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Share. Pre-purchasing unlocks Parnell, Abe, Caira, Cabot and the Wraith at release. Pre-purchasing unlocks Parnell, Abe, Caira, Cabot and the Wraith at release. Shortly after Turtle Rock's co-op shooter officially went gold, the developer outlined the exclusive content Xbox One players will have access to during the Evolve open beta. Players who pre-purchase Evolve on Xbox One will have access to four hunters –– Parnell, Abe, Caira, and Cabot –– and the teleporting Wraith during the beta. Playing the open beta guarantees these five options will instantly be unlocked upon the game's full release on Feb. 10 –– the beta is open Jan. 15 on all platforms, albeit with different characters available from one to the next. Exit Theatre Mode Pre-purchasing Evolve on Xbox One will also yield further rewards: doing so will grant free access to the Monster Expansion Pack, which holds the game's unannounced fourth monster, as well as the Savage Goliath Skin. This expansion has a normal value of $15 for anyone that doesn't pre-purchase. The exclusive beta content will be locked for those that don't pre-purchase the co-op shooter. Turtle Rock also hasn't announced when players can begin pre-purchasing Evolve yet, but did promise news is coming soon on its developer blog. During the wait for Turtle Rock's upcoming title, five IGN editors will be going head-to-head in an Evolve Interactive Livestream, which allows you to watch from five perspectives of your choice. Tune in next week to see the battles up close. [Editor's Note: This story was updated to correct an error. The content accessible in the Xbox One beta is received if you pre-purchase the game on Xbox One, not by pre-ordering. We apologize for the error.] Mike Mahardy is a freelance journalist writing for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @mmahardy, where he still rants about Wet Hot American Summer. |
" All the nice cutesy little ethics that used to get talked about in journalism school , you're just like, that's adorable ... This is a business. ... So, they got to do what they got to do to make their money." "There are a lot of like liberal viewers who want to see Trump really get scrutinized . ... If we would have behaved that way with President Obama and scrutinized everything that he was doing ... our viewers would have been turned off." "And so I think the president is probably right to say, like, look you are witch hunting me. You have no smoking gun. You have no real proof." The latest campaign email from President Trump has highlighted the recent Project Veritas undercover CNN video. The video shows a CNN producer admitting that CNN put money before ethics, and that CNN have conducted a witch-hunt against President Trump.The email highlights three specific quotes, and the full email reads:In another significant quote from the video, John Bonifield, CNN Producer, admits that the Russia narrative is 'bull****'.These revelations aren't a surprise to anyone who researches their news, rather than blindly accepting the fake news pushed by the corrupt leftist media, but for CNN to be caught admitting that they are fake news on video will come as a major embarrassment to them.CNN need to be held accountable for their corrupt behavior. This goes beyond just fake news. CNN have worked to undermine democracy by relentlessly pushing a fake story in an attempt to falsely discredit the election in the minds of weak-minded brainwashed leftists. Just as bad, CNN have risked pushing two nations towards hostility by pushing their fake story.You can watch the full 'American Pravda: CNN Producer says Russia narrative 'bull***' video below:And the embarrassment isn't over yet for CNN. James O'Keefe of Project Veritas has promised more leaks later today.- - - - - - - - - -You can sign up for Trump campaign emails at the following link. The email sign-up is at the bottom left of the page: |
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is interviewed by Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network at FOX Studios on November 10, 2017, in New York City. (Photo: John Lamparski / Getty Images) New York City’s chief technology officer and a coalition of internet rights and consumer protection groups are asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to delay a vote on a proposal to repeal its net neutrality rules until a federal appeals court rules on whether the Federal Trade Commission has the authority to protect the internet instead. The groups fear that the proposed repeal, coupled with the upcoming court ruling, could leave internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast without federal oversight and put consumers at their mercy. Internet service providers, or ISPs, consistently rank at the bottom of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The vote is currently scheduled for December 14, when the FCC’s Republican majority is expected to approve Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal to gut the agency’s 2015 net neutrality protections and return federal oversight of ISPs back to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In a letter sent to Pai on Monday, the groups argue that the FCC must wait to make sure that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals doesn’t strip the FTC of that authority first. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is following the Trump administration’s pattern of getting the dirty jobs done as quickly as possible. The Ninth Circuit is considering a case that dates back to 2010, when AT&T stopped offering “unlimited” mobile data plans to iPhone customers for a set monthly rate. Wary of losing customers to other providers, AT&T allowed those who signed up before the change to keep their “unlimited” plans, but began quietly throttling their service by slowing the internet connection on their smartphones to a crawl after they reached a certain data threshold. The Federal Trade Commission cried foul and filed a consumer protection action against AT&T in 2014, arguing the company did not adequately inform its customers about the throttling and essentially engaged in false advertising, according to Harold Feld, the senior vice president of Public Knowledge, one of the groups calling for a delay on the net neutrality vote. A federal district court denied AT&T’s motion to dismiss the FTC action. AT&T appealed, arguing that a federal regulatory exemption places the company outside of the FTC’s jurisdiction. The company’s rationale: In addition to offering internet services, it also offers traditional phone lines that are regulated as “common carriers” by the FCC. A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit sided with the company last year and threw out the FTC’s action, but the court has since put that ruling on hold while it conducts a review of the case with a number of additional judges. Meanwhile, the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules that Pai wants to repeal have reclassified the internet itself as a “common carrier” service that falls under its jurisdiction, further muddying the waters. The FCC’s Open Internet rules seek to protect net neutrality — the idea that ISPs should not play favorites with content on their networks — by classifying the internet as a “common carrier” under Title II of the Communications Act. This allows the FCC to regulate broadband like an essential public utility rather than a luxury service, giving regulators broad authority to step in on behalf of consumers and content providers if ISPs try to shape internet access around schemes that maximize revenues or stifle competition. Pai argues that the net neutrality rules are stifling innovation and competition by preventing ISPs from experimenting with new ways to raise the revenues needed to expand infrastructure and saddling startup providers with red tape. He is calling for a “light-touch” regulatory regime that would once again rely on the FTC to step in and file legal actions against ISPs if they violate net neutrality or engage in other anticompetitive behaviors without disclosing their plans to consumers first. However, if the Ninth Circuit sides with AT&T in its case against the FTC after Pai and the FCC repeal the net neutrality rules and ditch the internet’s common carrier status, neither agency would have jurisdiction over any telecom company that provides both internet and telephone service, which most ISPs do. In fact, AT&T has argued that neither the FCC nor the FTC have the legal power to punish the company for throttling its customers. “If Chairman Pai and his fellow Republicans truly believe that the FTC will protect consumers, they have a responsibility to wait for the Ninth Circuit to decide if the FTC can actually do the job,” Feld said in a statement. In his draft order to repeal the net neutrality rules, Pai argues that the Ninth Circuit has already vacated the panel ruling in favor of AT&T that the larger bench is currently reviewing, so the FCC can move forward with its plans. “But wait a minute — we don’t actually know how the Ninth Circuit ruling is going to come down,” Feld told Truthout. As chairman, Pai has the power to set the FCC’s agenda and could easily decide to delay the vote on the net neutrality repeal. However, Feld said Pai wants to get the job done as quickly as possible because killing net neutrality is politically unpopular, and the more time passes before a vote, the more opportunity there is for significant opposition. “He’s not even getting support from the conservative base,” Feld said. “We are seeing that Republicans who are worried about running for reelection now have to worry about this issue; they are getting a lot of phone calls.” As of Monday night, members of Congress had received 771,904 calls opposing Pai’s proposal to gut the net neutrality rules since the chairman announced his plan, according to the pro-net-neutrality site battleforthenet.com. A recent poll by Morning Consult and Politico found that 52 percent of respondents support the current net neutrality rules, including 55 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of Republicans. Only 18 percent oppose the rules. Democrats are gearing up to punish Republicans for repealing telecom regulations meant to protect consumers, including the net neutrality rules and popular privacy protections that Republicans in Congress rolled back earlier this year. If Pai delays the net neutrality repeal, Feld said, he may come under increasing pressure from lawmakers to ditch the effort as midterm elections draw near. So, Pai is following the Trump administration’s pattern of getting the dirty jobs done as quickly as possible. “This is kind of the standard tactic of this administration with just about anything … trying to ram it through before anybody has a chance to think about it,” Feld said. |
At a House Intelligence Committee hearing just a month ago on highly controversial National Security Agency surveillance issues, administration officials were well treated by both Republicans and Democrats. Wednesday's return trip to Capitol Hill was decidedly different. For James Cole, John Inglis and Robert Litt, the latest session with Congress was a lesson in the dangers of using the same comments twice before highly different audiences. What worked in the House Intelligence Committee wasn't working Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee. "We are constantly seeking to achieve the right balance between the protection of national security and the protection of privacy and civil liberties," said Cole, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department. "You've already violated the law as far as I am concerned," the panel's ranking Democrat, John Conyers, told the intelligence officials at the hearing. Cole was echoing statements that countless administration officials, including the president, have used in an effort to justify the collection of phone record "metadata" on all Americans. The tactic of collecting everything was unknown to the public until former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked word of it to the public six weeks ago. On Wednesday, when the time came for questions, House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., was ready. "Given the magnitude of this program, I'm frankly surprised it has remained secret," said Goodlatte. "Why not simply have told the American people that we're engaging in this type of activity in terms of gathering information? It doesn't give away any national security secrets in terms of the particular information gathered ... but it might have engendered greater confidence in the public." A judgment was made that to disclose the existence of this program "would in fact have provided information to people who were seeking to avoid our surveillance," replied Litt, the general counsel to the Office of Director of National Intelligence. A sound argument perhaps, and one that would likely have been well-received at the House Intelligence Committee hearing on June 19. But it wasn't enough to dissuade Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., from telling the administration officials what he thought of their refusal to acknowledge some of the House Judiciary Committee's criticism. "Unless you realize you've got a problem, the phone records program "is not going to be renewed" by Congress, Sensenbrenner said flatly. The administration says the database was authorized under a provision in the Patriot Act that Congress hurriedly passed after 9/11 and reauthorized in 2005 and 2010. Sensenbrenner, the sponsor of that bill, said Congress' intention was only to allow seizures directly relevant to national security investigations. No one expected the government to obtain every phone record and store them in a huge database to search later. In testimony that could stir more controversy, Inglis disclosed that the NSA sometimes conducts what's known as three-hop analysis. That means the government can look at the phone data of a suspect terrorist, plus the data of all his contacts, then all those people's contacts, and finally, all those people's contacts. If the average person calls 40 unique people, three-hop analysis could allow the government to mine the records of 2.5 million Americans when investigating one suspected terrorist. The House Judiciary Committee hearing represented perhaps the most public, substantive congressional debate on surveillance powers since the 9/11 terrorist attacks — with committee Republicans and Democrats for the most part on the same page. Previous debates have been largely theoretical and legalistic, with officials in the Bush and Obama administrations keeping the details hidden behind the cloak of classified information. On June 18, Cole, Litt and Inglis, who is the deputy director and senior civilian at the NSA, were among the intelligence officials receiving a warm reception from the House Intelligence Committee. "I do believe that America has the responsibility to keep some things secret as we serve to protect this country. And I think you all do that well," said House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. In regard to the hearing that day, it's "important to have a meeting where we could at least, in some way, discuss and reassure the level of oversight and redundancy of oversight on a program that we all recognize needed an extra care and attention and lots of sets of eyes." "This is very important that we get the message out to the American public that what we do is legal and we're doing it to protect our national security from attacks from terrorists," said Rep. C.A. Ruppersberger, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat. |
White people feel emboldened to kill people of color in Trump’s America. A Missouri man is accused of shooting and killing an Indian immigrant engineer he thought was Middle Eastern and wounding two others after shouting “get out of my country” and opening fire. Adam Purinton was arrested after fleeing Austin’s Bar and Grill, a suburban Kansas City restaurant that was packed Wednesday night when he allegedly blasted off several rounds at 7:15 p.m. Cops arrested the 51-year-old at an Applebee’s hours later in Clinton, Mo., some 80 miles away after they were able to negotiate with him over the phone early Thursday morning. The fatal victim was identified by the Kansas City Star as Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an aviation engineer at technology company Garmin whose Facebook page says he is from Hyderabad, India. |
After a pair of misfires on the consumer front, Lytro's light-field camera technology may have reached its full potential. The first-generation Lytro was too expensive and limited, and the even pricier Lytro Illum was hampered by bugs and disappointing image quality. Now, the Lytro camera everyone wanted in the first place is nearly here. The new Lytro Cinema camera will be able to do the coolest trick in video history—allowing filmmakers to refocus within a scene after it's captured. That's because Lytro's special sensors don't record photons the same way traditional cameras do. They're able to discern the direction in which light rays are traveling. Computational analysis of that data lets viewers adjust some image properties—focus points and depth of field—as if they were capturing the images live with a camera. But it gets waaay more awesome than that. The camera lets you adjust practically everything after the fact, including some things that are simply impossible with any other camera. For example, you can tweak the frame rates and shutter speeds in post, changing those values within the same continuous shot for dramatic effect. And say goodbye to the green screen, because the camera understands the three-dimensional depth of all objects in a scene. The new Lytro Cinema camera will be able to do the coolest trick in video history—allowing filmmakers to refocus within a scene after it's captured. That means it's easier to extract objects from any background without having to use a green screen. According to Lytro, the camera's sensor boasts 755 "RAW megapixels" for capturing content, although the camera's output isn't that ridiculously high-res. That's simply the number of photosites needed to capture light-field content; it will render movies for 4K and 2K playback with frame rates of up to 300fps. The sensor is a custom light field format sensor that's about a foot and a half wide. (Yup.) It's a brand-new sensor designed for this camera, but the camera's microlens technology is based upon the same tech used in previous Lytro cameras. Here's something even more bananas: This camera basically makes holograms. "You now actually have the directionality of the pixel itself," says Jon Karafin, Head of Light Field Video at Lytro. "It becomes a truly holographic image. You have angular information, and you effectively have a completely virtualized camera. You have the (subject's) color, the directional properties, and the exact placement in space." For Movie Magicians There's one big catch: This camera isn't for us normal folks, even if it does look like a gigantic version of Lytro's original device. A professional rig made for film and television production, the Lytro Cinema camera looks most at home atop a wheeled tripod in a studio or on a movie set. And one with a big budget, at that. In the best case scenario, it could change the way movies are shot—especially productions that use a lot of CG effects. 18 months in development, the camera creates 3D models of everything it captures. That's impressive in itself, but thanks to the amount of light-field data it captures, users can also change camera angles and simulate tracking shots with a single, static camera. According to Lytro, the main draw of the camera is to ease production in projects that involve both live-action and computer-generated components. While filming, the camera essentially creates digital, holographic representations of the real-world objects in a scene. This makes it easier to blend real-world objects and computer-generated models in post production. It's traditionally a labor-intensive and expensive process, especially if anything is slightly off in the live-action portion of the shoot. With the new camera, Lytro says it's easier for effects artists to keep the same effects for live and CG elements of a scene without extra post-production work. "If you ever have to reshoot, it becomes cost-prohibitive," says Karafin. "When blending, the live plates don't have as much creative control as what you'd have in the virtual world. That's where we see an exciting potential for light-field cinematography." The Lytro Cinema camera is just the hardware component of a bigger system. To ease the process for visual effects teams, Lytro plans to release plug-ins for standard tools in the visual effects industry. And because one minute of 3D volumetric light-field footage translates to a whopping mountain of data, the system will include a server array for storage. Even if you can afford it, you can't get it just yet. Lytro says the new camera systems will be available for production teams to rent in late 2016, and subscription prices will start at $125,000. Don't worry too much—that's money you can save by not hiring a focus puller. (Sorry, focus pullers.) |
Security footage of the suspect. Photo via Fairfax County Police Department's news blog Read: I Spent 20 Hours Inside a Walmart It is, apparently, not difficult to steal from Walmart. The store's cameras have a reputation for being duds, their attempt to use fancy face recognition technology to detect repeat shoplifters failed, and there are countless threads on shoplifting forums devoted to the art of stealing from there, with easy-to-follow tips like "get in and get out as quickly as possible" and to keep a lookout for any loss prevention employees on your trail. But that's so boring, you know? What's the point of pulling off a heist if you can't have a little fun? Take note, then, of the man in Fairfax, Virginia, who stole straight from the Walmart cash register by pretending to be a store employee. Based on security footage from the store, it seems this man entered the premises wearing a Walmart employee vest, approached one of the cashiers, and told him he needed to be see in the office. Once the cashier left, the man took over for him, proceeding to check out a customer before calmly unloading the money in the register's box and walking away with it. This simple plan was so successful that not only did the man leave the store undetected, cash in hand, but police didn't release details about what happened until yesterday, over three weeks after the incident, which occurred on the afternoon of December 15. According to employees who have worked in Walmart's loss prevention department, the stores hire employees to patrol the aisles in street clothes looking for shoplifters, which is less conspicuous and more reliable than security camera footage. But even with those investments in loss prevention, theft is a big problem for the company: Last year, Walmart's head of US operations Greg Foran named theft an "urgent" issue at the stores, representing roughly $3 billion lost every year. The Fairfax County police believe this guy has stolen from other Walmart stores, in Maryland and nearby Farmville, Virginia, but they don't know much else about him. What we do know, of course, is that he's destined to become a Walmart shoplifting legend. Follow Arielle Pardes on Twitter. |
As the 2016 ranked season approaches, everyone’s looking for ways to elevate their game to the next level. But what if I told you that you could be a Challenger player with Silver mechanics? These champions will enable you to reach unimaginable heights in solo queue with ridiculously limited mechanical effort. Honorable Mentions – These champions receive minor praise for their continued contributions to the non-mechanical sub-community in League of Legends. HM1: Garen The Might of Demacia is the original spin-to-win champion, designed for the first simpletons on Summoner’s Rift. His kit has always eliminated counterplay, carrying one of the last remaining silence abilities and utilizing a grand total of 0 skillshots. Riot’s recent tuning of Garen has further enabled him to be a momentum stopper, geared to end the super-fed carry of the enemy team in his tracks. HM2: Malphite When the enemy team picks all attack damage, Malphite is the perfect solution. His ability to lane relatively safely while really only carrying one significant skill in teamfights simplifies his gameplay to fit a Flintstone. Put your longswords and other strange sharp objects away; this rock will always slam your scissors. Main List – onto the epitome of easiness… Top: Wukong Despite Wukong’s apparent sleek kit, featuring a dash and even a mysterious stealth ability, this chimp has one of the lowest skill floors in the game. The 2nd revolution of spinning-to-win uses 2 point and click abilities as the bread-and-butter of his laning. When he reaches level 6, few champions can survive the 3-click ‘un-jukable’ combo of E-Q-R, which puts out roughly 800 damage with a bonus area-of-effect knock-up. He has easy entry into teamfights with his ability to cloak, and few marksmen can hit him from outside of his Nimbus Strike range. Wu is truly the monkey-brained master of toplane. Jungle: Pantheon Pantheon is a hole sinking every champion’s ship; he will make a single champion as useless as he is by dominating the early game. Though he often sees play in solo lanes, his ganks coming out of the jungle are too foolproof to waste. Panth’s jungle path often includes grabbing double buffs, then running around idiotically killing every champion in the game with his point-and-click stun and unfair early game damage. This guide recommends using his ultimate to pounce on jungle camps as to capitalize on the epicenter damage with a 100% success rate. Mid: Annie The prom queen of midlane, though rarely featured competitively there, dominates all depths of solo queue. Although she has a whopping two skillshots, they are both basically instant; you’ll be cooking those enemies like ramen noodles! The addition of the new Frost Queen’s Claim will help you slow mouse-movers by spooking your enemies to a halt before casually dropping your bear on them. At worst, she has a point-and-click stun with her Disintegrate. At best, you get a 1v5 penta kill by pressing 2 skills. I couldn’t think of anything more fun and interactive! Support: Soraka Infinitely easier than finishing med school, Soraka offers the opportunity to be a human-goat-ambulance. She can dominate a lane without directly interacting with the enemy at lower ratings, and any landed Starcalls or Equinoxes (her AOE silence) are icing on the cake. Though Riot removed her once GOAT non-mechanical moveset by changing two skills into skillshots, her simple and anti-fun kit warrants her the premier support spot on this list. “Bot”: Ashe The poster girl for League of Legends rounds out this feature. One of the few marksmen without a gap closer, Ashe controls the pace of games with her annoying Volley and global stun. The Frost Archer is able to create one of the safest laning environments, while being able to massively contribute to her team come midgame, even in the hands of players who can’t attack-move. Even I, a cognitively void toplaner, have recently seen success against LCS-caliber ADC players by hiding behind her flurry of arrows and avoiding any sort of direct contact. So try to ‘dumb it down’ for 2016. |
The recruiting challenge almost every college program faces simply doesn't apply to Alabama. Those intimately familiar with the football landscape will tell you there's a shortage of defensive linemen capable of excelling in a game now dominated by hurry up, no huddle spread offenses. Athletic defensive ends are especially hard to come by given the need for a player to fare well in multiple fronts. Everyone wants the freak defensive end who can play three downs, but there aren't near enough to go around. "The game is changing at the high school level," said former Cleveland Browns general manager Phil Savage. "You have more wide receivers, more defensive backs and less defensive linemen. The pool has shrunk for those front-seven players which is why you keep that at a premium." Yet the shortage hasn't left Alabama hungry. The Crimson Tide had the deepest, most talented defensive line in the country in 2015. It'd be unfair to attribute Alabama's national championship to only one unit, but the defensive line deserves as much credit as any. Headlined by A'Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed and Jonathan Allen, Alabama had a defensive line that could stop the run, get pressure on the quarterback and not tire over the course of the game because of all the players that rotated in. Alabama has a seemingly endless supply of defensive linemen because of the way it recruits. In its last three defensive line recruiting classes, the Tide signed two five-stars, nine four-stars and four three-star prospects, according to 247Composite. At least one of those recruits -- Jarran Reed -- should be a first-round NFL Draft pick this year. It's what allows Alabama to avoid a noticeable drop-off in the trenches even after it loses multiple players to graduation or the draft. How does Alabama succeed year-after-year while others struggle? Credit the Tide's national recruiting approach. All but a few schools are somewhat limited by their geography and the areas they traditionally recruit. That means if a school's home state and surrounding states don't have great defensive line prospects that year, the school is out of luck. Former Mississippi State recruiting coordinator Tony Hughes, now the head coach at Jackson State, used to say that if there are five great linemen in Mississippi, you try to take all of them because there might be zero in the next class. However, Alabama isn't limited to one geographic region and has proven it can successfully land players from anywhere in the country. In just the last three years, Alabama has signed defensive linemen from eight states and Washington, D.C. The approach enables the rich to keep getting richer. "We go nationally and you can find whatever kind of defensive lineman you want," said Alabama defensive line coach Bo Davis. "It's not the fact you are trying to find a particular one. You find one that fits what you do, you like him and you do what you do." When you can be picky like Alabama can, the biggest thing comes down to fit in the system. Outside of this year's signee Kendell Jones, a massive 375-pound defensive tackle, that's meant going smaller and more athletic. Three of Alabama's five defensive line signees in this year's class weigh 285 pounds or less. Savage, who also serves as a color analyst for Alabama games, has seen the Tide target more players like Jonathan Allen and D.J. Pettway. "Anybody who is physical enough to stagger a block against the run, but quicker and athletic enough to rush the passer," he said. "That's the ideal." Finding Savage's ideal can be an arduous task. Unless you are Alabama. "There's not one that's really hard to find because they are all out there," Davis said. "Do I want that guy or that guy? You can find any of them that you want." |
Active on CyberGamer, Have been a registered member for 3-6 months, Mature and responsible, Able to meet content deadlines, Able to work in a team environment, Be dedicated Hi all,With the recent push for community content, we are in need of new content team members to help create content for CyberGamer: SMITE! Yes, this means that we are looking for some talented writers out there to assist the content team in whichever area they feel they can help contribute the most! - If interested, have a read below, make sure you meet the necessary requirements and apply!Able to submit original works and relevant articles and news to be featured on the CyberGamer forums and homepage. This can be reviews, previews, interviews, wrap up threads and anything else to do with the SMITE community.To apply,please use the Staff Application system. Select yourandUnder the drop down menu select. From there, fill your application in the box namedand make sure toExamples of previous work is always welcomed. Please remember you are applying for a content team role, and your application should reflect this. |
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) affiliate in Iran claimed Friday it had killed 20 Iranian soldiers in an attack on a military outpost in the city of Mariwan, a claim denied by Iranian authorities. KODAR, the Free and Democratic Society of Eastern Kurdistan, said that its armed wing (YRK) had targeted the military outpost in the Kurdish town on Thursday, killing members of Iran’s Islamic Republic Guards Corp (IRGC). A KODAR statement said that recent tensions had been triggered after Iranian forces launched sporadic attacks on the YRK, known as the Rojhelat Protection Unit. “We previously announced that IRGC attacks on YRK guerrillas would lead to war. These assaults are tantamount to the breaking of the ceasefire by the Iranian regime,” the statement said. Iranian officials in the country’s Kurdistan Province refuted KODAR’s claim of soldiers killed or injured, reporting only minor damage from the attack. Meanwhile, Iran's outlawed Kurdish Komala party claimed late Friday that it had carried out the Marivan attack, saying the KODAR claim was false. Last year, PKK’s offshoot organization in Iran, known as the Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), announced major shifts in its political agenda in Iranian Kurdistan. It established KODAR and has been promoting it as a group not only for Iranian Kurds, but for all oppressed and marginalized populations in Iran. |
