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In my job as a full-stack developer at Dealer Inspire (if you like this stuff, you should work with us), I developed one of our new products using the React/Redux stack. It was completely new to me when I started, and honestly, quite confusing at first. After reading, and reading, and reading…. I finally “got it”. I put together a list of some of the resources I found useful for our team and decided to share it here as well. The list is by no means exhaustive, but it’s a good start. React Getting started – https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/getting-started.html Tutorial – https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/tutorial.html Thinking in React – https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/thinking-in-react.html ReactJS For Stupid People – http://blog.andrewray.me/reactjs-for-stupid-people/ Code School (needs account) – https://www.codeschool.com/courses/powering-up-with-react Redux Docs – http://redux.js.org/docs/introduction/index.html Egghead video course (free) – https://egghead.io/courses/getting-started-with-redux React + Redux Modern React with Redux (Udemy video course – paid) https://www.udemy.com/react-redux/learn/v4/overview Redux Usage with React – http://redux.js.org/docs/basics/UsageWithReact.html Presentational and Container Components – https://medium.com/@dan_abramov/smart-and-dumb-components-7ca2f9a7c7d0#.2ibvur8pv react-redux library docs – https://github.com/reactjs/react-redux/blob/master/docs/api.md ImmutableJS Docs (not the best) – https://facebook.github.io/immutable-js/ Introduction to Immutable.js – http://www.zsoltnagy.eu/introduction-to-immutable-js/ Introduction to Immutable.js and Functional Programming Concepts – https://auth0.com/blog/2016/03/23/intro-to-immutable-js/ Other Libraries We Use |
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan said on Tuesday it would give Afghanistan up to $5 billion in new aid, a move Tokyo hopes will improve strained security ties with Washington ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit this week. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in San Francisco, California October 15, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files Japan and the United States also agreed to set up a working group to examine plans to relocate a U.S. military base on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, a feud over which had raised concerns about the security alliance between the world’s two biggest economies. It is the first big test of ties between Washington and a new Japanese government that wants a more equal relationship with its closest security ally. Hatoyama is expected to present the aid package to Obama, who is reviewing U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, at a summit on Friday in Tokyo. The aid would be delivered over five years. The aid package, which comes ahead of a planned halt to Japan’s naval refuelling mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan, will focus on civilian steps including job training for former Taliban fighters. Tokyo and Washington have said the row over the relocation of the Futenma air base would not be the main focus of the talks on Friday, but Hatoyama is under pressure to make a decision soon. Under a 2006 agreement, the Futenma Marine base is to be closed and replaced with a facility built in a remoter part of the island by 2014 as part of a realignment of the 47,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan. But Hatoyama said before his party’s landslide August election victory that the base should be moved off the island, where many residents resent what they see as an unfair share of the burden of the U.S. military presence in Japan. In an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK, Obama said he understood the need for Tokyo to reexamine the reorganisation of U.S. bases given a new government had taken office. But he added: “I am confident that once the review is completed, they will conclude that the alliance that we have, the basing arrangements that have been discussed, all of these things serve the interest of Japan and they will continue.” TOUGH DECISION Replacing Futenma is a prerequisite for reorganising U.S. troops and reducing the burden on Okinawa by moving up to 8,000 Marines to Guam, partly at Japan’s expense. Hatoyama faces a tough decision as he tries to maintain the support of the Okinawan people without upsetting Washington. “If the new government approves the ... base plan as it was agreed under the previous government, that would be tantamount to an act of suicide, so I don’t think the Hatoyama government will choose that path,” Yoichi Iha, the mayor of Ginowan city where the Futenma base is located, told a news conference. A survey by the mass circulation Yomiuri newspaper showed on Tuesday that 63 percent wanted Japan to implement the plan to relocate the Futenma base as planned or with minor changes. But 70 percent of Okinawa residents in a poll this month by the Mainichi newspaper said they wanted the base off the island. Residents of Okinawa, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) south of Tokyo, have long resented the bases which they associate with crime, noise pollution and accidents. In the latest incident, U.S. forces detained a soldier who was driving a car that may have been involved in a suspected hit-and-run case in which a Japanese resident in a village on the island was killed over the weekend, NHK reported on Tuesday. Hatoyama said that if the reports were true, then he wanted the soldier handed over to Japanese authorities soon. “Whenever accidents like this happen, I am driven to think that it is necessary to decrease the burden of the people in Okinawa,” he told reporters. Hatoyama has said he would not rush a decision on Futenma, adding Obama would be keen to discuss Japan’s aid to Afghanistan. |
With a baby on the way, that paycheck was even more precious. “Now more than ever, I need to work,” she said. But when Ms. Valencia told her supervisors in July that she had a high-risk pregnancy, they told her she could work only without restrictions, she said. After taking time off to try to negotiate an accommodation with the company, she returned when her co-workers volunteered to handle the heavy machinery and lifting. In August, she said, her supervisors insisted that she work overtime. Ms. Valencia felt so ill after two lengthy shifts that she went to the hospital and then to her doctor, who gave her the letter that she handed to her boss. The response from the company came at about 9:30 a.m., when she was handed a letter written by Bob Ferla, the operations manager. “Unfortunately, we as a company are not able to allow you to continue work,” wrote Mr. Ferla, who warned that her high-risk pregnancy could put her “at risk” in a work environment that was fast-paced, was very physical and involved machinery. “Please understand we need a ‘full-duty release’ from the doctor,” he added, if she wanted to continue to work. Ms. Valencia said she begged her managers to excuse her from overtime as her doctor had recommended. She pointed out that the company’s busy season typically ended in September, and that overtime was rarely needed during the rest of the year. |
President Donald Trump called anti-Semitic violence "horrible" and vowed Tuesday to take steps to counter extremism in comments that followed criticism that the White House had not clearly denounced vandalism and threats targeting Jewish institutions. Hours before Trump's remarks, Hillary Clinton called on her former presidential rival to speak out against anti-Semitic acts after more than 170 Jewish graves were found toppled at a cemetery in Missouri. "The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community at community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil," Trump said following a visit to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. Trump called the tour "meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms." Earlier, he told NBC News that "anti-Semitism is horrible and it's going to stop." The remarks by Trump also appear aimed at easing pressure on his administration, which faces claims from opponents that it has failed to distance itself from extremist ideology and has emboldened right-wing groups through its populist, America-first themes. The tweet from Clinton did not specifically mention the gravesite disturbances in University City, Mo., but noted increasing reports of "troubling" threats against Jewish community centers, cemetery desecrations and online intimidation. Clinton's message to Trump came as the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald S. Lauder, also urged U.S. officials to recognize that "anti-Semitism is alive and kicking." "American Jews are worried," Lauder said in a statement. "It is shocking to see that Jewish sites are once again being targeted by criminals." On Monday, the Anti-Defamation League reported a wave of bomb threats directed against Jewish Community Centers in multiple states, the fourth series of such threats since the beginning of the year, it said, a development that elicited comments from a White House spokesman and Ivanka Trump, neither of which used the phrase "anti-Semitism" or mentioned Jews. Ivanka Trump's tweet: "America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers. #JCC" "Glad to see this," the ADL's Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted about Ivanka Trump's comment. "All Jews need to urge" the president "to step forward & share a plan. His words carry weight. His actions will speak even louder." The exchanges were particularly noteworthy in part because of Trump's unusual response at a news conference Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a question about the rise in anti-Semitic incidents around the country. Rather than condemning them, Trump responded by talking about his electoral college victory, describing the question as unfair. Trump has been criticized for refusing to describe the threats toward Jews as "anti-Semitism." An op-ed at the Forward, the New York-based newspaper written for a Jewish audience, described Trump's "silence about anti-Semitism" as "deeply disturbing." When asked again about the rise in anti-Semitic threats, during another news conference on Thursday, the president responded as if he was being personally accused. Trump said that the question was "very insulting" and that he was "the least anti-Semitic person that you've ever seen in your entire life." The weekend's events, coming in the wake of last week's public exchanges with Trump, served to heat up a long-simmering tension between some leaders of the nation's Jewish community and the Trump White House. The perpetrators of the cemetery vandalism and their motives were not yet established. Police in University City, an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, were just launching an investigation, reviewing video surveillance at the cemetery, operated on a not-for-profit basis by the Chesed Shel Emeth Society and calling on anyone with information to come forward. Because of the Sabbath, the cemetery does not operate on Saturday, the director of the Chesed Shel Emeth Society, Anita Feigenbaum, told The Washington Post in a phone interview. A groundskeeper arrived Monday morning to find gravestones overturned across a wide section of the cemetery, the oldest section, bearing the remains of Jews who died between the late 1800s and the mid-20th century. She called it a "horrific act of cowardice," beyond anything the cemetery had experienced in the past. The cemetery was founded in 1888 by the Russian Jewish community in St. Louis "to aid all Jews who needed burial whether they had the money or not. They started with the burial society and then extended to hospitals and houses that help the poor and the sick. To this day that's what we do. We are not for profit. We help in this horrible time in a person's life." Feigenbaum had walked through the cemetery during the day and had not yet completed counting the number of damaged stones, most of them pushed over, off their bases. So far she said she had found than 170. Feigenbaum said she was starting to hear from families of people buried there. "We will reach out to the families that are affected," she said. The cemetery holds the remains of more than 20,000, she estimated. She said she was getting an "outpouring of support from across the United States" with people volunteering to help with repairs. Separately on Monday, the Anti-Defamation League reported a wave of bomb threats directed against Jewish community centers in multiple states, the fourth series of such threats since the beginning of the year, it said. "While ADL does not have any information at this time to indicate the presence of any actual bombs at the institutions threatened, the threats themselves are alarming, disruptive and must always be taken seriously." Bomb threats were called in at Jewish community centers in 11 cities across the United States: Albuquerque, Amherst, Birmingham, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Milwaukee, Nashville, St. Paul, Tampa and Whitefish Bay, Wis. Since January, there have been 69 bomb threat calls targeting 54 centers in 27 different states, according to the Jewish Community Center Association. In Amherst and Buffalo, the community centers were briefly closed after a threat was phoned to the Amherst center. Disruption was the goal, said Richard A. Zakalik, the local New York JCC executive director, to the Buffalo News on Monday. "They accomplished what they wanted," Zakalik said to the Buffalo News. "The whole point was to scare and disrupt." |
Suotamo was born in Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland. As a youth, he performed roles as a stage actor. Suotamo attended Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and played the power forward and center positions for the Penn State Nittany Lions . With childhood interests in music, arts, and movies he studied film and video at PSU. He was a strong academic performer at Penn State, where he was twice named to the Academic All-Big Ten team, and graduated in 3½ years with a Bachelor of Arts degree in December 2008 in order to fulfill his Finnish conscription service and to pursue a career in film. [1] Club career Edit Suotamo played seven seasons in Finland's basketball leagues, including four seasons in the top tier Korisliiga.[2][3] He has also sold insurance.[4] National team career Edit Suotamo played three games for the Finnish national basketball team and sixty-six games for the junior national teams.[2] |
Ukrainian kids, new victims of Israeli ‘organ theft’ An international Israeli conspiracy to kidnap children and harvest their organs is gathering momentum as another shocking story divulges Tel Aviv’s plot to import Ukrainian children and harvest their organs. The story brings to light the fact that Israel has brought some 25,000 Ukrainian children into the occupied entity over the past two years in order to harvest their organs. It cites a Ukrainian man’s fruitless search for 15 children who had been adopted in Israel. The children had clearly been taken by Israeli medical centers, where they were used for ‘spare parts’. The account was unveiled five days ago by a Ukrainian philosophy professor and author, Vyacheslav Gudin, at a pseudo-academic conference in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Gudin told an estimated 300 attendees of the Kiev conference that it was essential that all Ukrainians be made aware of the genocide Israel was perpetrating. The conference also featured two professors who presented a book blaming “the Zionists” for the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s, as well as the country’s current condition. Meanwhile, Ukrainians demonstrated outside the Israeli Embassy in Kiev on Tuesday to protest a letter signed by 26 Knesset members (MKs) condemning what they described as anti-Semitic remarks by presidential candidate Sergey Ratushnyak. Protesters chanted ‘Ukraine isn’t the Gaza Strip,’ suggesting that they consider the effort by the Israeli MKs as an intervention in their country. A story, published in the Arabic-language Algerian daily al-Khabar in September, reported that Interpol, the international police organization, has revealed the existence of ‘a Jewish gang’ that was ‘involved in the abduction of children from Algeria and trafficking of their organs.’ According to the story, bands of Moroccans and Algerians had been roaming the streets of Algerian cities in an attempt to hunt around for young children. They then trafficked the kids across the border into the neighboring Morocco. The children were then sold to Israelis and American Jews in Oujda, the capital of eastern Morocco, for the purpose of organ harvest in Israel and the United States. The story is based on statements made by Mustafa Khayatti, head of the Algerian National Committee for the Development of Health Research. Khayatti maintains that the abduction of children in Algeria is linked to arrests made in New York and New Jersey at the end of July, in which several Jewish men were among the 44 arrested in connection to an investigation into illegal organ trafficking and political corruption. The story comes in line with the article published last month in Aftonbladet, Sweden’s largest circulation daily, suggesting that the Israeli army kidnapped and killed young Palestinians to harvest their organs. It shed light on the case of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, a 19-year-old Palestinian man, who was shot dead in 1992 by Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Imatin. Bostrom, who witnessed the man’s killing, said Ghanem’s body was abducted following the shooting and was returned at midnight, during an imposed curfew, several days later by the Israeli military with a cut from the stomach to the neck that had been stitched up. Bostrom argued that an autopsy would be required if the cause of death was not apparent, while in this case it was clear that Bilal was shot dead. After that incident, at least 20 Palestinian families told Bostrom that they suspected that the Israeli military had taken the organs of their sons after they had been killed and then taken away by Israeli forces before being dropped back in the area. And this is not the first time. In July this year there another organ scam by people with contacts in Israel was uncovered in New Jersey, USA. Read the following article from Bloomberg.com : New Jersey Mayors, Five Rabbis Arrested in Corruption Probe By David Voreacos The rabbis are Saul Kassin, 87, chief rabbi of Sharee Zion, a synagogue in Brooklyn, New York; Eliahu Ben Haim, 58, the principal rabbi of Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal, New Jersey; Edmond Nahum, 56, of Deal Synagogue in Deal; Mordchai Fish, 56, of Congregation Sheves Achim in Brooklyn; and Lavel Schwartz, 57, Fish’s brother. The rabbis were charged with laundering money that often was sent to Israel. They are members of the Syrian Jewish or Hasidic Jewish communities, Marra said at the news conference. Authorities issued a warrant for Schwartz’s arrest. The other four rabbis were arrested yesterday and appeared in court. “This case uncovered a web of corruption that spanned the state,” Dun said. “All of the individuals were connected through their illicit activities with the undercover witness.” Kassin is accused of laundering more than $200,000 through Dwek from June 2007 through December 2008 by accepting “dirty checks” from him and exchanging them for “clean” checks, according to prosecutors. ‘Asserts His Innocence’ “The rabbi asserts his innocence,” said Kassin attorney Robert Stahl after U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk imposed a $200,000 bail bond. “It’s a shame that he’s caught up in some misunderstanding. Despite his difficult circumstances, he remains confident that the system of justice will prevail.” Falk imposed a $1.5 million bail bond and electronic monitoring on Ben Haim. His attorney, Michael O’Donnell, declined comment. Falk set a $700,000 bail bond on Nahum. “He had no involvement in any scheme as alleged and certainly looks forward to the opportunity to clear his name,” Nahum attorney Justin Walder said. “There’s no profit, no involvement in any international scheme.” Nahum was implicated by “a person who obviously has his own problems and tried to limit his exposure” to criminal charges, Walder said. Fish, Schwartz and two other defendants used a charitable, tax-exempt organization called BCG, which was associated with Fish’s synagogue, to launder money by using money transfers, according to the FBI. ‘Vindication’ “We are confident that the transfers referred to in the complaint will be explained to a jury in a manner that will result in Mr. Fish’s vindication,” saidMichael Bachner, his attorney. He said Dwek “used his closeness and the sterling reputation of his family to manipulate individuals who believed that he would never be involved in illegal conduct.” Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, 58, of Brooklyn, was accused of conspiring with others to acquire and trade human organs for use in transplantation. Rosenbaum, who was “purportedly” involved in real estate, was approached by a cooperating witness and an undercover FBI agent about buying a human kidney from a human organ broker, according to the complaint. Rosenbaum said it would cost $150,000, with half payable up front, according to the complaint. Rosenbaum said some of the money would go to the donor and some to doctors in Israel, according to the complaint. ‘Illegal to Sell’ “One of the reasons it’s so expensive is because you have to shmear (meaning pay various individuals for their assistance) all the time,” according to the complaint. “It’s illegal to buy. It’s illegal to sell.” Attorneys for Rosenbaum and the other suspects either couldn’t be identified or couldn’t be reached for comment. Prosecutors charged the men in a series of criminal complaints detailing the allegations. Ben Haim was accused of laundering $1.5 million through the undercover witness, who said he “was engaged in illegal businesses and schemes including bank fraud, trafficking in counterfeit goods and concealing assets and monies in connection with bankruptcy proceedings,” according to an FBI criminal complaint. Before his 2006 arrest, Dwek deposited two $25 million checks from another account of his, which had a zero balance, prosecutors alleged. Dwek then wired $22.8 million out of PNC, falsely assuring bank officials that he would forward funds to cover the overdraft, according to prosecutors. $10 Million Bond Dwek posted a $10 million bond, secured by $3 million in equity in the homes of his mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Dwek was never indicted, instead receiving 17 extensions from a judge to continue the period in which his case had to be presented to a federal grand jury. Michael Himmel and Christopher Porrino, lawyers for Dwek, didn’t return calls or e-mails requesting comment. More than 300 agents of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service arrested the suspects and executed search warrants this morning, according to Dun. Agents arrested 37 suspects yesterday, two surrendered, and three, including Smith, are expected to surrender tomorrow. Authorities issued arrest warrants for two other suspects. Agents also searched the house of Joseph Doria, a former Democratic assemblyman and the commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs. He hasn’t been charged. They also searched the offices of the president of St. Peter’s College, a school in Jersey City, as well as a synagogue in Deal, Dun said. “Any corruption is unacceptable — anywhere, anytime, by anybody,” New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat seeking re-election against Republican Christopher Christie, the former U.S. attorney in New Jersey, said in a statement. ‘Cannot Be Tolerated’ “The scale of corruption we’re seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated,” Corzine said. Doria resigned yesterday at Corzine’s request, the governor’s spokesman said. The arrests yesterday emerged from an investigation that spans a decade and has led to two earlier roundups. “New Jersey’s corruption problem is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the country,” FBI supervising agent Ed Kahrer said. “Corruption is a cancer that is destroying the core values of this state and this great nation.” To contact the reporter on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net. So why do they do it? One reason is obviously money but there are other explanations such as Professor Israel Shahak’s in his book “Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years”: “ACCORDING TO THE JEWISH religion, the murder of a Jew is a capital offense and one of the three most heinous sins (the other two being idolatry and adultery). Jewish religious courts and secular authorities are commanded to punish, even beyond the limits of the ordinary administration of justice, anyone guilty of murdering a Jew. A Jew who indirectly causes the death of another Jew is, however, only guilty of what talmudic law calls a sin against the ‘laws of Heaven’, to be punished by God rather than by man. “When the victim is a Gentile, the position is quite different. A Jew who murders a Gentile is guilty only of a sin against the laws of Heaven, not punishable by a court. To cause indirectly the death of a Gentile is no sin at all. “Thus, one of the two most important commentators on the Shulhan Arukh explains that when it comes to a Gentile, ‘one must not lift one’s hand to harm him, but one may harm him indirectly, for instance by removing a ladder after he had fallen into a crevice .., there is no prohibition here, because it was not done directly: He points out, however, that an act leading indirectly to a Gentile’s death is forbidden if it may cause the spread of hostility towards Jews. “A Gentile murderer who happens to be under Jewish jurisdiction must be executed whether the victim was Jewish or not. However, if the victim was Gentile and the murderer converts to Judaism, he is not punished. For more on this visit http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/jewhis1.htm#Jewish History, Jewish Religion: Advertisements |
In addition to a plank calling for a total ban on abortion with no exceptions (which Democrats have quickly dubbed the Akin Amendment), and another taking a hard line against Shariah law, the Republican Party platform this year will most likely include a plank calling for more Arizona-style immigration laws. The draft platform, which still has to be approved next week by the full convention in Tampa, includes language stating that laws like Arizona’s SB 1070 should be "encouraged, not attacked,” and calls for federal authorities to drop challenges to the immigration laws. The platform measure was introduced by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the prolific anti-immigration activist who authored Arizona’s law, advised several other states on their immigration laws, and helped create Mitt Romney’s immigration policy. He is also behind the anti-Shariah plank. "I was pleased at how overwhelming the majorities were, it was a voice vote and I think there were maybe 80 percent supporting it ... The Republican Platform is now very strongly opposed to illegal immigration," Kobach told the Hill after the platform committee voted to add the language. Advertisement: The party has always been favorable to Arizona’s approach to immigration, which seeks to make life in the U.S. so terrible for undocumented immigrants that they “self-deport,” as Romney said, but it’s noteworthy that the party has officially adopted the stance and enshrined it in their governing platform. A hard line on immigration has increasingly become a litmus test for Republican politicians. Among other problems, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s star fell during the Republican primary because of his slightly less-than-draconian approach to immigration. The platform will likely rankle the tiny handful of leaders in the party like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who have been pushing the party to be more embracing of Hispanic voters. Bush called SB 1070 the “wrong approach” and said his children may be profiled by Arizona police (his wife and their mother is Mexican-American). But Bush and his allies have been vastly outgunned in the party in recent years. The news comes just as the Romney campaign has set a hugely ambitious goal for November: Capture 38 percent of the Hispanic vote. That’s a step up from John McCain, who won 31 percent of the bloc in 2008. And it will be an even tougher haul for Romney than for McCain. Romney has easily the most restrictive immigration stance of any Republican presidential nominee in the past 75 years and has consistently polled in the low 20s among Latinos. An NBC/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll from July found Obama beating him 67 to 23 percent among Latinos, and that was one of the smaller polls of the bloc. Another poll of Latinos from the same news organizations comes out later today. Romney's strategy is based on the assumption that Latino voters care almost exclusively about the economy, and very little about immigration. Unfortunately for him, polls show that’s not true. Since the primary, where Romney had the most restrictive stance of any serious candidate, he’s tried to avoid talking about immigration as much as possible. Notice that he said nothing last week when Obama’s new policy granting temporary legal status to young undocumented immigrants went into effect. The adoption of the policy comes even as other states have had very mixed experiences after adopting harsh immigration laws. In Alabama, for example, the law has caused enormous unintended problems, including major economic fallout, and some of its sponsors have since recanted their support. South Carolina and Utah have also passed laws modeled on Arizona’s. Behind all these laws is Kobach. Between his leadership on immigration, and now his new franchise in Shariah, the GOP is increasingly becoming Kris Kobach’s party. James Bopp, a longtime GOP operative and RNC committeeman who chaired one of the platform subcommittees, agreed. "Of the amendments that Kris either made or spoke in favor of, each and every one was adopted. He had a significant impact on the formulation of the platform. People respect his views and listen to him carefully on these issues,” Bopp told the Hill. |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Chris Grayling blamed the rise in unemployment on the financial crisis UK unemployment rose by 114,000 between June and August to 2.57 million, a 17-year high, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate also increased to 8.1%. The jobless total for 16 to 24-year-olds hit a record high of 991,000 in the quarter, a jobless rate of 21.3%. The number of people out of work and claiming benefits rose 17,500 to 1.6 million in September. Other figures showed a record cut in the number of part-time workers, down by 175,000, and there was also a record reduction of 74,000 in the number of over-65s in employment. The Employment Secretary, Chris Grayling, said that what the UK was now seeing was "the impact of the international financial crisis". Speaking in the Commons at Prime Minister's questions, the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband, said: "A year ago ... the prime minister justified his economic policy by saying unemployment would fall this year, next year and the year after. Isn't it time he admitted his plan isn't working?" There is little cheer in the latest official figures and they illustrate the human cost of the slowdown in economic growth Jobless figures paint bleak picture The Prime Minister, David Cameron, rejected the criticism and said he would stick to his plans to reduce the deficit of nearly 10%. "These are very disappointing figures that have been announced today and every job that is lost is a tragedy for that person and for their family and that is why this government is going to do everything it possibly can to help get people into work." Confidence The Bank of England recently said it would pump another £75bn into the economy through more quantitative easing (QE) to try to improve the business climate. The Bank's chief economist, Spencer Dale, has warned the UK is suffering one of its worst ever periods of financial turmoil. He told the Reuters news agency that the economy was likely to get steadily weaker throughout the rest of this year. But Mr Grayling said the "important reason why we are pursuing deficit reduction" was to retain the confidence of commercial markets, and to encourage businesses to set up in the UK. The forces acting to pull employment back to earth are starting to win out Is labour market coming back to earth? He also said that the latest available figures showed that over the past year, more jobs had been created in the private sector than had been lost in the public sector. 'Grim figures' The TUC's general secretary, Brendan Barber, called the latest set of unemployment figures "terrible". "The government's austerity measures have turned unemployment into a full-blown crisis - with job losses not seen since the darkest days of the recession," Mr Barber said. "Worryingly, this is not simply the result of eurozone troubles. This unemployment crisis is state-sponsored and areas like the North East are paying a heavy price, with over one in 10 people out of work." The data drew a mixed reaction from economists. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Shadow secretary for work and pensions Liam Byrne: "The government's plan is hurting, but not working." Ross Walker, from RBS Financial Markets, said the picture was not altogether gloomy. "The drop in total employment is bigger than people thought. But it is worth noting that it is almost entirely part-time," he said. "So in the latest quarter, full-time employment - which to me is always the single most important indicator - was down just 2,000 and it's still up over the past year by about 124,000." But Alan Clarke, of Scotia Capital, said the figures were a "disaster". He added: "That (the data) shouldn't come as a surprise because the economy is growing at half the pace it needs to keep unemployment stable. That's not going to change anytime soon, so we should get used to numbers like this." The chief economist at the Institute of Directors, Graeme Leach, said: "These are grim figures and are likely to get worse before they get better. But abandoning the deficit reduction plan will do the unemployed no favours. "The hope is that QE2 will lift the money supply and economic activity, but the ongoing eurocrisis is pushing the UK towards a double-dip with increasing speed. All this is before the threat of contagion has actually materialised. We are sailing in stormy seas." |
LOS ANGELES – To jailbreak or not to jailbreak? That was the question on everybody's mind Thursday as copyright regulators, content creators and digital rights groups battled over whether Americans should have the right to tinker with the devices that they buy. The U.S. Copyright Office held the hearing Thursday as part of its deliberations over whether it will continue to allow Americans to jailbreak their mobile phones, and whether they will expand that right to cover tablets and videogame consoles. Jailbreaking and rooting are techniques used to get past manufacturer-installed roadblocks that prevent users from having full control over their devices. In the case of the iPhone, jailbreaking allows users to run applications not approved by Apple. Every three years, the U.S. Copyright Office entertains requests to create temporary loopholes in the law that makes it unlawful to circumvent encryption technologies in items that you buy. It’s that time again, the fifth go-around following the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s 1998 passage. "This is essentially like letting consumers open the hoods of their own cars," said Marcia Hofmann, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is asking for the hardware exemptions. About two dozen exemptions have been granted since the DMCA's passage. They are allotted by the Copyright Office if regulators are convinced consumers are "adversely affected in their ability to make non-infringing use due to the prohibition on circumvention." The office granted the exemption for mobile phones in 2010, which makes it set to expire next year. Later in the day, here at the UCLA School of Law, the public hearing will shift to a discussion of cracking of the CSS encryption on motion picture DVDs. It's all part of a long-running showdown between the big copyright holders who view the world as divided into creators and consumers, and a coalition of librarians, digital rights groups, disability activists and hackers who seek to preserve a world where people can repurpose, upgrade and build upon the devices and media they legally buy, just as hackers, painters and culture jammers have done for decades before the DMCA. Christian Genetski, general counsel of the Entertainment Software Association, told the Copyright Office, whose panelists included its top attorneys and Maria Pallante, the register of copyrights, that freeing Americans to bypass access controls on videogame consoles would decimate the gaming business. "It will gut videogame consoles' piracy protections," he said. "We're here today because our copyright interests are at stake." Allowing such jailbreaking, Hofmann countered, would allow the so-called homebrew community of game developers to play their games on the machines, while also allowing researchers to use the consoles like computers in the furtherance of science. But the regulators were not clear whether the videogame hack was necessary. They suggested scientists could use computers for their research, and homebrew gamers can play those, too, on their computers. Robert Kasunic, deputy general counsel of the Copyright Office, suggested that the benefits don't outweigh the tradeoffs to piracy. "How do you balance, for instance, the use of being able to put Pong on a homebrew system with the numbers we are aware of in terms of videogame piracy?" he asked, noting that millions of videogames are already being shared without authorization on The Pirate Bay. David Carson, the office's general counsel, asked Hofmann whether Sony, the maker of the PlayStation, has ever denied a researcher who had asked to re-enable access to Linux that the PlayStation once provided. "I have not heard of any instances of that," Hofmann replied. Genetski said the risk was too great. Authorizing videogame-console hacking would foster an even greater videogame pirating community, he argued. For research and playing homebrewed games, he said, "Clearly, there is an alternative platform that is available." All DMCA exemptions, which are proposed by the public, expire every three years and must be reauthorized by the Copyright Office. The Copyright Office’s approved exemptions must then be approved by the Librarian of Congress, currently James Billington. Regulators are not expected to make any approvals until later this year, at a date not yet disclosed. But when it came to leaving intact the office's 2010 decision authorizing smartphone jailbreaking – to acquire root access to the phone – the regulators appeared to believe phone users have a fair use right to do so, to enable them to run apps of their choice. "Developers need the access to produce better-quality applications. Can you respond to that?" Pallante asked Steve Metalitz, who represented the Business Software Alliance, the motion picture studios and recording artists. "The exemption should be limited to that," Metalitz said. He added that regulators should not dictate to American companies like Apple what apps they should allow on their phones. "There is a no god-given right to sell a Chevy at Ford dealers," he said. Jay Freeman, the founder of Cydia, the alternative Apple app store for jailbroken iOS devices, said in the last year alone, 54 million unique Apple devices have downloaded his store. Freeman did not testify, but was in the audience of less than two dozen onlookers. He noted that during the last exemption go-around, Apple staunchly protested, saying authorizing jailbreaking would ruin its business model, which at the time included 1 billion Apple-approved app downloads. Today, more than 25 billion apps have been downloaded from Apple's app store, and its stock is skyrocketing. Apple, which had also claimed jailbreaking would open cell towers to sabotage, was nowhere in sight at today's hearing. "Apple just doesn't seem to care," Freeman said of the latest jailbreaking proposal. Still, the regulators said they needed more information about authorizing, for the first time, the ability to jailbreak tablets, despite the widespread ability for the public to already do so via the Dev-Team for Apple's devices and a motley crew of other Android rooting teams. For starters, the regulators noted that e-readers are included in the EFF's tablet proposal. Carson suggested that allowing the jailbreaking of a Nook or Kindle, or other "single-purpose" device, "might jeopardize" the copyrighted material on those devices. "There are some very important copyright concerns that might be militating against it," he said. |
A community activist tries to persuade a group of protesters to move back in Ferguson, Missouri. AP/Jeff Roberson U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is suggested the police authorities in Ferguson, Missouri should diversify in order to sooth racial tensions with the community. "Over time, ... [the police] should consider the role that increased diversity in law enforcement can play in helping to build trust within communities," Holder said in a statement released Thursday afternoon. The relatively small city of Ferguson has become the epicenter of protests against police violence in America since local officers shot and killed an unarmed African-American teen last Saturday. According to ABC News, the Ferguson police department has three black officers and 47 white officers. Holder's statement, which arrived not long after President Barack Obama spoke on the topic, also said the Department of Justice was investigating the incident. "All the while, the federal civil rights investigation into the shooting incident itself continues, in parallel with the local investigation into state law violations," Holder said. "Our investigators from the Civil Rights Division and U.S. attorney's office in Missouri have already conducted interviews with eyewitnesses on the scene at the time of the shooting incident on Saturday. Our review will take time to conduct, but it will be thorough and fair." The Ferguson police did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider. View Holder's full statement below: "This morning, I met with President Obama to discuss the events in Ferguson, Missouri. Like the President, I extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of Michael Brown. While his death has understandably caused heartache within the community, it is clear that the scenes playing out in the streets of Ferguson over the last several nights cannot continue."For one thing, while the vast majority of protests have been peaceful, acts of violence by members of the public cannot be condoned. Looting and willful efforts to antagonize law enforcement officers who are genuinely trying to protect the public do nothing to remember the young man who has died. Such conduct is unacceptable and must be unequivocally condemned."By the same token, the law enforcement response to these demonstrations must seek to reduce tensions, not heighten them. Those who peacefully gather to express sympathy for the family of Michael Brown must have their rights respected at all times. And journalists must not be harassed or prevented from covering a story that needs to be told."At a time when we must seek to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message. At my direction, Department officials have conveyed these concerns to local authorities. Also at my direction, the Department is offering - through our COPS office and Office of Justice Programs - technical assistance to local authorities in order to help conduct crowd control and maintain public safety without relying on unnecessarily extreme displays of force. The local authorities in Missouri have accepted this offer of assistance as of this afternoon."Department officials from the Community Relations Service are also on the ground in Missouri to help convene law enforcement officials and civic and faith leaders to plot out steps to reduce tensions in the community. The latest such meeting was convened in Ferguson as recently as this morning. Over time, these conversations should consider the role that increased diversity in law enforcement can play in helping to build trust within communities."All the while, the federal civil rights investigation into the shooting incident itself continues, in parallel with the local investigation into state law violations. Our investigators from the Civil Rights Division and U.S. attorney's office in Missouri have already conducted interviews with eyewitnesses on the scene at the time of the shooting incident on Saturday. Our review will take time to conduct, but it will be thorough and fair." |
