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For Ted Price, CEO of Ratchet & Clank studio Insomniac Games, the move into VR is one fraught with challenges, but the payoff could be considerable. “Being an early developer in VR gives us a chance to develop skills that our competitors may not be developing now,” he said in an interview at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas. “We’re placing a bet on the fact that VR will continue to grow,” he said. “And when the market becomes larger, we will have established IP, we’ll have a skillset that’s hard to compete with, and access to VR players who are interested in the newest games from us.” The VR industry in its current form only properly launched about a year-and-a-half ago, Price noted, with major players including Valve, Google, Oculus (owned by Facebook), Sony, and Samsung. There's still time to grow. But even with all that support from gigantic companies with huge financial resources, VR is still in a precarious position. "Answer the question 'Why VR?' when coming up with the game design. If you don't know why your game could only exist in VR, then you’re probably making the wrong game." “We’re all interested in seeing the VR adoption rate grow,” said Price when asked about conversations happening in the VR community. Managing expectations of potential customers remains a major focus for not just Insomniac, but the VR industry at large. Price says game devs are still figuring out how to meet these high expectations, and sorting out how to use VR in the most effective way – there has been a lot of progress, but the learning curve today is still ever-present. Insomniac has a well-received VR game called The Unspoken, in which players cast spells as a wizard in modern society. There was also Edge of Nowhere and Feral Rites, two games that tried to take Insomniac's years of knowledge in game-making in traditional formats and apply that know-how almost directly to VR. Developers are finding out that VR is a new beast, and that past knowledge is many times not a one-to-one fit for VR. It's all part of the learning process. But while game devs and hardware makers are busy solving problems and figuring out what makes a compelling experience, is there a risk that the market is too impatient? That consumers will move on before the medium is mature? “That’s a risk that’s discussed pretty openly, in the press,” Price said. But he said Insomniac is confident in the new generation of VR because, for one, it offers a unique experience different from other forms of entertainment. Secondly, major players like Facebook and Google are backing VR. And finally, he said, VR’s use is beyond games, making it fit for a true mass market. Price also said right now there is a chance to be a “big fish in a pond that’s growing.” But he warned that developers need to be careful about scope – to not create games so large and expensive as to tank a studio. He also stressed that games need to play to VR's strengths. For game devs who’re just now getting into VR, Price had straightforward advice: “Answer the question ‘Why VR?’ when coming up with the game design. If you don’t know why your game could only exist in VR, then you’re probably making the wrong game.” |
Touhou Koubuto V Gets A New Trailer And VR Support For Its PS4 Version By Sato . October 28, 2016 . 4:30am Publisher Mediascape shared a new trailer for their Cubetype-developed competitive action game, Touhou Koubutou V, along with some additional details on the official website. As previously reported, Touhou Koubutou V features 1 to 2 players in both local and online modes. The third-person action game will also be in full-HD. As far as game modes go, it has a “Scenario Mode,” an “Arcade Mode” that supports PSN rankings, and “Score Attack Mode,” and “Training Mode.” However, there are some differences between the PS4 and PS Vita versions. The PS4 version supports both offline (with split-screen) and online multiplayer for battles. The PS Vita version’s multiplayer is done through Ad-hoc. Additionally, the PlayStation 4 version of the game will add PlayStation VR support through a later update. Players will get to fight against CPUs, train, or go against other players using PSVR (with head tracking support as well) when it becomes available. The camera angles are the same as the regular mode in VR, meaning you’ll see everything in third-person perspective. The Versus Mode features a social screen option that allows you to do PSVR vs TV Screen battles, and there are 10 different kinds of camera angles to work with in the options. And finally, those who purchase the game on PS4 or PS Vita will receive custom themes for their respective consoles. The game costs 3,000 yen for PS4 or PS Vita, but those who purchase one version can get the other for a little cheaper at 2,000 yen as a bonus. Touhou Koubutou V releases in Japan on November 2, 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. |
1 Like Any Addiction, It Never Fully Goes Away SchuminWeb/Wiki Commons What do you feel when you see mugshots of petty thieves? Is it pity? Contempt? A sudden realization that bad facial hair and crime might be connected somehow? In Zack's case, he mainly feels, well, compassion. "You may call it survivor's guilt? I tend to watch a lot of crime dramas, and I'm always rooting for the bad guys. ... I obviously don't relate to rapists and murderers, but when I see mugshots of people that hold up 7-Elevens, I think, 'Those poor idiots. ... If I had been there, we wouldn't have our mugshots on TV.'" hansenn/iStock/Getty Images Twenty bucks and a 99 cent hot dog is not worth five to 10. Continue Reading Below Advertisement See, deep down, Zack just has this strong desire to reach out to other criminals ... and help them steal without getting caught. "When I was a hiring manager for my current employer, my sympathy for these criminals extended to job applicants. I hired no less than five convicted criminals to work at my store. ... Each time it's bitten me in the ass. Being a thief makes it incredibly easy to catch thieves, which in turn makes me look good for catching them while stealing." You probably noticed Zack referenced being a thief in the present tense there. Managing his theft urges is kind of like a recovering alcoholic trying to stay dry -- it's a continuing effort that involves things like keeping himself out of situations where temptation might occur. For example, he was recently promoted to a management position at his new job, far away from the cash. "Now I work on the corporate side of things. Truth be told, it's an honest struggle not stealing." karammiri/iStock/Getty Images What would you even do with all those logo pens and cubicle walls? Continue Reading Below Advertisement You might think the higher salary would also make it unnecessary, but again, it was never about the money. It's about whatever weird little dopamine high his brain gets from the act. These days, he just has to satisfy it in small, less risky ways. "I try really hard not to let this compulsion complicate other aspects of my life, but it's there all the time. ... I recently bought a lot of food for a barbecue and went through self-checkout. Obviously I'm doing my best not to steal, but when I have a choice between a really cheap produce item and the expensive ones that I purchased, I may select the button on the screen that gives me the better price (I absolutely do this)." Zack is a recovering thief who loves his fiancee enough to try harder. Cezary Jan Strusiewicz is a Cracked columnist, interviewer, and editor. Contact him at c.j.strusiewicz@gmail.com. Have a story to share with Cracked? Email us here. Which Sci-Fi Trope Would You Bring To The Real World And Why?: Every summer we're treated to the same buffet of three or four science-fiction movies with the same basic conceits. There's man vs. aliens, man vs. robots; man vs. army of clones; and man vs. complicated time travel rules. With virtual reality and self-driving cars fast approaching, it's time to consider what type of sci-fi movie we want to be living in for the rest of our lives. Co-hosts Jack O'Brien and Adam Tod Brown are joined by Cracked's Tom Reimann and Josh Sargent and comedians David Huntsberger, Adam Newman and Caitlin Gill to figure out which sci-fi trope would be the best to make a reality. Get your tickets to this live podcast here! For more insider perspectives, check out 6 Realities Of My Job Addicting Kids To Online Games and 5 Ways My Movie Collection Became An Actual Addiction. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out If Cereal Mascots Got Serious About Stealing Cereal, and other videos you won't see on the site! Also, follow us on Facebook, and let's go steal some peanut butter, Fluff, and bread, and have some killer Fluffer Nutters. |
This is a standard-issue Islamic apologetic piece from the Independent, replete with the usual ingredients: a great deal of whining about “Islamophobes,” vicious ad hominem attacks against them, and a slyly selective presentation of the facts at hand, designed to mislead. Note also Mariam Hakim’s repeated equation of “Islamophobic extremists” with “Islamist extremists,” and “ISIS” with “Islamophobes,” as if they were two sides of the same coin. This equation is not new with Hakim; it goes back years among Leftists and Islamic supremacists, and is designed to demonize all opposition to jihad terror. In case anyone hasn’t noticed, it is also ridiculous: there have been 27,000+ jihad terror attacks worldwide since 9/11; how many violent attacks by “Islamophobes”? More below. “The truth about Muslims and sex slavery – according to the Quran, rather than Isis or Islamophobes,” by Mariam Hakim, Independent, February 16, 2016: Like many myths about Islam, the Quran and Muslims, I’ve always heard the worst from Islamophobic extremists and Islamist extremists alike. They tend to share pretty much the same language, online content and perpetuate the same awful narratives about Muslims and their supposed religious practices. As time wears on I’m starting to see these similarities are unavoidable – particularly online where it is rife. For example, this video of a female Muslim ‘scholar’ saying that men can have sex with female prisoners of war to ‘humiliate’ them has been shared widely on right-wing news sites and social media. This narrative has been spread in the wake of recent sexual assault allegations in Cologne and reports of Isis fighters raping and selling sex slaves. It’s mainly been promoted by Donald Trump supporting anti-Muslim bigots, far-right extremists and people who’ll easily believe anything bad about Muslims. Notice how Hakim focuses on who spreads this narrative, as if that were evidence of its falsity, but makes no effort to refute the substance of the case the “female Muslim ‘scholar'” actually made for sex slavery. Hakim’s points below do not address what that “scholar” said. Those sharing the video usually make unfounded claims that the ‘North African/Arab’ men accused of the Cologne assaults were motivated by a ‘Muslim background’. The video has been used as proof of a culturally ingrained mindset that all Muslims apparently possess, as well as claims that the Quran supposedly endorses raping women, in particular female slaves. It’s worth noting the video has also been shared by Muslims who have strongly refuted and ostracised the scholar, reacting with disgust over this extreme view. And they are right: rape and sexual violence is not permitted in Islamic texts. It is of course something that causes harm to other humans, which is not Halal (permissible) and, in early Muslim communities, rape was a crime punishable by death. However, seeing as this myth isn’t about to go away with a few online condemnations, what scripture is being cited by extremists and has it been distorted? After all, there are billions of Muslims across the globe that aren’t going round capturing women to rape as sex slaves. The main reference cited is Chapter 23:1-6 in the Quran. It reads: “And successful are the believers who guard their chastity … except from their wives or those that their right hands possess.” The reference is about sexual relations, which are forbidden with any woman unless she is a spouse or ‘those their right hands possess’. To be clear, this means a concubine, bondmaid or a slave, but intercourse has to be consensual. Rape is forbidden as it is violent, and Islamic texts legislated for the proper and honourable treatment of slaves. Hakim quotes a Qur’an passage that does indeed sanction sex slavery — 23:1-6. She could also have adduced 4:3, 4:24, 33:50 and 70:30. But her argument is absolutely absurd. The captives of the right hand, she admits, are concubines, bondmaids, and slaves, but then says “intercourse has to be consensual.” Note that she doesn’t quote any passage from the Qur’an or Hadith to buttress her argument here, because there is no passage she could quote. The very idea of being a bondmaid or slave is that you must do what you are told to do, and have no right to refuse consent. That’s what being a slave means. Moreover, in Islamic law, even wives don’t have the right to refuse consent if their husbands want sex: a hadith depicts Muhammad saying: “If a husband calls his wife to his bed [i.e. to have sexual relation] and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning” (Bukhari 4.54.460). And: “By him in Whose Hand lies my life, a woman can not carry out the right of her Lord, till she carries out the right of her husband. And if he asks her to surrender herself [to him for sexual intercourse] she should not refuse him even if she is on a camel’s saddle” (Ibn Majah 1854). So would Mariam Hakim have us believe that under Islamic law, a wife cannot refuse sex but a slave girl can? Even consensual sexual relations with a slave were not permissible if it caused harm and abuse elsewhere (e.g. to a wife) as all parties involved would be affected. Furthermore this is not an entitlement. Concubinage and interpersonal relations with various bondmaids/slaves was already occurring at the time the Quran came about and subsequent passages list restrictions as a starting point to help to bring about the end of slavery. In any case, marriage was encouraged (Chapter 24:32) with slaves. In fact, slavery was never endorsed by Islamic texts; rather it was something inherited from pre-Islamic cultures (pre-600s) that needed to be voluntarily and gradually weeded out of society through manumission, which was highly encouraged (Chapters 24:32-33 & 16:71). Islamic texts list a plethora of avenues to free slaves, as it was seen as a highly virtuous act. It’s difficult to find any references on how to make slaves out of people; rather the focus is always on ending slavery. Conveniently this is something the extremists ignore, and this example further enforces the point that religious illiteracy is a root cause of extremism. Islamophobic extremists as well as Islamist extremists (like Isis) who promote and validate sexual violence through unspecific passages in the Quran – or without context – do so to justify their own violent mindsets. Also, references in Islamic texts about slavery don’t apply any longer for a modern age given that slavery has been officially banned internationally since 1948. There is widespread consensus across all nations on this, including Muslims ones. There’s no desire among ordinary Muslims to drag humanity backwards into slavery, especially when there was a clear agenda in key Islamic texts to eventually eradicate it. Here is another egregious falsehood. All the sects and schools of jurisprudence teach that Sharia is the immutable and perfect law of Allah, over and above any manmade law. Now Hakim would have us believe that Muslims have readily set it aside in favor of manmade laws dating back to 1948. Yet imams to this day routinely assert that Sharia is supreme above all human laws. Human trafficking and modern sex slavery is, after all, not just a ‘Muslim’ issue, it’s even happening right under our noses in the UK by all sorts of perpetrators. Therefore let’s promote those devout Muslims like Zainab Bangura who work hard to empower victims of Isis’ sexual violence and slavery, as well as those women seeking justice for having been forced into sex slavery elsewhere in the world. The majority of sane, law-abiding Muslims do not seek to impose themselves on others by force or aggression. They don’t even need me to explain passages in the Quran as they’re not interested in keeping a female slave to rape or ‘humiliate’…. It’s the insane, lawless ones I am concerned about. |
Bristol, U.K.’s Rob “Pinch” Ellis was one of the men who helped define the sound of dubstep in its glorious mid-to-late ’00s days—but since then, the Tectonic label honcho has spent his time as one of the producers and DJs who’s pushed and pulled dubstep in so many directions as to render the term almost meaningless. He’s done so by taking the spaciousness of dubstep's deeper-than-the-sea sonic palette and merging it with what he’s called “a darker take on techno; a more experimental, U.K. bass driven sound.” And that’s pretty much what you get on this masterful, rhythmically diverse, occasionally dense and rather mind-blowing set of tunes, featuring oodles of unreleased tunes from Tectonic and elsewhere. To tell you the truth, we’re not even sure how Pinch got the time to put this musical wonderland together. Besides his continuing activities with dub master Adrian Sherwood (they released the Late Night Endless LP earlier this year), he’s in the midst of celebrating Tectonic’s tenth year of aural excellence with a series of celebratory parties; he’s readying a special anniversary package for November release, featuring custom Tectonic SubPacs and custom Tectonic USBs comprising the entire tectonic back catalog, plus some special extras; and in December, he'll be dropping a new single on Tectonic (the label's 90th), "No Justice." But we're sure glad he did find the time, because this session is pretty damn amazing. ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website 01 W3C “Bile” (forthcoming on Cold Recordings) 02 W3C “Atmospheric Entry” (forthcoming on Cold Recordings) 03 Walton “Tailko” (unreleased/dubplate) 04 Wiley “Morgue” (Gage Refix) (Crazylegs) 05 Lamont “One Hour” (unreleased/dubplate) 06 Plastician “Roman Trax” (unreleased/dubplate) 07 Ipman “U” (Tectonic Recordings) 08 Mumdance & Logos “Move Your Body” (Perc & Truss remix) (unreleased/dubplate) 09 Ipman “Keep It Toolish” (Tectonic dubplate) 10 Powell “Disco” (unreleased/dubplate) 11 Elmono “Salad Holder” (forthcoming on Cold Recordings) 12 Cliques “Untitled” (unreleased/dubplate) 13 Walton “Bulldozer” (Tectonic Recordings) 14 Pinch “No Justice” (forthcoming on Tectonic Recordings) 15 Pinch & Mumdance “Double Barreled Mitzi (Turbo Mitzi VIP mix) (Tectonic Recordings) 16 Kahn & Neek “Backchat” (Jus Now remix) (Hotline Recordings) 17 Pinch “Waterbomb” (unreleased/dubplate) 18 Wen “Finesse” (Tectonic Recordings) 19 Russell Haswell "Hardwax Flashback" (Powell 'Cov Megamix') (Diagonal Records) 20 Powell “Russel Haswel” (Diagonal Recordings) 21 Acre "Love" (forthcoming on Tectonic Recordings) XLR8R Podcast 409 - Pinch |
Scientists have long suspected that monkeys are capable of mental arithmetics and a new study is helping them prove it. A research team led by neurobiologist Margaret Livingstone trained three rhesus macaques to identify symbols representing the numbers zero to 25. They then taught the test subjects how to perform addition. To eliminate the possibility of rote learning, the team had the monkeys learn an entirely different set of symbols representing the numbers zero to 25. The monkeys were able to reapply their previous knowledge to the new set and continue performing basic mathematics. The image above shows one of the monkeys preparing to choose the four and five combination on the panel. It has learned that the combined value is greater than eight and will therefore yield a larger number of liquid drops. According to the study, all three monkeys were on average capable of choosing the correct answer "well above" 50 percent of the time. This rules out the possibility of chance. What's also interesting is how the monkeys were routinely undervaluing the smaller number in a given equation. This challenges the idea that mammalian brains perceive numbers logarithmically and may help researchers better understand how human beings process numbers. |
Its a matter of preference, i will date anyone their ethnicity doesn't matter to me. But hey I love Asian girls and i used to date one waaaaaaay back when i was 17. I like how they have really soft features on their face, they are very nice. In my University there is a lot of Asian girls and their features are usually really soft not strong at all. I like their hair too is very silky and soft so that is why. Also sometimes but not always i have noticed that Asian girls have very delicate bodies so that is another reason why. Plus Asian girls usually but not always are very nice and educated and respect people a lot. Because that is inherited in their Culture which is similar to mine, i am Hispanic by the way. So that is why i like Asian girls Deborah · 3 years ago 0 Thumbs up 0 Thumbs down Report Abuse |