Please share this page: Update: Unfortunately, the original video was blocked by YouTube. As a substitute we can offer you these 7-episode series by CCTV: http://cctv.cntv.cn/lm/journeysintime/special/storyofpaper/ Even today many printers use only paper hand made in selective province’s in China, this special paper is made using an age old technology. The paper is called jade paper, it begins with bamboo and hemp being ground into pulp. After this, workers lie a very fine bamboo sieve vertically into the solution and let the sieve sit in this manner to collect the fibers. The fibers are then carefully smoothed out on a wooden board until they take shape, dehydrate and become a thin piece of paper. After it is completely dried, it becomes a sheet of paper. The water used in every step from grinding the hemp and the bamboo to sieving the fabric comes from nearby mountain springs. Tap water is never used. As a result, this paper, perfectly absorbing the ink is ideal for block printing. The paper has three wonderful properties: nice ink absorption, smooth surface, and strength to last for a long time. Chinese people have a long history of paper use, in 1990 parts of an ancient paper sheet with characters that date back over 2000 years during the late western Han dynasty was discovered. It’s discovery, proved with certainty, that Chinese people were using paper even then. But at that time it’s use was limited only to members of high society simply because of the cost. In later years the paper making technique was improved to use inexpensive materials such as tree bark and bamboo and thus paper became affordable for the general public. Lowering the cost made it a popular material for writing and book printing. Another thing required by printing and no less important is the ink. No printed matter can be made without ink, even today. Without it, printing is impossible. It is a necessary condition just like paper. Ink is first brushed onto the plate, and then a piece of paper is placed on top of it. With the right pressure, the ink will be transferred onto the protruding characters. Thus ink is as important as anything else in the printing process. Back in the neolithic age, Chinese people had already begun to use ink which was found on the inscriptions found on the tortoise shells, animal bones and strips of bamboo and even on some pottery items for decorative purposes. A unique ink called, pine soot, appeared around the 3rd century AD. It became indispensable to the block printing of later era’s. The Tiangong Kai Wu or “exploration of the works of nature”, a Ming dynasty publication, authored by a man named Song Yingxing, documented the process of making this ink in great detail. A reference on this document reads “pine wood is cut into small pieces before being burnt in a kiln for several days for its soot“. The ink used at many traditional printers, comes from the soot collected from the chimneys at porcelain making factories in nearby provinces. But the soot has to go through a complicated series of steps before it is suitable for use in printing. Tobacco leaves, alcohol, perfume and mint leaves are added to many special inks in China to help make the inks last longer on printed books and to stop pests like insects or worms from destroying the books. 4 Steps are involved when making block printing: Copying, carving, printing and binding. In ancient China, copying was a trade that involved more prestige than many others. Anybody who wanted to print a book had to hire people with good handwriting to copy the original. Even today, in many printers in China, copying is done by hand with writing brushes – a method that is over 1000 years old. Due to the varying softness of each brush tip the resulting output differs slightly from copier to copier. A piece of classic calligraphy produced before the Sung dynasty might have been good to look at but it was difficult to read. Later in the Sung dynasty a standardized style for block printing was developed. The style features thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes. With this prescribed style, no matter who wrote it, the handwriting would always be the same. Because the style first appeared in the Song period it is commonly referred to as the Song Style Characters. The most common style used before it was developed was called Kai. The birth of the Song Style boosted the popularity of block printing. After the discovery of the ‘Diamond Sutra‘ (author Aurel Stein), a large piece of paper almost perfectly written Buddhist text, many scholars believe the the origins of Chinese block printing could be pushed back from the earlier estimates by at least 200 years to around AD 868. It is known as the world’s earliest dated printed book Long before the appearance of printing during China’s bronze age and over 1000 years before the Christian era, craftsmen already had a way to transfer written characters and decorative patterns onto a piece of bronze. Impressions were first made in positive on a piece of pottery to be hardened by firing, this was then offset printed onto a cast as a negative. This negative would then become a printed positive on the final moulded bronze. This process was in fact very similar to present day block printing. In 1973 a large amount of silk artefacts were unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb No.1 in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province (more info here). The tomb dated back to the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago. All the images on these works of silk were imprinted by a pre-made plate, showing at the time that carving and printing skills were fairly mature. Another form of imprinting appeared at the same time and was equally mature, it was called seal carving. Personal seals are an age old practice, common even in the present day and seen in almost all aspects of life. Most of the personal seals we see today have three or four characters, but in ancient times some might have more than 200. Seals are, actually, a miniature form of the block printing technique. They function similarly, one plate, one impression at a time. The knives used for plate carving are made from hardened steel. Contemporary people prefer to make their own knives from sword blades. Whether ancient or contemporary, carvers tend to hold their knifes in their fists, because of this they are commonly referred to as ‘Fist Knives’. The original inking on paper is pasted onto a wooden board in reverse to show up the characters. Carvers then hollow out the white part and keep the brush strokes and ink, this is known as reverse carving. But how can the carvers ensure that the characters stay faithful to the original? The answer is with great skill. Workers first cut off the empty space to the left of the character, this is known as first delivery. After first delivery, workers turn the board upside down and use the tip of the knife to remove the bank part on the left neatly. This process is called removal. If the board has scars on it or damage caused by worms or a carving mistake occurs, workers have to repair the board by filling in the hole or covering the dent with wood of the same size before re-carving. A skilled worker can carve only around 100 characters per day. When the plates are done, printing begins with a small broom made of palm fibre to brush ink onto the plate. However, ink applied in this way was often uneven, leaving gaps in the strokes, this happens often when brushes are old. Ancient workers changed the shape of their brushes by rolling up the brush hair and applying ink by dabbing as opposed to stroking; this change bought for a very satisfactory result. No more gaps were seen and the ink was much fuller than it had been previously. Brushing ink onto the plates requires just the right strength applied by hand. If the pressure is too light the ink will be uneven, if it is too heavy the plate will suffer unseen damage, rendering a smaller print run that what would have otherwise been possible. After the ink is applied, a sheet of paper is laid on the plate. A worker will brush it repeatedly with a palm brush. The hand pressure at this point is heavier than what was required for the ink. This is to ensure that the paper absorbs as much ink as possible and make the impression distinct on the paper. Brushing and imprinting are thus combined to give birth to a new term: printing. Please share this page: |
The Boston-based restaurant franchise was founded by Mark, Donnie and Paul Wahlberg in 2011. A class action complaint filed Thursday against Mark and Donnie Wahlberg's chain of burger restaurants alleges that its Coney Island franchise "has been rampant with wage theft and violations of federal and state labor law" since it opened in 2015. The restaurant "maintained a pattern and practice of regularly shaving compensable time from the weekly hours of all its non-exempt employees, including servers, bartenders, bussers and kitchen staff, and paying them significantly fewer hours than they actually worked," according to the complaint. Wahlburgers is a Boston-based restaurant franchise that brothers Mark, Donnie and Paul Wahlberg founded in 2011. The company espouses "working class" values on its website and has active involvement from all three of its founding partners. Its day-to-day operations are helmed by Paul Wahlberg, who is the oldest of the three brothers and a professional chef. The first location opened in Hingham, Mass., just outside Boston, hometown of the Wahlberg family. The chain also lends its name to the A&E reality series that follows the brothers as they operate and publicize their business. The show is now in its sixth season and earned A&E an Emmy nomination for outstanding unstructured reality program. "The Wahlberg brothers pride themselves on taking an active role in managing their locations and insuring that their restaurants meet their high standards for customer and employee experience," the complaint notes. "Indeed, the company's slogan is 'Our family, our story, our burgers.'" Filed in federal court in New York, the complaint also alleges that the restaurant "regularly retained gratuities left by customers for tipped employees" and "repeatedly ignored the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act." The franchisee who opened the Wahlburgers' franchises in New York City and Long Island is John Cestare, according to the filing, who could not be reached for comment. "The plaintiffs first went to local management, and they didn't do anything," Mitchell Schley, lawyer for the plaintiffs, told The Hollywood Reporter by phone. "Then they complained to Paul in Boston, but they were so frustrated after months and months of hearing nothing." Wahlburgers did not immediately respond to request for comment, nor did a rep for Mark Wahlberg. |
In what is clearly an attention-grabbing move, Daimler today has just unveiled the F-CELL Roadster, a wacky-looking vehicle that is a ‘hybrid’ in more ways than one. Literally the roadster is fitted with a 1.2 kW hybrid drive – one that allows the F-CELL to reach a top speed of 15 mph and achieve an operating range of 217 miles. But the roadster is a ‘hybrid’ in a more metaphorical sense as well: drawing design inspiration from a diverse swath of automotive eras. The F-Cell Roadster provocatively merges design elements from the most futuristic Formula One racing cars with the most old-school, turn-of-the-century, original Benz motor car. The F-Cell Roadstar has the wheels and general aura of the original Benz patent motor car, mixed with a sleek and streamlined fiberglass race-car body and seating. All of which makes for a bizarre-looking but strangely poetic vehicle. Want to know who to blame for this ungodly franken-Benz? Chalk it up to the Daimler AG trainees at the Sindelfingen plant, with more than 150 trainees and dual education system students working for about a year on the overall concept, development, assembly, and completion of the hybrid model. The project involved junior employees from the fields of automotive mechatronics, model-building, electronics, coating technology, manufacturing mechanics, product design, and interior appointments. “This project impressively demonstrates that the topic of sustainable mobility has become an integral part of our vocational training,” said Human Resources Board member and Labor Relations Manager Günther Fleig. “I am delighted to see how much initiative and creativity the young people have put into this project.” Via eMercedesBenz.com > |
“Girls’ Generation 1979” recently unveiled posters of its main cast looking like they came straight off the pages of a 1970s teen magazine! In addition to the group poster, each character gets their own poster and a tagline. Min Dohee plays Ae Sook, described as “prickly as an acacia.” Cosmic Girls’s Bona plays the “ultra positive energy” Jung Hee. Chae Seo Jin plays Hye Joo, the “1979 version of your mom’s friend’s daughter.” For the boys, Yeo Hoe Hyun plays Son Jin, the “popular and perfect guy,” Seo Young Joo plays Dong Moon, the “single-minded, innocent boy,” and CNBLUE’s Lee Jong Hyun plays Young Choon, the “young man from the pharmacy who lives and dies by style.” “Girls’ Generation 1979” is about the lives and loves of high school girls in Daegu in 1979. It is slated to premiere on September 11 at 10 p.m. KST. Source (1) |
LUA Radio 8.11: Make Encryption Sexy Again with Brian Sovryn LUA Radio 8.11: Make Encryption Sexy Again with Brian Sovryn Make a one-time contribution! In this broadcast of LUA Radio, we were joined by Brian Sovryn from the Sovryn Tech podcast to discuss a few crucially important subjects. In the first hour, the discussion was centered around the relatively new blockchain-based social media platform known as Steemit and all of the issues/concerns that come with it. In the second hour, the conversation shifted to crypto-currencies more generally, as well as encryption. We discussed his Dark Android program, future projects that are focused on an anonymous crypto-currency, his preferences regarding certain platforms and applications, and much more. Brian has a lot to offer, and we simply got a taste of that this evening. Make sure to check out his podcast (link below). If you enjoyed this broadcast and appreciate the work we do, please consider contributing financially. You can make a one-time PayPal donation by clicking the image above, you can contribute via Patreon using the image below, or you can use the buttons on the sidebar to toss us some Bitcoin, sign up for a monthly contribution, gift us something off of our Amazon wishlist, or support us through our various affiliate links, such as Audible. Download this podcast. Links: Check out Sovryn Tech Check out his main website Steemit Link 1 Steemit Link 2 For more great content like this, please consider donating to Liberty Under Attack. Alternatively, sign up for a free trial through Audible, receive a free audiobook, and help support us in the process. Lastly, make sure to support LUA via Patreon. |
A month after debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival, Google's latest Spotlight Story, Pearl, just launched at Google I/O and is now available to watch on Android and iOS. The new short film, which follows a father and daughter's lives through the "eyes" of their beloved hatchback, can be viewed in the Spotlight Stories Channel on YouTube and in the Spotlight Stories app on iOS. (You'll want to watch this on a Cardboard if you have one, though.) Director Patrick Osborne, who won an Oscar for his work on Disney's short film Feast, told The Verge at Tribeca that the film is a folk musical, with the car playing the part of the Giving Tree. Pearl is only the latest short developed by Google's ATAP group since director Jan Pinkava debuted Windy Day on the first Moto X back in 2013. Since then, the company has collaborated with the likes of former Disney animator Glen Keane and Fast & Furious director Justin Lin to make the shorts Duet and Help, among several others. Pearl was the first Google debuted at a major film festival, however, so it's clear the program's ambitions are only getting bigger. |
culture Six Torontonians To Watch For at the Rio Olympics Your guide to the athletes repping the 6ix this summer. The Rio Olympic Games are almost here, and with qualifying and trials all done and dusted, it’s an important time for Torontonians who will be competing on the world’s biggest sporting stage. The Canadian squad will take more than 315 athletes that will compete in 27 events—that’s 38 more athletes than London 2012. The Olympics is more than just an amateur sport showcase: for the athletes training every day for four years, it’s about self-sacrifice. The games offer an opportunity for countries to come together. In pitting their best against one another, they embrace those three Latin words that form the Olympics motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius: Faster, Higher, Stronger. Here are six athletes who call the 6ix home that are poised to play a significant role in Rio. 1 Penny Oleksiak, 200-metre freestyle swimmer So excited to go to Rio with team ANADA today.. hahaha ??? #sofunny #flowchop A photo posted by Penny Oleksiak (@typicalpen) on Jul 29, 2016 at 1:47pm PDT After an impressive swim at the Canadian Olympic trials this spring in Toronto, where the 16-year-old finished top two in the individual 200-metre freestyle, the Beach resident is heading to Rio as the youngest Canadian athlete. Last week at the Toronto Pan Am Centre (TPAC) as the swim team were put through their final paces before Rio, Oleksiak told Torontoist Toronto is the perfect place to prepare for the Olympics. “It’s pretty great to have my training here. It’s where my family are, my everyday life,” she says. “It keeps me distracted from all the big stuff that is coming.” Oleksiak is competing in five events in Rio and has been called “the vanguard of Canada’s new swimming generation.” The swimmer says she’s proud to be representing Canada on such a big stage. “It’s your country and it’s the best of the best from your country that are competing,” she says. “I feel like the support for the people representing Canada will really help them. I know it’s going to help me. I’m going to try and make Canada as proud as I can.” 2 Rosie MacLennan, trampoline gymnast If form has anything to indicate, MacLennan will arguably be Canada’s best chance for a medal at the Olympics. After her gold medal in London 2012, the King City native, who lives in the Fashion District, won her first world title the following year and has continued her dominance at the Pan Am Games with back-to-back gold medal performances in 2011 and in Toronto last year. “Competing at the Olympics, to me, represents the journey to get there: all of the success, the failures, the challenges faced and overcome and the amazing support I have from family, friends, teammates, coaches—everyone who has contributed to my being there,” she wrote in an email. “The Games are about bringing the country together and even more so, the world together and particularly in trying times, they are a reminder to celebrate humanity and the traits that connect all of us around the world.” MacLeannan did most of her training at the Toronto Athletic Club and the Skyriders facility in Richmond Hill, where she has trained for 19 years. She calls it one of the top facilities in the world. The 27-year-old has also been awarded the honour of leading Canada out as the official flag bearer and concussion scares aside. MacLennan will be looking to claim back-to-back Olympic gold medals. “I’m really excited to be among other Torontonians, but I am incredibly proud to be a part of an amazing Team Canada,” she says. 3 Crispin Duenas, archery Get to know archer @crispin_duenas, before he heads to his third Olympics at #Rio2016: https://t.co/7CgX5FmFjm ??? pic.twitter.com/HfLYU5swbd — Team Canada (@TeamCanada) July 8, 2016 This will be Duenas’s third consecutive Olympics, but the North York native, who now calls Scarborough home, will be looking to grab his first Olympic medal at Rio. Duenas started archery when he was just 13 years old, and has used the Ontario Science Centre as his backyard to improve his shooting skills. The 30-year-old has now won silver medals in 2007 and 2011 at the Pan Am Games; he also won a bronze at the World Championships in 2013, becoming the first Canadian to do so in 41 years. The University of Toronto physics major has held a world rank as high as fifth. Duenas says he’s pushing himself for that perfect round and will take nothing but confidence into the Olympics. 4 Kristina Valjas, beach volleyball On to Round 2 after a battle with Switzerland! Tomorrow we take on Brazil. #playoffs #PorecMajor pic.twitter.com/jIAabycywV — Kristina Valjas (@KristinaValjas) June 30, 2016 Kristina Valjas honed her volleyball expertise with the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues team between 2005 and 2010. The Willowdale resident then fell in love with beach volleyball after using it as her off-season training. In 2010, the 29-year-old qualified for the national team. In order to qualify for the Olympics, teams played in events and collected points on the FIVB tour between April 2015 and June 2016 . The top 17 teams in the world qualified based on their best 12 results. Valjas and her partner, Jamie Broder, finished in 13th position and won gold at the first qualification event in Fuzhou, China last year—it was the first medal ever won by a Canadian women’s beach volleyball team. Valjas said in an email that most of her training was completed at the National Team centre at Downsview Park in the winter, and in the summer they served it up at Ashbridge’s Bay. But most of the time they are around the world competing on the FIVB tour. “It’s important for me to train in Toronto because our national team is based here, but on a personal level, my entire family lives here and I just think it’s the best city in the world,” she says. “I am so proud to be competing alongside other Torontonians at the Games. I’m inspired that each athlete that hails from Toronto has worked so hard on their journey to the Olympics, and since our city is pretty big I may not have met them yet, but it’ll be pretty cool to connect with people who I know will have something in common with me.” There are four beach volleyball teams heading to Rio in both men’s and women’s, a first for Canada. 5 Andre De Grasse, 100-metre and 200-metre sprinter On My Way!?? #GIG A video posted by Andre De Grasse (@de6rasse) on Jul 11, 2016 at 11:25am PDT There are big expectations for Andre De Grasse when track and field events begin on August 12. The Markham native exploded on the scene last year when he turned pro. Ever since, he’s won won two NCAA Championship races in the 100-metre and 200-metre. The 21-year-old won double gold in the 100m and 200m at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, where he set a national record for the 200-metre at 19.88 seconds. This is De Grasse’s first time competing in the Olympics, and he calls it the “big show that really counts.” The sprinter will have to beat the sensational Usain Bolt to claim gold, but there’s nothing to suggest that he couldn’t become the next king of the 100-metre at the Olympics in the future. 6 Tamara Tatham, basketball forward The trip to Juno beach today was amazing…and our win yesterday was awesome! I must say France has been good to us??? #GameDay #WeAreTeamCanada #RoadToRio #TeesJourney A photo posted by Tamara Tatham (@ttatham) on Jun 8, 2016 at 7:43am PDT The Rio Games will mark the second time 30-year-old Tamara Tatham makes an Olympic appearance. The Brampton resident is one of 12 women who make up the national team, which includes seven returning players from London 2012. Tatham will bring more than 100 games of experience to Rio. She’s versatile and an elite defender who can drive to the basket, making her one of the more difficult players to match up on. “You’re one of 12 women that get to represent your country on the highest level, and I know each one of us is very honoured to do it,” she told the Toronto Sun. “We feel a lot of pride to have that responsibility.” Tatham has been playing with the national team for nine years, and is also an ambassador for women in basketball in Toronto and across the country. When she’s not in the 6ix, Tatham is playing for her professional team, Dynamo Novosibirsk. “[There’s] no feeling like having the word Canada written across my chest as I rep my country in the sport I love,” she said in an interview with Canada Basketball. The national team will have to defeat the likes of the United States, France, and Australia if they want to bring home a medal. And there’s every chance that is possible. Last year Canada won gold at FIBA Americas and Toronto’s Pan Am Games (they defeated the United States). |
August 28, 2014 17:14 IST After Governors, the Narendra Modi government is removing independent directors appointed by the previous UPA regime on PSU boards, beginning with sacking of four directors on the board of Indian Oil Corp (IOC). IOC, the nation's largest company, in a filing to the stock exchanges said, "K Jairaj, Nesar Ahmad, Sunil Krishna and Sayan Chatterjee have ceased to be Independent Directors on the Board of the company on August 27, 2014." All the four directors were appointed to IOC board in March this year for a three-year term. Their appointment was to be confirmed/ratified by the company shareholders but IOC did not move a resolution to this effect at its annual general meeting (AGM) in Mumbai on Wednesday, leading to their cessation. While IOC Chairman B Ashok did not reply to phone calls seeking comments and its company secretary Raju Ranganathan said he is not authorised to speak on the issue, sources stated the new government is reviewing all recent appointments on board of public sector companies. The NDA government is seeking removal of all political appointments, the latest in the list being Sheila Dixit who quit earlier this week. She is the eighth governor to resign since the NDA government came to power in May. The new government wants to change all previous UPA appointed directors but to start with it is looking at appointments that need confirmation now, they said. Of the 8 independent directors on IOC board, four are -- K Jairaj, former Additional Chief Secretary, Karnataka; Nesar Ahmed, past president of ICSI; Sunil Krishna, former director general of NHRC, and Sayan Chatterjee, former Secretary to government of India, cease to be directors on company board. Independent directors of a PSU are appointed by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) which consist of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. It is not clear if these removals have been done with the concurrence of ACC under Modi. Sources said rules are not clear if a director can be removed by virtue of non-ratification of shareholders without ACC approval. Image: A worker fills a car with diesel at a fuel station in Jammu. Photograph: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters |
by Stephen Baxter Author spotlight The flitter bucked. Lvov looked up from her data desk, startled. Beyond the flitter’s translucent hull, the wormhole was flooded with sheets of blue-white light which raced towards and past the flitter, giving Lvov the impression of huge, uncontrolled speed. “We’ve got a problem,” Cobh said. The pilot bent over her own data desk, a frown creasing her thin face. Lvov had been listening to her data desk’s synthesized murmur on temperature inversion layers in nitrogen atmospheres; now she tapped the desk to shut it off. The flitter was a transparent tube, deceptively warm and comfortable. Impossibly fragile. Astronauts have problems in space, she thought. But not me. I’m no hero; I’m only a researcher. Lvov was twenty-eight years old; she had no plans to die—and certainly not during a routine four-hour hop through a Poole wormhole that had been human-rated for eighty years. She clung to her desk, her knuckles whitening, wondering if she ought to feel scared. # Cobh sighed and pushed her data desk away; it floated before her. “Close up your suit and buckle up.” “What’s wrong?” “Our speed through the wormhole has increased.” Cobh pulled her own restraint harness around her. “We’ll reach the terminus in another minute—” “What? But we should have been travelling for another half-hour.” Cobh looked irritated. “I know that. I think the Interface has become unstable. The wormhole is buckling.” “What does that mean? Are we in danger?” Cobh checked the integrity of Lvov’s pressure suit, then pulled her data desk to her. Cobh was a Caucasian, strong-faced, a native of Mars, perhaps fifty years old. “Well, we can’t turn back. One way or the other it’ll be over in a few more seconds—hold tight—” Now Lvov could see the Interface itself, the terminus of the wormhole: The Interface was a blue-white tetrahedron, an angular cage that exploded at her from infinity. Glowing struts swept over the flitter. The craft hurtled out of the collapsing wormhole. Light founted around the fleeing craft, as stressed spacetime yielded in a gush of heavy particles. Lvov glimpsed stars, wheeling. Cobh dragged the flitter sideways, away from the energy fount— There was a lurch, a discontinuity in the scene beyond the hull. Suddenly a planet loomed before them. “Lethe,” Cobh said. “Where did that come from? I’ll have to take her down—we’re too close—” Lvov saw a flat, complex landscape, grey-crimson in the light of a swollen moon. The scene was dimly lit, and it rocked wildly as the flitter tumbled. And, stretching between world and moon, she saw— No. It was impossible. The vision was gone, receded into darkness. “Here it comes,” Cobh yelled. Foam erupted, filling the flitter. The foam pushed into Lvov’s ears, mouth and eyes; she was blinded, but she found she could breathe. She heard a collision, a grinding that lasted seconds, and she imagined the flitter ploughing its way into the surface of the planet. She felt a hard lurch, a rebound. The flitter came to rest. A synthesized voice emitted blurred safety instructions. There was a ticking as the hull cooled. In the sudden stillness, still blinded by foam, Lvov tried to recapture what she had seen. Spider-web. It was a web, stretching from the planet to its moon. “Welcome to Pluto.” Cobh’s voice was breathless, ironic. # Lvov stood on the surface of Pluto. The suit’s insulation was good, but enough heat leaked to send nitrogen clouds hissing around her footsteps, and where she walked she burned craters in the ice. Gravity was only a few per cent of gee, and Lvov, Earth-born, felt as if she might blow away. There were clouds above her, wispy cirrus: aerosol clusters suspended in an atmosphere of nitrogen and methane. The clouds occluded bone-white stars. From here, Sol and the moon, Charon, were hidden by the planet’s bulk, and it was dark, dark on dark, the damaged landscape visible only as a sketch in starlight. The flitter had dug a trench a mile long and fifty yards deep in this world’s antique surface, so Lvov was at the bottom of a valley walled by nitrogen ice. Cobh was hauling equipment out of the crumpled-up wreck of the flitter: scooters, data desks, life-support boxes, Lvov’s equipment. Most of the stuff had been robust enough to survive the impact, Lvov saw, but not her own equipment. Maybe a geologist could have crawled around with nothing more than a hammer and a set of sample bags. But Lvov was an atmospheric scientist. What was she going to achieve here without her equipment? Her fear was fading now, to be replaced by irritation, impatience. She was five light hours from Sol; already she was missing the online nets. She kicked at the ice. She was stuck here; she couldn’t talk to anyone, and there wasn’t even the processing power to generate a Virtual environment. Cobh finished wrestling with the wreckage. She was breathing hard. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get out of this ditch and take a look around.” She showed Lvov how to work a scooter. It was a simple platform, its inert-gas jets controlled by twists of raised handles. Side by side, Cobh and Lvov rose out of the crash scar. Pluto ice was a rich crimson laced with organic purple. Lvov made out patterns, dimly, on the surface of the ice; they were like bas-relief, discs the size of dinner plates, with the intricate complexity of snowflakes. Lvov landed clumsily on the rim of the crash scar, the scooter’s blunt prow crunching into surface ice, and she was grateful for the low gravity. The weight and heat of the scooters quickly obliterated the ice patterns. “We’ve come down near the equator,” Cobh said. “The albedo is higher at the south pole: a cap of methane ice there, I’m told.” “Yes.” Cobh pointed to a bright blue spark, high in the sky. “That’s the wormhole Interface, where we emerged: Fifty thousand miles away.” Lvov squinted at constellations unchanged from those she’d grown up with on Earth. “Are we stranded?” Cobh said, with reasonable patience, “For the time being. The flitter is wrecked, and the wormhole has collapsed; we’re going to have to go back to Jupiter the long way round.” Three billion miles… “Ten hours ago I was asleep in a hotel room on Io. And now this. What a mess.” Cobh laughed. “I’ve already sent off messages to the inner System. They’ll be received in about five hours. A one-way GUTship will be sent to retrieve us. It will refuel here, with Charon ice—” “How long?” “It depends on the readiness of a ship. Say ten days to prepare, then a ten-day flight out here—” “Twenty days?” “We’re in no danger. We’ve supplies for a month. Although we’re going to have to live in these suits.” “Lethe. This trip was supposed to last seventy-two hours.” “Well,” Cobh said testily, “you’ll have to call and cancel your appointments, won’t you? All we have to do is wait here; we’re not going to be comfortable, but we’re safe enough.” “Do you know what happened to the wormhole?” Cobh shrugged. She stared up at the distant blue spark. “As far as I know nothing like this has happened before. I think the Interface itself became unstable, and that fed back into the throat… But I don’t know how we fell to Pluto so quickly. That doesn’t make sense.” “How so?” “Our trajectory was spacelike. Superluminal.” She glanced at Lvov obliquely, as if embarrassed. “For a moment there, we appeared to be travelling faster than light.” “Through normal space? That’s impossible.” “Of course it is.” Cobh reached up to scratch her cheek, but her gloved fingers rattled against her faceplate. “I think I’ll go up to the Interface and take a look around there.” # Cobh showed Lvov how to access the life support boxes. Then she strapped her data desk to her back, climbed aboard her scooter, and lifted off the planet’s surface, heading for the Interface. Lvov watched her dwindle. Lvov’s isolation closed in. She was alone, the only human on the surface of Pluto. A reply from the inner System came within twelve hours of the crash. A GUTship was being sent from Jupiter. It would take thirteen days to refit the ship, followed by an eight-day flight to Pluto, then more delay for taking on fresh reaction mass at Charon. Lvov chafed at the timescale, restless. There was other mail: Concerned notes from Lvov’s family, a testy demand for updates from her research supervisor, and for Cobh, orders from her employer to mark as much of the flitter wreck as she could for salvage and analysis. Cobh’s ship was a commercial wormhole transit vessel, hired by Oxford—Lvov’s university—for this trip. Now, it seemed, a complex battle over liability would be joined between Oxford, Cobh’s firm, and the insurance companies. Lvov, five light-hours from home, found it difficult to respond to the mail asynchronously. She felt as if she had been cut out of the online mind of humanity. In the end she drafted replies to her family, and deleted the rest of the messages. She checked her research equipment again, but it really was unusable. She tried to sleep. The suit was uncomfortable, claustrophobic. She was restless, bored, a little scared. She began a systematic survey of the surface, taking her scooter on widening spiral sweeps around the crash scar. The landscape was surprisingly complex, a starlit sculpture of feathery ridges and fine ravines. She kept a few hundred feet above the surface; whenever she flew too low her heat evoked billowing vapour from fragile nitrogen ice, obliterating ancient features, and she experienced obscure guilt. She found more of the snowflake-like features, generally in little clusters of eight or ten. Pluto, like its moon-twin Charon, was a ball of rock clad by thick mantles of water ice and nitrogen ice and laced with methane, ammonia and organic compounds. It was like a big, stable comet nucleus; it barely deserved the status of “planet.” There were moons bigger than Pluto. There had been only a handful of visitors in the eighty years since the building of the Poole wormhole. None of them had troubled to walk the surfaces of Pluto or Charon. The wormhole, Lvov realised, hadn’t been built as a commercial proposition, but as a sort of stunt: the link which connected, at last, all of the System’s planets to the rapid-transit hub at Jupiter. She tired of her plodding survey. She made sure she could locate the crash scar, lifted the scooter to a mile above the surface, and flew towards the south polar cap. # Cobh called from the Interface. “I think I’m figuring out what happened here—that superluminal effect I talked about. Lvov, have you heard of an Alcubierre wave?” She dumped images to Lvov’s desk—portraits of the wormhole Interface, various graphics. “No.” Lvov ignored the input and concentrated on flying the scooter. “Cobh, why should a wormhole become unstable? Hundreds of wormhole rapid transits are made every day, all across the System.” “A wormhole is a flaw in space. It’s inherently unstable anyway. The throat and mouths are kept open by active feedback loops involving threads of exotic matter. That’s matter with a negative energy density, a sort of antigravity which—” “But this wormhole went wrong.” “Maybe the tuning wasn’t perfect. The presence of the flitter’s mass in the throat was enough to send the wormhole over the edge. If the wormhole had been more heavily used, the instability might have been detected earlier, and fixed …” Over the grey-white pole, Lvov flew through banks of aerosol mist; Cobh’s voice whispered to her, remote, without meaning. # Sunrise on Pluto: Sol was a point of light, low on Lvov’s unfolding horizon, wreathed in the complex strata of a cirrus cloud. The Sun was a thousand times fainter than from Earth, but brighter than any planet in Earth’s sky. The inner System was a puddle of light around Sol, an oblique disc small enough for Lvov to cover with the palm of her hand. It was a disc that contained almost all of man’s hundreds of billions. Sol brought no heat to her raised hand, but she saw faint shadows, cast by the sun on her faceplate. The nitrogen atmosphere was dynamic. At perihelion—the closest approach to Sol, which Pluto was nearing—the air expanded, to three planetary diameters. Methane and other volatiles joined the thickening air, sublimating from the planet’s surface. Then, when Pluto turned away from Sol and sailed into its two-hundred-year winter, the air snowed down. Lvov wished she had her atmospheric-analysis equipment now; she felt its lack like an ache. She passed over spectacular features: Buie Crater, Tombaugh Plateau, the Lowell Range. She recorded them all, walked on them. After a while her world, of Earth and information and work, seemed remote, a glittering abstraction. Pluto was like a complex, blind fish, drifting around its two-century orbit, gradually interfacing with her. Changing her, she suspected. # Ten hours after leaving the crash scar, Lvov arrived at the sub-Charon point, called Christy. She kept the scooter hovering, puffs of gas holding her against Pluto’s gentle gravity. Sol was half-way up the sky, a diamond of light. Charon hung directly over Lvov’s head, a misty blue disc, six times the size of Luna as seen from Earth. Half the moon’s lit hemisphere was turned away from Lvov, towards Sol. Like Luna, Charon was tidally locked to its parent, and kept the same face to Pluto as it orbited. But, unlike Earth, Pluto was also locked to its twin. Every six days the worlds turned about each other, facing each other constantly, like two waltzers. Pluto-Charon was the only significant system in which both partners were tidally locked. Chiron’s surface looked pocked. Lvov had her faceplate enhance the image. Many of the gouges were deep and quite regular. She remarked on this to Cobh, at the Interface. “The Poole people mostly used Charon material for the building of the wormhole,” Cobh said. “Charon is just rock and water ice. It’s easier to get to water ice, in particular. Charon doesn’t have the inconvenience of an atmosphere, or an overlay of nitrogen ice over the water. And the gravity’s shallower.” The wormhole builders had flown out here in a huge, unreliable GUTship. They had lifted ice and rock off Charon, and used it to construct tetrahedra of exotic matter. The tetrahedra had served as Interfaces, the termini of a wormhole. One Interface had been left in orbit around Pluto, and the other had been hauled laboriously back to Jupiter by the GUTship, itself replenished with Charon-ice reaction mass. By such crude means, Michael Poole and his people had opened up the Solar System. “They made Lethe’s own mess of Charon,” Lvov said. She could almost see Cobh’s characteristic shrug. So what? Pluto’s surface was geologically complex, here at this point of maximal tidal stress. She flew over ravines and ridges; in places, it looked as if the land had been smashed up with an immense hammer, cracked and fractured. She imagined there was a greater mix, here, of interior material with the surface ice. In many places she saw gatherings of the peculiar snowflakes she had noticed before. Perhaps they were some form of frosting effect, she wondered. She descended, thinking vaguely of collecting samples. She killed the scooter’s jets some yards above the surface, and let the little craft fall under Pluto’s gentle gravity. She hit the ice with a soft collision, but without heat-damaging the surface features much beyond a few feet. She stepped off the scooter. The ice crunched, and she felt layers compress under her, but the fractured surface supported her weight. She looked up towards Charon. The crimson moon was immense, round, heavy. She caught a glimmer of light, an arc, directly above her. It was gone immediately. She closed her eyes and tried to recapture it. A line, slowly curving, like a thread. A web. Suspended between Pluto and Charon. She looked again, with her faceplate set to optimal enhancement. She couldn’t recapture the vision. She didn’t say anything to Cobh. “I was right, by the way,” Cobh was saying. “What?” Lvov tried to focus. “The wormhole instability, when we crashed. It did cause an Alcubierre wave.” “What’s an Alcubierre wave?” “The Interface’s negative energy region expanded from the tetrahedron, just for a moment. The negative energy distorted a chunk of spacetime. The chunk containing the flitter, and us.” On one side of the flitter, Cobh said, spacetime had contracted. Like a model black hole. On the other side, it expanded—like a re-run of the Big Bang, the expansion at the beginning of the Universe. “An Alcubierre wave is a front in spacetime. The Interface—with us embedded inside—was carried along. We were pushed away from the expanding region, and towards the contraction.” “Like a surfer, on a wave.” “Right.” Cobh sounded excited. “The effect’s been known to theory, almost since the formulation of relativity. But I don’t think anyone’s observed it before.” “How lucky for us,” Lvov said drily. “You said we travelled faster than light. But that’s impossible.” “You can’t move faster than light within spacetime. Wormholes are one way of getting around this; in a wormhole you are passing through a branch in spacetime. The Alcubierre effect is another way. The superluminal velocity comes from the distortion of space itself; we were carried along within distorting space. “So we weren’t breaking lightspeed within our raft of spacetime. But that spacetime itself was distorting at more than lightspeed.” “It sounds like cheating.” “So sue me. Or look up the math.” “Couldn’t we use your Alcubierre effect to drive starships?” “No. The instabilities and the energy drain are forbidding.” One of the snowflake patterns lay mostly undamaged, within Lvov’s reach. She crouched and peered at it. The flake was perhaps a foot across. Internal structure was visible within the clear ice as layers of tubes and compartments; it was highly symmetrical, and very complex. She said to Cobh, “This is an impressive crystallisation effect. If that’s what it is.” Gingerly she reached out with thumb and forefinger, and snapped a short tube off the rim of the flake. She laid the sample on her desk. After a few seconds the analysis presented. “It’s mostly water ice, with some contaminants,” she told Cobh. “But in a novel molecular form. Denser than normal ice, a kind of glass. Water would freeze like this under high pressures—several thousand atmospheres.” “Perhaps it’s material from the interior, brought out by the chthonic mixing in that region.” “Perhaps.” Lvov felt more confident now; she was intrigued. “Cobh, there’s a larger specimen a few feet further away.” “Take it easy, Lvov.” She stepped forward. “I’ll be fine. I—” The surface shattered. Lvov’s left foot dropped forward, into a shallow hole; something crackled under the sole of her boot. Threads of ice crystals, oddly woven together, spun up and tracked precise parabolae around her leg. The fall seemed to take an age; the ice tipped up towards her like an opening door. She put her hands out. She couldn’t stop the fall, but she was able to cushion herself, and she kept her faceplate away from the ice. She finished up on her backside; she felt the chill of Pluto ice through the suit material over her buttocks and calves. “…Lvov? Are you okay?” She was panting, she found. “I’m fine.” “You were screaming.” “Was I? I’m sorry. I fell.” “You fell? How?” “There was a hole, in the ice.” She massaged her left ankle; it didn’t seem to be hurt. “It was covered up.” “Show me.” She got to her feet, stepped gingerly back to the open hole, and held up her data desk. The hole was only a few inches deep. “It was covered by a sort of lid, I think.” “Move the desk closer to the hole.” Light from the desk, controlled by Cobh, played over the shallow pit. Lvov found a piece of the smashed lid. It was mostly ice, but there was a texture to its undersurface, embedded thread which bound the ice together. “Lvov,” Cobh said. “Take a look at this.” Lvov lifted the desk aside and peered into the hole. The walls were quite smooth. At the base there was a cluster of spheres, fist-sized. Lvov counted seven; all but one of the spheres had been smashed by her stumble. She picked up the one intact sphere, and turned it over in her hand. It was pearl-grey, almost translucent. There was something embedded inside, disc-shaped, complex. Cobh sounded breathless. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” “It’s an egg,” Lvov said. She looked around wildly, at the open pit, the egg, the snowflake patterns. Suddenly she saw the meaning of the scene; it was as if a light had shone up from within Pluto, illuminating her. The “snowflakes” represented life, she intuited; they had dug the burrows, laid these eggs, and now their bodies of water glass lay, dormant or dead, on the ancient ice… “I’m coming down,” Cobh said sternly. “We’re going to have to discuss this. Don’t say anything to the inner System; wait until I get back. This could mean trouble for us, Lvov.” Lvov placed the egg back in the shattered nest. # She met Cobh at the crash scar. Cobh was shovelling nitrogen and water ice into the life-support modules’ raw material hopper. She hooked up her own and Lvov’s suits to the modules, recharging the suits’ internal systems. Then she began to carve GUTdrive components out of the flitter’s hull. The flitter’s central Grand Unified Theory chamber was compact, no larger than a basketball, and the rest of the drive was similarly scaled. “I bet I could get this working,” Cobh said. “Although it couldn’t take us anywhere.” Lvov sat on a fragment of the shattered hull. Tentatively, she told Cobh about the web. Cobh stood with hands on hips, facing Lvov, and Lvov could hear her sucking drink from the nipples in her helmet. “Spiders from Pluto? Give me a break.” “It’s only an analogy,” Lvov said defensively. “I’m an atmospheric specialist, not a biologist.” She tapped the surface of her desk. “It’s not spider-web. Obviously. But if that substance has anything like the characteristics of true spider silk, it’s not impossible.” She read from her desk. “Spider silk has a breaking strain twice that of steel, but thirty times the elasticity. It’s a type of liquid crystal. It’s used commercially—did you know that?” She fingered the fabric of her suit. “We could be wearing spider silk right now.” “What about the hole with the lid?” “There are trapdoor spiders in America. On Earth. I remember, when I was a kid… The spiders make burrows, lined with silk, with hinged lids.” “Why make burrows on Pluto?” “I don’t know. Maybe the eggs can last out the winter that way. Maybe the creatures, the flakes, only have active life during the perihelion period, when the atmosphere expands and enriches.” She thought that through. “That fits. That’s why the Poole people didn’t spot anything. The construction team was here close to the last aphelion. Pluto’s year is so long that we’re still only half-way to the next perihelion—” “So how do they live?” Cobh snapped. “What do they eat?” “There must be more to the ecosystem than one species,” Lvov conceded. “The flakes—the spiders—need water glass. But there’s little of that on the surface. Maybe there is some biocycle—plants or burrowing animals—which brings ice and glass to the surface, from the interior.” “That doesn’t make sense. The layer of nitrogen over water ice is too deep.” “Then where do the flakes get their glass?” “Don’t ask me,” Cobh said. “It’s your dumb hypothesis. And what about the web? What’s the point of that—if it’s real?” Lvov ground to a halt. “I don’t know,” she said lamely. Although Pluto/Charon is the only place in the System where you could build a spider-web between worlds. Cobh toyed with a fitting from the drive. “Have you told anyone about this yet? In the inner System, I mean.” “No. You said you wanted to talk about that.” “Right.” Lvov saw Cobh close her eyes; her face was masked by the glimmer of her faceplate. “Listen. Here’s what we say. We’ve seen nothing here. Nothing that couldn’t be explained by crystallisation effects.” Lvov was baffled. “What are you talking about? What about the eggs? Why would we lie about this? Besides, we have the desks—records.” “Data desks can be lost, or wiped, or their contents amended.” Lvov wished she could see Cobh’s face. “Why would we do such a thing?” “Think it through. Once Earth hears about this, these flake-spiders of yours will be protected. Won’t they?” “Of course. What’s bad about that?” “It’s bad for us, Lvov. You’ve seen what a mess the Poole people made of Charon. If this system is inhabited, a fast GUTship won’t be allowed to come for us. It wouldn’t be allowed to refuel here. Not if it meant further damage to the native life forms.” Lvov shrugged. “So we’d have to wait for a slower ship. A liner; one that won’t need to take on more reaction mass here.” Cobh laughed at her. “You don’t know much about the economics of GUTship transport, do you? Now that the System is criss-crossed by Poole wormholes, how many liners like that do you think are still running? I’ve already checked the manifests. There are two liners capable of a round trip to Pluto still in service. One is in dry dock; the other is heading for Saturn—” “On the other side of the System.” “Right. There’s no way either of those ships could reach us for, I’d say, a year.” We only have a month’s supplies. A bubble of panic gathered in Lvov’s stomach. “Do you get it yet?” Cobh said heavily. “We’ll be sacrificed, if there’s a chance that our rescue would damage the new ecology, here.” “No. It wouldn’t happen like that.” Cobh shrugged. “There are precedents.” She was right, Lvov knew. There were precedents, of new forms of life discovered in corners of the system: From Mercury to the remote Kuiper objects. In every case the territory had been ring-fenced, the local conditions preserved, once life—or even a plausible candidate for life—was recognised. Cobh said, “Pan-genetic diversity. Pan-environmental management. That’s the key to it; the public policy of preserving all the species and habitats of Sol, into the indefinite future. The lives of two humans won’t matter a damn against that.” “What are you suggesting?” “That we don’t tell the inner System about the flakes.” Lvov tried to recapture her mood of a few days before: When Pluto hadn’t mattered to her, when the crash had been just an inconvenience. Now, suddenly, we’re talking about threats to our lives, the destruction of an ecology. What a dilemma. If I don’t tell of the flakes, their ecology may be destroyed during our rescue. But if I do tell, the GUTship won’t come for me, and I’ll lose my life. Cobh seemed to be waiting for an answer. Lvov thought of how Sol light looked over Pluto’s ice fields, at dawn. She decided to stall. “We’ll say nothing. For now. But I don’t accept either of your options.” Cobh laughed. “What else is there? The wormhole is destroyed; even this flitter is disabled.” “We have time. Days, before the GUTship is due to be launched. Let’s search for another solution. A win-win.” Cobh shrugged. She looked suspicious. She’s right to be, Lvov thought, exploring her own decision with surprise. I’ve every intention of telling the truth later, of diverting the GUTship, if I have to. I may give up my life, for this world. I think. # In the days that followed, Cobh tinkered with the GUTdrive, and flew up to the Interface to gather more data on the Alcubierre phenomenon. Lvov roamed the surface of Pluto, with her desk set to full record. She came to love the wreaths of cirrus clouds, the huge, misty moon, the slow, oceanic pulse of the centuries-long year. Everywhere she found the inert bodies of snowflakes, or evidence of their presence: eggs, lidded burrows. She found no other life forms—or, more likely, she told herself, she wasn’t equipped to recognise any others. She was drawn back to Christy, the sub-Charon point, where the topography was at its most complex and interesting, and where the greatest density of flakes was to be found. It was as if, she thought, the flakes had gathered here, yearning for the huge, inaccessible moon above them. But what could the flakes possibly want of Charon? What did it mean for them? # Lvov encountered Cobh at the crash scar, recharging her suit’s systems from the life support packs. Cobh seemed quiet. She kept her face, hooded by her faceplate, turned from Lvov. Lvov watched her for a while. “You’re being evasive,” she said eventually. “Something’s changed—something you’re not telling me about.” Cobh made to turn away, but Lvov grabbed her arm. “I think you’ve found a third option. Haven’t you? You’ve found some other way to resolve this situation, without destroying either us or the flakes.” Cobh shook off her hand. “Yes. Yes, I think I know a way. But—” “But what?” “It’s dangerous, damn it. Maybe unworkable. Lethal.” Cobh’s hands pulled at each other. She’s scared, Lvov saw. She stepped back from Cobh. Without giving herself time to think about it, she said, “Our deal’s off. I’m going to tell the inner System about the flakes. Right now. So we’re going to have to go with your new idea, dangerous or not.” Cobh studied her face; Cobh seemed to be weighing up Lvov’s determination, perhaps even her physical strength. Lvov felt as if she were a data desk being downloaded. The moment stretched, and Lvov felt her breath tighten in her chest. Would she be able to defend herself, physically, if it came to that? And—was her own will really so strong? I have changed, she thought. Pluto has changed me. At last Cobh looked away. “Send your damn message,” she said. Before Cobh—or Lvov herself—had a chance to waver, Lvov picked up her desk and sent a message to the inner worlds. She downloaded all the data she had on the flakes: Text, images, analyses, her own observations and hypotheses. “It’s done,” she said at last. “And the GUTship?” “I’m sure they’ll cancel it.” Lvov smiled. “I’m also sure they won’t tell us they’ve done so.” “So we’re left with no choice,” Cobh said angrily. “Look: I know it’s the right thing to do. To preserve the flakes. I just don’t want to die, that’s all. I hope you’re right, Lvov.” “You haven’t told me how we’re going to get home.” Cobh grinned through her faceplate. “Surfing.” # “All right. You’re doing fine. Now let go of the scooter.” Lvov took a deep breath, and kicked the scooter away with both legs; the little device tumbled away, catching the deep light of Sol, and Lvov rolled in reaction. Cobh reached out and steadied her. “You can’t fall,” Cobh said. “You’re in orbit. You understand that, don’t you?” “Of course I do,” Lvov grumbled. The two of them drifted in space, close to the defunct Poole wormhole Interface. The Interface itself was a tetrahedron of electric blue struts, enclosing darkness, its size overwhelming; Lvov felt as if she was floating beside the carcase of some huge, wrecked building. Pluto and Charon hovered before her like balloons, their surfaces mottled and complex, their forms visibly distorted from the spherical. Their separation was only fourteen of Pluto’s diameters. The worlds were strikingly different in hue, with Pluto a blood red, Charon ice blue. That’s the difference in surface composition, Lvov thought absently. All that water ice on Charon’s surface. The panorama was stunningly beautiful. Lvov had a sudden, gut-level intuition of the rightness of the various System authorities’ rigid pan-environment policies. Cobh had strapped her data desk to her chest; now she checked the time. “Any moment now. Lvov, you’ll be fine. Remember, you’ll feel no acceleration, no matter how fast we travel. At the centre of an Alcubierre wave, spacetime is locally flat; you’ll still be in free fall. There will be tidal forces, but they will remain small. Just keep your breathing even, and—” “Shut up, Cobh,” Lvov said tightly. “I know all this.” Cobh’s desk flared with light. “There,” she breathed. “The GUTdrive has fired. Just a few seconds, now.” A spark of light arced up from Pluto’s surface and tracked, in complete silence, under the belly of the parent world. It was the flitter’s GUTdrive, salvaged and stabilised by Cobh. The flame was brighter than Sol; Lvov saw its light reflected in Pluto, as if the surface was a great, fractured mirror of ice. Where the flame passed, tongues of nitrogen gas billowed up. The GUTdrive passed over Christy. Lvov had left her desk there, to monitor the flakes, and the image the desk transmitted, displayed in the corner of her faceplate, showed a spark, crossing the sky. Then the GUTdrive veered sharply upwards, climbing directly towards Lvov and Cobh at the Interface. “Cobh, are you sure this is going to work?” Lvov could hear Cobh’s breath rasp, shallow. “Look, Lvov, I know you’re scared, but pestering me with dumb-ass questions isn’t going to help. Once the drive enters the Interface, it will take only seconds for the instability to set in. Seconds, and then we’ll be home. In the inner System, at any rate. Or…” “Or what?” Cobh didn’t reply. Or not, Lvov finished for her. If Cobh has designed this new instability right, the Alcubierre wave will carry us home. If not— The GUTdrive flame approached, becoming dazzling. Lvov tried to regulate her breathing, to keep her limbs hanging loose— “Lethe,” Cobh whispered. “What?” Lvov demanded, alarmed. “Take a look at Pluto. At Christy.” Lvov looked into her faceplate. Where the warmth and light of the GUTdrive had passed, Christy was a ferment. Nitrogen billowed. And, amid the pale fountains, burrows were opening. Lids folded back. Eggs cracked. Infant flakes soared and sailed, with webs and nets of their silk-analogue hauling at the rising air. Lvov caught glimpses of threads, long, sparkling, trailing down to Pluto—and up towards Charon. Already, Lvov saw, some of the baby flakes had hurtled more than a planetary diameter from the surface, towards the moon. “It’s goose summer,” she said. “What?” “When I was a kid…The young spiders spin bits of webs, and climb to the top of grass stalks, and float off on the breeze. Goose summer—‘gossamer’”. “Right,” Cobh said sceptically. “Well, it looks as if they are making for Charon. They use the evaporation of the atmosphere for lift…Perhaps they follow last year’s threads, to the moon. They must fly off every perihelion, rebuilding their web bridge every time. They think the perihelion is here now. The warmth of the drive—it’s remarkable. But why go to Charon?” Lvov couldn’t take her eyes off the flakes. “Because of the water,” she said. It all seemed to make sense, now that she saw the flakes in action. “There must be water glass, on Chiron’s surface. The baby flakes use it to build their bodies. They take other nutrients from Pluto’s interior, and the glass from Charon…They need the resources of both worlds to survive—” “Lvov!” The GUTdrive flared past them, sudden, dazzling, and plunged into the damaged Interface. # Electric-blue light exploded from the Interface, washing over her. There was a ball of light, unearthly, behind her, and an irregular patch of darkness ahead, like a rip in space. Tidal forces plucked gently at her belly and limbs. Pluto, Charon and goose summer disappeared. But the stars, the eternal stars, shone down on her, just as they had during her childhood on Earth. She stared at the stars, trusting, and felt no fear. Remotely, she heard Cobh whoop, exhilarated. The tides faded. The darkness before her healed, to reveal the brilliance and warmth of Sol. © 1995 Stephen Baxter Originally published in Science Fiction Age. Reprinted by permission of the author. |
Eye In The Sky: Canada Looks To Militarized Drones The Canadian Air Force is moving forward with its plans for a weaponized drone program and it has asked military contractors to illustrate how they might build a Canadian drone fleet. They are looking to use the drones for a variety of tasks, including bombing terror suspects and spying on protesters. It is said that the Canadian Air Force is seeking as many as 12 drones. Take into account that when it comes to drones that are presently utilized, former operators themselves have said that the program causes more harm than good. When it comes to targeting the right individual, the drone is often wrong and causes severe collateral damage in the process. The use of U.S. drones in Pakistan and other countries has helped to deteriorate that nations reputation around the world, many people regard the U.S. to be a warmongering nation, and do we truly want Canada to follow down the same path and send various drones abroad? Canada has traditionally held the position of being known as a peace-keeping nation, but it looks as though Trudeau is intent on furthering the war-stance that Harper has already positioned for Canada. It is alleged that the government plans to acquire the drones as soon as possible in order to use them to cover Arctic surveillance. The Joint Unmanned Surveillance and Target Acquisition System (JUSTAS) is going to be the one to deliver the final 12 unmanned aircraft and it is suggested that the drones are going to be built in Canada. The Canadian government has even allegedly considered looking at the American Reaper and Predator drones for potential use in their drone army. The air force allegedly wants the final drones to be able to travel for at least 150 kilometers from an operating base and be able to attack a target within only 30 minutes of getting the go-ahead confirmation to do so. The air force is also looking toward the future possibility of drones being able to fly without a pilot. Current drone technologies are being developed at the Robotics Institute, among other places, which seek to enable self-flying drones. Former drone operators themselves have publicly spoken out about the cruelty of the assassination program and so it's no surprise then that the state would move in a direction that seeks to have drones operating without a pilot. When it comes to current drone strike history around the world, roughly 90% of the victims turn out to be the wrong targets and innocent civilians. This is why the program ends-up causing more harm than good which it seeks to produce. If Canada is going to pursue a Canadian drone fleet and continue following down the same path that we have seen the U.S. walk down for the past several decades, then we can expect to see further erosion of civil liberties for citizens not only in Canada, but for the many who might be wrongfully targeted abroad in the future. Follow Dan Dicks: Facebook Twitter Dan Dicks Twitter Dan Dicks Instagram Subscribe: Youtube Press For Truth TV If you do not use PayPal or credit cards you can still donate! We accept checks, money orders, cash and equipment. With good old fashion mail you can send Dan stuff to: Mail to Dan Dicks: 505-8840 210th Street Langley BC, V1M 2Y2 Canada |
LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the death of a South Carolina woman more than four years ago. The State (http://bit.ly/2riKcxo) reported a Lexington County jury deliberated less than five hours Thursday before returning a guilty verdict against John Christopher Hart. Hart was charged in the 2013 shooting death of 43-year-old Paula Justice of West Columbia. Prosecutors say someone who thought he heard a gunshot found Justice's body beside a road. She was scheduled to testify against a co-defendant in a drug trafficking case. Prosecutors say Justice's co-defendant in the case, Jeremy Pugh Washington of Gaston, and Hart picked the woman up at a restaurant shortly before she was killed. Hart was arrested in Rome, New York. Washington is awaiting trial. ___ Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com |
U.S. President Donald Trump affirmed his administration's commitment to NATO's defence on Thursday, while calling on Russia to end its "destabilizing" action in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world. Trump's reference to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which commits alliance members to defend each other, represented a change of tone from the U.S. president, who upset allies by not mentioning support for the provision during a trip to NATO headquarters in May. "We stand firmly behind Article 5," Trump said during a speech — laced with warnings about the dangers faced by Western civilization — in Warsaw, Poland. CBC AT THE G20 | Trudeau heads to summit marked by widening Trump-Merkel rift But he again called on NATO members, most of which are in Europe, to meet their financial requirements under the terms of the alliance, which requires each of the 29 countries to spend two per cent of GDP on defence. "Europe must do more," Trump said. "Europe must demonstrate it believes in the future by investing money to secure that future." "The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost?" Trump praised Poland for meeting its NATO commitments, and for its recent decision to purchase the U.S.-made Patriot missile defence system. Trump's speech focused on the threat posed by terrorism but appeared to include several veiled remarks about Russia, including references to the hardships Poland faced from the Soviet Union and a remark about the modern forms of aggression — "propaganda, financial crimes and cyber warfare" — now aimed at NATO. The crowd also cheered when Trump said securing access to new energy sources means Poland will "never again be held hostage to a single supplier of energy." Poland relies heavily on Russia for oil and gas, but a long-term contract for liquefied gas delivered from the U.S. could be signed "soon" according to Polish President Andrzej Duda. People wave Polish and U.S. flags during Trump's speech at Krasinski Square. (Carlos Barria/Reuters) Trump was more blunt when he condemned Moscow's role in Ukraine and the Middle East. "We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere and its support for hostile regimes including Syria and Iran, and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and the defence of civilization itself," he said, echoing remarks made earlier in the day during a joint news conference with Duda. His remarks come ahead of his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany during the G20 summit on Friday. The Kremlin said in a statement it disagreed with Trump's initial comments and that it regretted a lack of understanding between Russia and the U.S. about expectations for their future relations. Trump also told reporters that the U.S. was working with Poland to address Russia's "destabilizing behaviour" in the region — remarks that prompted a rebuke from the Kremlin. U.S. President Donald Trump is greeted by Polish President Andrzej Duda as he visits Poland during the Three Seas Initiative Summit in Warsaw, Poland July 6. (Carlos Barria/Reuters) "We disagree with such an approach," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a conference call with reporters. Peskov said that the Kremlin also regretted a lack of understanding between Russia and the U.S. about expectations for their future relations. "This is exactly why we are waiting for the first meeting of the two presidents," said Peskov. Trump started his first day in Europe at the Royal Castle, welcomed by President Andrzej Duda and a vigorous handshake in front of a white marble bust of Stanislaw August Poniatowski, the last king of Poland. The leaders then retreated to a room decorated with red walls for their private talks. |
Man Proposes To Fiancée With An Assist From The Puppet Bike By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 15, 2013 3:10PM Photo credit: Bill Guerriero Reader Bill Guerriero's photography is frequently featured on Chicagoist, WBEZ, Gapers Block, the Tribune and pretty much every other media outlet around town. Guerriero also raised the bar for those of us who want to one day propose to our significant other. Guerriero proposed to his girlfriend, photographer Cristina Rutter, Oct. 6 with an assist from the Puppet Bike. There wasn't much planning involved, either. "I just gave Puppet Bike a $10 bill and asked him to hold the ring," said Guerriero. "Rutter," Guerriero wrote on his Facebook page, "was almost too geeked to take a photo." "Right after she said yes, it felt like the sky was pink and confetti was falling—kinda like we won something big and important," Guerriero added. And if you don't believe in love, what's the point in living? |