South African murder stats higher than Afghanistan South African murder stats higher than Afghanistan South Africa has a higher murder rate than some war zones. Recently released crime statistics quote murders in South Africa as 17805 for the 12 months starting in April 2014. This puts murders in the country in the same bracket as those in the war zones of Iraq & Afghanistan. Even more shocking that there has been little coverage of this in the media. If we compare 17805 murders over this 12 month period to over 20000 in Iraq & 14000 in Afghanistan over the same period, the excessively high number seems surreal. These huge numbers highlight the crisis & the tragedy of violence in a country that was once hailed a great success due to its peaceful transition to democracy. Murder figures are broadly regarded as the most reliable of crime statistics. While rape, assault & other crimes are widely under reported, deaths are widely reported even in countries where the population has lost faith in the ability of authorities to take action. Crime stats are often manipulated, commonly by moving types of crime from one category to another. Assault is grouped under different headings and some crimes are recategorised to reduce “serious” crimes stats. Murder stats are difficult to disguise. Other crimes that are spiralling out of control are armed robbery, housebreaking & carjacking. The fall in reported rape stats is attributed to a decline in the number of victims who are willing to come forward. Wait times for trial, lenient sentencing & fear for personal safety affect victims of domestic violence & other family crimes. The South African Police employs more than 190 000 people and seems incapable of controlling the crime wave sweeping the country, despite the force having access to resources & technology. A report on dw.com stating that according to the Police Minister 686 police officers had been arrested last year for various crimes raises more concerns about the effectiveness of policing in South Africa. Daily crime stats: Murders 49 Attempted murder 51 Vehicle hijacking 31 Burglary 714 Theft from vehicles 394 Theft from business 202 Theft of motor vehicles, & shoplifting dropped slightly, (2.6% & 1.1%) while stock theft dropped by 6.2%. Crime is more common in lower income areas. Murder is often drug induced/related & victims are often known to each other. The theft of motor vehicles points to an increase in organised crime/syndicates. Farm murders 67 farmers were murdered in 2014 (according to Afriforum) This is a massive number when you consider the sparsely populated nature of farming areas, & the fact that food production is vitally important. These murders in particular, given the history of South Africa, may well fall under “hate crimes”. Share this: Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit LinkedIn |
Your password resets are really annoying the British government. Can you please stick to one? Stop resetting passwords, you can’t handle it – GCHQ If you are tired of being forced to reset your password, at least the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is with you. On a day dedicated to passwords, GCHQ’s Information Security Arm posted a blog post repeating its advice against the most common security practice of routinely changing passwords. “In 2015, we explicitly advised against it. This article explains why we made this unexpected recommendation, and why we think it’s the right way forward, ” a post by GCHQ’s Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG) notes. CESG has published a 16-page document titled “Simplifying Your Approach” that explains to businesses how they can secure information without demanding users to reset their passwords. The UK government thinks that the public can’t handle having too many passwords and would eventually forget them which “makes matters worse.” Wondering why you shouldn’t be asked to reset your passwords? GCHQ believes that changing passwords actually puts users at more risk. […] chances are that the new password will be similar to the old one. Attackers can exploit this weakness. It’s one of those counter-intuitive security scenarios; the more often users are forced to change passwords, the greater the overall vulnerability to attack. Changing passwords routinely is one of the first online security tips you get. From keeping complex passwords for banking accounts to never reusing the same passwords for every online service, most of our online security relies on the use of thoughtfully crafted passwords. Which is exactly why it is a bad idea, says GCHQ. The problem is that this doesn’t take into account the inconvenience to users – the ‘usability costs’ – of forcing users to frequently change their passwords. Britain’s spy agency is not only worried about users being frustrated by repeated demands of password resets, it also seems to care for the businesses who have to reset passwords for users when they forget their newly created passwords. New passwords are also more likely to be forgotten, and this carries the productivity costs of users being locked out of their accounts, and service desks having to reset passwords. This is the kind of advice that everyone wants to listen to. Forget about passwords. Create one and let it stay the same for the next decade. Since GCHQ says we can’t manage “random” and “hard to remember” passwords, how about we use the same password for every other online service and product? If nothing, it would certainly make the job of GCHQ easier. On #WorldPasswordDay, please consider changing your password to something other than “password” pic.twitter.com/N9WOR39sWa — Zee (@growingupzee) May 5, 2016 |
Iran says it is fully on board to help revive Silk Road, an ancient trade route for a thousand years which China plans to expand between Asia, Africa and Europe. Leaders from 29 countries and ministers and top officials from many others will gather in Beijing for a two-day summit starting on Sunday to map out development of the "Belt and Road" initiative. Delegates are about to discuss the plan which involves hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming decades, underpinned by building ports, railways and power links across Asia and on to Europe. Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayebnia arrived in the Chinese capital on Saturday to represent the country at the forum, IRNA news agency reported. Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayebnia “Iran will employ all its power, cooperation and effort for better implementation and completion of this initiative because it believes that the plan will play an important role in the global development and relations among countries,” he said. Chinese government officials say more than 50 memorandums of understanding, plans, cooperation letters and cooperation projects in transportation, energy and communications will be signed during the meeting. Officials walk outside the China National Convention Center, the venue for the upcoming Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, in Beijing. (Photo by AFP) The Asian economic giant says its businesses signed projects worth $304.9 billion in Belt and Road countries between 2014 and 2016, but more is in the pipeline and investments of almost $1 trillion have already been announced. The initiative is expected to funnel investments worth up to $502 billion into 62 host countries over the next five years. Analysts say most funds may flow into India, Russia, Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, the Philippines and Pakistan. The web of trade would span over countries representing more than 40 percent of the world’s GDP, that are home to 4.4 billion people -- more than half of the world’s population -- giving it a potential to affect global trade patterns. The biggest beneficiaries of the plan could be midsize domestic construction and machinery companies and Asian infrastructure firms, with China likely to give certain countries preferential treatment, according to Bloomberg. However, a crucial mechanism that Beijing is considering for the success of the Belt and Road Initiative is using local currencies instead of dollars, which has sent shockwaves across the West. Western governments and media have gone into great lengths to project the initiative as part of China's grand scheme for influence in Asia. Reuters quoted a Chinese expert as saying that politics was being put ahead of economic factors. "I believe that the national strategy is the top priority; economic considerations are secondary," it quoted the unnamed economist at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a Beijing-based think-tank, as saying. The Silk Road is an ancient network of trade routes dating back to 220 BCE, connecting China to the Mediterranean Sea. China's state-run Xinhua news agency said the new Silk Road would be a boon for developing countries that had been largely neglected by the West. "As some Western countries move backwards by erecting 'walls,' China is contriving to build bridges, both literal and metaphorical. These bridges are China's important offering to the world, and a key route to improving global governance," it said in an English-language commentary on Saturday. |
The top Google searches in 2017 were quite expected topics. The top three included Hurricane Irma, iPhone 8, and iPhone X. But this year’s results were also dominated by a number of “How to” queries. The top three were: how to make slime, how to make solar eclipse glasses, and how to buy Bitcoin. Apart from those, Google notes that the world also asked more consequential questions including: how much will the wall cost, how many refugees are there in the world, how do hurricanes form, how to freeze credit, and how to help Puerto Rico. As more people turn to Google to ask “How...?”, the accuracy of search results and Google's algorithmic rankings have reached a pivotal point. It’s more important than ever for Google to manage the integrity of its search result rankings Our trust survey published in October found respondents trusted Google more than most other tech companies, at a time when the internet is rife with misleading information. But Google has promoted wildly inaccurate and offensive content this year, and displayed news results from malicious sources on numerous occasions, implicitly giving them authority. As we’ve previously pointed out, Google essentially holds a monopoly on truth because it’s by far the dominant search engine on the web. It’s more important than ever for Google to manage the integrity of its search result rankings. Google’s Year in Search 2017 also reveals other top searches in categories including actors (Meghan Markle, Kevin Spacey, Gal Gadot), Global news (Hurricane Irma, Bitcoin, Las Vegas shooting), and movies (IT, Wonder Woman, Beauty and the Beast). The lists were compiled based on search terms that Google said “had a high spike in traffic in 2017 as compared to 2016.” |
Piling pressure on Syria, Obama leads mounting international calls for the Syrian president to step down. Barack Obama, the US president, along with the rest of the international community is calling for Syria's leader to step down. And the United Nations claims Syria could be guilty of crimes against humanity. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said: "The time has come for him to step aside and leave this transition to the Syrians themselves." It is a significant ramp-up of international pressure and the first explicit US call for Bashar al-Assad to resign since the uprising in Syria began in March. The US will not rule out military action, but officials say it is "not a desired course" for the US and its allies, or for the Syrian people. But how effective will the latest economic sanctions be? Is the situation on the ground really going to change? And is this the beginning of a coordinated action by the UN? Inside Story, with presenter Hazem Sika, discusses with Rosemary Hollis, a professor of Middle East Policy Studies at City University; Theodore Kattouf, the president of AMIDEAST, which is a US NGO working in international education, training and development in Middle East and North Africa; and Ashraf al-Moqdad, a Syrian opposition member. Source: Al Jazeera |
[Haskell-cafe] Type families are awesome Hi Haskell Cafe, I'm finding that I really like type families. For instance, the GHC.List.lookup and Data.Map.lookup functions annoy me because their names clash, yet their type are so similar. With type families, I could define a more generic lookup function like this: import Data.Map as MAP import GHC.List as LIST class MapType ma where type Key ma type Item ma lookup :: Key ma -> ma -> Maybe (Item ma) instance (Ord ka) => MapType (MAP.Map ka a) where type Key (MAP.Map ka a) = ka type Item (MAP.Map ka a) = a lookup ka ma = MAP.lookup ka ma instance (Eq ka) => MapType [(ka, a)] where type Key [(ka, a)] = ka type Item [(ka, a)] = a lookup ka ma = LIST.lookup ka ma This lookup function works on both "Map ka a" and "[(ka, a)]" types and I no longer need to qualify my lookup function with the module name. The downside I suppose is that lookup is no longer a function that can be manipulated freely: *Main> let x = lookup *Main> let y = Fx.Data.Map.lookup <interactive>:1:8: Ambiguous type variable `ma' in the constraint: `Fx.Data.Map.MapType ma' arising from a use of `Fx.Data.Map.lookup' at <interactive>:1:8-25 Probable fix: add a type signature that fixes these type variable(s) A shame that. I had been hoping it would be possible to have a generic lookup function that could be used in every way the current collection of various lookup functions can be used. So much nicer if 'y' above could be bound to the Fx.Data.Map.lookup with the same type: *Main> :t Fx.Data.Map.lookup Fx.Data.Map.lookup :: forall ma. (Fx.Data.Map.MapType ma) => Fx.Data.Map.Key ma -> ma -> Maybe (Fx.Data.Map.Item ma) And then have the ambiguity resolve later when 'y' is actually used. -John -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/attachments/20090121/18720ac2/attachment.htm |
U.S. Secretary of State and Afghan Pres. Ashraf Ghani at Bagram Air Base (Screen capture) On Tuesday, the State Department was forced to admit that it lied about Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan with that country’s president. Rachel Maddow opened her Tuesday show with the news that Afghanistan had doctored a photo of Tillerson and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The BBC noted that observers noticed discrepancies in two different versions of the photo — which was actually taken at a U.S. military installation. “The State Department initially tried to get away with saying that this meeting between Rex Tillerson on the left and Ashraf Ghani on the right,” Maddow said, “took place in the capital city of Kabul. It did not. They did not meet in Kabul. They met, rather, inside the perimeter of a U.S. military base at Bagram.” “The problem is that the meeting was not in Kabul, but in a windowless room in Bagram, the heavily fortified American military base a 90-minute drive away,” said The New York Times. “The misinformation, apparently meant to obscure the true venue, was betrayed by discrepancies in similar photographs released by the Americans and the Afghans.” The State Department issued a correction on Tuesday, admitting it lied about the meeting’s location. Correction: Earlier we posted the location of this meeting as Kabul. The meeting occurred at Bagram Airfield. — Department of State (@StateDept) October 23, 2017 Watch the video, embedded below: (Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the U.S. State Department admitted to altering a photo.) |
SHARE By of the A Milwaukee man was pronounced dead in his home Tuesday — and then he started moving. Police went to the 46-year-old man's home just after noon after his girlfriend said she hadn't been able to reach him. He had last exchanged text messages with his girlfriend Sunday night, which was also the last time he had been seen alive. The apartment manager let police into the man's unit. A team from the Milwaukee Fire Department arrived soon after and found the man "cold to the touch and in rigor" at the foot of his bed, according to the report from the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office. They did not attempt to resuscitate him. An investigator from the medical examiner's office arrived at 1 p.m., and the man was pronounced dead at 2:10 p.m. But as authorities prepared to transport the man to the medical examiner's office, he began breathing and moving his left arm and right leg. Firefighters were called back to the scene, and the man once again had a heart rate. He was taken to St. Mary's Hospital and admitted into an intensive care unit. No update on his condition was available Friday. The man's brother said he had seen his brother two weeks before the incident. He told the medical examiner's office his brother's gait was "terrible" at that time, the report noted. The brother also told medical examiners that the man had a history of occasional cigar smoking and beer drinking but was not involved with street drugs. The Milwaukee Fire Department is conducting an internal investigation to ensure that proper protocol was followed. Assistant Chief Gerard Washington declined to comment because the investigation is ongoing but said it should be concluded by the end of next week. |
OTTAWA - A junior Conservative staffer in Guelph, Ont., charged with elections offences bragged about his allegedly fraudulent exploits to other young partisans, newly released court documents show. A judge partially lifted a publication ban Wednesday that prevented the release of details on Elections Canada interviews with six Conservative workers. All six suggest that Michael Sona boasted to them about his alleged involvement in a series of fraudulent automated phone calls during the local Conservative candidate's 2011 Guelph election campaign. Sona, who has been charged with "having wilfully prevented or endeavoured to prevent an elector from voting at an election," was in the courtroom and maintains his innocence, saying he's being made a "scapegoat." His lawyer is pushing to have the publication ban lifted. In arguments Wednesday over the publication ban, more details emerged that highlighted the role of Conservative party lawyer Arthur Hamilton in the damning testimony. After the robocalls story blew open with media reports in February 2012, Hamilton brought three of the witnesses to the attention of Elections Canada investigators, and was also credited with convincing a fourth reluctant witness to testify. "He phoned and said he had witnesses that he thought had information relevant to my investigation," Elections Canada investigator Allan Mathews told the court Wednesday. Hamilton subsequently sat in on all six of the interviews with Mathews. Hamilton did not represent the witnesses, several of whom were not employed by the Conservative party but rather by MPs or senators — including Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former communications adviser. One of the witnesses contacted Conservative party communications head Fred DeLorey before being put in touch with Hamilton, the court heard Wednesday. The witness statements tended to corroborate the longstanding Conservative party argument that any fraudulent calls were the work of a rogue individual. Two Conservative MP's employees told Mathews that Sona paid them a social call about 10 days after the May 2, 2011 election. One said Sona spoke of buying a "burn phone" with cash and buying a Visa card with cash so that it could not be traced. And they told Mathews that Sona told them "he had a friend or an acquaintance of some sort that, according to him, owed him a favour." "And so that, he then approached that individual, requesting the names and phone numbers of Liberal voters in hopes to use them on a robo-type call to do with Elections Canada." "From what he told us, we understood that there was, you know, maybe one other person involved but it didn't, from our impression, make it sound like it was a widespread operation," one of the individuals told Mathews. "It was more of an individual endeavour." Another witness produced by Hamilton testified that he "understood from Sona that Sona obtained a (telephone) list by impersonating someone from the Liberal campaign, using an alias." The names of the six witnesses — none of whom worked on the Guelph campaign — remain under a publication ban, with a decision to be announced Friday on whether that information can be released. The documents contain claims that have not been proven in court. A number of other people who were actually involved in the Guelph Conservative campaign have refused to co-operate with investigators. In a separate Federal Court civil suit, Judge Richard Mosley ruled last May that elections telephone fraud took place "in ridings across the country," although he failed to overturn results in six contested ridings in a civil suit bankrolled by the Council of Canadians. Mosley concluded that the "most likely source of the information used to make the misleading phone calls was the CIMS database maintained and controlled by the (Conservative Party of Canada), accessed for that purpose by a person or persons unknown to this court." The testimony to Mathews was included in court documents used by the former career RCMP investigator in his efforts to obtain documents from a credit card company called Peoples Trust. Sona is alleged to have used four of these prepaid credit cards to buy a "burner" cellphone and set up robocalls through an Alberta-based company, Rack Nine. Mathews said in the document he has grounds to believe "that Michael Sona, in the period shortly after election day, advised several of his acquaintances of participation in the false calls made to Guelph voters." — With files from Steve Rennie Also on HuffPost |
Sega Bringing Mobile RPG Hit Chain Chronicle To Vita By Spencer . April 24, 2014 . 3:02am Sega found success in the social game market with titles like Kingdom Conquest and Samurai & Dragons on Vita. Chain Chronicle is a mobile RPG with a battle system that’s kind of like Plants vs. Zombies. Enemies come from the left side of the screen and you line up heroes on the right to stand their ground. Toi8, Ugetsu Hakua, and many Cardfight!! Vanguard illustrators designed characters for Chain Chronicle. Sega also got voice actors including Akira Ishida, Ayane Sakura, and Kotori Koiwai (Tioni in Mugen Souls Z) to play characters in the game. Chain Chronicle has been a breakout success similar to Square Enix’s Million Arthur series. And following in the footsteps of Million Arthur, Sega announced a PlayStation Vita port. Chain Chronicle V is scheduled for release in summer 2014. |