Ainge had said Wednesday that Perkins would be out at least a week after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee. He missed 43 games this season recovering from right knee surgery. One consideration in making the deal for Ainge was the fact that Perkins was in the final year of his contract and it appeared the two sides weren't close to an extension. The Celtics had reportedly offered him a four-year, $22 million contract. Perkins was reportedly seeking a deal worth $30 million over that same span. Ainge said Thursday that the Celtics had offered Perkins all they could under the current collective bargaining agreement. "[Perkins] wasn't really interested in doing a contract extension, which I understand," Ainge told WEEI. "He wanted to test the market. Last time he didn't test the market and this time he really wanted to test the market and see what his value was." Robinson tweeted reaction to the deal: "All I can say is wowzers -- Will miss all my Boston fans I love y'all, u guys showed me love." It's a homecoming of sorts for Green. He was selected by the Celtics in the first round (fifth overall) in the 2007 draft. But he was traded with Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to the then Seattle SuperSonics for Ray Allen and Glen Davis. The Celtics' pursuit of a slashing-type player intensified when it became apparent that Marquis Daniels might miss the rest of the season with a spinal injury. Daniels himself will be rehabbing in Sacramento. The Celtics traded him and cash considerations to the Kings on Thursday for a protected second-round pick in the 2017 draft, Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie announced. Daniels appeared in 49 games for the Celtics this season. He is averaging 5.5 points and 2.3 rebounds. He has been out since bruising his spinal cord on Feb. 6 against Orlando. "I just want to wish Perk, Luke, Semih, and Quis and everybody who was here -- those are brothers for life," Garnett said Thursday night after Boston's 89-75 loss at Denver. Speaking of Perkins, Garnett added: "Very tough day to play basketball, to even concentrate. Just being bluntly honest. You feel like you lost a family member today. Tough day." The Celtics are concerned about their chemistry without Perkins. "I hate to lose a teammate like Perkins," Pierce said. "He meant so much. People don't understand chemistry is from the bus to the plane to the locker room, so it's definitely a blow. It depends on how the other guys make the adjustment." Pierce also said this is an example of how the ruthlessness of the NBA cuts both ways. "It's the nature of the business," he said. "People thought LeBron James was cold for leaving Cleveland the way it is. This is an example of how it happens on the management end. You can't get mad at the players because it can happen to them unexpectedly, just like a player can go where he wants. It's just the nature of the beast." Green is averaging 15.2 points and 5.6 rebounds this season as the third option for the Thunder behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. In his three-year career, he has averaged 14.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. On his Twitter account, Durant said: "Tough day for me and my teammates ... good luck to jeff green, nenad krstic." The deal gives the Thunder the big man that they've been looking for all season. Perkins has played in just 12 games this season, but the Thunder have felt for a while that they need a veteran big man to truly compete with the Spurs, Mavs and Lakers in the West. The deal also gives the Thunder something for Green, who becomes a restricted free agent this summer. Green had rejected a contract extension offer from the Thunder earlier this season. For the Celtics, they take a big risk that their big men -- who are now Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Krstic -- can lead them. But with Jermaine O'Neal out until April after knee surgery and Shaquille O'Neal currently out with an Achilles injury, these are interesting trades for a Celtics team trying to win a championship. Krstic is an offensive talent down low, but isn't known as a rebounder or a tough defender. He is averaging 7.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Rivers indicated that once Shaquille O'Neal is healthy enough to return to action, he will be the team's starting center and his play with the starting unit this season was a big reason Boston was able to make this deal. "Shaq's a key component of this," Rivers said. "We need to get Shaq healthy and Shaq will be healthy. If Shaq plays great, this deal was actually really good for us. That's on Shaq. We have to get Shaq in great shape, get him ready, get him healthy. He's really going to be important for us in the playoffs." To shore up their front line in the meantime, the Celtics signed center Chris Johnson to a 10-day contract Thursday. Johnson was averaging 16.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks in 32.7 minutes per game for the D-League's Dakota Wizards and also played briefly with the Trail Blazers earlier this season. Green is a young talent who can play both the 3 and the 4 and could be part of a longer rebuilding strategy. As part of his wheeling and dealing on deadline day, Ainge was also able to free up three roster spots, which he intends to fill with players bought out from contracts. "We'll see what happens and be ready to pounce on players who will be bought out," Ainge told WEEI. "There are players out there right now that we like a little bit, we're not going to rush into anything. ... We're going to take a long hard look at all the names that get bought out here. We have some roster spots available." Erden and Harangody are both rookies and were moved, in part, for the Celtics to open those roster spots. Erden is averaging 4.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in 37 games and has been bothered by several injuries. He is planning to have shoulder surgery to repair a partially torn labrum in the offseason. Harangody has averaged 2.3 points and 2 rebounds in 28 games. The draft pick going to Boston from Cleveland is the Timberwolves' 2013 second-round pick that the Cavs acquired last summer as a part of a trade for Ramon Sessions and Ryan Hollins. Robinson is averaging 7.1 points in 17.9 minutes per game this season. Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN.com. Chad Ford is the ESPN NBA Insider. Information from ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst and ESPNBoston.com's Chris Forsberg was used in this report. |
Last Friday’s news that Nest CEO Tony Fadell would be leaving the company he founded with Matt Rogers and stepping into an "advisory" role seemed like the culmination of months of stories about Nest’s demanding culture — particularly the frank displeasure of former Dropcam CEO Greg Duffy, who openly regretted selling his company to Nest. These reports have largely focused on Fadell, whose management style has been polarizing. But another dynamic playing out may have been even more important, according to interviews with insiders: Google's restructuring into Alphabet last year, which placed new financial pressures on Nest to perform that some say limited its ability to innovate. Google's restructuring into Alphabet placed new pressure on Nest Fadell has said he made the decision to leave Nest last year, and sources tell me he wrestled with the idea of leaving Nest for weeks before telling Alphabet CEO Larry Page of his plans in December. The impetus, according to several sources close to Nest, was the increased pressure on Nest to deliver profitable results as a standalone unit inside the new Alphabet operating structure, instead of being safely ensconced inside Google and given room to grow. Fadell had been turned into a manager tasked with steadily growing his businesses instead of serving as a visionary CEO, and ultimately he walked away. Fadell won’t say much about his decision to leave Nest, but he’s investing in over 100 startups, including the smart go-kart company Actev Motors. He told me that his goal now is "to find more disruptive technologies and entrepreneurs and support them with time and money, and my network and experience, and to start other companies." "I want to leverage everything I’ve done and the expertise that I have. It’s not that I can do everything myself anymore. There are great innovations, and I want to help those innovations come to light, to really change the world in a great way. That’s what it’s really all about." Fadell won’t say much about his decision to leave Nest But Nest was Fadell’s baby, and his vision. So how did the switch to Alphabet change things so drastically? Nest was among the first smart devices companies to make a splash. The company launched the Nest Learning Thermostat in 2011 to rave reviews — Fadell’s pedigree working on the iPod and iPhone lines at Apple shone through in the design and simplicity of the product, and his former Apple intern Rogers was an impressive young engineering talent bursting with enthusiasm and fresh ideas. And Nest as a company was early to the idea of meshing smart services with hardware: the thermostat was coupled to a sophisticated big data operation that continually made each individual thermostat even smarter, while amassing a valuable pool of information that Nest was able to turn into a business serving utility companies. In some markets, utilities give Nest thermostats away at steep discounts or even for free, because the energy they save and the data they collect is so valuable. "It felt like Tony could really create the next great hardware services company" That combination of business models — hardware revenue plus service revenue — was at the heart of the Nest promise. "It felt like Tony and his vision could really create the next great hardware services company in the Valley," says Randy Komisar, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers partner who led that firm’s investment in Nest and served on its board. "It was a platform that Tony and Matt could have operated for decades, like Amazon is for Bezos, or Apple was for Jobs, or Google is for Larry." But in January 2014 Google came calling with what eventually became a $3.2 billion offer to buy Nest. The decision to sell was controversial; Komisar was against it, warning that big companies were liable to change strategy in a way the Nest team would dislike. But Fadell and Rogers were taken with the idea of using Google’s resources to accelerate their plans outside of the pressures of being a venture-backed firm. The main selling point, according to multiple sources close to Nest, was that Nest would be given a long runway to grow inside of Google, modeled on the company’s acquisition of YouTube, which took a decade to pay off. And Google’s purchase was widely seen both inside and out of Nest as Google investing in hardware to ultimately take on Apple. "I thought Google was genius to buy this company at the price they did," says Komisar. "They got Tony Fadell, they got Matt Rogers, and they got the DNA from Apple hardware. Short of buying Apple, you’re not going to get that DNA in one big effective group that was performing. They bought a terrific asset." Nest was supposed to be the "YouTube of hardware" Initially, the acquisition went well — Nest began hiring at impressive rates. "My general impression was that Google was going to be extremely patient and allow them to broaden their reach," says Komisar. "Google was embracing what it took to be the YouTube of hardware." A bump in the road was the acquisition of Dropcam in June of 2014, which happened at the behest of Google, according to a report in The Information. Dropcam was a small company that had attracted loyal customers to its elegant security camera products, and it had a roadmap to ship several other products. But integrating the team proved to be difficult; Fadell’s demanding style didn’t mesh well with Dropcam CEO Greg Duffy’s more laid-back manner. Fadell blamed Dropcam, telling The Information in March that "a lot of the employees were not as good as we hoped." Duffy fired back on Medium, saying that Nest’s management "seem to be fetishizing only the most superfluous and negative traits of their mentors," clearly implying that Fadell was emulating the worst of Steve Jobs. "I felt like I had failed all the people who worked for me and all the customers," by selling to Nest, Duffy told The Information. These stories stung more because Nest’s wasn’t launching new hardware categories — although the company shipped new generations of each of its products and multiple updates to its app in the past year, the failure to launch obvious extensions of existing products like an outdoor camera or enter entirely new markets seemed to indicate that the company had stalled. Nest insists that the roadmap is strong, and that new products are due out soon But Nest insists that the roadmap is strong, and that new products are due out soon. And Duffy left Nest in January of 2015 after just eight months at the company; various sources at Nest indicate that the Dropcam integration was a small issue amplified after The Information ran its story, and that Nest didn’t want to enter a PR war. And by that time Fadell had already decided to leave Nest. The far bigger change in Google’s strategy that Komisar had warned about had come about, as the company radically restructured itself into a holding company called Alphabet. The Alphabet restructuring pulled several units out of Google and turned them into separate divisions under a single corporate umbrella. Google itself became the largest and most profitable division of Alphabet. Nest, reporting under a new division called "Other Bets," was the company’s other major consumer business, and the dynamics at Nest changed dramatically. According to Alphabet’s Q1 financial conference call, Nest forms the bulk of Other Bets revenue, along with life-sciences company Verily and Google Fiber. Google and Alphabet declined to comment on how these changes affected Nest. Alphabet money is not like Google money Alphabet money is not like Google money, according to several sources at Nest. Whereas Google was content to float the company, under Alphabet Nest was tightly constrained and asked to demonstrate a level of financial discipline at odds with what the founders had expected when they sold to Google. For a five-year-old hardware startup in a still-unproven market, that meant Fadell’s role immediately changed — and that Nest’s conversations with their corporate parent went from being focused on growth and investment in technology to what one source called "effectively finance meetings." That pressure may have led to the slow pace of new product introductions. "At any time in hardware I know how to get profitable, which is that I quit funding new products," says Komisar. "They went to Google to fund new products." Ultimately the changing priorities led Fadell to leave, and Alphabet to install Marwan Fawaz as the new CEO of Nest. Fawaz worked as the CTO of Charter and Adelphia Cable before spending time at Motorola Home, and his reputation is for calmly running and scaling businesses. His job, according to sources, is to make hard decisions about Nest’s investments and refocus the company. No one seems to think Alphabet is planning to sell Nest or pull it back into Google; the plan seems to be to let Fawaz focus on sales and business, while Rogers takes over product development. Alphabet still intends to invest in Nest and for it to grow into a large, innovative company, but it will take a much different path than its founder anticipated. "Nest has an incredible business," says Fadell "Nest has an incredible business," says Fadell. "It's growing really well, it's got an incredible team, it’s a leader in each of the categories it's in, and as long as the team continues, they’re going to be successful. They have a great roadmap that’s in place today for the next two years — they just need to deliver, and I’m sure they will because they have great talent." But ultimately the question is whether the Alphabet experiment can allow other new bets to grow alongside Google when it’s clear the structure made it very difficult for Fadell and Nest to transition from being a fast-moving startup to a division of a larger corporate entity. And the integration between Google — which just launched the Google Home intelligent speaker — and Nest will need to get tighter, even as Nest remains distinct from Google inside the Alphabet structure. It’s going to be tricky, and demand a level of corporate savvy that doesn’t seem natural to the hard-driving Fadell. "Tony at Alphabet was paying Google employees at Google rates with Google benefits. He was paying Google rents. This is not what a startup does," says Komisar. "The real story is Alphabet. This isn’t really about Tony Fadell. This isn’t really about Nest. Nest is still full of potential. This is about Google, and Google’s decision to build Alphabet." "Alphabet is a work in progress." "Larry and [Google CFO] Ruth [Porat] are smart people, and they know what they’re doing," Komisar continues. "It’s their prerogative. But Nest [inside Google] could have been a powerhouse and a half." "Alphabet is a work in progress," says Fadell. "There’s many many great things about Alphabet and there’s a lot of learnings that are going on right now." He won’t say anything else. |
Health care coverage has become more common in the United States than wearing a seatbelt, the AP reported earlier this year. The reason: 20 million Americans gained insurance under the Affordable Care Act, sending the uninsured rate plummeting to an all-time low. But this might be about to change. President-elect Trump and congressional Republicans have promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act — and early Thursday morning, the Senate took a key vote that kicks off that process. Republicans say they will replace it with something much better. Economists, however, predict that anywhere from 3 to 21 million Americans will lose health coverage, depending on the plan. And the fight over Obamacare extends beyond the coverage math. Under the law, fewer Americans are skipping doctors’ visits than before, for example. Most enrollees say they like their new coverage. But problems are real. The Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces have struggled to attract health insurers who want to sell coverage, creating serious questions about the sustainability of a major piece of the law. About half of Obamacare enrollees say that they’re unsatisfied with the high costs of premiums and deductibles. These charts explain where Obamacare stands right now: who it covers, what is working and what needs a serious fix. They also show how Republicans envision changing the law, who the details would favor, and which people stand to lose coverage. Millions of Americans have gained insurance coverage 1) The uninsured rate is at an all-time low. The federal government announced in September that 8.6 percent of Americans lacked health insurance. That’s a big decline from 2010, when the health care law passed and the uninsured rate was 16 percent. 2) Obamacare enrollees have generally been pretty happy with their health coverage There are two major surveys of Obamacare enrollees, one run by the Commonwealth Fund and another by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. Both tend to show that Obamacare enrollees generally like their coverage. The Commonwealth Fund’s most recent survey, conducted in 2016, showed that 82 percent of Medicaid and marketplace enrollees say they are “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with their plans. They found that most enrollees say they’re able to find a doctor who accepts their plan, and that their provider has space to see them within 14 days of signing up. 3) Obamacare enrollees’ biggest frustration remains affordability This chart is from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2016 survey of marketplace enrollees. It shows that people who buy marketplace coverage are generally quite happy with their choice of hospitals and doctors. But the one area of the law that is the most consistent frustration is the high levels of out-of-pocket spending. Forty-five percent of marketplace enrollees say they’re dissatisfied with the size of their deductible, and 40 percent with their premiums. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that, in 2016, the average deductible for a mid-level plan was $3,064 for an individual. That’s a significant increase from the average, $2,556 deductible for mid-level plans in 2015. 4) And the law has struggled to keep health insurers on board to sell coverage in the marketplaces Before the election, one of the biggest questions swirling around the Affordable Care Act’s future was whether the insurance marketplaces were stable. In 2016, multiple large insurers, like Aetna and UnitedHealth, decided to stop selling health plans on the Obamacare marketplaces. Much bigger swaths of the country had only one health insurance company selling in their area this year. Competition on Healthcare.gov hit an all-time low, as you can see in the chart above, which shows the percent of counties on Healthcare.gov with just one health insurance plan selling coverage. Obamacare remains politically unpopular, with most Republicans supporting repeal 5) Obamacare remains quite divisive, and hasn’t gotten any more popular as Americans gained coverage Every month, for nearly seven years now, the Kaiser Family Foundation has run a survey where they ask Americans if they have favorable or unfavorable opinions of the Affordable Care Act. And one of the remarkable things about this study is that it shows very, very little change in public opinion on Obamacare. Democrats had a theory, back when they passed the law in 2010, that health reform would get more popular as the benefits rolled out and more people got coverage. "As that bill is enacted, it’s going to become more and more popular," Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) predicted on Meet the Press in March 2010. But that change never happened — and the country remains just as divided on the health care law as it was on the day Obamacare passed. 6) Support for Obamacare repeal has hovered around one-quarter to one-third of voters for over a year now Voters have also remained pretty evenly split on what the future of Obamacare should be. There is a nearly-even number of people who want to expand the law — and those who want to repeal it entirely. Support for Obamacare repeal did not decline as millions gained coverage. Republicans plan to repeal Obamacare 7) Obamacare repeal, on its own, would leave an estimated 30 million Americans without health coverage Republicans began to lay serious groundwork for Obamacare repeal last winter. In January, both the Senate and the House passed a reconciliation bill that took apart Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid and private, subsidized health insurance. The bill didn’t matter much at the time — Obama repealed it when it arrived at his desk — but it showed that Republicans could use the reconciliation process to take apart key Obamacare pillars, requiring a simple majority rather than the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. This is the type of bill that Republicans are likely to use when they pursue Obamacare repeal in early 2017. Congressional leaders have promised that, a few years down the line, they would follow up with a replacement plan that would provide coverage for many. If that didn’t happen, the Urban Institute estimates that repeal on its own would increase the number of Americans without insurance coverage by about 30 million in 2017. This would largely reflect a loss of coverage in both the individual market, as well as Medicaid. 8) There are 52 million people with preexisting conditions, and they would face more risks under the Republican plans An estimated 52 million Americans — 27 percent of the non-elderly — have pre-existing conditions health conditions that, prior to the Affordable Care Act, would have been grounds for denying coverage in the individual market. The health care law eliminated an insurance industry practice called underwriting, where plans would try to estimate how healthy their customers were to decide what price to charge — or whether to sell insurance at all. Obamacare regulations prohibit charging sicker people higher premiums; the only factors an insurance plan can take into account is where someone lives, how old they are, and if they smoke. Most Republican plans, like Obamacare, require insurance plans to offer coverage to any patient regardless of how sick they are. But to be clear: This is not a repeal of preexisting conditions altogether. The Republican plans would let insurers charge sick people more if they did not maintain “continuous coverage.” For example: If a cancer patient goes straight from insurance at work to her own policy, her insurer has to charge her a standard rate — it can’t take the cost of her condition into account. If she had a lapse in coverage and then went to the individual market, under Better Way insurers would still have to offer her a plan — but it wouldn’t have to be affordable. And this is really different from Obamacare, which completely eliminates this type of insurance behavior. You can read more about this policy here. 9) Obamacare repeal would amount to a massive tax cut for the wealthy, too The Affordable Care Act includes many new taxes, often levied on the highest-income Americans to help finance the expansion of health coverage for lower-income citizens. This includes a 3.8 percent tax on investment income over a certain threshold, as well as additional payroll taxes on high earners. The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Washington that provides analysis of tax issues in policy, finds in a new report that the net effect of Obamacare repeal is a massive tax cut for the rich. TPC estimates that the top 1 percent of earners would get an average tax cut of $33,000 if Obamacare is repealed — and those in the top 0.1 percent would get an average tax cut of $197,000. Meanwhile, those who earn less would actually see their taxes, on average, go up. This is because most of the tax subsidies to purchase insurance coverage through the marketplace go to low-income Americans. TPC estimates that, on average, Americans who are in the bottom quarter of earners would see their taxes increase by $90. Obamacare replacement plans would leave millions uncovered — and create new winners and losers 10) Republican replacement plans would cover millions, but not as many as Obamacare currently does Republicans do have replacement plans for the Affordable Care Act. This includes the Better Way plan from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), the Patient CARE Act from Senate Finance Chair Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and a plan offered by President-elect Donald Trump during the election. There is only a little bit of economic analysis available, so far, on how these plans would work. But the data that does exist shows that the Republican replacement plans raise the level of coverage in the United States from where it was pre-Obamacare, but leave millions who currently have coverage without a plan. There is a lot of variation between Republican plans and how many people they cover. Trump’s plan repealed Obamacare and replaced it with very little in terms of coverage expansion. The plans from congressional leaders like Ryan and Hatch have much more robust plans for replacement, which include tax credits to buy insurance and maintaining some of the protections that Obamacare created for people who buy their own coverage. This gets them closer to the health law’s levels of coverage, but not all the way there. 