this year: at Jags, Titans, Broncos in Weeks 9, 10, 11; Browns, Steelers, Bears at home in Weeks 12, 13, 14. • Yes, the Giants got a slightly raw deal, facing four teams coming off byes. But going this deep on a schedule—analyzing, for instance, that the Giants’ opponents will be, on average, the most-rested in the league entering their games against the Giants—is a sign that too many people have too much time on their hands to analyze truly insignificant things. • Yes, it’s odd that the Giants will open at Dallas, after opening there in 2013, 2015 and 2016. That’s four out of five years opening at Jerryworld, and three in a row. Odd, but nothing else. • It’s a quarterback league, which you learn when considering the passers in the first four Sunday night games of the season: Eli Manning, Dak Prescott, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson. • Smart move for the NFL to keep the Browns and Jags out of prime time. Each team will have its one national TV game in the 9:30 a.m. ET London window. • HOW THE 2017 SCHEDULE WAS MADE: Peter King goes behind the scenes for the process of picking a schedule * * * Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note Our good friends and former Montclair softball coaching partners, Jack Bowers and Karin Nelson, invited us to their Chapel Hill, N.C., home while I spoke to some classes and the Daily Tar Heel staff last week. Now that was pleasant. The campus, as so many of you know, is perfectly collegiate, with huge trees and a lovely college green. It was 80 degrees Thursday. We sat in on a music history class, then I spoke to a Sports Communications class in the journalism school, then sat in on, and spoke to, a Baseball History class. Lots of local folks in the classes, retired people just interested in the topics. Kept thinking how much fun that would be to do one day. We went with the prof in the baseball class, Matt Andrews, for a Blueridge Blueberry Wheat beer at TOPO (Top of the Hill) afterward. Now that is one crisp and not overwhelmingly fruity wheat beer, an absolute treat on a hot Chapel Hill day. Jack and Karin took us to a bookstore near their home, a beautiful, independent Flyleaf Books. Terrific selection, with a load of handwritten picks on index cards by staffers. (I bought “Ballplayer,” the new Chipper Jones book.) Capping a great day at Flyleaf, and with the North Carolina trout at the restaurant next door, Kitchen … I do not know what I did to deserve such a good day, but I sure am grateful for it. * * * Tweets of the Week I While there's depth, I'm not sure I've seen a poorer collection of offensive linemen in one draft.. — Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) April 21, 2017 Quite a statement. This is the 58th draft Brandt has analyzed either running the Cowboys’ draft room, in the media with NFL.com or as a coordinator of the combine and the draft for the NFL. II Veterans dedicate their lives for our freedom, then on average 22 vets commit suicide daily. Yet, Aaron Hernandez gets all this attention. — Adam Carriker (@AdamCarriker94) April 20, 2017 III If Cleveland doesn't select Myles Garrett they all should be fired. Head and shoulders above the next best player in draft. A no brainer — Greg Gabriel (@greggabe) April 23, 2017 IV For all the studies that have been conducted on head injuries, it is unfathomable that helmets are not worn in women's lacrosse. — Troy Aikman (@TroyAikman) April 23, 2017 V ICYMI (in February): Jimmy Garappolo isn't going anywhere. His name continues to surface in trade rumors and speculation - not happening. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 23, 2017 * * * Pod People From “The MMQB Podcast With Peter King,” available where you download podcasts. This week’s conversations: Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins, Columbia Fireflies outfielder Tim Tebow. • Cousins on not getting a long-term contract with Washington: “I will continue to look at it the way I have looked at every year: It just feels so much to me like it is week to week and year to year. It doesn't feel like I can map anything out, I've never felt that way. I've never felt comfortable. I think that's a good thing to have. You don't have any entitlement. I'll just play it out and see where I'm at. I know that every week feels like a proving of myself. and that's okay.” • Cousins on whether that is really okay: “The nature of this league is such that is it going to have to be okay. Many players are told, ‘You are going to need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.’ That's the way this league operates. The margin for error is so small. The difference between the joys of winning and the agony of defeat is one play here, one inch there. That's the way this league is and that's what makes it great. But it doesn't mean it is going to be easy for the players involved. And believe me, there are far greater challenges in this league than the situation I'm in. There are guys getting cut not knowing where they are going to have to move their families, not knowing where their next job is going to be. That is a much tougher situation than where I am, so I feel very fortunate and look forward to the opportunity that I have in Washington. A guy like Brock Osweiler signs a four-year deal last year and everyone is saying that is what I should be looking for. Well, he's not even with that team one year later. So was his contract really more than a one-year deal? I guess technically because he is still on that contract in Cleveland, but it certainly didn't play out the way anyone hoped in that situation. For me, the franchise tag ends up being the same thing because it's a one-year deal and it is understood as one-year deals from the start, but most of these contracts in the NFL are one-year deals anyway. Kirk Cousins played on a one-year contract in 2016 and will do it again in 2017; the combined total salary for both seasons is nearly $44 million. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images “This has sort of been the narrative for me. I was a junior in high school and I felt like I threw the football well but nobody was interested. I played my entire senior high school football season with zero scholarship offers. I'm going on recruiting visits without a scholarship offer. Schools are wining and dining other players, and I am trying to convince them to offer me. I'm recruiting them, they're not recruiting me on my recruiting visits in high school. This is the way it went. Then I go to college and [Michigan State] coach [Mark] Dantonio chose to bring in two other scholarship quarterbacks. At one time it was myself, Keith Nichol and Nick Foles all at Michigan State competing. “No one ever said, 'Kirk, you are going to be the guy, we completely believe in you. We're just going to give you the job. And you better prove us right.' “It was, 'Kirk, we're going to give other guys scholarships, and you need to beat them out and prove to us that you are the guy year after year before we finally commit to you.’ “… So to say, does it bother you? Does it? No, you know what? I have learned to accept it as part of my life and the way things have gone for me for a long time. This isn't chapter one for me. This is chapter 10 or 11 where I've said, ‘Here we go again. Whatever happens, happens.’ And for me, I play better when I feel like I am still ascending the mountain. I think I play better when people say, ‘Keep showing us what you've got.’ Whatever is going to get me to play at a high level is what I want to do, so I am okay with it and we are going to keep going year by year.” Coming Tuesday: A special podcast, moved up one day this week (because of the draft), with NFL Network draft guru Mike Mayock. We recorded the conversation in south Jersey on Sunday afternoon. Lots of insight on the draft. * * * Ten Things I Think I Think The Seahawks have discussed trading veteran corner Richard Sherman this offseason. Rob Leiter/Getty Images 1. I think the Seahawks aren’t going to blink on their price tag for 29-year-old cornerback Richard Sherman, and so it’s unlikely he’ll be traded. The market has cooled for Sherman, in part because teams don’t want to pay the price—which is probably a first-round pick or two high picks not including a first-rounder. It’s probably for the best for Seattle, which would be in huge trouble at corner without Sherman in 2017. 