No need to stress about reducing your bum's size now A study has revealed that the secret to having a better life is having a larger bottom. Scientists at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at Oxford University and the Churchill Hospital have reported that women with big bums are increasingly intelligent and more resistant to chronic illnesses. 4 useful beauty tips for women to follow this bridal season Indy100 cite that Population studies in the research found that women with bigger bums are more likely to have lower cholesterol levels and produce more hormones that metabolise sugar. Having a big bottom also encourages production of the hormone which regulates weight, and ones with anti-inflammatory, vascular-protective and anti-diabetic attributes. The protective properties of the booty are exerted through long term fatty acid storage, since the adipose tissue on a bum and upper thigh catches the harmful fatty particles and prevents cardiovascular disease. Winter skin care cheat sheet: What you need to know Apart from that, the amount of Omega 3 fats present in a fat bum lead to increase intelligence since Omega 3 fats are proven to catalyse brain development. The traits appear to be genetic since research reveals that women with larger hips tend to give birth to children with increased intelligence. The research hence encourages women to accept their fat bums and see the benefits that their natural physique has for them. Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. Read full story |
All players with 21 points made Day 2, meaning 73 players would return to battle for a shot at the Top 8 of the Modern Open at #SCGDFW. The aggressive Texas metagame is no joke, as a majority of the top decks into Day 2 revolved around attacking early and often. Burn leads the way as the No. 1 deck with 10 of the 73 Day-2 players sleeving up s. Death’s Shadow came in second with eight players opting for the latest breakout deck in the format. Bant Eldrazi and Revolt Zoo showed up with five pilots each, followed by Eldrazi Tron at four copies. Abzan Company, Affinity, Merfolk, and Abzan all put three players into Day 2. From there, the only other decks with multiple copies were , W/R Prison, Grixis Delver, and . The only decks not playing efficient creatures in the top decks were W/R Prison, , and . The rest of the metagame was filled with one-of strategies, leaving 21 unique decks in the field of 73 players. Interesting archetypes with solo pilots include: Five-Color Aggro, Skred Red, , B/R , and Mono-Green Devotion. The full metagame breakdown looks like this: Burn – 10 Death’s Shadow – 8 Bant Eldrazi – 5 Revolt Zoo – 5 Eldrazi Tron – 4 Abzan Company – 3 Affinity – 3 Merfolk – 3 Abzan – 3 – 2 W/R Prison – 2 Grixis Delver – 2 – 2 Infect – 1 Jeskai Saheeli – 1 Eldrazi Taxes – 1 B/R – 1 G/R Ponza – 1 Skred Red – 1 Goryo’s – 1 – 1 Elves – 1 U/W Control – 1 Five-Color Aggro – 1 Grixis Shadow – 1 Blue Moon – 1 G/R Tron – 1 R/G Breach – 1 – 1 8-Rack – 1 Grixis Control – 1 Mono-Green Devotion – 1 Jeskai Flash – 1 G/W Company – 1 |
Visitors entering the Lowe’s parking lot from Ninth Street inevitably slow to a crawl as they pass by New York Old Iron. Even along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, you don’t expect to see this. Propped up against a chain-link fence is a row of cathedral-size wooden doors. Just past them, a gathering of undressed mannequins preside over mounds of scrap iron. As the F and G trains rumble overhead, sunlight glints off boxy tin letters heaped in a pile. A cat scampers by a forgotten restaurant-supply company’s billboard, which hangs above a row of reclaimed pedestal sinks. Here, in a borough where curating is a way of life, shoppers are offered the rare opportunity to rummage through the unedited castoff past. “This is recreational,” said Vincent Galantino, 72, who traveled from Queens on a recent Saturday to puzzle over a waist-high wrought-iron gate. “It’s addictive.” He stumbled upon Roy Vaccaro’s salvage yard on a trip to Lowe’s. Mr. Galantino, who was with a couple of friends, Ouida Ffrench and Angelo Illuzzi, 57, were comparing weathered windows that had paint chipping off. “Is it solid — not falling apart?” Mr. Illuzzi asked Ms. Ffrench, who was looking to accent her garden. |
By Ralph Nader Source: CounterPunch It is well known to Washington political observers that politicians invited to speak at the annual, giant AIPAC convention ask for suggested talking points from this powerful pro-Israeli government lobby. Hillary Clinton’s pandering speech must have registered close to 100% on AIPAC’s checklist. Of course, both parties pander to AIPAC to such depths of similar obeisance that reporters have little to report as news. But giving big-time coverage to sheer political power is automatic. Compare it to the sparse attention given to the conference a few days earlier at the National Press Club on the Israeli lobby featuring scholars, authors and the well-known Israeli dissenter, Gideon Levy of the respected Ha’aretz newspaper (see israellobbyus.org/). But Mrs. Clinton’s speech was newsworthy for its moral obtuseness and the way in which it promised unilateral White House belligerence should she become president. A reader would never know that her condemnation of Palestinian terrorism omitted any reference to the fact that Israel is the occupier of what is left of Palestinian lands, colonizing them, seizing their water and land, brutalizing the natives and continuing the selective blockade of Gaza, the world’s largest Gulag ever since Israel closed its last colony there in 2005. Clinton emphasized her condemnation of Palestinian children being taught “incitement” against their Israeli oppressors and the recent deplorable knife attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. She neglected to point to massive, daily Israeli incitement backed up by U.S.-supplied deadly weapons that over the last decade have caused 400 times more Palestinian fatalities and serious injuries to innocents than the defenseless Palestinians have caused their Israeli counterparts. One of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition partners, for example, from the Jewish Home Party, called for the slaughter of all Palestinians, the elderly and women in general. “Otherwise,” the partner said (in an English-language translation from the Hebrew), “more little snakes will be raised there.” Clinton did not mention any of these brutalities, though they are components of what is an illegal occupation under international law and the United Nations charter. The Yale Law graduate simply chooses not to know better. Instead, she told her wildly-applauding audience of her support for increasing the amount of U.S. taxpayer spending for the latest military equipment and technology to over $4 billion a year. For the record, Israel is an economic, technological and military powerhouse that provides Israelis with universal health insurance and other social safety nets that are denied the American people. In an obvious slap at President Obama, whose name she never mentioned (even Netanyahu thanked Obama in his address to AIPAC), Clinton almost shouted out: “one of the first things I’ll do in office is invite the Israeli Prime Minister to visit the White House.” This was a thinly-veiled reference to Netanyahu’s trip to a joint session of Congress, where he tried to undermine President Obama’s negotiations with Iran in what was an unprecedented interference by a foreign leader. Not surprisingly, Obama did not ask Netanyahu over to visit the White House for a drink before he headed back to Israel. High on AIPAC’s checklist is to insist that all speakers condemn what Clinton called the “alarming boycott, divestment and sanctions movement known as BDS.” She then twice slanderously associated this modest effort (in which many Jews are active participants) to get Israel to lift some oppression from the occupied Palestinian territories, with antisemitism. However, by totally erasing any nod, any mention, any compassion toward the slaughter of Palestinian children, women and men in their homes, schools and hospitals, Hillary Clinton makes a mockery of her touted Methodist upbringing and her declared concern for children everywhere. For repeated applause at AIPAC’s convention and its associated campaign contributors, she has lost all credibility with the peoples of the Arab world. Moreover, such hostility in her words registers “the other antisemitism,” to cite the title of an address by James Zogby before an Israeli university in 1994. With all her self-regarded experience in foreign affairs, Mrs. Clinton could pause to ponder why she is backing state terrorism against millions of Arab Palestinians trapped in two enclaves, surrounded by walls, military outposts, and suffering from deep poverty, including widespread diseases and severe anemia among Palestinian infants and children. Unlimited is her militant animosity toward Iran, bragging about crippling sanctions that she spearheaded (which caused untold harm to the health and care of civilians), and threatening military force “for even the smallest violations of this [nuclear] agreement.” Yet for decades Israel has violated numerous U.N. resolutions to withdraw its occupation and repression of Palestinians without a murmur from Secretary of State Clinton, who as a candidate opposes a role for the U.N. Security Council (over which the U.S. has an often-used veto) in the peace process. There were some restraints. She repeated her support for a Palestinian state but wondered whether the Palestinian Leadership was up to the negotiations. Also, she resisted going along with recognizing the shift of Israel’s capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Her very oblique reference to illegal, expanding Israeli settlements did not amount to anything more than a wink, foreshadowing no action on her part to stop the expansion of colonies in the occupied territories should she reach the White House. Near the conclusion of her deferential remarks, she stated “If you see bigotry, oppose it. If you see violence, condemn it. If you see a bully, stand up to him.” Some courageous Israeli human rights groups, such as B’Tselem, who defend Palestinian human rights, might view her words as applicable daily to how they perform their noble work. |
Cassini Finds Interstellar Dust Around Saturn "From that discovery, we always hoped we would be able to detect these interstellar interlopers at Saturn with Cassini. We knew that if we looked in the right direction, we should find them," study lead author Nicolas Altobelli, Cassini project scientist at the European Space Agency, said in a statement . "Indeed, on average, we have captured a few of these dust grains per year, traveling at high speed and on a specific path quite different from that of the usual icy grains we collect around Saturn." cosmic dust analyzer instrument, the researchers found that while dust from within our solar system was mostly made of ice, these unique grains surrounding Saturn were composed of rock-forming elements such as "Cosmic dust is produced when stars die, but with the vast range of types of stars in the universe, we naturally expected to encounter a huge range of dust types over the long period of our study," said co-author Frank Postberg of the University of Heidelberg. Saturn has a little piece of the universe that lies outside our solar system, as Cassini recently detected that there are traces of interstellar dust surrounding the winged planet.Cassini has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, and in the last dozen years has sampled many millions of dust grains in the planet's atmosphere. Now, NASA reports that a miniscule portion of that dust—36 grains, to be exact—comes from interstellar space.Scientists have been hoping to make this discovery ever since interstellar material was observed by the 1990s ESA/NASA Ulysses mission. The dust was found to have originated from an interstellar dust cloud—a denser-than-average region of the interstellar medium through which our galaxy is moving at a predetermined speed and direction.The grains were moving at extremely high speeds: over 45,000 mph, which allowed them to avoid becoming mired in our solar system by the gravity of the sun and planets to reach Saturn's orbit. By analyzing these grains with Cassini'smagnesium, silicon, iron and calcium in average cosmic proportions, while sulfur and carbon were found to be less concentrated than in the cosmos in general. But most curious of all, the chemical composition was fairly uniform, which the researchers wouldn't expect to find.Although we don't know exactly why this uniformity, or "processing" within the interstellar medium, would take place, but they speculate that it's the result of originating from a star-forming region of the universe. As the shock waves from dying stars pass through the interstellar medium, the dust could be destroyed and then recondense in a specific way, leading to dust grains of very similar composition. |
Aston Martin's configurator for the new Vantage is now live, giving you the perfect excuse to spend the next several hours putting together your dream British sports car instead of making awkward small talk with the cousins from Florida. What will it be? A black-on-black-on-black, carbon-laden, eventual dust-and-fingerprint magnet tailored for Bruce Wayne, a flamboyant, Kermit Green middle finger to subtlety and good taste, or an Anglophilic, red, white, and blue tribute to the Union Jack? The possibilities are as wide as the Palace of Westminster. Hot tip: be sure to switch over to the "Q Palette" when perusing exterior paint jobs if you prefer your Astons a little more... outgoing. As for myself, I'll have an MI6-approved Skyfall Silver Vantage with the silver, ten-spoke wheels, please. Carbon on the lip, side skirts, and diffuser, but nowhere else. Oh, and since I'm a sucker for red brake calipers, please add four of those to the invoice. Aston headrest logo embroidered, not embossed. |
The more I cook, the more I love customizing the dishes I make. And one of my favorite ways to customize my food is by making my own spice mixes. Madras curry powder is the perfect example for this. No two versions of this South Indian blend are alike; every brand, every family, every person adjusts the spices to their liking. Making your own curry powder gives you the opportunity to get exactly the combination of flavors you want (not to mention the amazing difference using freshly ground spices makes). My personal blend is heavy on coriander and cumin with warmth from curry leaves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. But everything here can be easily adjusted, so soon you can have your own perfect curry powder. And after you have your own blend, come back to see the two simple recipes I’ll be posting on Wednesday and Friday that really showcase the curry powder’s flavor. Madras Curry Powder (adapted from Food, Football, and a Baby) Yield: approximately 1 cup Ingredients: 6 Tbsp coriander seeds 4 1/2 Tbsp cumin seeds 3 3″ sticks cinnamon, broken into pieces 1 1/2 Tbsp cardamom seeds (from 25 – 30 whole pods) 1 1/2 Tbsp fenugreek seeds 1 1/2 Tbsp mustard seeds * * 1 1/2 Tbsp black peppercorns 4 – 5 dried red chilies 3 sprigs curry leaves (18 – 24 leaves) ** ** 1 Tbsp turmeric 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg *Yellow or brown are both okay. **Curry leaves have an unusual flavor and there is really no substitute; you should be able to find them at an Indian market. Any leftover leaves will freeze very well. Method: |
Politicians, preparing for inaugurals, scurry for their histories. The Republican Senator Roy Blunt, who welcomed the crowd to Donald Trump’s Inauguration, chose to commemorate the peaceful transitions of the late eighteenth century, when partisan tensions were high and the Republic might not have survived. The Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, speaking just before the new President, read at length from a letter that Sullivan Ballou, a Union officer, wrote to his wife: “I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us.” In the faces just behind the new President and his family, viewers could detect the partisan zigzag of our recent political history: the Clintons, the Bushes, the Obamas. Clarence Thomas coaxed the new Administration into being in his magnificent, seldom-heard baritone. And yet, amid these displays of continuity, the new President insisted on a break. Trump spoke about a history in which power had been concentrated among élites and politicians, and said, “That all changes. Starting right here and right now.” This was a dark inaugural. The America Trump described was filled with victims: of “inner city” poverty, of “crime and drugs and gangs,” of “rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation.” But even starker was how forcefully Trump compressed history. There were no nods to “the sacrifices borne by our ancestors,” which Obama spoke of in his first inaugural address, or to America’s values, or to its spirit. “For many decades,” Trump insisted, the country had “enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry,” “defended other nations’ borders while refusing to defend our own,” and “made other countries rich” while “the factories shuttered and left our shores.” The story of the country was a story of decline. “But that is the past, and now we are looking only to the future,” Trump said. “From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land.” In certain settings, the new President is chatty, a raconteur, but in his formal speeches he tends to speak in staccato: he makes lists, he raises and clenches his right fist. His vision is “America First,” he said again today, with no apparent concern for the ugly history of the term. (Charles Lindbergh’s America First Committee opposed intervention in the Second World War.) The crowd on the Mall cheered, and Trump adjusted his gaze toward it. “The forgotten men and women,” Trump called his audience, as he had in his Convention speech. But when he described these people he made them sound passive; he promised they would be “protected.” The cameras captured some joy and pride in the crowds, but they also recorded that the crowds were relatively small. Soon there were side-by-side photos circulating of the crowds at Obama’s Inauguration, which filled the Mall and spilled out beyond it, and at Trump’s, which left sections of unfilled seats so broad that you could land a helicopter on them. Tickets to inaugural balls, which once cost twenty-five thousand dollars, were reportedly being given away for free. As the Inauguration ended, anarchists smashed a few windows several blocks north of the Mall, and larger, peaceful protests proceeded elsewhere in the city, with the largest demonstrations expected tomorrow. A new Fox News poll, which appeared the day before the Inauguration, found that only forty-two per cent of registered voters have a favorable opinion of Trump; fifty-five per cent feel unfavorably toward him. The President is an unpopular populist. He insists on a break with the past. How many Americans actually want that? For the past eighteen months, Trump has attempted to plunge the country into a relentless present tense. In his imagination there has been no history of social subjugation, just the residue of tension; no memory of poverty, just the frustrations of unattained wealth; no reminders of the fear and loneliness of life in violent or repressive countries, just the press of migrants and refugees against our own borders. For most Americans, this has been the curse of the long campaign year, to have been forever stuck in the news cycle. The realization today, with an inaugural address that replicated the grinding partisanship of the campaign, was that this is exactly as the President wants it. During the ceremony, it was difficult not to notice the man’s oddities: the ludicrously long power tie; the way he leaned in to kiss his wife and missed her entirely; the jerky, impulsive bro-slap he gave to Mike Pence’s shoulder. During the benediction, the Energy Secretary-designate, Rick Perry, blew chewing-gum bubbles while his eyes were closed in prayer. In time, maybe these tics will simply be part of our visual furniture, in the same way that George W. Bush’s fratty smirk (which reappeared) once was, detached from any real menace. But, for the moment, they feel like clues to matters of greater weight: Trump’s moods and tempers, his grievances, his favorites. It is as if we are watching a king. Today, Melania Trump’s coat was pale blue and Michelle Obama’s was maroon, and that seemed to capture the day: patriotic, yes, but a few shades off. |