11) Republican replacement plans want to change the rules about how much insurers could charge old and young consumers. This would lower premiums overall… Obamacare’s marketplaces have struggled to attract young adults at the level the White House had initially hoped. The Obama administration originally said it wanted one-third of the marketplace to be people between 18 and 34 but, right now it’s only about a quarter. Most Republican plans would try to attract younger people to the market by allowing insurers to charge them significantly lower premiums than the Affordable Care Act allows. A bit of background information is useful here. Right now, insurers can only charge the oldest enrollees three times as much as the youngest. Obamacare drafters wanted to make it easier for older Americans, who often need more medical care, to find affordable coverage. The Republican plans would change the individual market to allow insurers to charge the oldest enrollees five times as much as the youngest. The nonpartisan RAND Corporation has modeled the effect of this switch. It found that, on average, premiums in the individual market would decline by $400 as a result of this change. This would be the result of more young people coming into the market and older people, who would face higher premiums, leaving it. 12) But there would be winners and losers. Young people would see their premiums go down, and older people would see their premiums go up. Widening the age band, as this ratio is known, “increases the overall number of people with coverage, but older people end up falling out of the market as premiums rise,” says Christine Eibner, the RAND economist who has studied the provision. You can see why older people might leave the market that Republicans set up in the numbers above. Premiums for the oldest enrollees would rise, on average, by nearly $2,000. This worries some Obamacare supporters, who say the goal of insurance reform isn’t just expanding coverage — it’s expanding coverage to people who really need health coverage. “If you replace a 60-year-old with a 20-year-old, that doesn’t change the number of people covered, but it changes the value of the coverage and of the program,” says Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist who helped the White House model the economic effects of Obamacare. “You would see a shift in who is covered.” 13) Republican replacement plans would provide equal subsidies for everyone. Right now, lower income people get more financial help. The Republican health plans, like Obamacare, envision that Americans will use tax credits to purchase individual health insurance, but the structure of the tax credits is very different in an important way. Obamacare’s tax credits are based on income, with those who earn less getting more help. Better Way’s tax credits would only be based on age, giving more help to those who are older (and who will presumably be charged higher premiums). This means that that Bill Gates would qualify for the largest tax credit simply because he is 61 years old. Conversely, a 23-year-old with little income and health problems gets minimal help, despite the fact that he needs support much more than Gates does. We actually have quite specific numbers on how this would work from the Empowering Patients Bill put forward by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), Trump’s pick to run Health and Human Services. Above is data I looked up for what subsidies would look like for a 52-year-old buying coverage in Colorado Springs (I chose the area because I was giving a talk there recently). You can see that someone who earns more does better under the Price plan — but someone who has relatively low incomes could see their subsidy decline sharply. How far will Republicans go on repeal? 14) Most Republicans support repeal, although the numbers did decline a bit after the election The majority of Republicans favor Obamacare repeal, and have for quite some time now. This helps explain why legislators are moving so quickly on the issue, as they know it’s one that their base is pretty invested in seeing move forward. One notable finding in recent polling, however, is that support for Obamacare repeal among Republicans has dropped since the election — suggesting that there might be some hesitancy to dismantle a law that provides health coverage to 20 million Americans. This is just one poll, however, and it’s unclear how much of the change is signal or noise. 15) Republicans’ leading strategy is “repeal and delay” — but that’s pretty risky Republicans seem to be coalescing around a plan to repeal Obamacare — and set up a deadline, three years in the future, to pass a replacement plan. The idea, politically, makes sense. Republicans can quickly make good on their promise to repeal Obamacare, and then get to the hard work of actually figuring out what should come next. But the strategy is an especially risky one, especially when you consider the current state of the marketplaces. Repeal-and-delay would tell plans that sell on the Obamacare market that it is closing in a few years — a good reason for them to pack up shop and go home. Obamacare can’t really afford to have many insurers leave. Even before the election, Healthcare.gov struggled to attract competition. For 2017 coverage, 40 percent of counties on the Healthcare.gov marketplace have just one health plan selling coverage. “If we don’t know what the replacement plan looks like, many insurers might drop out of the marketplace or price very conservatively, charging a lot more because of the risk and uncertainty in the market,” says Topher Spiro, vice president for health policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. Watch: Repealing Obamacare could change millions of lives |
In a speech likely to draw comparisons with George W Bush’s ‘axis of evil’, the president will tell nations they must confront the twin threat to global security Donald Trump will use his first address to the UN general assembly on Tuesday to call for international action to confront North Korea and Iran, which he will portray as twin threats to global security, the White House said. The US president will warn member states that they risk being “bystanders in history” if they do not mobilise to confront such threats, according to a senior White House official. Trump's 'rocket man' tweet claims Korea sanctions biting, but experts unsure Read more The official also said Trump would use his address to sketch out his vision of how nation states could cooperate in the face of such challenges without compromising their sovereignty. In that way, the official argued, asking for other nations to take part in collective action was consistent with Trump’s “America First” approach. The president’s speech will focus on “world regimes that threaten security”, the official said. “Obviously one of the chief regimes that will be singled out in this regard is the regime of North Korea and all of its destabilising hostile and dangerous behaviour, as well as of course the regime of Iran,” he argued. “And in those two cases as well as others, an appeal to other nations to do their part in confronting these threats, and understanding it is a shared menace and that nations cannot be bystanders in history,” the official added. “And if you don’t confront the threats now, they will only gather force and become more formidable as time passes.” Play Video 1:10 Donald Trump calls for reform of 'outdated' United Nations – video Trump’s speech will seek to distinguish between the Iranian government and its population, and the president will suggest that they are at odds. “One of the strategic implications of the speech is to point out that one of the greatest threats to the status quo in Iran is the Iranian people themselves,” the White House official said. “So obviously there will be some discussion of the tension between the direction the country is currently being run in and the desires of the people and what kind of future they want to have. So there is a lot of strategic thought in the speech in terms of how to separate out the government from the people of Iran.” The crisis in Venezuela and the enduring threat of terrorism will also be discussed in Trump’s speech, the White House official said. Trump and Netanyahu ready united assault against Iran nuclear deal Read more Trump’s decision to single out North Korea and Iran is likely to draw comparisons with George W Bush’s state of the union speech in 2002, in which he described North Korea, Iran and Iraq as the “axis of evil”. Little more than a year later, Bush led the invasion of Iraq on the claim, later proved groundless, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Trump’s call to action against Iran is likely to win even less support than Bush’s rallying cry against Iraq 15 years earlier. Iran signed a deal in 2015 accepting strict curbs on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, and the other signatories, the permanent members of the security council and Germany, say that Iran is abiding by the agreement. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agrees. The UK, Washington’s key ally in Iraq, has stated repeatedly that it remains committed to the 2015 nuclear deal. Like France, Germany, Russia and China, it will resist any move to bracket Iran together with North Korea. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump with the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and UN ambassador Nikki Haley in New York on 18 September. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters While there is security council consensus that North Korea poses a major threat to international security and stability, there are differences on how tightly the country can be squeezed economically. China, its neighbour and major trade partner, does not want to trigger a regime collapse, and has resisted US calls for a complete oil embargo and naval blockade. On Monday, Trump and Xi Jinping agreed “to maximize pressure” on North Korea. In challenging the viability of the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, the US is a lonely voice on the security council. One of Trump’s few allies in his assault on the agreement, Benjamin Netanyahu, met the US president in New York on Monday. Two hours later, Trump met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the same hotel room, and the French government made it clear that Macron would be arguing for the US to keep faith with the nuclear deal. France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, argued the deal was vital to global security. Top Trump officials signal US could stay in Paris climate agreement Read more “It’s essential to maintain it to prevent a spiral of proliferation that would encourage hardliners in Iran to pursue nuclear weapons,” the minister told journalists in New York on the sidelines of this week’s UN general assembly. Trump’s administration also faces isolation and accusations that it is itself a “bystander to history” by his intention to leave the Paris accord on climate change, which would put the US in the company only of Nicaragua and Syria. Administration officials have suggested in recent days that the US might not leave the accord if it could be renegotiated. “He did say to President Macron that he looks forward to continuing discussions with him,” said Brian Hook, the director of policy planning at the state department. “He is, I think, open to a number of different approaches that properly balance protecting the environment with protecting American workers and promoting economic growth and not giving an unfair advantage to other countries.” The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is due to meet his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, for the first time on Wednesday evening at a session of a joint commission established by the signatories of the 2015 nuclear agreement. On the even of his maiden UN speech, Trump made a brief appearance at a meeting about reform of the organisation. He praised the secretary general, Antonio Guterres, describing him as “fantastic”. He extolled the noble goals of the organisation, but warned that in recent years the United Nations had not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement. In his remarks, Trump – a former property developer and TV reality show host – could not resist a plug for his golden Trump Tower across the road from the UN headquarters. Because of the location, he said, it had “turned out to be such a successful project”. |
President-elect Donald Trump plans to give his Cabinet secretaries and top aides significant latitude to run their federal agencies, marking a sharp departure from Barack Obama’s tightly controlled management style, according to people involved in and close to the transition. Members of Congress, transition team officials, real estate lawyers, lobbyists and executives in New York who know Trump expect him to be a chairman-of-the-board style manager in the White House. Story Continued Below Trump, they say, doesn’t usually like getting into day-to-day minutiae or taking lengthy briefings on issues. He doesn’t have particularly strong feelings on the intricacies of some government issues and agencies, these people say, and would rather focus on high-profile issues, publicity and his brand. And he’s expected to grant his Cabinet lots of autonomy — at least until he sees something as a problem or an issue involves significant publicity or money. The approach comes with upsides and downsides. On the one hand, Trump’s senior officials will likely be given plenty of latitude to act quickly and decisively without being constantly micromanaged by the big boss. But on the other hand, they will always run the risk of being blindsided when the incoming president decides on a whim to weigh in on some topic in their portfolio. “He’s running it much like he’d run a Fortune 500 company. He’s finding the best people he can and he’s going to turn the reins over to them to see what they can do. He wants them to perform,” said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who recently met with incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon at Trump Tower to discuss a role in the Agriculture Department. Trump is encouraging his top administration officials to make a splash in the first six months of his presidency, according to people involved in the transition and others who have spoken to them. “He wants them to totally shake these agencies up,” one person involved in the transition said. “He doesn’t want them to do business the same old way.” Miller predicted that Trump’s Cabinet secretaries will be encouraged to quickly make radical changes at federal agencies. “It won’t take six months. It’ll be less than that. They’ll look different in 30 days,” Miller said. Whether these Cabinet secretaries can dramatically change a vast government bureaucracy remains unclear. The gears of government are notoriously slow-moving. And Trump’s administration could face resistance from veteran career public servants, Democrats and even some moderate Republicans, who worry that the wealthy executives and hard-right ideologues in his Cabinet will target crucial federal programs. For now, transition officials have encouraged Trump’s nominees to keep their heads down and get through the confirmation process, which begins this week with a marathon series of Senate committee hearings. People close to the transition say Trump chose largely wealthy business executives and generals in part because he expects them to be decisive — and that he is drawn to people who make decisions quickly and with gusto. One person close to Trump said Cabinet sessions will often feel like board meetings at large companies and that Trump will often give members difficult orders — with little direction on exactly how to get something done — and will have little patience with reasons something can’t happen. In the two months since he won the presidency, Trump has underscored his arm’s-length approach. He’s left most of the congressional wrangling to Vice President-elect Mike Pence and other top aides. He doesn’t jump on weekly calls to discuss strategy, members of the transition team say. And he’s told top aides he doesn’t need to know about every problem, according to people who have spoken with them. It's an open question how much Trump's style will ultimately mark a significant break from his predecessor. Obama, like many presidents before him, came into office with lofty hopes of assembling a powerful Cabinet that would challenge his decision making. But in the end, many of his Cabinet secretaries felt marginalized by powerful White House aides who nurtured closer relationships with the president. Aware that Trump’s picks to lead federal agencies could have significant sway over fleshing out Trump’s agenda, the president-elect’s top aides, including Priebus and Bannon, have been deeply involved in the hiring process. They are increasingly focused on finding deputy secretaries with government experience to counterbalance Trump’s business executive-heavy Cabinet. Trump transition staffers have shuffled through hundreds of résumés — and are trying to make sure political allies land in the administration. The team’s desire to help pick agency officials has annoyed some of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, who want to choose their own teams, sources told POLITICO. Deeply involved in hiring is Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, according to people familiar in the process. Rick Dearborn, a top Trump aide, is signing off on agency hires, people involved in the transition said, and the transition team is putting central staff in key agencies to be liaisons with the West Wing. A transition official said West Wing staff is shoring up personnel for key positions that are central to Trump’s agenda but is leaving other agencies and departments alone, and said tensions were overblown. Trump’s Cabinet secretaries are expected to play a big role in building out the president-elect’s ambiguous — and in some cases nonexistent — positions on key issues. Trump is a political novice who has strayed from Republican orthodoxy, particularly on trade and economic issues and entitlements. And he has a reputation for often acting on what the last person he’s spoken with has recommended, according to people who have done business with or advised him. Their answers to questions during confirmation hearings over upcoming weeks could shed new light on how Trump will govern. Groups like The Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity have tried to cultivate ties with transition staff members and agency heads, knowing they will likely set the policy on many issues. Washington Republicans say Trump will need to find a balance between letting his Cabinet secretaries make decisions and reining them in. While Obama’s Cabinet secretaries complained that they didn’t have enough power, the GOP sources said that giving Cabinet officials too much authority can be dangerous because the president will ultimately take the blame for any missteps. “I do think that the agencies need a strong ombudsman in the White House — somebody that really does know what the president is thinking and how he’s feeling about certain things and is regularly available to Cabinet secretaries,” said Rep. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican who has met with Trump. “Otherwise, you can get on the wrong side of your boss.” Pence and Trump’s top White House aides, including Priebus and Dearborn, are expected to play a central role in coordinating with Cabinet secretaries. People who have worked with Trump for decades say he often talks about big-picture strategy with his executives but then leaves details and execution to others. “You’d go several days when you wouldn’t hear from him,” said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump aide. “Then, he’d ask you ‘Are we on this? What’s going on with this? What’s happening there?’ If there’s something he wants done, he doesn’t do well with you telling him it’s not done yet.” Trump likes to tell several people to handle an issue, creating competition, and seems to enjoy the chaos of his top advisers and aides disagreeing, people close to him say. He often likes playing people off one another, current and former aides say. He can become obsessed with seemingly unimportant details — like the color of a floor in a hotel, or the exact dollar amount of a check, these people say. But unless he becomes interested in a project or issue, or unless it involves large sums of money or publicity, he stays away. “He tends to micromanage the budget,” Nunberg said. He doesn’t like to be presented with long manuals and has a short attention span, these people say. “He’s not going to be bogged down in a 3,000-page bill,” said Rep. Chris Collins, a New York Republican on his transition executive committee. “That’s not his style.” Yet he can also jump in at a minute’s notice and change the playbook. “They’ll have as much room as they need — until they don’t,” one transition official said of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, noting that Trump has a tendency to insert himself in dramatic fashion into issues that pique his interest. Some appointees are already getting a crash course in potential pitfalls of serving Trump as they prepare for their confirmation hearings and are peppered with questions by staffers playing the role of Democratic senators. Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson, for one, was asked during a recent prep session conducted near the White House what he would do if he awoke in a foreign country to learn of a tweet from Trump that had undermined his negotiating position, according to a source close to the process. The typically unflappable former Exxon CEO was momentarily tongue-tied as he searched for a response. One former Trump Organization executive who didn’t support Trump and didn’t think he would be a good president still said Trump was often an ideal boss and would give executives significant latitude. “You just didn’t want him paying too much attention to you,” he said. Louise Sunshine, a former Trump Organization executive who worked with him directly for 15 years, said he rarely told her “exactly what to do.” Trump, she says, will be involved in overall strategy, giving some direction but letting “Pence and Reince take care of most of it.” Eli Stokols contributed to this report. |