SAN DIEGO – A group of San Diegans are outraged after building a tiny house for a homeless man only to have police arrest him for living in it. Lisa Kogan was among those who raised money to have the tiny home built. “What has really hit me in my heart is there's a need out here, there's a need for people to have shelter,” Kogan said. Kogan saw a YouTube video about a man in Los Angeles who was building tiny homes for homeless people. “I became inspired and I got my friends behind and donated money,” Kogan said. “We built it last month. It's a little house, it's moveable, it has wheels.” Kogan wanted someone deserving. She found him. “Red cleans up around here every day, Red's a good guy,” said Anthony Brown, who sleeps in a tent across the street from a church on 16th Street. Red, whose real name is Michael Clark, sleeps on the streets of downtown San Diego. He also works as a deacon at the International Love Ministries of God church, which helps the homeless downtown. On Saturday, Kogan gave Red his new tiny house. “So, Red's place ended up right here on the sidewalk, and so this is where he was sleeping when the police came,” Kogan said, pointing to a spot on the sidewalk. Brown saw police arrest Red Tuesday morning. “Had they written him a ticket and asked him to move the house he could have had plenty of help,” Brown said. “There was no discussion of a ticket. It was immediate handcuffs.” “They said, ‘Well, we are going to give him two hours to move it,’” Brown explained. “Five minutes later there was a tow truck here and they took the house away.” Police booked Red into the San Diego Jail for two misdemeanors, encroaching and lodging without consent. “I'm outraged. When I heard the news I cried and I was upset,” Kogan said. She still is. “If you look all around the street, there's tents, and I don't understand why he was singled out when his house was right here on the sidewalk. And you can look down the street and across the street and there's tents everywhere.” Kogan said. 10News emailed San Diego police for their response. A lieutenant responded that they will be looking into the matter. |
Dallas Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews (23) gets past Oklahoma City Thunder guard Andre Roberson (21) during the second quarter of game 5 of their series in the first round of NBA playoffs on Monday, April 25, 2016 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News) Wesley Matthews had moments this season. But he said he’s really looking forward to next season to show Maverick fans what he’s all about. “Obviously I didn’t shoot the ball as well as fans are probably accustomed to seeing me shoot the ball,” he said. “I mean, the hand I was dealt, different players, different system, coming back from an Achilles tear, everything was brand new. “I’m not asking for anybody to give me the benefit of the doubt, but I’m excited because everybody says the year after an Achilles tear is when you feel like a brand-new person. “So that sounds like a scary-ass person, to me.” |
Built-in security, compliance and privacy controls protect your corporate data. Separate corporate and personal data on the device while ensuring end-to-end encryption of data at-rest and in-transit with AES 256-bit encryption Securely send and receive digitally signed and/or encrypted email with support for S/MIME and reduce information loss and improve security awareness by tagging emails using email classification Trigger manual or automatic compliance actions to block or wipe enterprise data based on password policies, jailbreak/root detection, device compatibility, OS compatibility and other factors Enable seamless editing, opening and sharing of Office 365 files while respecting Microsoft InTune DLP policies through Workspace ONE® Send Provide compliance around mobile mail connections, allowing for refined policies and comprehensive visibility to managed and unmanaged connections through the AirWatch Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Enforce access control policies by preventing users from configuring accounts and monitor email traffic remotely from the admin console |
2d rendering on the GPU in rust. - lyon_tessellation - Path tessellation routines. - lyon_tessellation - Path tessellation routines. - lyon_path_builder - Tools to facilitate building paths. - lyon_path_builder - Tools to facilitate building paths. - lyon_path_iterator - Tools to facilitate iteratring over paths. - lyon_path_iterator - Tools to facilitate iteratring over paths. - lyon_path - A simple optional path data structure, provided for convenience. - lyon_path - A simple optional path data structure, provided for convenience. - lyon_bezier - Cubic and quadratic 2d bezier math. - lyon_bezier - Cubic and quadratic 2d bezier math. - lyon_extra - Additional testing and debugging tools. - lyon_extra - Additional testing and debugging tools. - lyon_core - Common types to most lyon crates. This crate is just a meta-crate, reexporting the crates listed above. very basic gfx-rs example. advanced gfx-rs example. There is some useful documentaion on the project's wiki. The source code is available on the project's git repository. Interested in contributing? Pull requests are welcome. If you would like to help but don't know what to do specifically, have a look at the github issues, some of which are tagged as easy. The lyon_tessellation crate provides a collection of tessellation routines for common shapes such as rectangles and circles. Let's have a look at how to obtain the fill tessellation a rectangle with rounded corners: extern crate lyon ; use lyon :: math :: rect ; use lyon :: tessellation :: VertexBuffers ; use lyon :: tessellation :: basic_shapes :: * ; use lyon :: tessellation :: geometry_builder :: simple_builder ; fn main () { let mut geometry = VertexBuffers :: new (); let tolerance = 0.1 ; fill_rounded_rectangle ( & rect ( 0.0 , 0.0 , 100.0 , 50.0 ), & BorderRadii { top_left : 10.0 , top_right : 5.0 , bottom_left : 20.0 , bottom_right : 25.0 , }, tolerance , & mut simple_builder ( & mut geometry ), ); println ! ( " -- {} vertices {} indices" , geometry . vertices . len (), geometry . indices . len () ); } extern crate lyon ; use lyon :: math :: point ; use lyon :: path :: Path ; use lyon :: path_builder :: * ; use lyon :: path_iterator :: PathIterator ; use lyon :: tessellation ::{ FillTessellator , FillOptions , VertexBuffers }; use lyon :: tessellation :: geometry_builder :: simple_builder ; fn main () { let mut builder = Path :: builder (); builder . move_to ( point ( 0.0 , 0.0 )); builder . line_to ( point ( 1.0 , 0.0 )); builder . quadratic_bezier_to ( point ( 2.0 , 0.0 ), point ( 2.0 , 1.0 )); builder . cubic_bezier_to ( point ( 1.0 , 1.0 ), point ( 0.0 , 1.0 ), point ( 0.0 , 0.0 )); builder . close (); let path = builder . build (); let mut geometry = VertexBuffers :: new (); let mut tessellator = FillTessellator :: new (); { let mut geom_builder = simple_builder ( & mut geometry ); let tolerance = 0.1 ; tessellator . tessellate_path ( path . path_iter (). flattened ( tolerance ), & FillOptions :: default (), & mut geom_builder ). unwrap (); } println ! ( " -- {} vertices {} indices" , geometry . vertices . len (), geometry . indices . len () ); } The tessellator operates on flattened paths (that only contains line segments) so we have to approximate the curves segments with sequences of line segments. To do so we pick a tolerance threshold which is the maximum distance allowed between the curve and its approximation. The documentation of the lyon_bezier crate provides more detailed explanations about this tolerance parameter. Lyon does not provide with any GPU abstraction or rendering backend (for now). It is up to the user of this crate to decide whether to use OpenGL, vulkan, gfx-rs, glium, or any low level graphics API and how to render it. The basic and advanced gfx-rs examples can be used to get an idea of how to render the geometry (in this case using gfx-rs). The meta-crate ( lyon ) mostly reexports the other lyon crates for convenience. extern crate lyon ; use lyon :: tessellation :: FillTessellator ; Is equivalent to: extern crate lyon_tessellation ; use lyon_tessellation :: FillTessellator ; The lyon_tessellation crate is the most interesting crate so is what most people using lyon are interested in. The tessellation algorithms don't depend on a specific data structure. Instead they work on iterators of path. When using the lyon_tessellation crate you'll almost always want to use the lyon_path_iterator crate as well. crate is the most interesting crate so is what most people using lyon are interested in. The tessellation algorithms don't depend on a specific data structure. Instead they work on iterators of path. When using the crate you'll almost always want to use the crate as well. The lyon_path_iterator crate contains a colletion of tools to chain iterators of path events. These adapters are very useful to convert an iterator of SVG events (which contains various types of curves in relative and absolute coordinates) into iterator of simpler path events (every thing in absolute coordinates) all the way to flattened events (only line segments in absolute corrdinates). crate contains a colletion of tools to chain iterators of path events. These adapters are very useful to convert an iterator of SVG events (which contains various types of curves in relative and absolute coordinates) into iterator of simpler path events (every thing in absolute coordinates) all the way to flattened events (only line segments in absolute corrdinates). The lyon_path crate is completely optional. It contains a path data structure which work with the lyon_path_iterator (and thus works with lyon_tessellation ) and lyon_path_builder crates. Various examples use it but anyone can implement a custom path data structure that works with the tessellators as long as it provides an iterator of path events. crate is completely optional. It contains a path data structure which work with the (and thus works with ) and crates. Various examples use it but anyone can implement a custom path data structure that works with the tessellators as long as it provides an iterator of path events. The lyon_path_builder crate is also optional, but provide useful abstractions to build path objects from sequences of function calls like move_to , cubic_bezier_to , etc. Just like lyon_path_iterator this crate provides adapters between the different types of path events, making it easy to use the full set of SVG events to build a path object that does not actually support all of them by converting events to lower level primitives on the fly. crate is also optional, but provide useful abstractions to build path objects from sequences of function calls like , , etc. Just like this crate provides adapters between the different types of path events, making it easy to use the full set of SVG events to build a path object that does not actually support all of them by converting events to lower level primitives on the fly. The lyon_bezier crate is really standalone as it does not depend on any other lyon_* crate. It implements useful quadratic and cubic bezier curve math, including the flattening algorithm that is used by lyon_path_iterator and lyon_path_builder . crate is really standalone as it does not depend on any other crate. It implements useful quadratic and cubic bezier curve math, including the flattening algorithm that is used by and . The lyon_svg crate contains utilities to interface with SVG. At the moment it is mostly a collection of wrappers around the excellent svgparser crate. crate contains utilities to interface with SVG. At the moment it is mostly a collection of wrappers around the excellent crate. The lyon_core crate contains internal details that are useful to all other lyon crates (except lyon_bezier ). It is reexported by all crates and you should not have to interact directly with it. |
Viewers are tuning in for Stargate Universe ... but the time slot? They don't like it so much. Viewers are tuning in for Stargate Universe … but the time slot? They don’t like it so much. SGU ranked #5 in Nielsen’s list of the shows which gain the most from DVR (as a percentage of their premiere night audience), according to TV By the Numbers. The third Stargate series has been picking up an average of 46.9 percent more viewers in the seven days after the Friday night broadcast, thanks to time-shifted viewing. The show is averaging 2.6 million viewers so far, when the DVR boost is factored in. Leading the pack for 2009 is Syfy’s Battlestar Galactica, which saw a 59.4 percent increase in viewership due to DVR time-shifting. Four shows increased their audience by more than 50 percent, and six of the top 10 are in the sci-fi / fantasy genre (BSG, SGU, True Blood, Sanctuary, Heroes, and Terminator). These numbers, of course, don’t account for those watching the show on Hulu, iTunes, Amazon.com and other (less savory) means. Friday night has been the standard for the Stargate franchise since SG-1 bowed on Showtime in 1997, and on Syfy in 2002. Though it is one of the least-watched nights of the week for television, Fridays have proven stable for genre programs … at least on cable. When Syfy briefly tried moving Battlestar to Sunday nights, its numbers sank. Syfy’s highest rated original dramas, though, don’t air on Friday nights at all. The summer series Warehouse 13 and Eureka have aired on Tuesdays — though during the summer, when competition from the major broadcast networks is lower. Check out the full chart at TV By the Numbers. Stargate Universe returns to Syfy in April. |
Junior welterweights Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios and Mike Alvarado violently pounded each other with abandon in October, leaving each other bruised and battered in one of the most helacious fights in recent years. Now they are going to do it again, promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com on Wednesday. Arum said he finalized the rematch on Tuesday night. It will take place March 30 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and headline an HBO broadcast. "We got it done," Arum said. "We had to make the money work with HBO and (Tuesday) night it fell into place." The fight will come five months after Rios stopped Alvarado in the seventh round of their thriller at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The first fight, an HBO undercard bout to the Nonito Donaire-Toshiaki Nishioka junior featherweight main event title fight, was a scheduled 10-round nontitle bout. The rematch, however, will be a 12-rounder for a vacant interim junior welterweight world title. The first fight featured non-stop back-and-forth action, including in the unforgettable fifth round, until referee Pat Russell stepped in to stop it in the seventh round after Rios badly staggered Alvarado and had him defenseless on the ropes. At the time of the stoppage, two judges had the fight 57-57 while Rios led 58-56 on the third scorecard. "I am ready for this fight again," an excited Rios told ESPN.com. "The first fight was awesome. We traded big punches and we landed big shots. This fight will be similar but I know better how to fight him now. I've been watching our fight over and over and over. I have a feeling that in this fight he will come back and try to outbox me from the outside. But I am ready for anything he brings, A to Z." Rios said his name for the fight is "World War II." "If he comes to fight me like he did the first time, this fight could be just like the first fight again," Rios said. "We're both hungry and we both possess power." Some thought Russell's stoppage was a tad premature. Alvarado and his team certainly did. Rios said he wants to make sure there is no doubt this time. "I think I'm going to knock him out again and I don't want the referee to stop it and have Alvarado saying the referee stopped it too soon," Rios said. "I want a 10-count knockout. I want the 10 count." Even before the first fight, many were picking it as a can't-miss action fight and possible fight of the year. It lived up to all of the pre-fight hype. Now, expectations for the rematch will also be sky high. "I think it's going to the be the same thing, like crazy," Arum said. "It was like watching a football game where this team is going to win and then you think the other team is going to win. The ebb and flow was so dramatic. Until Rios stopped Alvarado, I had it going back and forth for both of them. It was an amazing kind of fight because of the ebb and flow. "This rematch won't be any different. That's how these two guys fight. The fans are in for a great treat." Said Top Rank's Carl Moretti: "We think this is round eight, just a continuation of the first fight, which was the fight of the year (to many). I don't know what's going to change." Rios was the likely next opponent for Manny Pacquiao this spring, but that was before Pacquiao got knocked out cold in the sixth round by Juan Manuel Marquez in December. With the fight down the drain, Top Rank and HBO began working on Rios-Alvarado II. Rios (31-0-1, 23 KOs), 26, of Oxnard, Calif., said, of course, he would have liked to fight Pacquiao, a fight worth millions more to him than Alvarado. But he also said he wanted to fight Alvarado (33-1, 23 KOs), 32, of Denver, again. Even before it was made, Rios said he's been watching their fight repeatedly, and not just for scouting purposes. "I loved the fight," Rios said. "I'm a fan and I love that fight. I watch it over and over like a fan every day. I couldn't believe I took some of those big shots and that he took the big shots I gave him. The fans, of course, they know I always fight my heart out for them." Although the fight is for an interim belt, it very well could be for the full title by fight time. Marquez holds the WBO version of the 140-pound title, but has not defended it and fought Pacquiao at welterweight. Marquez's next fight is likely to be a fifth fight with Pacquiao, also at welterweight. "Marquez will eventually be vacating (the title)," Arum said. "He could vacate by the time the (Rios-Alvarado) fight happens. It's up to him but I will talk to him before March 30." Rios, a former lightweight titleholder, said that having a title, even an interim version, on the line gives him more motivation for the rematch. "I want to become a world champion in two weight classes," Rios said. "So I know I'm more pumped up and even more focused having this belt (on the line). We'll be ready and I'm pretty sure he will be ready. I know he will come prepared. He will have a lot to prove because he wants that revenge and that title. I want that title. We both have something to prove and we'll both train our asses off." Alvarado was not available for comment because he was in a training session. Arum said a formal news conference is being planned to announce Rios-Alvarado II on Wednesday in Los Angeles. As excited as most fight fans will be about the fight – and as much as the fighters wanted it – Cameron Dunkin, Rios' manager did not want the fight. "It's a fight that I didn't want and I'll say it again on the record," Dunkin said. "I didn't want the first one either and when everyone started giving me credit for it, I said I didn't want it. I know how hard this fight is. I know how rough this fight is. "You know how rematches are -- just because a guy wins the first one does not mean you win the second one. When the rematch came up, I talked to (Rios trainer) Robert (Garcia) and told him to make sure that Brandon knows this is going to be tougher than the first one and Robert said he already talked to Brandon about it and Brandon said he knew it was a tough fight and that he wouldn't take it lightly just because he won the first fight. This is the fight Brandon wants. He wants to leave no doubt in anyone's mind because some people were saying it was a quick stoppage. He said, 'No excuses this time. I'll do it again.'" |
mr. RAY writes the official song of his adopted hometown, Highland Park NJ! Here's a proclamation given to him in a formal ceremony by Mayor Gayle Britt-Mittler on March 26, 2017. Click picture to check out the lyric song video! This is my NO ROOM FOR BULLIES project...please have a look. Thank you! Did a radio interview 2-16-16 on FOX NEWS RADIO in NYC with my pal, Tommy Byrne, regarding my NO ROOM FOR BULLIES project. You can listen to it by clicking on the pic below.... They even put up some of my anti-bullying video links...so cool! :::: mrRAY.net :::: mrRAY.tv ::::: KindieMusic.com ::::: :: ::: ::: :: ::: KidsMusicThatRocks.com :: ::: ::: :: ::: mr. RAY P L A Y S and is endorsed by : TAKAMINE Acoustic Guitars JOHN PEARSE Strings all rights reserved. all content including songs & characters are © and ™ of mr. RAY Family Entertainment, a division of mr. RAY KidWonders, LLC. the name "mr. RAY" ® is a registered trademark. |
An evil drow-elf is displaced by Hurricane Katrina. A sanitation worker lures friends into a Sphere of Annihilation. A failed supervillain starts a cable access show involving ninjas, puppets, and a cooking segment. These are the characters, real and imagined, of The Dungeon Masters: Against the backdrop of crumbling middle-class America, two men and one woman devote their lives to Dungeons and Dragons, the storied role-playing game, and its various descendants. As their baroque fantasies clash with mundane real lives, the characters find it increasingly difficult to allay their fear, loneliness, and disappointment with the game's imaginary triumphs. Soon the true heroic act of each character's real life emerges, and the film follows each as he or she summons the courage to face it. Along the way, The Dungeon Masters reimagines the tropes of classic heroic cinema, creating an intimate portrait of minor struggles and triumphs writ large. Written by Antidote Films |
Michael Roark was 19, his girlfriend Tiffany York 17, when they were shot in the head, twice, on Dec. 4, 2011, in Georgia. Both from military families, they had been dating just three months, but Roark's father Brett told AP that the two were "truly in love." York's father, on the other hand, didn't favor the romance. A photo his daughter had sent — the couple at the shooting range, standing by a table with 15 rifles and handguns — disturbed him, he told a reporter. He wanted her to break it off. York had plane ticket bound for California, to join family there and go into nursing. In her final days, she too had reservations, wondering aloud about her boyfriend's ready cash. (She was told, reports say, that Roark and his friends earned their money working in a "business that placed holds on credit cards.") Roark was "broken-hearted and disappointed," his father said — but not over York. The private had just left the Army, disillusioned after less than two "with what he found at Fort Stewart." Less than a week after Roark left the Army, he and York were murdered, allegedly to hide four fellow soldiers' burgeoning militia plot to kill Americans. There has been no trial yet, but plenty of details -- alternately horrifying and bizarre -- emerged in hearings overshadowed by political conventions. According to one suspect's statement, plans for homegrown terrorism included: bombing a Washington dam poisoning the apple fields bombing Forsyth Park fountain in Savannah overthrowing Fort Stewart, their base blowing up a downtown Savannah fountain assassinate the president [Related: Soldiers turned terrorists face death penalty] Domestic terrorism The plot confirms what some experts fear: the rise of extremism. Overall, fatal attacks of domestic terrorism is at a four-decade low, according to the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. Those numbers however exclude other acts of violence, from arson and bombings to attempted murder. The Georgia case comes after government and private monitoring groups have reported a marked rise in hate groups, especially in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and the Deep South. Since the beginning of the Obama administration, hate groups have grown 755 percent, according to the Southern Law Poverty Center. Besides the recession, antagonism over a black Democratic president has been cited for its rise: A known neo-Nazi Web forum, which had amassed 90,000 users over 12 years, saw an increase of 5,000 sign-ups the day after the 2008 election. By April 2009, membership had nearly doubled to 160,000. In 2009, a Homeland Security report warned of increasing violence among white supremacists and violent anti-government groups, reminiscent of the 1990s — which peaked with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, a domestic plot carried out by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols that injured nearly 700 and killed 168 people. The current economic and political climate has some similarities to the 1990s when rightwing extremism experienced a resurgence fueled largely by an economic recession, criticism about the outsourcing of jobs, and the perceived threat to U.S. power and sovereignty by other foreign powers. (April 9, 2009, Department of Homeland Security) "The history of these [extremist] groups is that they do a lot of small-scale attacks," says Daryl Johnson, the former lead DHL analyst under the Bush and Obama administrations who authored the 2009 report. That threat may be further underestimated by how they are classified. The Arizona massacre-suicide by neo-Nazi J.T. Ready, who killed his girlfriend and her family, has been reported as domestic violence, although Ready had been under an FBI criminal domestic terrorism investigation. "The number of attacks have increased since 2008, and is on par with the '90s." |
European governments have pushed through by majority vote a divisive deal to share 120,000 refugees after clashing over whether the quotas would be imposed on reluctant countries or left to be accepted on a voluntary basis. Interior ministers met in Brussels for the second time in a week on Tuesday, aware that failure to agree a system of sharing would carry a very high price in the face of Europe‘s biggest ever refugee crisis. In a highly unusual move because of the lack of consensus, the decision to share 120,000 refugees was put to a vote which the supporters of quotas easily won but which will feed central European resentment of what they perceive as western - and especially German - bullying. The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania voted against the decision to impose quotas, but Poland peeled off from its central European allies and voted Yes with the majority. ‘Decisive manner’ Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said she had stressed at the meeting the need to show the world that the EU can act in “a swift and decisive manner” on an issue of such importance as the refugee crisis. “Unfortunately it was not possible to achieve a consensus but the vast majority of member states were in favour of the measure and it has been adopted by a majority vote,” she said. “EU Member States have shown that at a time of great difficulty, they retain the capacity to act.” The Minister said that, while the relocation measures would make a real contribution towards addressing the crisis in Europe, a set of wider solutions needed to be advanced. A summit of EU leaders on migration is being held on Wednesday in Brussels at the behest of Angela Merkel, the german chancellor. The leaders did not want their summit to be hijacked by an unseemly squabble over quotas and ordered the interior ministers to strike a deal. The vote alienated the opponents on a highly sensitive issue and split Europe into those who decide and those who have to accept. Of the 120,000, the nine countries of central and eastern Europe are being asked to take only around 15,000, with Germany and France between them allotted double that. The resettlement figures are small compared to the hundreds of thousands making their way to Europe from the Middle East. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast on Tuesday that the numbers entering the EU this year would exceed 1 million, with more than 400,000 staying long-term in the end. But the issue of the 120,000 became a signature contest because, along with a previous agreement to share another 40,000, it was the first time that an attempt had been made to agree refugee quotas across the EU. Theresa May, the UK home secretary, declared that “we need, as Europe, to get on with the job“, while simultaneously disengaging from any common endeavour. “The UK will not be participating in the [refugee-sharing] scheme.” Legal exemption Uniquely in the EU, Britain has refused to take part in the resettlement of the 120,000 and has a legal exemption from having to take part. The other two countries with similar optouts, Ireland and Denmark, are participating. A little more than half are to be moved to the rest of the EU from Greece and Italy. The remaining 54,000, initially planned to relieve Hungary, whose government takes the hardest anti-immigration line in the EU and refuses to accept the help, will be reserved for other needy countries on the Balkan migratory route, such as Croatia and Slovenia. If the 54,000 are not resettled within 18 months, more refugees can be moved from Greece and Italy. EU governments have been battling over the policy since May as the numbers arriving have risen drastically, resulting in Hungary building razorwire fences on its southern borders and passing laws this week authorising the army to use tear gas and rubber bullets against migrants. It is engaged in a war of words with Germany, Croatia, Romania, Austria, and the European commission. Germany unilaterally opened its doors to Syrians last month, before rowing back and reasserting national border controls in the middle of Europe‘s free-travel Schengen area. On Tuesday German rail announced it was halting train traffic to Austria and Hungary until 4 October. Apart from the fight over quotas, much of Tuesday‘s negotiations focused on how to keep refugees and migrants out through quicker deportation procedures, the faster screening and fingerprinting of people arriving on the EU‘s southern borders, and helping neighbouring countries in the Balkans and the Middle East, notably Turkey, to stop people heading for the EU. Guardian |
The Porter/Duff Over operator, also known as the “Normal” blend mode in Photoshop, computes the amount of light that is reflected when a pixel partially covers another: The fraction of bg that is covered is denoted alpha. This operator is the correct one to use when the foreground image is an opaque mask that partially covers the background: A photon that hits this image will be reflected back to your eyes by either the foreground or the background, but not both. For each foreground pixel, the alpha value tells us the probability of each: $a \cdot \text{fg} + (1 - a) \cdot \text{bg}$ This is the definition of the Porter/Duff Over operator for non-premultiplied pixels. But if alpha is interpreted as translucency, then the Over operator is not the correct one to use. The Over operator will act as if each pixel is partially covering the background: Which is not how translucency works. A translucent material reflects some light and lets other light through. The light that is let through is reflected by the background and interacts with the foreground again. Let’s look at this in more detail. Please follow along in the diagram to the right. First with probability $a$ , the photon is reflected back towards the viewer: $a \cdot \text{fg}$ With probability $(1 - a)$ , it passes through the foreground, hits the background, and is reflected back out. The photon now hits the backside of the foreground pixel. With probability $(1 - a)$ , the foreground pixel lets the photon back out to the viewer. The result so far: $ \begin{align*} &a\cdot \text{fg} \\ +&(1 - a) \cdot \text{bg} \cdot (1 - a) \end{align*} $ But we are not done yet, because with probability $a$ the foreground pixel reflects the photon once again back towards the background pixel. There it will be reflected, hit the backside of the foreground pixel again, which lets it through to our eyes with probability $(1 - a)$ . We get another term where the final $(1 - a)$ is replaced with $a \cdot \text{fg} \cdot \text {bg} \cdot (1 - a)$ : $ \begin{align*} &a\cdot \text{fg} \\ +&(1 - a) \cdot \text{bg} \cdot (1 - a)\\ +&(1 - a) \cdot \text{bg} \cdot a \cdot \text{fg} \cdot \text{bg} \cdot (1 - a) \end{align*} $ And so on. In each round, we gain another term which is identical to the previous one, except that it has an additional $a \cdot \text{fg} \cdot \text{bg}$ factor: $ \begin{align*} &a\cdot \text{fg} \\ +&(1 - a) \cdot \text{bg} \cdot (1 - a)\\ +&(1 - a) \cdot \text{bg} \cdot a \cdot \text{fg} \cdot \text{bg} \cdot (1 - a)\\ +&(1 - a) \cdot \text{bg} \cdot a \cdot \text{fg} \cdot \text{bg} \cdot a \cdot \text{fg} \cdot \text{bg} \cdot (1 - a) \\ +&\cdots \end{align*} $ or more compactly: $\displaystyle a \cdot \text{fg} + (1 - a)^2 \cdot \text{bg} \cdot \sum_{i=0}^\infty (a \cdot \text{fg} \cdot \text{bg})^i $ Because we are dealing with pixels, both $a$ , $\text{fg}$ , and $\text{bg}$ are less than 1, so the sum is a geometric series: $\displaystyle \sum_{i=0}^\infty x^i = \frac{1}{1 - x} $ Putting them together, we get: $\displaystyle a \cdot \text{fg} + \frac{(1 - a)^2 \cdot bg}{1 - a \cdot \text{fg} \cdot \text{bg}} $ I have sidestepped the issue of premultiplication by assuming that background alpha is 1. The calculations with premultipled colors are similar, and for the color components, the result is simply: $\displaystyle r = \text{fg} + \frac{(1 - a_\text{fg})^2 \cdot \text{bg}}{1 - \text{fg}\cdot\text{bg}} $ The issue of destination alpha is more complicated. With the Over operator, both foreground and background are opaque masks, so the light that survives both has the same color as the input light. With translucency, the transmitted light has a different color, which means the resulting alpha value must in principle be different for each color component. But that’s not possible for ARGB pixels. A similar argument to the above shows that the resulting alpha value would be: $\displaystyle r = 1 - \frac{(1 - a)\cdot (1 - b)}{1 - \text{fg} \cdot \text{bg}} $ where $b$ is the background alpha. The problem is the dependency on $\text{fg}$ and $\text{bg}$ . If we simply assume for the purposes of the alpha computation that $\text{fg}$ and $\text{bg}$ are equal to $a$ and $b$ , we get this: $\displaystyle r = 1 - \frac{(1 - a)\cdot (1 - b)}{1 - a \cdot b} $ which is equal to $\displaystyle a + \frac{(1 - a)^2 \cdot b}{1 - a \cdot b} $ Ie., exactly the same computation as the one for the color channels. So we can define the Translucency Operator as this: $\displaystyle r = \text{fg} + \frac{(1 - a)^2 \cdot \text{bg}}{1 - \text{fg} \cdot \text{bg}} $ for all four channels. Here is an example of what the operator looks like. The image below is what you will get if you use the Over operator to implement a selection rectangle. Mouse over to see what it would look like if you used the Translucency operator. Both were computed in linear RGB. Typical implementations will often compute the Over operator in sRGB, so that’s what see if you actually select some icons in Nautilus. If you want to compare all three, open these in tabs: And for good measure, even though it makes zero sense to do this, |