A Mississauga woman alleges her own sister snooped on her private health records, launching a proposed class-action lawsuit and investigations by the local hospital network and Ontario privacy commissioner. In a statement of claim filed in Superior Court last week, Katie Mallinson, 41, accuses her sister of a “serious and prolonged invasion” of her privacy, allegedly committed by accessing personal health records via a hospital channel at the ophthalmology office where she has worked for more than a decade. Mallinson told the Star she was never a patient at that office, but rather frequented the nearby Credit Valley Hospital, which shares patient records with the ophthalmology practice. Katie Mallinson, 41, alleges in her statement of claim in a proposed class-action lawsuit that her medical records from Credit Valley Hospital were looked at through an ophthalmologist's office that had access to the Trillium hospital system's records. ( Rick Madonik / Toronto Star ) Mallinson believes her sister, Milton resident Lisa Lyons, “improperly accessed” personal information as her “principal pastime” at work, according to the statement of claim. The hospital has confirmed that its own internal investigation found six patients’ files, including Mallinson’s, had been breached, and all had been notified. With “unfettered access” to the records of all three Trillium Health Partners hospitals in Mississauga, including Credit Valley, Mallinson’s sister could have accessed the files of potentially thousands of patients, the statement of claim says. Article Continued Below The proposed class action claims Mallinson and others affected are owed at least $3 million in damages. Trillium Health Partners and Dr. Antonio “Tony” Vettese, the ophthalmologist for whom Lyons works, are also named as defendants. The lawsuit alleges Vettese “enabled and facilitated” the alleged privacy breaches because “such behaviour occurred in his professional premises, using his equipment, during working hours.” Mallinson is the only plaintiff included in the lawsuit so far, her lawyer, Christopher Du Vernet, told the Star. The statement of claim says “several other” patients have received letters telling them their records were improperly accessed. None of the allegations has been proven in court and no statement of defence has been filed. “It’s not revenge; it’s nothing like that. It’s been gut-wrenching, and it’s been really hard,” Mallinson told the Star in an interview about the lawsuit. “If she’s going to do this to a family member, what would stop her doing this to a stranger? I’ve cried and I’ve had a lot of anxiety,” she said. “This is an outside doctor’s office that has had access to the hospital (records)… You go to a hospital and see a specialist for help, and you know what? You should feel safe and secure that someone is not reading your records.” The Star was unable to reach Vettese on Wednesday. Lyons declined to comment. Article Continued Below The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario confirmed Wednesday that an investigation is continuing. It is not clear whether Lyons still works at Vettese’s office. In a May 26 letter to Mallinson provided to the Star, Trillium Health Partners security and privacy officer David Dowe confirmed there was a privacy breach involving “an individual” in Dr. Vettese’s office. Dowe wrote that an internal investigation found 40 instances where Mallinson’s records were accessed, going back more than four years. Trillium Health Partners would not confirm to the Star whether that “individual” was Lyons. In an emailed statement responding to the Star’s questions Wednesday, Trillium Health spokesperson Catherine Pringle said the hospital’s investigation identified and notified six patients, including Mallinson, whose files had been breached. Pringle said the individual who accessed those records, who is not a Trillium Health employee, has since been denied access to the records system. The organization is also implementing more frequent audits of its physician access system — Trillium does more than 1,000 random checks on people with access every year — and has written a letter to doctors and their staff reminding them to obey the rules on medical records privacy as outlined in provincial legislation, Pringle said. There are 1,240 physicians with credentials at Trillium Health hospitals whose offices have access to their patient records. Such records could include the patient’s name, health card number, address and contact information, medical history including physical and psychiatric conditions, as well as insurance and treatment details, the statement of claim alleges. “We take this matter extremely seriously and are taking all necessary steps to ensure a resolution that protects the interests of our patients, their families and our community,” Pringle said. She added that, by law, doctors and their staff are allowed to look only at the records of patients in their care. Speaking with the Star by phone, Mallinson said her sister, Lyons, has worked at Vettese’s office about 30 years. She is now estranged from her sister, who she said is eight years older. Mallinson said she became suspicious when her teenage son was texting her sister before a family event, and Lyons apparently mentioned in a message something specific about Mallinson’s health that she shouldn’t have known. “It was a shock,” she said. “You feel violated. You feel sick. All in all, it’s a family member and you feel nauseous.” She told the Starshe reached out to her hospital, which responded May 26 with Dowe’s letter. As to her decision to pursue legal action, Mallinson said she wanted to make sure anyone else who’d had their records breached would know and be able to seek justice. “She (Lyons) never tried to reach out to me. The doctor never tried to reach to me,” Mallinson said. “I never got an apology.” There have been several prominent privacy breaches in Ontario hospitals in recent years. Last month,two workers at Princess Margaret hospital in Toronto were convicted of snooping into former mayor Rob Ford’s medical records during his cancer treatment. They were each fined $2,505, according to court records. Mallinson’s lawyer, Christopher Du Vernet, argued that his client’s case demonstrates there should be tighter rules about access to hospital records. “It’s just the virtual absence of an effective system of checks and balances,” he said. “While this woman may have a PhD in snooping, she is not a doctor.” |
There’s a lovely bit in the Guardian Science podcast this week about some research that’s been done on the laboratory of molecular biology at Cambridge (the one that’s produced more Nobel Prizes than the whole of France). This lab has a very open culture, where people leave their doors opening and routinely drinking tea together. The researchers talk to those they wouldn’t otherwise notice, and as a consequence find new ideas and collaborations. Sociable scientists are successful scientists. Taking time to have a bit of a chat about your work can reap all sorts of benefits. Hoping to join in on some chat about science myself, I attended one of the Biochemical Society’s Science Policy Lunchbox events yesterday. The speakers were John Murlis and John Holmes, talking about improving the relationships between scientists and policy-makers. Their talk had a focus on the EU, through some detailed discussion of the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) and their dialogue project. The talk was full of broad bits of solid general advice. Beck Smith or one of her team at the Biochemical Society will blog about it themselves soon, no doubt. The two key points I circled in my notes are: 1) Science-policy interaction is built on trust and relationships between all the people involved. You can’t just tell people what you know, you have to build a relationship so they trust you enough to listen. This itself isn’t news, I circled it mainly because I agree. It was the point I trying to get at with my post ranting about the problems of simply calling for scientific literacy. What was news to me though was… 2) Only 60% of EASAC members send out a press release about their policy reports. Why not all, as a matter of course? I’d be interested to know the quality of that 60% too. I think that we can easily combine these two points. If more science policy was done in public, I suspect it’d open itself to itself too. One of the interesting things scientists often say about media coverage of their research is not just that it helps them to shares their science with society at large, but that it helps them get noticed (in positive ways) by other scientists. It’s a bit like a slightly diluted version of all those cups of tea at that molecular biology lab in Cambridge. I think this could apply to science policy advice too. The audience isn’t so much an amorphous ‘general public’ (though that’s great too) but actually the same people who really should be paying attention to the report anyway. NB: I do know some policy issues are sensitive, and so can’t work in public in the same way. However, a lot more could be done to help facilitate greater public discussion of science advice to government which isn’t so sensitive. I also think policy reports (if well written…) can be very newsworthy, an interesting way of sharing science with the public via the mass media. It’s research that has been applied, it’s made up of socially interesting science rather than work which may well be very important at some point and interesting to some people. You can insert your rant here about dominance of journal publishing on science news, but I suppose I see policy reports as potentially a form of “really far downstream” (in a good way) science journalism (not that research papers can’t be amazing and exciting, just there is more to science). My main suggestion here, however, is that if science policy advice was done more prominently in public, it would be understood, appreciated and trusted more by the politicians too. Imran Khan wasn’t at the talk, but has been working through similar thoughts in terms of UK policy. He has a great post on the New Scientist’ S-Word Blog arguing, amongst other things, that scientists who advice government need to be given support to make their findings public, including independent press officers. To promote “evidence-based policy”, we need public accountability. I’d completely agree with this, and I’d also add that by doing more of this in public, scientists and politicians would probably find they understood each other better too. Good for policy, good for science, good for news, good for citizen engagement, good for everyone: issue press releases on policy reports people (and as Khan points out, fund them to do so). Personally, I’d like to see much more developed engagement strategy than just a press release, but it’d be a start. Advertisements |
Westminster Christian tight end Michael Parker became Alabama's second in-state commitment last week. The 6-foot-6, 236-pounder picked Alabama over Auburn, Central Florida and Purdue. He caught 43 passes for 812 yards and nine touchdowns in 11 games this season after snagging 35 receptions for 561 yards and five TDs in 2016. A three-star prospect, he follows in the footsteps of his brother, Jacob, who is currently a walk-on tight end for the Crimson Tide. Parker is one of Alabama's 14 commitments for the Class of 2018, but the Crimson Tide can only accept 22 signees this year, instead of the usual allotment of 25, Parker is in Hattiesburg, Mississippi this week to prepare for and play in Saturday's Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic. AL.com caught up with him for a short question-and-answer session after Wednesday's practice. 1) AL.com: How did you get your Alabama offer, how did you commit and what was the reaction? Parker: "I got my offer when I went for my visit for the Mercer game. Coach Saban took me into his office at the stadium and offered me. To commit, I called (assistant) Coach (Joe) Pannunzio, and he was extremely excited." 2) AL.com: Did Coach Saban have the button to close the door remotely at the stadium? Parker: "I don't think so, but I've seen that before. ... Not this past summer but the summer before I went into Coach Saban's office when I went there for a camp. It was pretty cool. He hit the button and he has the rings out on his desk." 3) AL.com: What do you need to work on before you get to Alabama? Parker: "In high school, I played mostly at receiver, so my blocking on the inside. That's the biggest thing - blocking inside against bigger guys. Playing this week, I can already see it's helping. It's something I don't have as much experience in." 4) AL.com: What do you think of Bama's playoff chances? Parker: "I think they have a good chance. I think Clemson has a great team. All of the teams in the Playoff are great teams. I definitely think Alabama deserves to be in. I think they can beat Clemson, and I think they can beat the winner of Oklahoma and Georgia." 5) AL.com: Why did you pick Alabama? Parker: For non-football, it's always been my dream. My whole life I've always been a fan. For football, nobody uses a tight end like Alabama. They basically have two tight ends on the field for almost every play. If you're a tight end, there's no better place to go than Alabama. So, it's really the best of both worlds for me." Parker said he doesn't plan to sign during the early signing period that begins Dec. 20, but added he doesn't plan to take any other official visits before the traditional National Signing Day in early February. Josh Bean covers high school sports for AL.com. He can be reached at jbean@al.com. |
In the 1970s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a problem. The priesthood—which, as TIME later explained, ” is not a clergy rank but a status achieved by nearly all male members”—was denied to black Mormons. The Church’s rules, which had been codified in the years before the Civil War, seemed increasingly out of step with the rest of America. Despite increasingly loud calls to change the practice, the Church dug in for most of the decade. Shortly after athletes began to protest games with Brigham Young University, “Mormon elders reaffirmed their belief that blacks cannot be admitted to the priesthood,” TIME reported in 1970. The article went on to explain why that belief was so strongly held: Mormon belief depends largely on the writings of Prophet Joseph Smith, the church’s 19th century founder. Though Smith’s first book of revelations, the Book of Mormon, clearly states that “the Lord denieth none that come unto him, black and white,” in The Pearl of Great Price, Smith’s later translation of revelations supposedly made to Moses and Abraham, he took a dimmer view. Smith there concluded that Negroes are the descendants of both Cain, the Bible’s first murderer, and Ham, the disrespectful son of Noah; the reason for their exclusion from the priesthood is “the mark of Cain.” Though racist 19th century Christian preachers once advanced similar arguments, the Mormons go farther, maintaining that in a spiritual “preexistence” blacks were neutral bystanders when other spirits chose sides during a fight between God and Lucifer. For that failure of courage, they were condemned to become the accursed descendants of Cain. Amending that policy would take specific instruction from God, not exactly the easiest thing to come by—but it happened. On this day, June 9, in 1978, the Deseret News carried the breaking news that “every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood.” “The church leaders said they had spent many hours in the Upper Room of the Salt Lake City Temple,” TIME reported the following week. “Eventually God ‘confirmed that the long-promised day has come.’” The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now Relatively few people were directly affected by the ruling—TIME estimated that about .025% of Mormons at the time were black—but it was still a milestone for the religion. Women, however, are still not eligible for the priesthood—no matter their race. Read the full story from 1978, here in the TIME Vault: Revelation Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com. |
Image caption An artist's impression of the new Centre for Experimental Medicine which is due to open in 2016 Queen's University Belfast (QUB) has secured £32m in funding to help establish a "world-leading Centre for Experimental Medicine" in Northern Ireland. The new centre will specialise in scientific research, with the aim of finding cures for eye disease, diabetes and genetic illnesses. Almost half of the funding (£15m) was donated by The Atlantic Philanthropies, the largest gift QUB has ever received. The new centre is due to open in 2016. 'Global leader' QUB Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Peter Gregson, said the university was celebrating the announcement but added the people of Northern Ireland would be "the real winners" as, through the work of the centre, they would benefit from "improved diagnosis and treatments of debilitating diseases". In a statement, he said: "Queen's University is well advanced in creating an internationally recognised Institute of Health Sciences that will become a global leader in medical research and education. "This will be further enhanced through the creation of the Centre for Experimental Medicine, a centre that will transform healthcare in Northern Ireland and beyond." "This exciting new development has been made possible through generous philanthropic support with leveraged investment through the UK Research Partnership Infrastructure Fund." The other funders who have contributed to the project are The Wellcome Trust, The Wolfson Foundation, The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust, Insight Trust for the Visually Impaired and The Queen's University of Belfast Foundation. 'Opportunities' The largest donor, The Atlantic Philanthropies, is a global organisation founded by the Irish-American billionaire, Chuck Feeney. Mr Feeney, now in his 80s, is a well-known philanthropist who traces his Irish ancestry to County Fermanagh. Professor Patrick Johnston from QUB said the new centre would help to "stimulate additional investment, lead to further global collaborations and create more opportunities for new health and biotech companies" in Northern Ireland. Prof Johnston is the university's Dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences. He said the development would "help provide a synergy between clinicians and scientists, ensuring that laboratory discoveries translate into advances in patient diagnosis and treatment". |
Rogue magic is on the rise, and only one man sees it coming. ~~~ Magic has never been a part of Reandn’s life. Almost gone from Keland when he was born, there is no trace of it left by the time he patrols the Keep lands as an elite King’s Wolf. Magic has never been a part of Reandn’s life. Until the people under his care start dying. Until the threat extends to his family-and then turns on him. Someone, somewhere, is trying to draw magic back into Keland, and they don’t care what-or who-is destroyed in the process. But Reandn does. ~~~ “Doranna Durgin envelops her appealing characters with a rare, shimmering aura of mystic legend.” –Romantic Times “[Durgin] has a magic touch for creating rich fantasy.” –Rochester Democrat & Chronicle “I loved Touched by Magic and was sorry to see it end.” –S.M. Stirling “Mystery, suspense, and loyalty fill out the plot, but primarily this novel focuses on the dangers of obsession. it also deals hauntingly with loss: of loved ones, of home and status, of entire ways of life…. It will keep you guessing right to the end, and there are no simple solutions to the complex problems presented.” –Hypatia’s Hoard “It’s been years since I read this. I remember I loved it…Mostly, I remember the characters – because rich characterization is one of Durgin’s best skills. One of many, of course – she also writes great action scenes, and moves the plot along briskly. I can’t wait to read this again!” –B&N Reader “An excellent read! Touched by Magic has a Game of Thrones quality, combining gritty realism with ethereal fantasy in a rich and suspenseful journey of a man haunted by the past.” –B&N Reader “I LOVED Touched by Magic! Doranna Durgin is one of those rare and gifted fantasy authors who create vibrant characters you really, really care about. I’d give this book ten stars if I could.” –B&N Reader |
Autumn Surprise Style Box September 14 to September 27 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds. Each Autumn Surprise Style Box holds a random permanent equip with an autumn theme! There are 100 different permanent items available! In non-Reboot worlds, you can trade these style box items with other players through the Cash Item Trade window, if you haven’t equipped them. Right-click on a character to see the menu. You can also exchange them with NPC Ari, located near the Free Market entrance, and receive an Avatar Box Stamp. You can receive one stamp per item. This stamp is permanent and untradeable. When you collect enough stamps, you can talk to NPC Shiro, also located near the Free Market entrance, to exchange the stamps for a permanent equip item of your choice! Check out some of the amazing items you can get from the Autumn Surprise Style Box! Girls Uniform (F), Pink Wing Bag, Silver Wolf Ears, Silver Wolf Outfit, Silver Wolf Coat, Urban Pirate Shoes, Urban Pirate Outfit, Black Skull Eye Patch, Pirate Captain's Hat, Pirate Emblem Flag, Hook Hand, Alice Rabbit Hat, Rabbit Top, Rabbit Bottom, Big Rabbit Feet, Deluxe Rabbit Tail, Butterfly Flower Effect Ring, Ellinia Magic School Uniform, Kerning Engineering School Shoes, BOY Hat, Grand Romance, Military Cargo Jacket, Soaring High, Honey Bee Flower Effect Ring, Maple Girl School Uniform (F), Metal Pink Baseball Cap, Tinky Baseball (M), Baseball Shoes, Floaty Baseball, Ribbon Boy School Look (M), Hot Pink Backpack, Blue Notebook Quote Ring, Tania Cloak, Tania Gloves, Tania Bolero (F), Tania Tartan Skirt (F), Tania En Fuego, White Bread, 80's Knit Pullover, Blue Pencil Label Ring, Vintage Khaki Cap, Preppy Knit Vest, Mercury Washed Jeans (M), and Scoreboard Label Ring. Autumn Surprise Style Box Price (1): 3,400 NX Price (11): 34,000 NX Duration: 90 days Sailor Permanent Pet Packages September 14 to September 20 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in non-Reboot worlds only. Yo ho! Take home these sailor pets ready to explore the high seas. Choose from Craw, Adriano, or Bonkey—or take home all three! They each come with an equip to wear, yummy pet food to eat, a Pet Name Tag, and some useful pet skills and scrolls. Summon all three pets to obtain the M.S.S. Awesome mount skill. Sailor Pet Package Price: 20,790 NX Includes: Craw (Permanent duration) Adriano (Permanent duration) Bonkey (Permanent duration) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for ATT 60% (90-day duration) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for M. ATT 60% (90-day duration) Pet Snack (90-day duration) Craw Pet Package Price: 13,935 NX Includes: Craw (Permanent duration) Craw's Pirate Hat (Permanent duration) Premium Pet Food (6) (90-day duration) Auto HP Potion Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto All Cure Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Pet Name Tag (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for ATT 60% (90-day duration) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for M. ATT 60% (90-day duration) Adriano Pet Package Price: 13,935 NX Includes: Adriano (Permanent duration) Adriano's Hat (Permanent duration) Premium Pet Food (6) (90-day duration) Auto HP Potion Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto All Cure Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Pet Name Tag (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for ATT 60% (90-day duration) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for M. ATT 60% (90-day duration) Bonkey Pet Package Price: 13,935 NX Includes: Bonkey (Permanent duration) Bonkey's Ammunition Box (Permanent duration) Premium Pet Food (6) (90-day duration) Auto HP Potion Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto All Cure Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Pet Name Tag (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for ATT 60% (90-day duration) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for M. ATT 60% (90-day duration) Discounted Special Scrolls September 14 to September 20 in the Special Promotions > Discounted category in non-Reboot worlds only. Start upgrading those equips because all of your favorite scrolls are on sale! Choose from Shielding Ward, Shield Scroll, Perfect Innocence Scroll, Guardian Scroll, Superior Shielding Ward, and