Directed by: Martin McDonagh Written by: Martin McDonagh Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes Released: 2008 / Genre: Comedy-Drama / Country: UK/USA / IMDB Buy on DVD/Blu-ray: Amazon.co.uk: DVD | Blu-ray Amazon.com: DVD | Blu-ray More reviews: Latest | Archive In Bruges is a curious film from fledgling English director Martin McDonagh. It tells the tale of two contract killers holed up in the historic Belgium city of the film’s title awaiting further orders after a botched assassination. However, interestingly rather than detrimentally, the film plays much like an action movie without any action, as if the more lively aspects of the plot happen before the movie begins and after it finishes. Unsurprisingly, it’s because of this the film is hard to place in a conventional sense. And, ultimately, it’s all the better for it. Colin Farrell plays Ray, a man who has found his calling under the tutelage of hit-man veteran Ken (Brendan Gleeson). The pair check into a Bruges hotel booked for them by boss Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes) after completing a mission in London. McDonagh plays on the generation gap between Ray and Ken: they’re like father and son on holiday together. Ray can’t stand Bruges, it doesn’t offer him any excitement. Ken, on the other hand, loves the preserved city and its historic buildings and postcard cobbled streets. [ad#Google text Ad – square no border] But Ken sees something in Ray’s youthful vitality that mirrors his own introduction to the world of contract killing. He also sees the pain and anguish that first got his young student into the game, and which was exacerbated by his accidental killing of a child on his first assignment. McDonagh focuses all his early attention on this parental-like relationship between the two hit-men, providing some lovely moments of endearing humour and poignant sadness. The film’s pedestrian pace shows its roots in the western genre. In Bruges is very much a thinly-veiled European-based western in the conventional sense: it has the anti-hero characters fighting a cause beneath the law, the one town setting which the hit-men walk into at the beginning of the film, and the final shoot out. But McDonagh never allows the film, even during the almost plot-less first half, to become an overzealous homage to a genre he clearly has affections for. With some wonderful dialogue, filled with cross-cultural humour, the film becomes that most cherished thing: an original character study that loathes to be pigeonholed. McDonagh weaves his story around the two characters of Ray and Ken for the first half of the film with a conversational tone which highlights the harsh reality of their lives. On the one hand, they try to lead somewhat normal existences – Ken enjoys sightseeing, Ray enjoys the beer and the women. But underneath Ray is wracked with guilt and struggling to come to terms living life without punishment for his crime. Ken, the aged assassin, can see his days are numbered, and whether he’s killed or actively walks away from the business, his future is uncertain. This fine line between light and dark is aided by cockney gangster Harry, whose straight-forwardness and amusing asides offers a quite hilarious introduction to his eventual brutality. In Bruges, tellingly, is dominated by strong performances from Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Farrell shows his continuing growth as an actor, providing fragility in an image purporting toughness and machismo. There’s a lovely scene in a restaurant when, with Ray trying to sway the affections of a young Belgium girl, an American man sitting at the next table accuses her of blowing cigarette smoke into his face. Ray, instinctively, gets defensive, deciding to insult the man with references to Vietnam, unknowingly ignoring the fact he’s actually Canadian. After the man throws one too many accusations Ray’s way, he knocks him out with one punch. The man’s girlfriend suddenly swings a wine bottle in Ray’s direction to which he quips as if it’s an unfair advantage: “A bottle!” Dodging the swinging glass, he throws another punch, knocking the woman to the floor, snidely remarking: “Don’t bother.” Gleeson is equally as good. He’s the experience to Ray’s naivety. The cultured father-figure Gleeson displays is perfectly countered by the youthful exuberance of Farrell’s Ray. The father-son-on-holiday motif is wonderfully exampled by the pair’s alternate opinions of the city. When Ken tells Ray they should head to the top of a historic tower to see the view, Ray dismisses the proposal: “The view of what? The view of down here? I can see that from down here!” Ken replies: “Ray, you are about the worst tourist in the whole world.” To which Ray, his childlike persona ensuring the last word, retorts: “Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn’t, so it doesn’t.” Both Gleeson and Farrell benefit from McDonagh’s unique script. The dialogue has an authenticity born out of matter-of-fact observations and natural character traits. There’s a great example when Ray is telling Chloe (Clemence Poesy) about his profession. “I shoot people for money,” he says. To the same question from Ray, she replies slyly, “I sell cocaine and heroine to Belgium film crews.” Both, ultimately, are telling the truth. When McDonagh finally resorts to plot somewhere around the half way mark, Fiennes is allowed to get in on the act, and as usual, he’s a joy to watch, practically stealing the show. Instructing Ken that he has to kill his protege because of the accidental murder of the child, Ken has to decide between his own life and that of the man he’s become so close to. Backing out of the task, he puts Ray on a train believing he will never see him again. Yet, Ray’s altercation with the Canadian restaurant customer brings him to the attention of the Bruges police, who quickly escort him back to the city. Meanwhile, on hearing about Ken’s disloyalty, Harry leaves London for Bruges to make both his hit-men pay for their misdeeds. Fiennes’ entry into the film, aside from giving the plot an injection of pace, embodies the themes evident throughout the first half. He is at once a pacifier with his quick-talking humour and rampant swearing, and a violent, vile murderer. For Ray and Ken, contract killing is a profession with a dark side but their lives out of office hours are much the same as, say, travelling bankers in town for a conference. It is this line between light and dark that beautifully encompasses the entire film. In Bruges is an accomplished, unique, and fascinating movie from a fledgling director who has quickly found his calling on the big screen. With a terrific script supported by strong performances, director Martin McDonagh has created one of the most original independent films of the last few years. In Bruges is an experience begging to be cherished. Review by Daniel Stephens – See all reviews here |
The real story with Russia was not the series of stupid meetings between Trump campaign officials and diplomats who were trying to set them up, playing on Trump’s admiration of Putin. The story that should have been all over the front pages then, and now, is the complete lack of security infrastructure across our government, President Barack Obama’s complete inability to protect the country from cybersecurity threats, and the way Russians were able to easily take advantage of all our vulnerabilities throughout the last eight years to make a series of devastating blows that are only coming out to public awareness now. Many of these issues came up during the last two years of the administration when Obama was busy crying “Russian hackers,” while Russian hackers were having a ball right under his nose. This combination of lack of situational awareness, recklessness, arrogance, and ignorance of even the basic factors to take into consideration was evident in Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s watch at the DNC, among Democratic Congressmen in the Pakistani IT staffer scandal, with Hillary’s various misuses of email, with John Podesta falling easy bait to a phishing trick, and so much more. But all of that turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg, as we are now learning, mere red flags compared to the utter disaster that was taking place behind closed doors, with Edward Snowden being but the first red flag and warning sign of just how unprepared was our counterintelligence for the combination of cybersecurity threats and social media engineering from Russians and other actors. Much of it has come out within this past year, and with regards to cybersecurity, in the last couple of weeks, with the story of the NSA breach and access to Pentagon source code. Meanwhile our own reaction has been belated and laughable. Over two years after Kaspersky was used to retrieve NSA data, the government finally advised its agencies not to use that software. I don’t even want to know what happened after the Russians got the source code and whether that software is still in place, but my guess is, not much has changed. A pervasive problem of such proportions should be a national scandal. Obama left the front door open while looking for bogeymen out in the back. Thanks to the atrocious decision making throughout his administration, the country has been left vulnerable, basically naked, to Russian hacking. But the press, instead of thoroughly investigating the extent of the damage and excoriating the officials responsible for it, are dripping their findings, while covering up who’s really at fault. The cybersecurity breaches of the past eight years deserve a thorough, competent investigation. If Robert Mueller is anything other than a political hack with an agenda, he should be looking at this main stage event, while also investigating whatever improprieties came out from last year’s election and the financial shenanigans from some of the actors. I am afraid, however, that most people are not interested in the “whole truth.” They just want to be fed stories convenient to propping up their preconceptions. |
Microsoft’s Chinese office has accidentally leaked the Windows 9 logo in a blog post, along with the tag line “Microsoft’s latest OS Windows 9 is coming soon, do you think the start menu at the left bottom will make a come back?”. The post has since been removed but it wasn’t fast enough to avoid screenshots and media reports from circulating. Microsoft has yet to officially comment on Windows 9, codenamed Threshold. However, this leak coincides with recent reports suggesting that the company will release a preview of the updated operating system by the end of September. This is confirmed to be one of Microsoft’s mock up logos, it is possible that it won’t feature on the final product. The upcoming Windows 9 preview for developers and and enterprise users will give us our first look at the new user interface, which is said to feature a metro style start button. The charms bar feature will likely be removed and changes will be made to the way Windows 8 apps interact with the desktop. While the return of the start button will be the main selling point, reports have suggested that Microsoft is also testing its digital assistant, Cortana, on desktop machines- meaning we could see it come to Windows 9 in a future update. Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE. KitGuru Says: Windows 9 looks to be on the way. What will it take to convince you to upgrade? Source: CNbeta |
Ever wake up feeling in tune with your inner Teddy Roosevelt or Ernest Hemingway and think, "I really need to shoot something rare, something exotic, preferably endangered and it's gotta be huge"? Lucky for you, the Dallas Safari Club has you covered. The group, which bills itself as a "gathering point for hunters, conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts," has secured the right to hunt one of Namibia's 1,800 remaining black rhinos. According to the Dallas Observer, which first reported the hunt, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also approved the event. The club's claims of aiding conservation may not be as laughable as they appear on first blush. Ben Carter, director of the Dallas Safari Club, told the Observer that the permit is expected to bring in as much as $750,000, all of which will be going back to the Conservation Trust Fund for Namibia's Black Rhino. Carter has, as one might expect, received a lot of criticism. "People are talking about 'Why don't you do a photo safari?' or whatever. Well, that's great, but people don't pay for that," he told the Observer. According to Save the Rhino International, rhino populations have plummeted from some 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to just 29,000 today. The black rhino has been a big target, with populations falling from 65,000 in 1970 to 2,300 in 1993. The population has bounced back a bit to 5,055 today. We here at Yahoo think there may be some other, less lethal, ways to raise money to save endangered animals. Perhaps supermodel Kate Upton might consider accompanying a lucky bidder on a photo safari to view the animal. Former "The Price Is Right" host Bob Barker just donated $1 million to bring three elephants to an animal sanctuary in California. Has anybody called Bob? Perhaps a straightforward Kickstarter campaign would do. We'd like to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below. |
“New” Child Pat-Down Policy Was Already Announced 8 Months Ago, Was Repeatedly Violated Steve Watson Prisonplanet.com June 23, 2011 With much fan fare this week, TSA head John Pistole announced before the Senate that the agency is changing its policy to stop airport screeners intrusively searching young children. However, we heard almost the exact same announcement last November, yet pat-downs on children have continued regardless. At a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in Washington, Pistole told the members that TSA agents will be instructed to make “repeated efforts” to resolve security screenings without conducting pat downs on children younger than 10 years old. Pistole added that the policy change was spurred by the emergence of the video of 6-year old Anna Drexel, of Bowling Green, Ky., who was subjected to a full grope down by a TSA agent in early April. As we reported at the time, the girl’s parents were forced to watch on in disbelief after being warned by TSA agents not to make a scene or face trouble. During the hearing, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul had harsh words for Pistole about the TSA’s procedures: “This isn’t to say we don’t believe in safety procedures,” Paul said. “But I think I feel less safe when we’re doing these invasive exams on a 6-year-old. It makes me think that you’re clueless, that you think she’s going to attack our country, and that you’re not doing your research on the people who would attack our country.” Pistole responded by claiming that “terrorists around the world have used children as suicide bombers” and that children must be treated by TSA agents according to “risk based security assessments.” A d v e r t i s e m e n t Stock up with Fresh Food that lasts with eFoodsDirect (AD) The Drexel incident represents just one among many others recently where children have been repeatedly touched in intimate areas by TSA agents in the name of security. In one case, the TSA defended the actions of two of it’s agents who were photographed conducting a full body pat down on an eight-month old baby at Kansas City International Airport, saying they were adhering to procedure. All of these incidents and more have caused a wave of public resentment directed toward the TSA. Therefore, according to Pistole, influencing the agency to “change” it’s policy. But hang on one minute here, haven’t we heard this before? Back in November 2010, in response to a flood of complaints following the introduction of the TSA’s “enhanced” pat-down procedure, which instructed agents to touch around breasts and genitals, Pistole announced that the agency had “eliminated pat-downs for children under 12”. “We’ve heard the concerns that have been expressed and agree that children under 12 should not receive that pat-down,” Pistole said on NBC’s Today Show. On November 17, Pistole testified to Congress that “children 12 and under are exempt from the enhanced pat-down”: If that was true, why the need for this latest announcement? Pistole was flat out lying. Indeed, the only “change” to the TSA’s policy is that it now says it will “make every effort” to exempt children under 10, where as before it said all children under 12 were unequivocally exempt. This is why this week’s announcement will ultimately once again mean nothing. Until it is written into law to make TSA grope-downs illegal, there is no safety net against TSA tyranny. We cannot simply take the word of an agency that has repeatedly lied to the public about its actions over and over again. The mainstream media, of course, has uniformly failed to bring attention to this fact, instead packing their articles on the issue with talking points about Osama Bin Laden. Meanwhile in Texas, lawmakers acting to outlaw TSA pat-downs entirely have said that the policy “change” will not affect their efforts in any form. “That’s a step in the right direction,” said Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, adding, however, that he still plans to go forward with his bill, which is scheduled to be considered by the House on Friday. “This legislation is going to protect people’s dignity, and it’s an effort to protect their freedom to travel.” Simpson said. In addition, a lawmaker in yet another state, Idaho, has expressed a desire to follow the lead of Texas and introduce legislation to make intrusive TSA searches a felony. Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, told IdahoReporter.com that he may address search methods in the next legislative session, set to begin in January. “I do plan on revisiting the issue,” said Hart, who unsuccessfully pushed a bill to limit the use of full body scanners at public airports in Idaho in 2010. A growing number of other states, including Utah, New Hampshire and California, have also looked into banning TSA grope-downs. A number of other lobby groups, state and local authorities around the country have also resolved to either block the TSA body scanners or kick the TSA out of airports altogether, including New Jersey, where Republican state Senator Mike Doherty has vowed to push for legislation that will ban both the scanners as well as invasive groping techniques. —————————————————————— Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England. This article was posted: Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 8:55 am Print this page. Infowars.com Videos: Comment on this article |
Show different pictures for each screen as Live Wallpaper. To Use: [Home] > [Menu] > [Wallpaper] > [Live Wallpaper] or create and open shortcut to "MultiPicture Live Wallpaper Setting" Features: * Show pictures from gallery * Show pictures from folder * Show pictures from Web album (need plugin) * Change picture by double tap * Change picture by time interval * Transition effect NOTE: The scrolling depends behavior of the Home application. If scrolling does not work or something strange, try to change workaround option. Or check Home app's settings too. (such as wallpaper scrolling enable/disable, overshoot of scrolling, etc.) NOTE: This does not works properly with home application of the Galaxy S series (ICS) and the HTC Sense 3.X. Because these home applications does not notify right screen position. The source code, the plugin interface and previous versions are available from web site. |
Report: Sen. Collins only opposed DeVos once she knew her vote wouldn’t matter According to Republican sources quoted by Politico, Maine Senator Susan Collins waited to announce her opposition to Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Education, until she knew “the rest of the votes for DeVos were locked up.” If the current vote count holds, DeVos will be confirmed on Monday, with Vice President Mike Pence potentially casting a tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate. Collins had previously cast two deciding votes along party lines in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to advance DeVos’ nomination to the consideration by the full body. At that point, Maine’s other U.S. Senator, independent Angus King, had already declared his opposition. While many Maine progressives have praised Collins for her position on the final vote, with the Maine Education Association releasing a statement saying their members were “grateful,” some have criticized what they see as a cynical political ploy. “Do not praise Senator Collins for opposing the DeVos nomination. This is calculated. She has a vote count. She knows her vote won’t be consequential and is appeasing those who flooded her office with calls,” wrote Rep. Ryan Fecteau, a Democratic state legislator from Biddeford, in a public Facebook post on Wednesday night. “If she wanted to oppose DeVos and represent the thousands of Mainers who support public education, she would have voted against DeVos in committee, thus preventing the nomination.” “ Related: We can’t let Sen. Collins trick us anymore |