2. I think the Boston Globe’s story on Tom Brady and the $2.75 million that the Best Buddies charity has paid to Brady’s own charitable trust since 2011 is certainly not customary, nor is it laudable. The optics are bad. But there are a couple of things to consider here. Brady has chosen one charity to spend a weekend with every year since his star rose to prominence, and that is Best Buddies, which provides assistance and companionship to disabled and mentally challenged people. Brady draws a lot of attention to the cause each year by playing in a touch football game at Harvard and the next day riding in a Massachusetts bicycle race. The fact that Brady spends this time in two major events draws participants willing to help Best Buddies with contributions and generates money from non-participants donating to the causes of those, for example, riding in the bike event. Best Buddies says Brady’s participation in the events has contributed to the group’s raising $46.5 million since 2001. It’s quite likely that if Brady chose to spend that spring weekend on events for his foundation, he would have raised far more than $2.75 million during his career. So while this is a messy look for boht Best Buddies and Brady, I would ask this question: If Best Buddies were without Brady’s participation over the past 16 years, would it have raised even half of that $43.75 million it has raised not, including what it’s paid to Brady? I sincerely doubt it. What has happened here is that, essentially, Best Buddies has paid Brady a fee to help it raise more money than it could have otherwise raised, and Brady has donated his share to a slew of 501c3 charities, pocketing zero. Best Buddies should have shown more transparency about this, because, as I said, the optics are bad. But while an ugly look for both, Best Buddies has made more than it ever would have with Brady, and Brady has given money to some charities that personally appeal to him. 3. I think the storyline of it being a disadvantage for a Super Bowl loser to open the season at the Super Bowl winner is all wrong. I get that Ron Rivera didn’t like the all-offseason emphasis on the rematch last year. But to me it’s a big advantage for a team to open the season on Thursday of Week 1. You’ve got to play the game anyway; I don’t buy the mental strain of focusing on it for four months between the announcement of the schedule and the playing of the game. I would much rather have a mini-bye after Week 1 added to my schedule (10 days between Week 1 and 2 on my schedule) than playing on Sunday in Week 1. 4. I think the Raiders want Marshawn Lynch to make his decision on a reasonable rate of pay before draft weekend, which is understandable. I repeat: This makes too much sense not to happen, and it should happen. Marshawn Lynch should have the first touch of the Raiders’ home season Sept. 17 when the Jets come calling to the Oakland Coliseum. 5. I think I have zero problem with what DeShone Kizer said. (“Why can’t I be the greatest? The only thing stopping me from it is me.”) I would want my quarterback to think he can be the greatest quarterback in the game. It’s not sacrilegious to mention Tom Brady and Cam Newton as a quarterback and say you can be them. To me, it’s ambitious and admirable. 6. I think there’s always something valuable for football fans (even if you hate the Patriots—and I mean that) when New England wins the Super Bowl and allows some of the work NFL Films has done during the regular and postseason with the team to see the light of day. No different this year, with the looming release of Three Games To Glory 5 DVD set, which debuts in Foxboro today and will be on sale to the public on May 2. Bill Belichick allows his assistant coaches and scouting staffers, who normally are nearly unknown, to talk openly about game plans and ideas and ways to win the coming game. It’s a revelation that any coach would allow this, never mind the one with the reputation of running a CIA outfit in New England. But Belichick values history, and what he allows to come out after Super Bowl-winning postseasons is some really valuable footage and story-telling. Remember after the Super Bowl win over Seattle, when NFL Films acquired the practice footage of the unknown Malcolm Butler on a play just like the one he would become famous for in the Super Bowl? In practice, Butler didn’t play the ball well. There was a teaching moment then, and that teaching moment led to the decisive play in the Patriots’ fourth Super Bowl victory. Again, this year, there’s an example in some of the footage I screened Friday. NFL Films captured a meeting of the offensive coaches before the divisional game against Houston in January, with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels trying to figure out personnel groupings and matchups against the fast and physical Houston defense. McDaniels figured the key would be playing his lightning-quick back, Dion Lewis, a little more than usual. He was watching Houston defensive tape the week before the game with the staff and said, “I mean, honestly, the guy who should have a shot to be really impactful would be Dion, right? If we put him in base?” So of course McDaniels, on the second Patriots’ series of the game, employed a classic, traditional two-receiver, one-tight-end, one-fullback, one-back alignment on a first down, with Lewis the back, and Tom Brady found him in the flat with a quick pass, and Lewis sped around left end for an easy 13-yard touchdown. That is some great story-telling by NFL Films. 7. I think this is one of the great inventions in recent NFL history, and we should all thank Chase Stuart of Football Perspective for it. Print it out! Share it with friends! 8. I think I’m still getting used to two teams beginning with “Los Angeles” after 21 seasons without a single one. 9. I think this was a terrific gesture by Joe Montana at a ceremony in San Francisco on Sunday to rename some streets after Niners legends. Handed a street sign with JOE MONTANA DRIVE imprinted on it, Montana said: “I would like to share this. I would ask that you change this to Montana-Clark Drive.” Montana’s longtime receiving mate, Dwight Clark, 60, is suffering from ALS. The audible by Montana was greeted emotionally by the crowd. A lovely thing to do. 10. I think these are my non-NFL thoughts of the week: a. Two very good friends begin podcasting this week (and I don’t mean Bill O’Reilly). And I will be listening. b. Don Banks and Christopher Price unveil “Cover 2” Tuesday at Patriots.com, with a draft show. Special guest on the debut podcast: San Francisco GM John Lynch. Banks covered Lynch as when the latter was a young safety with the Bucs from 1993-95. Banks will be covering the NFL for Patriots.com, writing and podcasting and videoing. c. Ed Werder and Matt Mosley are combining on The Doomsday Podcast in Dallas. First guests this week are Chris Mortensen and Rick Gosselin, who for my money is the best mock-drafter in the business. Both of those guys will be must listens. d. Podcasting might be the way of the future. I love it. I love having extended conversations with smart people in and around football, and I believe this is the kind of content that people who love the game are going to grow to love more and more. So far, a very large number of you have downloaded the Tom Brady podcast I did in February. That’s probably an outlier, because 76 minutes of thoughtful and real Tom Brady is going to attract a crowd. But podcasting is so cool because it’s on demand, and if you’re good at it, you can develop the kind of following that will listen to a good conversation with Kirk Cousins even if Washington’s not your team. • SUBSCRIBE TO THE MMQB PODCASTS: Peter King | Albert Breer | 10 Things with Andy Benoit and Gary Gramling e. Story of the Week: Liz Clarke and Gregory S. Schneider of the Washington Post, on the massive job Washington GM Bruce Allen has in front of him—getting a new stadium built for the franchise. Insightful and well-written. f. I always know a Liz Clarke story, because she takes me along with her on the story. As in this setup to sitting down for an interview with Allen in Arizona at the Arizona Biltmore hotel: “One morning, Allen was seated at a cafe table on a walkway out back, overlooking the resort’s meticulously landscaped lawn and lavender-hued Camelback Mountain beyond.” Take lessons, kids. Paint pictures with your words. g. RIP, Erin Moran of “Happy Days.” h. Coffeenerdness: Still in mourning for the butterscotch latte, Starbucks. What do I have to do to get it back? (And don’t make me beg. I’m a proud man.) i. Beernerdness: See my travel note, for Blueridge Blueberry Wheat beer. j. Lena Dunham is really good. I will follow her career and watch what she does. k. Thank the Lord “Veep” is back. It’s as good as ever. An even more flawed Selina Meyer is the best Selina Meyer. l. Do not throw at people’s heads, Matt Barnes. Unprofessional. m. Daniel Murphy is batting somewhere around 1.167 against the Mets. It’s a new record. n. The Asian food stand behind section 148 at the Atlanta Braves’ new ballpark is called Intentional Wok. * * * The Adieu Haiku It’s Mike Mayock’s world, and we get to live in it. Until Saturday. • Question or comment? Email us at talkback@themmqb.com. |