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Thanks in part to heroines like Katniss in “The Hunger Games,” a new trend for girls has emerged — the “tough girl” toy. Move over Barbie. There’s a new gal on the shelves. “I love Katniss’ flare, and how she’s always been kind of the, not the one to mess with,” 12-year-old Jill Calderon told CBS2’s Alice Gainer on Friday, the day the third film in the popular Hunger Games franchise hit the big screen. Calderon and her friends even have a Hunger Games club where they act out battle scenes. Toy companies like Hasbro have capitalized on the rise in the popularity of the female warrior. After two years of research that included the help of 1,200 girls, Hasbro launched their Nerf Rebelle line of pink and purple bows and blasters last fall. “When you look at the typical toy aisle for boys you see a lot of variety options from action figures to construction. No one seemed to be offering this opportunity for girls to play actively,” Hasbro’s chief marketing officer, John Frascotti, told Gainer. Sales of the company’s girl-geared toys grew by 26 percent — and reached $1 billion in revenue for the first time in Hasbro’s history. Shannon Eis is a toy and play expert. “We’re seeing a fundamental, cultural shift in the way girls want to be perceived and how they’re going to act that out through play. They’re ready to be the hero,” Eis said. And these days you can find plenty of toy stores that don’t separate between girls and boys aisles anymore, Gainer reported. “They’re buying games and we even direct them to science kits for girls because that’s really important,” West Side Kids owner Jennifer Bergman said. At West Side Kids, Gainer found two little girls playing with blocks. “A lot of construction toys – Legos, blocks, tiles … anything they can build,” mother Samara Minkin said. Minkin said the new trend in girls’ toys is great. “I love all that. We just bought them an archery set for the holidays,” she said. That’s not to say the store doesn’t also sell dolls, too. “I actually have brought Barbie in for the first time in a really long time, but more of the working mom Barbie as opposed to the little sexier Barbie,” Bergman said. Whatever your little girl prefers, there’s more options than ever before. Despite this new trend, many critics say girls get mixed messages, because stores still market the toys in the so-called “pink aisles,” Gainer reported. You May Also Be Interested In These Stories |
politics John Tory Goes Full Ford in his Gardiner Expressway Speech We fact-checked John Tory's claims and arguments about the east Gardiner in his speech to the Empire Club. On Monday, Mayor John Tory took to the Empire Club to pitch a rebuild of the Gardiner east of Jarvis as is, with an additional off-ramp. The event, co-sponsored by CAA, which has been lobbying on the issue, was part of Tory’s public-relations blitz to build support for what will be a close council vote on an issue that will cost up to $919 million. But some of his facts and arguments do not add up. Some claims were disingenuous, and others were outright false. We went through the speech to separate fact from fiction in advance of tomorrow’s council session, where the issue will be debated; those familiar with our fact-checks will recognize that Tory’s mendacity in this speech was greater than any we have checked since Rob Ford’s 2014 speech to the Economic Club—not a mark to which one should aspire. We have divided false and questionable claims into two categories: straight-up falsehoods in red , and statements that are not quite as straightforward, but may be disingenuous or questionable, are in orange . Line by line, here’s how John Tory’s east Gardiner speech aligns with reality. This week, one name looms large above us—Gardiner. A towering giant, a true citybuilder, his stamp is felt throughout Toronto. From the Don Valley Parkway to the Bloor/Danforth subway line, and of course: the Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway. Built over 10 years starting in the mid-’50s, at the time it was built the Gardiner threaded its way through fields and parking lots. It was to be, as “Big Daddy” Gardiner predicted, a critical piece of infrastructure for a growing city. Even then it was a tough sell. He had to convince Council to build it in sections. Hilariously, they built both the east and western portions first, making the controversial downtown portion inevitable.1 At the time, when urging council to make the decision to put shovels in the ground, Gardiner threatened his fellow councillors that they could go no longer without a decision because “the whole east end of the city will be on our shoulders like three tons of bricks.”2 1 This isn’t accurate. Council always planned to build an expressway, and indeed the original plan was for an expressway from the Humber River to Woodbine Avenue; the expressway was planned when the “outer portions” were built, but those portions (which eventually became the Queensway extension and the Lakeshore East extension to Woodbine) were never actually part of the Gardiner, which should be fairly obvious considering the Gardiner never connected to either of them. The road we all think of as “the Gardiner” was built in stages, west to east, and its route changed mid-construction several times. 2 Frederick Gardiner actually said this about the construction of the Don Valley Parkway, not the Gardiner. It’s amazing how some things never change. While he felt expressways were critical, Gardiner also saw the importance of building transit. At the very first meeting of Metro Council in 1956,3 , Gardiner stated, “It is a snare and a delusion to spend millions on expressways in the belief that they alone will solve traffic problems.” 3 To be clear: that was the first 1956 meeting of Metro Council, not the first meeting ever, since Metro Council was founded in 1954. (Incidentally, we feel we should mention that judging by the wording of Tory’s speech here, it appears likely that his speechwriter simply borrowed liberally—and uncarefully—from Frederick Gardiner’s Wikipedia page.) I couldn’t agree more—because in a growing city like Toronto, then or now, it’s not one or the other. It’s both. Yes, we need transit—much, much more transit. We need SmartTrack4 and the waterfront LRT and the Downtown Relief Line. We need it all. To me, those saying it’s a choice between better roadways or more transit simply don’t get it. Great cities have both.5 4 As Torontoist contributor and transit advocate Steve Munro has discussed in detail, the need for SmartTrack is, at best, extremely debatable—and at worst it is a white elephant of a transit proposal. 5 Nobody is opposed to having more and better transit and superior roadways. The issue is entirely one of cost. As has become depressing usual for John Tory’s mayoralty, he is cheerfully ignoring the fact that transit and roadwork both cost a large amount of money and the city does not, in fact, have that money. Really, John Tory’s position is not that we should have “both” transit and expressways, but in fact that we should have new transit and rebuilt expressways and no property tax increases beyond the rate of inflation and a two-percent reduction of expenses in every department at City Hall, including the TTC and the roads department. It is perhaps charitable to call this a fantasy. Of course, we have gone into considerable detail in the past, repeatedly, as to how John Tory’s numbers do not add up. A political reality is that there are always scarce resources, and we must prioritize accordingly. John Tory has prioritized rebuilding an underused expressway along the waterfront; he should be judged on that. Unfortunately, we haven’t kept up with Gardiner’s efforts to build transit and infrastructure for the city we are today, and more importantly, the city we will become. We are a great city, but today we are playing catch-up. Our roadways and our transit system are overburdened, overcrowded, and overrun. We are one of the most congested cities in North America. It costs our citizens countless hours of their time. It costs our economy billions annually, and that means jobs. And when I talk about the negative effect on business and our economy, when I say it will cost us jobs this is not a myth. Take, for example, the Ontario Food Terminal—it’s the hub where most of the city’s fresh produce and food is distributed and is located on the waterfront.6 They have said removing the Gardiner East would seriously impede their ability to deliver food. That means they don’t know if they’ll be able to deliver food to restaurants, to grocery stores as they have in the past.7 That’s food on your table at home. That’s what I mean when I say that the consequences are real, and they are far-reaching. That is how critical this decision is before us. 6 The Ontario Food Terminal is about a kilometre and change from the waterfront. If it’s “on the waterfront,” so is a significant portion of King Street. 7 Tory here is strongly implying that if we do not commit to the hybrid option, food delivery will be impacted to the point where actual delivery of the food will be uncertain. This is fear-mongering hyperbole unbecoming of his office. It’s also about time, time better spent at home with their families. Time they cannot get back, because time is not a commodity. It cannot be bought. And I refuse to take any more time from the people of this city. They are giving up enough already. And to me that’s what this is really about. All through the election campaign and in the six months since I became mayor, it’s the number one thing I hear from people—that people are sick and tired of having their time taken from them while stuck in traffic or stuck on a subway platform. We have to do better. We have to take actions as a council that will make life better for our residents. This week we are faced with a decision on what to do with a 1.7-kilometre stretch of the eastern Gardiner. Now, let me be clear: the rest of the Gardiner will remain, over 90 per cent of the roadway to be fixed up but left in place. In fact, most of the western Gardiner has been surrounded by condos and development. The Gardiner we know today threads its way next to condos and office towers. We have steadily grown up around it as a city, and that trend is set to continue. But when it comes to the future of this small eastern portion, which makes up the critical connection between the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner, we have three options. We can maintain the Gardiner as is, repairing it to ensure it remains safe for drivers and pedestrians walking nearby. Option two: We can tear it down and replace it with an eight-lane roadway at street level. And finally, option three is the hybrid approach, which would remove a section of the expressway and open up lands to the east of the Gardiner, but also—and this is critically important—it will maintain a continuous connection with the Don Valley Parkway. During the election campaign I favoured the hybrid option.8 So did Mr. Ford9 and Ms. Chow.10 So did David Soknacki.11 Why? Because not only was it the right thing to do for the city, it was what the people wanted. And let’s be clear, it is also what the people voted for. Which is why I, and a number of my council colleagues, will be voting for that same option later this week. 8 Tory has been spouting this line for weeks and it has been an outright lie. The “hybrid option” discussed during the campaign was akin to what is pictured in this article—it freed up significant city-owned property for development. However, that hybrid option proved to be impossible to actually build in real life because the curve of the rampway connecting the Gardiner to the DVP was too acute. The current “hybrid option” that Team Tory is pushing essentially maintains the Gardiner as-is, but creates new ramps to handle the Don River’s mouth being re-naturalized. 9 Rob Ford (and Doug) favoured preserving the Gardiner as-is during the 2014 campaign. Tory should be aware of this considering that Rob recently insisted he will refuse to vote for the hybrid option. (Rob Ford is nothing if not consistent in his advocacy for terrible ideas.) 10 Olivia Chow favoured the “original” hybrid option during the 2014 campaign, not Tory’s revamped version. 11 David Soknacki favoured the “original” hybrid option during the 2014 campaign, not Tory’s revamped version. But to me the real question is: Are we willing to do something we know will make congestion worse12 , that will continue to cost our economy and productivity and cost us jobs13 ? Are we really willing to take more time from the people of this city? For too long, we have approved office towers and condos without properly considering the impact on our transit system and our roadways. We are making up for some of those bad decisions and bad planning, but what we absolutely can’t do is make one more bad decision and tear down the Gardiner East. That would essentially be saying “your time really isn’t that important to us. Too bad. You’re out of luck.” I have to say I shake my head when I hear the argument, “It’s only 10 minutes more. It’s not that bad.”14 Tell that to a parent who is panicked and rushing home from work to pick their child up from daycare. Tell that to a worker who will not make their delivery on time. Tell that to the commuter who already spends an hour or more every day in their car. 12 To clarify, every option will see increased travel times, in part because the city is projected to grow. The so-called hybrid option will see travel times increase less than removal. 13 According to the City staff report [PDF] and the medical officer of health, the removal option is better for the economy, and would create more jobs. Removal would create 2,800 jobs, while Tory’s preferred option would create 770. In fact, maintaining the current course would create 430 more jobs, because the off-ramps from Cherry Street cut off potential employment lands. 14 Tory’s repeated use of the “10 minutes” figure cherry-picks one statistic from a U of T report commissioned by pro-hybrid lobbyists. The 10-minute figure refers to the delay that someone would undergo traveling from Park Lawn to the DVP during rush hour—almost the entirety of the downtown Gardiner, and not coincidentally a route that very, very few motorists take on a regular basis—and even then, assumes that the “boulevard” option would not have a centre island and that pedestrians would be able to cross in one traffic light. If there is a centre island and pedestrians need two lights to cross, the delay drops to 4.5 minutes, according to the study Tory cites. Further to the study, the authors were “not aware of the specific data or configurations being considered by the City—nor was that factored into the study.” In other words, what they studied does not have the same parameters, information or assumptions as the plans council will vote on. The fact is, those who say that we can tear down the Gardiner East and that the traffic will sort itself out: they’re dreaming15 . Worse, they are not being straightforward. We can’t sever the link between the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner16 —a critical link in our city’s transportation grid—and not dramatically affect the quality of life for people in this city. 15 Tory is referring to “disappearing traffic” here, an observable phenomenon that has been extensively studied and peer-reviewed in cities around the world [PDF]. To ignore such a significant body of evidence in favour of one’s own assumptions suggests it is not John Tory’s critics who are dreaming. 16 The remove option does not prevent drivers from driving from the Gardiner end at Jarvis to the DVP on-ramps near Cherry Street. There is simply no link being “severed.” Not just drivers either. The traffic has to go somewhere. It won’t just vanish. So where will it go? Arterial streets. Key east-west arteries for sure, but it will also go to residential streets as well. So imagine your street, the street in front of your house or your apartment building, suddenly inheriting traffic which used to bypass these areas using a Parkway-Gardiner connection. Trucks rumbling down the street where your kids play.17 After all, the concrete and the building materials we’ll need to revitalize and rebuild the waterfront have to get their somehow. 17 Tory is being shockingly dishonest here. Trucks are not going to start traveling down residential roads to get to commercial destinations; even if Tory’s claims of an additional 10 minutes were in any way honest or in good faith—and they aren’t—it still makes more sense for the trucks to stay on the Gardiner in the traffic than try to start traveling on residential roads. Additionally, there are specific trucking routes throughout the city which exclude certain areas, like residential communities. Tory and his team would be more familiar with this if they had more experience at city hall. To really show you what this means I want to read you an email I got before the Gardiner debate even began, when we announced that we would be opening lanes on the Expressway’s western deck almost two months early: Yesterday my commute went from 45 to 60 minutes back down to under 20 minutes. I don’t think I realized just how stressful it had become until I found myself singing “it’s open, it’s open, it’s open” with tears in my eyes as I sailed down the Gardiner at 80 kilometres per hour yesterday morning. Thank you for getting it done early. As an adult I get to spend an extra half hour with my daughter this morning and every morning after that. These things make a difference in people’s lives. That’s just one. I could read you emails like that all day. And again, that’s what this has to be about, at least in part: helping people get to work on time, giving them more time with the kids, with their families, their friends18 . A great city is where you have the time to enjoy all of the great features; the waterfront, the museums, the restaurants and festivals. It’s not one plagued with endless traffic delays, congestion and gridlock. That is not the city I was elected to build. 18 While Tory and his supporters often cite the debunked 10-minute number, the difference in peak hour between the so-called hybrid and the boulevard option is two to three minutes, according to the City study. But the average difference in time across all trips along the section is only 52 seconds, as off-peak differences are more negligible. So when we conjure these images of supermoms and superdads racing home to hug their children, that’s the amount of time we’re talking about. Now to say the debate on this issue has been vigorous would be an understatement. But there has also been a lot of misinformation out there which is why I also want to talk to you a bit about the arguments being presented. First, let’s tackle cost and why I believe the hybrid is the fiscally responsible choice. There have been a lot of numbers floating out there about all three options. But if we want to get a real sense of the cost we should look at how much money the city would need in the bank today19 to build any of these three options. 19 Well, no, not really. It’s easier to work with everything in 2015 dollars (or 2013 dollars, in the case of the City study) because that provides us with an easy base from which to add and subtract, but ongoing maintenance expenses/costs of congestion/lost development/what have you will be expressed in future dollars, whose value we do not know but which will likely be lower as time progresses (assuming inflation continues to some degree). That breaks down as follows: $336 million for the hybrid, $240 million to remove the Gardiner East, or $291 million to maintain it as is. The difference between the hybrid and remove options is $96 million. But what keeps getting lost is that none of these projections include the cost of congestion. Both the Toronto Board of Trade and City staff agree that removing the Gardiner East would cost our economy at least $37 million per year due to increased congestion and lost productivity. So, in effect, three years after we remove the Gardiner, the difference between price between remove and hybrid is essentially a wash.20 And after that it would actually cost this city money and jobs, year after year after year. 20 Firstly, Tory isn’t accounting for the cost of maintenance, and the remove option is cheaper to maintain than the hybrid option—$505 million versus $135 million. Which is $370 million, so really, even if John Tory’s math is correct—and it’s far from certain, as you’ll see below—that’s an extra 10 years on top of the three he’s claiming. If we told citizens of this city we’re going to spend money to increase their commute times they’d say we are nuts, and they’d be right. Which is why I believe the fiscally responsible choice is the hybrid—the one that doesn’t increase congestion, the one that doesn’t take more time from the people of this city, the one that will not harm our growing economy. Now what about access to the waterfront? The hybrid removes as much of the Gardiner East as possible, opening up the Toronto Port Lands and our waterfront, enabling billions in development21 and thousands of jobs while still maintaining the critical, continuous, express connection between the Gardiner and the Don Valley Parkway. Now some say leaving up even a small portion of the Gardiner East, as the hybrid would do to maintain that connection, would block access to Toronto’s waterfront. 21 We’re going to use John Tory’s own numbers here from the 2014 campaign. He claimed that the “hybrid” option (and remember, that was a different option in the campaign than what we now refer to as the “hybrid,” as it freed up much more public land for development than the current hybrid option) would create 5.5 new acres of new development lands, whereas the remove option would create 17.5 new acres—and that the difference represented $150 million in land value and potential investment of $2 billion. And again: that was the previous hybrid option. The present option frees up much, much less land. I would invite you all to look at the photo behind me. You’ll notice two photos that look remarkably the same and both have what looks like a large second highway slightly to the north of the Gardiner. But that’s not a roadway, it’s a rail yard. A rail yard that will not be moved in our lifetime. That area spans eight kilometres along the central waterfront and is 120 meters wide. There are only eight pedestrian access points to get to the waterfront, often through gloomy tunnels or equally drab bridges. Many experts say that, and not the Gardiner, blocks access to the waterfront. Looking at the photo, I can’t help but agree. So again, when people stir up emotions claiming that we’re irrevocably blocking our waterfront by maintaining a very small section of the eastern Gardiner, I simply point them to the facts. And the facts are clear to see. First, the waterfront has redeveloped quite nicely with the Gardiner in place to date. And second, all the boulevards in the world are not going to fix an eight-kilometre rail yard.22 So let’s make the right decision, the balanced23 decision. Let’s remove as much of the Gardiner East as possible but still leave that critical connection to the DVP. 22 It’s true that the rail yard is there. It’s also true that there is a lot of land south of the rail yard which could be developed in the remove option and which cannot be developed in the hybrid option. The trains have nothing to do with that. An argument against the rail yard is not a sensible argument for the Gardiner. 23 This is the first time in this speech John Tory will refer to his preference as “balanced.” Let’s be clear: the hybrid option, as currently constructed, is not a compromise position, no matter how much John Tory wants to pretend he’s a gentle moderate who takes the best from all viewpoints to create a harmonious third way. It is a choice to effectively keep the Gardiner in place as it is. John Tory likes the status quo. Now let’s talk about how these options affect traffic congestion. As I mentioned earlier, time is precious. Time is not a commodity you can just buy more of. While experts disagree on just exactly how much time we are taking from the people of Toronto, the facts remain: removing that piece of the Gardiner will make traffic worse. Whether it’s three to five minutes, or 1024 , there is no doubt that there will be a negative impact on commute times. And that’s before we factor in the millions of new residents everyone agrees are coming to the Toronto region over the next few years.25 24 It is not 10 minutes, as seen in note 14. While traffic times could increase three to five minutes in the peak morning hour under the removal scenario, they will increase two to three minutes under Tory’s preference, for a two- to three-minute difference. And as noted in note 18, the average trip increase along this section of the Gardiner would be 52 seconds. 25 The Ministry of Finance projects three million additional people in the GTA by 2041, which is a little more than “the next few years.” But let’s set aside the fact that Toronto is growing and point out what we have stated before: so long as Toronto is growing, worsening traffic congestion is inevitable. More people means more congestion, unless you find ways to take them off the roads, like through better transit, and more appealing pedestrian environments. And it’s before the chaos of construction—five years’ worth for the remove option versus two and a half for the hybrid. That’s bad news for families, bad news for business, bad news for the environment and bad news for the quality of life overall. I did not get elected to make congestion worse, and frankly neither did any member of city council. Again, the right thing to do, the balanced26 thing to do, is to remove as much of the Gardiner east as possible but still leave that critical connection to the DVP so we can keep this city moving! I will say one thing; rather than talk about what makes life easier for the people of Toronto, a lot of the debate has centred around what is “a great city.” In fact some— ironically some of the same people who didn’t make the choice to build the transit and infrastructure needed to accommodate our growing city over the last few decades—have gone so far to say Toronto would be a laughingstock27 if we kept the small portion of the eastern Gardiner up. What would make people laugh is the idea that one of the most congested cities in North America would consciously choose to make congestion worse. Again, to me a great city is a city which must include the ability to get to work on time and get home on time. And let’s be clear: great cities have expressways. Many of them have many more than we do, not to mention more transit. Vancouver—one of the most livable cities in the world as voted by the Economist for several years—has an elevated expressway that runs through the city of Granville Island. That expressway is celebrated. It is animated. Again, great cities have expressways. London, England—one of the greatest and oldest cities in the world—has developed one of the most expansive animated expressways in the world. Today underneath the Westway Expressway28 there are tennis courts, rock climbing walls, skateboard parks, riding stables and sports fields. It’s incredible. It’s what we can do here in Toronto:29 imaginative, animated public space without increasing congestion and damaging the economy. 26 See note 23. 27 The “some” John Tory refers to here is former chief city planner Paul Bedford, although he does not have the courage to use his name. The idea that Bedford, a respected and dedicated civil servant who still contributes to the public discourse, would not want to improve transit and did not do his utmost to plan and build a better city is both laughable and unfair. John Tory should be ashamed for the suggestion. 28 The Westway is also being reconstructed to add cycle lanes, which will lower its vehicle capacity and increase congestion—but Tory didn’t mention that bit. 29 In case John Tory hasn’t noticed, there’s already something underneath the elevated portion of the Gardiner being debated—namely, Lake Shore Boulevard. It’s kind of difficult to build skate parks and tennis courts when there’s already an enormous goddamn road in the way. In fact, architect Paul Raff, who designed public art it Underpass Park, recently wrote an op-ed in the Toronto Star arguing that for the good of the city and the use of public space the east Gardiner must come down. John Tory did not mention that. And I could go on. New York.30 Amsterdam. Tokyo. All of these cities have managed to make use of the space underneath the expressways, transforming dead space into vibrant pieces of the urban fabric. We’ve started to do that here with the Fort York Centre and Underpass Park. That’s what innovative, forward-thinking cities can do. But because we have spent years dithering, not making decisions, kicking decisions downfield, we find ourselves up against it. Once again, we are playing catch-up when it comes to our infrastructure. I intend to take on the challenge personally. I will take the talent we have and, using the examples from around the world, bring the space under the Gardiner to life, make it welcoming urban space. Skate parks in Philadelphia, markets in Rio and an art gallery in Amsterdam. The possibilities are endless.31 30 New York doesn’t have a major elevated expressway any more (small parts of the Bruckner Expressway are elevated but not a particularly lengthy amount). It is true that New York has done some remarkable work revitalizing the elevated West Side Highway—but they did that by replacing it with an at-grade highway. It is also somewhat difficult to imagine John Tory, who opposed the Eglinton Connects initiative during the campaign before softening his stance, would invest similar public realm improvements under the Gardiner. 31 See note 29. And so I say respectfully to those who disagree with me: I remain convinced that my position is the most sensible, balanced32 position for the mayor of the entire city—not perfect, but the best available option. I am not mayor for the downtown developers, or for one political faction or another, or the mayor for cars or bikes or trucks33 . I’m the mayor of one Toronto—the mayor who must take the broad interest of all Torontonians, all parts of the city, all aspects of a challenge into account and then try to do what I think is right. I am confident that the hybrid option is the best choice for this city as a whole and the best way forward. It’s the best way to keep our city and our economy moving34 , the best way to unlock potential and value in emerging areas35 . It is best for investment and jobs36 —that is why many major business organizations and unions support hybrid. They are in the job creation and employment business and they know that sound transportation decision making is key to getting and keeping jobs in Toronto. You can’t build a great city without jobs, as many as possible, and it is interesting to pause and reflect on the question of why so many of Toronto’s businesses and leading unions support the hybrid option. We have a city to build, and that must include keeping people moving and getting more people employed. Ladies and gentlemen, I offered myself for this job to lead in the process of making a really good city great. My sole motive in public service is to build up the city I love. To make it stronger, fairer and more prosperous. Most days that just involves applying balance and common sense—picking the best from among what are always imperfect options, difficult as that choice often is. That is what I have tried to do here and I enter this week’s debate eager to listen, but satisfied the hybrid option is the best thing to do in the overall best interests of the city we all love. 32 See note 23. 33 As NOW journalist Jonathan Goldsbie noted, after finishing his speech the mayor went back to the head table, where he joined a representative from CAA. 34 See note 13. 35 See note 21. |
