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In hopes of making snail mail more convenient, the U.S. Postal Service will begin emailing customers pictures of their mail every morning, the USPS announced Monday. The free Informed Delivery service will snap pictures of the exterior of letters and send them in an email so customers can know what’s in their mailbox that day. Though the service doesn’t yet cover magazines or packages, the agency says they may do so in the future. The USPS will not open any mail in the process. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now The service has been available in Northern Virginia since 2014 but will expand to New York City in 2016 with a planned expansion shortly thereafter. Customers can sign up online for the email notifications. Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com. |
In hindsight, you wonder whether a part of Wayne Rooney no longer finds the idea behind that Nike advert so amusing. You know the one: an overweight Rooney, with a white vest and a mangy beard, living in a caravan, peering out behind greying net curtains. This is what could happen, we were told, if he messed up at the World Cup. The alternative was Rooney returning from South Africa with a medal round his neck and, nine months on, England going through a boom of new babies by the name of Wayne. Then the tournament started and it became apparent that the vibrant Rooney, the player of breathtaking boldness who scored 34 times for Manchester United last season and accumulated all the player of the year awards, was not going to meet the challenge. Lionised beforehand, lampooned afterwards, Rooney has been through the full spectrum when it comes to the blame culture and knee-jerk reactions of modern football. All sorts of theories have been offered up in the passing weeks. The most plausible is that England's hugely gifted striker was struggling for fitness while the most disconcerting, for someone who wants to be remembered as a football great rather than merely a great footballer, is that it was the first time in his professional life when the weight of expectation was simply too much. Even Sir Alex Ferguson, his manager at United and a staunch protector of his own, concluded that the pressure may have got to his player. He would be better in Brazil next time, Ferguson promised. Yet the explanation was contradictory in the extreme. Ferguson went from saying there were no issues about Rooney's fitness – the striker has not scored since damaging an ankle in March – to arguing that England's problem stemmed from the main players being worn out. What can be said with certainty is that Rooney will be relishing the thought of going back out on a football pitch, rather than spending any more time mulling over what went wrong and those statistics that tell us he was tackled 8.25 times per game (more than any other player) and that he has now had 22 shots in World Cups without scoring. His first match is in Dublin tonight, when Ferguson's team will mark the opening of the Aviva stadium by taking on an Airtricity League XI. Rooney returned to training only last Wednesday, and it may be a brief appearance. He has not spoken publicly about the World Cup yet, and don't expect him to be too forthcoming on this occasion either. The photographs of him leaving the Panacea bar in the early hours of Sunday, looking more like one of the Gallaghers than a professional sportsman, have made sure it could be some time before we get any detailed insight into why he thinks it all went so wrong. Panacea, for those unacquainted with Manchester's nightlife, is the establishment favoured by North-west footballers, the nouveaux riches, assorted wannabes and never-will-bes. It is a tawdry place where the clientele seem to be under the misapprehension that drinking champagne is a symbol of class, and it is easy to imagine Ferguson's reaction upon seeing his best player chugging on a cigarette (in mitigation, he does not look like a natural smoker), appearing to urinate behind a dustbin or bouncing down the street, chanting football songs. It was bright daylight – 5.30am – and it could be the scene from a scene of Ibiza Uncovered. Everything we know about Ferguson tells us he will be livid. In fairness to Rooney, such moments are the exception rather than the norm these days, and there are plenty of other footballers at Old Trafford on better terms with the city's doormen. Anderson is more of a concern for United's management, and it has not gone unnoticed that the Brazilian's car crash in Portugal last weekend, when he was fortunate to escape more serious injuries after being pulled from the smouldering wreckage, occurred at 7.30am, after leaving a nightclub. Ferguson almost always keeps disciplinary matters in-house, but it is safe to say there has been little sympathy for Anderson at his place of employment. "Let's hope it has knocked some sense into him" has been a standard quote. As for Rooney, Ferguson has said the challenge for him is to improve again from last season and it should help that the club have recruited a potential new partner, Javier Hernández, a largely unheralded signing when the announcement was made last April but someone who demonstrated at the World Cup that United's scouts may have discovered a player of class and achievement. His signing was necessary because Rooney's partnership with Dimitar Berbatov has flickered without igniting, whereas Ferguson has seemed strangely reluctant to pair him with Michael Owen. Ferguson seems to believe the disappointments of the summer will help Rooney's development. Above all, he is hoping the media now realise it was wrong to put so much faith in one player, albeit one United's fans serenade as "the white Pele". The likelihood, after all, is that, come the spring of 2015, England's maternity wards won't be filled with baby Waynes either but Rooney, still only 24, does have age on his side – and he will still be the player whose presence makes spectators quicken their step on the way to the old Lansdowne Road tonight. |
By Greg Fisher The Seattle Police Department (SPD) has released 35 never-before-seen pictures from the death investigation of Kurt Cobain, the rock legend and frontman for the band Nirvana who was found dead in his Seattle-area home in April 1994. The photographs taken at the scene almost 20 years ago by responding SPD officers remained undeveloped until recently. Last week, the department announced it had developed the film as part of a re-examination of the rock superstar's death investigation, first reported by CBS affiliate KIRO-TV. For the first time, a number of the photos show exactly how Cobain left what police say was a suicide note. It was on top of a planter in the greenhouse with a pen stuck through the center of the note. Although a copy of the note has been previously released, these photos of its placement in the greenhouse have not been. Other photos depict the scene where Cobain's body was found: a sparse greenhouse room above a detached garage, with one stool as the lone piece of furniture. There are pictures of Cobain's heroin kit authorities say was found at the scene, complete with syringes and other paraphernalia kept in a cigar box. Another photo shows Cobain's wallet from which police removed his Washington State drivers license. A cigarette lighter, a pack of cigarettes, a winter hat, cigarette butts, and sunglasses lie on the floor strewn around his heroin kit. There are also photos of officers, detectives and supervisors securing the scene, and making a telephone call on an obsolete 1990s cell phone. Some photos also show where police covered the glass doors to keep out the prying eyes of gawkers and the media as the news got out that the pop culture icon was found dead. Twenty-six of the newly released photos are from 35 mm film. These photos are clearly degraded with a strong green tint. In addition, Seattle police released nine Polaroids, also never before made public, depicting Cobain's drug paraphernalia as well as exterior pictures of the Lake Washington house, the greenhouse above the garage where Cobain's body was found, and the view of the home from the street. In an age before digital cameras, Seattle police in the 1990s were trained to use the 35 mm film along with instant Polaroid photos as a protective measure in the event that film was damaged or lost. During investigations, the instant Polaroids provided police with an immediate reference when conferring with colleagues or interviewing suspects rather than waiting for film to be developed. Conspiracy theories about Cobain's death including rumors of murder persist despite the Seattle police opinion and coroner's determination that the death was a suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In anticipation of the 20-year anniversary police announced last week they had re-examined the SPD death investigation file. Veteran homicide detective Mike Ciesynski, who runs cold case investigations for the SPD, said his review confirmed a suicide, and "a textbook perfect investigation." As part of his review Det. Ciesynski decided to examine the four rolls of previously undeveloped 35 mm film initially logged as evidence. "I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at that (undeveloped film) because there were some conspiracy theories that ... we (SPD) were hiding the film," Det. Ciesynski told CBS News. SPD's decision in the initial investigation during the 1990s not to develop the film had helped stoke conspiracy theories that police were covering up a murder. Det. Ciesynski said developing the film might help quell the conspiracy rumors. He also noted that the degraded film might soon expire which could further fuel the controversy. In 1994, days before Kurt Cobain died, his wife Courtney Love - a rock star in her own right - hired private investigator Tom Grant to, among other things, track down Cobain once he left a Los Angeles rehab facility. Grant, the leading proponent of a Cobain murder conspiracy theory, is publicly skeptical of the SPD re-examination of the case confirming the suicide conclusion. (www.cobaincase.com) "I think they are going to regret that they said that (suicide) sooner or later," he told CBS News, explaining that he does not believe the SPD literally covered up a homicide, but accuses them instead of "knee jerk incompetence." Grant believes the fact that it took twenty years for SPD to develop the 35 mm film "speaks volumes" about the conduct of the investigation. He believes the film should have been developed 20 years ago. Internal SPD documents reveal that security of the evidence photographs concerned Courtney Love as far back as 1995, whose attorney "called and asked if the photos could be destroyed to prevent any mistaken release." One document dated Feb. 13, 1995, mentions Tom Grant for "once again" sparking media attention to "the suicide of Cobain" nearly one year after his death for "alleging (Love) was responsible for the husbands [sic] death and we (SPD) covered up the murder." The memo is written by Sgt. Don Cameron of the Homicide Unit at SPD, the man pictured in one of the newly released photos speaking on an obsolete cell phone from the greenhouse above the garage. Sgt. Cameron states to his superior in the memo that he explained to Love's attorney that the SPD would not comply with her request to destroy the photographs. "I explained with Grant still running amok we would look foolish and certainly unprofessional if we destroyed the only photographs of the crime scene," the memo states. Grant, himself a former Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy, has maintained for 20 years that the SPD "rushed to judgement" and did not adequately investigate the death of Cobain as a homicide. Det. Ciesynski questions Grant's knowledge of homicide investigation techniques. "An experienced Det. would never have come up with the theories that he's come up with." However, it seems the SPD re-examination will hardly be the final word on Cobain's death. Grant is involved in a feature film documentary titled Soaked in Bleach, a double entendre referring to the process for cleaning heroin injection needles, and presumably a reference to an alleged cover-up of murder. Grant explains the film has been shot although it does not yet have a release date. It examines the final days of Cobain's life and the subsequent investigation into his death. "Anybody that watches that film will walk away saying, they (SPD) have to re-open this case." Greg Fisher is a producer for 48 Hours who covers crime and legal affairs on the West Coast. He is also frequent contributor to Crimesider. Follow him on twitter at @CBScrimefish. |
It is a fact: the United States is one of the best spots in the world for freedom of the press. The courts do not stand ready to persecute people for saying and printing things merely because they annoy people with power. In this way, the US is far ahead of most countries in the world, where libel law is frequently used to quash the freedom to speak. This is an especially pressing issue in times when anyone with a Twitter account has the power to reach billions. We are all members of the press. We all need the freedoms that only decades ago were mostly used by major media companies. It wasn’t easy to achieve this. These days, we are mostly safe from such impositions using the excuse of libel.After the founding, we eventually got the First Amendment but this wasn’t in the first draft of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights came about through a compromise just to get the thing approved by the states. But even then, press freedom wasn’t taken that seriously by the ruling class. Little more than a decade after ratification, the Adams administration shoved through the Alien and Sedition Acts. These laws, which essentially criminalized libel of a public official, were widely seen as despotic. Many people were accused of crimes for saying something bad about the head of state, just like in the old world that America was founded to leave behind. The public anger at these laws was so intense that the radical liberal Thomas Jefferson won the 1800 election by campaigning against them. The First Amendment was saved. But the struggle for a consistent defense of the freedom of the press didn’t end there. Censorship laws kept coming back, especially in wartime in the 20th century. Woodrow Wilson and FDR both imposed horrible restrictions on speech. The Prevailing Rule These days, we are mostly safe from such impositions using the excuse of libel. It is almost impossible for any public figure successfully to sue for defamation under any existing libel law. Court precedents have established that the plaintiff has to prove that the writer had “actual malice,” fully intending to inflict real harm by deliberately making up false information. That’s a very high bar, as legal experts say. This is not true in Latin America or Europe, where the press faces down government agents regularly, who manipulate libel law in order to crush criticism they don’t like. The 1964 Supreme Court case The New York Times vs. Sullivan established the prevailing rule. By way of background to this case, during the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and early 1960s, many reporters were nervous about reporting on lynchings, police abuse, and various other indignities suffered by black Americans because cities and counties could successfully sue for defamation. The courts would frequently side against the press, which was forced to pay up. Libel litigation was how the segregationist press beat back investigative reporting. No overt laws were necessary; one only needed the threat of a libel suit to control the information to which people had access.The result was not overt censorship. The practice created what was called a “chilling effect.” Writers would refrain from publishing certain claims for fear that someone would get upset, sue, and cause government courts to pillage the property of the media outlet. Rather than take that risk, the press would self-censor: no overt laws were necessary; one only needed the threat of a libel suit to control the information to which people had access. In the New York Times case from 1964, the paper had printed an ad that claimed Martin Luther King, Jr. had been arrested seven times when he had only been arrested four times. The Times printed a retraction, but the head of police in Montgomery, Alabama, was not satisfied. He claimed personal injury to his reputation. The case went to the Supreme Court, which decided that the Times had made a mistake and not spoken out of actual malice, thus rejecting the plaintiff’s demand for damages. Since then, and mostly because the bar for libel cases is so high, the freedom of the press has been mostly guaranteed in law. The entire idea of a “chilling effect” came about in the context of libel. If you have to face the prospect of a permission-giving institution with coercive power, you will refrain from saying what needs to be said. As John Milton wrote in 1644: For to distrust the judgement and the honesty of one who hath but a common repute in learning and never yet offended, as not to count him fit to print his mind without a tutor or examiner, lest he should drop a schism or something of corruption, is the greatest displeasure and indignity to a free and knowing spirit that can be put upon him. There we have it: it is a matter of human dignity that a person should not be coerced in the printing of an opinion. The US today provides such protections for print, but less so for other media. Even today, many television and radio broadcasts are subjected to forms of censorship. The printed and digital press has been more-or-less secure, and unusually so. Eye of the Beholder An example of how the rule is breached is provided by Victorian England, which had strict laws regarding obscenity. How that was defined was left to the groups who complained loudest. The courts tended to back them. In many cases, the law was invoked against individuals who attempted to publish material about birth control for women. This shocked sensibilities enough that the press was shut down using the excuse that such talk was obscene. The state may not, regardless of the excuse, interfere with people’s right to express a thought.Oddly, in those days, there were no actual laws against advocating for birth control anywhere on the statute books. But the chilling effect was in place due to courts that were friendly to litigants who wanted to stretch the definition of obscenity as far as it would go. The analogy with libel is clear. Without a clear standard set by the courts, the press is made vulnerable to every manner of lawsuit from any party that imagines itself damaged. It took half a millennium to arrive at institutions that established a clear wall here: the state may not, regardless of the excuse, interfere with people’s right to express a thought. Nor may the courts act on behalf of any private party that claims to have been injured, unless that private party can prove actually malicious intent and real damage. Today in the US, there is a high wall between the state and the freedom to speak in print (which includes digital publication). But how thick is this wall? There are always pressures to penetrate it. It is a problem, too, that the law is not well understood by the public, which takes the freedom so much for granted that there is little consciousness of the dangers of a politician who rails against the media for propagating “fake news” (which, like obscenity, obviously exists in the eye of the beholder). The Trump Challenge During the campaign and after, Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to “change libel law” to open up the press to lawsuits. The freedom to speak and write need firm protections in the law.