Return Scroll. Duration: 7 days ITEM PRICE SALE Shielding Ward 5,500 NX 4,125 NX Shield Scroll 2,800 NX 2,100 NX Perfect Innocence Scroll 6,000 NX 4,500 NX Guardian Scroll 2,400 NX 1,800 NX Superior Shielding Ward 6,000 NX 4,500 NX Return Scroll 5,520 NX 4,140 NX Sachiel Permanent Outfit Packages September 14 to September 20 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds. Dress up with this classic MapleStory outfit, available as male and female versions. These items are permanent! Sachiel Package (M) Price: 4,900 NX Includes: Sachiel Wig (M) Sachiel Armor New Sachiel Wings Sachiel Shoes Sachiel Sword Sachiel Package (F) Price: 4,900 NX Includes: Sachiel Wig (F) Sachiel Armor New Sachiel Wings Sachiel Shoes Sachiel Sword Daily Deal: Mexican Independence Day Outfit September 16 in the Special Promotions > Daily Deals category in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds. Celebrate Mexico with this set of 7-day clothing items, which cost only mesos! You have until 11:59 PM Pacific on September 16 (2:59 AM Eastern on September 17) to purchase these items. In non-Reboot worlds, these items are available in a Meso Outfit Box. In Reboot world, these items are available individually. AVAILABLE IN NON-REBOOT WORLDS ONLY Meso Outfit Box Price: 300,000 Mesos Includes: Aztec Paint (Mexico) Mexico Soccer Uniform (No.9) Mexico Cheer Towel AVAILABLE IN REBOOT WORLD ONLY Aztec Paint (Mexico) Price: 100,000 Mesos Duration: 7 days Mexico Soccer Uniform (No.9) Price: 100,000 Mesos Duration: 7 days Mexico Cheer Towel Price: 100,000 Mesos Duration: 7 days Sailor 90-Day Pets September 14 to September 20 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in Reboot world only. Yo ho! These sailor pets are ready to accompany you on your journey! Pick up Craw, Adriano, and Bonkey and let these little buddies join you on your adventures in Reboot World! Craw Price: 4,900 NX Duration: 90 days Craw's Pirate Hat Price: 2,500 NX Duration: 90 days Adriano Price: 4,900 NX Duration: 90 days Adriano's Hat Price: 2,500 NX Duration: 90 days Bonkey Price: 4,900 NX Duration: 90 days Bonkey's Ammunition Box Price: 2,500 NX Duration: 90 days Premium Surprise Style Box September 7 to September 27 in the Special Promotions > New Arrivals category in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds. If you’re going for the premium look, the Premium Surprise Style Box has the most sought-after styles in all of Maple World! Each Premium Surprise Style Box holds a permanent random decorative item! These items are regularly found in the Random Rewards > Surprise Box category in the Cash Shop. There are 100 different permanent items available from the Premium Surprise Style Box. In non-Reboot worlds, you can trade these style box items with other players through the Cash Item Trade window, if you haven’t equipped them. Right-click on a character to see the menu. You can also exchange them with NPC Ari, located near the Free Market entrance, and receive an Avatar Box Stamp. You can receive one stamp per item. This stamp is permanent and untradeable. When you collect enough stamps, you can talk to NPC Shiro, also located near the Free Market entrance, to exchange the stamps for a permanent equip item of your choice! Check out some of the most recent additions to the Premium Surprise Style Box. Umbral Coat, Umbral Earrings, Umbral Boots, Magic Tome Weapon, Umbral Cap, Umbral Attire, Umbral Shoes, Umbral Cloak, Red Cloud Top, Red Cloud Bottom (F), Red Cloud Shoes, Red Cloud Cape, Red Cloud Bottom (M), Red Cloud Chat Ring, Red Cloud Label Ring, Poofy Bichon Hat, Bichon Outfit, Bichon Gloves, Bichon Shoes, Bichon Paw Weapon, In-forest Camping Look (M), Here's the Flashlight!, Rabbit-Bear Slippers, Rabbit-Bear Camping Bag, Teddy Bear Gloves, Teddy Bear Shoes, Teddy Bear Costume, Teddy Bear Headgear, Teddy Bear Quote Ring, Brown Teddy Label Ring, Teddy Bear, Party Princess (F), Teddy Bear Balloon, Beach Bum Outfit (M), Atlantis, Dragon Spirit Earrings, Blue Twilight (F), Sea Otter Slammer, Hawaiian Couple (F), Aloha Flower Accessory, Hula Hula Beaded Anklet, Maple Leaf High Swimsuit (F), Sparkling Goggles Cap, Do-re-mi Headphone, Melody Girl (F), Melodic Aurora, Melody Boy (M), Xylophone Melody, Prim Ribbon Beret, Fantastic Ice Pop, Shiny Light (F), Thermidor (F), Salamander, Magma Wings, Marine Stripe, Ink-and-Wash Thought Bubble Ring, and Ink-and-Wash Painting Name Tag Ring. Premium Surprise Style Box Price (1): 3,400 NX Price (11): 34,000 NX Duration: 90 days Royal Style Coupons September 7 to September 20 in the Appearance category in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds. Take your Royal Hair Coupon to NPC Big Headward in Henesys Hair Salon, or your Royal Face Coupon to NPC Nurse Pretty in Henesys Plastic Surgery to get your new style! Royal Style Coupons are regularly found in the Appearance > Beauty Parlor category in the Cash Shop. You can preview the Royal Styles by double-clicking on the Royal Hair Coupon or the Royal Face Coupon in the Cash Shop. Check out the Male Hairstyles available now: Bandana Hair (NEW!), Boomy Hair (NEW!), Overgrown Hair, Sun Bleached, Beau Wild Hunter Hair, and Ultra-Bubble Hair. Check out the Female Hairstyles available now: Bandana Hair (NEW!), Chic Kitten Hair (NEW!), Kitty Hair, Lively Waved, Muse Hair, and Soprano Hair. Check out the Male Face Styles available now: Nue Face (NEW!), Bright Eyes, Marble Eyes, Piercing Gaze, Arrogant Face, and Puppy Eyes Face. Check out the Female Face Styles available now: Takeno Konoko Face (NEW!), Teen Drama Face (NEW!), Bright Eyes, Marble Eyes, Piercing Gaze, and Wounded Look. Royal Face Price: 3,300 NX Duration: 90 days Royal Hair Price: 3,300 NX Duration: 90 days Lil Tengu Permanent Pet Package September 7 to September 20 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in non-Reboot worlds only. Take home this Lil Tengu pet that looks just like the new boss in Mushroom Shrine Tales! It comes with an equip to wear, pet food to eat, a Pet Name Tag, and some useful pet skills and scrolls. Lil Tengu Pet Package Price: 13,935 NX Includes: Lil Tengu (Permanent duration) Anguish Crow (Permanent duration) Premium Pet Food (6) (90-day duration) Auto HP Potion Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto All Cure Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Pet Name Tag (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for ATT 60% (90-day duration) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for M. ATT 60% (90-day duration) Futuroid Crate 1 September 7 to October 11 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds. September 7 to October 11 in the Special Promotions > Maple Rewards Shop category in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds. Would you like to make a Futuroid Android of your very own? Pick up the first piece in the Cash Shop or Maple Rewards Shop, and then hunt monsters within your level range to collect the other six necessary Futuroid Crates! Once you have all of the parts, Gaga in the Event Hall can assemble them into a Futuroid for you. Click here to learn more about the Futuroid Android Event! AVAILABLE IN NON-REBOOT WORLDS ONLY Futuroid Crate 1 Limited Time category Price: 300 NX Duration: 90 days Maple Rewards Shop category Price: 300 Reward Points Duration: 90 days AVAILABLE IN REBOOT WORLD ONLY Futuroid Crate 1 Limited Time category Price: 3,000,000 Mesos Duration: 90 days Maple Rewards Shop category Price: 300 Reward Points Duration: 90 days Lil Tengu 90-Day Pet September 7 to September 20 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in Reboot world only. Get yourself a Lil Tengu pet to join you on your adventures in Reboot world! The pet equip is also available. |
With the recent increase in gang-related crimes in the D.C. region, several local leaders mapped out their plans on how to combat that rise Wednesday night. ANNANDALE, Va. — With the recent increase in gang-related crimes in the D.C. region, several local leaders mapped out their plans on how to combat that rise Wednesday night. Earlier this month, two bodies were found in Holmes Run Park and Fairfax County police believe they are victims of gang-related killings. Soon, county police will extend their patrols there, said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Penny Gross of the Mason District, which includes the park. She spoke at the town hall-style meeting Wednesday night in Annandale, Virginia. “It’s going to be a regular patrol responsibility, especially as the weather gets warmer, the days get longer and the bike patrol will be out longer,” she said. Gross also plans a meeting in about a month with the director of the Fairfax County Park Authority and others to discuss more ways to help keep criminals out of the park. Also speaking at the meeting was Jay Lanham, director of the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force. “Over the past several months, we’ve started picking up our enforcement, and I have put together an enforcement plan that we’re going to be rolling out here pretty soon,” he said. Lanham said one of their first steps will be to make gangs uncomfortable: “They shouldn’t be comfortable out here hanging around in your neighborhoods, doing what they want to do on a regular basis.” He is also concerned about children from other countries who have come to the area without their parents, to live with relatives. “There are a lot of unaccompanied minors being housed in Fairfax County and all through Northern Virginia. That is an issue because they are prime targets for the recruiting,” Lanham said. “These are kids that are vulnerable, and the gangs take advantage of those kids that are vulnerable to pull them into their activities.” Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others. © 2017 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. |
Bargains with the devil never end well. For decades, successive U.S. administrations have embraced autocratic, repressive regimes in the Arab world - and now, as we see in the bloody streets of Cairo, it's time to pay the price. Officials in Washington could do little more than watch helplessly Wednesday as goon squads loyal to dictator Hosni Mubarak made a violent attempt to drive pro-democracy protesters out of Tahrir Square. Before learning of the deadly raid, White House chief of staff Bill Daley gave this honest assessment: "We don't control this. And even though we like to think at times that we can control everything in the world . . . it truly is not up to us." Not at this point, obviously. President Obama's call for Mubarak to begin a transition "now" has drawn haughty defiance from the dictator and his courtiers. "Now" apparently means "in September, maybe" - Mubarak says that he will not run for president this fall and that he did not intend for his son to succeed him, although few believe a man so accustomed to ruling like a pharaoh could preside over a genuine democratic transformation. No one should be shocked to learn that Mubarak is, in fact, a dictator. He has been a dictator since the moment he assumed power following the assassination of Anwar Sadat. But the United States and its allies have taken the position that despotism is acceptable in the Middle East, as long as the despots in question provide useful services. You will recall that even Saddam Hussein was once in the "useful tyrant" category, partly because of Iraq's huge oil reserves and partly because he had been considerate enough to launch a war against Iran. Only after invading Kuwait and threatening Saudi Arabia did he move to the top of the U.S. enemies list; the despotic royal families that rule the oil-rich kingdoms and sheikdoms lining the Persian Gulf are more useful than Hussein ever was. The United States and other free-market democracies were implacably opposed to the communist tyranny of the Soviet Union. Theoretically, we also have irreconcilable differences with the repressive present-day regime in China, too - although we don't talk about them much, given China's new role in the global economy as the lender of last resort. There was a time when U.S. officials thought nothing of cozying up to murderous dictatorships throughout Latin America. As long as they were anti-communist, we could work with them - even if they rounded up thousands of suspected leftists, subjected them to unspeakable torture and finally threw them out of helicopters to their deaths, as was the practice of the sadistic military junta in Argentina. Today's despots get a similar pass from U.S. policymakers by being anti-terrorist. There are other factors, too, depending on the dictator in question. Mubarak faithfully observed the peace treaty that Sadat negotiated with Israel. The royals who hold absolute sway in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the other Persian Gulf monarchies guarantee the supply of oil that fuels the global economy. But the "with us or against us" acid test is whether the repressive government in question cooperates in the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. A U.S. diplomatic cable written in February 2010, released last week by WikiLeaks, describes how the State Department pressured Egyptian officials on the Mubarak government's indiscriminate use of the "emergency law," which allows indefinite detention. Officials from the Egyptian Interior Ministry responded that the law is a necessary tool to combat an "acute terrorist threat" from groups such as the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Why, then, had a Coptic Christian blogger been detained for more than a year without charges under the emergency law? Egyptian officials claimed that the man was being held "for his own security." The Egyptians said they were working on a new, narrower, less repressive anti-terrorism law. Just as the Saudis, Kuwaitis, Yemenis, Jordanians, Algerians, Syrians, Sudanese and others are always working on reforms to allow basic human and political rights - but never get very far. Now everything has changed. If the Egyptian regime can be challenged by ordinary citizens demanding freedom and democracy, any regime in the Arab world can be so challenged. The United States will not be able to dictate events, but neither will it be able to stand idly by - not where our non-democratic allies are concerned. When push comes to shove, American officials must uphold American values. We made a bargain whose term has lapsed. Settling final accounts will not be pleasant. eugenerobinson@washpost.com |
Precisely how many more of these stories do we need to see? Out in Nebraska, Senator Ben Sasse is up in arms after an illegal immigrant accused of killing a woman with his car while driving drunk was released from custody and then failed to show up for court mandated appointments. Who could have possibly seen that one coming? (Fox News) Immigration officials have placed a 19-year-old Honduran who entered the United States as part of the so-called border surge of 2014 on its Most Wanted list for disappearing while out on bail on charges of killing a Nebraska woman while driving drunk. But Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) says the action by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is too little, too late. On his website Sasse said that Edwin Mejia, whose whereabouts are unknown and also goes by the name Eswin, should never have been released after he killed 21-year-old Sarah Root in January while he driving drunk at a high speed. Root had graduated from college just hours before the fatal accident. Sasse has every reason to be upset. The police knew that Mejia was an illegal alien as soon as he was picked up. At his initial hearing, despite objections from prosecutors, the Honduran “undocumented immigrant” was released on bail with an order to show up for Breathalyzer testing twice per day until his next court appearance. They never saw him again. How on Earth could the court not even suspect that someone who had just been identified as being in the country illegally while killing a woman with his car might go on the lam? More to the point, where was ICE during all of this? As Sasse correctly notes, immigration control has the option to place a detainer on illegals as soon as they are in custody, allowing the local cops to hold them until ICE can show up, take them into custody and hold them for either further criminal prosecution or deportation hearings. The Douglas County Police Department supposedly put in a request with ICE to do just that, but they passed on the opportunity, saying that the culprit’s actions, “did not meet ICE’s enforcement priorities.” Given the marching orders coming out of the White House for the past couple of years, you can almost understand how they might have allowed Meijia to walk if he’d simply been picked up for a bar brawl or some other minor infraction, but we’re supposed to be holding on to felons, aren’t we? And this guy was in a cell because he’d just killed somebody. (Allegedly) This isn’t San Francisco or some other “sanctuary city” we’re talking about here. It’s Omaha, Nebraska. The problem wasn’t the locals in this case, but ICE itself and their refusal to do what’s called for when we’ve got an illegal alien in a cell with ample evidence to suspect they are guilty of a serious crime. Don’t pin this one on Mayor Jean Stothert or the city council. This is a failure of policy at the federal level and it’s sadly not the only case of its kind out there. The locals can only do so much if they can’t secure the help of the feds and immigration control. |
The architect who failed to convince Saskatoon voters to build a new arena downtown 30 years ago is returning to promote his vision of a unique sustainable community near the city. West Kelowna architect Gary Marvin is scheduled to appear before city council’s planning, development and community services committee on Monday to sell his proposal for a $600-million passive community that would produce no greenhouse gas emissions. Marvin stresses he’s not looking for any money from the city — or any level of government. He said he and his partners have already purchased 90 acres just northeast of city limits and east of Wanuskewin Heritage Park. The Buffalo Ranch development would feature nearly 2,000 dwellings at full build-out and would be designed differently than any other neighbourhood in the world. Perhaps most notably, it would not include any interior roads, driveways or parking lots; they would be replaced with an interconnected underground parkade. “It’s time to make a radical change,” Marvin said in a phone interview on Thursday. “Let’s call it growth. Let’s call it evolution.” For Marvin, it marks a return to Saskatoon, which he left about a year and a half after residents voted against his proposal to build a downtown arena on land that is still undeveloped south of the Farmers’ Market. Saskatoon held two referendums on the arena issue in 1985 and 1986. Harold Orr of Saskatoon is scheduled to appear with Marvin on Monday. Marvin describes Orr, a mechanical engineer, as a “global celebrity” who remains little known in his hometown. Orr helped develop the principle of the passive home more than four decades ago. Passive homes are designed to use just 10 per cent of the energy of a standard home through better insulation and airtight construction. Orr’s principles led to the design of the Saskatchewan Conservation House in Regina in 1977. “Now there’s 30,000 passive buildings in Europe because of what was done 40 years ago in Regina,” Marvin said. The Buffalo Ranch community’s greatly reduced energy needs could be supplied by any number of renewable methods like solar or wind, Marvin said. The third member of the Buffalo Ranch team, Jason Tratch, is expected to speak about decentralized waste water system trends and water recovery and reuse. Removing the need for expensive central water and sewer systems could save about $27,000 per dwelling that could be devoted to community design elements such as insulation or underground parking, Marvin said. Most of the community’s dwellings would be apartments, condominiums or townhouses, plus about 200 single family homes, he added. Buffalo Ranch will be divided into eight 10-acre pods of about 200 dwellings each. About 40 of the area’s 90 acres will be devoted to green space, including wildlife corridors, according to plans. The development is strategically located in the RM of Corman Park about four kilometres east of Saskatoon’s North Industrial Sector, which is expected to be home to many of the new jobs in Saskatoon. Although there would be no roads inside the community, a perimeter road would encircle it. Penner Road currently leads to the 90-acre site. At full build-out, the community is expected to provide about $6 million a year in property tax to the RM. Corman Park council unanimously endorsed the development in April. Marvin sees the benefits potentially stretching far beyond the RM and Saskatoon. He also sees the community as about more than just environmental sustainability. “I’m trying to create an environment that encourages interaction among its inhabitants,” Marvin said. Removing streets will help achieve that, he said. Marvin said his group has enough money to see the project through rezoning, but will then have to seek investors. As for the arena vote, Marvin said he still blames himself for failing to communicate to Saskatoon residents the benefit of his downtown proposal — which still looks modern today. Instead, Saskatchewan Place, now SaskTel Centre, was built on the northwest outskirts of the city. Marvin said he finds it intriguing that a discussion has started about building a new downtown arena just as he’s set to return to Saskatoon to sell a new project. He estimates in his submission to the City of Saskatoon that the city would have collected about $1 billion in additional property tax from residential and office developments that could have been built if the downtown location had won the arena debate 30 years ago. “It’ll be very interesting to address council again,” Marvin said. “I look forward to it. I still love the city quite a bit.” ptank@postmedia.com twitter.com/thinktankSK |