Two construction workers are dead after a water main break in the South End flooded a trench in which they were working Friday, officials said. Several workers, who were from a private construction crew, were in a 12-foot trench when it began to fill with water around 10 Dartmouth St., near the corner of Tremont Street in the South End. The scene of the water main break Friday in the South End (Courtesy Elizabeth Moses via Twitter) A response team spent hours vacuuming water and clearing the trench Friday afternoon. On Twitter, the Boston Fire Department described the operation as "very difficult" as the team worked in a trench box on their knees removing dirt by hand to recover the bodies. The first body was recovered around 6:30 p.m. and the second shortly after 8 p.m. Both Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Police Commissioner Evans were on the scene Friday afternoon. "It looks like somehow a pipe must have broken and unfortunately, they were not able to get themselves out of the hole," Evans said, adding that officials are still investigating what happened. Boston Police, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office will be investigating the cause of the deadly incident, according to the fire department. Walsh expressed his concern for the two workers killed. "My thoughts and prayers are with these two people's families and everyone's family," Walsh said to reporters on site. "Construction is a dangerous job. We're working really hard right now to get these people out." The names of the two workers have not been made public. Workers clear out a trench that flooded from a water main break. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) The recovery team on Dartmouth Street. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) With reporting by WBUR's Delores Handy and The Associated Press |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney received no immediate boost to his White House bid by naming U.S. Representative Paul Ryan as vice presidential running mate, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R) and his wife Ann (2nd R) wave to supporters together with his running mate U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) (2nd L) and Ryan's wife Janna during a campaign event in Ashland, Virginia August 11, 2012 file photo. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/Files Some 51 percent of those surveyed said the decision did not change their opinion of Romney, a former private-equity executive and Massachusetts governor who will face President Barack Obama in the November 6 election. Another 26 percent in the online poll said they viewed Romney more favorably after he added the 42-year-old Wisconsin congressman to the ticket on Saturday, while 23 percent said they viewed him less favorably. The survey of 508 registered voters was conducted for Reuters from August 11 to August 13. Ryan is a polarizing figure in Washington, where he has led his party’s push to cut domestic spending, lower taxes and scale back the size of the federal government as chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee. A hero to conservatives, Ryan has given Romney a jolt of energy on the campaign trail after several difficult weeks marked by gaffes and continued questions about his personal finances. The two men basked in the cheers of thousands of supporters at campaign stops in North Carolina on Sunday. But Ryan remains largely unknown to the wider public. While 80 percent of those surveyed said they had at least heard of Ryan, only 35 percent said they were familiar with him. Some 42 percent said they did not know whether he was qualified or not to be president - a higher percentage than the 33 percent who said he was not qualified and the 26 percent who said he was. One warning sign for the Romney campaign: by a margin of 44 percent to 29 percent, voters said the incumbent vice president, Joe Biden, was more qualified than Ryan to serve as president if the need arose. “He’s fairly unknown in who he is and what he stands for,” said Ipsos vice president Julia Clark. “He’s a Wisconsin congressman, not a nationally known figure.” That is likely to change in the coming weeks as Ryan campaigns across the country to build enthusiasm among grass-roots conservatives while Democrats attack his budget plan as one that would gut programs for the elderly and the poor. The precision of the Reuters/Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points for all respondents. Ryan’s signature proposal would change the popular Medicare health plan for the elderly into a voucher program that would give future retirees a fixed amount of money to buy traditional Medicare insurance or competing private plans. Ryan says that approach would rein in spiraling medical costs that threaten the program’s solvency in coming decades. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that one version of Ryan’s plan, passed by the House last year, would increase retiree’s out-of-pocket medical costs by about $6,400 annually. Democrats argue that the plan would end guaranteed medical coverage for seniors, and have made it a centerpiece of their effort to win back control of the House. With Ryan now on the Republican ticket, independent analysts say it could hurt Romney’s chances of winning in retiree-heavy states like Florida. But Ryan’s plan might not be as toxic as Democrats think. Between 54 percent and 49 percent of voters surveyed in a June 2011 Reuters/Ipsos poll said would support a Medicare voucher plan, depending on how the question was worded, with relatively little difference in support between Democrats and Republicans. |
FLINT TWP., Michigan -- A church that wears its non-traditional outlook on its sleeve is making its mark on the arms, legs and backs of parishioners and others who ask for it. The Bridge, an upstart church built on the belief that mainstream religion has become ineffective and irrelevant to most people, has opened a Genesee County-licensed tattoo parlor — Serenity Tattoo — inside its doors. Just down the hall from the Rev. Steve Bentley's office and around the corner from the galvanized watering trough used for baptisms, tattoo artists Ryan Brown and Drew Blaisdell are plying their trade by appointment or from noon until 8 p.m., Monday-Saturday. "I was running my own studio. I was just working. There wasn't much purpose in it," said Brown, 32, a recovering alcoholic who said the atmosphere inside the church building has helped to keep him focused and on the right path. "I was struggling with whether I could keep my studio" and stay sober, he said. "I prayed a lot and decided the best thing was to close it and come to the church. I figured I could have a lot more positive impact" here. Bentley said he's doing everything he can, tatto parlor included, to open The Bridge to people who have never felt comfortable at a traditional house of worship. The church owns 30,000 square feet inside Carman Plaza shopping center, located just northeast of Corunna Road and I-75. "The tattoo is a really prominent art form in our culture today," said Bentley, who has two tattoos himself, one of which was done in church. "I don't think it should be owned by a culture of drug abuse and pornography." Bentley said he has heard whispers of criticism from outside the church about the mixing of tattooing with a place of worship, but the pastor said he considers it a "morally neutral" practice — no different than pierced ears. "We are about doing church in a different way and being relevant to people," he said. "You can get a tattoo in a clean environment. You can do it while still sticking to your moral code." Bentley opened The Bridge in 2008 at its current location and it has survived and grown since even though large pieces of the real estate remain undeveloped. It offers a "celebrate recovery" service from 6-9 p.m. Saturdays as well as 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. services on Sundays. Blaisdell, 46, of Clayton Township, found The Bridge was the kind of fellowship he needed after he reunited with Brown after having not seen him for 10 years. "I was at an AA meeting in Flushing. I was at the end of my rope," Blaisdell said, when he heard Brown was also in recovery and had begun tattooing inside The Bridge. A few months later, Blaisdell was working with Brown and was baptized in the church where he now works. "It was almost like a miracle," Blaisdell said of his situation. "I was an atheist ... who just didn't care about anything. The appealing thing to me is, I'm dealing with so many people who are recovery based. It's kind of brought us all together." That's the kind of match Bentley is building his ministry on. Born in Flint and raised in Linden, the pastor was a high school dropout who went on to put himself through college by working as an auto mechanic. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in theology from Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois and ordained in 1999. He earned a master's degree in 2006 from American Intercontinental University. Bentley said he isn't concerned that other churches wouldn't consider supporting many of the activities he has by allowing the use of the church building, including tattooing, cage fighting, wrestling and auto repair. The church is also used for meetings of Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous. "We don't want a million-dollar building that's only used a few times a week," he said. "That's such a waste of what God has given us. We really try to serve the community." Brown said the tattoo business is traditionally associated with a "negative environment," including drug use, and he sees the chance to provide the same service in "a safe, positive environment." He and Blaisdell said they won’t fill requests for tattoos that glorify drugs, gangs or the Devil. They can be reached at 810-620-5609. "I used to be a non-believer," Brown said. "I hit bottom and I grabbed onto the church." |
Quote: Originally Posted by andy I believe the VTX-1100 tunes to channel 125 and is otherwise the same and the VTX-1000. There was a BIG problem with failing caps in the DC-DC converter circuit in the VTX tuners. I can't remember the locations and values, but there are 5 or 6 that I usually change. Symptoms range from wiggling on-screen display to humming and patterns, and non-startup. The caps are mainly under a metal can. Charles Yes... I have a few of the 1100s in service, and they go at least into the 100s. It wouldn't be practical to modify the 1000. There are also several newer versions of Sony component tuners which were meant to go with the PVM series monitors; made up through the late 90s at least. They have no DIN plug, but they do have the CONTROL S socket so the remote will control the KX monitors.There was a BIG problem with failing caps in the DC-DC converter circuit in the VTX tuners. I can't remember the locations and values, but there are 5 or 6 that I usually change. Symptoms range from wiggling on-screen display to humming and patterns, and non-startup. The caps are mainly under a metal can.Charles __________________ Collecting & restoring TVs in Los Angeles since age 10 |
Lawsuit Says Some Immigrants Are Locked Up Because They're Poor Every day hundreds of immigrants — asylum seekers, legal residents and some here illegally — are being incarcerated at taxpayer expense after they've been ordered released because they are too poor to pay the cash bond set by the federal government, according to a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and other civil rights groups against the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Poverty or lack of financial resources should not deprive a person of his or her freedom while in civil immigration proceedings," said Michael Kaufman, an ACLU staff attorney. "Such detention violates the due process and equal protection guarantees of the Fifth Amendment, the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Bail Clause and immigration laws." The suit alleges that ICE and immigration judges are not required to consider whether an immigrant is able to pay the bond, or that the government insists that an immigrant post a cash bond. The suit argues that authorities don't consider whether alternative forms of supervision (such as electronic monitoring) in combination with a lower bond amount would reduce the flight risk. In the criminal justice system, a defendant awaiting trial is generally entitled to be released on bail. Judges weigh that individual's community ties and ability to pay when setting the amount. Defendants are also allowed to post a deposit bond (in which they post just a percentage of the full amount) and property can be offered in lieu of a full bond amount as security. According to the lawsuit, the Justice Department is already on record "calling for an end to the over-reliance on monetary bond, fines, fees, and other financial constraints that disproportionately affect low income individuals in the criminal justice system. However, the federal government's immigration detention policies practices suffer from the same flaws." The suit was filed on behalf of immigrants such as 37-year-old Cesar Matias, who is seeking asylum from his native Honduras. He was ordered released on a $3,000 bond in November 2012, but he is unable to pay it. At three subsequent hearings, the courts have refused to reduce the bond or consider any other alternative. He has been detained for more than 3 1/2 years. The suit alleges that by setting bond the government has already determined that immigrants like Matias do not pose a threat to the community. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment on the lawsuit. |
The Kremlin chief came to Venezuela's rescue this week by agreeing to restructure £2.27bn of the crisis-hit country's debt to Moscow. And according to Russian media, Mr Putin is now looking to strike a deal to keep Russia's warships at ports in Venezuela. Under the proposed payback agreement, the vessels would be kept in the socialist state for up to 15 days at a time. The alliance would likely infuriate the United States, which has recently imposed harsh economic sanctions on Venezuela. Donald Trump's administration has branded his counterpart Nicolas Maduro a "dictator" and called for the end of his "illegitimate rule". Venezuela's overall debt is estimated at £90bn – the legacy of disastrous hard-left economic policies under Hugo Chavez and successor Mr Maduro. The country is now teetering on the brink of declaring itself bankrupt. GETTY Russia has agreed to restructure £2.27bn of the Venezuela's debt to Moscow Vladimir Putin as you've never seen him before Tue, August 1, 2017 Before rising to power as one of the most infamous leaders in the world, Putin was a playful, hipster-dressing man in love Play slideshow Avalon.red 1 of 38 Vladimir Putin as a young man. Photographed in 1983 The Venezuelans have been pushing very hard on the Russians Risa Grais-Targow But Russia's assistance is expected to ease the financial burden and shore up Mr Maduro's position. Risa Grais-Targow, from political risk firm Eurasia Group, said: "Clearly the Venezuelans have been looking for relief anywhere they can get it. "And at this point Russia is their most viable source of financing. "The Venezuelans have been pushing very hard on the Russians." GETTY Vladimir Putin is looking for payback by keeping Russian warships in Venezuela Anton Siluanov, Moscow's Finance Minister, said earlier this week: "We have an agreement on debt restructuring with Venezuela. "The first part includes pretty favourable terms with a small sum due for repayment so that it's manageable for our Venezuelan colleagues." The deadline for the warship deal to be agreed is Wednesday. GETTY Russia's aid is expected to ease the financial burden faced by the socialist state |
Wednesday will mark the 10th birthday of Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism advocacy organization. To celebrate, Autism Speaks encouraged its 168,000 Twitter followers and 1.5 million Facebook fans to use the hashtag #AutismSpeaks10 to share "how AS has touched your life." Instead of heartwarming stories of gratitude, the hashtag has sparked hundreds of angry missives from autistic people and their supporters who say Autism Speaks does not speak for them. "It really came out of the autistic Twittersphere, which saw this as an opportunity to highlight the fact that Autism Speaks' 10 years of existence have, in fact, made things worse for us, not better," Ari Ne'eman, president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, told BuzzFeed News. Its detractors claim that Autism Speaks portrays autism as a frightening disease in desperate need of a cure. Some are also angry that the organization has no autistic people in positions of senior leadership, and say that it doesn't put enough of its ample resources toward programs that will improve their everyday lives. This is only the latest scuffle in a long-running controversy among scientists, advocates, and policy makers about the nature of autism, a developmental disorder that is characterized by difficulties in communication and social interactions, as well as repetitive behaviors and sensory sensitivities. Despite these challenges, many autistic people say that the condition is not a scourge to be eliminated, but rather an integral part of their identity. "We've never felt like there's a conflict between autism as an identity and acknowledging autism as a disability," Ne'eman said. Autism Speaks declined an interview request from BuzzFeed News. "We celebrate every person with autism, and every person, even those who are proudly able to advocate for themselves, deserves fairness when it comes to housing, employment and insurance reform," the organization wrote in an emailed statement. "At the same time, our efforts never cease in the support of people in need of an advocate, and the funding of research that will help all those who are struggling with autism." Autism Speaks has retweeted about a dozen positive messages for #AutismSpeaks10, including one from the actor Ed Asner, who has five family members with autism. |
Government to announce an estimated £100m to restore services scrapped as part of drive to encourage recycling Councils are to be offered an estimated £100m to reinstate weekly household rubbish collections cut as part of a drive to encourage more recycling. The move, which is likely to infuriate environmental campaigners, follows widespread complaints that fortnightly collections have led to a rise in fly-tipping and concerns over vermin and hygiene. The scheme, which government officials will be announcing soon, the Daily Telegraph reported, is expected to be included in a review of waste disposal to be published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It is said to mirror a similar plan introduced this year to encourage local authorities to freeze council tax. A Defra spokesman confirmed the review will be published shortly, but described the Telegraph report as "speculation". "We won't comment on speculation about the final detail of the waste review. It is important that the right policies are in place to help communities and businesses reduce waste and maximise recovery of materials through recycling." The government has for some time been urging councils to abandon fortnightly refuse collections despite claims it would lead to 1m extra tonnes of recyclable material being sent to landfill each year and would jeopardise the UK's ability to meet EU environmental targets. More than 170 English councils have fortnightly collections of "black bag" rubbish. Evidence shows less frequent collections encourage people to recycle more in order to avoid over-filling their bins. An analysis by Defra's waste quango Wrap, has suggested that if weekly collections were reintroduced, the amount of paper, plastic and cans put out for recycling could drop by 30-46kg per household per annum. But earlier this year, Eric Pickles, the local government secretary, warned councils operating fortnightly collections that they risked creating an "army of angry middle England" if they did not give them something back for paying their council taxes. In January, Pickles told a local government conference: "We need to remember that rubbish is the most visible and most frontline service of all in return for what they now pay – the best part of £120 a month in council tax." |
In the Learn app, we need to accept purchaseable items (books, screencasts, workshops, plans, and so on) as a parameter in several places. Because we’re using Rails’ polymorphic_path under the hood, these parameters come in based on the resource name, such as book_id or workshop_id . However, we need to treat them all as “purchaseables” when users are making purchases, so we need a way to find one of several possible models from one of several possible parameter names in PurchasesController and a few other places. The logic for finding these purchaseables was previously on ApplicationController : def requested_purchaseable if product_param Product . find ( product_param ) elsif params [ :individual_plan_id ] IndividualPlan . where ( sku: params [ :individual_plan_id ]). first elsif params [ :team_plan_id ] TeamPlan . where ( sku: params [ :team_plan_id ]). first elsif params [ :section_id ] Section . find ( params [ :section_id ]) else raise "Could not find a purchaseable object from given params: #{ params } " end end def product_param params [ :product_id ] || params [ :screencast_id ] || params [ :book_id ] || params [ :show_id ] end This method was problematic in a few ways: ApplicationController is a typical junk drawer, and it’s unwise to feed it. is a typical junk drawer, and it’s unwise to feed it. The method grew in complexity as we added more purchaseables to the application. Common problems, such as raising exceptions for bad IDs, could not be implemented in a generic fashion. Testing ApplicationController methods is awkward. methods is awkward. Testing the current implementation of the method was repetitious. While fixing a bug in this method, I decided to roll up my sleeves and use a few new objects to clean up this mess. The new method in ApplicationController now simply composes and delegates to a new object I created: def requested_purchaseable PolymorphicFinder . finding ( Section , :id , [ :section_id ]). finding ( TeamPlan , :sku , [ :team_plan_id ]). finding ( IndividualPlan , :sku , [ :individual_plan_id ]). finding ( Product , :id , [ :product_id , :screencast_id , :book_id , :show_id ]). find ( params ) end The class composed and delegates to two small, private classes: # Finds one of several possible polymorphic members from params based on a list # of relations to look in and attributes to look for. # # Each polymorphic member will be tried in turn. If an ID is present that # doesn't correspond to an existing row, or if none of the possible IDs are # present in the params, an exception will be raised. class PolymorphicFinder def initialize ( finder ) @finder = finder end def self . finding ( * args ) new ( NullFinder . new ). finding ( * args ) end def finding ( relation , attribute , param_names ) new_finder = param_names . inject ( @finder ) do | fallback , param_name | Finder . new ( relation , attribute , param_name , fallback ) end self . class . new ( new_finder ) end def find ( params ) @finder . find ( params ) end private class Finder def initialize ( relation , attribute , param_name , fallback ) @relation = relation @attribute = attribute @param_name = param_name @fallback = fallback end def find ( params ) if id = params [ @param_name ] @relation . where ( @attribute => id ). first! else @fallback . find ( params ) end end end class NullFinder def find ( params ) raise ( ActiveRecord :: RecordNotFound , "Can't find a polymorphic record without an ID: #{ params . inspect } " ) end end private_constant :Finder , :NullFinder end The new class was much simpler to test. It’s also easy to add new purchaseable types without introducing unnecessary complexity or risking regressions. The solution uses a number of constructs and design patterns, and may be a little tricky for those unfamiliar with them: It works like this: The PolymorphicFinder class acts as a Builder for the Finder interface. It accepts initialize arguments for Finder , and encapsulates the logic of chaining them together. class acts as a Builder for the interface. It accepts arguments for , and encapsulates the logic of chaining them together. The finding instance method of PolymorphicFinder uses inject to recursively build a chain of Finder instances for each of the param_names that the Finder should look for. instance method of uses to recursively build a chain of instances for each of the that the should look for. Each Finder in the chain accepts a fallback. In the event that the Finder doesn’t know how to find anything from the given params, it delegates to its fallback. This forms a Chain of Responsibility. in the chain accepts a fallback. In the event that the doesn’t know how to find anything from the given params, it delegates to its fallback. This forms a Chain of Responsibility. The first Finder is initialized with a NullFinder , which forms the last resort of the Chain of Responsibility. In the event that every Finder instance delegates to its fallback, it will delegate to the NullFinder , which will raise a useful error of the correct Exception subclass. is initialized with a , which forms the last resort of the Chain of Responsibility. In the event that every instance delegates to its fallback, it will delegate to the , which will raise a useful error of the correct subclass. The PolymorphicFinder class also acts as a Decorator for the Finder interface. Once the Builder interaction is complete, you can call find on the PolymorphicFinder (just as you would for a regular Finder ) and it will delegate to the first Finder in its chain. The new code replaces conditional logic and special cases with polymorphism, making it easier to change. The usage (in ApplicationController ) is much easier to read and modify. ) is much easier to read and modify. Adding or changing finders is less likely to introduce regressions, since common issues like blank or unknown IDs are handled generically. The code avoids possible state vs identity bugs by avoiding mutation. The new code is larger, both in terms of lines of code and overall complexity by any measure. It uses a large number of design patterns that will be confusing to those that are unfamiliar with them, or to those that fail to recognize them quickly. It introduces new words into the application vocabulary. Although naming things can reveal their intent, too many names can cause vocabulary overload and make it difficult for readers to hold the problem in their head long enough to understand it. In summary, using the new code is easier, but understanding the details may be harder. Although each piece is less complex, the big picture is more complex. This means that you can understand ApplicationController without knowing how it works, but knowing how the whole thing fits together will take longer. The heavy use of design patterns will make the code very easy to read at a macro level when the patterns are recognized, but will read more like a recursive puzzle when the patterns aren’t clear. Overall, the ease of use and the improve resilience to bugs made me decide to keep this refactoring despite its overall complexity. Okay, maybe not 3D, but Ben and I also discussed this in a video on our show, the Weekly Iteration, available to Upcase subscribers. If you found this useful, you might also enjoy: |