“I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money,” Mr. Trump said during the campaign. “We’re going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected.” Obviously such talk directly contradicts prevailing law, which serves as a bulwark of this essential freedom at least. He has gone so far as to found Trump TV, which offers Soviet-like reports such as this one. It is certainly free of anything remotely resembling libel against Trump: Should Trump prevail in his wishes, a freedom that all of us take for granted – the freedom to criticize government officials on our blogs and social media – would be severely curbed. It would be the 1790s all over again. Despite the tough talk, there is actually nothing Trump can do to change the Supreme Court’s precedent on the matter. He cannot issue an executive order, thank goodness, and he cannot rely on Congress to act with some new censorship law on the order of the Alien and Sedition Acts. We’ve been there and done that. Obviously, reverting back to old forms would be a disaster for hard-won freedom of the press. The Freedom Ideal Words are not themselves aggression and hurt feelings entitle no one to the property of another. Now, we might ask the question: how does a truly free society deal with the issue of libel? Should it be the case that the press can just say whatever it wants about a person? The standard was elucidated by Walter Block. In his view, no one has an enforceable right to a reputation. Words are not themselves aggression and hurt feelings entitle no one to the property of another. In effect, Block would go much further than the Supreme Court and make it absolutely impossible for anyone to sue anyone for libel ever. As he writes in Defending the Undefendable (1976): “Now, there is perhaps nothing more repugnant or vicious than libel. We must, therefore, take particular care to defend the free speech rights of libelers, for if they can be protected, the rights of all others—who do not give as much offense—will certainly be more secure. But if the rights of free speech of libelers and slanderers are not protected, the rights of others will be less secure.” But what would be the results in a world in which anyone can say anything he or she wants? Expectations would adjust, same as they have adjusted for “fake news” today. As Block says: “The public would soon learn to digest and evaluate the statements of libelers and slanderers—if the latter were allowed free rein. No longer would a libeler or slanderer have the automatic power to ruin a person’s reputation.” In other words, people have to learn that it is not the job of government to stamp a guarantee of truth on the press. Nor it is a government function to weed out information from the media that powerful people do not like. You don’t have to go as far as Block in effectively abolishing the entire concept of libel to see his point. The freedom to speak and write need firm protections in the law, approximating what they are today under since 1964. Civil libertarians should be highly sensitive to any head of state who makes noises along the lines that Trump suggests. It is very recognizable, salient, and very alarming. We’ve fought too long and too hard against government encroachments to accept the slightest compromises to the firm principle of the freedom of speech. |
For any readers missing the argument for a left exit vote in the coming referendum, here’s one I prepared earlier. In the EU’s rush to take austerity positions since 2008, the budget mechanisms of the EU have been reimagined and the Commission and the ECB have become devices for forcing cuts on the poorer European states. It is a condition of continued membership that budgets are submitted to the EU each year and there they are scrutinised to ensure a continuous process of cuts, privatisation and diminished collective bargaining. In Ireland, Greece and Spain, EU policies are leading to a rapid diminution of union bargaining, and if these are the worst affected, the direction of travel is the same all across the continent. That said, while I can recognise that the left exit position can have a principled basis, it’s problem if anything is that it is too principled. I have yet to encounter a left exit argument which finds a transmission mechanism between the high socialist hopes of those that I hear espousing exit and the vote. Why, I want friends to explain, will an exit vote improve the balance of forces for the left in Britain? Here, it seems to me are the main areas where the advocates of a conventional Brexit are tactically ahead of their temporary allies among the exit voters of the far left: The vote is / the vote isn’t a vote for restricted immigration. If you study the polls carefully, I understand it is possible to construct an argument that the EU exit vote isn’t just about immigration. When people are asked to explain why they are voting for exit, they do not always put immigration as their sole or even necessarily their top priority. Now one (relatively weak) response would be that data on voting intentions often has this character: if you study people’s reasons for UKIP voting, say, often people have complex and conflicting reasons for voting the way they do. More important, is an understanding of how the national exit vote has been planned. The strategists of the exit vote are aware that: i) they have a big lead among the demographics most likely to vote (i.e. over 65s – see graph at top), ii) there is an equally big stay majority among the groups of people least likely to vote (i.e. under 25s), iii) these majorities have different weight. Because over-65s are much more likely to vote (in general and in this case in particular), exit can win without a popular mobilisation, in fact the more that it polarises people the greater the risk that today’s possibly-non-voting stay voters will be converted into tomorrow’s actual stay voters, iv) therefore anything that feels like racism is counterproductive – the UKIP/migration vote is already primed and ready to vote (of all the parties, UKIP supporters report the greatest interest in the referendum and the greatest intention to vote). Raw anti-migrant politics will only produce a reaction in terms of stay voting by the young. This, I think, explains the way that the exit argument is positioned both in the national media and locally. There is a constant shuffle backwards and forwards between “immigration” and “other” arguments. One day, we are told that the NHS is dying under the weight of prospective immigrants, the next day that migrants are dragging British workers into poverty. Then as soon as these arguments are put, they are withdrawn and replaced with a blancmange of emptiness which is the characteristic mode of the exit argument. It is the same with the local literature: for every letter you find in which exit is presented in terms that would make a BNP voter smile, there are two fliers in which the No campaign avoids text and slogans and limits itself to stating that there is an Exit position, the politics of which are already assumed. That said, while you can make an honest argument that Exit politics have been “less horribly anti-migrant” than many on the left predicted; you can’t make a compelling case that any significant part of the exit argument in this referendum has been an argument for redistribution, unionisation or socialism. Who gets to interpret the meaning of a large Exit vote. Imagine a different context: a Labour government is elected, led by Jeremy Corbyn. The government has widespread popular backing and introduces a programme of nationalisations. Some EU institution (the ECJ? – it would only get involved as a result of a legal process starting in the UK, so we are planing already a two-term Labour government) announces that the EU which has previously allowed such nationalisations as Northern Rock now no longer approves of them. Corbyn calls a referendum to leave the EU in order to deepen his reform plans. Here, I’m not making the obvious point that “this isn’t how we got here” but a (slightly) subtler one. In a democracy, the people who get to interpret a popular vote are the government of the day. Under a Corbyn government the left decides what a vote means, under a Tory government it’s the Tories who choose. A 55-45 exit vote will be interpreted as a the greatest possible popular affirmation of the politics of the Tory right and UKIP in just the same way that a stay vote will be used to bolster Cameron, Osborne and also (although to a lesser extent) Corbyn. So, while the left exiters might want to interpret a 55-45 vote in “their” favour as an argument for socialism, that’s not how it will be interpreted by the government, and therefore by Parliament in the making of new legislation, or by the members of the main parties. Let alone by trade unionists, migrant workers or the young. (All three of whom have good reasons to fear an exit vote). In all these different constituencies, the dominant interpretation of an exit vote will be a vote for faster neoliberalism, the greater unpicking of reforms, faster privatisation, etc. Who is actually voting. I’ve alluded to these points already, but to bring them out more clearly. The exit vote corresponds exactly to the demographic of the people who consistently vote for the worst political options in Britain: above all, it is an age vote. In just the same way that Miliband was ahead among the young and lost in every age group above 40, so it is with the exit vote. It is the vote of the old, of UKIP and the worst Tories. Friends on the left shouldn’t tell themselves that you can mobilise the very people in society who are most opposed to you, on their favoured issue, in circumstances they have been preparing for 30 years, with their government is in power and expect anything good to result. All of this is relevant not merely to how people should vote but what the effect of a large exit vote will be. We live in a society that has for four decades increasingly criminalised migration, and in which non-EU citizens resident in Britain have been denied the vote in the referendum that will decide their future. It is already the case that such non-EU migration as the UK still allows overwhelmingly comes as a result of EU law. Both EU and non-EU citizens will find it harder to come to Britain in the event of an exit vote and harder to stay. A large exit vote is going to mean an attack on EU migrants – if the left is seen to have voted for that attack we will be in a weaker position to resist it afterwards. My own view remains that this is a referendum that the left cannot win and that either option will result in further attacks. Yet in the choice between two bad options, one of them is worse. Advertisements |
Hello Everyone, I am really excited to share some news with you today, but first, since most of you probably don’t know who I am, I thought I would start with a bit of an introduction. I was born and raised not too far from Montreal, in the province of Quebec, and while I won’t bore you with the details, I was lucky enough to grow in an environment where videogames were very present. The passion I had for them resulted in a bachelor degree in Computer Science, and in time work took me to Edmonton. I’d regularly play pen & paper role-playing games with my group of friends, until we switched to PC RPGs and played through Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, and Neverwinter Nights. You can imagine my surprise when I realized that the company who developed them, BioWare, was just down the street! A few years later, in January of 2006, I was lucky enough to join my favorite game company! I was immediately assigned to the original Mass Effect, which was in very early production at the time, as its Senior Development Director. I worked closely with Casey Hudson and the Leads team through the rest of ME1 and the first half of ME2, when BioWare decided to open another studio in Montreal. I was honored to be asked to lead the team, so I wrapped up my work in Edmonton and moved back to Montreal in the summer of 2009, where our small team was being put in place. Because BioWare has always believed that the company culture is one of the key ingredients of the games we make, we took two important steps with the team. First, we deliberately seeded the new studio with many transfers from Edmonton. Second, we chose to grow the team relatively slowly, allowing new people to join the team and integrate into its culture in due time. Even with that approach, though, the Montreal studio has made significant contributions to the Mass Effect franchise. We started by building about half the cinematics for ME2, then most of its N7 missions, and finally we played an important role in the development of much of its post-release content. Then on ME3, we took charge of the multiplayer portion as well as making significant contributions to the single-player campaign. Most recently, we built a large piece of DLC that will be released on November 27 and that you know under the name of Omega. With each new portion of work, we took on deeper and broader responsibilities, but we always worked in conjunction with Casey, the Mass Effect leads, and the developers in Edmonton. That evolution now takes its next step, with the news that the next Mass Effect game is already in development, driven by the team here in Montreal. This is the goal we have been working toward for years now, and every member of our team is proud, excited, and humbled to take on the responsibility for the next game. To ensure a proper and effective transition, we’ll continue to be supported by the Edmonton studio through the game’s development, working with and learning from them on some critical initiatives. On top of that, Casey remains the Executive Producer, but he will have a Project Director under him, working in Montreal, leading our development team and making day-to-day decisions for the game. We all care very much about Mass Effect and make our decisions based on what’s best for the game. There is really not much I can tell you about the game right now, except that it will be built with the amazing technology of Frostbite as its foundation, enhanced by many of the systems that the Dragon Age III team has already spent a lot of time building. The other thing I can tell you is that, while it will be very respectful of the heritage built over the course of the first three games, with the original trilogy now concluded and the switch over to a new engine, we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts. You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling. Now that the core of our team is in place, the next step for us is to have the BioWare Montreal studio grow at an accelerated pace over the next year as we build a team large enough to support the production of what we know is going to be an amazing game in the franchise. If you or someone you know is interested in joining our team, keep an eye on our job postings. We’re always looking for talented and passionate people, but it is more the case now than ever! We’re all looking forward to telling you more about this next Mass Effect game, but it’s probably going to be quite a while before you hear from us again. We know you have high expectations for the franchise and we want to make sure whatever we show you lives up to those expectations. Thank you all for your interest and your passion, Yanick Studio Director – BioWare Montreal @YanickRRoy ——————————————————————————————————————- Bonjour tout le