Today, I walked into a high school where I am not an employee. Where I have no classroom, no agenda on the board, no lesson plans, no books, no exit slips, and no first-day-of-school icebreakers, because I am no longer a high school English teacher. I quit not because I am jaded. My new job working with low-income, first-generation high school students is similar to teaching. I'm still idealistic, young, and naïvely optimistic (although a little less so). But I am no longer willing to operate under the old rules while the weight of our educational bureaucracy crushes our country. And I'm hoping that I can do more from outside of the system, that not grading essays gives me more time to write, to speak, and to help others be heard. I quit teaching because I was tired of feeling powerless. Tired of watching would-be professionals treated as children, infantilized into silence. Tired of the machine that turns art into artifice for the sake of test scores. Tired of being belittled, disrespected and looked down upon by lawyers, politicians, and decision-makers who see teaching as the province of provincials, the work of housewives that can be done by anyone. When the teaching profession loses respect, or ceases to become a profession, children pay the price. I'll borrow the Howard Gardner definition of a professional, which is as good as any: A professional is a certified expert who is afforded prestige and autonomy in return for performing at a high level, which includes making complex and disinterested judgments under conditions of uncertainty. Professionals deserve to live comfortably, but they do not enter the ranks of a profession in order obtain wealth or power; they do it out of a calling to serve. Are teachers certified experts? No: you need no licensure to begin teaching. Alternative certification programs, such as Teach for America, suggest that education schools are empty, facile and meaningless, at least for the classroom teacher. I don't begrudge TFA, since it helps many children escape poverty, but its existence magnifies a view of teachers as interchangeable parts, as cogs in our machine. I have no moral high ground on the issue of turnover, since I quit after three years, but policy-makers are increasingly devaluing graduate school programs that train teachers to teach -- to innovate. After all, why spend money on training teachers for a whole year, for a career, when we can pump in a stream of idealistic young people for much less money? Why teach teachers to question the machinery whirling around them? And prestige? Forget about it. My partner is a corporate attorney, so I have the privilege of spending a lot of time at events where I am often asked, "Oh, so how long do you plan on teaching?" I have to resist the urge to ask how long they intend to practice law. The prestige problem is, ironically, the worst in some of our "highest-performing" schools. In suburbia, teachers deal with the open disrespect of the upper-and-middle-class parent. I'm talking about those parents who fight for every letter grade, who teach their children to teach the teacher a lesson, and who regard teachers as merely obstacles on the way to an Ivy League admission. I was often amazed by the outrageous lies some parents would tell to get an extension on their child's assignment. And in our urban areas, teachers wrestle with the inescapable effects of poverty and are afforded little-to-no credit for helping solve it. This poverty, even the mention of it, is completely absent from the political debate. We haven't heard about it since John Edwards and his "Two Americas" speech, and I certainly wish that someone would take up a mantle that was once carried proudly by Democratic presidents (think Kennedy and Johnson). If you think the middle-class and business-owners are owed better, spend some time at least volunteering in a lower-income community before you start railing about tax cuts, and the people (and teachers) who are lost when we slash state and federal spending. Spend some time with teachers at work before suggesting that their job is easier than yours. Spend some time with them grading papers at home before you say your tax dollars pay them too much for too few hours. Perhaps that's a solution- - a Teacher for a Day program for all businessmen, lawyers and would-be congressmen. Having taught in both types of systems, I know firsthand how hard ALL teachers work. But in terms of prestige, teachers are attacked on all sides regardless of demographics. We've even created positions where teachers are expected to leave the classroom if they wish to "move up" in the profession. It's a self-absorbed, ego-driven, adult-centered system of educational governance. As for autonomy, it's gobbled up by these people leaving the classroom, usually for reasons of pay. So no, teachers can't live comfortably on our currently salaries. And I haven't heard anyone talk about teachers being "called" to the profession in a really, really long time. Rather than just complain, I propose a solution. It's a drastically simple, Steve Jobs-approach to education. You have teachers teaching in a school. And that's really about the only thing that goes on. One of those teachers is selected as an instructional leader, by peers. These leaders continue to teach at least one class. Then you start dividing up responsibilities usually handled by administration. Who orders books? A classroom teacher. Who writes the curriculum? A classroom teacher. Who handles discipline? A classroom teacher. Evaluations are done by peers, and the tools are developed by teachers. Teachers are hired by other teachers. There are no outside consultants, no central office administrators, and no superintendents. There are no unions because there is no one to unionize against. There is a secretary, who is usually the most important person in any organization, who makes phone calls to parents and greets visitors. If there must be a principal in this ideal school of mine, let it be someone who still has a classroom. Let it be the person who pays the electrical bill, who makes sure everyone gets paid, who is a sounding board for teachers. Let it be someone who still has to lesson plan, grade and walk in front of a room of children every day and figure out what's best for them, one day at a time. |
Adult teen, Raven Cassidy Furlong found safe at a taping of American Ninja Warrior TV show. Not a victim of Sex Trafficking. Here is another example of how the paranoia, obsessed, hysteria of Sex Trafficking has affected people. Raven, (a legal adult of 18 years old) called the family – her aunt and others, and told them she was safe twice, and in California of her own free will, the police found her and investigated, and said she is OK, and there of her own free will, and NOT a victim of sex trafficking. She contacted her mom telling her to leave her alone. And her family still believes she is a victim of sex trafficking for no other reason than that they “think she is” Her family lives in the make believe invented fantasy world of their own mind. Thinking she is a victim of sex trafficking because she does not want to live with her family. The Polaris project brain washed her family into thinking she is a victim of sex trafficking with no evidence at all. Now the family is trying to force her to live with them against her will, and do whatever they tell her to do – Her family should be arrested for human trafficking. From the Daily mail news: Adult Teen runaway Raven Cassidy Furlong, found in Venice Beach, California after a month away from Colorado home says ‘I’m fine!’ but her family claim she’s been coerced into prostitution. ‘Everybody can leave me alone’ said Raven Cassidy Furlong, who turned 18 while on the missing persons list Her family remains convinced she’s a ‘scared victim of trafficking’ Meanwhile, police say she seemed fine and declined to release her to her pleading Colorado family against her will A teenage girl reported missing in February amid fears she’d been lured into a prostitution ring was found standing in line for a television shoot in Venice Beach on Friday. Police say the girl, who ran away from her Aurora, Colorado home February 5, was with friends and appeared unharmed. ‘I’m fine,’ the 18-year-old Raven Cassidy Furlong told an NBCLA photographer Friday. ‘Everybody can leave me alone because I’ve been fine and I am fine.’ Police had already investigated a tip that Furlong had been spotted in the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles. “[She was] waiting in line with some friends, some other people for a TV shoot,” Sgt. Daniel Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Police Department Pacific Division said. Furlong admitted to police that she was a runaway and the subject of a search by her family. Though she was 17-years-old when her family reported her missing, Furlong is now 18 and told police she was in Los Angeles voluntarily. Police informed Furlong’s family that she’d been found. ‘She didn’t appear to be under the influence of any alcohol or drugs. She didn’t appear to be given us any type of coerced statements,’ said.Sgt. Gonzalez. Not everyone agrees, however. Furlong’s mother, Tonja Mahaffey, continues to believe her daughter is a ‘scared victim of trafficking’ who lied to the police about her well-being. ‘I can tell that it’s her, but that’s not my daughter,’ Mahaffey told ABC 7 in Denver. Mahaffey continues to post to a Facebook page she started for her then missing daughter and says the family is still trying to get her back. The family plans to be on a radio show called Voices for Justice April 8 and hope Furlong will call in to speak to them. But Furlong maintained that she did not want to return to Colorado and, at least for now, that’s the end of this story. ‘She’s 18,’ said Sgt. Gonzalez, who removed Furlong from a missing persons list. ‘She’s an adult.’ Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2305460/Raven-Cassidy-Furlong-Missing-Aurora-teenage-girl-unharmed-Venice-Beach-TV-shoot.html#ixzz2Rlb8cnWJ From the Denver channel news 7: Missing Aurora, Colorado model found in LA Raven Cassidy Furlong found unharmed LOS ANGELES – A missing 18-year-old Aurora woman who disappeared last February has been found unharmed in California, according police. Raven Cassidy Furlong was found in Venice Friday night, MyFoxLA and other media reported Saturday. Police released her after determining she was there of her own free will. Furlong’s car was found in Venice Beach a month ago, but no sign of the missing woman could be found. Venice police received a tip that she was sighted in Venice Beach, where officers found her “waiting in line with some friends, some other people for a TV shoot,” said Sgt. Daniel Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Police Department Pacific Division. Furlong was spotted at tryouts for “American Ninja Warrior,” according to Venice311.org. The reporter recognized Furlong and contacted police and her parents. “I’m fine,” she told a NBCLA photographer. “Everybody can leave me alone because I’ve been fine and I am fine.” Venice police say they notified Furlong’s parents in Colorado that she had been found safe, and that she told them she did not want to return to Colorado. Furlong was taken to the police station to be interviewed by police. Once they ascertained she was in California of her own free will, they returned her to the area where she was picked up. Furlong left her home on Feb. 5 with two friends, telling her family that she would return in two days, according to investigators. Some members of the family flew to Venice Beach when her car was found parked there in March but they were unable to locate her. Her family believes she was coerced into saying she’s OK. “We know what Raven gave was a canned speech because other clients have received the same calls from their children once they were located. They’ve been coerced to believe their families are bad, this is common in human trafficking,” Shelley Shaffer, Director of the National Women’s Coalition Against Violence & Exploitation told 7NEWS. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/missing-aurora-model-found-in-la From myfoxla news: VENICE, Calif. — Police in California have found the 18-year-old model who was reported Raven Cassidy Furlong (Photo: Facebook) missing from Aurora more than a month ago. According to KTTV in Los Angeles, Raven Cassidy Furlong was located at a taping for the show “American Ninja Warrior.” Police said she voluntarily came to the LAPD’s Pacific Division to speak with officers, who decided to release her because she was of age and in good health, according to the station. Raven was first reported missing after she never returned to her home in Aurora after school on February 5. Her family believed Raven may have been the victim of human trafficking because they didn’t think she would have run away, according to KTTV. Los Angeles police found Raven’s car in Venice in March, but did not make contact with the missing woman until Friday evening. LAPD Lieutenant David Crew told the station that police in California and Aurora no longer consider this a missing person’s case. Read more at myFOXla.com. From myfoxla news: Missing Aurora woman found safe in Calif. Raven Cassidy Furlong, the now 18-year-old Colorado girl who was reported missing from her home more than a month ago, was found in Venice Friday night. According to police, she was spotted at a taping of American Ninja Warrior. Police say she voluntarily came with them to the LAPD’s Pacific Division where they spoke with her and determined that there was no reason to hold her – she was of-age, she was in good health, and she was not in any danger. Police released her, over the objections of her aunt, Tobi Buckley. The family, including Raven’s mother, has said the girl may have been the victim of human trafficking because they don’t believe she would have run away. Raven was reported missing when she didn’t return home from her Aurora, Colorado high school in February, when she was still 17. LAPD found her car in Venice in March, but did not make contact with the teenager until Friday evening. According to LAPD Lieutenant David Crew, Aurora, Colorado police no longer consider this a missing person’s case. More on the STORY HERE Read more: http://www.myfoxla.com/story/21896342/missing-colorado-teen-found-in-venice#ixzz2RlgZfDDn Furlong last contacted her stepmother earlier this month, but the brevity of her message alarmed Furlong’s stepmom. “Raven said she was safe, but that she was calling from someone else’s phone and couldn’t stay on the line and had to go,” Lin Furlong told People Magazine. “I was relieved to hear her voice, but I’m terrified for her. She sounded scared and not like herself at all.” Advertisements |
A Citrus County man is proving you don’t need to see to be a good shot and a fast shot. The modern day gunslingers are members of the Classical Fast Draw Society and they meet at the Hernando Sportsman’s Club a few times a month. For sure they’re some of the fastest guns around. Jim Miekka, also known as "Midnight Gunslinger," is totally blind. “When I first started I was hitting about 25 percent of the time," Miekka said. "Now I think I’m hitting about 80 percent or something like that.” Sure you have to hit the target, but your speed is important too and Miekka can do it all in about a half a second. That’s considered a very, very good fast draw. Randie Rickert, also known as "Mad Jack," said what Miekka can do is amazing. “Not being able to see the target, remember where it is and actually get right on it. He’s done awesome,” Rickert said. Miekka said it has taken a lot of practice and sometimes he’ll have somebody tap just above the target so he can zero in on it. He's been doing the fast draw for less than a year. |
AUSTIN, Texas — On Sunday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange marked the fourth anniversary of the day he entered the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on asylum. Many, including fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and philosopher and political analyst Noam Chomsky, voiced their support for Assange and their hopes for his eventual freedom. But Assange is just one of many victims of the U.S. war on whistleblowers, an unprecedented crackdown on government transparency that’s unlikely to end any time soon. Watch “Wikileaks Video Report – ‘First they came for Assange’” from acTVism Munich: Assange entered the embassy on June 19, 2012 under threat of extradition to Sweden for questioning over allegations of improper sexual behavior toward two women. Swedish officials have refused to guarantee that Assange will not be extradited to a third country, and until recently, they’ve also refused invitations to question him at the embassy. Though the case against him has weakened over time, Assange still fears he could face decades in prison, or even the death penalty, if he were extradited from Sweden to the U.S., where a secretive, federal grand jury could indict him for hosting classified, leaked information on WikiLeaks. Although a United Nations panel ruled in February that the conditions of Assange’s confinement constitute “arbitrary detainment,” and thus, a violation of his human rights, he remains under constant surveillance and threat of arrest. The Independent reported on Monday that Hugo Swire, a minister with the British foreign office responsible for relations with Latin America, recently met with Guillaime Long, Ecuador’s newly appointed foreign minister, to turn up the pressure for a resolution. The Independent quoted Swire as saying: “We continue to be deeply frustrated by the lack of progress in this case. I personally expressed to Foreign Minister Long my sincere hope that Ecuador will soon facilitate the Swedish Prosecutor’s request to interview Mr Assange in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. It is important that this case is finally brought to a close.” 5 victims of the US war on whistleblowing Assange’s confinement comes amid an atmosphere of unprecedented hostility toward whistleblowers. CBS News’ “60 Minutes” reported in 2014 that more government leakers have been prosecuted under President Barack Obama than all previous administrations combined, a trend that is expected to continue through the final days of his administration. Here are five more victims of the U.S. war on whistleblowers that have been convicted since Assange entered the embassy: In January 2015, independent journalist Barrett Brown was sentenced to 63 months in prison on multiple counts relating to his sharing of information obtained from the 2012 hack of Strategic Forecasting , a corporate intelligence agency, by the hacktivist collective Anonymous. His charges include threatening a federal officer, based on an angry video published in the wake of federal agents threatening his mother. Some believe he’s been singled out for poor treatment in prison thanks to his continued reporting from behind bars . Watch “CIA Whistleblower: US Alliance w/ Gulf Monarchies Why MidEast In Crisis w/ Mnar Muhawesh” from MintPress News’ “Behind the Headline”: Clinton & Trump likely to continue prosecuting whistleblowers Statements about Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower, suggest that the war on transparency that began under Obama is likely to continue into the next administration. Snowden, who revealed the widespread surveillance of millions of people, including most American citizens, has lived in Russia under asylum since the U.S. revoked his passport in June 2013. In an October debate, Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, stressed the need for Snowden to face jail time. “[H]e stole very important information that has unfortunately fallen into a lot of the wrong hands. So I don’t think he should be brought home without facing the music,” she said. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has spoken even more strongly about the whistleblower. Although Snowden laughed it off during a September interview, Al-Jazeera quoted Trump calling for Snowden’s death at the hands of the U.S. government: “This guy’s a bad guy. There is still a thing called execution.” Watch “Chelsea Manning: The US’ Forgotten Political Prisoner?” from MintPress News’ “Behind the Headline”: |
Thomas C. Card Japan’s street fashion scene has long inspired and fascinated adventurous style-watchers across the world. Since the early 1990s, fashion tribes—from ganguro to Lolita—have united people interested in developing hyperstylized looks. Initially intrigued by an article describing makeup trends among Japan’s nightlife crowd, New York–based photographer Thomas C. Card spent several months in Tokyo in spring 2012 creating portraits of the city’s most striking citizens for his book Tokyo Adorned. Although many of the people he photographed showed characteristics of various fashion tribes, Card noted the fierce individualism his subjects expressed in describing their style. “The thing I found absolutely amazing once I was on the ground in Tokyo was that the fashions were very much centered around the individual and less around the tribe,” Card said. “In the early part of our production process, we were thinking of this as different tribes and groups that were very close and defined. I was thrilled when I got there to find that nearly all the girls really view this as an expression of themselves.” During Card’s first trip to Tokyo, he spent hours each day on the street looking for subjects. “It seemed clear to me that the best way to gain trust was to have people with me on set who could spread the word in the streets. Eventually, we found two women who came in for a session, which was a huge success. That opened the door for us to reach people,” Card said. Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Card and his production team spent the next three months casting for the book. At one point, they set up a Tumblr account and asked for people to send in photos of themselves, which resulted in hundreds of submissions. Ultimately, they selected 75 people to come for portraits. “We went with the people we felt really pushed the boundaries of exploring this sense of identity through their fashion choices,” he said. Inspired by Richard Avedon, Card photographed his subjects against a white background, which he said helps viewers focus on their personalities rather than their environment. In these portrait sessions, Card was struck by his subjects’ joy and playfulness. “Everything from the names they choose for themselves to the particular arrangement of items and accessories and clothing often reflects a particular sense of humor. One woman’s name translates to ‘Barbecue.’ The humor of that is not lost on her,” he said. Although the fashions on display in the book are strongly connected to a wearer’s identity, Card said that identity is far from fixed. “Styles are constantly evolving,” he said. “If I were to go back today, all the people I photographed would probably look completely different. Your sense of identity is linked to a period of time. As time goes on, your sense of identity changes.” Tokyo Adorned will be released on Tuesday.* A portion of the proceeds from the book will benefit Second Harvest Japan, the only nationwide food bank in Japan. Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Thomas C. Card Correction, March 10, 2014: This post originally stated that the book Tokyo Adorned would be released on March 18. It will be released on March 11. |
Diadora’s N9000 silhouette has been selected as the canvas for a brand new collaboration with BAIT. Dubbed the “Notti Veneziane,” this mashup pays homage to Italian craftsmanship with a bevy of top-quality materials. The upcoming project gains inspiration from the endless amount of culture one can consume while traveling Venice, such as monuments, restaurants, carnivals and more. The Italian-made silhouette hosts premium components, including Italian Augusta & apricot leather for its underlays, cow leather is then complemented by snakeskin that’s developed to look better with age, while Italian nubuck is found along the N9000’s pull-tabs. Furthermore, you’ll find the certified made in Italy Diadora button on the tongue’s pull-tab, while a debossed Diadora logo is on the heel’s pull-tab. The BAIT x Diadora “Notti Veneziane” also comes with four lace options and will be available in limited quantities. Its official release will take place on January 9 on a first come first serve basis at all BAIT chapter store locations for a retail price of $220 USD. You can also try your luck via BAIT’s online raffle here. |
Review articles Commonsense Reasoning and Commonsense Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence Credit: Peter Crowther Associates Who is taller, Prince William or his baby son Prince George? Can you make a salad out of a polyester shirt? If you stick a pin into a carrot, does it make a hole in the carrot or in the pin? These types of questions may seem silly, but many intelligent tasks, such as understanding texts, computer vision, planning, and scientific reasoning require the same kinds of real-world knowledge and reasoning abilities. For instance, if you see a six-foot-tall person holding a two-foot-tall person in his arms, and you are told they are father and son, you do not have to ask which is which. If you need to make a salad for dinner and are out of lettuce, you do not waste time considering improvising by taking a shirt of the closet and cutting it up. If you read the text, "I stuck a pin in a carrot; when I pulled the pin out, it had a hole," you need not consider the possibility "it" refers to the pin. Back to Top Key Insights To take another example, consider what happens when we watch a movie, putting together information about the motivations of fictional characters we have met only moments before. Anyone who has seen the unforgettable horse's head scene in The Godfather immediately realizes what is going on. It is not just it is unusual to see a severed horse head, it is clear Tom Hagen is sending Jack Woltz a message—if I can decapitate your horse, I can decapitate you; cooperate, or else. For now, such inferences lie far beyond anything in artificial intelligence. In this article, we argue that commonsense reasoning is important in many AI tasks, from text understanding to computer vision, planning and reasoning, and discuss four specific problems where substantial progress has been made. We consider why the problem in its general form is so difficult and why progress has been so slow, and survey various techniques that have been attempted. Back to Top Commonsense in Intelligent Tasks The importance of real-world knowledge for natural language processing, and in particular for disambiguation of all kinds, was discussed as early as 1960, by Bar-Hillel,3 in the context of machine translation. Although some ambiguities can be resolved using simple rules that are comparatively easy to acquire, a substantial fraction can only be resolved using a rich understanding of the world. A well-known example from Terry Winograd48 is the pair of sentences "The city council refused the demonstrators a permit because they feared violence," vs."... because they advocated violence." To determine that "they" in the first sentence refers to the council if the verb is "feared," but refers to the demonstrators if the verb is "advocated" demands knowledge about the characteristic relations of city councils and demonstrators to violence; no purely linguistic clue suffices.a Machine translation likewise often involves problems of ambiguity that can only be resolved by achieving an actual understanding of the text—and bringing real-world knowledge to bear. Google Translate often does a fine job of resolving ambiguities by using nearby words; for instance, in translating the two sentences "The electrician is working" and "The telephone is working" into German, it correctly translates "working" as meaning "laboring," in the first sentence and as meaning "functioning correctly" in the second, because in the corpus of texts Google has seen, the German words for "electrician" and "laboring" are often found close together, as are the German words for "telephone" and "function correctly."b However, if you give it the sentences "The electrician who came to fix the telephone is working," and "The telephone on the desk is working," interspersing several words between the critical element (for example, between electrician and working), the translations of the longer sentences say the electrician is functioning properly and the telephone is laboring (Table 1). A statistical proxy for commonsense that worked in the simple case fails in the more complex case. Almost without exception, current computer programs to carry out language tasks succeed to the extent the tasks can be carried out purely in terms of manipulating individual words or short phrases, without attempting any deeper understanding; commonsense is evaded, in order to focus on short-term results, but it is difficult to see how human-level understanding can be achieved without greater attention to commonsense. Watson, the "Jeopardy"-playing program, is an exception to the above rule only to a small degree. As described in Kalyanpur,27 commonsense knowledge and reasoning, particularly taxonomic reasoning, geographic reasoning, and temporal reasoning, played some role in Watson's operations but only a quite limited one, and they made only a small contribution to Watson's success. The key techniques in Watson are mostly of the same flavor as those used in programs like Web search engines: there is a large collection of extremely sophisticated and highly tuned rules for matching words and phrases in the question with snippets of Web documents such as Wikipedia; for reformulating the snippets as an answer in proper form; and for evaluating the quality of proposed possible answers. There is no evidence that Watson is anything like a general-purpose solution to the commonsense problem. Computer vision. Similar issues arise in computer vision. Consider the photograph of Julia Child's kitchen (Figure 1): Many of the objects that are small or partially seen, such as the metal bowls in the shelf on the left, the cold water knob for the faucet, the round metal knobs on the cabinets, the dishwasher, and the chairs at the table seen from the side, are only recognizable in context; the isolated image would be difficult to identify. The top of the chair on the far side of the table is only identifiable because it matches the partial view of the chair on the near side of the table. The viewer infers the existence of objects that are not in the image at all. There is a table under the yellow tablecloth. The scissors and other items hanging on the board in the back are presumably supported by pegs or hooks. There is presumably also a hot water knob for the faucet occluded by the dish rack. The viewer also infers how the objects can be used (sometimes called their "affordances"); for example, the cabinets and shelves can be opened by pulling on the handles. (Cabinets, which rotate on joints, have the handle on one side; shelves, which pull out straight, have the handle in the center.) Movies would prove even more difficult; few AI programs have even tried. The Godfather scene mentioned earlier is one example, but almost any movie contains dozens or hundreds of moments that cannot be understood simply by matching still images to memorized templates. Understanding a movie requires a viewer to make numerous inferences about the intentions of characters, the nature of physical objects, and so forth. In the current state of the art, it is not feasible even to attempt to build a program that will be able to do this reasoning; the most that can be done is to track characters and identify basic actions like standing up, sitting down, and opening a door.4 Robotic manipulation. The need for commonsense reasoning in autonomous robots working in an uncontrolled environment is self-evident, most conspicuously in the need to have the robot react to unanticipated events appropriately. If a guest asks a waiter-robot for a glass of wine at a party, and the robot sees the glass he is picked up is cracked, or has a dead cockroach at the bottom, the robot should not simply pour the wine into the glass and serve it. If a cat runs in front of a house-cleaning robot, the robot should neither run it over nor sweep it up nor put it away on a shelf. These things seem obvious, but ensuring a robot avoids mistakes of this kind is very challenging. Back to Top Successes in Automated Commonsense Reasoning Substantial progress in automated commonsense reasoning has been made in four areas: reasoning about taxonomic categories, reasoning about time, reasoning about actions and change, and the sign calculus. In each of these areas there exists a well-understood theory that can account for some broad range of commonsense inferences. Taxonomic reasoning. A taxonomy is a collection of categories and individuals, and the relations between them. (Taxonomies are also known as semantic networks.) For instance, Figure 2 shows a taxonomy of a few categories of animals and individuals. There are three basic relations: An individual is an instance of a category. For instance, the individual Lassie is an instance of the category Dog . is an instance of the category . One category is a subset of another. For instance Dog is a subset of Mammal . is a subset of . Two categories are disjoint. For instance Dog is disjoint from Cat . Figure 2 does not indicate the disjointness relations. Categories can also be tagged with properties. For instance, Mammal is tagged as Furry . One form of inference in a taxonomy is transitivity. Since Lassie is an instance of Dog and Dog is a subset of Mammal , it follows that Lassie is an instance of Mammal . Another form of inference is inheritance. Since Lassie is an instance of Dog , which is a subset of Mammal and Mammal is marked with property Furry , it follows that Dog and Lassie have property Furry . A variant of this is default inheritance; a category can be marked with a characteristic but not universal property, and a subcategory or instance will inherit the property unless it is specifically canceled. For instance, Bird has the default property CanFly , which is inherited by Robin but not by Penguin . The standard taxonomy of the animal kingdom is particularly simple in structure. The categories are generally sharply demarcated. The taxonomy is tree-structured, meaning given any two categories, either they are disjoint or one is a subcategory of the other. Other taxonomies are less straightforward. For instance, in a semantic network for categories of people, the individual GalileoGalilei is simultaneously a Physicist , an Astronomer , a ProfessorOfMathematics , a WriterInItalian , a NativeOfPisa , a PersonChargedWithHeresy , and so on. These overlap, and it is not clear which of these are best viewed as taxonomic categories and which are better viewed as properties. In taxonomizing more abstract categories, choosing and delimiting categories becomes more problematic; for instance, in constructing a taxonomy for a theory of narrative, the membership, relations, and definitions of categories like Event, Action, Process, Development , and Incident are uncertain. Simple taxonomic structures such as those illustrated here are often used in AI programs. For example, WordNet34 is a widely used resource that includes a taxonomy whose elements are meanings of English words. As we will discuss later, Web mining systems that collect commonsense knowledge from Web documents tend to be largely focused on taxonomic relations, and more successful in gathering taxonomic relations than in gathering other kinds of knowledge. Many specialized taxonomies have been developed in domains such as medicine40 and genomics.21 More broadly, the Semantic Web enterprise is largely aimed at developing architectures for large-scale taxonomies for Web applications. A number of sophisticated extensions of the basic inheritance architecture described here have also been developed. Perhaps the most powerful and widely used of these is description logic.2 Description logics provide tractable constructs for describing concepts and the relations between concepts, grounded in a well-defined logical formalism. They have been applied extensively in practice, most notably in the semantic Web ontology language OWL. Temporal reasoning. Representing knowledge and automating reasoning about times, durations, and time intervals is a largely solved problem.17 For instance, if one knows that Mozart was born earlier and died younger than Beethoven, one can infer that Mozart died earlier than Beethoven. If one knows the Battle of Trenton occurred during the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Gettysburg occurred during the Civil War, and the Revolutionary War was over before the Civil War started, then one can infer the Battle of Trenton occurred before the Battle of Gettysburg. The inferences involved here in almost all cases reduce to solving systems of linear inequalities, usually small and of a very simple form. Integrating such reasoning with specific applications, such as natural language interpretation, has been much more problematic. Natural language expressions for time are complex and their interpretation is context dependent. Temporal reasoning was used to some extent in the Watson "Jeopardy!"