lolo1977 , I like the content, but is it really worth it? I don’t have cable so I rely on internet and apps for my Movie and Series entertainment. I have had some of the more popular apps for years, and am currently able to play those apps with no problems at all. The HBO Now app is inconsistent. Some days it works fine and I can get through a movie or show with out a glitch. Other days, the movie or show will have to re-load or “think” every 15-minutes or so. I find this frustrating since I don’t have this issues with my other apps. I pay more for HBO Now than I do for the other apps that don’t have this issue. Because of this, I’m contemplating getting rid of it. I don’t know that the app is worth the frustration. I can always find the shows and Movies another way. Developer Response , Hi, apologies for the streaming difficulties. Please try the following steps on your iOS device: itsh.bo/NOW-Apple-iOS. If you're still receiving error messages after following these steps, please reach out to us here: itsh.bo/NOW-request for further assistance. Thank you. ^HBO NOW Customer Support. |
SANTA CRUZ (Reuters) - Venezuela’s PDVSA is in talks with Russia’s Rosneft, Italy’s Eni, Spain’s Repsol and Norway’s Statoil to get credit for oil and gas projects, a company executive said on Wednesday, in a bid to reverse a slump in output to an almost 30-year low. FILE PHOTO: The corporate logo of the state oil company PDVSA is seen at a gas station in Caracas, Venezuela November 16, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello Venezuela and state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PDVSA [PDVSA.UL], are seeking fresh funding as the country works to refinance $60 billion of debt in the face of U.S. sanctions against what the White House calls President Nicolas Maduro’s “dictatorship.” “We are speaking to our allies, with our strategic partners, which are Rosneft, Eni, Repsol, Statoil, and they are willing to continue working with us, to continue financing our projects to boost crude and gas output in the short-term,” Cesar Triana, PDVSA’s vice president for gas, told Reuters. Rosneft, ENI, Repsol and Statoil could not immediately be reached for comment. As the government struggles to get funds for debt payments, little money is available to maintain and repair PDVSA’s oil operations. Venezuela’s overall crude output declined in October to less than 2 million barrels per day (bpd), the lowest since 1989, according to government data reported to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Output has declined year-on-year since 2012. Venezuela aims to boost oil output by 500,000 bpd next year, Triana said on the sidelines of a gas exporter meeting in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Venezuela has failed to meet its own ambitious production targets in recent years. In August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting banks from inking fresh debt deals with the Venezuelan government or its state oil company, accelerating the South American nation’s slide into what two credit rating agencies have declared as a partial default. Triana said that the sanctions are mainly affecting the daily movement of payments, since banks have been refusing to accept dollars from Venezuela and PDVSA. Venezuela is negotiating with customers to switch the payment currency for some oil supply contracts from the dollars to the Chinese yuan and the Russian rouble as a way to sidestep limited access to the U.S. financial system, he said. PDVSA is also seeking financing from China and Russia, he said. Venezuela and Russia this month signed a $3.15 billion refinancing deal, which will reduce due payments in the coming decade. But the deal excluded $6 billion of PDVSA’s outstanding debt to state-run oil firm Rosneft. Russia has become Venezuela’s lender of last resort in recent years, providing cash to shore up Maduro’s administration. Triana said Venezuela’s efforts to restructure debt were going well, since most creditors are concentrated in China, Russia, and part of Europe. “We are the best payers in the world,” he said, citing payments of over $70 billion to bondholders and creditors in recent years. “However, given these sanctions, we are going through cash flow problems and that is why we need to ease the burden a little on debt payments in the short term by extending it into the longer term,” he said. Triana also said that several oil service companies last year agreed to swap overdue service fees for promissory notes extended by PDVSA. That limited the impact that unpaid fees to the firms had on Venezuela’s oil and gas operations, he said. “They remain in the country, working with us,” Triana said referring to oil service providers Schlumberger and Halliburton. |
According to survey after survey, Comcast is one of the least liked companies in America. And now, according to multiple reports, the company may soon make its way to our friends across the pond — though thankfully, perhaps, not as an Internet service provider. According to reports from British news sites, Comcast and its NBCUniversal division are considering an acquisition of UK broadcaster ITV. The deal would be valued at more than $16 billion, if the rumors are accurate, and it would give Comcast control of one of the fastest-growing broadcasters in Britain. MUST READ: A simple idea that will make Comcast’s data cap much more consumer-friendly UK-based news site Advanced Television reports that Comcast’s NBCUniversal is mulling a bid of nearly $16.4 billion for ITV, which is one of the four major broadcast networks in the country. In the United States, readers may recognize the name as the home to the hit British period series Downtown Abbey, the sixth and final season of which is set to premiere on January 3rd. FierceCable notes that both Comcast and ITV have declined to comment, but the report follows a number of rumors that suggested Comcast is currently on the hunt for a major deal following the collapse of its bid to merge with Time Warner Cable. Earlier rumors have suggested that both T-Mobile and Yahoo could be potential takeover targets for Comcast. ITV has long been rumored to be a possible acquisition target for a number of firms, and Jon Malone’s Liberty Media currently owns a 9.9% stake, up from the initial 6.4% stake the company bought in mid-2014. Liberty Media has confirmed that it does not intend to bid to acquire ITV, which has seen its stock price rise 400% since current CEO Adam Crozier took the reins. UPDATE: Comcast spokesman John Demming told Philly.com that reports suggesting the company is considering an ITV bid are “just completely inaccurate.” |
(Image: © Ethan Miller/Getty Images) According to several reports, Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose might be filling in for AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson for the remainder of the venerable Australian band's tour. AC/DC recently rescheduled a few U.S. dates after Johnson was warned by doctors to "stop touring immediately or risk total hearing loss." The group even issued a statement confirming that the remaining dates of their U.S. tour will be "made up later in the year, likely with a guest vocalist." Well, as Alternative Nation is reporting, Jason Bailey, an Atlanta disc jockey, has claimed that a "very very good source" informed him that Rose will join AC/DC for the rest of their tour dates after being "flown in" to Atlanta to audition with the band. "This is what I’m being told; Axl was meeting with AC/DC, because it’s all but a done deal that Axl will front AC/DC for the 10 remaining shows. All 10, including Atlanta," Atlanta Radio 100.5 DJ is quoted as saying. "From what I was told, this was all kind of new inside information to me, Angus [Young] is a very black and white guy," he added. "He’s like, Brian, for health reasons, can’t continue fronting the band. He was supposed to retire after the last tour, so they wanted to continue going out on the road and continue making music, so if you can’t do it, we appreciate your services, but the show must go on. They’re in town, they were auditioning people for the job, and then they flew Axl in. Again, this is from my source." Johnson has been AC/DC’s lead vocalist since 1980. He joined the group following the death of Bon Scott. Meanwhile, the "classic"-era lineup of Guns N' Roses is set to reunite this summer for a slew of dates, including Coachella next month. Stay tuned for updates on this story. Stranger things have happened, folks! |
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Sunday accused the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal of turning the state into a safe haven for anti-national and jihadi activities.Citing the October 2 blast in Burdwan in West Bengal and alleged recovery of IEDs , mobile devices and jihadi literature from the house of a TMC worker, the party charged the state government with destroying the evidence and not handing it over to the National Investigation Agency ( NIA ) for probe.BJP secretary Siddharth Nath Singh alleged that the Burdwan police instead of handing over to the NIA the materials recovered, took away the entire evidence and destroyed it.Posing questions to Banerjee, he sought clarifications on whether or not the house from where the recoveries were made belonged to a TMC cadre "Did it not have a TMC office on the ground floor?" he asked. Attacking Banerjee, the BJP leader charged her with protecting those who stood accused of laundering money.West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. (TOI Photo)"We can safely conclude that West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee's rule has become a safe haven for anti-national elements and Jihadi activities," Singh said.Two suspected militants were killed and another was injured in the explosion in the house where they were living on October 2 in Burdwan town. The CID of West Bengal police is looking into possible involvement of terror outfits like LeT and HuJI in the incident. |
There have been a couple of Google poll results released but I don’t put much stock in them since they are still self-selected polls. I’m not sure that a known pollster has released any results before now. April 25, 2017 Emerson College Poll: Greg Gianforte (R) coasts with double-digit lead in MT congressional race. Voters show favorable opinion of Donald Trump, strong support of Keystone XL pipeline. BOSTON, MA A new poll shows Republican Greg Gianforte ahead of Democrat Rob Quist in the race for Montana’s newly vacant congressional seat. Gianforte yields 52% of the vote to Quist’s 37%. Libertarian Mark Wicks takes 5% of the vote, while 7% of Montana voters remain undecided. Since Montana has only one congressional district, this will be the first statewide election since President Trump took office. snip… |
Aliko Dangote is ranked 67th on the Forbes rich list with an estimated wealth of £11.5bn Africa's richest businessman says he is planning a bid to buy Arsenal. Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote believes the building of an oil refinery in his homeland will give him the finance to secure a takeover. The 58-year-old, who has an estimated wealth of £11.5bn, says he has supported the Gunners since the 1980s. "When we get this refinery on track, I will have enough time and enough resources to pay what they are asking for," he told BBC Hausa. American Stan Kroenke is Arsenal's majority shareholder, owning 67.02% of the club's parent company Arsenal Holdings plc. Russian-Uzbek Alisher Usmanov owns 30.04% with the remainder of the 62,217 shares held by minority shareholders including former players and the Arsenal Supporters' Trust, who own three. Dangote is ranked 67th on the Forbes rich list. He had previously been interested in purchasing the 15.9% stake sold to Kroenke for £123m by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith in April 2011 only to pull out. "There were a couple of us who were rushing to buy, and we thought with the prices then, the people who were interested in selling were trying to go for a kill," Dangote added. "We backtracked, because we were very busy doing other things, especially our industrialisation." Dangote believes Arsenal require a different ownership in order to be more successful on the pitch. He added: "They are doing well, but they need another strategic direction. They need more direction than the current situation, where they just develop players and sell them." |
Thursday on ABC’s The View, the panel had a heated discussion about the Trump Administration’s planned move to repeal the ObamaCare universal mandate that employers provide birth control to their employees under their company’s health insurance plans. This decision was praised by religious and conservative groups, but the women at The View were not having it, comparing the move to Sharia law. “You can’t hide behind religion to restrict other people’s rights!” host Jedediah Bila slammed. “You’re almost punishing us for having ovaries,” fellow host Sara Haines added. Joy Behar asked, “How is it different from the Taliban?” adding, “Let’s not forget they are trying to keep women in their place, barefoot and pregnant.” The discussion started with host Whoopi Goldberg asking if repealing the mandate was, “[K]inda imposing your beliefs on your workers?” Sara Haines first responded by saying that the right was trying to take away women’s options by “punishing” them. SARA HAINES: It's also a bit of conflict for them to say this. You want to remove funding from places like Planned Parenthood that allows for family planning and decisions... You're not giving them options to make the right decision if you are pulling -- you're almost punishing us for having ovaries. Jedediah Bila then went on a rant about how many women need contraception for medical reasons, not to avoid pregnancy. What Bila failed to note is that Catholics do not morally oppose hormonal contraception for medical reasons, and many religious organizations willingly make allowances for this already. Haines agreed with Bila, pointing out that many adult women who are married use birth control and use it so they can “do the Biblical thing.” HAINES: The other thing is that everyone has an image of a teenage girl that needs to go secretly and be on birth control. Many of the people on birth control are women like me in their 30s. That are trying to maintain a marriage and do “that biblical thing” and know what their limits are. On that point, Hostin argued that free birth control under ObamaCare lowered abortion rates so Christians should be all for it, in theory: HOSTIN: What was surprising to me was Christians and evangelicals and people of faith is that they are supportive of this rolling back of contraception for women, but what they don't understand is because of this Obama mandate, abortion was lowest for the first time since 1970. BEHAR: Simple studies show that free birth control lowers abortion rates by a range of 62% to 78%. HOSTIN: So if you are someone of faith that says you're pro-life, then you should be supportive of people using birth control. Whoopi and Jedediah Bila then attacked religion, hilariously arguing that people should “take responsibility for their own lives,”.... by forcing their employer to pay for their own birth control. Joy Behar added to the nuttiness by asking if Christians were the same as the “Taliban.” WHOOPI: How about this? Do what you need to do for your family. Let me do what I need to do for mine, and we'll all be fine. I don't understand. [applause] BILA: You can't hide behind religion to restrict other people's rights. That is not okay. WHOOPI: That's done all the time. We saw it when people said, we can't have gay people adopting. BILA: That's right. That's wrong too. It's wrong. BEHAR: How is it different from the Taliban I’d like to know. WHOOPI: I just feel that you have to -- at some point, you have to take responsibility for your life, and a lot of people are saying, this is what I need, and you're saying it doesn't matter what you need. I want you to believe how I believe. Whoopi then followed up on Behar’s Taliban comment, asking what the difference was between our culture and Islam when it came to women’s rights: WHOOPI: I said this before. I'm going to say it again. With all these rollbacks and all the things we hear, what's the difference between us and the people we're fighting? BEHAR: Nothing. WHOOPI: What's the difference? [ Applause ] BEHAR: That's what I'm saying. It's to keep women down also. Let's not forget they are trying to keep women in their place. Barefoot and pregnant. <<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>> As if that wasn’t enough, the panel came back after the commercial break to continue talking about it, this time with host Sunny Hostin playing the part of the social conservative who argued that she didn’t want her tax dollars going to pay for people’s birth control. Whoopi became increasingly angry as the discussion went on, repeatedly attacking religious organizations for getting tax breaks. She spewed, “If you are going to operate like everybody else, you don't get the tax breaks. Stay out of [bleep!]” HOSTIN: The argument you hear from people of faith is, if that's what you want to do, that's fine. I don't want my tax dollars going towards that. WHOOPI: This is not about your tax dollars. This is about -- HOSTIN: I don't want the government involved. HAINES: It's obligated insurance money. WHOOPI: This is totally different. This is not government funded. This is what you pay in at your job. This allows companies to say, if you are a faith-based company, you don't have to do this. So I say if you are a faith-based company, you should not get any tax breaks. [applause] How about that? If you are going to operate -- if you aren’t going to operate like everybody else, you don't get the tax breaks. Stay out of [bleeped out] [applause] HOSTIN: This was a government mandate. This was an Affordable Care Act birth control mandate. So there is government action there. BEHAR: You're talking about Obama who was a Progressive president, to this guy, who is a total throwback to the '50s. BILA: I'm a limited government girl. People who are saying this don't understand this drug is oftentimes not just taken for contraception. They don't understand it. [cross-talk] HOSTIN to Bila: Ok but what’s the percentage of it? BEHAR to Bila: That’s not an argument! BILA: I'm sure a lot of them are watching and saying, if there are medical reasons- drugs on the market -- I don't care how many it is. BEHAR: The majority of women need it for birth control and not to regulate their periods. After more disagreement, Whoopi argued that paying for other people’s birth control was similar to having to pay taxes that went to war. She then repeatedly stated that religious organizations shouldn’t get tax exemptions if they wanted to get involved in political matters: WHOOPI: If you want people to be responsible for having children and they are married, this is what they need. Okay? This is what they need. I don't want to pay for the 12- 15-year war we have been in, but there are things I have to do as an American. What I would like is everybody to pay their fair share. That would make me happy. [ Applause ] But as a religious group, if you are going to talk politics as a religious group, you don't get a tax break. Sorry. Because the whole point was that you go to church to talk to God. You do your thing. You're not there to hear the priest's opinion or minister's opinion of who is the right person, that’s not why you go to church. And if that is the reason you're going, all you megachurch, give up your money. Give it up. Because you can't -- you can't -- you can't have it both ways. People either have to be responsible and in charge and you have to say, listen. I understand you're a Catholic woman, but you don’t want to have 50 kids you don't want to do that. Hostin again tried to represent the conservative view against the rest of the panel, arguing that a Catholic school would be seen as condoning birth control if they let their employees have it in their healthcare plans. Whoopi and Bila couldn’t concede that point, and it ended with Whoopi attacking Hostin in an enraged rant painting Christians as bigots: |
Listen to the latest episode of Billboard.com's weekly charts breakdown. Welcome to the latest episode of the Billboard.com Pop Shop Podcast , Billboard's weekly half-hour audio breakdown of the Billboard charts, hottest music news and year's biggest musical events. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard.com associate editor Jason Lipshutz and Billboard co-director of charts Keith Caulfield every Thursday on the free Pop Shop Podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in iTunes (click here to listen to the previous episode). This week’s Pop Shop Podcast previews Billboard’s inaugural Hot 100 Festival, with special guests/fest performers MKTO and Lights stopping by the show. MKTO discusses its new EP, Lights talks about new music and her tour, and both break down the benefits of playing the pop extravaganza that will be Hot 100 Fest. Before that, Jason and Keith discuss the Weeknd giving way to OMI at the top of the Hot 100 chart (but still scoring another Top 5 hit with “The Hills”), Luke Bryan dominating the Billboard 200 albums chart, Little Mix and Hailee Steinfeld making their Hot 100 starts, soon-to-be hits from Alessia Cara and A Great Big World, and a promise from Jason to buy anyone who recognizes him at Hot 100 Fest a soda! Listen above, or click here to stream/download in iTunes. Click here to rate the Pop Shop Podcast on iTunes! And be sure to sound off about this week's episode in the comments section below! |