monde! Je suis vraiment excité de pouvoir partager une nouvelle avec vous aujourd’hui, mais d’abord, comme la plupart d’entre vous ne savent probablement pas qui je suis, je vais commencer par me présenter. Je suis né pas très loin de Montréal et, sans vouloir vous ennuyer avec les détails, j’ai eu la chance de grandir dans un environnement où les jeux vidéo faisaient partie de mon quotidien. La passion que j’avais pour ceux-ci m’a mené à obtenir un baccalauréat en informatique et mon travail dans ce domaine devait un peu plus tard me conduire à Edmonton, en Alberta. À l’époque, je jouais régulièrement à des jeux de rôle sur table avec mon groupe d’amis, jusqu’au jour où nous avons fait la transition vers leurs versions PC et joué à Baldur’s Gate 1 et 2, puis à Neverwinter Nights. Imaginez ma surprise quand j’ai réalisé que la compagnie qui les développait se trouvait à deux pas de chez moi! Quelques années plus tard, en janvier 2006, j’ai finalement eu la chance de me joindre à ma compagnie de jeu préférée! Dès le départ, j’ai été assigné à la franchise Mass Effect, dont le premier chapitre était en tout début de production, en tant que directeur en chef du développement. J’ai travaillé en étroite collaboration avec Casey et le reste de l’équipe à la tête du projet, et ce, pour la durée de ME1 et la première moitié du projet ME2, moment où BioWare a décidé d’ouvrir un nouveau studio à Montréal. J’étais évidemment très flatté lorsqu’on m’a demandé d’en assumer la direction et, après avoir bouclé mes tâches à Edmonton, je suis revenu vivre à Montréal à l’été 2009 alors qu’on était à y établir une petite équipe. Parce que BioWare a toujours cru que sa culture d’entreprise est un ingrédient clé des jeux que nous développons, nous avons utilisé deux stratégies importantes pour bâtir notre équipe. Premièrement, nous avons créé le noyau de l’équipe à partir du transfert de plusieurs membres de l’équipe d’Edmonton. Deuxièmement, nous avons fait le choix de croître à un rythme relativement lent, s’assurant que les nouveaux venus aient le temps nécessaire pour intégrer notre culture. Malgré le contexte de cette croissance contrôlée, le studio de Montréal est parvenu à contribuer de manière significative à la franchise Mass Effect. Nous avons commencé par développer environ la moitié des cinématiques de ME2 pour ensuite s’attaquer à la majorité des missions N7 et finalement jouer un rôle important dans le développement de beaucoup du contenu produit après le lancement du jeu. Par la suite, pour ME3, nous avons pris la responsabilité de la portion multijoueur tout en continuant de contribuer de façon significative au mode solo. Plus récemment, nous avons développé un module téléchargeable d’envergure qui sera lancé le 27 novembre et que vous connaissez sous le nom d’Omega. Avec chaque nouvelle assignation, nos responsabilités sont devenues de plus en plus grandes et nous avons toujours continué de travailler en conjonction avec Casey, l’équipe de direction de Mass Effect, et les développeurs à Edmonton. Suite à cette évolution, nous sommes maintenant prêts à passer à la prochaine étape et annoncer que le prochain jeu Mass Effect est déjà en développement et que c’est l’équipe de Montréal qui en tient dorénavant les rênes. Cela représente l’atteinte d’un objectif qu’on s’était fixé il y a plusieurs années et c’est avec un mélange de fierté, d’excitation et d’humilité que chacun des membres de l’équipe s’affaire à assumer ses nouvelles responsabilités. Afin de s’assurer que le transfert de la franchise vers Montréal se fasse dans les meilleures conditions possibles, nous continuerons de recevoir le soutien du studio d’Edmonton tout au long du projet, en collaborant et apprenant d’eux sur certaines initiatives importantes. De plus, Casey demeurera producteur exécutif de ce jeu, mais il sera représenté à Montréal par un directeur de projet qui sera chargé de diriger l’équipe de développement et de prendre les décisions créatives au quotidien. Mass Effect est une franchise très importante pour nous et nos décisions sont prises en fonction de ce qui est le mieux pour le jeu. Je ne peux vraiment pas vous en dire beaucoup sur le jeu en ce moment, si ce n’est qu’il sera fondé sur l’incroyable technologie de l’engin Frostbite, auquel l’équipe de Dragon Age III a déjà passé beaucoup de temps à intégrer beaucoup des systèmes de jeux pour lesquels nos titres sont reconnus. L’autre chose que je peux vous dire est que, même si nous nous assurerons de développer ce prochain jeu dans le plein respect de l’héritage établi par les trois premiers chapitres, maintenant que la trilogie originale est achevée et que nous faisons la transition vers un nouvel engin de jeu, nous avons l’opportunité d’explorer de nouvelles directions, autant du point de vue de l’histoire que des mécaniques de jeu. Vous pouvez quand même vous attendre à ce que ce prochain jeu respecte les éléments clés des jeux précédents, y compris de nombreuses races extraterrestres, une énorme galaxie à explorer et, bien sûr, une narration riche et cinématographique. Maintenant que le cœur de notre équipe est en place, la prochaine étape pour nous est de faire en sorte que le studio de BioWare Montréal accélère sa croissance au cours de l’année à venir afin de bâtir une équipe assez imposante pour supporter la production d’un jeu qui, nous en somme persuadés, sera une formidable addition à la franchise. Si vous ou quelqu’un que vous connaissez est intéressé à joindre notre équipe, assurez-vous de consulter régulièrement nos offres d’emplois. Nous sommes toujours à la recherche de gens talentueux et passionnés, mais c’est maintenant plus vrai que jamais! Nous avons hâte de vous en dire plus sur ce prochain jeu Mass Effect, mais ce ne sera probablement pas avant un bon petit bout de temps. Nous savons que vos attentes envers la franchise sont très élevées et voulons nous assurer que lorsque nous vous montrerons quelque chose, ce sera à la hauteur de vos attentes. Merci pour votre intérêt et votre passion, Yanick Directeur de studio – BioWare Montréal @YanickRRoy Share this: Twitter Facebook Reddit Google Tumblr |
Advertisement A budget Android Lollipop smartphone from a relatively unknown brand probably isn’t your usual first choice for an upgrade. Indeed, it might – superficially at least – seem like a downgrade. But are you ignoring some decent hardware with this type of thinking? We’ve taken a look at an Android device that has been generating some good reviews – is it really as strong as these reviews suggest? Or is this affordable handset merely a challenger to the midrange efforts of large manufacturers like Sony and Samsung? UMI eMAX mini 4G Unlocked Cell Phone 5.0 inch FHD IPS Screen Android 5.0 Smart Phone, MSM8939 Octa Core 1.5GHz, ROM 16GB+RAM 2GB, 8.0MP+13MP (Black) UMI eMAX mini 4G Unlocked Cell Phone 5.0 inch FHD IPS Screen Android 5.0 Smart Phone, MSM8939 Octa Core 1.5GHz, ROM 16GB+RAM 2GB, 8.0MP+13MP (Black) Buy Now on Amazon The Umi eMax Mini is lightweight and delivers the Android 5.0 Lollipop Android 5.0 Lollipop: What It Is And When You'll Get It Android 5.0 Lollipop: What It Is And When You'll Get It Android 5.0 Lollipop is here, but only on Nexus devices. What exactly is new about this operating system, and when can you expect it to arrive on your device? Read More experience with the usual iOS-inspired UI design found on Chinese smartphones. But is it worth your while? At the end of this review, we’ll be giving our test unit away to one lucky reader! Unboxing the eMax Mini We’ve seen some ostentatious smartphone packaging lately, most notably the Huawei P8 with its retro disc drive-style plastic box Huawei P8 Review and Giveaway Huawei P8 Review and Giveaway Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has release a 64-bit variant of the Huawei P8, available unlocked for just under $600. But why would you choose this over, say, a Samsung Galaxy S6? Read More . But as you would expect from a budget Chinese smartphone, little expense has been made on the initial presentation. Inside the 1990s-style, silver-grey, 6-by-6 sleeve, is a slightly smaller black box, within which you’ll find the Umi eMax Mini. Hard foam packaging separates the phone, charger and USB cable, while a brief leaflet highlights the camera, flashlight, sensors, camera, and so on. This is not to say that the unboxing is disappointing; rather, it is brief and lets you get to grips with the phone straightaway. What’s Inside the Umi EMax Mini? An octa-core Snapdragon 615 CPU sits at the heart of the 139.8 x 69.6 x 8.9mm Android Lollipop-powered eMax Mini, bringing 64-bit architecture What Is 64-bit Computing? What Is 64-bit Computing? The packaging of a computer or computer hardware is crowded with technical terms and badges. One of the more prominent ones is 64-bit. Read More into the sub $200 bracket. In tandem is the once-ubiquitous Adreno 405 GPU, 16 GB ROM and 2 GB RAM. Output is via a 5.0 inch FHD IPS OGS display – more on that below. We’re giving away the dual SIM option; old style SIM cards are required for this device, so if you’re buying or are lucky enough to win, you’ll need adaptors or new SIMs from your providers. Where 4G LTE is available, this phone is capable of high speed mobile Internet. The cameras on the eMax Mini are 13 MP main and 8 MP secondary. Neither is outstanding, but at the same time, they don’t disappoint either. The eMax Mini is listed as having Eyerprint scanner technology for retinal unlocking, however we were unable to find the means of activating and using this; certainly there was no obvious app or setting, so it seems likely that this feature was dropped, or it remains purely for the larger Umi eMax. Unusually for smartphones in 2015, the eMax Mini has a removable back plate, which is how the dual SIM What Are Dual SIM Phones, And Do You Need One? What Are Dual SIM Phones, And Do You Need One? Ever heard of dual SIM phones? My guess is you probably have. I can also guess you know what dual SIM phones are; after all, it’s not very hard to understand that a dual SIM... Read More slots and microSD slot are accessed. The 3,050mAh battery is also revealed, however this is non-removable, and as such not replaceable. Performance and Battery Life The low hardware requirements of the phone have a good impact on battery life. After the initial charge, the handset sat for three days on standby, without losing more than 30% of battery life. An unusual quirk with this phone is that that wireless – supposedly 802.11 b/g/n (as noted above) –slower than you would expect. Compared to my Nexus 5 (2013) Google Nexus 5 Review and Giveaway Google Nexus 5 Review and Giveaway Approximately a year after Google released the Nexus 4, the company behind Android has come out with its successor -- the Nexus 5. Read More I would estimate the Umi eMax Mini’s wireless speed is about 60%. This brings us to benchmarking. Antutu Benchmark presents a very low result, around half that of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Don’t plan on doing anything much more extreme than making calls, social networking and web browsing! Daily Use: Does the Umi EMax Mini Feel Like a Phone? Chinese smartphone manufacturers seem obsessed by Apple. This is wholly obvious in the Umi eMax Mini, with the default UI presenting a collection of iOS-style icons. Beyond this, the UI seems to be very close to stock Android 5.0 Lollipop. One thing that stands out about this phone is the display. Often unresponsive with a cheap, plasticy feel, it harks back to the cheaper resistive touchscreen phones and tablets rather than the slick usability of the modern capacitive touchscreens (what’s the difference? Capacitive vs. Resistive Touchscreens: What Are the Differences? Capacitive vs. Resistive Touchscreens: What Are the Differences? Capacitive and resistive touchscreen devices are everywhere these days, but what's the difference and how do they work? Read More ). OGS (One Glass Solution) technology is employed here, a technique which aims to cut the cost of capacitive displays by removing one of the layers of glass and replacing it with a thin insulating material. However the IPS OGS Full lamination technology just doesn’t deliver. This is clearly a disadvantage. I suspect we all encounter a couple of responsiveness issues each day using smartphones, regardless of their model or manufacturer. Here, though, the problem is utterly frustrating. Like going back in time and finding that the world is a nicer place except for the lack of microwave meals, the mock-resistive touch screen is a poor choice that could send the user scurrying back to whatever smartphone they migrated from. Another UI related problem is in the phone hardware. Unlike most Android 5.0 Lollipop devices, the Umi eMax Mini doesn’t offer software buttons. Instead, the Back/Home/Recents buttons are hardware, and while this isn’t a problem, the way they are implemented is troublesome. Instead of baring button icons or being permanently illuminated, the buttons are largely anonymous, the LEDs only lighting up if you manage to precisely tap the button you’re aiming for. In daylight this isn’t too great a problem; in the dark, however, it makes using the phone quite difficult, as your eyesight is overwhelmed by the display brightness. Apps and Gaming Experience It’s always worth testing out a new phone with your favorite apps to make sure that it makes the grade. I’ve installed Twitter, Feedly Feedly: The Fast and Easy Way to Read RSS Feeds on Android Feedly: The Fast and Easy Way to Read RSS Feeds on Android What was once just a mediocre RSS app for Android has become one of the fastest, sleekest, and outright best on the Play Store. Read More and Temple Run on this device to get an idea of the level of performance I can expect. This isn’t to gauge any form of official benchmarking, merely to get an idea of how I would feel about this phone with daily use. First up, I tried Temple Run. It plays quite well, and although the issues with the display affect the gaming experience, I lasted far longer than I expected. Next, I moved onto Feedly. Syncing was as quick as you might expect, and sharing was also quick. Indeed, I shared directly into Twitter, which handled the data without any problems. Running Twitter independently, the expected performance was also present. Now, often I have more extreme requirements from a smartphone; at the very least, rooting. Sadly, it seems as though there is a big question mark over whether this is possible, and how reliable it is to unlock the bootloader, root, and install a custom ROM with this device. Overall, performance seems to be more than adequate for standard email, browsing, social networking and light gaming use. Using the Camera The 13 MP main and 8 MP secondary cameras are adequate, and although the MP rating is high for a budget camera, there is nothing in the software that supports or builds on this. All we get is a variation on the stock camera app, but this does include an automatic mode switching between HDR, panorama, time-lapse photography, barcode/QR code scanning and software for making faces beautiful. In its favor, however, the software switches quickly between front and back cameras, should you fancy a fast selfie. The shots here demonstrate the differences between the 2013 Nexus 5 camera, and the UMI eMax Mini. There’s a wintry dullness to the image on the right, as well as a flatter focus. However, the photographic hardware is clearly there, and with a camera-focused firmware update and a more sophisticated app, the photo on the left could end up being a lot closer to the one on the right. Should You Buy the Umi EMax Mini? High end, “flagship” Android smartphones have struggled of late not to disappear into their own self-importance. Having a great camera is a bonus; being able to watch streaming video and videogames is also a massive advantage, and if that’s all you’re looking for, plus a build quality to make your friends and colleagues drool, then opting for a Samsung Galaxy S6 Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and Gear VR Review and Giveaway Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and Gear VR Review and Giveaway Samsung sells more Android devices than any other manufacturer, and thanks to some aggressive marketing, the Galaxy brand is almost synonymous with Android. Read More or Xperia Z5 is probably your best option. UMI eMAX mini 4G Unlocked Cell Phone 5.0 inch FHD IPS Screen Android 5.0 Smart Phone, MSM8939 Octa Core 1.5GHz, ROM 16GB+RAM 2GB, 8.0MP+13MP (Black) UMI eMAX mini 4G Unlocked Cell Phone 5.0 inch FHD IPS Screen Android 5.0 Smart Phone, MSM8939 Octa Core 1.5GHz, ROM 16GB+RAM 2GB, 8.0MP+13MP (Black) Buy Now on Amazon Of course, it might not be what you’re looking for. You might have budgetary issues; endless mobile games might be utterly irrelevant to you; your DSLR takes great photos 10 Great Ways to Save Time & Money And Get Great Results From Your DSLR 10 Great Ways to Save Time & Money And Get Great Results From Your DSLR Photography is an expensive hobby, and it doesn’t get easier as you graduate upwards. Don't worry, beginners can take a lot away from the many photography tips and tricks on the Web. Read More already. You might be a contrarian, never daring to bare your rebellious streak. And in all honesty, most people won’t even care that it’s not a Samsung or a Sony or a HTC. Our verdict of the Umi eMax Mini : The fact is, this is a perfectly good smartphone. Its build quality might not be hugely impressive and it might benchmark lower than you care to mention. But if you’re looking for a functional phone with an element of the “smart” about it, and don’t want to spend a small fortune (after all, you can buy a laptop PC for less than a flagship smartphone), and the quality of the build and the responsiveness of the touchscreen are not priorities, then the Umi eMax Mini might be exactly what you’re looking for. 5 10 UMI eMAX Mini Giveaway Send your products to be reviewed. Contact James Bruce for further details. |