-playing program to exclude answers that would be a mismatch in terms of date.27 However, many important temporal relations are not explicitly stated in texts, they are inferred; and the process of inference can be difficult. Basic tasks like assigning timestamps to events in news stories cannot be currently done with any high degree of accuracy.47 Action and change. Another area of commonsense reasoning that is well understood is the theory of action, events, and change. In particular, there are very well established representational and reasoning techniques for domains that satisfy the following constraints:42 Events are atomic. That is, one event occurs at a time, and the reasoner need only consider the state of the world at the beginning and the end of the event, not the intermediate states while the event is in progress. That is, one event occurs at a time, and the reasoner need only consider the state of the world at the beginning and the end of the event, not the intermediate states while the event is in progress. Every change in the world is the result of an event. Events are deterministic; that is, the state of the world at the end of the event is fully determined by the state of the world at the beginning plus the specification of the event. Single actor. There is only a single actor, and the only events are either his actions or exogenous events in the external environment. There is only a single actor, and the only events are either his actions or exogenous events in the external environment. Perfect knowledge. The entire relevant state of the world at the start, and all exogenous events are known or can be calculated. For domains that satisfy these constraints, the problem of representation and important forms of reasoning, such as prediction and planning, are largely understood. Moreover, a great deal is known about extensions to these domains, including: Continuous domains, where change is continuous. Simultaneous events. Probabilistic events, whose outcome depends partly on chance. Multiple agent domains, where agents may be cooperative, independent, or antagonistic. Imperfect knowledge domains, where actions can be carried out with the purpose of gathering information, and (in the multiagent case) where cooperative agents must communicate information. Decision theory: Comparing different courses of action in terms of the expected utility. The primary successful applications of these kinds of theories has been to high-level planning,42 and to some extent to robotic planning, for example, Ferrein et al.16 The situation calculus uses a branching model of time, because it was primarily developed to characterize planning, in which one must consider alternative possible actions. However, it does not work well for narrative interpretation, since it treats events as atomic and requires the order of events be known. For narrative interpretation, the event calculus37 is more suitable. The event calculus can express many of the temporal relations that arise in narratives; however, only limited success has been obtained so far in applying it in the interpretation of natural language texts. Moreover, since it uses a linear model of time, it is not suitable for planning. Many important issues remain unsolved, however, such as the problem of integrating action descriptions at different levels of abstraction. The process of cooking dinner, for instance, may involve such actions as "Getting to know my significant other's parents," "Cooking dinner for four," "Cooking pasta primavera," "Chopping a zucchini," "Cutting once through the zucchini", and "With the right hand, grasping the knife by the handle, blade downward, and lowering it at about one foot per second through the center of the zucchini, while, with the left hand, grasping the zucchini and holding it against the cutting board." Reasoning about how these different kinds of actions interrelate—for example, if you manage to slice off a finger while cutting the zucchini, your prospective parents-in-law may not be impressed—is substantially unsolved. Qualitative reasoning. One type of commonsense reasoning that has been analyzed with particular success is known as qualitative reasoning. In its simplest form, qualitative reasoning is about the direction of change in interrelated quantities. If the price of an object goes up then (usually, other things being equal) the number sold will go down. If the temperature of gas in a closed container goes up, then the pressure will go up. If an ecosystem contains foxes and rabbits and the number of foxes decreases, then the death rate of the rabbits will decrease (in the short term). An early version of this theory was formulated by Johan de Kleer11 for analyzing an object moving on a roller coaster. Later more sophisticated forms were developed in parallel by de Kleer and Brown12 for analyzing electronic circuits; by Forbus18 for analyzing varieties of physical processes; and by Kuipers30 as a mathematical formalism. This theory has been applied in many domains, from physics to engineering, biology, ecology, and engineering. It has also served as the basis for a number of practical programs, including text understanding;29 analogical mapping and geometric reasoning;33 failure analysis in automotive electrical systems;41 and generating control strategies for printing.20 For problems within the scope of the representation, the reasoning mechanism works well. However, there are many problems in physical reasoning, particularly those involving substantial geometric reasoning, that cannot be represented in this way, and therefore lie outside the scope of this reasoning mechanism. For example, you want to be able to reason a basketball will roll smoothly in any direction, whereas a football can roll smoothly if its long axis is horizontal but cannot roll smoothly end-over-end. This involves reasoning about the interactions of all three spatial dimensions together. Back to Top Challenges in Automating Commonsense Reasoning As of 2014, few commercial systems make any significant use of automated commonsense reasoning. Systems like Google Translate use statistical information culled from large datasets as a sort of distant proxy for commonsense knowledge, but beyond that sort of crude proxy, commonsense reasoning is largely absent. In large part, that is because nobody has yet come close to producing a satisfactory commonsense reasoner. There are five major obstacles. Current computer programs to carry out language tasks succeed to the extent the tasks can be carried out purely in terms of manipulating individual words or short phrases, without attempting any deeper understanding. First, many of the domains involved in commonsense reasoning are only partially understood or virtually untouched. We are far from a complete understanding of domains such as physical processes, knowledge and communication, plans and goals, and interpersonal interactions. In domains such as the commonsense understanding of biology, of social institutions, or of other aspects of folk psychology, little work of any kind has been done. Second, situations that seem straightforward can turn out, on examination, to have considerable logical complexity. For example, consider the horse's head scene in The Godfather. The box on the previous page illustrates the viewer's understanding of the scene. We have a statement with embeddings of three mental states ("foresaw," "realize," "realize"), a teleological connection ("in order"), two hypotheticals ("could arrange" and "does not accede") and a highly complex temporal/causal structure. Some aspects of these kinds of relations have been extensively studied and are well understood. However, there are many aspects of these relations where we do not know, even in principle, how they can be represented in a form usable by computers or how to characterize correct reasoning about them. For example, there are theories of knowledge that do a good job of representing what different players know about the deal in a poker game, and what each player knows about what the other players know, because one can reasonably idealize all the players as being able to completely think through the situation. However, if you want to model a teacher thinking about what his students do not understand, and how they can be made to understand, then that is a much more difficult problem, and one for which we currently do not have a workable solution. Moreover, even when the problems of representation and inference have been solved in principle, the problem of carrying out reasoning efficiently remains. Third, commonsense reasoning almost always involves plausible reasoning; that is, coming to conclusions that are reasonable given what is known, but not guaranteed to be correct. Plausible reasoning has been extensively studied for many years,23 and many theories have been developed, including probabilistic reasoning,38 belief revision,39 and default reasoning or non-monotonic logic.5 However, overall we do not seem to be very close to a comprehensive solution. Plausible reasoning takes many different forms, including using unreliable data; using rules whose conclusions are likely but not certain; default assumptions; assuming one's information is complete; reasoning from missing information; reasoning from similar cases; reasoning from typical cases; and others. How to do all these forms of reasoning acceptably well in all commonsense situations and how to integrate these different kinds of reasoning are very much unsolved problems. Fourth, in many domains, a small number of examples are highly frequent, while there is a "long tail" of a vast number of highly infrequent examples. In natural language text, for example, some trigrams (for example, "of the year") are very frequent, but many other possible trigrams, such as "moldy blueberry soda" or "gymnasts writing novels" are immediately understandable, yet vanishingly rare.c Long tail phenomena also appear in many other corpora, such as labeled sets of images.43 The effect of long-tail distributions on AI research can be pernicious. On the one hand, promising preliminary results for a given task can be gotten easily, because a comparatively small number of common categories include most of the instances. On the other hand, it is often very difficult to attain high quality results, because a significant fraction of the problems that arise correspond to very infrequent categories. The result is the pattern of progress often seen in AI: Rapid progress at the start of research up to a mediocre level, followed by slower and slower improvement. (Of course, for any given application, partial success may be acceptable or indeed extremely valuable; and high quality performance may be unnecessary.) There is no evidence that IBM's Watson is anything like a general-purpose solution to the commonsense problem. We conjecture that long-tail phenomena are pervasive in commonsense reasoning, both in terms of the frequency with which a fact appears in knowledge sources (for example, texts) and in terms of the frequency with which it is needed for a reasoning task. For instance, as discussed, a robot waiter needs to realize it should not serve a drink in a glass with a dead cockroach; but how often is that mentioned in any text, and how often will the robot need to know that fact?d Fifth, in formulating knowledge it is often difficult to discern the proper level of abstraction. Recall the example of sticking a pin into a carrot and the task of reasoning that this action may well create a hole in the carrot but not create a hole in the pin. Before it encounters this particular example, an automated reasoner presumably would not specifically know a fact specific to pins and carrots; at best it might know a more general rulee or theory about creating holes by sticking sharp objects into other objects. The question is, how broadly should such rules should be formulated? Should such roles cover driving nails into wood, driving staples into paper, driving a spade into the ground, pushing your finger through a knitted mitten, or putting a pin into water (which creates a hole that is immediately filled in)? Or must there be individual rules for each domain? Nobody has yet presented a general solution to this problem. A final reason for the slow progress in automating commonsense knowledge is both methodological10 and sociological. Piecemeal commonsense knowledge (for example, specific facts) is relatively easy to acquire, but often of little use, because of the long-tail phenomenon discussed previously. Consequently, there may not be much value in being able to do a little commonsense reasoning. The payoff in a complete commonsense reasoner would be large, especially in a domain like robotics, but that payoff may only be realized once a large fraction of the project has been completed. By contrast, the natural incentives in software development favor projects where there are payoffs at every stage; projects that require huge initial investments are much less appealing. Back to Top Approaches and Techniques As with most areas of AI, the study of commonsense reasoning is largely divided into knowledge-based approaches and approaches based on machine learning over large data corpora (almost always text corpora) with only limited interaction between the two kinds of approaches. There are also crowdsourcing approaches, which attempt to construct a knowledge base by somehow combining the collective knowledge and participation of many non-expert people. Knowledge-based approaches can in turn be divided into approaches based on mathematical logic or some other mathematical formalism; informal approaches, antipathetic to mathematical formalism, and sometimes based on theories from cognitive psychology; and large-scale approaches, which may be more or less mathematical or informal, but in any case are chiefly targeted at collecting a lot of knowledge (Figure 3). A particularly successful form of mathematically grounded commonsense reasoning is qualitative reasoning, described previously. We consider these in turn. Research in commonsense reasoning addresses a number of different objectives: Reasoning architecture. The development of general-purpose data structures for encoding knowledge and algorithms and techniques for carrying out reasoning. (A closely related issue is the representation of the meaning of natural language sentences. 45 ) The development of general-purpose data structures for encoding knowledge and algorithms and techniques for carrying out reasoning. (A closely related issue is the representation of the meaning of natural language sentences. ) Plausible inference ; drawing provisional or uncertain conclusions. ; drawing provisional or uncertain conclusions. Range of reasoning modes. Incorporating a variety of different modes of inference, such as explanation, generalization, abstraction, analogy, and simulation. Incorporating a variety of different modes of inference, such as explanation, generalization, abstraction, analogy, and simulation. Painstaking analysis of fundamental domains. In doing commonsense reasoning, people are able to do complex reasoning about basic domains such as time, space, naïve physics, and naïve psychology. The knowledge they are drawing on is largely unverbalized and the reasoning processes largely unavailable to introspection. An automated reasoner will have to have comparable abilities. In doing commonsense reasoning, people are able to do complex reasoning about basic domains such as time, space, naïve physics, and naïve psychology. The knowledge they are drawing on is largely unverbalized and the reasoning processes largely unavailable to introspection. An automated reasoner will have to have comparable abilities. Breadth. Attaining powerful commonsense reasoning will require a large body of knowledge. Attaining powerful commonsense reasoning will require a large body of knowledge. Independence of experts. Paying experts to hand-code a large knowledge base is slow and expensive. Assembling the knowledge base either automatically or by drawing on the knowledge of non-experts is much more efficient. Paying experts to hand-code a large knowledge base is slow and expensive. Assembling the knowledge base either automatically or by drawing on the knowledge of non-experts is much more efficient. Applications. To be useful, the commonsense reasoner must serve the needs of applications and must interface with them smoothly. To be useful, the commonsense reasoner must serve the needs of applications and must interface with them smoothly. Cognitive modeling. Theories of commonsense automated reasoning accurately describe commonsense reasoning in people. The different approaches to automating commonsense reasoning have often emphasized different objectives, as sketched in Table 2. Knowledge-based approaches. In knowledge-based approaches, experts carefully analyze the characteristics of the inferences needed to do reasoning in a particular domain or for a particular task and the knowledge those inferences depend on. They handcraft representations that are adequate to express this knowledge and inference engines that are capable of carrying out the reasoning. Mathematically grounded approaches. Of the four successes of commonsense reasoning enumerated in this article, all but taxonomic reasoning largely derive from theories that are grounded in mathematics or mathematical logic. (Taxonomic representations are too ubiquitous to be associated with any single approach.) However, many directions of work within this approach are marked by a large body of theory and a disappointing paucity of practical applications or even of convincing potential applications. The work on qualitative spatial reasoning6 illustrates this tendency vividly. There has been active work in this area for more than 20 years, and more than 1,000 research papers have been published, but very little of this connects to any commonsense reasoning problem that might ever arise. Similar gaps between theory and practice arise in other domains as well. The "Muddy Children" problemf (also known as the "Cheating Husbands" problem), a well-known brain teaser in the theory of knowledge, has been analyzed in a dozen different variants in a half-dozen different epistemic logics; but we do not know how to represent the complex interpersonal interactions between Hagen and Woltz in the horse's head scene, let alone how to automate reasoning about them. Unlike the other approaches to commonsense reasoning, much of the work in this approach is purely theoretical; the end result is a published paper rather than an implemented program. Theoretical work of this kind is evaluated, either in terms of meta-theorems (for example, soundness, completeness, computational complexity), or in terms of interesting examples of commonsense inferences the theory supports. These criteria are often technically demanding; however, their relation to the advancement of the state of the art is almost always indirect, and all too often nonexistent. Overall, the work is also limited in terms of the scope of domains and reasoning techniques that have been considered. Again and again, research in this paradigm has fixated on a small number of examples and forms of knowledge, and generated vast collections of papers dealing with these, leaving all other issues neglected. Informal knowledge-based approaches. In the informal knowledge-based approach, theories of representation and reasoning are based substantially on intuition and anecdotal data, and to a significant but substantially lesser extent on results from empirical behavioral psychology. The most important contribution of the informal approach has been the analysis of a broad class of types of inference. For instance, Minsky's frame paper35 discusses an important form of inference, in which a particular complex individual, such as a particular house, is matched against a known structure, such as the known characteristics of houses in general. Schank's theory of scripts44 addresses this in the important special case of structured collections of events. Likewise, reasoning by analogy22,26 and case-based reasoning28 have been much more extensively studied in informal frameworks than in mathematically grounded frameworks. It should be observed that in computer programming, informal approaches are very common. Many large and successful programs—text editors, operating systems shells, and so on—are not based on any overarching mathematical or statistical model; they are written ad hoc by the seat of the pants. This is certainly not an inherently implausible approach to AI. The major hazard of work in this approach is that theories can become very nebulous, and that research can devolve into little more than the collection of striking anecdotes and the construction of demonstration programs that work on a handful of examples. Large-scale approaches. There have been a number of attempts to construct very large knowledge bases of commonsense knowledge by hand. The largest of these is the CYC program. This was initiated in 1984 by Doug Lenat, who has led the project throughout its existence. Its initial proposed methodology was to encode the knowledge in 400 sample articles in a one-volume desk encyclopedia together with all the implicit background knowledge a reader would need to understand the articles (hence, the name).31 It was initially planned as a 10-year project, but continues to this day. In the last decade, Cycorp has released steadily increasing portions of the knowledge base for public or research use. The most recent public version, OpenCyc 4.0, released in June 2012 contains 239,000 concepts and 2,039,000 facts, mostly taxonomic. ResearchCyc , which is available to be licensed for research purposes, contains 500,000 concepts and 5,000,000 facts. A number of successful applications of CYC to AI tasks have been reported,8 including Web query expansion and refinement,7 question answering,9 and intelligence analysis.19 CYC is often mentioned as a success of the knowledge-based approach to AI; for instance Dennett13 writes, " CYC is certainly the most impressive AI implementation of something like a language of thought." However, it is in fact very difficult for an outsider to determine what has been accomplished here. In its first 15 years, CYC published astonishingly little. Since about 2002, somewhat more has been published, but still very little, considering the size of the project. No systematic evaluation of the contents, capacities, and limitations of CYC has been published.g It is not, for example, at all clear what fraction of CYC actually deals with commonsense inference, and what fraction deals with specialized applications such as medical records or terrorism. It is even less clear what fraction of commonsense knowledge of any kind is in CYC . The objective of representing 400 encyclopedia articles seems to have been silently abandoned at a fairly early date; this may have been a wise decision; but it would be interesting to know how close we are, 30 years and 239,000 concepts later, to achieving it; or, if this is not an reasonable measure, what has been accomplished in terms of commonsense reasoning by any other measure. There are not even very many specific examples of commonsense reasoning carried out by CYC that have been published. There have been conflicting reports about the usability of CYC from outside scientists who have tried to work with it. Conesa et al.8 report that CYC is poorly organized and very difficult to use: "The Microtheory Taxonomy (MT) in ResearchCyc is not very usable for several reasons: There are over 20,000 MTs in CYC with the taxonomical structure of MTs being as deep as 50 levels in some domains. There are many redundant subtype relationships that make it difficult to determine its taxonomical structure. Some of the MTs are almost empty but difficult to discard. Not all the MTs follow a standard representation of knowledge." They further report a large collection of usability problems including problems in understandability, learnability, portability, reliability, compliance with standards, and interface to other systems. More broadly, CYC has had comparatively little impact on AI research—much less than less sophisticated online resources as Wikipedia or WordNet. Web mining. During the last decade, many projects have attempted to use Web mining techniques to extract commonsense knowledge from Web documents. A few notable examples, of many: The KnowItAll program14 collected instances of categories by mining lists in texts. For instance, if the system reads a document containing a phrase like "pianists such as Evgeny Kissin, Yuja Wang, and Anastasia Gromoglasova" then the system can infer these people are members of the category Pianist. If the system later encounters a text with the phrase "Yuja Wang, Anastasia Gromoglasova, and Lyubov Gromoglasova," it can infer that Lyubov Gromoglasova may also be a pianist. (This technique was first proposed by Marti Hearst;25 hence patterns like "W's such as X,Y,Z" are known as "Hearst patterns.") More recently, the Probase system,50 using similar techniques, has automatically compiled a taxonomy of 2.8 million concepts and 12 million isA relations, with 92% accuracy. If a cat runs in front of a house-cleaning robot, the robot should neither run it over nor sweep it up. These things seem obvious, but ensuring a robot avoids mistakes of this kind is very challenging. The Never-Ending Language Learner ( NELL )h program36 has been steadily accumulating a knowledge base of facts since January 2010. These include relations between individuals, taxonomic relations between categories, and general rules about categories. As of January 2015, it has accumulated 89 million candidate facts, of which it has high confidence in about two million. However, the facts are of very uneven quality (Table 3). The taxonomy created by NELL is much more accurate, but it is extremely lopsided. As of June 9, 2015 there are 9,047 instances of "amphibian" but zero instances of "poem." Moreover, the knowledge collected in Web mining systems tends to suffer from severe confusions and inconsistencies. For example, in the Open Information Extraction systemi,15 the query "What is made of wood?" receives 258 answers (as of June 9, 2015) of which the top 20 are: "The frame," "the buildings," "Furniture," "The handle," "Most houses," "The body," "the table," "Chair," "This one," "The case," "The structure," "The board," "the pieces," "roof," "toy," "all," "the set," and "Arrow," Though some of these are reasonable ("furniture," "chair"), some are hopelessly vague ("the pieces") and some are meaningless ("this one," "all"). The query "What is located in wood?" gets the answers "The cemetery," "The Best Western Willis," "the cabins," "The park," "The Lewis and Clark Law Review," "this semi-wilderness camp," "R&R Bayview," "'s Voice School" [sic], and so on. Obviously, these answers are mostly useless. A more subtle error is that OIE does not distinguish between "wood" the material (the meaning of the answers to the first query) and "wood" meaning forest (the meaning of the answers to the second query).j All of these programs are impressive—it is remarkable you can get so far just relying on patterns of words, with almost no knowledge of larger-scale syntax, and no knowledge at all of semantics or of the relation of these words to external reality. Still, they seem unlikely to suffice for the kinds of commonsense reasoning discussed earlier. Crowd sourcing. Some attempts have been made to use crowd-sourcing techniques to compile knowledge bases of commonsense knowledge.24 Many interesting facts can be collected this way, and the worst of the problems we have noted in Web mining systems are avoided. For example, the query "What is made of wood?" gets mostly reasonable answers. The top 10 are: "paper," "stick," "table," "chair," "pencil," "tree," "furniture," "house," "picture frame," and "tree be plant."k However, what one does not get is the analysis of fundamental domains and the careful distinguishings of different meanings and categories needed to support reliable reasoning. For example, naïve users will not work out systematic theories of time and space; it will be difficult to get them to follow, systematically and reliably, theories the system designers have worked out. As a result, facts get entered into the knowledge base without the critical distinctions needed for reasoning. Instead, one winds up with a bit of mess. Consider, for example, the fragment of the crowd-sourced Concept Net 3.5 shown in Figure 4. Even in this small network, we see many of the kinds of inconsistencies most famously pointed out by Woods.49 Some of these links always hold (for example, "eat HasSubevent swallow"), some hold frequently (for example, "person Desires eat") and some only occasionally ("person AtLocation restaurant"). Some—like "cake AtLocation oven" and "cake ReceivesAction eat"—cannot be true simultaneously. The node "cook" is used to mean a profession in the link "cook isA person" and an activity in "oven UsedFor cook" (and in "person CapableOf cook"). Both cook and cake are "UsedFor satisfy-hunger," but in entirely different ways. (Imagine a robot who, in a well-intentioned effort at satisfying the hunger of its own owner, fricassees a cook.) On a technical side, the restriction to two-place relations also limits the expressivity in important ways. For example, there is a link "restaurant UsedFor satisfy-hunger," another link might easily specify, "restaurant UsedFor make-money." But in this representational system there would be no way to specify the fact the hunger satisfaction and money making have distinct beneficiaries (the customers vs. the owner). All of this could be fixed post-hoc by professional knowledge engineers, but at enormous cost, and it is not clear whether crowds could be efficiently trained to do adequate work that would avoid these troubles. Back to Top Going Forward We doubt any silver bullet will easily solve all the problems of commonsense reasoning. As Table 2 suggests, each of the existing approaches has distinctive merits, hence research in all these directions should presumably be continued. In addition, we would urge the following: Benchmarks. There may be no single perfect set of benchmark problems, but as yet there is essentially none at all, nor anything like an agreed-upon evaluation metric; benchmarks and evaluation marks would serve to move the field forward. Evaluating CYC . The field might well benefit if CYC were systematically described and evaluated. If CYC has solved some significant fraction of commonsense reasoning, then it is critical to know that, both as a useful tool, and as a starting point for further research. If CYC has run into difficulties, it would be useful to learn from the mistakes that were made. If CYC is entirely useless, then researchers can at least stop worrying about whether they are reinventing the wheel. Integration. It is important to attempt to combine the strengths of the various approaches to AI. It would be useful, for instance, to integrate a careful analysis of fundamental domains developed in a mathematically grounded theory with the interpretation of facts accumulated by a Web mining program; or to see how facts gathered from Web mining can constrain the development of mathematically grounded theories. Alternative modes of reasoning. Neat theories of reasoning have tended to focus on essentially deductive reasoning (including deduction using default rules). Large-scale knowledge bases and Web mining have focused on taxonomic and statistical reasoning. However, commonsense reasoning involves many different forms of reasoning including reasoning by analogy; frame-based reasoning in the sense of Minsky;35 abstraction; conjecture; and reasoning to the best explanation. There is substantial literature in some of these areas in cognitive science and informal AI approaches, but much remains to be done to integrate them with more mainstream approaches. Cognitive science. Intelligent machines need not replicate human techniques, but a better understanding of human commonsense reasoning might be a good place to start. Acknowledgments. Thanks to Leora Morgenstern, Ken Forbus, and William Jarrold for helpful feedback, Ron Brachman for useful information, and Thomas Wies for checking our German. Back to Top References 1. 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Dennett, D. Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking. Norton, 2013. 14. Etzioni, O. et al. Web-scale extraction in KnowItAll (preliminary results). In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on World Wide Web, (2004), 100–110. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=988687 15. Etizoni, O., Fader, A., Christensen, J., Soderland, S. and Mausam. Open information extraction: The second generation. IJCAI, 2011, 3–10). 16. Ferrein, A., Fritz, C., and Lakemeyer, G. Using Golog for deliberation and team coordination in robotic soccer. Kuntzliche Intelligenz 19, 1 (2005), 24–30. 17. Fisher, M. Temporal representation and reasoning. Handbook of Knowledge Representation. F. Van Harmelen, V. Lifschitz, and B. Porter, Ed. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2008, 513–550. 18. Forbus, K. Qualitative process theory. Qualitative Reasoning about Physical Systems. D. Bobrow, Ed. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1985, 85–168. 19. Forbus, K., Birnbaum, L., Wagner, E., Baker, J. and Witbrock, M. Analogy, intelligent IR, and knowledge integration for intelligence analysis: Situation tracking and the whodunit problem. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligence Analysis (2005). 20. Fromherz, M., Bobrow, D. and de Kleer, J. Model-based computing for design and control of reconfigurable systems. AI Magazine 24, 4 (2003), 120. 21. Gene Ontology Consortium. The Gene Ontology (GO) database and informatics resource. Nucleic Acids Research 32 (suppl. 1), 2004, D258–D261. 22. Gentner, D. and Forbus, K. Computational models of analogy. WIREs Cognitive Science 2 (2011), 266–276. 23. Halpern, J. Reasoning about Uncertainty. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2003. 24. Havasi, C., Pustjekovsky, J., Speer, R. and Lieberman, H. Digital intuition: Applying common sense using dimensionality reduction. IEEE Intelligent Systems 24, 4 (2009), 24–35; doi:dx.doi.org/10.1109/MIS.2009.72 25. Hearst, M. Automatic acquisition of hyponyms from large text corpora. ACL, 1992, 539–545. 26. 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In Proceedings of the IEEE Reliability and Maintainability Symposium, (1995), 90–95. 42. Reiter, R. Knowledge in Action: Logical Foundations for Specifying and Implementing Dynamical Systems. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2001. 43. Russell, B., Torralba, A., Murphy, K. and Freeman, W. Labelme: A database and Web-based tool for image annotation. Intern. J. Computer Vision 77, 1–3 (2008), 157–173. 44. Schank, R. and Abelson, R. Scripts, Plans, Goals, and Understanding. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1977. 45. Schubert, L. Semantic Representation. AAAI, 2015. 46. Shepard, B. et al. A knowledge-base approach to network security: Applying Cyc in the domain of network risk assessment. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, (2005), 1563–1568. 47. Surdeanu, M. Overview of the tac2013 knowledge base population evaluation: English slot filling and temporal slot filling. In Proceedings of the 6th Text Analysis Conference (2013). 48. Winograd, T. Understanding Natural Language. Academic Press, New York, 1972. 49. Woods, W. What's in a link: Foundations for semantic networks. Representation and Understanding: Studies in Cognitive Science. D. Bobrow and A. Collins, Eds. Academic Press, New York, 1975. 50. Wu, W., Li, H., Wang, H. and Zhu, K.Q. Probase: A probabilistic taxonomy for text understanding. In Proceedings of ACM SIGMOD, 2012. Back to Top Authors Ernest Davis ([email protected]) is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York University, New York, NY. Gary Marcus ([email protected]) is a professor of psychology and neural science at New York University, and CEO and co-founder of Geometric Intelligence, Inc., a machine learning startup. Back to Top Back to Top Figures Figure 1. Julia Child's kitchen. Photograph by Matthew Bisanz. Figure 2. Taxonomy. Figure 3. Taxonomy of approaches to commonsense reasoning. Figure 4. Concepts and relations in ConceptNet (from Havesi) Figure. Watch the authors discuss their work in this exclusive Communications video. http://cacm.acm.org/videos/commonsense-reasoning-and-commonsense-knowledge-in-artificial-intelligence Back to Top Tables Table 1. Lexical ambiguity and Google Translate. We have highlighted the translation of the word "working." The German word "arbeitet" means "labors;" "funktioniert" means "functions correctly." Table 2. Approaches and typical objectives. Table 3. Facts recently learned by NELL (6/11/2015). Back to Top Sidebar: Understanding a Classic Scene from The Godfather Hagen foresaw, while he was planning the operation, that Woltz would realize that Hagen arranged for the placing of the head in Woltz's bed in order to make Woltz realize that Hagen could easily arrange to have him killed if he does not accede to Hagen's demands. ©2015 ACM 0001-0782/15/09 Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and full citation on the first page. Copyright for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or fee. Request permission to publish from [email protected] or fax (212) 869-0481. The Digital Library is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2015 ACM, Inc. Comments William Jarrold I thank the authors for providing a broad overview of the approaches to common sense reasoning and clarify that as of yet we are far from broad deep and robust commonsense reasoning. That said, in my personal opinion Cyc offers a comparatively strong foundation for the development of such systems because it provides a comprehensive semantic application development environment. This is based on my 20 years experience working with several systems. Specifically, I find Cyc offers advantages in the following ways: - Its inference engine has been supporting one of the most expressive knowledge representation languages (CycL) - Its HL Module framework allows the ability to add additional special purpose reasoners optimized for specific types of problems - Its SKSI technology enables a mature means of interfacing semantically with databases and triple stores allowing inference and database/triple store queries to be intermingled. - Its ontology (with linkages to English and other languages to a lesser extent) stands up well to related systems (e.g. see our informal impressionistic comparative evaluation [1] ) and has often provided me with useful insight when ontologizing new knowledge domains (via OpenCyc or ResearchCyc). - It comes with a variety of ontology development environments that support ontological development across multiple asynchronous developers using a variety of text- and GUI-based authoring tools. Thanks, William Jarrold [1] See "Ontologies in Enterprise Application: Dimensional Comparison" at http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1333/#fomi2014_7 (especially Table 1 and Conclusion) Displaying 1 comment |