Source: bibiphoto / Shutterstock.com Pharmacy student numbers will not be capped, but a five-year pharmacy degree with integrated work placements is a possibility Pharmacy student numbers will not be capped, says Health Education England (HEE) in the long-awaited response to a consultation on pharmacy education and training reforms. Introduction of an intake control was the highly favoured option by the majority of the 183 respondents to the consultation, but HEE, the agency responsible for the training of NHS staff, went against this. “In light of the wider higher education policy on student intake controls announced in the 2013 Autumn Statement a student intake control for MPharm students will not be introduced,” it said. HEE says it is working with the Department of Health on the options for introducing a five-year degree with integrated work placements. This would replace the current four-year degree plus the pre-registration work placement year. The work placements are partially funded by the government, so will still require NHS planning. In 2013, in light of the growing number of pharmacy schools and a predicted oversupply of pharmacists, HEE together with Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) suggested three options for tackling pharmacy student numbers: allow the free market to continue, control student numbers or create a break point into the degree. The Pharmacy Schools Council, which represents 27 schools, has welcomed the announcement, saying it is imperative that the contribution of the “profession to healthcare is recognised and that there is scope to consider the role of pharmacists in the future”. |
July 4, 2013 - L4D Team Celebrating Left 4 Dead 2’s official release on Linux and America’s Day of Independence, we’re putting L4D2 on sale for a stunning 75% off and it's free to play all weekend!We know people have a busy weekend ahead of them with BBQs, sack races, blowing fingers off, and other fun summer time activities, so we made it a little more enticing to give it a try this weekend. We are making L4D2 free to play until 10am PST Monday morning.To all our new Linux players this weekend, Hello.To our returning players – we are bringing back a special achievement. Good Guy Nick - – “Plays games with free weekend players and helps them survive a campaign.” Who is a free weekend player? You’re going to have to talk to each other to find out or you could always let your friends know Left 4 Dead 2 is out on Linux and is free this weekend. After all, the zombie apocalypse was made to be fought with friends.All kidding aside, it is going to be dangerous outside this weekend. Stay indoors. Play some L4D2.Artwork created by Fisher |
President Trump on Tuesday defended some of the protesters who rallied this weekend against the removal of a Robert E. Lee statute from a park in downtown Charlottesville, Va. In a contentious back and forth with reporters, Trump argued with the logic of removing Confederate statues by pointing to the slave-owning history of Founding Fathers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. “You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down, of to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name,” Trump said during one spat with a reporter. “George Washington as a slave owner,” he continued. “So will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson?” “Are we going to take down his statue because he was a major slave owner. Are we going to take down his statue?” Trump posed those questions after being pressed by reporters about his comments on Saturday after learning that 32-year-old Heather Heyer had been killed by a white nationalist who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters. In a statement then, Trump decried violence from “many sides” of the protests. Trump’s critics pounced, accusing him of comparing neo-Nazi and white supremacists to anti-fascist counter-protesters. Saturday’s violence touched off a movement across the U.S. to remove other Confederate statues. On Monday, a crowd of protesters tore down a statue of a Confederate soldier in Durham, N.C. Other statues are likely to be removed in the near future, either because of decrees by local and state politicians or by crowds of protesters. The Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville was recently ordered removed by city leaders. On Monday, Trump issued a statement condemning the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who attended the “Unite the Right” rally. And in his remarks on Tuesday, he repeated that condemnation. But he also said that he believed that some of the people who showed up for the protest were “fine people.” “You also had some very fine people, on both sides,” he said. He also doubled down on his remark that both sides of the fight deserve blame. “I think there is blame on both sides,” Trump said. “You look at both sides, I think there is blame on both sides. I have no doubt about it; you don’t have doubt about it either. If you reported it accurately, you would say that.” “You had a group on one side and the other and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and horrible. It was a horrible thing to watch. There is another side. There was a group on this side, you can call them the left…that came violently attacking the other group.” WATCH: Follow Chuck on Twitter |
Apparently feminism has a branding problem. In September, VITAMIN W launched a contest encouraging people to come up with creative solutions to address feminism's “bad rep”, and this month, Elle magazine published a spread asking three advertising agencies to “re-brand a term that many feel has become burdened with complications and negativity”. While the efforts are being applauded by some, the rationale being “the more feminists the merrier” one supposes, the question remains: Is feminism a product simply in need of better packaging? The idea behind these efforts to re-brand the century-old movement is not only that people just don't get feminism, but that women are afraid to take on the label because of negative connotations. According to a poll commissioned by Ms. Magazine, the Communications Consortium Media Center, and the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), 55 percent of female voters in the US identify as feminist. For a movement that challenges the ruling party, those numbers aren't half bad. Over two decades ago, Susan Faludi published Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, yet her introduction could have been written today. In it, Faludi talks about the vilification of feminism - the media blamed the movement for robbing women of their happiness and called it a failure. Yet onward we marched. No-win situation There is a reason that feminists are labeled as ugly, extremist, man-haters, and that reason is sexism. Feminism isn't palatable and that is the point. Women shouldn't have to love sex with men, shave their legs, be beautiful, or be quiet and polite in order to be respected. In fact, even if women do all that they're supposed to and even if they play the role of “woman” perfectly, they are still not respected. Women lose either way. Part of joining a movement that goes against the grain is that you risk being unpopular with those who are invested in maintaining the very power and privilege that is being challenged. The accolades women get for being beautiful, agreeable, lovers of men are temporary and superficial. Getting invited to the boys club only to find themselves relegated to sex toy or cook is exactly what led women to start a radical feminist movement in the first place. What women are afraid of when it comes to identifying as a feminist is justified. Being a feminist means questioning things we take for granted - it means understanding that a choice to get breast implants or to take our husband's name in marriage may not simply be an individual decision, isolated from social context. It also can mean having difficult conversations, as often even mentioning the fact that patriarchy is something that exists can cause anger and defensiveness