The Railways is trying to put an end to those tiresome quarrels that break out due to oversleeping passengers on the middle and lower berths by reducing official sleeping hours. According to a circular issued by the railway board, the passengers in the reserved coaches can only sleep between 10 pm and 6 am to allow others to sit on the seats for the rest of the time. Until the circular was issued, the existing permissible time for sleeping was between 9 pm and 6 am. "Sleeping accommodation between 2200 hours and 0600 hours and sitting accommodation for the rest of the period is provided for the passengers in the reserved coaches having sleeping accommodation," said the circular, dated August 31. The circular, however, makes an exception for certain passengers. "Passengers are, however, requested to cooperate with the sick, persons with disability, and pregnant ladies in case they want to sleep beyond permissible limits," it says. The new provision replaces paragraph 652 in the Indian Railways Commercial Manual, Volume I, which provides for sleeping accommodation between 9 pm and 6 am. "We had received feedback from officials regarding issues between passengers over sleeping arrangements. We already have a rule in place. However, we wanted to clarify it and ensure it is followed," said ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena. This provision is applicable to all reserved coaches with sleeping accommodation, he said. Another railway official said the sleeping time was reduced by an hour because there were times when passengers went to sleep as soon as they boarded the train -- day or night -- leaving the co-travellers on the upper and middle berths high and dry. Conversely, officials said problems also arise when passengers on the middle berths refuse to get up so that those on the lower berths could sit comfortably. "It is a regular bone of contention among passengers. Once, there was a passenger on the lower berth who slept all through the journey from Kolkata to Delhi, while the man on the upper berth had to remain there and others on the middle berth sat perched in one corner of the lower berth through the trip. "All through the journey, they kept taking digs at the sleeping man and even poking him. This happens all the time on trains," said Sachin Singh, a businessman, who travels frequently between Delhi and Kolkata for meetings. Officials said that the problem is more acute for side berths. The circular has clarified that a person booked on side upper berth will not have any claim of seat on the lower berth between 10 pm and 6 am. Ministry officials said the new directive will help Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) to resolve such disputes on board by preventing anyone from taking catnaps beyond the permissible time. (PTI) |
School of philosophy in Ancient Greece Aristotle's School, a painting from the 1880s by Gustav Adolph Spangenberg , a painting from the 1880s by Gustav Adolph Spangenberg The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and peripatetic is an adjective ascribed to his followers. The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum. It was an informal institution whose members conducted philosophical and scientific inquiries. After the middle of the 3rd century BC, the school fell into a decline, and it was not until the Roman era that there was a revival. Later members of the school concentrated on preserving and commenting on Aristotle's works rather than extending them; it died out in the 3rd century. The study of Aristotle's works continued by scholars who were called Peripatetics through Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the works of the Peripatetic school were lost to the Latin West, but in the East they were rediscovered and incorporated into early Islamic philosophy, which would play a fundamental role in the revival of Aristotelian philosophy in Europe through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Background [ edit ] The term "Peripatetic" is a transliteration of the ancient Greek word περιπατητικός (peripatêtikos), which means "of walking" or "given to walking about".[1] The Peripatetic school, founded by Aristotle,[2] was actually known simply as the Peripatos.[3] Aristotle's school came to be so named because of the peripatoi ("colonnades" or "covered walkways") of the Lyceum where the members met.[4] The legend that the name came from Aristotle's alleged habit of walking while lecturing may have started with Hermippus of Smyrna.[5] Unlike Plato (428/7–348/7 BC), Aristotle (384–322 BC)[2] was not a citizen of Athens and so could not own property; he and his colleagues therefore used the grounds of the Lyceum as a gathering place, just as it had been used by earlier philosophers such as Socrates.[6] Aristotle and his colleagues first began to use the Lyceum in this way about 335 BC,[7] after which Aristotle left Plato's Academy and Athens, and then returned to Athens from his travels about a dozen years later.[8] Because of the school's association with the gymnasium, the school also came to be referred to simply as the Lyceum.[6] Some modern scholars argue that the school did not become formally institutionalized until Theophrastus took it over, at which time there was private property associated with the school.[9] Originally at least, the Peripatetic gatherings were probably conducted less formally than the term "school" suggests: there was likely no set curriculum or requirements for students, or even fees for membership.[10] Aristotle did teach and lecture there, but there was also philosophical and scientific research done in partnership with other members of the school.[11] It seems likely that many of the writings that have come down to us in Aristotle's name were based on lectures he gave at the school.[12] Among the members of the school in Aristotle's time were Theophrastus, Phanias of Eresus, Eudemus of Rhodes, Clytus of Miletus, Aristoxenus, and Dicaearchus. Much like Plato's Academy, there were in Aristotle's school junior and senior members, the junior members generally serving as pupils or assistants to the senior members who directed research and lectured. The aim of the school, at least in Aristotle's time, was not to further a specific doctrine, but rather to explore philosophical and scientific theories; those who ran the school worked as equal partners.[13] Doctrines [ edit ] The doctrines of the Peripatetic school were those laid down by Aristotle, and henceforth maintained by his followers. Whereas Plato had sought to explain things with his theory of forms, Aristotle preferred to start from the facts given by experience. Philosophy to him meant science, and its aim was the recognition of the "why" in all things. Hence he endeavoured to attain to the ultimate grounds of things by induction; that is to say, by a posteriori conclusions from a number of facts toward a universal.[14] Logic either deals with appearances, and is then called dialectics; or of truth, and is then called analytics.[15] All change or motion takes place in regard to substance, quantity, quality, and place. There are three kinds of substances – those alternately in motion and at rest, as the animals; those perpetually in motion, as the sky; and those eternally stationary. The last, in themselves immovable and imperishable, are the source and origin of all motion. Among them there must be one first being, unchangeable, which acts without the intervention of any other being. All that is proceeds from it; it is the most perfect intelligence – God. The immediate action of this prime mover – happy in the contemplation of itself – extends only to the heavens; the other inferior spheres are moved by other incorporeal and eternal substances, which the popular belief adores as gods. The heavens are of a more perfect and divine nature than other bodies. In the centre of the universe is the Earth, round and stationary. The stars, like the sky, beings of a higher nature, but of grosser matter, move by the impulse of the prime mover.[15] For Aristotle, matter is the basis of all that exists; it comprises the potentiality of everything, but of itself is not actually anything. A determinate thing only comes into being when the potentiality in matter is converted into actuality. This is achieved by form, the idea existent not as one outside the many, but as one in the many, the completion of the potentiality latent in the matter.[14] The soul is the principle of life in the organic body, and is inseparable from the body. As faculties of the soul, Aristotle enumerates the faculty of reproduction and nutrition; of sensation, memory and recollection; the faculty of reason, or understanding; and the faculty of desiring, which is divided into appetition and volition.[15] By the use of reason conceptions, which are formed in the soul by external sense-impressions, and may be true or false, are converted into knowledge. For reason alone can attain to truth either in understanding or action.[14] The best and highest goal is the happiness which originates from virtuous actions.[15] Aristotle did not, with Plato, regard virtue as knowledge pure and simple, but as founded on nature, habit, and reason.[14] Virtue consists in acting according to nature: that is, keeping the mean between the two extremes of the too much and the too little. Thus valor, in his view the first of virtues, is a mean between cowardice and recklessness; temperance is the mean in respect to sensual enjoyments and the total avoidance of them.[15] History of the school [ edit ] The names of the first seven or eight scholarchs (leaders) of the Peripatetic school are known with varying levels of certainty. A list of names with the approximate dates they headed the school is as follows (all dates BC):[16] There are some uncertainties in this list. It is not certain whether Aristo of Ceos was the head of the school, but since he was a close pupil of Lyco and the most important Peripatetic philosopher in the time when he lived, it is generally assumed that he was. It is not known if Critolaus directly succeeded Aristo, or if there were any leaders between them. Erymneus is known only from a passing reference by Athenaeus.[17] Other important Peripatetic philosophers who lived during these centuries include Eudemus of Rhodes, Aristoxenus, Dicaearchus, and Clearchus of Soli. Sometime shortly after the death of Alexander the Great in June 323 BC, Aristotle left Athens to avoid persecution by anti-Macedonian factions in Athens, due to his ties to Macedonia.[18] After Aristotle's death in 322 BC, his colleague Theophrastus succeeded him as head of the school. The most prominent member of the school after Theophrastus was Strato of Lampsacus, who increased the naturalistic elements of Aristotle's philosophy and embraced a form of atheism. After the time of Strato, the Peripatetic school fell into a decline. Lyco was famous more for his oratory than his philosophical skills, and Aristo is perhaps best known for his biographical studies;[19] although Critolaus was more philosophically active, none of the Peripatetic philosophers in this period seem to have contributed anything original to philosophy.[20] The reasons for the decline of the Peripatetic school are unclear. Undoubtedly Stoicism and Epicureanism provided many answers for those people looking for dogmatic and comprehensive philosophical systems, and the scepticism of the Middle Academy may have seemed preferable to anyone who rejected dogmatism.[21] Later tradition linked the school's decline to Neleus of Scepsis and his descendants hiding the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus in a cellar until their rediscovery in the 1st century BC, and even though this story may be doubted, it is possible that Aristotle's works were not widely read.[22] In 86 BC, Athens was sacked by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla; all the schools of philosophy in Athens were badly disrupted, and the Lyceum ceased to exist as a functioning institution. Ironically, this event seems to have brought new life to the Peripatetic school. Sulla brought the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus back to Rome, where they became the basis of a new collection of Aristotle's writings compiled by Andronicus of Rhodes which forms the basis of the Corpus Aristotelicum which exists today.[20] Later Neoplatonist writers describe Andronicus, who lived around 50 BC, as the eleventh scholarch of the Peripatetic school,[23] which would imply that he had two unnamed predecessors. There is considerable uncertainty over the issue, and Andronicus' pupil Boethus of Sidon is also described as the eleventh scholarch.[24] It is quite possible that Andronicus set up a new school where he taught Boethus. Whereas the earlier Peripatetics had sought to extend and develop Aristotle's works, from the time of Andronicus the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work.[25] The most important figure in the Roman era is Alexander of Aphrodisias (c. 200 AD) who wrote commentaries on Aristotle's writings. With the rise of Neoplatonism (and Christianity) in the 3rd century, Peripateticism as an independent philosophy came to an end, but the Neoplatonists sought to incorporate Aristotle's philosophy within their own system, and produced many commentaries on Aristotle's works. In the 5th century, Olympiodorus the Elder is sometimes described as a Peripatetic. Influence [ edit ] The last philosophers in classical antiquity to comment on Aristotle were Simplicius and Boethius in the 6th century AD.[citation needed] After this, although his works were mostly lost to the west, they were maintained in the east where they were incorporated into early Islamic philosophy. Some of the greatest Peripatetic philosophers in the Islamic philosophical tradition were Al-Kindi (Alkindus), Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd). By the 12th century, Aristotle's works began being translated into Latin during the Latin translations of the 12th century, and gradually arose Scholastic philosophy under such names as Thomas Aquinas, which took its tone and complexion from the writings of Aristotle, the commentaries of Averroes, and The Book of Healing of Avicenna.[26] See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ] |
They walk among us. Shuffling along sidewalks, mesmerized by the smartphones cradled in their hands. Some have earbuds in, seemingly oblivious to the physical world around them. They are Pokémon Go players, and they are on one mission: They’ve gotta catch ‘em all. From teenage girls to police officers, it seems like everyone is hopping on the augmented reality bandwagon to hunt down their first Charmanders, Squirtles, and Bulbasaurs. Recently ranked as the most popular game in U.S. history, the phenomenon has made its way through civilization and is now venturing into uncharted territory: national parks. Searching Far and Wide “There’s always a push-pull between how we experience our parks virtually and how we experience our parks in real time,” says Tim Rains, a public affairs specialist at Glacier National Park. “Here is this combination of the two.” With lush trees and mountain ranges, national parks are not the easiest places to find cell reception or Wi-Fi. Because of this, Barb Maynes, public information officer at Olympic National Park, says she hasn’t heard reports of people playing Pokémon Go. Acadia National Park also hasn’t reported any activity. But some visitors centers, which have Wi-Fi, double as pokégyms, or places where players can battle each other and level up. On Tuesday, Rains caught his first Pokémon—a Bulbasaur—near Glacier’s Apgar Visitor Center. Lynda Doucette, a lead interpretive ranger at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, says the park’s landscape obstructs cell service. But she and her colleagues have found at least five Pokéstops, landmarks where players can collect useful items, and a Pokégym. They’ve identified at least 12 Pokémon, including Zubats and Squirtles. “One of our goals as part of the National Park Service Centennial is to connect with and create the next generation of park visitors, supporters, and advocates,” Rains writes in an email. “Games that use geolocation are a new and emerging opportunity to bring new audiences to the park.” Pokémon Go also has an educational component to it. Great Smoky Mountains’s Mountain Farm Museum has three Pokéstops. When found, historical text will pop up on screen, and players can tap an icon to learn more before returning to the game. There’s also a Twitter account called Pokémon Archaeology devoted to recording Pokémon in historical settings. “It gets people out there,” Doucette says. “I think it’s an opportunity to bring a new audience to a site.” Pokémon are popping up in Yosemite National Park, too. Spencer Gediman, the 12-year-old son of the park's public affairs officer Scott Gediman, spent nearly five hours playing Pokémon Go around Yosemite Village on Thursday. He came across about 40 creatures, mostly Pidgey, Nidoran, and Clefairy. He even found a Raticate in his father’s office. Spencer ran into other players throughout the day. He saw lots of families playing together around places like the church, post office, and village store, which are Pokégyms. “This game is really big,” Spencer says. “It’s all friendly. It’s really awesome.” Potential Pitfalls But as play increases, injuries abound. Already, players have been hurt after falling or walking into obstacles while cruising for critters. So far, though, national parks aren’t implementing any policies against the game. Instead, Emily Davis, a public affairs officer at Grand Canyon National Park, says rangers will continue to remind visitors to be aware of their surroundings on their quests to track down new Pokémon. “I don’t anticipate that we’re going to have any new rules implemented,” Doucette says. “It’s the same safety concerns we’ve had before this game.” Overall, Pokémon Go may become a new way to explore historic parks, which tend to be dead spots for technology. In Washington, D.C., rangers will even soon be getting in on the game by leading a “Catch the Mall Pokémon Hunt,” according to the National Mall and Memorial Parks Facebook page. “On top of reminding visitors to be safe during their visit, we are also asking them to be respectful of the solemn monuments and to avoid wandering into off-limits areas,” Tom Crosson, chief of public affairs for the National Park Service, writes in an email. Who knows? Maybe Pikachu could end up on Mount Rushmore one day. |