Number of nesting Manx shearwaters almost triples in three years after a project, backed by Prince Charles, sucessfully kills off the rats that eat the birds’ chicks and eggs A scheme to kill rats on two of the Isles of Scilly, backed by Prince Charles, has led to a resurgence in rare sea birds. The number of Manx shearwaters has risen to 73 nesting pairs this year, the highest in living memory and almost triple the number of nesting birds just three years ago. The birds appear to be breeding successfully, with 30 chicks spotted on the popular holiday islands. Another species of rare ground-nesting birds, storm petrels, have also returned to the Scillies. The Manx shearwater shares the burrows of rabbits on the tussocky slopes of the Scilly Islands of St Agnes and Gugh, while the storm petrel nests in cracks in rocks, beneath the local pub. But this made them vulnerable to rats, which ate both their eggs and chicks. There is archeological evidence of Manx shearwaters on the islands dating back to 2,000 BC. By the 13th century, they were so common that they were used as currency. Annual rents were paid in 30 ‘pufons’ (either puffins or Manx shearwaters) to the Duchy of Cornwall. But it was the rats rather than the Duchy that caused the birds’ decline. It is thought that brown rats arrived on the islands in the 17th century, from the many shipwrecks that dot the coast of the Scillies. By 2014 there were only 24 nesting pairs of Manx shearwaters left and a chick had not survived in some 100 years. In 2013 the 84 islanders worked together to eradicate the rats under a £750,000 scheme backed by Prince Charles. Farmers cleaned out sheds and barns. New, sturdy refuse bins were supplied to every household. And islanders started taking waste to the local tip just once a week. All 11 children at the school on St Agnes were taught about rats, storm petrels and shearwaters. Then for three weeks in November 2013 more than 1,000 baiting boxes were laced with poison. Some 3,000 rats were killed. Now, with the islands rat-free, the rare migratory birds are flourishing. Jaclyn Pearson from the RSPB, who managed the project said: “We are thrilled that these seabirds are thriving since the rat removal. “All the hard work which everyone has put into the project has been well worth it when you know that a species has been returned to a habitat which is rightfully theirs,” she said. The sparrow-sized storm petrel is the smallest seabird in the world, and the Isles of Scilly is just one of two places in England where they are found. But, because of the rats there had been no sighting of them in St Agnes and Gugh in living memory. There are an estimated 280,000 Manx shearwaters in the world, and Britain acts as home to the majority of them during summer months. The birds make an annual 20,000-mile migration from South America to breed on the islands, finding their way by star-gazing. Chicks are said to spend several days at the mouth of their burrows on the Scilly Isles gazing at the stars before making their perilous first flight south, and are then believed to find their way back to that same burrow by following the alignment of the stars above it. Plans are underway to extend the scheme to the islands of Tresco, St Martin’s and Bryher, if funding can be found. “We know it’s feasible,” said Jaclyn. “The birds are coming here, so we have a responsibility for them.” |
Dear Wayne and Wanda, My husband and I do almost everything with our best friends, also a married couple. I am extremely close to the wife – I would consider her my best friend. And my husband is close to her spouse as well. I thought I pretty much knew all about them and their marriage but it turns out, I didn't; she recently told me she and her husband have an open marriage. It started over a year ago. She said they have ground rules and so far it has really livened up their marriage and made them both happier. They are allowed to separately be with other people, or sometimes they jointly "see" someone. I didn't even know what to say. I felt surprised and shocked, like there's this secret life my best friend has had that I didn't even know about. The fact that they are having bisexual experiences through threesomes makes me incredibly nervous. Could her husband be interested in me or my husband? Could she? My husband could tell something was up so I told him everything. His reaction was not what I expected. He doesn't seem freaked out at all. If anything, he's fascinated. He grilled me about the details, their rules and everything I knew, and now he keeps bringing it up, cracking jokes about it, calling his buddy "lucky." I feel very strange about us even hanging out with them, like will it be a matter of time before they suggest a foursome? And to add to that, now I'm afraid my husband is going to want to do this too. What can I do? Wanda says: First, you can take a deep breath and relax. Just because your friends sleep with other people doesn't mean they want to or are trying to sleep with you – or your husband, for that matter. Part of friendship is respecting and supporting each other's choices, and she and her husband have decided for their own private reasons that this is the best path for their partnership. It means a lot that she trusted and confided in you, so rather than slamming the door on her, perhaps try to understand their situation. While this route may sound unconventional and even alarming to you, it's been decades since authors Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy published "The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships & Other Adventures" (a great read for anyone curious about the practice of open relationships). As recently as May, New York Times writer Susan Dominus took a hard look at open marriage in America, and how jealousy, love and desire play out in these arrangements. This article looks at various reasons other couples have opened their relationships and would also be a good resource as you try to understand your friends' decisions. As for your husband's interest in this whole scenario, don't overthink it. Love is complicated. Sex is complicated. Just imagine how complicated it must be to feel love-like feelings and simultaneously juggle intimacy with multiple partners. This isn't sneaky, secretive cheating we're talking about; it's informed adults who've agreed to a set of rules and standards, and then must coexist in the same space while managing feelings of competitiveness and jealousy. Your husband is probably so inquisitive only because he finds the whole thing to be amazingly complicated. Wayne says: Sorry to break it to you, but they're really not into you. At least, not in that way. Think about it: It took your best friend a year to tell you that not only is she sleeping with other people, but her husband is sleeping with other people too, and sometimes they even sleep with the same people at the same time! If they wanted to draft you and your hubby into their orgy organization, they would have recruited you many moons ago. Maybe they think you're too uptight or conservative and would get all judgmental – kinda true. Maybe they think you're too traditional or innocent and would just make things weird – kinda true. Maybe they think it would ruin a really good friendship – totally true. Maybe they just don't find you two all that hot — sorry. And maybe they value your friendship and would hate for any jealousy or awkwardness to break up a great thing – true that. Probably all of the above, to some extent. Ultimately, to them you're family and you do not bring family into things like this. And if anything, your friendship can get a lot stronger from this because she confided something very, very personal and important to you. Now is not the time to shun her or run from your friendship. And it doesn't mark a shift in the friendship – like you guys can't continue on being friends and doing (just about) everything together. Do their sexcapades really change anything about your friendship? I don't see it. And your husband? Oh, he's harmless. This is how bros typically react when they can't handle a topic – sex being one of the most complicated. Instead of having a grown-up talk about it, they joke and make fun to deflect their embarrassment/fear/insecurities. He's talking a big game to you, but he sure as heck won't make jokes about it in front of your friends. He's probably more shook on this than you are. So if you can move on with the friendship, which you totally should, so can he. |
Video (02:26) : Muslim girls worked together with the University of Minnesota to make culturally appropriate athletic wear. Running up and down the basketball court, eighth-grader Muna Mohamed couldn’t shake the thought: Was her loosely wrapped hijab going to fall off in front of her male coach? Many Muslim females cover all but their faces in front of men in public, which can make running, jumping and other physical activities difficult. Headdresses routinely come undone, traditional clothing can rip, and girls often trip over their long dresses. One solution for Mohamed and other Muslim girls in Minneapolis was to go to girls-only sessions at the gym of the Brian Coyle Community Center in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Every Wednesday and Sunday for the past several years, about 30 East African girls have piled into the gym, where they exchange their hijabs for more comfortable gym clothes and play in what has become their exercise sanctuary. (To ensure their privacy and keep nosy boys at bay, they’ve sometimes stuffed their hijabs into the crack between the gym’s double doors.) But demand for the gym is high and girls-only time is limited to five hours a week. That’s why leaders of the gym program teamed with the University of Minnesota to produce culturally sensitive athletic apparel for Muslim girls. The outfits will “allow the girls to go out to the YMCA and Life Time Fitness and outdoor basketball courts,” said Mohamed, now a junior at nearby Augsburg College. “I think they’re going to be a lot more comfortable wearing it.” Gallery: Sports uniforms crafted for and by Muslim girls Gallery: Sports uniforms crafted for and by Muslim girls Having an exercise uniform is the latest development in a yearslong effort to encourage Muslim girls to be more physically fit. For GIRLS only In 2008, when Fatimah Hussein was in high school, she noticed that the only people using the gym at the Coyle Center were boys and men. She founded Girls Initiative in Recreation and Leisurely Sports (GIRLS) and started girls-only gym time on Sunday afternoons. The program immediately struck a chord — with girls, that is. In the first few months, the girls heard the same thing every week: the bang! bang! bang! of boys pounding on the gym doors, asking to be let in so they could play, too. “In the beginning that’s how it was,” Mohamed said. “Even now on Wednesdays, people sneak in and they don’t understand it’s an all-girls gym.” Seven years later, the program has gained widespread community support, although some traditionalists still frown on girls being active. “There are some people who are close-minded still,” Hussein said. “Even though some of the parents are very strong in their culture, we tell them that even in our religion physical activity is important.” To develop the uniforms, Hussein teamed up with professionals from the University of Minnesota, including Chelsey Thul, a lecturer for the university’s School of Kinesiology, and Elizabeth Bye from the College of Design. Bye worked closely with the girls on the design of the outfits, getting many suggestions for pink and sparkle patterns. They eventually came to a less flashy consensus, including one with a blue stripe on a black background. The clothing also features leggings and a knee-length tunic, which minimizes tripping. “The reason they picked the outfit they did was that it met all the criteria,” Bye said. “It was modest, but it was still fun.” Two blocks from the Coyle Center, Bye and graduate students set up workstations at Mosque Shafici to make the outfits. For four weeks in April the mosque served as the apparel’s assembly line. Sporadic rattling from sewing machines, coupled with an Arabic voice announcing afternoon prayers over a loudspeaker, filled the room with noise. Volunteers from the community also took part. Fosiyo Mohamud got involved once she recognized the GIRLS program’s impact on her daughters. About a year after her oldest daughter, Samira, joined the program, Mohamud brought her to a pediatrician for a checkup. “The doctor said, ‘What are you doing differently?’ ” Mohamud said. “She wasn’t obese anymore.” The new uniforms, including a red-and-white one designed for the traveling basketball team, will be celebrated in a community fashion show. Mohamed coaches the team, which is called the Women Warriors. She does so, she said, to help expand the program that first gave her a comfortable place to exercise. Assistant coach Muna Mohamed, a junior at Augsburg College, played defense against Amal Ali, 11, at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Minneapolis. “We really want to make this a lifelong thing for the girls to be engaged in sport,” said Jennifer Weber, a GIRLS coach. Jack Satzinger is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Star Tribune. |
In a few years your furniture could be made of a living material, according to a team of MIT boffins who have worked out how to get bacteria to help them manufacture items. The breakthrough was announced on Sunday in the Synthesis and patterning of tunable multiscale materials with engineered cells academic paper published in academic journal Nature. The research is another step in a new frontier of research that seeks to make the organic world just as programmable as the digital. "What we've been able to achieve here is use living cellular communities to organize and make non-living material systems," explained MIT associate professor Timothy Lu in a chat with The Register. "My thought is that the tools of synthetic biology can be used to program cellular systems to make new materials from the bottom up." Specifically, the MIT researchers were able to put bacteria to work producing conducting biofilms, some of which were studded with quantum dots, and arranging gold nanowires. This paves the way for the development of mass manufactured cell-based material factories, and even "living materials" that have some of the desirable properties of bones or trees, Lu confirmed. They were able to do this by using E. coli, which naturally creates biofilms containing amyloid fibril proteins which, somewhat like the hooks in Velcro, help it attach to surfaces. The hooks on this gloopy velcro are made from a repeating chain of protein units called CsgA, which can be modified by adding peptides, which can be used to let parts of the film capture specific materials, like gold nanoparticles. For their experiment, the researchers disabled E. coli's ability to produce CsgA and replaced it with a genetically engineered strain that would produce it only when a molecule named AHL was present, letting them control where and when the bacteria produced a biofilm. They then engineered another strain to produce CsgA with a particular peptide made of polyhistidines, but only when another molecule named aTC was present. If gold nanoparticles are added to the sludge, they will bind to the histidines on the peptides. This gave the researchers two knobs to dial on the bacteria, and by adding or reducing the amount of AHL and aTc in the modified E. coli's environment they could precisely control not only the production of biofilm, but also the production of biofilm that would grab hold of any gold added to the mix. By doing this, they were able to create a framework for building gold circuits. "Amyloid fibrils assembled by cells constitute a versatile scaffold that can co-organize and synthesize fluorescent [Quantum Dots] as well as gold nanowires, nanorods and nanoparticles," the researchers write. The researchers also made tentative steps toward being able to delegate control of the manufacture of circuits down to the bacteria itself by taking inspiration from ant colonies. "The bacteria secrete small molecules they use to communicate with each other," explained Lu. "We co-opted that comm module [and] told one group of bacteria to tell the other group of bacteria when to turn on the other's creation of bacteria. Over time the more of the signal is present the more comes out of the received cell. Over time more and more of the material will be dominated by what the receiver cell is making." This is is similar to behavior seen in ants "all the time," Lu said, and enthused: "There's no master architect behind it. There's emergence in this property." "Thus, we have demonstrated an engineered cellular platform that synthesizes and patterns self-assembling materials with controllable functionality, structure and composition," the researchers explained in the academic paper discussing the research. In the future, the team plans to explore the mass manufacture of materials using this method, and Lu has plans to explore the use of other "photosynthetic material" so that the assembly bacteria can make use of the sun's energy. Lu imagines a long-term future where scientists (and later, companies) can create materials which can extract energy from the world around them. "Linking up to other easily accessible resources in the environment could be one way of making materials that could self-sustain themselves in the real world," he explained. Given this breakthrough, what could a potential application of this research field be? Lu's "most radical" idea is a living chair, he said. "Everything around us is pretty much dead," Lu continued. "Imagine having a chair where you sit on it for a long time and it remodels to support areas of stress." Even the Terminator needs a couch. ® |
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The University of North Dakota on Wednesday unveiled the logo for its new Fighting Hawks nickname, about four years after the school dropped its Fighting Sioux moniker. The new logo depicts a white hawk head with black shading and a black eye, atop the letters "ND" in green. UND also unveiled a "North Dakota Fighting Hawks" wordmark, or descriptive name, to enhance the new graphic identity. "We will begin using it immediately, but it will take awhile to transition everything to the new logo," Athletic Director Brian Faison said. "Many of the uniforms are already ordered, so it will take some time to change it out. But you’ll begin seeing it this fall on the football helmets." UND plans an Aug. 13 merchandise launch. The NCAA in 2005 placed UND on a list of schools with American Indian nicknames, logos and mascots that it found objectionable. UND was the last holdout on the list, not retiring its nickname until 2012 after the school failed to win approval to keep it from the state’s two Sioux tribes. State residents also voted overwhelmingly that year to dump the nickname and American Indian head logo that was first unveiled in the 1930s and redesigned by a Native American UND alumnus in 1999. The Fighting Hawks nickname was selected in a vote of alumni, students and staff. It beat out Roughriders, Nodaks, Sundogs and North Stars, and has been in use since late last year. New York-based SME Branding worked for several months to design a logo to accompany the new moniker. Interim UND President Ed Schafer made the final decision. "They did an excellent job of translating what they heard," Schafer said of SME officials who spent time on campus. "That we have a long and proud championship tradition, that we are determined and persevere on the playing field, that we are proud of our state and our heritage, that we are progressive and moving forward." UND volleyball player Chelsea Moser said the logo will take some getting used to, "but I’m glad we finally have a logo." "I want unity more than anything," she said. Many UND alumni and others had favored keeping the old nickname, saying it honored Native Americans and was a proud tradition. Moser described the logo as modern and simple. "It’s not cartoonish," she said. "I would describe it as fierce." |
Six Americans have been killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, Fox News confirms. One person on board the aircraft was injured and survived, two U.S. defense officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. In Washington, an official originally said the helicopter had experienced engine failure before the crash, but later said that it was unclear whether that was the case. The service members were part of the International Security Assistance Force. NATO says there is currently no fighting in the area. "The cause of the crash is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time," a NATO statement said. The deputy governor of southern Zabul province, Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar, said a NATO helicopter crashed in the remote district of Shajau and U.S. officials later confirmed that Zabul was the location of the U.S. crash. According to Reuters, the incident is the largest death toll to hit the international force in months. Aircraft crashes are not uncommon in Afghanistan. The worst such incident was in August 2011, when the Taliban shot down a transport helicopter, killing all 38 people on board including 25 U.S. special operations forces, Reuters reported. About 84,000 NATO-led troops are serving in Afghanistan, including about 60,000 from the U.S. That number is expected to be reduced to about 10,000 by 2015, the report said. This year, 109 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, out of a total of 139 members of the coalition. The death toll has dropped significantly since the coalition handed over responsibility for security to Afghan forces last summer and coalition troops are now training and assisting. By comparison, 394 foreign troops died last year, including 297 Americans. Fox News' Conor Powell and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from Reuters. |
A person is silhouetted by the South Pole sunset in early April. Photo by Calee Allen. A person is silhouetted by the South Pole sunset in early April. Photo by Calee Allen. When you imagine the South Pole, what do you see? An empty, frozen, white expanse with a red- and white-striped pole sticking out? Actually, there’s more than one South Pole—and none of them exactly fits the above description. The official South Pole marker. The official South Pole marker. Flags of the twelve signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty surround the ceremonial pole in front of the new Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station facility. Flags of the twelve signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty surround the ceremonial pole in front of the new Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station facility. If you think of the earth as a spinning basketball balanced on the tip of a finger, the place where the fingertip touches the ball is what’s called the geographic South Pole. This South Pole—the South Pole—is an imaginary point defined by the earth’s axis of rotation. There’s no red-and-white pole there, just a stake and a sign honoring the first explorers to reach the spot in 1911 and 1912, Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott. Because stake and sign are unavoidably situated on a moving ice sheet that travels about 10 meters (33 feet) per year, repositioning these markers is an annual New Year’s Day tradition. The geographic South Pole is in a frozen white expanse, but it’s not an empty one. There’s also a major Antarctic outpost there, the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where scientists carry out research ranging from glaciology to astrophysics. Astronomy is the main research focus here, and the station is home to the newly built South Pole Telescope. A short stroll from the geographic South Pole is a ceremonial South Pole—an actual pole, with, yes, red and white stripes. This pole is in place mainly for photo ops, and it, too, must be moved periodically to keep it within walking distance of the geographic South Pole. Far, far away is the magnetic South Pole—the South Pole that a compass would point you to. Its current location is 1,800 miles away from the geographic South Pole, in the Southern Ocean, at a latitude of 65° S, so far north that it’s not even in the Antarctic circle. The ocean-going magnetic South Pole is naturally unmarked, but if you happen to be there, you’ll know: Your compass needle will spin aimlessly. This pole moves over time too, albeit for a different reason. The earth’s magnetic field is in constant flux, responding to shifts in the flow of the earth’s liquid metal core. The ‘07-’08 Norwegian-US Traverse team at the Pole of Inaccessibility. The ‘07-’08 Norwegian-US Traverse team at the Pole of Inaccessibility. There is still another South Pole: the pole of inaccessibility. This South Pole is defined as the place in Antarctica that is farthest inland, that is, farthest from any shore. In practice, the pole of inaccessibility is hard to pinpoint, because ice sheets are constantly forming and breaking off from of the continent. In 1958, a Soviet expedition established a Pole of Inaccessility Station, complete with a statue of Lenin and a golden guestbook for visitors to sign. These remain today, though largely buried in snow. |