from those who had come to believe they were living in an equal society. And it isn't only men who might react negatively to the argument that perhaps there is something troubling about the fact that, while Robin Thicke was permitted to keep his pants on during this year's VMA's, Miley Cyrus was not offered the same privilege, and that that “something” is inequality. Women, too, have been sold the idea that sexism is something that happens in faraway lands and that women who insist on railing on about objectification and porn culture are prudish harpies, stuck in the past. Myth of postfeminist society Today, women - particularly women in the West - are told they exist in a postfeminist society and are free to do what they wish. This often translates into the idea that choosing to wear stilettos, taking up burlesque as a hobby, or using Instagram to show off one's bikini body are feminist acts because the women making these choices are doing so out of free-will. Because we are no longer faced with the same barriers to education, jobs, and financial independence we once were, many young women are led to believe feminism is no longer needed. Not only are women everywhere still facing oppression, but feminism isn't only about making choices. Feminism is also about ending violence against women, which remains prevalent everywhere, it is about creating a world where single mothers are able to survive and thrive, and it is about addressing gendered racism, for example, the fact that aboriginal women are the fastest growing population of prisoners in Canada. Rape isn't something that only happens in other places; neither does prostitution or domestic abuse. But re-branding feminism is unlikely to address any of these issues, as these issues are not particularly glossy or sellable to begin with. Feminism becomes popular when feminism becomes sexy and untroublesome. You'll notice that mainstream media is suddenly very preoccupied with the feminist movement whenever the “feminist movement” is blonde, thin, and topless. The irony of Elle magazine, a publication that has long been among those responsible for reinforcing unattainable standards of beauty and perfection for women, attempting to re-brand feminism should tell you something about what their gussied-up feminism would look like. The stereotypes that make feminism look bad are, in fact, the reason feminism exists in the first place. The notion that "lesbian" is an insult is homophobic and the ever-popular claim that feminists are all bitter and undersexed is just old-fashioned misogyny. Perhaps the problem, in terms of feminism's image, isn't bad marketing but sexism. Education is key Feminism is a movement, not a product. I have yet to see Marxists working on their marketing campaign and I fear that efforts to re-brand feminism are based on the notion that many see feminism less as a radical movement than as a personal identity like foodie or soccer mom. If the problem is that people misunderstand the term, education, for example, incorporating women's studies into elementary and high school curricula, would be a more effective solution than a glossy marketing campaign. Feminists will continue to be called man-haters so long as they threaten to undo patriarchy, a decidedly unfashionable pastime. Part of joining a movement that goes against the grain is that you risk being unpopular with those who are invested in maintaining the very power and privilege that is being challenged. Meghan Murphy is a writer from Vancouver, Canada. Vist her website at Feminist Current. You can follow her on twitter @MeghanEMurphy. |
Thursday leak created a 13 mile-wide slick on the surface of the water, from group of underwater oil wells 97 miles south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana Shell working to repair leak that spilled 2,000 barrels of oil into Gulf of Mexico Shell has said it has begun work to repair a fault in a flowline that has resulted in around 2,000 barrels worth of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. More than 88,000 gallons of oily-water mixture has been released from the Glider Field, a group of four underwater oil wells located around 97 miles south of Port Fourchon in Louisiana. The company said it suspects a line connecting these wells to a Shell platform leaked oil on Thursday, creating a 13 mile-wide slick on the surface of the water. Shell said the oil is not expected to reach the shoreline and that no fisheries have been closed. The company said vessels and aircraft have been deployed to mop up the spill. Shell creates green energy division to invest in wind power Read more “The trajectory is in a westerly direction with no shoreline impacts anticipated at this time,” Shell said in a statement. “Skimming continued today using infrared technology with support from aerial resources. Joint efforts have recovered approximately 1,826 barrels, over 76,600 gallons, of oily-water mixture. On-water recovery efforts are ongoing. Shell has mobilized equipment to begin repairs.” The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said it has deployed its “full investigative resources” to identify the cause of the oil spill and any potential improvements needed to underwater infrastructure. Shell’s platform, called Brutus, started operation in 2001. The oil giant has been given permission by the BSEE to resume its operations in the gulf. The US federal government has tightened up drilling regulations following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, which resulted in the deaths of 11 people, as well as the coating of thousands of seabirds and marine animals in oil. Last month, the Obama administration outlined further measures to help prevent “blowouts” that result in oil spells, as well as requirements for operators to put in place several back-ups in case something goes wrong. However, there have been criticism of government and oil industry response to the 2010 disaster. A US Chemical Safety Board report released last month found regulations nor industry practices have improved since the BP spill. “The last thing the Gulf of Mexico needs is another oil spill,” said Vicky Wyatt, a Greenpeace campaigner. “The oil and gas industry’s business-as-usual mentality devastates communities, the environment, and our climate. Make no mistake, the more fossil fuel infrastructure we have, the more spills and leaks we’ll see. It’s past time to keep it in the ground for good.” |
I’m starting a series on how I’ve used reflection for my projects. I saw that I’ve actually made a lot of stuff out of it and I just can’t put them all in one long post. I’ll start with a brief introduction to what reflection is and discuss a simple usage that has huge potential. Reflection refers to the set of APIs that “makes it possible to inspect classes, interfaces, fields and methods at runtime, without knowing the names of the classes, methods etc. at compile time. It is also possible to instantiate new objects, invoke methods and get/set field values using such API.” Basically, you can do things like traversing all the properties of a class instance and invoke them or assign value to them. You can list the class names that derive from a certain class. You can determine the attributes attached to a property or class. You can do a lot. The limit is your imagination. Luckily, Unity’s C# environment have access to such API. The namespace is aptly called System.Reflection. Loading a class name (string) into an actual class instance Say you have the following class: namespace Game { class Shoot : Command { public Shoot() { // Default constructor } public void Execute() { ... // Detailed shooting routines } } } By using reflection, we can load a Shoot instance by its full class name. First thing to do is to determine the Type that a class name points to. There’s a method for this named Type.GetType() but this is insufficient. Sometimes, it returns null even when the class exists. I’ve made a utility method for this which I found somewhere on the internet years ago: public static Type GetType(string typeName) { // Try Type.GetType() first. This will work with types defined // by the Mono runtime, in the same assembly as the caller, etc. Type type = Type.GetType(typeName); // If it worked, then we're done here if(type != null) { return type; } // Attempt to search for type on the loaded assemblies Assembly[] currentAssemblies = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies(); foreach(Assembly assembly in currentAssemblies) { type = assembly.GetType(typeName); if(type != null) { return