Leon is a developer at IDRsolutions and product manager for BuildVu . He is responsible for managing the BuildVu product strategy and roadmap, and also spends a lot of his time writing code to build new features, improve functionality, fix bugs, and improve the testing for BuildVu. This is part 1 of the index, which is aimed to give an overview of the format. In part 2, we talk a lot more about PDF bugs, gotchas and tips The PDF File Format: This section contains in depth information regarding how content is actually stored in a PDF file – what you see when you open a PDF in a text editor. Viewing PDF Objects PDF Object Streams Multiple Trailers on PDF Files PDF Xref Tables Explained Text Streams decodeArray How are images stored? PDF Dictionary Named Locations Linearized PDF Files Form XObjects More articles… Images in PDF: Images – An Overview 3 Examples of unusual ways to use PDF Image Masks 3 Types of Image Mask PDF Image DPI Advantages of JBIG2 compression in PDF explained There are several version of each image inside your PDF file More articles… If you require PDF to Image Conversion or Image Extraction from PDF, you may be interested in JPedal, our Java PDF Library. Colors in PDF: Color – An Overview PDF Image Color Depth Indexed Colorspaces The Color White in PDF Files ICCBased Colorspaces YCCK Color Conversion in PDF Files More articles… Text in PDF: PDF Text – An Overview ActualText PDF Text Co-ordinates Carriage returns, spaces and other gaps More articles… If you require PDF Text Extraction or PDF Text search, you may be interested in JPedal, our Java PDF Library. Fonts in PDF: PDF Fonts – An Overview Introduction to PDF Font Technologies Embedded CMAP Tables What are CID Fonts? Custom Font Encodings Are there really 3 types of fonts in PDF files? Standard Font Information Glyph Names – What is in a name? TrueType Font Hinting More articles… PDF Forms, Annotations & Interactive Elements: Introduction to PDF Forms Introduction to FDF Forms Introduction to XFA Forms Interactive Elements Layers in PDFs More articles… PDF Security: PDF Security (Passwords and Certificates) Brief Overview of Security Features offered by the PDF file format PDF Password Protection Protecting PDF Content More articles… General: What new PDF developers need to know Learning about PDF Text, Shapes and Images OCR (Optical Character Recognition) PDF files Bookmarks and Links What is PDF Pagesize? CropBox, MediaBox, ArtBox, BleedBox, TrimBox? PDF Format and Style Information A quick guide to PDF for Java (and non-Java) developers Why writing a PDF parser is such a challenging task (Part 234) Searching PDF Files How do stacks work in PDF files How do PDF files manage limitless position accuracy of shapes & images? More articles… Make your own PDF file – Hello World: One of our developers bravely set out to write the ‘Hello World’ tutorial of PDF files, creating a PDF file from scratch manually, in a text editor. Follow the series here: Part 1: PDF Objects and Data Types Part 2: Structure of a PDF file Part 2.5: Create a non working PDF Part 3: DIY Blank Page Part 4: Hello World Pdf Part 5: Path objects Part 6: Graphics State If you enjoyed this index, we have also have a second, longer index covering all the nitty gritty details and gotchas we have found from over 13 years of working with PDF! Is there something that we haven’t covered? Leave us a comment and we will see what we can do! |
January 4th, 2016 It’s Time for ‘What’s Your Distro’ Round One The FOSS Force Poll It’s time for our annual “What’s Your Distro” poll, to determine who gets the FOSS Force Best Distro Award for 2015. This year we’re pulling out all the stops. We want this one to be a metaphoric old fashioned slug fest that will be played until only one distro is standing. Do you think your distro has what it takes to grab the brass ring and come out a champion? Then it’s time to get busy. Get to your distro’s forums, post on your favorite email lists, go social — like a good political boss working out of a smoke filled room in Chicago, it’s up to you to get the vote out for your distro, because if you don’t do it…who will? You don’t have much time. We pulled a surprise attack and put our poll up on Friday, so it’s already been collecting votes for three days already…maybe for distros other than your favorite. But don’t worry too much. This is only round one, the qualifying round, and voting doesn’t usually get heavy until the “official” announcement, which is what we’re doing here. The real fun will begin on Friday, when the second and final round goes up. In the meantime, you’ve got to gather your troops, the other loyal users of your distro, and get enough votes to make it through the qualifying round. [yop_poll id=”1″] The voting so far is making this year’s poll look like something of a repeat of our 2014 poll, which was held last March. In that contest, Ubuntu came out ahead with 473 votes, but only by a nose, as second place Linux Mint finished only eleven votes behind. The third place winner, openSUSE, also made a respectable showing, with 417 votes. All other distros were way behind the pack, with fourth place Arch nearly 150 points back. You can check out the stats on last years Linux distro World Series yourself on the article we published after the dust had settled and the ticker tape had been swept away. Our new poll offers-up for your choice ten of the top eleven distros on DistroWatch’s famous — or infamous, depending on who’s talking — distro list. If your favorite Linux flavor didn’t make the list, don’t fret, vote the “other” option and write-in the name of your distro. On Friday, we’ll be going through our poll results, paying particular attention to the write-in votes, and will be putting up a new poll with between 10-20 of the distros that received the most votes in this weeks preliminary round. The final round will have no “other” option. The winning distro will be announced on Friday, January 15, and until next years “best distro” poll will be honored by having the distro’s name displayed inside a laurel wreath on our home page, announcing the distro as the recipient of the FOSS Force Best Linux Distro Award for 2015. To make it more interesting, we’ve added another new change this year: During the opening round those of you who don’t use GNU/Linux will be able to vote for your operating system of choice too — even those of you who use Windows. The time has come for you to start casting your votes, and it’s also the time for you to get on the stick and start urging other people who share your enthusiasm for your favorite distro to cast their votes too. We encourage you to engage with our other readers in the comments section below to make the case for your distro. We also encourage you to remember to keep it fun and maintain the spirit of friendly competition. Finally, don’t forget to share. After you’re done casting your vote, be sure to click on the Facebook and Twitter buttons at the bottom of the poll, so that your friends and followers can find out about the poll and also vote. A little bit of friendly competition will be good for us all. Go out there and see if you can earn some bragging rights for your distro. And remember, even if your distro doesn’t win, it’s okay because it’s all Linux. Sometime this week, FOSS Force will be going live with the second phase of our Indiegogo fundraising campaign. You can help us get a running start by making a donation now by becoming a subscriber. |
THE Kremlin was behind the White House’s wild claim that GCHQ spied on Donald Trump, spymasters believe. An investigation by the Cheltenham-based eavesdropping agency has discovered the accusation was initially made by a Russian fake news blog. EPA 5 Vladimir Putin's henchmen are notorious for spreading false but damaging claims President Vladimir Putin’s henchmen are notorious for the black propaganda trick of spreading untrue but highly damaging claims on the internet. Believed to have been acting on President Trump’s direct orders, White House press secretary Sean Spicer repeated it on Thursday night during a bizarre news conference having heard it from a TV pundit on US news network Fox News. The revelation comes after America apparrently issued a grovelling apology to Downing Street yesterday for spreading the false claim that Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama asked GCHQ to snoop on him after his shock election victory In November. Bloomberg via Getty Images 5 Donald Trump's press secretary made the claim at a media briefing It sparked a full blown diplomatic incident and threatened to put crucial Trans-Atlantic intelligence cooperation at risk. The furious spy agency issued a very rare public statement to rubbish the unsubstantiated accusation. An intelligence source told The Sun: “We have identified the site where the claim was first made. “The whole incident bears all the hallmarks of the Russians. It’s a shame people who should know better fell for it.” A formal apology for it came overnight via Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor H R McMaster to his opposite number in No10, the PM’s security chief Sir Mark Lyall Grant. 5 Press secretary Sean Spicer made the claim after hearing it on Fox News Mr Spicer also rang Britain’s Ambassador in Washington DC Sir Kim Darroch yesterday to promise him the allegation would not be repeated. Branding the claim “complete and utter nonsense”, a furious GCHQ spokesman said late on Thursday night: "Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wire tapping' against the then President elect are nonsense. "They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored." However, Trump brushed off questions about the claims at a press conference later, saying he "very seldom" regrets anything he tweets. Trump, speaking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said "at least we have something in common," apparently referring to reports during Obama's presidency that the United States bugged her phone. MOST READ IN POLITICS Exclusive CORB OUT Corbyn forced to apologise for hiding freebie NYC trip paid for by anti-nuke group RACISM ROW Labour MP hosts Commons event honouring activist suspended over anti-Semitism SPEEDY STAY Lying Labour MP FREED from jail after a month - and could now vote on Brexit ALL OUT Hundreds of Universal Credit workers vote to STRIKE FLYING TENSIONS PM risks rows by telling Egypt that flight ban to Sharm El Sheikh must stay Exclusive WHERE CREDIT'S DUE 4m set for £3k Universal Credit boost - but others plunged into poverty Trump also deflected criticism of Spicer, saying his Press Secretary was just quoting an analyst on cable Fox News analyst when he made the comments. When asked about the issue, Spicer later said that "'I don't think we regret anything," before saying that the White House had not apologised but was merely "passing on news reports". The PM’s official spokesman said yesterday: “We have received assurances that these allegations won't be repeated, and the administration doesn't give the allegations any credence". Downing Street insisted GCHQ are forbidden from spying on any state official from the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – who form the Five Eyes alliance along with the US. PA:Press Association 5 Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary, called the claims "very dangerous" The wild claim was made just after the US Senate Intelligence Committee embarrassed the White House by saying there was no evidence to support Trump’s claim that Mr Obama had bugged his New York office and home. Former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said the US needs to go further and make clear there is no evidence that GCHQ was ever involved in spying on Mr Trump. EPA 5 The claims led to GCHQ issuing a rare public statement to condemn them He told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "That's just foolish and very, very dangerous stuff, and President Trump better get a grip - not only on his own press officer, but on the kind of encouragement being given from the White House that makes a press officer make these stupid remarks in the first place. "It's dangerous because we're not talking about a candidate for the presidency, that would be bad enough. We're talking about the president of the US. You cannot have his official spokesman making allegations against a fellow Nato government." |
CHULA VISTA (CNS) - A 21-year-old woman allegedly abducted her 4-year-old daughter from a Chula Vista residence where the girl and her sibling were living with their custodial grandmother, police said Monday. The suspect, identified by Chula Vista police as Resa Carolyn White, had lost custody of 4-year-old Amya and another 10-month-old child to her mother, according to Chula Vista police Lt. Fritz Reber. White reportedly had a history of drug abuse and had a warrant for her arrest related to alleged theft charges, Reber said in a statement. White visited her mother's residence at 2150 Caminito Leonzio about 3:30 p.m. Saturday and allegedly left with her 4-year-old daughter while the child's grandmother was distracted, Reber said. The 10-month-old was left at the residence, Reber said. The grandmother waited a day before contacting police and did not believe White would intentionally harm the girl, according to the police statement. Amya is black, is 46 inches tall and weighs 38 pounds. She has black shoulder-length hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a yellow raincoat and black pants, police said. Police described the suspect as black, about 5 feet 7 and 120 pounds with straight black hair. She was last seen wearing a black top, black leggings and tan Ugg-style boots. Police considered White to be transient, with no known permanent address or vehicle. She frequently rides the bus, and may be headed to an unknown address in southeast San Diego, police said. Police asked anyone with information on the whereabouts of Amya or the suspect to call (619) 692-5151. |
Authorities are investigating the freak accident involving an exploding whipped cream canister that killed a French fashion model and fitness blogger. Rebecca Burger, 33, died Sunday after she was reportedly struck in the chest by the pressurized canister, causing her to go into cardiac arrest, according to multiple news sources. Popular on social media for her fitness and travel posts, Burger had some 55,000 Facebook fans and 154,000 followers on Instagram, according to the BBC. French investigators say that type of canister was taken off the market in 2013, the Associated Press reported. Authorities are looking into whether a faulty siphon on the high-pressure gadget used to make and dispense whipped cream led to the explosion. Ard'time, which manufactured the product, said it had not been on the market since a "first incident implicating a siphon" in February 2013, the AP said. Products were withdrawn from the market and destroyed, a company statement said. Efforts were made to alert consumers. A consumer advocate publication said while there have been dozens of accidents linked to the product, Burger is the first fatality involving it. |
Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Niall Horan of One Direction on Dec.10, 2015, in Birmingham, England. (Photo: Karwai Tang, WireImage) Store your floods of teen tears: One Direction is NOT splitting up for good. A person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly told USA TODAY there's no truth to claims that remaining members of the beloved boy band, who announced a hiatus in August, planned to make it permanent. US Weekly reported on Wednesday that 1D was splitting up for good, leading to "Oh, no!"-type tweets for hours. Other media quickly downplayed the reports. Billboard reported its sources said nothing had changed since the hiatus announcement, and that the band would comment soon. A tweet from Niall Horan last week suggested no immediate changes. Hey guys just to let ya know , I'm still here don't worry. Just keeping my head down and enjoying the break , hope you understand . Love you — Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial) January 7, 2016 The rumors swirled on Twitter for hours Wednesday, leaving some fans bereft and/or incredulous. and my day keeps getting worse, my mom tells me to believe it but I refuse to https://t.co/HAk1CjsAgW — victoria (@tourpalharry) January 13, 2016 Until there is an official one direction statement I won't believe it :-) — Dee (@foolsgoldelaney) January 13, 2016 A similar teen-age breakdown followed the news in March that band member Zayn Malik was quitting, which the band actually announced at the time. The band told their fans last summer they were taking an "indefinite" rest following four tours, five albums and 133 million combined Twitter followers. In August, the four remaining members (Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Niall Horan) announced that "we are not splitting up, but we will be taking a well-earned break" after releasing a new album, Made in the A.M., in November. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1UPvQdi |