If voters in Atlanta approve a transportation referendum in November, designers of the plan contend that the city would have the most aggressive system in the country. The Atlanta City Council on Monday voted 13-1 to place a 0.4 percent tax increase on the November ballot to pay for $379 million worth of transportation projects. Coupled with a half-penny MARTA referendum that would be on the ballot, people in Atlanta would be faced with an 8.9 percent sales tax on items. If approved by voters, a good portion of the tax money will be used to do work on the Atlanta Beltline. But it will also touch many neighbors doing everything from building streetscapes to synchronizing the city’s traffic lights. Atlanta Mayor Kasim, beginning his final stretch in office, said the infrastructure investments are vital to Atlanta’s quality of life and continued economic competitiveness. “Between the $250 million being spent through the Renew Atlanta bond program and these TSPLOST funds, Atlanta will reap the benefits of more than a half billion dollars invested in new and improved roads, sidewalks, neighborhood greenways, parks and congestion reduction efforts," said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. "Combined with a $3 billion expansion of our public transit system through MARTA, Atlanta residents will see unprecedented new investments in strengthening our transportation networks." Tom Weyandt, who is advising the city on what is known as a TSPLOST, said the proposal, along with other bond projects and the MARTA project, would fix problems and expand existing services. “This deals with every element – highways, pedestrian, the trail system,” Weyandt said. “This will be one of the most aggressive transportation system in America.” Weyandt said that if the referendum were approved, 97 percent of a city would be within a half mile of some transportation upgrade. Faye DiMassimo, the general manager of the Renew Atlanta, which would administer the bonds, called it an “unprecedented story of connectivity.” DiMassimo said planners and engineers came up with a list of existing plans and new projects that the tax increase would fund, including money for Beltline right-of-way acquisitions, spur trails and lighting; street improvements and sidewalk repair; street widenings and storm water infrastructure; and bike share enhancements. The language on the Nov. 8 ballot will read: “Shall an additional 0.4percent sales tax be collected in the City of Atlanta for 5 years for the purpose of transportation improvements and congestion reduction?” If approved by the voters, the TSPLOST will take effect on April 1, 2017. |
There is a crucial reality that pro-business, anti-government conservatives ignore: a modern economy cannot function without a robust public sector that provides the environment for businesses to thrive. A top-notch education system up through the university level that produces highly skilled workers and cutting-edge research; a sound infrastructure of roads, bridges, airports and mass transit that allows for swift flow of goods and easy movement of employees; a safety net for dislocated workers and impoverished people to avoid social turmoil; courts, prosecutors, police and regulators to keep the economic playing field free of crime, corruption and exploitation – these and many other services of government are vital elements in our economic system. And yet, it is precisely those programs that are suffering at the hands of the budget cutters. In Washington State, for example, state support of higher education has dropped during the last four years and, once the current budget is approved, the reduction is likely to reach an obscene 50 percent. At the state’s premier institution, the University of Washington – a place enlightened business leaders recognize as a prime engine of economic growth for the region – tuition will shoot up, limits on admissions will slam the door on many of the best local students and world class programs will be jeopardized. This is happening in a city and state flush with multi-millionaires and major corporations, from Bill Gates and Microsoft on down. Yet, when Bill Gates’ father, the elder Bill Gates, helped put an initiative on the ballot last year to institute a strictly limited income tax to tap into that great wealth, anti-tax zealots scared voters into shooting it down. America is in the grip of an anti-tax fallacy that is blocking a rational discussion of reforms that could make our tax system more fair and effective. The result is that our very rich country grows more shabby and parsimonious by the day. Across this broad land, governors, legislators, councilmen and mayors are gutting public programs to balance the books. The hits are falling like bombs in Libya, raining destruction on state universities, public schools, parks, pensions, roads, health initiatives and housing for the poor. Yes, the big slump in the national economy is partly to blame, but things would not be nearly so bad were more of the country’s vast wealth available to sustain public services through hard times. And why is so much wealth off the table? Because, contrary to the popular myth that governments do nothing but hike taxes, the opposite is true. Over the last 30 years, as 40 percent of the nation’s wealth has shifted to the top one percent of the population, less and less of it has been liable to taxation. The highest income tax rate, 55 percent in 1965, is 32 percent today. Taxes on capital gains and dividends have been slashed as well. Meanwhile, corporations have won a wide array of tax exemptions or have moved profits offshore. Most of this tax cutting was done on the theory it would boost the economy, create new jobs and, thereby, increase tax revenue. Over the last decade, that theory has proven false. The benefits of growth have gone to the very rich, middle class jobs and incomes have stagnated and public revenue has plummeted. And yet, in the face of gaping budget shortfalls, Republicans in state after state are handing out hundreds of millions of dollars in additional tax breaks as if they are magic beans that will sprout a gigantic beanstalk of growth. A McClatchy Newspapers report details how tax cuts and tax breaks for corporations have failed to do what they were supposed to do – stimulate jobs and economic growth. In Ohio, for instance, where the corporate income tax and a business property tax were eliminated in 2005, the economy got no boost and jobs were not created, But, as McClatchy detailed, the tax cuts did “cost Ohio more than $2 billion a year in lost tax revenue – money that would go a long way toward closing the state’s $8 billion budget gap for fiscal year 2012.” But is newly elected Republican Gov. John Kasich proposing to reclaim some of the lost money? Or is he thinking of doing away with any of the 128 tax exemptions, deductions or credits that take away more than $7 billion in revenue from the state every year? No, Kasich is proposing an extension of a 21 percent state income tax cut that was part of the 2005 tax reduction package. Why? To boost the economy, of course – even though the same tax policy failed to have that effect from 2005 to 2011. Governors in seven other states with budget problems are also proposing tax reductions that will make their deficits deeper. Even in states where Democrats are in charge, very few voices are being raised to suggest even modest tax increases. Instead, draconian cuts are considered the only politically viable option because much of the public has also bought into the tax cut fantasy. There is evidence to suggest that the states that lowered taxes the most in the 1990s actually fared worse when the economy slumped in 2001. Jobs disappeared and state budgets went into deficit. Nevertheless, Republicans cling faithfully to their belief in a supply-side Santa who will magically appear and bring the gift of rising revenue if more and more taxes can be done away with. It’s a fairy tale and we are certainly not going to live happily ever after. |
NASA is looking to capitalize on the growing smartwatch trend, and it needs your help to do so. The space agency is hosting a contest with Freelancer.com, challenging participants to design the best smartwatch app that could be used by astronauts on the International Space Station. The best app designer will receive $1,500. Overall, NASA wants an app that will help keep the astronauts a little more organized — as well as one that will keep them safe. The app needs a timer and a way to easily display the crew's calendars and agendas for each day; it also needs to send them warnings or alerts in case they are in danger, perhaps if they need to find shelter from orbital debris. Additionally the app should let astronauts know when the ISS is in a position to communicate with ground control. NASA is turning more to crowdsourcing methods to help come up with innovative designs Those interested in designing the app should make it compatible with the Samsung Gear 2 (sorry Apple Watch) and present their ideas as pictures "highlighting the unique design’s navigation, interaction, layout, look, feel, etc." There are less than four weeks remaining in the contest, and only six people have joined so far, so the competition is still thin. But with 16 million users registered at Freelancer.com, that pool probably will grow. NASA is turning more to crowdsourcing methods to help come up with innovative designs and engineering ideas for its space missions. In May NASA announced its "Journey to Mars Challenge," which asked the general public to come up with ways to keep Martian astronauts safe while needing limited resupplies from Earth. The space agency also teamed up with Freelancer.com in July, asking for new tool designs to be used by Robonaut 2 — the humanoid robot on the ISS. |
Google agreed to take over some of Samsung's defense against patent claims brought by Apple under a secret agreement reached in 2012, a federal court jury heard Tuesday. The pact between Google and Samsung was revealed in a video-taped deposition played to the eight-person jury hearing Apple's patent infringement case against the Korean firm, in which the iPhone maker is seeking more than $2 billion in damages. In the video, Google counsel James Maccoun is shown a series of emails between Google and Samsung in which the agreement was hammered out. [ Find your 2017 salary info and our detailed report at IT Salary Watch ] In the emails, Google offers to indemnify Samsung against two Apple patents as they relate to the Android search box, and a third Apple patent as it relates to Google's Gmail app, according to Maccoun's testimony. The indemnification meant Google would assume responsibility for Samsung's defense if Apple brought claims against the company over those patents. While details of the agreement weren't disclosed, indemnification typically also involves a party agreeing to cover costs and damages for that part of a trial. The patents in question were U.S. 6,847,959A and 8,086,604, which related to the Android search box, and U.S. Patent 7,761,414, which related to the Gmail app. Samsung had been arguing that some of Apple's claims should be disregarded by the jury because they related to software developed by Google. By playing the video, Apple was trying to show the jury that the companies had been working together to defend against those patents. The indemnification pact appears to have stemmed from a mobile application development agreement between Google and Samsung. Throughout the deposition video, which was filmed on Aug. 16 last year, Maccoun is seen reclining in his chair. His body language suggests he had little enthusiasm for being there. The video was shown in the final moments of Apple's arguing its case against Samsung. Both sides were given 25 hours by Judge Lucy Koh and both are expected to use their time up Tuesday afternoon. The court will sit again on Friday, when the lawyers are expected to argue legal points of the case away from the jury. The jury will be brought back for closing arguments, which are currently expected on Monday, April 28, and will begin its deliberations immediately afterward. Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com |
I first read On the Road as a 21-year-old, on a long and uncomfortable journey by rattling, toilet-less coach from London to the north of Spain. I was with a group of friends who always seemed more worldly, more well-read, more savvy than me; they had mentioned Jack Kerouac in passing but other than a reference in a Marillion song the name meant little to me. However, over the course of the previous two years I had begun to drift away from the fantasy and science fiction which had long been my staple. I started to explore wider literary realms, and by 1991 it was the turn of Kerouac and On the Road. We were on our way to Pamplona. It was July and we were going to take part in the annual San Fermin festival and its week-long party, its morning bull runs through the stockaded cobbled streets. In the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway, of course, who immortalised the spectacle in his novel Fiesta (also known as The Sun Also Rises). But while we followed the trail laid down by the Lost Generation, it was the Beat Generation that was captivating me as I ignored the scenery outside the coach window and instead became immersed in Kerouac’s world. Join Independent Minds For exclusive articles, events and an advertising-free read for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent With an Independent Minds subscription for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent Without the ads – for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Perhaps it’s surprising that I didn’t discover Kerouac until I was 21. But I had eschewed university in favour of starting work as a journalist at the age of 19, so missed out on those student years and their de rigeur texts; instead I discovered such things piecemeal and haphazardly. Perhaps if I had taken up a degree course in literature, I might have had a better understanding of what I was reading on that coach trip. But I didn’t have the toolkit of literary criticism to fully comprehend what On the Road actually was; was it fiction? Was it non-fiction disguised as fiction? I had no idea what a roman a clef was back then; if you’d have asked me I might have hazarded a guess that it was something to do with musical notation, rather than it being a perfect descriptor of Jack Kerouac’s writing: real people, real events, given the gloss and sheen of fictional presentation. All I really knew was that On the Road absorbed me completely. It was like nothing I’d read before. It didn’t follow any traditional structure of fiction that I’d encountered previously. The language was lyrical and urgent and demanded to be read out loud, under my breath, to appreciate the rhythm. It was poetry and prose all mixed together that bounced along to a head-nodding, foot-tapping cadence. My copy of On the Road was a Penguin 20th Century Classics edition, with a pale-blue spine. On the front cover was a photograph by Robert Frank, entitled “Teardrops”. It depicted a table in an American diner with its jukebox selector, and the ghost of a wide American car in the background. Somewhat surprisingly, it survived the trip to Pamplona in remarkably good shape; I still have it today. On the Road is the Jack Kerouac novel everyone has heard of, but it’s only one part of Kerouac’s great literary endeavour; a vast, Proustian tapestry of his life and the others that weave in and out of it. There’s The Dharma Bums,The Subterraneans, Visions of Cody, Doctor Sax… 13 novels in all, which I tracked down and devoured, slowly realising that the recurring characters under fictional names were all real people in what Kerouac dubbed The Duluoz Legend – Duluoz being one of the alter egos he created for himself at the behest of his publishers who feared these tales of drugs, booze and debauchery might bring legal problems on their heads if Kerouac used real names. Still, is is On the Road that is the pivotal book in the whole series. It is, in a way, Kerouac’s “A New Hope”... just like the seminal film Star Wars began halfway through the sequence, it’s the one beloved of most. On the Road details the fast-living years of Kerouac’s life, and was the first novel in the Duluoz Legend published (not counting his debut, The Town and the City, which is a fine novel and a homage to Kerouac’s literary hero Thomas Wolfe, but pure fiction nevertheless). And it was published 60 years ago today, 5 September 1957. But the journey to being published was long. The bulk of the novel covers events that took place between 1947 and 1950, when Kerouac, after dropping out of college and embarking on a short career as a merchant seaman, landed in New York and got in with the counter-cultural crowd he would christen the Beat Generation. People like poet Allen Ginsberg, writer William S Burroughs, and the man who would become a sort of muse for Kerouac, Neal Cassady. Cassady was a slum kid who’d led a life of petty crime, but had ambitions to be a writer. Kerouac imbued him with an almost mystical presence, painting him as the great American frontiersman, a dust-covered hobo-cowboy navigating the brave new world of post-war America. Together they travelled from New York to Mexico, and that is essentially the meat of On the Road, with Cassady recast as the free-spirited Dean Moriarty in the book. Kerouac famously completed the first draft of the book in 1951, after three weeks of drug-fuelled writing on one continuous scroll of taped-together sheets of paper – 120ft long, as legend has it, no paragraph breaks, just one mesmerising screed of typewritten spontaneous prose. It’s a wonder it ever got published at all, but Kerouac had a champion at the New York publishing house Viking in the shape of Malcolm Crowley, who spotted the potential in Kerouac’s unorthodox manuscript and fought for it in-house. It took many revisions and several years, but On the Road was finally published in 1957, when Kerouac was 35. Over the next decade he continued to write, expanding his Duluoz Legend, sometimes concentrating on his childhood in Massachusetts, other times leaping ahead to the Beat and post-Beat years. Like Kerouac’s famous roman candles analogy from On the Road (“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’”) the Beat Generation flared brightly but for a short time, and in the Sixties were supplanted by the hippies and several other burgeoning youth movements. The Beats had ushered in the age of the counter-culture and paved the way for young people to stand up and say for the first time that they were not simply going to follow the paths laid down by their parents, but like every supplanted generation, Kerouac didn’t understand and had little truck with the hippies. He died, from internal bleeding brought on by years of alcohol abuse, in October 1969, living with his third wife and his mother, in St Petersburg, Florida. This was 82 days before I was born. Kerouac was 47 when he died, the same age that I am now. Why do I point this out? I make no analogy between my life and Kerouac’s. I’m simply often surprised that the life of this chronicler of a world that seems lost to history, so very nearly overlapped with mine. And yet, in a way, it did; ever since I was 21, I’ve felt that Kerouac has been a part of my life. My old copy of On the Road is by my side as I write this. About three years after that trip to Spain, I found myself in Boston, and struck out for Kerouac’s home town of Lowell. It was a baking hot day in July, and as I stepped off the train, alone in this pretty red-brick town, in my early 20s, I don’t think I’d ever felt so far away from home. I walked in the searing heat to Edson Cemetery, much further out of town than it seemed on the hand-drawn map they’d given me in the tiny tourism office, and I stopped for a Coke in a Dairy Queen, which felt simultaneously familiar from years of American literature and movies, yet unbearably exotic. Kerouac’s headstone is flat, laid into the earth. It says on it “Ti Jean”, or Little Jack in the French-Canadian of his family. A childhood nickname. Exhausted, I sat on the parched earth next to the headstone, festooned with empty beer bottles and a joint. After his death, and a lifetime of wandering, Kerouac had come home. Jack Kerouac has been dead now for longer than he was alive, and his most famous novel remains a divisive book. There are those, like me, who love it. For as many people, the rhythmic, directionless prose is off-putting (Truman Capote infamously dismissed Kerouac’s work as, “That’s not writing, that’s typing”). But I don’t think it can be denied that On the Road, and Jack Kerouac, have earned their place in the literary firmament. Where he burns like a fabulous roman candle, and never did say a commonplace thing. On the Road is 60 today; let’s watch it, still exploding like spiders across the stars. Everybody say “Awww.” |
UNIVERSITY PARK — SMU quarterback Garrett Gilbert and younger brother Griffin of TCU will experience their first Battle for the Iron Skillet on Saturday at Ford Stadium. Griffin, a 6-5, 220-pound tight end, is one of 15 true freshmen to play for the Horned Frogs this season. “It will just be fun getting to see him on the other side,” Garrett said. “I might be a little distracted on the sideline trying to watch him on offense, but it will be a good time.” This will be the first time they’ve opposed one another. At Lake Travis High School, they had one pass completion together when Garrett was a senior and Griffin was a freshman. Asked which team his parents will be pulling for, Garrett said, “They said they’re wearing all white. I don’t know who that means they’re supporting, but I feel that since I’m older it should be me.” |