type; } } // If we still haven't found the proper type, we can enumerate all of the // loaded assemblies and see if any of them define the type var currentAssembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(); var referencedAssemblies = currentAssembly.GetReferencedAssemblies(); foreach(var assemblyName in referencedAssemblies) { // Load the referenced assembly var assembly = Assembly.Load(assemblyName); if(assembly != null) { // See if that assembly defines the named type type = assembly.GetType(typeName); if(type != null) { return type; } } } // The type just couldn't be found... return null; } We also need the following utility code to get the constructor with no parameters. public static ConstructorInfo ResolveEmptyConstructor(Type type) { ConstructorInfo[] constructors = type.GetConstructors(); foreach(ConstructorInfo constructor in constructors) { // we only need the default constructor if(constructor.GetParameters().Length == 0) { return constructor; } } // Can't resolve appropriate constructor. Client code should check for this. return null; } Then we use the following sequence of code to load the instance. Type type = TypeUtils.GetType("Game.Shoot"); // Full class name (include the namespaces) ConstructorInfo constructor = TypeUtils.ResolveEmptyConstructor(type); object[] EMPTY_PARAMETERS = new object[0]; // This can be made into a static variable // Invoke the constructor // Can also be cast to Shoot but I'd like to point out a possible usage Command command = (Command)constructor.Invoke(EMPTY_PARAMETERS); // Use the instance command.Execute(); That wasn’t so hard, was it? But how can this used? We just made an instance from a mere string. Imagine if that string was from an XML file, or JSON, or Unity editor, or whatever. We could build an editor that collects these class names then in the game, we load those classes and use them. I’ve used this a lot in our editors. Just this week, I was working on our Grants editor. In Academia, grants act as resource boost and also guide the player on what to do next. Each grant has a set of requirements. Each requirement is implemented as a class that derives from a base class. The grant data then has a list of requirement class names. I made an editor where the designer can input the values for each grant data and also define its requirements. In the game, I then load these requirement instances and use them. The following code can be used to get the types that are deriving from a parent type. This can be used to make something like a class selection browser. Type[] types = Assembly.GetAssembly(parentType).GetTypes(); foreach (Type type in types) { if (type.IsSubclassOf(parentType) && !type.IsAbstract) { // Add to some container subclassList.Add(type); } } Hopefully, you have found this example usage of reflection useful. I plan to show more on the next part. But by then, you may have probably thought of more uses for it. Advertisements |
Kyocera Dome Osaka (Mainichi) OSAKA -- Seven ambulances were called to a professional baseball game here on the evening of June 6 after fans who had purchased all-you-can-drink tickets claimed they were suffering symptoms of acute alcohol poisoning, it has been learned. The game was between the Orix Buffaloes and the Hanshin Tigers at Kyocera Dome Osaka in the city's Nishi Ward. Sales of the all-you-can-drink tickets are limited to only certain games, and buyers can enjoy free refills of draft beer and "shochu highballs" until the bottom of the seventh inning. A total of 1,200 of the special tickets -- four times the usual amount -- were available for the Buffaloes' home games against the Tigers running from June 6 to 8 alone, and on June 6, the Tigers beat the Buffaloes 11-4. According to the Osaka Municipal Fire Department and other sources, the ambulances were dispatched during the course of the game which began at 6 p.m. Of the seven men and women aged from their 20s to 70s taken away by ambulance, five were suspected to be suffering from acute alcohol poisoning. Other spectators were also reportedly taken to the hospital by taxi. "I've never heard of this many cases of ambulances being called," stated a representative of Kyocera Dome Osaka. |
The new Star Trek movie is coming, whether you like it or not! And this time they are aiming to make Star Trek cool. Hard to believe, I know. Directing and producing this new Star Trek film is J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, Fringe, Cloverfield), so there is a good chance the movie will be entertaining (even if you don’t like Star Trek). In fact, Abrams has been quoted as saying, “We weren’t making a movie for fans of Star Trek. We were making a movie for fans of movies.” That’s encouraging! The release date is May 8, 2009, but there is already lots of news and photos making their way through the tubes and the internets. You can see the teaser trailer for the movie at the official website Star Trek Movie.com. The full trailer is scheduled to debut in front of “Quantum of Solace” in just under a month. There is a lengthy article explaining the new vision for Star Trek at Entertainment Weekly.com. Watch for spoiler warnings as you read the article (if you care). There will be a prequel comic book mini-series from IDW called “Star Trek Countdown” that focuses on the origins of the Romulan villain Nero. Be advised, there are minor SPOILERS in this link. Lots of information in the Wikipedia entry on the movie. You can check out the viral campaign at NCC-1701. Click the little numbers (like a combination lock) to get the picture clarity to 100%. After looking through all this information, I’m really starting to get psyched for the film! Can’t wait for May 8, 2009! And now… on with the photos! Teaser poster. Picture from IGN. Kirk played by Chris Pine. Picture from Entertainment Weekly. Spock played by Zachary Quinto (Sylar from ‘Heroes’). Picture from Entertainment Weekly. Dr. McCoy played by Karl Urban, with Kirk in the background. Picture from Entertainment Weekly. Sulu played by John Cho. Picture from Entertainment Weekly. The Enterprise Crew — Pictured L to R: Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Kirk (Chris Pine), Lt. Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg), Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), and Uhura (Zoe Saldana). Picture from UGO Movies. Spock throttling Kirk. Picture from Ain’t it Cool News. The saucer section of the original Enterprise under construction. Picture from Screen Rant. The updated bridge of the Enterprise. Picture from MTV Movies. Kirk climbing from a crash landed shuttle. Picture from IGN. Nero, the Romulan villain played by Eric Bana. Picture from Entertainment Weekly. Another Nero pic. Picture from JoBlo. USS KELVIN – Before Kirk is even born, this ship comes under Romulan attack, launching the plot for the new movie. Picture from Entertainment Weekly. The USS Kelvin takes a hit in the film’s opening sequence. Picture from TrekMovie.com. And finally, not a picture from the new movie but a motivational poster I absolutely love. Picture from Screen Rant. |
Two years ago, in Commonwealth v. Cruz, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that the odor of burning marijuana is not sufficient reason for a police officer to order a motorist out of his car. The court noted that under Question 2, an initiative that Massachusetts voters approved by a large margin in 2008, possessing up to an ounce of marijuana is a citable offense rather than a misdemeanor. "To order a passenger in a stopped vehicle to exit based merely on suspicion of an offense," the court ruled, "that offense must be criminal." Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley nevertheless is asking the court to uphold a car search triggered by the smell of marijuana. Among other things, he argues that such an odor counts as probable cause because possessing small amounts of cannabis remains a crime under federal law. In an amicus brief filed last Friday, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws urges the court to reject that argument (citations omitted): The appellant asks this Court to reverse its holdings in Cruz and its progeny by empowering state law enforcement to ignore the state decriminalization law and enforce instead federal prohibition law. The appellant would enable federal law to justify police searches otherwise illegal under state law.... Enforcing federal prohibition—against the will of a compelling majority of s tate's voter rejection of that policy in adopting decriminalization by initiative—violates fundamental principles of federalism and the state constitution's separation of powers.... State law enforcement derives its authority from state law, its constitution and statutes; the power of local police to detain and arrest, within the outer limits of federal Constitutional civil rights law, is derived from and determined by state law. Local police cannot evade state law constraints in state court prosecutions by wishing they were federal deputies and pretending their arrestees can be brought to federal courthouses. Allowing state law enforcement to disregard state law, by preferring federal policies rejected by popular initiative and this Court, eviscerates the sovereignty of the people and federalism's protection of state sovereignty. The case involves a motorist, Anthony Craan, who was pulled over in June 2010 by state police at a sobriety checkpoint. Trooper Scott Irish claimed to smell "the strong odor of fresh, unburned marijuana coming from the passenger compartment." After Irish mentioned this, Craan admitted that he had a plastic bag of pot in his glove compartment, which led to a car search that revealed additional marijuana, MDMA pills, and four loose rounds of ammunition. But at the point when Irish decided to search the car, all he knew was that Craan possessed less than an ounce of marijuana, which in itself is not a crime under Massachusetts law. In addition to seeking refuge in federal law, the prosecutors argue that Irish had probable cause to charge Craan, who admitted that he and his passenger had recently smoked marijuana, with driving under the influence, in which case going through the car would have been justified as a search incident to an arrest. The government also argues that the presence of a little marijuana raises the possibility of more—perhaps enough to count as a misdemeanor under state law. That last argument, like the one based on the federal Controlled Substances Act, would justify a car search whenever a cop smells (or claims to smell) pot, even though possessing up to an ounce has been decriminalized in Massachusetts. He would not even need a dog. [cross-posted at Hit & Run] |
U.K. Police: 'Reasonable Grounds' To Suspect Corporate Manslaughter In Grenfell Fire Enlarge this image toggle caption Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images Scotland Yard says "there are reasonable grounds" to suspect local authorities committed the crime of corporate manslaughter in the Grenfell Tower blaze that killed at least 80 people in June. In a letter sent to survivors and families of those killed in the fire, Metropolitan Police wrote, "After an initial assessment of [witness statements and seized documents], the officer leading the investigation has today notified Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that each organisation may have committed the offence of corporate manslaughter, under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007," according to The Guardian. Police confirmed to the Associated Press that the letter is authentic, but said it doesn't mean decisions have been made about charging individuals or organizations. The letter says a senior representative of each organization will be formally interviewed by police as part of the investigation. The Met says it has started a criminal investigation into the cause and spread of the fire, "considering the full range of offences from corporate manslaughter to regulatory breaches." Labour MP David Lammy, who lost a family friend in the fire, said police should pursue charges that carry jail time. "The punishment for corporate manslaughter is a fine," he told The Guardian. "A fine would not represent justice for the Grenfell victims and their families. Gross negligence involuntary manslaughter carries a punishment of prison time and I hope that the police and the CPS are considering involuntary manslaughter caused by gross negligence." Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, companies and organizations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter "as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care," as the UK's Health and Safety Executive explains. The law says "a breach of a duty of care by an organisation is a 'gross' breach if the conduct alleged to amount to a breach of that duty falls far below what can reasonably be expected of the organisation in the circumstances." Police have now formally identified 40 victims of the fire, which investigators say began in a refrigerator. The aluminum cladding of the 24-story building, installed during a recent renovation, has been the focus of scrutiny; investigators have found that equivalent aluminum composite tiles failed safety tests. "Detectives have been examining firms, individuals and those who refurbished the block and devised its fire safety policies," according to The Guardian. The charred remains of the tower will be covered in a protective wrap before being deconstructed in the coming months, The New York Times reports. |
The PBE has been updated and Final Boss Veigar , a new Legendary tier skin, is up for testing! The new Yasuo skin has also been named " Cyber Ops Yasuo ", Urgot has new VFX for his Q, and more! (Warning: PBE Content is tentative and iterative - what you see may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers! Manage your expectations accordingly. ) New Skin Final Boss Veigar 1820 RP [ His cape is digitized and constantly drops off pieces... EVIL PIECES. ] [ Joke ][ Dance ] As you may have noticed in the preview video, Final Boss Veigar has a unique VO. Here's the full thing, including several special interactions. Galetta's PBE Final Boss Veigar: Got feedback? Head on over toPBE bugs & feedback thread for "Miniboss? IS THAT A SHORT JOKE!? Cower in fear summoners, this isn't even his final form! Final Boss Veigar has descended onto the rift, who among you is strong enough to defeat him!? This form includes: All new corrupted pixely particle effects! His power is literally tearing the rift down to it's code! All new animations! Everything from his run to his recall! All new VO and old school sound effects! Your feedback and bug reports are extremely helpful to us, so please check out Final Boss Veigar and let us know what you think! Feel free to drop any bugs you find in this thread as well, and definitely give him a go on the Summoner’s Rift Update! See you on the Rift! NOTE: For clarification, this is a Legendary skin! :3" Skin Updates The Yasuo skin that hit the PBE for testing in the 8/12 update is now named "Cyber Ops Yasuo"! Cyber Ops Yasuo? Want a better look at Check out our earlier PBE coverage or this preview video [ Taunt ][ Recall - he does the Konami code!][ Auto attack ][ Q ][ VFX when gaining AP from Q's Passive ][ W ][ W ][ E ][ R ][ R ] Urgot Q VFX Updated Balance Changes * Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These are not official notes. * Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These areofficial notes. Champions Urgot Basic attack missile speed increased to 1600 from 1300 increased to 1600 from 1300 Acid Hunter ( Q ) now refunds half it's mana cost if it is used to kill a unit. now refunds half it's mana cost if it is used to kill a unit. Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser ( R ) cooldown lowered to 120/110/100 from 120 at all ranks cooldown lowered to 120/110/100 from 120 at all ranks Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser ( R ) mana cost lowered to 100 at all ranks from 120 at all ranks [ Context: Meddler spoke about the changes a few weeks ago. ] We've reached the end and it's time to face, a diabolical new Legendary (1820 RP) tier skin featuring new animations, vfx, a unique voiceover, and more!Q visuals have been updated and he now has a swirly acidic trail!Miss out on previous updates from this PBE cycle? Check outfor a comprehensive list of the new content in this PBE cycle or catch up with the links below ! |