The Saskatchewan Party's headquarters in Regina was the target of vandalism over the weekend. The window of the Rochdale Boulevard building was vandalized with blue spray paint saying "crook." The incident happened early Sunday at around 1:30 a.m.CST, according to security camera footage released on the Saskatchewan Party's Twitter account. Premier Brad Wall tweeted about the graffiti on Sunday afternoon. "Last night some jackwagon vandalized @SaskParty HQ w/ graffiti," he wrote. Last night some jackwagon vandalized <a href="https://twitter.com/SaskParty">@SaskParty</a> HQ w/graffiti. If you recog said jackwagon please call <a href="https://twitter.com/reginapolice">@reginapolice</a> <a href="https://t.co/yKONmUJdkp">pic.twitter.com/yKONmUJdkp</a> —@PremierBradWall Patrick Bundrock, executive director of the party, said they were able to wash the graffiti off but he is still disappointed. "This is something that should happen to no candidate, no political party," Bundrock said. "This campaign should be about the issues and the ideas." The provincial election in Saskatchewan is on April 4. Wall asked anyone who recognized the "said jackwagon" to call Regina police at 306-777-6500 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or report online. |
The above was posted to Sina Weibo recently and was, of course, deleted. If it doesn’t seem like a picture that compares China’s president to a chubby bear with a sweet tooth would be allowed to stand, it’s because a picture that compares China’s president to a chubby bear with a sweet tooth isn’t allowed to stand, even if it’s done in good fun (as the above obviously is). But as we’ve said before: censors don’t like fun. (They prefer their jobs.) The fun apparently began yesterday when netizens saw the picture of Xi and Obama and began talking about their resemblance to Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Eventually, it got meme-ified. Incarnations of the above survive in nooks and alleys around Weibo, and now on Facebook, and here. Because memes abide. Barack Obama is this guy: And another look (we think this was the original): (H/T @MissXQ) Also: |
Republicans have undermined the US economy and blocked its recovery at every turn, while accusing Obama and the Democrats of socialism. Since socialism is such a fearful thing, lets compare how it is practiced today with Republican policies. Bob Cesca wrote an excellent piece on where Republican policies have gotten us. We’re only three months away from the midterm election when a shockingly large number of American voters will inexplicably vote for Republican candidates. I have no idea if this will mean a Republican takeover of the House or Senate or both, but there will definitely be enough voter support for Republicans to significantly reduce the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. Why? Because too many voters tend to be low-information, knee-jerk Springfield-from-The-Simpsons types, and the Republicans have lashed their crazy trains to this new wave of inchoate roid-rage to help sweep them into more congressional seats. Here are a few of the ongoing economic conditions facing a vast majority of Americans, many of whom are all revved up to vote Republican in November. According to Michael Snyder of the Business Insider: • 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007. • 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1 percent of all Americans. • Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008. • The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth. • In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks. • More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying. • Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009. Oh, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that wages for the highest 20 percent of earners rose by nearly 300 percent since 1979, while wages for the bottom and middle 20 percent increased only by 41 percent — combined. Plotted on a graph, middle and working class wages have flatlined for 30 years. Roll all of these tragic figures into a slow growth recovery and here we are. Most of us in the middle class are screwed. And thanks to an alliance between the Republicans (which includes the tea party), the increasingly dominant far-right media, a traditional "old media" that panders to the far-right, and right-of-center "conservadems" who pander to the Republicans, too many voters have decided that the Republican Party might be better suited to turn all of this around. The big lie here is that if Congress stops spending, cuts the deficit and makes permanent the Bush tax cuts, especially the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, our problems will be solved — even though these concepts are in direct conflict with each other. Not surprising given the ever-lengthening Republican syllabus of contradictions. Here’s how this new batch of contradictions plays out. According to Republicans and their conservadem enablers, we have to cut the deficit and pay for every program Congress passes or else we’re all doomed. We’re stealing from our children, they say. This has manifested itself in Republican filibusters of both unemployment benefits ($34 billion) and a new jobs bill ($33 billion over ten years). A Republican filibuster killed the jobs bill, and, after many failed cloture votes, the filibuster of the unemployment benefits was finally defeated and the Senate Democrats passed the extensions. Throughout the past year and a half, it’s been the same story. Any effort made by the Democrats to stimulate the economy has been filibustered by the Republicans. They say it’s because of the deficit and debt. And yet they want to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which would add $678 billion dollars to the deficit — and that’s just the cost of the tax cuts going to the top two percent of earners. In other words, the Republicans want to spend $678 billion in further giveaways for the wealthiest two percent, and they don’t care whether it increases the deficit. By the way, the Republicans also recently voted against and defeated an amendment to strip Big Oil of its $25 billion in subsidies. Just thought I’d pass that along. Put another way, $678 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy? No problem. Deficit-shmeficit! But $34 billion in unemployment benefits for an out-of-work middle class at a time when companies aren’t hiring (say nothing of the aforementioned bullet-points)? Evil! Instead, the Republicans want to give almost as much money to Big Oil in the form of corporate welfare during the worst oil spill in American history while telling unemployed middle class families to piss off. Do we have a clear picture in terms of who and what the Republicans care about?… [emphasis added] |
Would YOU give it back? Man secretly films people's reactions as he 'accidentally' drops his wallet in public to see who would return it Adrian Gruszka conducted a social experiment in Adelaide, South Australia Out of the 12 'wallet drops', it was returned eight times and stolen on four occasions The wallet was filled with cut up paper, receipts and a $100 Monopoly bill A social experiment has caught Adelaide locals red-handed after a man secretly filmed their reactions as he 'accidentally' dropped his wallet on the sidewalk. But while thieves thought they were earning some free cash, they were instead left with an unexpected surprise - cut up paper, receipts, a $100 Monopoly bill and an appearance on YouTube. Since the video titled 'Dropping My Wallet in Public' was posted on Tuesday, it has had almost 2,500 likes. Scroll down for video Adrian Gruszka, under the username Adrian Gee, uploaded his social experiment video 'Dropping My Wallet In Public' on YouTube on Tuesday The wallet - filled with cut up paper, receipts and a $100 Monopoly bill - was stolen on four occasions Out of the 12 incidents, the wallet was returned to its rightful owner eight times The footage shows Adrian Gruszka, also from Adelaide, walking along the street, seemingly immersed in a phone conversation. 'I pretty much dropped my wallet right in front of their eyes and wanted to see whether they would do the right thing or the wrong thing,' he wrote in the description for the video. 'I was quite shocked with some of the reactions I got on camera.' The wallet was stolen on four occasions, where two men ran away with their new prized possession. But not all faith in humanity was lost. Tallied results showed that out of the 12 incidents, South Australians returned the wallet to its rightful owner eight times - some even chasing after Mr Gruszka. The prankster has made several other YouTube videos including 'Crying In Public Prank', 'Yelling In The Drive-Thru' and 'Holding Hands With Strangers'. |
(CNN) A Russian military plane carrying members of the army's official choir traveling to perform in Syria has crashed in the Black Sea near Sochi. There are apparently no survivors, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The ensemble was "flying to congratulate Russian air force pilots in Syria with the New Year," ministry spokesman Igor Konashekov said. A Tupolev Tu-154 plane that was carrying 92 people, including 84 passengers and eight crew members, disappeared from radar Sunday morning local time after taking off from the Adler airport, state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. The plane took off from Moscow and was headed to the Russian Hmeymim airbase in Latakia, Syria, where Russia has a large military presence, for a concert ahead of New Year's Eve, a source told Russia's state news agency Tass. Ten bodies have been brought on board a rescue vessel, according to the search and rescue team working the area of the crash, Konashekov said. One body believed to be among the victims was found more than three miles off the Sochi shore, Konashenkov said. Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia On Tuesday, December 27, members of Russia's Emergency Ministry pack a flight recorder recovered from a Russian military plane that crashed Sunday into the Black Sea with 92 people aboard. Russia's transport minister said it was assumed the plane had crashed due to technical malfunction or pilot error -- not terrorism. Hide Caption 1 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Emergency Ministry personnel prepare a submersible craft Tuesday to search for sunken wreckage and victims' remains. Thirteen bodies had been recovered from the Black Sea as of Tuesday morning. Hide Caption 2 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia A woman lights a candle Tuesday next to makeshift memorial in Sochi, Russia, for Russian activist Elizaveta Glinka, who was killed in the crash. Also presumed dead were nine journalists and more than 60 members of the Russian army's official choir, the Alexandrov Ensemble. Hide Caption 3 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Wreckage from the Tu-154 plane is hauled from the Black Sea late on Monday, December 26. Hide Caption 4 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Emergency crews continue search operations on December 26. Hide Caption 5 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia People visit a makeshift memorial to victims of the crash at a pier in Sochi on December 26. Russia is observing a national day of mourning for the eight crew and 84 passengers aboard. Hide Caption 6 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia A Russian police orchestra musician places a flower in tribute to members of the Alexandrov Ensemble outside their home stage building in Moscow on December 26. The popular ensemble was scheduled to perform for Russian pilots in Syria ahead of New Year's Day. Hide Caption 7 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia People hold a candlelight vigil for victims of the crash on Sunday, December 25, in Sochi. Hide Caption 8 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Russian emergency personnel work near the site of the crash on December 25. The plane was en route from Moscow to Syria and had stopped in Sochi to refuel. Hide Caption 9 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Russian emergency workers carry remains from the wreckage of the Tu-154 plane that crashed near Sochi on December 25. Hide Caption 10 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan, speak to members of the media in St. Petersburg, Russia, on December 25. Putin has ordered Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to lead an investigation of the crash, Russian news agency Sputnik reported. Hide Caption 11 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Russian police secure the area near where the plane crashed. In addition to the ensemble, the plane was carrying eight crew, eight soldiers and nine journalists. Hide Caption 12 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia A man places a candle outside the building of the famed Alexandrov Ensemble, the Russian army's official dance and choir company, in Moscow. Hide Caption 13 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia A man places flowers outside the building of the Alexandrov Ensemble in Moscow on Sunday. Alexander Kibovsky, head of Moscow's culture department, called them "our cultural paratroopers." Hide Caption 14 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Flowers lay in front of a photo of the Alexandrov Ensemble at the group's building in Moscow. "These people always performed in war zones, they wore uniforms, they brought kindness and light," Kibovsky said. Hide Caption 15 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Two women stand outside Alexandrov Hall, a rehearsal room of the Alexandrov Ensemble, in Moscow on Sunday. The ensemble, established in 1928, has toured the world performing Russian folk songs, World War II anthems and patriotic music. Hide Caption 16 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia Photographs of Channel One, NTV and Zvezda TV journalists killed in the plane crash are seen outside the Ostankino Technical Center in Moscow. Hide Caption 17 of 18 Photos: Russian military plane crashes near Sochi, Russia A woman lights a candle at a memorial in Moscow. Hide Caption 18 of 18 One of the people aboard that flight was Liza Glinka, a famous Russian human rights activist, according to CNN affiliate RBC. She was bringing medicine and other supplies to a local hospital in Syria, her colleague and friend Dr. Sergey Kurkov told RBC. "We are shocked. I've talked to her on the phone just recently, just before it happened. She was a saint. She helped everybody," he said, adding that he's known her for 20 years. "She was kind, she was fair. It is such a huge loss for me. She talked to us. She argued with us. She was my teacher. She was like a family for me." The first bodies of victims from the crashed flight are expected to arrive in Moscow on Monday morning, said Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov, according to RIA Novosti. CNN Map The Russian Tu-154 could have crashed because of a technical malfunction or pilot error but not terrorism, said Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, according to Russia's Sputnik news agency. "I rule out version of the terror attack completely. It is the aircraft of the Ministry of Defense, the airspace of the Russian Federation, there cannot be such a version," Ozerov is quoted as saying. "The plane had to make a U-turn after takeoff over the sea (and) may (have taken) the wrong direction." En route to Latakia, the plane landed in Sochi to refuel, the Defense Ministry's press service told Russia's Interfax news agency. According to RIA Novosti, the Defense Ministry said it found debris from the Tu-154 in the Black Sea one mile from Sochi. Four ships and five helicopters have combed the crash site, Konashenkov said, according to Tass. More than 100 divers with special equipment will be deployed, and a group of medical and psychological professionals will be on hand to help relatives, he said. A famous Russian ensemble CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam said no major weather patterns were present at the time of the plane's disappearance. On Sunday, the temperature of the Black Sea was about 10 degrees Celsius (50 F), according to Russian media. The Defense Ministry published a list of those on board. Among them: eight crew members, eight soldiers and more than 60 members of the famed Alexandrov Ensemble, the Russian army's official choir, including its conductor Valery Kahlilov. Since 1928, the Alexandrov Ensemble has grown into a immensely popular tradition due to its unending government support. It has toured the world performing Russian folk songs, World War II anthems and patriotic music, and was dubbed "Russia's singing weapon." The ensemble consists of between 100 and 120 members depending on the type of performance. It includes a choir, a dance troupe and an orchestra. Because their performance at the airbase was going to be mostly a cappella, only the choir and a handful of dancers were aboard the plane, Russian media reported. "The orchestra did not fly because [the choir] was supposed to use pre-recorded music," choir singer Sergei Khlopnikov, who didn't make the trip because his daughter was sick, told the Interfax news agency. Nine journalists, including three reporters with Star TV, were on board, the Defense Ministry said on its television network. "Our cultural paratroopers perished," the head of the Moscow government's culture department, Alexander Kibovsky, said in televised remarks. "These people always performed in war zones, they wore uniforms, they brought kindness and light," said Konashekov. An investigation launched The plane was manufactured in 1983 and had 6,689 hours of flight. "The last repair was on December 29, 2014, and in September 2016 it underwent scheduled maintenance," the ministry said, according to Tass. The ministry identified the pilot as Roman Volkov, who it said was a "class 1 pilot" with more than 3,000 flying hours. A photo of a Tupolev Tu-154, the same plane that disappeared Sunday morning after taking off near Sochi, Russia. Tass has reported that, according to the Defense Ministry, "all search and rescue services of aviation units on the Southern Military District in Krasnodar and neighboring regions are engaged in aircraft search." JUST WATCHED Reports: Russian military plane wreckage found in Black sea Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Reports: Russian military plane wreckage found in Black sea 00:58 Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to lead an investigation of the Tu-154 crash, according to Russian news agency Sputnik. The Russian Investigation Committee has launched a routine criminal investigation to examine potential "violation of rules of flight safety or preparation," committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko told Tass. The committee plans to seize documents and interrogate those who prepared the plane for flight, she added. Putin declared Monday a day of national mourning. |