John Boehner speaks to Fox News House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) says he was “flabbergasted” when President Barack Obama opened debt talks by offering the same public positions that he campaigned on. According to details circulated by Republican aides last week, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s offer included $1.6 trillion in taxes, $400 billion in entitlement spending cuts and $200 billion in new stimulus of payroll tax cuts and efforts to encourage homeowners to refinance. The White House also asked Republicans to raise the debt limit as part of a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. “I was just flabbergasted,” Boehner told Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday. “I looked at him and said, ‘You can’t be serious.’ I’ve just never seen anything like it.” The Speaker insisted that Obama’s first offer was a “non-serious proposal” because it included new stimulus measures. “They wanted to extend unemployment benefits, they wanted a new stimulus program for infrastructure, they wanted to extend some other tax breaks,” the Ohio Republican said. “And all of this new stimulus spending would literally be more than the spending cuts that he was willing to put on the table.” Boehner later added that a “balanced approach” would not include an increase in tax rates for the middle class. Watch this video from Fox’s Fox News Sunday, broadcast Dec. 2, 2012. |
Image caption Robert Hughes before the incident - and recovering afterwards Five men have lost a High Court battle to block their extradition to Greece where they are accused of attacking a footballer from south London. They insist they are innocent and that poor conditions in a Greek jail would infringe their human rights. The men, all in their early 20s, face allegations of causing grievous bodily harm to former Oxford United footballer Rob Hughes, from Croydon. The alleged attack happened outside a Crete nightclub in June 2008. The five men - Curtis Taylor, 20, Daniel Bell, 21, and Sean Branton, 20, all from Horley, Surrey; George Hollands, 22, from Reigate, Surrey, and Benjamin Herdman, 20, from Worth, West Sussex - deny involvement in the attack which occurred in the resort of Malia. The men were invited to go back to Greece in June 2009, but they refused and were then detained under European arrest warrants in December 2009. In court, the five men asked President of the Queen's Bench Division, Sir Anthony May, and Mr Justice Blair, who sit at the High Court in London, to block a City of Westminster Magistrates' Court decision in February 2009 which gave the go-ahead to the extradition. Kicked and stamped Alun Jones QC, who represented the five men, had told the High Court they faced being detained in "intolerable, disgusting and unacceptable conditions". My son is being forced into indefinite incarceration in Greece with no prospect of bail, to await trial for a crime that all the evidence shows he did not commit Vanessa Hollands, Mother of George Hollands He said the conditions violated the men's rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights not to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. But the judges have upheld a finding by District Judge Caroline Tubbs that there was no reason why the five should not travel to Greece to stand trial. They ruled the evidence of them possibly suffering inhuman and degrading treatment "fell a long way short" of establishing a bar to extradition. "Disturbing and deplorable though the accounts of the prison conditions we have seen are, they do not show strong grounds for believing that these appellants, if returned to Greece, face a real risk of being subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," the judges said. Following the ruling, Vanessa Hollands, mother of George Hollands, one of the five men facing extradition said: "My son is being forced into indefinite incarceration in Greece with no prospect of bail, to await trial for a crime that all the evidence shows he did not commit." She also warn the parents of "British lads" to be "very afraid" if their sons were planning holidays in Greece. Mr Hughes, who also played for Fulham youth team, Sutton United, Croydon Athletic, Bromley and has since played for Welling, was left in a coma after being kicked, stamped on and hit with a bottle. He was in a Greek hospital for three months undergoing a series of brain operations. He has now recovered to the extent that he is playing football again. |
SRINAGAR: The CRPF today said that it succeeded in conducting the Amarnath pilgrimage without any incident yet again, despite threats of militant strikes."CRPF again proved their incredible mettle by successfully conducting Shri Amarnath ji Yatra 2015, despite serious threats of terrorist strike and apprehensions of disturbances," CRPF spokesman A K Jha said in a statement here.Jha said besides providing security cover to all pilgrims during entire yatra, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was at the forefront when incidents of cloud bursts occurred during pilgrimage."Several teams of CRPF along with their officers and doctors rescued several pilgrims and locals who were trapped due to cloud bursts," he said.He added that being the nodal security agency for providing security cover to the Amarnath yatra , CRPF deployed about 67 troops to the pilgrim convoys."As per practice of previous years, CRPF deployed large number of troops this year as well."As many as 67 companies including mahila troopers were deployed for the security of yatri convoys from Jammu to Pahalgam and Baltal besides providing security on both the routes of yatra on Pahalgam and Baltal axis," he said.In view of past attacks on the pilgrimage, the CRPF took steps to ensure that this year the yatra went without any incidents, Jha said."Last two yatras witnessed the terrorist attacks and other disturbances but amid speculations, this year it was a very peaceful and successful yatra in which more than 3,52,000 yatris visited the holy shrine despite inclement weather. Not a single incident of militant act occurred and the CRPF ensured infallible security arrangements," he said.He added that CRPF also pressed into service other resources like Quick Action Teams (QATs), Bomb Disposal Squads and manpower for smooth conduct of yatra. |
College Street is the largest secondhand book market in the world. Biswarup Ganguly/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0 Atlas Obscura on Slate is a blog about the world’s hidden wonders. Like us on Facebook and Tumblr, or follow us on Twitter. Kolkata’s historic College Street is India’s largest book market, lending it the endearing nickname Boi Para—“Book Town.” As the name suggests, College Street is lined by many of Kolkata’s academic institutions: the University of Calcutta, Sanskrit College, Presidency School, the Medical College of Kolkata, to name a few. When these institutions were established in the 19th century, they turned the stretch of road between Mahatma Gandhi Road crossing and Bowbazar crossing into a veritable haven for the city’s intelligentsia. With an area spanning almost 1 million square feet, College Street is also the largest secondhand book market in the world. The milelong avenue is dotted with hundreds of bookstores, big and small, and is also home to India’s biggest publishing houses. The bookstores range from standard brick-and-mortar affairs to small makeshift stalls made from bamboo, canvas, or sheets of metal. College Street’s main draw is that it boasts a collection of almost every single title to ever have been sold in Kolkata. Rare books are sold at dirt-cheap prices, and extensive bargaining is the order of the day. One of the literati staples on College Street is the famed Indian Coffee House, which has seen notable Indian writers such as the likes of Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray stop in for a cup of chai, a samosa, and the weekly gossip. When perusing the stores on College Street, be sure to browse carefully: You might find a first edition Dickens nestled among the latest John Grisham thrillers. For more on College Street, visit Atlas Obscura! More wonders to explore: |
New laws could see the Spanish finishing work at 6pm, and scrapping their afternoon snooze. For many, however, the changes will have little impact on working, social and family life News that the Spanish government plans to outlaw the siesta will have little impact on the majority of Spaniards, whose only opportunity to take a midday nap is when they’re at home at the weekend. While the tradition persists in rural areas, most city dwellers work too far from home to take a siesta, unless you count nodding off at your desk. However, what acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy is proposing would have a significant impact on Spaniards’ working, social and family life. Multinationals have tended to impose a standard 9-5 working day, but the majority of Spaniards still work a long day split into two parts: from 8 or 9 until 2pm, and from 4.30 to 8pm. In between, people use the break to take a long lunch with friends or to shop, as the big chain stores don’t close in the middle of the day. The siesta was designed to give agricultural workers a break during the hottest part of the day, but Spain is less and less an agricultural and rural economy. Besides, olives, the principal crop in the hot south, are harvested between October and January. The proposal to end the working day at 6pm is intended, above all, to have an impact on productivity, which is notoriously low, and on the negative effects that the long day has on family life. As they don’t get home till after 8pm, people eat late and go to bed late – very late in summer. As a result, Spain is a nation of the underslept. The school day mirrors the working day, although it isn’t quite as long. Children start early, break from around 1.30pm till 3pm and then go back until 5pm. Parents who can’t afford school meals – an increasing number – have to make four trips a day to deliver and collect their children. For working parents, there is a three-hour gap between when school and work ends. This means – if grandparents aren’t available to cover – paying for childcare. Increasingly, schools are introducing an 8am-2.30pm day both to save money and because research shows that Spanish children spend more hours in school than the EU average while achieving poorer results. More and more people, especially working parents, are opting for flexitime arrangements to avoid the split day. However, employers remain suspicious of homeworking, and the culture of calentando sillas (seat warming) prevails. This assumes that you must be present in the workplace in order to work. Whatever happens, the fact is that a 26-minute siesta, as recommended by Nasa, is good for your health and for productivity. However, the Spaniards who are most likely to be able to take one are among the nearly five million unemployed. And until the government can find them a job, it won’t much matter when the working day begins or ends. |
Birthdays: - Gordon Solie (January 26, 1929 - July 27, 2000) ~ WATCH: Gordon Solie interviews Andre the Giant In his final TV appearance in the United States - WCW Clash of the Champions XX - Bob Uecker (born January 26, 1934) ~ WATCH: Bob Uecker makes his entrance at WWF WrestleMania IV ~ WATCH: Bob Uecker gets an earful from Bobby "The Brain" Heenan at WWF WrestleMania IV ~ WATCH: Bob Uecker interviews The Honky Tonk Man' & Jimmy Hart' at WWF WrestleMania IV ~ WATCH: Bob Uecker gives his induction speech at the 2010 WWE' Hall of Fame - Volador Jr. (born January 26, 1981) ~ WATCH FULL MATCH: VOLADOR JR vs. CARISTICO - Lucha Estelar Azteca: Liga Elite 2016 ~ WATCH FULL MATCH: VOLADOR JR vs. MASCARA DORADA - Lucha Azteca: April 29, 2016 ~ WATCH FULL MATCH: VOLADOR JR vs. LA MASCARA - Lucha Estelar: Azteca 20/Agosto/2016 - Taylor Wilde (born January 26, 1986) ~ WATCH FULL MATCH: Taylor Wilde vs. Madison Rayne' - TNA' Webmatch (7 years ago) ~ WATCH FULL MATCH: Taylor Wilde vs. Madison Rayne' - TNA' Webmatch (6 years agp) ~ WATCH: Taylor wins the TNA' Women's Championship - Sasha Banks (born January 26, 1992) ~ WATCH: Charlotte' vs. Sasha Banks NXT Women's Championship Match: NXT, Dec. 25, 2014 ~ WATCH: Charlotte' vs. Sasha Banks - NXT Women's Championship Match: NXT, January 21, 2015 ~ WATCH: Charlotte' vs. Sasha Banks - NXT Women's Championship Match: NXT TakeOver: R Evolution, Dec. 11, 2014 ~ WATCH: Sasha Banks celebrates her NXT Women's Title win: NXT TakeOver: Arrival, February 11, 2015 ~ WATCH: Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte' NXT Women's Championship Match: NXT, March 4, 2015 ~ WATCH: Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss' NXT Women's Championship Match: NXT, March 25, 2015 ~ WATCH: Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte' NXT Women's Championship Match: NXT, July 15, 2015 ~ WATCH: Sasha Banks' Vignette after her RAW debut **** Maple Leaf Wrestling: January 26, 1939 at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Alex Kasaboski vs. Nanjo Singh ended in a Draw in an Elimination Tournament First Round Match - Chris Zaharias defeated Joe Pazandak in an Elimination Tournament First Round Match - The Cardiff Giant defeated Scotty McDougall in an Elimination Tournament First Round Match - Man Mountain Dean defeated Dean Rockwell in an Elimination Tournament First Round Match - Chief Chewacki defeated George Richards in an Elimination Tournament First Round Match - Jules Strongbow vs. Vic Christie ended in a Draw in an Elimination Tournament First Round Match - Chief Chewacki defeated The Cardiff Giant in an Elimination Tournament Quarter Final Match - Vic Christie defeated Chris Zaharias in an Elimination Tournament Quarter Final Match - Nanjo Singh defeated Man Mountain Dean by DQ in an Elimination Tournament Quarter Final Match - Hans Steinke defeated Chief Chewacki by DQ in an Elimination Tournament Semi Final Match - Vic Christie defeated Nanjo Singh in an Elimination Tournament Semi Final Match - Vic Christie defeated Hans Steinke in an Elimination Tournament Final Match AWA: January 26, 1961 in Rochester, Minnesota - Roy McClarity defeated Lenny Montana - Little Beaver & Red Taylor defeated Sky Low Low & Tom Thumb - Hard Boiled Haggerty defeated Jim Hady NWA Western States: January 26, 1970 in the Coliseum in El Paso, Texas - Gorgeous George Jr. defeated Billy Spears - Mr. Wrestling defeated Dick Murdoch - Bull Ramos defeated Jerry Kozak - Harley Race & The Beast defeated Ricky Romero & Terry Funk [2:1] in a Best Two Out Of Three Fall Tornado Tag Team Match WATCH FULL MATCH: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan' vs. "King" Harley Race - WWF in Madison Square Garden: January 25, 1988 - Man Mountain Mike defeated Alex Perez and Billy Spears and Bobby Duncum and Bull Ramos and Chief Little Eagle and Dick Murdoch and Dusty Rhodes and Eduardo de Lynch and Emile Dupree and Gorgeous George Jr. and Harley Race and Jerry Kozak and Mr. Wrestling and Norteno Pico and Ricky Romero and Roberto Soto and Rufus R. Jones and Terry Funk and The Beast in a 20 Man Battle Royal WWF Championship Wrestling: January 26, 1980 at the Agricultural Hall in Allentown, Pennsylvania - Larry Zbyszko defeated John Beauford WATCH FULL MATCH: Mil Mascaras, Larry Zbyszko & Haystacks Calhoun vs. Strong Koboyashi, Tank Patton & Golden Terror in a 6 Man Tag Match - WWF Championship Wrestling: April 25, 1978 WWF Championship Wrestling: January 26, 1985 at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center at Poughkeepsie, New York - The U.S Express (Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo) defeated Gino Carabello & AJ Petruzzi - Jimmy Snuka & The Tonga Kid defeated Dave Barbie & Rusty Brooks - Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated Aldo Marino & SD Jones - George Wells defeated Paul Kelly - The Moondogs defeated Steve Lombardi & Jim Young - Hillbilly Jim (w/ Hulk Hogan) defeated Terry Gibbs WATCH: The Honky Tonk Man' vs. Hillbilly Jim - WWF in Meadowlands Arena: May 8, 1989 NWA Worldwide: January 26, 1985 in Charleston, South Carolina - Buzz Tyler defeated Doug Vines - Magnum TA defeated Mike Fever - The Long Riders (Black Bart & Ron Bass) defeated Denny Brown & Frank Lang - Wahoo McDaniel (c) defeated Sam Houston to retain the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship WATCH: Wahoo McDaniel vs. Rick Rude' - Strap Match: NWA Starrcade 1986 - Superstar Billy Graham & The Barbarian defeated American Starship (American Starship Coyote & American Starship Eagle) - Ivan Koloff defeated Lee Ramsey WWF Prime Time Wrestling: January 26, 1987 at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Koko B. Ware vs. The Magnificent Muraco ended in a Time Limit Draw - The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine) (w/ Johnny V) defeated The American Express (Danny Spivey & Mike Rotundo) - Dino Bravo (w/ Johnny V) defeated Scott McGhee - Dark match: Jake Roberts vs. King Kong Bundy ended in a Double Count Out - Paul Roma defeats Barry O - Davey Boy Smith & The Junkyard Dog [Stand in for The Dynamite Kid] (c) defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship - Dark match: Hulk Hogan (c) defeated Kamala (w/ Kim Chee & The Wizard) in a Steel Cage Match to retain the WWF Championship WATCH: Hulk Hogan vs. Bob Backlund' in WWF WCW Power Hour: January 26, 1991 - The Minotaur defeated Keith Hart - The Master Blasters (Master Blaster Blade & Master Blaster Steele) defeated Scott Allen & Tim Parker - Sid Vicious defeated Todd Galinia - Rick Steiner defeated Mike Samples - Flyin' Brian defeated Lt. James Earl Wright (w/ Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker) - Terry Taylor defeated Joe Barrett - The Z-Man (c) defeated Moondog Rex to retain the WCW World Television Championship WATCH FULL MATCH: Mike Rotunda vs Z-Man - NWA Halloween Havoc 1989 WWF Superstars of Wrestling: January 26, 1991 at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, Alabama - The Mountie (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Reno Riggins - The Legion Of Doom (Animal & Hawk) defeated Cleo Reeves & Doug Vines WATCH: Legion Of Doom Titantron - The British Bulldog defeated Joe Turner - Rick Martel defeated Alan Reynolds WCW Pro: January 26, 1991 at the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta, Georgia - Arn Anderson & Barry Windham defeated Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich - Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich defeated Arn Anderson & Barry Windham by Count Out - The Z-Man (c) defeated Bobby Eaton to retain the WCW World Television Championship WATCH: Bobby Eaton vs. Sting' at WCW Clash of the Champions XV 6/12/91 - Sting defeated Buddy Landel - Brad Armstrong, Terry Taylor & Tim Horner defeated Master Blaster Steele, Pat Rose & Rip Rogers - The Southern Boys (Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers), Alan Iron Eagle & Tim Horner defeated The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, Ric Flair & Sid Vicious) by DQ WWF Wrestling Challenge: January 26, 1992 at the Lee Civic Center in Fort Myers, Florida - Jim Duggan & Sgt. Slaughter defeated Jim Cooper & Pete Sanchez - Irwin R. Schyster defeated Kenny Kendall WATCH: R. Schyster (I.R.S.) vs. Bret Hart' for the WWF Intercontinental Championship (WWF Supertape 1992) - Sid Justice defeated The Brooklyn Brawler - The Mountie (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Jimmy James - El Matador defeated Barry Horowitz - The Beverly Brothers (Beau Beverly & Blake Beverly) (w/ The Genius) defeated Ray Hammer & Terry Davis (2:06) - Virgil defeated Bob Smedley WWF Superstars of Wrestling: January 26, 1997 at the CajunDome in Lafayette, Louisiana - Dark match: Big Country defeated Black Bart - Dark match: Leif Cassidy defeated ??? - Dark match: Flash Funk & Rocky Maivia defeated Jesse Jammes & Savio Vega - Dark match: Shawn Michaels (c) defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley by DQ to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship WATCH FULL MATCH: Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Max Moon (WWF Intercontinental Championship Match) - WWF RAW: January 11, 1993 - Dark match: Ahmed Johnson, Bret Hart & The Undertaker defeated Faarooq, Mankind & Steve Austin - Crush & Faarooq defeated Doug Furnas & Philip LaFon and The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn & Phineas I. Godwinn) and Owen Hart & The British Bulldog in a Four Way Tag Team Match - Ahmed Johnson defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (c) by DQ in a WWF Intercontinental Championship Match WCW Monday Nitro: January 26, 1998 in the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, Indiana - Ultimo Dragon defeated El Dandy - Bill Goldberg defeated Brad Armstrong WATCH FULL MATCH: Goldberg vs. Barry Horowitz - WCW Thunder: May 27, 1998 - Konnan (w / Vincent) defeated Jerry Flynn - Buff Bagwell defeated Rick Steiner by DQ - Jim Neidhart defeated Wayne Bloom - Psychosis defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr. - Juventud Guerrera defeated Louie Spicolli by DQ - Raven defeated Mortis (w / James Vandenburg) - Diamond Dallas Page (c) defeated Wrath in a WCW United States Heavyweight Title Match - Booker T (c) defeated Saturn by DQ in a WCW World Television Title Match - The British Bulldog defeated Steve McMichael - Ray Traylor defeated Kevin Nash by DQ - Lex Luger defeated Scott Hall by DQ WWF Monday Night RAW: January 26, 1998 at Davis Recreational Hall in Davis, California - Ken Shamrock defeated Mark Henry via DQ - Jeff Jarrett & Barry Windham (w/ Jim Cornette, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) defeated the Legion of Doom - Vader defeated TAFKA Goldust (w/ Luna) - The Road Dogg & Billy Gunn (c) defeated Cactus Jack & Terry Funk via DQ in a WWF Tag Team Championship match - El Pantera defeated Brian Christopher WATCH: Scott Taylor' vs. Brian Christopher: Light Heavyweight Title Tournament Semifinals - Raw, Dec. 1, 1999 - The Quebecers defeated The Headbangers - Owen Hart defeated TAFKA Goldust (w/ Luna) to win the WWF European Championship WCW Thunder: January 26, 2000 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada - The Maestro defeated Norman Smiley in a hardcore match - TAFKA Prince Iaukea defeated Kid Romeo in a WCW Cruiserweight Title Tournament - Terry Funk defeated The Demon WATCH: The Demon vs. The Wall - WCW Superbrawl X - Lex Luger defeated Buff Bagwell via disqualification - Disco Inferno, Big Vito & Johnny the Bull defeated Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, & Evan Karagias - Booker T defeated Jerry Flynn - Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Fit Finlay in a WCW Hardcore Title #1 Contendership Match - Sid Vicious defeated Kevin Nash and Ron Harris in a Caged Heat Match to win the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship WWF Jakked: January 26, 2002 at the BI-LO Center in Greenville, South Carolina - Dark match: Brock Lesnar defeated Rico Costantino - Dark match: Randy Orton defeated Ron Waterman - Christian & Test defeated Albert & Scotty 2 Hotty - The Hurricane (w/ Mighty Molly) defeated AJ Styles - Perry Saturn defeated Funaki WATCH: Crash Holly' vs. Tazz' vs. Saturn - Hardcore Championship Match: Raw, April 17, 2000 - Crash defeated Onyx WWE Heat: January 26, 2003 at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island - Molly Holly defeated Jacqueline - Rico defeated Aaron Stevens WATCH: Rico vs. Spike Dudley: Raw, June 16, 2003 - Christian defeated Spike Dudley - Maven defeated Christopher Nowinski WATCH: Maven Titantron WWE Monday Night RAW: January 26, 2004 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania - Evolution (Batista, Randy Orton & Ric Flair) defeated Chris Jericho & Rob Van Dam in a Three On Two Handicap Match - Lita & Victoria (w/ Steven Richards) defeated Jazz & Molly Holly (w/ Theodore Long) - Bubba Ray Dudley defeated Kane by DQ - Rico (w/ Miss Jackie) defeated Rob Conway - Goldberg defeated Jonathan Coachman (w/ Mark Henry & Teddy Long) in a No Disqualification Match WATCH: Tajiri' vs. Jonathan Coachman at Backlash 2004 TNA Xplosion: January 26, 2007 in Orlando, Florida at the Universal Studios - Chase Stevens vs. Sonjay Dutt ended in a No Contest WWE Heat: January 26, 2007 at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana - Val Venis defeated Jeremy Young WATCH: Val Venis Titantron - Viscera defeated Wes Adams - The World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defeated The Highlanders (Robbie McAllister & Rory McAllister) WWE Friday Night Smackdown: January 26, 2007 at the Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, Alabama - Dark Match: Hardcore Holly defeated Chavo Guerrero - Batista (c) defeated Gregory Helms - Chris Benoit defeated The Miz - Deuce & Domino (w/ Cherry) defeated Adam Evans & John Robinson - Finlay vs. King Booker (w/ Queen Sharmell) ended in a double count out - MNM (Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro & Melina) defeated Ashley, Brian Kendrick & Paul London - Kane defeated Montel Vontavious Porter by DQ WATCH: MVP' Titantron - Chris Benoit vs. Finlay vs. Kane vs. King Booker vs. Montel Vontavious Porter vs. The Miz in an Over The Top Rope Challenge Match ended in a no contest - Dark Match: Kane & The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) defeated Montel Vontavious Porter & Mr. Kennedy Stampede Wrestling: January 26, 2007 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada - Evan Adams defeated Mahatma Dandhi - Brandon VanDanielson (c) defeated Alex Plexis in a STAMPEDE Young Lions Cup Match - Juggernaut defeated El Blanco Negro Dragon - Nattie Neidhart Farewell Match: Nattie Neidhart defeated Veronika Vice - The A-Team (Dusty Adonis & Michael Avery) defeated The New Karachi Vice (Gama Singh Jr. & Raj Singh) - Chucky Blaze (c) defeated Ravenous Randy in a STAMPEDE British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title Match - Apocalypse (c) defeated TJ Wilson in a STAMPEDE North American Heavyweight Title Match Venessa Kraven & Twiggy vs. 2.0 - IWS: January 26, 2008 WWE Monday Night RAW: January 26, 2009 at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio - The Miz & John Morrison defeated Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad Gaspard) to retain the World Tag Team Champions - Kofi Kingston defeated Kane in an Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match WATCH: Kofi Kingston vs. Big Show' on RAW - John Cena defeated Shawn Michaels (w/ John Bradshaw Layfield) WATCH: Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton on RAW - Beth Phoenix & Jillian (w/ Santino Marella) defeated Melina & Kelly Kelly - Rey Mysterio defeated William Regal (w/ Layla) in an Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match WATCH: William Regal vs. R-Truth' on RAW - Chris Jericho defeated CM Punk in an Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match WATCH: Chris Jericho vs. DH Smith on RAW - Dark Match: John Cena (c) defeated Chris Jericho in a Street Fight to retain the World Heavyweight Championship ECW on Sci-Fi: January 26, 2010 at the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio - Ezekiel Jackson & William Regal defeated Christian & Kane (WATCH HERE) - Goldust, The Hurricane & Yoshi Tatsu defeated Caylen Croft, Trent Barreta & Zack Ryder (w/ Rosa Mendes) in a Six Man Tag Team Match (WATCH HERE) TNA iMPACT!: January 26, 2012 in the TNA Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida - Tara defeated Mickie James and Velvet Sky in a TNAW Women's Knockout Title #1 Contendership Three Way Match - Alex Shelley defeated Zema Ion - Eric Young & ODB defeated Angelina Love & Winter - Matt Morgan (w/ Crimson) defeated Samoa Joe (w/ Magnus) - James Storm & Jeff Hardy defeated Bobby Roode & Bully Ray in a Tables Match WWE Superstars: January 26, 2012 at the Tucson Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona - Jinder Mahal defeated Tyson Kidd (WATCH HERE) - Beth Phoenix defeated Brie Bella (w/ Nikki Bella) (WATCH HERE) - Kofi Kingston defeated Michael McGillicutty (WATCH HERE) WWE Saturday Morning Slam: January 26, 2013 at American Airlines Center in Miami, Florida - The Miz defeated Darren Young (w/ Titus O'Neil) WATCH: The Miz vs. Darren Young on SmackDown - Kofi Kingston defeated Epico (w/ Primo) WATCH: R-Truth' & Kofi Kingston vs. Epico' & Primo' on SmackDown Ring of Honor Wrestling: January 26, 2013 at the Du Burns Arena in Baltimore, Maryland - Silas Young defeated Adam Page in a 2013 Top Prospect Tournament First Round Match - Matt Hardy defeated Rhett Titus - Adam Cole (c) defeated BJ Whitmer to retain the ROH World Television Championship WWE Royal Rumble: January 26, 2014 at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania WATCH: Royal Rumble' 2014 by the Numbers Promo - WWE Kickoff Show: The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) defeated The Brotherhood (Cody Rhodes & Goldust) (c) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship (WATCH FULL MATCH HERE) - Bray Wyatt (w/ Erick Rowan & Luke Harper) defeated Daniel Bryan - Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) defeated The Big Show - Randy Orton (c) defeated John Cena to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Batista won the 2014 Royal Rumble Match by last eliminating Roman Reigns WATCH: Roman Reigns' makes a dominant 2014 Royal Rumble Match Debut WWE Monday Night RAW: January 26, 2015 at the WWE Studios in Stamford, Connecticut - Interview: Seth Rollins addresses his loss at Royal Rumble (WATCH HERE) - Interview: Roman Reigns comments on the Royal Rumble crowd in Philadelphia (WATCH HERE) - Interview: Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman speak (WATCH HERE) - Interview: Dean Ambrose makes a surprise appearance (WATCH HERE) - Interview: Daniel Bryan addresses the 2015 Royal Rumble Match (WATCH HERE) TNA iMPACT!: January 26, 2016 in the Sands Bethlehem Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania - Drew Galloway, Eli Drake, Grado & James Storm defeated Aiden O'Shea, Bobby Roode, Bram, Chris Melendez, Eric Young, Jessie Godderz, Robbie E & Rockstar Spud in a Feast Or Fired Match - Tigre Uno (c) defeated DJ Z and Mandrews in a Three Way Match to retain the TNA X-Division Championship - Awesome Kong defeated Velvet Sky (WATCH HERE) - The Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) defeated The Decay (Abyss & Crazzy Steve) (w/ Rosemary) by DQ - Matt Hardy (w/ Reby & Tyrus) (c) vs. Jeff Hardy ended in a No Contest in a TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match (WATCH HERE) WWE Main Event: January 26, 2016 on the Hulu Plus at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida - Dark Match: Mark Henry defeated Tyler Breeze - Kevin Owens defeated Jack Swagger - The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) defeated The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) (WATCH HERE) - Rusev (w/ Lana) defeated Ryback (WATCH HERE) Follow Chris George on Twitter @GetDown |
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