I'm so happy Chris Nolan is making a Batman Beyond movie!I saw Dark Knight Rises, and considering The Dark Knight's story is done, I can't wait to see what he does in another Batman movie. This is what what I've been waiting for!......And everything I said just now was fake.XP I Took one of my sketches and tried to make a movie poster from it. Wondered how it would look. Sketching Batman for a certain challenge.Batman Beyond was my childhood, but I can't really see a Nolan-esque movie from it. Too many fantastical things for it be grounded in reality.But honestly, Dark Knight Rises was an awesome movie. I loved it. A really memorable film.Hope you like it. peace y'allIf you want to comment, please be respectful and not spoil the movie. |
Catholic hospitals have a bad reputation among people who understand how they work — and they deserve it. They don’t perform abortions (even to save the life of the mother, as we saw in the case of Savita Halappanavar), they’re awful about dealing with ectopic pregnancies (PDF), they don’t perform tubal ligations or vasectomies… it makes you wonder why they want to be in the health care field in the first place. But the overriding idea behind those things I just mentioned is that every sperm is sacred and a fertilized egg is treated just like an actual child. However, a lawsuit against a Catholic hospital has pushed the hospital to go against its own beliefs and say that fetuses aren’t children. Melanie Asmar at Westword, an alternative weekly newspaper based in Denver, has the story. The background: Lori Stodghill was seven-months pregnant with twins when she suffered a heart attack. She was taken to St. Thomas More hospital (a Catholic hospital in Colorado), but died due to what appears to be a negligent doctor. Her twins died, too. Her husband filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital’s Catholic overlords arguing that the hospital could have performed a procedure to save the children even if his wife died. So what are the hospital’s lawyers saying in their defense? “Under Colorado law, a fetus is not a ‘person,'” Catholic Health Initiatives wrote, “and plaintiff’s claims for wrongful death must therefore be dismissed.” “The doctrine of the Catholic Church is that life begins at conception,” says Jeremy, who isn’t Catholic himself. “It made me irritated that they’re not following the doctrine of the organization they work for.” … Given those beliefs, Catholic Health Initiatives’ legal argument is hypocritical, says Miguel De La Torre, a professor of social ethics at Denver’s Iliff School of Theology. “What they should be arguing is, ‘Oh, no, all life, from the moment of conception, is life and therefore must be protected,'” De La Torre says. “When you establish yourself in this culture as a moral voice, even when it works against you, you have to maintain that moral voice.” … But David Weddle, a religion professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, says that while the hospital is free to make any legal argument it wants, the question is “whether it’s morally justifiable to defend yourself on a principle you know to be false. Well, it’s not like we can trust the Catholic Church to be a beacon of morality… But really, this is unbelievable. They don’t get to have their baby cake and eat it, too. Either a fetus is a child or it isn’t. You don’t get to change your beliefs just because you might lose a lawsuit by sticking to them. Even if this is just “lawyer-speak,” the Catholic clients are approving it, proving themselves to be hypocrites in the process. The Colorado Supreme Court will decide in the next few weeks whether or not to hear this case. Even if they decide to rule — probably as they should — based on Colorado law, that fetuses are not people, the Church still needs to suffer from the PR ramifications of denying their own doctrine when it suited their needs. Their own followers do it all the time; we shouldn’t be surprised that the Church hierarchy does it, too. |
The barnacle-covered plane piece was found by a crew cleaning the coastline on Wednesday. Boeing investigators have looked at photos of the fragment and say that they believe it is from one of their 777s, sources told NBC News. It appears to be a piece of a flap from a wing. There is only one such aircraft missing in the world right now — Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Local media also reported Thursday that the remains of a suitcase had also been found in the same area where the debris was recovered. Officials did not immediately comment on the reports. "This is obviously a very significant development," Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss told a news conference in Sydney early Thursday. Truss said a "piece of debris could've floated a long, long way in 16 months" — the period since the Malaysia Airlines jet vanished. "It's the first real evidence that there is a possibility that a part of the aircraft may have been found. It's too early to make that judgment, but clearly we are treating this as a major lead," the deputy prime minister said. "It is credible that wreckage from the search area could've reached Reunion Island." The plane wreckage is roughly 6.5 feet to 8 feet in length, according to photographs. It appeared fairly intact and did not have visible burn marks or signs of impact. Truss told reporters that a number stamped on the piece of debris would help to identify it. Related: Relatives in Agony Over Debris Find BEA, the French counterpart to the National Transportation Safety Board, said that it could not officially confirm yet that the fragment was from a Boeing 777. However, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said Thursday that the plane debris was "very likely" from a Boeing 777. "The location is consistent with the drift analysis provided to the Malaysian investigation team, which showed a route from the southern Indian Ocean to Africa," Najib said in a statement. |
Bloomberg via Getty Images Employees line up for roll call at a Pegatron Corp. factory in Shanghai, China, on Friday, April 15, 2016. This is the realm in which the world's most profitable smartphones are made, part of Apple Inc.'s closely guarded supply chain. Workers at the Pegatron iPhone factory in China make an average of $650 to $850 a month, Bloomberg recently reported. That means some of them make just enough to purchase an iPhone 6S -- if they spend an entire month's salary on the device. The smartphone is Apple's top-of-the-line offering. Its base price in China, before memory upgrades, is 5,288 yuan, or $807.95 based on the current conversion rate. The device retails for $649 in the United States. Apple Apple's official Chinese website illustrates pricing options for two models of the iPhone 6S. Apple's iPhone is an expensive device, and no one is entitled to one. Many Americans would struggle to justify the cost all at once -- that's one reason why Apple offers an installment plan. Android phones, which come in a number of budget-friendly varieties, are also somewhat more popular than iPhones in the United States. To draw another comparison, Tesla Factory workers probably don't drive Teslas. But it’s still worth considering the inequality here. Americans aren’t the ones working to assemble iPhones. Bloomberg’s article quotes an advocacy group that alleges the Chinese factory’s base pay is so low that many workers need to work overtime to make ends meet, though Pegatron and Apple have reportedly developed systems to discourage excessive work. (It's worth noting that Pegatron also contains safety nets in the stairways “to prevent accidents—or suicide attempts,” according to Bloomberg.) Apple didn't respond to a request for comment from The Huffington Post about labor at the factory. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but American families made an average of $53,657 last year, or a bit more than $4,471 a month. It's considerably more than the Chinese workers, even if you assumed a dual-income household and split that number in half. The takeaway? Your iPhone is an incredibly complicated device, and not just in terms of its mechanical innards. It all begins with a supply chain that, for many electronics companies, includes materials secured with child labor. And assembling the device requires workers who couldn't realistically buy the thing. And then it's shipped to you. |
Get the biggest daily news stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Spain stepped up the diplomatic war over Gibraltar yesterday by threatening to cut off airspace and ramp up charges at the border. Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo also suggested he would target online gambling firms based there and warned: “The party’s over.” He has drawn up proposals to make people pay as much as £86 to visit the British territory from the mainland, and thousands of locals who own property in Spain may face new tax probes. Planes heading to Gibraltar could also be banned from Spanish airspace. The Foreign Office said it is concerned by the comments and promised to safeguard British sovereignty. MISERY The Spanish government is suspected of using the row as a smoke screen to distract from its economic misery. The dispute began over fishing rights but escalated when a Spanish patrol boat fired on a jet ski. Border officials also made drivers sit in searing heat for seven hours recently while they carried out checks. But Mr Garcia-Margallo said it is an essential part of the fight against smuggling and money laundering. He added: “If queues and congestion are the result then perhaps we need to think about a charge of 50 euros to enter Gibraltar and 50 euros to leave.” He also hinted relations would suffer even further unless Gibraltar removes an artificial reef designed to stop Spanish trawlers. He added: “The money we collect from a border crossing charge would be very useful for helping Spanish fishermen affected by the destruction of fishing grounds.” |
A guest post from Marjorie Reynolds. And in case you think I’ve been on a beach popping bon bons… check out my own guest post on the Writers Digest site, called “Confessions of a Story Coach.” If you only knew. ***** Name three memorable characters from great literature. Which ones did you choose? Captain Ahab, Scarlett O’Hara, Jay Gatsby? Blanche DuBois, Hannibal Lecter or the ladies in Arsenic and Old Lace? Or, maybe a character out of William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens? What significant trait do these characters have in common? They are all extreme. If you want to write a novel that readers will remember decades or even centuries later, learn from the masters and populate it with one or more extreme characters. You’ll find they’ll not only linger in a reader’s mind, but they’ll give your story energy and heighten your own interest in writing it. As novelists, we quickly bore ourselves with bland, one-dimensional characters. When I suggested to one of my students that she push her protagonist, an ordinary young woman with no special traits, out to the edge, she returned to class a week later, her eyes gleaming. “I’m really excited about writing this novel now,” she said. “My character is so much more fun.” We love extreme people in real life. How many times have you heard someone say with admiration, “He’s such a character”? So how do you go about creating an extreme character? Do you add an extra appendage or two, maybe a hump on the protagonist’s back or an eleventh finger? Will that put life in your novel? Not necessarily. An abnormal trait should be significant to your story. Creating an extreme character is not a matter of tacking on peculiarities the way you would hang decorations on a Christmas tree. You want a fictional person readers can relate to, not a cartoon — unless your intentions are comedic. If you want your readers to believe in your protagonist, his deformity, affliction or peculiarity must be the driving force in your story. With a secondary character, it should at least have some significance. Remember Tiny Tim, the crippled boy in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? His handicap is important to the story because, at the end, Ebenezer Scrooge, the miser (also an extreme character) who has learned his lesson about the perils of parsimony, generously provides the money for corrective surgery. In The Phantom of the Opera, the phantom’s disfigurement dominates the story. His fear that he will frighten off people, especially the woman he loves, causes him to hide in the bowels of the Paris Opera House and wear a mask. How many people like that do you know. Not all extreme traits show up physically. Some are on the inside. Remember Raymond, the idiot savant in Rainman, and McMurphy, the mentally ill rebel in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest? An extreme character does not have to be extraordinary in every way. With the exception of his one extreme trait, he might be as normal as your next-door neighbor (assuming your next-door neighbor is normal). A good example would be the character, Elwood P. Dowd, who befriends an invisible, six-foot tall rabbit in Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Harvey. Dowd appears to be an intelligent, respectable, conventional man – until he introduces Harvey. In the myth-based Hero’s Journey story, described by Joseph Campbell in his book, Hero of a Thousand Faces, and popularized as an unbeatable story structure by Christopher Vogler in The Writer’s Journey, the protagonist is a hero with universal appeal. A hero, by nature, is an extreme character. He may not start out that way, but eventually he does what an ordinary person won’t do. He goes beyond the point where the average person (meaning you and me) would stop. He’s the fireman running up the stairs in a burning building when everyone else is running down. She’s the supervisor of an all-male homicide squad at Scotland Yard who won’t give up her hunt for the killer when everyone else insists she’s tracking the wrong suspect (Jane Tennison played by Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect). A hero may even be willing to break the rules or live outside the laws to get what he wants (Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade). In cowboy movies and detective stories, we’ve seen many a rogue protagonist. Sometimes he’s so flawed, he’s considered an anti-hero. When you create a heroic character, there’s a real temptation to make her perfect. She’s exceptionally brave, she has the IQ of a genius, she can leap tall buildings. Unless you’re assembling Batwoman or a female Spiderman (both cartoon characters, please note), we won’t believe she could possibly be real. A hero is not a perfect person who conquers all. He makes mistakes. He usually possesses a tragic flaw (hubris or stubbornness, for example) that makes him vulnerable to his enemies. A hero is someone with all the faults of an ordinary person but with the strength of character to struggle to the point of death. He won’t give up. He may not have the physical prowess of his opponent (think David and Goliath), but he employs the strengths he does have, usually intelligence and cleverness, to the maximum of his abilities so that he can overcome the enormous tests and obstacles that you, the author, will throw at him. He must work hard. We don’t admire people who get what they want too easily. To win at the end, he must struggle and push himself beyond what he believes he can do. He must go beyond the point where we would stop. You don’t have to tell us he’s a hero. We can see he is. As the author, you may be tempted to list your hero’s strengths (she’s smart, beautiful, brave, etc.) and her weaknesses (she’s self-centered, untrustworthy, haughty and cruel). Resist that temptation. Show us through her dialogue and actions what she’s like and the lengths to which she’ll go. Don’t tell us. We won’t believe you, anyway, until we see it. By the way, did you notice the character I just described could be Scarlett O’Hara? Not a likable woman but certainly fascinating and extreme. Despite the ultra-extreme qualities of Dickens and Shakespeare characters, they become real to us. We remember Falstaff, Hamlet, Uriah Heep, and Fagen because they have enough truth in them to be believable and because they are vivid and alive and extraordinary. Make sure you give your extreme character enough motivation to justify his behavior. Give him a history that explains how his wants and needs and goals developed. Even Batman has good reasons for his actions. The ruthless enemies he pursues killed his parents. In The Accidental Tourist, Macon Leary rigidly structures his life beyond anyone’s bounds of normality, but we understand why. He’s afraid that, if he doesn’t maintain complete control, he will drown in the well of grief left by his son’s death. The first time I read Anne Tyler’s beautifully crafted novel, I thought Macon was a passive character. Then I realized he’s amazingly proactive and strong. He fights his grief harder than any real person I’ve ever known. The depth of emotion and strength we see in well-drawn characters helps us identify with them. Whatever their extreme qualities, protagonists are most effective when they are admirable. Villains and secondary characters should at least be understandable and can benefit from some redemptive qualities. For a reader to admire your protagonist, the character must try to overcome or rise above her handicap. She may not win but she must try. A novel is a journal of your protagonist’s struggles against adversity, and a “woe-is-me” character who takes no action to change her situation soon bores us. If she’s suffering from past wounds, she should try to suppress her pain. Initially, it may seep out in small ways, but eventually it will rush out in a torrent she can no longer contain, forcing her to change. Your job as the author is to put pressure on your protagonist in the form of obstacles, misfortune, setbacks, and inner torment so she doesn’t get what she wants too easily. What results is the character arc that agents and editors expect in a novel these days. In my recently released collaborative mystery written with two other women, Murder at Cape Foulweather has an abundance of extreme characters with attributes designed for comic effect. My fellow authors, Martha Miller and Susan Clayton-Goldner, and I had great fun writing about five women friends, fortyish, fast and full of hell, who attend a writing workshop at a remote lodge on the Oregon coast, each hiding a secret she’s afraid to spill. The first night, a destructive storm hits, all power is lost and one of their classmates, Orchid L’Toile, meets a fate they consider worse than death: bloody murder without adequate makeup while naked in the bathtub. They must find the killer or become victims themselves. I can guarantee each one of those characters is extreme. Ask yourself if your characters have extreme qualities. What do they do that the ordinary person won’t do? How hard will they struggle to get what they want? Do we understand the motivations behind their actions? Do they have the emotional depth that will cause us to feel what they feel? By the end of the book, do they gain some wisdom we all value? After pondering these questions, you may find your characters aren’t extraordinary in any way and don’t do anything the average reader wouldn’t do. You understand the concept but you don’t know how to go about energizing an ordinary character. Here’s a tip: make him obsessed. Take his desire for what he wants and push it out as far as it will go. He’s so obsessed he’ll risk destroying his relationships with lovers, family and friends to find the murderer, rescue his daughter or save his country. He may not always be likable but he’ll be fascinating. He’ll be a character that you and your reader will want to spend time with. THE PROFILE OF AN EXTREME CHARACTER 1. An extreme character does things an ordinary person won’t do. Ask yourself, “Does my character do something I wouldn’t have the passion or courage to do?” Would you risk your life chasing a white whale or endure pain and possibly death rescuing someone you’ve never met before? 2. An extreme character has a clearly defined goal. Ask what your protagonist wants. Does she want to save her family home? Does he want to find his wife’s killer? 3. An extreme character has strong emotions that trigger his goals and actions. With Santiago from The Old Man and the Sea, that emotion is pride. With other characters, it might be anger over an injustice, a desire for power or a love stronger than they’ve ever experienced before. 4. An extreme character has a history that drives her and motivation for her actions in the present. Something significant or traumatic in her past provides the impetus for her actions. She may have been abandoned or abused as a child. She may have lost a beloved parent or suffered a disfigurement. She has a good reason to behave the way she does. Ask why your character doesn’t just quit when she encounters adversity? 5. An extreme character will stand alone or break the rules if he has to. He believes so strongly in his goal that he will do whatever is necessary to achieve it, even if it makes him an outcast. Remember the sheriff in High Noon. 6. An extreme character takes action and won’t give up until she reaches her goal or is defeated. Extreme characters are not passive. They take action and struggle to achieve their goals. We admire Santiago because he endures sharks, exhaustion and injury to catch a fish that will save his pride. He is willing to die before he will give up. 7. An extreme character is often unusually flawed. Don’t make the mistake of creating perfect characters. ***** Marjorie Reynolds is an award-winning author, speaker and writing instructor. She taught advanced popular fiction for several years at the University of Washington Extension in Seattle. She and two friends, Martha Miller and Susan Clayton-Goldner, recently published Murder at Cape Foulweather, a collaborative novel by the Sun City Sluts available on Amazon. William Morrow & Co. published Marjorie’s two novels, The Starlite Drive-in and The Civil Wars of Jonah Moran, in hardcover and Berkley released them in paperback. The American Library Association selected The Starlite Drive-inas one of the Ten Best Books of 1998 for Young Adults, and Barnes & Noble chose it for its Discover Great New Writers program. It was a Literary Guild alternate selection and a Reader’s Digest Select Editions book. Rights were sold to seven countries. Her novels have received praise in The New York Times, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist. |
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