About this mod Randomizes the locations of 49 legendary Morrowind items. Permissions and credits Author's instructions please don't steal this File credits me (mort) greatness7 Donation Points system This mod is not opted-in to receive Donation Points ==2nd Place Morrowind May Modathon 2017== Morrowind Randomizer by mort and Greatness7 version 1.0 ===What is it?=== This mod randomizes the locations of 49 legendary items. They can be in chests, on NPCs, or in the wild. Many locations are new, some of them previously had these legendary items in them before. Also makes only one of each daedric weapon/armor appear in game (except Divayth Fyr) (Don't use this with my One-of-a-Kind mod) ===Why does it make only one copy of daedric items?=== To make finding one all that more special ===What does it affect?=== ---No items that are needed for quests--- A variety of NPCs and containers that aren't normally touched by other mods. No dialogue is changed for maximum compatibility. All items listed as being in this mod are removed from their original placements, put into a randomized list, and spawned at gamestart. Every daedric weapon Every daedric armor Magebane Scourge Auriel's Shield Denstagmer's Ring Dragonbone Cuirass Eleidon's Ward Fang of Haynekhtnamet Staff of Hasedoki Mentor's Ring Ring of Phynaster Randagulf Gauntlet L / R Savior's Cuirass Bow of Shadows Ten Pace Boots Vampiric Ring Volendrung Shadowsting Shimsil Mace of Slurring Whitewalker Robes ---49 items in total--- Divayth Fyr is untouched, Helseth is untouched ===I NEED HELP I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING=== There's an oracle stone near the shore by the Shrine of Azura. Once a day you can listen to the stone's whispers and it'll list a location of a treasure. Yes it might repeat itself, I'm thinking of a more immersive way for later version of the mod. ===I STILL CAN'T FIND X=== Are you looking for something in particular? Perhaps you shouldn't have loaded the randomizer :) If you seriously think your game is bugged and something doesn't exist in it, let me know. I can give you some console commands to find its location using my handy decoder ring/text file. ===Installation=== Put esp in file and activate, then run MW. You'll be stalled for a second or two as it randomizes your game, then you'll see a messagebox saying you're good to go. You can use it on old saved games as long as you haven't done very much. If you touched or loaded any NPC or container with a randomized item you're outta luck. USE A NEW SAVE IF POSSIBLE Optional file: Vassir-Didanat Nerfed, replaces the easy daedric rewards with ebony equivalents. Not necessary but I enjoy it. ===Compatibility=== Compatible with everything except mods that mess with containers or npcs. Moving them is probably fine, changing them like Rebirth? Probably not. Nothing is never not fixable, let me know if you find an issue. Unless it's rebirth, then please don't message me because I know. ===Credits=== Greatness7 for a lot of script help |
NBN Co is paying “approximately 60 percent” of its 5816 employees more than $100,000 a year, though wage growth above $200,000 has slowed dramatically over the past four years. The numbers were revealed separately today and over the weekend, and provide some granular visibility of where a portion of NBN Co’s staff costs fall. In revealing that just under 3500 of its employees draw a six-figure salary, the network builder noted that “many employees are highly specialised engineering, IT or other technical professionals”, who – by implication – would have a high market rate for those skills. The network builder said approximately 92 percent of its staff salaries come in under $200,000, and 98 percent under $300,000. That would mean around 456 employees command salaries over $200,000, and as many as 114 over $300,000. It’s worth noting the number of employees earning above $200,000 has dramatically slowed in recent years. For example, in late 2013, about 400 of NBN Co’s then 3000 staff were able to command that level of salary. NBN Co said the “less than two percent of salaries … greater than $300,000” now would include the packages of “key management personnel” and were disclosed in the company’s financial reports. In addition to its permanent workforce, NBN Co continues to use contractors, whom it refers to as “temporary staff augmentation” or TSA. At the end of last year it had 958 contractors on its books. That had shrunk to 919 by March 23 this year and down to 884 according to the latest numbers. Last calendar year, NBN Co said it spent $273.6 million on contractors, of which $186.5 million was capitalised. It expected to save some money by centralising the way it “procured and managed its TSA population”, which now runs through a managed service provider. “The solution is designed to deliver cost savings of $15 million over three years through rate and margin harmonisation; process efficiencies; quality resources and management of risk,” NBN Co said today. |
(Note: the final 0.9.10 will be out later this week… read on for the awesome that it will contain) Hey wouldn’t it be great if NetworkManager did X and made my life so awesome I could retire to a private island surrounded by things I love? Like kittens and teddy bears and bright copper kettles and Domaine Leflaive Montrachet Grand Cru? If only your dream was reality… Oh wait! NetworkManager 0.9.10 will be your genie from Aladdin, granting every wish you dream of, except this time you can wish for more wishes. But you still can’t bring awful networking back from the dead because it’s just not pretty. Don’t do it. What is pretty is NetworkManager 0.9.10; it’s like the lightning-quick racing yacht that Larry Ellison doesn’t have and really, really wants, but which somehow also adds a Triple-E-Class-worth of new features just for you. Somebody (maybe you!) wished for every single thing you’re about to see. And then a magic genie showed up, snapped its fingers, and gave it to them. nmtui We found a usability gap between full-fledged CLI tools like nmcli and GUI-based ones, and thus nmtui was born. Sometimes you don’t want to remember esoteric commands and options, but you also don’t want to run X. Boom, first wish granted: a curses-based tool for configuring and managing your network, no X involved: nmcli The command-line still rules with divine mandate, and we’re here to please so nmcli was a huge focus for this release. We’ve added interactive editing support, single-command editing, detailed help, tab completion, and enhanced bash completion. You really need to check this out; almost anything you can do with GUI tools can now be done with nmcli, and there’s even some stuff nmcli can do that the GUI tools can’t. If you’re comfortable with terminals, NetworkManager 0.9.10 is right up your alley. Size Does Matter Continuing on the quest to be more nimble and streamlined, we’ve split Wi-Fi, WWAN, Bluetooth, ADSL, and WiMAX device support into plugins which you don’t need to install if you like a minimal system. Distributions should package these separately so they can be added/removed independently of NetworkManager itself, which reduces disk usage, runtime memory usage, and packaging dependency chains. We’ve also spent time slimming down and optimizing the code. The core NetworkManager daemon is now just over 1MB in size! dbus-daemon is also no longer required for root-only or early-boot operation, with communication using a private root-only Unix socket. Similarly, PolicyKit is no longer used for root operation, though it could always be disabled at build-time anyway. To facilitate remote and SSH-based management, the “at_console” D-Bus permission has been removed, which also helpfully harmonizes authorization settings between Fedora and Debian-based distributions. All permissions authorization now happens through PolicyKit instead. The Enterprise When you Absolutely Positively MUST have your ethernet frames delivered on-time and without loss you turn to Data Center Bridging. DCB provides the reliability and robustness that iSCSI and FibreChannel over Ethernet (FCoE) need so you don’t have to keep shovelling money into a proprietary SAN. Since users requested it, we snapped our fingers and added support to NetworkManager 0.9.10 for configuring DCB on your ethernet interfaces. We’ve also upped our game with IP-level configuration support for many more software interfaces like GRE, macvlan, macvtap, tun, tap, veth, and vxlan. And when you have services that aren’t yet network-aware, the NetworkManager-wait-online systemd service is more reliable to ensure your legacy services start up with the resources they require. Customization Galore You dreamed, we listened. Creepy, no? Yeah, we know what you want. And top of the list was more flexible configuration: Connection configuration files are no longer watched for changes by default , which used to cause problems with backups, filesystem copies, half-configured connections, etc. If you want that behavior you can turn it back on (monitor-connection-files=true), but instead, edit them as much as you want and when you’re done, “ nmcli con reload “. , which used to cause problems with backups, filesystem copies, half-configured connections, etc. If you want that behavior you can turn it back on (monitor-connection-files=true), but instead, edit them as much as you want and when you’re done, “ “. Connections can now be locked to interface names instead of just MAC addresses instead of just MAC addresses A new “ ignore-carrier ” option is available to ensure your critical app doesn’t fail just because you got drunk on Captain Morgan + Coke, and tripped over a cable ” option is available to ensure your critical app doesn’t fail just because you got drunk on Captain Morgan + Coke, and tripped over a cable Want to manage /etc/resolv.conf yourself? You can! “ dns=none ” is your new best friend. ” is your new best friend. Configuration file snippets can be dropped into /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d to change smaller sets of configuration options The NetworkManager dispatcher got some enhancements too. It now has a “pre-up” event that allow scripts to execute before NetworkManager announces connectivity to applications. We also added a “pre-down” event that lets network filesystems flush data before the interface is actually disconnected from the network. Seamless Cooperation Do you love /sbin/ip? ifconfig? brctl? vconfig? Keep using them! Changes you make outside of NetworkManager get picked up, respected, and reflected in the D-Bus API. NetworkManager 0.9.10 also goes to great lengths to read the existing configuration of interfaces and not touch them. Most network interfaces known to the kernel are now exposed in the D-Bus API, and you can even change their IP configuration right from NetworkManager. There’s more work to do here but we hope you’ll appreciate the new situational awareness as much as we do. Get Your VPN On We’ve improved support for routing-only VPNs like Openswan/Libreswan/Strongswan. We’ve added full details of the VPN’s IP configuration to the D-Bus API. And best yet, VPN plugins can now request additional passwords during the connection process if the ones you previously gave them are wrong or changed. All the Rest For clients, more properties are exposed in the D-Bus API. We’ve added support for custom IP ranges to the Internet Connection Sharing functionality. We’ve added WWAN autoconnect support and more reliable airplane mode behavior. Fatal connection errors now more reliably block reconnect, which means better handling of wrong Wi-Fi passwords and access point failures. Captive portal/hotspot support is moving forward, as are DNSSEC enhancements. Geez, are we done yet? Not even close! Seriously, there’s more but I’m kinda tired of typing. Try it out (the final release will be out later this week) and tell us what you think. Then tell us what you want. Don’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling! |
In a few short years Git became one of the most popular source control management system, especially for newly started and open source projects. If you’re a developer, you’ll eventually cross paths with Git. Here is a list of a few Git tips and tricks, starting from beginner and progressing to more advanced levels. These tips assume you’re using Git from a terminal. Even if you’re using GUI every day, it’s a good practice to introduce yourself to CLI because it’s ubiquitous and consistent across all major platforms. Many GUI tools have simplified terminology and support only a subset of functionality, so if you encounter a big problem and need to resolve it from a terminal, it’s better to be familiar with it. 1) Supercharge your terminal I find many people using Git from a terminal, but they don’t use the full power that is available. First of all, enable color output with: $ git config --global color.ui true It will add a line to your global .gitconfig file and will result in log, branch, diff and other commands much more understandable. Most common shells allow expanding expressions or arguments with the Tab key. The same can work for Git commands if you have git completion set up. Just search install git completion for your chosen platform and follow the instructions. Someone said that developers working in Git can be recognized by not knowing which branch they’re working on. That is true in some cases but can be completely avoided by having a branch name in your prompt. Just search for git branch in bash/zsh prompt; it’s very easy to set up. If you`re using Git Bash on Windows, everything should already be set up. 2) Visualize your history One of the greatest benefits of GUI tools is history visualization. Similar output can be achieved in a terminal with: $ git log --oneline --graph --decorate It will print out a one line description, tags and branches and draw development tracks in ASCII art. Not as beautiful as GUI, but the “hacker factor” just went through the roof, right? It’s very useful if you don’t want to leave the terminal or if you’re connected to another machine via SSH and are trying to make sense of the remote repository. The command is very long to type every time, so it’s best to add it to your .gitconfig as an alias. [alias] l = log --oneline --graph --decorate This way you can quickly invoke visual log with only git l . The output can be customized even further with the --pretty=format:<string> argument. Check out git help log for more information about formatting. 3) Stash – handling your work in progress One very handy command is git stash . Its help page says: “The command saves your local modifications away and reverts the working directory to match the HEAD commit.” It becomes very useful if you have some unfinished work in progress, but need to store it away for a while and come back to it later. Interrupts like that are very common during development so it’s good to have a tool to help you with that. Just have in mind that all stashes are local to the repository. git stash will save your changes and clean up your working directory. This command can be invoked multiple times and will push all changes onto a stack. git stash list prints out the list of all changes and git stash pop will apply the latest one and remove it from the stack. If you want to apply some change in the middle of the list and preserve it, use git stash apply <stash-reference> . 4) Empty commits Empty commits have no real value and Git won’t allow you to create them unless you force it. You can do it with --allow-empty argument to the git commit command. But why would you want to do it? Demos and workshops are great use cases because it allows you to quickly build a set of commits, maybe in different branches, you can work on. $ git commit --allow-empty 5) Find the common ancestor Sometimes it’s necessary to find the place where two branches diverged. It can be accomplished in a terminal by visually following the second tip in this article or with a git merge-base command. It also very convenient when used in a script or as a subshell command. If we take the same example from the second image, here is the command and its output. $ git merge-base master bugs 487cfb555dec2cbe2086e92c40f6dc5a7b3bacee Often you’ll want to find which changesets are in one branch and not in other. Finding a merge base and then printing out the log from that branch to merge base will give you expected results, but the same thing can be done much simpler: $ git log --oneline master..bugs 97b9479 Fix issue #2 27be1af Fix issue #1 6) Remote tracking branch shortcut Working on one branch in a cloned repository is the most simple workflow. You have “master” and “origin/master” available as references. But if you’re tracking many repositories and have multiple tracking branches locally, remembering which branch corresponds to which remote repository and which remote branch can become tricky. You can use @{u} to reference a remote tracking branch of the one that is currently checked out locally. The two commands below will accomplish the same thing. |