Hello and welcome to another installment of LORE BUILDER, where we work with the community to help develop and flesh out corners of the Star Citizen universe. As always, I will direct any readers to the caveats and background reading listed in the beginning of the first issue to bring you up to speed on what’s been established. So let’s jump right in. SQUADRON NUMBERING SYSTEM This is just a guess, but I seemed to gather that you all are leaning towards maintaining the current phonetic alphabet. I’m not sure, I might have to put together a poll … Anyway, Sengar had used the original phonetic alphabet in his original post. When going through edits internally, the question was raised as to whether the terms would be updated (“Golf” and “Foxtrot” seemed particularly unlikely). Then Rob found a web page that charted the number of changes to the system within the past century (here’s the link for those interested), so I started changing them, but we can go back to the original/common version. Moving on, Dzur had a fantastic write-up on how to update the general system. Here is a link to the complete post. After some discussion with him, we were able to work out an updated version of the overall organizational structure of the Navy and how they are named and numbered. We’ll start from the very top: IMPERATOR Head of the UEE HIGH COMMAND The H.C. Legatus Navium is the highest ranking member of the Navy and represents the branch in the government. He or she dictates policy more than operational control. GRAND ADMIRAL Excerpt from Dzur’s email: “… similar to how the 5 stars worked during WWI or WWII, kind of a chairman and the joint chiefs all rolled into a single person, but with overall operational authority as well.” MAJOR FLEETS Named after Earth’s constellations, each fleet is commanded by an Admiral. REGIONAL FLEET COMMANDER Vice Admiral who oversees Fleet activity in specific regions of the Major Fleet’s Area of Operation. Named after universe landmarks (i.e. Gamma Region Commander, Cancer Fleet). SPECIALTY GROUP COMMANDER Vice Admiral In Charge of the Squadrons Assigned to the Major Fleet, reports to Fleet Admiral. Here’s a pass at the possible groups for the types of ships that could be included in a standard Carrier Air Wing: IF = Intercept Fighter Group (Hornets) IT = Intercept Torpedo Group (Gladiators) EW = Early Warning Group (Hornets) VB = Intercept Bomber Group (Retaliators) BATTLE GROUP Usually consists of 1 Main Carrier, 2-4 Escorts and large Combat/Support Vessels. Use Numbers for designation (312th Battle Group). These are run by Rear Admiral who reports to Regional Fleet Commander. CAP SHIP CAPTAINS Officers of various ranks (examples from Dzur’s email: a Carrier skipper would be a Captain, while a Destroyer, Cruiser, or Battleship skipper would be a Commander, a frigate or support vessel skipper may be a Lieutenant-Commander) who report to Rear Admiral. CAW assigned to the battlegroup shares the number assigned to the carrier. This initial number for the first ship in the class is randomly determined and then subsequent ships are numbered sequentially. Capital ships designations: CV = Fleet Carrier CVE = Escort Carrier BB = Battleship CA = Cruiser CBC = Battlecruiser DD = Destroyer FF = Frigate FFL = Frigate Light K = Corvette AP = Transport AOG = Tanker SQUADRONS Squadrons are under the command of the Carrier Air Wing Commander who is stationed on thelargest carrier in the Battle Group and reports to the Rear Admiral. I don’t want to bite off too much of this topic in one post, so we’ll save organization within the squadrons for next week and do a final write-up of the complete system. Thanks again to Dzur for making himself available to field questions and develop this further. For our second topic of the week, like the pirate packs/mercs/syndicates, this is going to be an open topic. It’s something that, love them or hate them, will probably always exist with Humanity: CELEBRITIES Actors, writers, musicians, painters (yes, they still exist), athletes, media darlings of all stripes, come one come all. Here’s an excerpt from the Writer’s Guide on the types of media that we’ve established thus far: The web of information and entertainment is known as the Spectrum. Many of the forms of entertainment from today still exist, just changed, advanced. For example, there are movies and shows called Vids, that are effectively all on demand. Books are exclusively digital. Painting is as well. Music too. There are still celebrities, and NewsOrgs still do local nightly news and produce the equivalent of online newspapers. You don’t necessarily need to limit yourself to these. If you come up with some interesting interactive media that make sense within the universe, by all means, write them down. In the comments below, write up a description of a celebrity in the Star Citizen universe. Make them interesting or obnoxious. Pretentious or inspiring. Idiots or the real deal. Have fun with them. The only rule is going to be the same one used for the pirate packs: Please keep these descriptions to a single paragraph. It’s much more difficult, I know, but that limitation will help you keep their appearance, identifying traits and/or personalities succinct and distinctive. That’s it for this week. Good luck. Until next time … |
This week’s North American Nintendo Downloads are as follows: Wii U Download Steel Lords – $14.99 Tap Tap Arcade 2 – $2.99 Wii U Virtual Console Baseball Simulator 1000 – $4.99 Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll – $4.99 New 3DS Virtual Console The Legend of The Mystical Ninja – $7.99 3DS Themes The Legend of Dark Witch 2 Rudy Theme The Legend of Dark Witch 2 Sola Theme The Legend of Dark Witch 2 Zizou Theme eShop Sales Wii U / 3DS – Gardenscapes, Murder on the Titanic and more games from Joindots are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 14. Wii U – Hold Your Fire: A Game About Responsibility and Explody Bomb are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 28. – Color Zen, My Style Studio: Hair Salon and more games from Cypronia are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 29. – Totem Topple is 80 percent off (reduced from $5 to $1) until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 14. 3DS – Mercenaries Saga 2, GLORY OF GENERALS THE PACIFIC and more games from CIRCLE Ent. are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 28. – Dan McFox: Head Hunter is more than 30 percent off (reduced from $2.99 to $1.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on July 21. Source: Nintendo PR Share this: Twitter Facebook Reddit Tumblr Google More Email Print LinkedIn Pinterest Pocket |
What do Lance Armstrong and Bernie Madoff have in common? Are they a different species from each other and from us? No, they are all too human. Like many of us, they want to be superhuman. The difference from the rest of us? They feel driven and entitled to go for it at any cost. It starts out with feeling entitled to get what you want no matter what. You want to look good and be great, without the work it takes. It's like being the "Great Impostor." Lance and Bernie alike are great impostors. The goal is power and glory -- without the work, but even more so without the risk of failure and humiliation. A subsidiary goal involves looking benevolent and being adored. You're on the board of charities, you give away some of your money, without letting out what a paltry amount it really is compared to what you're stealing. If you are lucky enough to succeed through your lies like sports dopers who break all the records, like dishonest politicians who rise to the top, or like fraudulent investors who become wealthy -- then you are stuck living the fiction forever. Your lies become the very fabric of your life and there's no turning back. It's not that you believe your lies; you're not stupid. You cannot live without your lies. If the truth comes out, then it's all over for you. Lance Armstrong is among the most successful dopers of all time, but there are lots of lesser dopers as well, right down to the lawyer who takes cocaine up his nose to keep up his courage and energy in the face of his upcoming trial. Some dopers and financial frauds need a group in order to succeed. They need co-conspirators. Lance had his team, Bernie his family. They may even feel some loyalty. The pressure of lying and the fear of getting caught sets the little group apart, a kind of mini-cult that breeds an "us against the world" mentality. It keeps up their spirits while they lie and cheat. But these attachments are likely to fall apart when the truth comes out, and when the scandals and the prosecutions begin. A comparison to drug abuse and lying in childhood can be enlightening. Working with families as a therapist, I see children begin to lie when they feel alienated from their parents or fearful that they cannot meet their expectations. The lying becomes a habit, so easy to use, and so automatic, the child seemingly cannot let go of it. The answer for children is not punishment but a rebuilding of trust. I tell these children -- and they get it -- that lying is like drug addiction. It seems easy and even indispensable, but it will make them feel more alone and even less able to succeed or gain approval in the normal ways. Then I work with the parents to help them to guide their children toward more fulfilling lives. If and when children start using drugs or alcohol, the gulf between themselves and their parents grows. Lying becomes yet more embedded in their lives. The chemical "high" that they get replaces their shattered dreams of being successful, respected and loved in the real world. It's similar to doping, but in doping the individual is actually working at something, and the high comes from reaching superhuman greatness, power and glory, regardless of the cost. With the child, setting limits and trust building can help to change the youngster's life. Any child with the right help can outgrow the shortcuts and detours of lying and drug abuse or addiction. What about remorse when adults like Lance Armstrong or Bernie Madoff see the light and fess up in public? Lance Armstrong is now playing the "mea culpa" card. Don't believe it. The odds are overwhelming that he's too embedded in a life of lies to work his way out of it. Besides, he's still under assault from a teammate-turned-whistleblower, and the U.S. Department of Justice may be going after him. He wants to hang on to the shreds of his life and to protect his embattled fortune. He'll do what he does best, without or with drugs. He'll lie. Remorse? He left that behind decades ago. Peter R. Breggin, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Ithaca, New York, and the author of more than twenty books and dozens of scientific articles. His most relevant book to this blog is The Heart of Being Helpful. His most recent book is Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: A Guide for Prescribers, Therapists, Patients and Their Families. His professional website is www.breggin.com. Dr. Breggin's national nonprofit organization, The Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, is holding its annual conference in Syracuse New in April of this year. Learn about the organization and conference at www.empathictherapy.org. For more by Dr. Peter Breggin, click here. |
The division of Germany into a socialist and an at least vaguely capitalist part was one of history’s great natural experiments. The outcomes of the experiment speak for themselves . After reunification, East Germany’s GDP per capita was just one third of the West German level. The poorest West German region, Schleswig-Holstein, was still two and a half times as rich as the richest East German region, Saxony. Every other available indicator of economic performance (productivity, capital intensity…) shows a similar gap. There was a three-year gap in life expectancy as well.The cost of cleaning up the mess left behind by socialism has been colossal. Net fiscal transfers from West to East Germany since 1990 add up to €1.9 trillion (in today’s prices), which is roughly equivalent to the GDP of Britain.Add to that the human cost associated with over four decades of totalitarian rule – the imprisonment of dissidents, the shooting of people attempting to commit Republikflucht (=’desertion from the republic’, i.e. emigration), censorship, surveillance etc. – and you can make a fairly strong case against socialism.But this debate has been settled long ago, right? Nobody would defend the GDR nowadays, right?Wrong. Seumas Milne, a former Guardian journalist and currently the Labour Party’s Executive Director of Strategy and Communications, still does. In an interview with George Galloway on TalkSport Radio, on the 20anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Milne presented a peculiar interpretation of history.In his version of events, the popular uprisings of the late 1980s, which brought down the regimes of the Eastern bloc, never happened. What really happened was a counterrevolution initiated from above. Sinister forces conspired to overthrow the Workers’ State, and force a capitalist economy upon an unwilling public. The average Joe never wanted any of this. He was just a passive bystander, who did not understand what was happening until it was too late. In Milne’s words:“[T]here was a group of people in power who saw that they stood to benefit from the restoration of capitalism, and many ordinary people who benefited in many ways from the form of socialism there was in Eastern Europe didn’t really feel ownership of the system, and they didn’t necessarily see what was happening, or what they could do to stop it.But […] most people in a good number of those countries regret the loss of […] the positive aspects of that system […] 1989 was an important shift, and an important loss, for many millions of people. As well as some gains. […]In Eastern Germany most people today have a positive view of […] the GDR, and regret its passing […] [T]he huge social benefits that have been lost, not only in Eastern Germany but across Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union are mourned by the people of those countries”.The Berlin Wall, in this version of events, was primarily an instrument of defence against Western aggressors. This is true for the less pleasant aspects of the GDR in general: if the West had not been so mean to them, the GDR would have been a civil liberties paradise. Milne explains:“A particular form of socialism grew up in the post-war period in the conditions of the Cold War […] East Berlin was absolutely at the front line of the cold war. That’s what the Berlin Wall was. It was a front line between two social and military systems and two military alliances, and a very tense one at that. It wasn’t just some kind of arbitrary division to hold people in, it was also a front line in a global conflict. And that conditioned a lot of the things that happened”It is a creative reinterpretation of history. It is also complete nonsense.Let’s start with the idea that the ‘silent majority’ of the GDR’s population still supported socialism, and was just overwhelmed by events. In hindsight, we often treat the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany’s reunification, and the introduction of a market economy in the East as inextricably linked, or even just different stages of one single event. They were not. The GDR’s fate was not sealed on 9 November 1989, but on 18 March 1990, the day of its first-ever democratic election (which would also be its last).Several of the parties that ran for that election were explicitly opposed to reunification, and for the preservation of socialism. Those were, in fact, the main themes of that election: it’s the economy, stupid. The option of preserving socialism was definitely on the ballot paper. We could imagine one of those parties, or a coalition of several of them, winning the 1990 election , in which case reunification would not have happened, and the GDR would have continued to exist as a sovereign, socialist state.Firstly, the Socialist Unity Party (SED), which had ruled the GDR for forty years, ran for office again. It had renamed itself the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) in the meantime, and expelled some of its Stalinist hardliners, thus presenting itself as the party of a nicer version of the status quo. Secondly, the democratic protest movement also contained explicitly socialist groups, who wanted to democratise the GDR from within, but were also committed to preserving it. Those groups formed an electoral alliance, the Coalition for Action United Left (AVL), which ran on a socialist platform.Thirdly, a West German Trotskyist party, the Spartakist Worker’s Party (SpAD) set up an East German branch, to “mobilise against a capitalist reunification, and for a socialist future” . Their diagnosis was that the GDR’s version of socialism wasn’t REAL socialism, and that REAL socialism had not been tried yet:“The Stalinist bureaucracy of the SED government proved itself unable to fulfil the people’s desire for freedom and justice, and discredited the idea of socialism. We, the Spartakisten, say: Socialism, under the real leadership of the working class, has not even begun yet.”Last but not least, there was the ultra-hardline Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Their diagnosis of the events was that the SED had been infiltrated by traitors and counterrevolutionaries , and needed a return to the good old days of Stalinist purges. I think Seumas Milne would have liked them.Thus, in the March 1990 election, socialists were spoilt for choice. The reason why reunification happened, and why a Western-style market economy was introduced, was simply that the anti-market/anti-reunification parties won less than one fifth of the vote between them.But that was then. What about Milne’s claim that a majority of East Germans today have “a positive view of […] the GDR, and regret its passing”? Presumably, Milne refers to a 2009 survey in which people were asked whether they agreed with the statement that the GDR had “more positive sides than negative sides”. 57% of respondents agreed.However, according to a different survey, 74% of East Germans also say that reunification had brought them personally “more advantages than disadvantages”. This survey contains a more detailed breakdown by policy area, and it specifically asks respondents to benchmark East Germany against West Germany (or the reunified Germany).It turns out that in the areas most clearly related to the economic system, namely ‘economy’, ‘living standards’ and ‘opportunities for professional self-realisation’, the West enjoys a clear lead. The West does worst in the categories ‘school system’ and ‘protection from crime’, neither of which are specifically socialist: the school system and the police were (and still are), of course, also state-run in West Germany.There may well be a lot of East Germans who miss aspects of the GDR, but it is not necessarily the socialist aspects that they miss. Today, we would presume that somebody who has a positive view of the GDR must be politically on the (far-)left, but the GDR also had various aspects that would appeal to hardline conservatives.The GDR’s school system was highly discipline-focused, even militaristic. The GDR’s criminal justice system was tough and punitive. These are aspects which the reunified Germany (or Britain) could easily copy, but I doubt that this would make Seumas Milne happy.Unfortunately, the above survey does not ask about immigration. But judging from the huge East-West gap in support for anti-immigration parties, it is not a huge stretch to argue that some of today’s GDR-nostalgia is not about socialism at all, but about immigration. The increase in immigration, or exposure to foreign cultures more generally, was one of the biggest changes that people experienced after reunification. The GDR had some immigrants, namely from poorer socialist countries like Cuba and Vietnam, but compared to today, it was an ethnically and culturally very homogenous country. As always with social changes of this kind, some people are happy about it, some are not.Seumas Milne seems to assume that when East Germans say that they miss the GDR, what they mean is that they miss state-owned car manufacturers, five-year plans, military parades and hammer-and-compass banners. Some may. But some of them miss things about the GDR that would make Seumas Milne cringe, namely a disciplinarian education system, a tough-on-crime criminal justice system, and cultural homogeneity.Further, Milne’s claim that the Berlin Wall was built more for defence purposes than to stop emigration is ludicrous. Between the founding of the GDR and the construction of the Wall, more than 2.7m people migrated from East to West Germany . If they had all lived in one place, they could have formed a city larger than Hamburg. And this figure is an absolute lower-bound. It is based on records from West German refugee centres, so it does not count people who, for example, stayed with friends or relatives.This massive brain drain undermined the economy, and jeopardised the Five-Year Plans. The GDR simply could not have functioned without emigration controls. In this sense, the Wall and the border fortifications achieved their aim. It abruptly stopped the exodus, and the planners could engage in workforce-planning again.In the GDR, the Wall was officially called the ‘Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart’. Milne simply regurgitates the regime’s propaganda. Its military relevance, however, was zero. If the Cold War had turned hot at any point, the Wall could not have stopped a missile or a warplane. At best, it might have slowed down a tank by five minutes, or ground troops by twenty minutes. It was not even useful as a protection against espionage, because it was only ever a barrier in one direction.East Germany was the richest country of the former Warsaw Pact. It was probably the least bad example of a socialist economy that has ever existed; indeed, as far as socialism goes, the GDR was probably as good as it gets. And yet, it still could not convince its citizens to stay. It still depended on a heavily fortified border, a shoot-to-kill order, a pervasive secret police, and in the worst case, on Soviet tanks, for its very survival. Overall, that is not an impressive record.But we’ll see. Maybe Seumas Milne will soon get a chance to try out his version of socialism in Britain, which will, no doubt, avoid all these pitfalls. |
Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/278531.html Hello everyone, what follows is the preliminary account of patch notes 9.0 from Storm, as patch 9.0 reached supertest today. Important: Storm adds that some features are missing from this list, like improved graphics (shaders) and HD tanks, as those are still being worked on. - new vehicles: Panzer IV Ausf.A (tier 3), Panzer IV Ausf.D (tier 4), StuG III Ausf.B (tier 4) - fixed maps: Malinovka, Serene Coast, Steppes, Redshire, Mountain Pass - added historical battles - removed the “confrontation” mode - added new window of graphic settings - added the dynamic resulution option (reduction of game resolution while keeping the UI resolution the same) - added the possibility to manually set your FOV in settings - added the option to set the “power” (intensity) of color filters - added turrets being ripped off after ammo rack explosion - reworked tank exhausts (smoke) effect - added the keyboard language indicator on the login screen - added new awards (medals) for team battles: “Recon by combat”, “God of War”, “For the Will to Win”, “Decisive Shot”, “For Tactical Operations” - fixed some bugs and added improvements in the “Vehicles” section of the Achievement window - reworked the “Statistics” section in the Achievements window - changed the wording of the Steel Wall award - Light Tank Mk.VIc and T7 CC buffed - term “potential damage” changed into “damage blocked by your armor” - fixed bugs in voice chat - fixed the bug where the aim circle was displayed incorrectly in replays - fixed the bug where artillery shells fell outside of the aiming circle in arty mode - fixed the bug where artillery shells exploded in mid-air - fixed freezing of the account when quitting the game |
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