[the following recounts an exceptionally powerful teaching technique employed by an economics professor of mine at university; teaching fact-checking and skepticism by salting it into the content of his delivery] One of my favorite professors in college was a self-confessed liar. I guess that statement requires a bit of explanation. The topic of Corporate Finance/Capital Markets is, even within the world of the Dismal Science, a exceptionally dry and boring subject matter, encumbered by complex mathematic models and obscure economic theory. What made Dr. K memorable was a gimmick he employed that began with his introduction at the beginning of his first class: "Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let me explain how I teach. Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures … one lie. Your job, as students, among other things, is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day." And thus began our ten-week course. This was an insidiously brilliant technique to focus our attention – by offering an open invitation for students to challenge his statements, he transmitted lessons that lasted far beyond the immediate subject matter and taught us to constantly checksum new statements and claims with what we already accept as fact. Early in the quarter, the Lie of the Day was usually obvious – immediately triggering a forest of raised hands to challenge the falsehood. Dr. K would smile, draw a line through that section of the board, and utter his trademark phrase "Very good! In fact, the opposite is true. Moving on … " As the quarter progressed, the Lie of the Day became more subtle, and many ended up slipping past a majority of the students unnoticed until a particularly alert person stopped the lecture to flag the disinformation. Every once in a while, a lecture would end with nobody catching the lie which created its own unique classroom experience – in any other college lecture, end of the class hour prompts a swift rush of feet and zipping up of bookbags as students make a beeline for the door; on the days when nobody caught the lie, we all sat in silence, looking at each other as Dr. K, looking quite pleased with himself, said with a sly grin: "Ah ha! Each of you has one falsehood in your lecture notes. Discuss amongst yourselves what it might be, and I will tell you next Monday. That is all." Those lectures forced us to puzzle things out, work out various angles in study groups so we could approach him with our theories the following week. Brilliant … but what made Dr. K’s technique most insidiously evil and genius was, during the most technically difficult lecture of the entire quarter, there was no lie. At the end of the lecture in which he was not called on any lie, he offered the same challenge to work through the notes; on the following Monday, he fielded our theories for what the falsehood might be (and shooting them down "no, in fact that is true – look at [x]") for almost ten minutes before he finally revealed: "Do you remember the first lecture – how I said that ‘every lecture has a lie?’" Exhausted from having our best theories shot down, we nodded. "Well – THAT was a lie. My previous lecture was completely on the level. But I am glad you reviewed your notes rigorously this weekend – a lot of it will be on the final. Moving on … " Which prompted an rousing melange of exasperated groans and laughter from the classroom. And while my knowledge of the Economics of Capital Markets has faded in time, the lessons that stayed with me was his real legacy; I’ve had many instructors before and since, but few that I remember with as much fondness – and why my favorite professor was a chronic liar. GD Star Rating loading... |
BotW’s Rain is the last thing to worry about My love of Zelda started when my parents first brought home that iconic, purple lunchbox. There’s a saying that your first Zelda game is likely your favorite. I am by no means an exception to this rule, and the Wii U only reminded me how amazing my pick was with the phenomenal Wind Waker HD remake (Side Note, WWHD speedrunning is more alive now than ever. Look forward to plenty of speedrun features on that in the future). As time went on, I continued to buy and play every Zelda game I could get my hands on. Love Twilight Princess; highly conflicted by Skyward Sword; refuse to acknowledge the DS Wind Waker sequels (sorry Spirit Tracks fans). Of course I bought Breath of the Wild. It’s an undeniably fantastic game. It was so good, in fact, I ranked every Breath of the Wild character (except for Beedle, whoops) Critical reception for the game has been unprecedentedly positive with Metacritic placing it as the second greatest video game to have ever been made before it even came out (currently dropped quite a few places). However, Breath’s magic quickly disappeared. I became frustrated with the narrative structure and relative absence of key characters. I listened to podcasts, read reviews, scanned the comment sections of articles and found nothing but unbridled support. Declarations of unconditional love plaster the internet. I was frustrated by the Breath-colored blinders. It is far from a perfect game. We just passed the game’s seven-month anniversary, so I feel enough time has passed to address some lingering concerns that the internet seems to largely be ignoring. As we dive into my persistent criticisms, remember that I really like this game. I just don’t think it comes close to being one of the greatest Zelda games of all time, like the entire internet seems to believe. By the way, expect spoilers. Player Freedom Kills BotW’s Characters I ranked every single one of them. As far as I can tell, I’m the only person on the internet who even attempted such an absurd feat. If there was a person with enough credibility to discuss Breath of the Wild’s character-problem, it is probably me. After speaking to every single one of them, I can make this claim with confidence. They’re great. The writing is awesome. The characters are incredibly memorable (even if their names often aren’t). The character design is some of the best in the series. So what’s the problem? If I speak so highly of them, why do I cite this as one of Breath of the Wild’s failings? This ties closely to the game’s issue with narration. Let’s look at a couple of fan favorites to emphasize some of the different problems. First, we have Riju and Sidon. I’m a huge fan of both for reasons I’m not going to get into here (again, see my rankings). They’re both critical when tackling their Divine Beasts and in those moments, they shine so brightly. When it’s done, they’re done. That’s it. Everything they’ve done, everything they are, their entire character arcs exist in these tiny fragments of isolated gameplay. Finish their Beast in the small, 15-45 minute Divine Beast lead-in and then they’re doomed to repeat the same dialogue tag for the rest of Breath of the WIld. All of Breath of the Wild feels like four DLC mission packs layered on an open world, exploration game. All these awesome characters exist in their small questline. Look at the Bartender from Twilight Princess or Medli from Wind Waker (not to mention Midna, easily the best character in the franchise). They keep returning and influencing the story. They’re real characters who constantly shape the narrative at various times. Sure, you only talk to the Great Deku Tree (WW) before Forest Haven, but it’s a crime for such an interesting character like Riju to be confined to such a limited sliver of gameplay. Then there’s Zelda. Link’s memories are clearly not about Link. The collectable cutscenes chart Zelda’s journey of self determination. In these moments, she makes for a pretty compelling character. She has doubt, failings, anger, sadness, things real people relate with. She also talks to you a couple times on the Great Plateau then goes radio-silent for the rest of the game. This dichotomy of “awesome in flashbacks” and “completely absent in the real game” is brutal. If there was ever a game to make the case for “Zelda should be the playable character,” it’s this one. But, just like every other character in the game, Zelda is locked away in a prison of player agency. Riju can’t have a large role because the player has the right to completely avoid Gerudo Desert. Speedrunners do it all the time. This applies to Zelda as well. Every player’s adventure will look completely different. This freedom is Breath of the Wild’s biggest draw. To make Zelda an active NPC in the overworld travelling from spring to spring in attempts to awaken her power would strip that choice from the player. So, she’s locked in Hyrule, demoted to an end-game reward. A Musically Challenged Soundtrack I love soundtracks, especially Zelda ones (I express that love concisely in our “Definitive Soundtrack” list). Zelda has always been about the music, ever since the very first game’s title screen. No other franchise pairs fuego songs like “Gerudo Valley” and “Dragon Roost Island” with sad songs like “The Song of Healing” or “Midna’s Lament.” In fact, no other franchise has as many classic songs as Koji Kondo has produced for Zelda. Breath of the Wild contributes to this growing list as well. Breath’s title theme is haunting, natural, and a masterpiece in its own right (even Kass’ accordion cover rocks). That rest kills me every time. Name another song. Sidon’s theme is kinda nice. Mipha’s Theme will go down as a Zelda great, but otherwise Breath of the Wild is borderline devoid of any music. I vaguely remember the musical cues in Revali’s cutscenes working well, but “working well” should never be the best praise a Zelda song can get. The game’s ambient music is fine, but ultimately redundant and unimpressive. The adaptive battle themes are definitely there, though fall far short of the musical strikes Wind Waker Link delivers in combat. I partly blame the lack of dungeons. Some of Zelda’s best songs come from its dungeons. They build atmosphere, instilling dread, optimism, or both. What comes after a dungeon? Boss battles. I’ll touch on Breath of the WIld’s bosses in a moment, but Zelda has some amazing boss themes as well: I find a way to include this song in every article I write. Breath simply doesn’t have these moments, lacking a fundamental aspect of the Zelda franchise. Repetitive Enemy Re-Skins Breath has snow, deserts, forests, volcanos, and everything else good Zelda games have. It doesn’t have enemy variety (leading to repetitive combat), memorable boss fights, or particularly diverse gameplay. The four Divine Beasts house four Ganon-clones, one for each theme (Water, Thunder, Wind, Fire). Their character models look almost identical and fit with the stone-carved aesthetic that drapes the entire game. Boss battles used to be series highs in the Zelda franchise. With bosses as creative as Bongo Bongo, Goht, or Skyward Sword’s fantastic Koloktos, even the biggest Breath of the Wild advocate must admit the element-blight’s were a misstep. Even if Skyward Sword was a divisive game, Koloktos remains one of the franchise’s best bosses. The Divine Beasts all look very similar as well (again, Breath’s overdone stone-machine motif). They emphasize Beast mechanics over unique and memorable designs. The puzzles are solid, but few. There are only about six puzzles per Divine Beast. Twilight Princess, on the other hand, had us saving monkeys, fetching stew-ingredients, chatting up elders, wrestling, and minibosses. It’s fine Breath of the Wild strayed from Zelda’s dungeon-item mechanic, but placing all the emphasis on “move the elephant’s trunk” is not a favorable substitute. In the game, you’ll fight Hinoxes, Bokolins, Lizalfos, and the occasional Lynel. Instead of scattering unique enemies in different locations, Breath’s combat challenges stem from “This time, there’s just a whole lot of them. Hope you’re weapons don’t break.” (As a quick sidenote, this lack of diversity kills Breath’s soundtrack for me. Every piece feels like some solo piano concert rather than versatile, mood-setting tracks. I would have mentioned it above, but it’s a repetitive thing, not an irrational piano problem) So What Now? Breath nails the sense of wonder and exploration that Zelda has stressed since that old man in a cave gave you a sword, but so much of the classic Zelda-formula is lost. A lot of people argue that’s a good thing. Abandoning what makes a Zelda game feel like a Zelda game does not make for a good Zelda game. Breath of the Wild is a great game. Is it perfect? I believe even the most diehard Zelda fanboy (to which I’m pretty close) would say no. Breath of the Wild will live on for a very long time, marking an incredible Nintendo experience no gamer should miss. However, if you’re looking for an authentic Zelda experience, this game has a lot holding it back. I do these “problem” lists every so often. I have on on Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee problems as well as one covering all of Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s problems. Okay, real quick. I have two more pieces of Zelda content you may be interested in. We ranked the best Zelda dungeons (bases solely on Small Keys) as well as a great piece on the best video game soundtracks of all time. You better believe Zelda makes an appearance. Author: PJ Manning PJ’s played games for the better part of 16 years. His earliest gaming memory involved going to his neighbor’s house to play GTA Vice City way too young. His second was being thoroughly unamused at a demo in Target. It was weird and hard. You had to keep swinging on ropes. That game was The Wind Waker, his favorite game of all time. He speedruns. He writes about speedrunning. He plays music. He writes about music. He Tweets. Find it here: @HashtagPManning Twitter Related Posts Follow us on social media! |
Dec 27, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (left) and forward Paul Pierce (right) share a laugh against the Boston Celtics during the second half at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 101 - 88. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports Over the past several seasons, the Washington Wizards had stockpiled veteran players that helped lead the young players on and off the court. From the likes of Roger Mason, Mo Evans, Al Harrington and Andre Miller, Ernie Grunfeld began strategically building a roster around a few young players by surrounding them with battle tested veterans. While that will continue next season, the Wizards lost an irreplaceable veteran player this off-season. Paul Pierce‘s decision to leave the nation’s capital in order to reunite with Doc Rivers in his hometown left a hole that quite frankly cannot be filled by a free agent. Pierce’s on-court demeanor and prowess made last season one of the most memorable ones in Wizards history. Adding players like Jared Dudley and Alan Anderson, both who’ve been around for quite some time, should help the Wizards, but they don’t have the personality nor experiences to truly lead like Pierce did. That won’t be an issue, though. The last couple of seasons have been huge for the growth of both John Wall and Bradley Beal. Wall, in particular, endured years of losing and miserable basketball before finally getting a taste of the playoffs two years ago. He struggled mightily in his first playoff appearance, but it was evident that he learned from the experience this past season. John Wall, with Pierce right next to him, took his game to another level in the playoffs. It’s one thing to lead in the locker room like many of the aforementioned players, but it’s another thing to bring it onto the court. Prior to Pierce’s arrival in Washington, the Wizards didn’t have very many veteran players that led on the court. Pierce certainly did that and essentially showed Washington’s core what it takes to succeed on the biggest stage the NBA has to offer. At this point in his career, no one is really sure if Pierce will continue playing at a high-level. The future Hall-of-Famer will turn 38-years-old in October, and while his game has aged well, father time has never lost a fight. Right now, I think we can all agree that Pierce did what he was asked to do by Washington’s brass. He showed them what having a great work ethic means, he displayed his confidence in a situation where the Wizards were considered the underdogs, and most importantly, he showed them how to win. Now, it’s time for John Wall to take over the team’s key leadership role. Reporter: "do you think with Pierce gone, being a leader will be more of your role?" John Wall: "That is my role" — Playing Chest (@MrDCsportsSr) July 14, 2015 John Wall has been Washington’s best player since he put on the jersey in 2010. Like any young player, though, it’s taken him some time to develop his game and personality. Believe it or not, John Wall will be going into his sixth season next year (yeah, I know; we’re getting old). Wall will never become the animated, vocal leader that Kevin Garnett or Paul Pierce are, but he’s done a terrific job of leading by example, both on and off the floor. With nearly six seasons under his belt — as strange as it sounds — John Wall has become a veteran player himself. Will he still continue to grow? Absolutely. He still has some flaws in his game that he’ll certainly correct. But, with that said, he’s developed tremendously over the past few seasons. His court vision has improved significantly, his jumper continues to progress and his ability to control the floor is second to none. Washington doesn’t have Paul Pierce to fall back on anymore. Players like Beal (22), Otto Porter (22) and Kelly Oubre (19) need someone to lead them. It might seem like we saw him play in summer league just a few seasons ago, but John Wall is ready to take on that role. |
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