Sammy Ohev-Zion starts our chat with an economics lesson. It costs every company about the same amount to manufacture a phone, he says — the price of an Nvidia processor and a Sharp display is consistent whether HTC, Nokia, or Motorola is signing the check. But those costs are only a small piece of the price you wind up paying when you walk into a Verizon store and buy that phone — which either costs upward of $500 or requires a hefty two-year contract. You're also paying for Samsung's nine-figure marketing budget, HTC's HR department, or Sony's huge New York City skyscraper. What if you could buy the same high-end phone from a company without all that cruft and overhead? How much would it cost? Ohev-Zion, CEO of Blu Products, a relatively unknown manufacturer based in Miami, Florida, says it would cost $299. That's how much the company's latest flagship phone, the Blu Life One, will cost unlocked from Amazon or a handful of other retailers when it's available at the end of April. It's a 5-inch HD phone with a 13-megapixel camera and stock Android 4.2 (save for a Blu wallpaper), in a thin and light body that appears to hold its own next to the Galaxy and Droid devices of the world. $299 also buys the Blu Life View, with a gigantic 5.7-inch HD display, a 12-megapixel camera, and even a 5-megapixel front camera. It's not surprising that Blu's phones bear more than a passing resemblance to the iPhone and a handful of Android devices, but neither is it an accident. Ohev-Zion and Blu are betting that people want a good phone, but that they want a cheap phone more than they want a Samsung phone. Blu Products isn't a household name, but prices speak loudly You'd be forgiven for not having heard of Blu Products — it's a very small manufacturer, and has made inroads primarily with the Latin American community. But the company has larger, global aspirations, and the connections to back it up: CEO Sammy Ohev-Zion spent 17 years in distribution, working with what he calls "tier-one" manufacturers like Samsung and Motorola, before deciding to strike out on his own and create Blu. He did so in 2009, partly because during the economic recession there weren't enough margins to pay distributors, and partly because the technology and manufacturing required to build a phone was more available than ever. "Previously," Ohev-Zion told me, "for a startup company to be able to manufacture — if you weren't one of these billion-dollar companies you didn't have the access or the technologies to make your own mobile devices." But that's all changed, and Ohev-Zion found that he could build a good phone for the same price as the other guys, and sell it for a lot less. He used his connections to get Blu phones in stock at Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, and others, and began rolling out newer, better phones at a blistering pace. He believes, and says without a moment of hesitation, that Blu is going to be a real player in the smartphone industry sooner rather than later. 'The same thing, cheaper' is a pretty proven business model There's some evidence that Ohev-Zion's confidence isn't totally misplaced. Take Warby Parker, for instance: the company circumvented an entrenched supply chain of designers, manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers, and in doing so found a way to sell equally high-quality eyeglasses for a much lower price. Or consider Nicky Bronner, whose father's connections helped him get Unreal Candy into CVS, Target, and elsewhere — he tweaked the formula of candies like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to only include natural ingredients, and found a huge and willing audience as soon as he had a place on shelves. Vizio may be Blu's best analog, though. "Vizio is the #1-selling TV brand," Ohev-Zion says. "Why? Because people understand, 'listen, it's the same technology and I'm getting a much better value without the enormous, billions-of-dollars overhead.'" (Incidentally, Vizio seems to have noticed this too — the company announced its first line of smartphones at CES.) Ohev-Zion believes there's a huge and willing audience for unlocked phones, too. He pointed to the Nexus 4's success — "it sells out in like five minutes whenever there's stock available" — as evidence that people don't want to be locked in to two-year contracts, and noted that thanks to MVNOs like Simple Wireless and Red Pocket, we're no longer forced to accept AT&T's brutal contract terms. If this becomes a trend, Ohev-Zion likes Blu's odds. "A lot of other companies aren't going to be able to keep up. It's a cycle... right now I think it's going to be very tough for the manufacturers who aren't Samsung and Apple to keep selling at the high prices they're currently selling." But the company may find itself with a new list of competitors, like Alcatel, who realize that Blu's strategy — lower overhead, lower prices — may be repeatable. And the fact remains that Apple and Samsung are successful — the market for high-end phones at high prices isn't gone yet, and given those companies' volume and supply chain control they may be able to make phones for considerably less than $150 anyway. And, of course, it's hard to compete with Samsung without matching that nine-figure marketing budget (just ask HTC). But Blu is growing — from 70,000 units in 2009, its first year, to 4.1 million last year — and it's growing in key areas. A third of the company's 300 employees are stationed around Latin America, where they're selling both feature phones and smartphones to a region that is only slowly adopting mobile technology. But as Latin American phone use grows, so will Blu: "we're in a supreme position" in the region, Ohev-Zion says. "We're the only ones." And if the Nexus 4's success is any indication, Blu may have trouble keeping its flagship $299 phones in stock in the US as well. Jonathan Friedman contributed to this report. |
OAKLAND — One of seven men wounded in a drive-by shooting Saturday night in East Oakland where investigating officers were also targeted by gunfire, has died from his injuries, police said Wednesday. He was identified as William Chavis, 35, of Oakland. He died at 7:59 p.m. Tuesday at a hospital. Police said Chavis was in a car in the 7700 block of Bancroft Avenue about 11:30 p.m.Saturday when a gunman shooting from a car began firing at a group of people. Six men on the street were wounded and Chavis was the only one in a car. Ages of the victims ranged from 24 to 45. At least one has been released from a hospital. Sgt. Michael Cardoza said police are not sure of the motive for the attack but don’t believe Chavis was an intended target. More than a dozen officers and a civilian crime scene technician also came under fire about 12:30 a.m. Sunday as they were doing follow-up work in the area. Officers used vehicles and fences as cover and no one was injured, even though officers reported hearing bullets whiz by them. No one has been arrested in either shooting and police don’t have any evidence the two shootings were connected. The death brings to 59 the number of homicides investigated by Oakland police this year. Last year at this time police had investigated 79 homicides. Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $50,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of suspects in the two attacks. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-3326 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572. |
The last few years have seen increasing public concern about the health effects of both residential and occupational exposure to ELF-MF, such as those generated by high-tension electrical distribution networks, and typically affecting specific categories of workers (electric power installers and repairers, telephone line technicians and welders). Several studies have suggested a possible association of ELF-MF with neoplastic malignancies in childhood, as well as with diseases affecting the nervous system [40, 41]. In particular, ELF-MF has been associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as AD and ALS [12, 13, 14, 15]. Epidemiological data have also highlighted the potential impact of ELF-MF exposure in brain and PD onset [15, 16], although evidence is still poor and controversial. This scarcity of evidence could be due to various reasons, such as limited statistical power found in most studies and, most of all, the wide variability of ELF-MF exposure levels between individuals enrolled in the studies, in terms of both time and intensity [15]. A convincing mechanism responsible for the pathological effects elicited by ELF-MF in brain is also lacking, although cell cycle/death impairment, protein modification, and, mainly, oxidative stress have been proposed as playing a crucial role [15, 39]. Several in vitro and in vivo findings have indeed demonstrated the occurrence of oxidative damage in neuronal cells following ELF-MF exposure [15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 42]. All these lines of evidence support the hypothesis based on the “radical pair system” according to which ELF-MF contribute to prolonging the lifetime of free radicals and increasing their concentration in living cells [15, 17]. In this study, we aimed to provide clear-cut evidence for a detrimental role of ELF-MF in PD etiology based on their capability of generating basal oxidative stress conditions. In order to understand the harmful effects of continuous exposure to ELF-MF, as well as their implication in contributing to PD onset and severity, we used a well-characterized dopaminergic cellular model (SH-SY5Y) [26, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44], and developed reliable and straightforward experimental conditions mainly in terms of electromagnetic requirements. To this end, device setup was conceived for three reasons: (i) to better reproduce an average environmental prolonged exposure to ELF-MF, selecting values of 1 mT, 50 Hz. This exposure represents the reference levels for occupational exposure set at 50 Hz by the ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) [45], with an induced E-field value approximately a hundred times lower than the basic restriction for Central Nervous System occupational exposure [45]; (ii) to provide a very high homogeneity of the ELF-MF applied to the cells; and, in turn, (iii) to ensure a high reproducibility and quality of the results. Results obtained in this study argue for prolonged ELF-MF exposure being unable per se to affect proliferation, viability, size, and morphology of both proliferating and differentiated SH-SY5Y cells. These observations are in agreement with Reale et al. who previously reported no impact in cell morphology and viability after 6–24 h of ELF-MF challenge in the same experimental model [46]. However, despite its inability to macroscopically affect cell phenotype and survival, we demonstrated that ELF-MF significantly affect redox homeostasis. This observation confirms evidence previously obtained in the same cell system and in other neuronal models [18, 19, 20, 21, 42, 46, 47] and at the same time strengthens the hypothesis that oxidative stress plays a causative role in dopaminergic neuron dysfunction. There is an open and unsolved debate regarding the upstream chemical process responsible for converting the ELF-MFs stimulus into an intracellular pro-oxidant event. This is particularly relevant in a dopaminergic cell context where dopamine metabolism implies side oxygen free radical production [48], and where deleterious activity of neurotoxins, inducing loss of DAergic neuronal population (e.g., rotenone and MPTP), mostly depends on their ability to target mitochondria and produce oxidative stress [49]. Although we still do not know how oxidative stress takes place, the observation that thiol pool decreases upon ELF-MF exposure argues for an impairment of the antioxidant defense being also crucial. We demonstrated that the modulation of GSH levels deeply affects the response to MPP+, as the inhibition of GSH de novo synthesis by BSO exacerbates cell viability. In accordance, the replenishment of GSH intracellular content allows cell viability recovery. These results are in line with data from the literature reporting that GSH levels decrease both in SHSY5Y cells undergoing combined treatment ELF-MF/menadione [38], and in a number of PD models and human SN lesions [7, 50]. For instance, in incidental LBs disease, which may be considered a pre-symptomatic form of PD, GSH depletion is already present in the SN, and precedes complex I dysfunctions, iron accumulation, and striatal DA loss [51, 52], thus suggesting that GSH decreased levels could be an early event in PD etiology. Accordingly, NAC administration has been tested in animal models and clinical trials of PD [53, 54], and BSO has been already reported to significantly amplify in vivo (namely in nigral neurons) the toxic effects induced by MPTP [55]. Altogether, these pieces of evidence argue for thiol homeostasis being crucial for sustaining the antioxidant defense of DAergic neuronal cells and, in turn, for protecting them against irreversible oxidative damage. In support of this, different in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that GSH depletion triggers extensive carbonylation of brain proteins and morphological changes of DAergic neurons in the nigro-striatal pathway [52, 56, 57]. Here, we have provided evidence that ELF-MF exposure causes per se an increase of protein carbonyl content along with a decrement of the intracellular thiol pool. Overall, these observations suggest that ELF-MFs can induce PD-like conditions, thereby predisposing dopaminergic-like cells to be more vulnerable to MPP+-induced challenge [22, 23, 36]. As a direct consequence, ELF-MF in combination with MPP+ further pushes up the amount of total protein carbonylation and induces DAergic cell to death by a caspase-dependent apoptosis. Future experiments are required to identify whether key PD proteins, e.g., Parkin or α-synuclein, can undergo carbonylation upon ELF-MF-induced oxidative stress and whether this modification can induce a loss of function (e.g., by aggregation or degradation), which might be related to PD onset. A number of reports suggest that calcium signaling and, most of all, changes in the gene expression profiling are also induced upon ELF-MF exposure [58, 59]. Based on these assumptions, we are currently evaluating the role of DNA methylation and microRNAs expression in response to ELF-MF exposure, and how these epigenetic effectors might interact with oxidative stress to affect/concur to MPP+ toxicity. This would hopefully provide novel insights into the complex network of molecular processes finely tuned by life-long ELF-MF exposure and possibly contributing to PD onset. |
Buy Photo Phillip Dearner, left, and Joel Halbleib will be the new owners at Goodwood which will be operating out of the former BBC location at Clay and Main in downtown Louisville. April 6, 2015 (Photo: Alton Strupp/The Courier-Journal)Buy Photo Almost daily, the Bluegrass Brewing Company production brewery gets calls for reservations. But the brewery's taproom doesn't take reservations. In fact, it's not even part of the same-named company customers would make reservations at — the separately-owned Bluegrass Brewing Company, with three brewpubs across the city. Are you confused? It's OK, a lot of people are. But the production brewery's owners hope you won't be soon, once they define the brewery as a separate company through a rebranding initiative that will introduce new products, consistent logos, a remodeled taproom and, maybe most importantly, a new name: Goodwood Brewing Company. "We're going in a direction that we want to go into and just being who we want to be," said production brewery president Phil Dearner. The new branding comes about 10 years after the production brewery's current owners bought the facility, located at the corner of Clay and Main streets. Buy Photo The bar area inside the former BBC location at Clay and Main will be renovated and operating under the Goodwood brand. April 6, 2015 (Photo: Alton Strupp/The Courier-Journal) The facility was originally owned by Pipkin Brewery, but it changed hands in 2001 after that company went defunct. At that time, BBC co-owner Pat Hagan and a group of investors — separate from a group that owned the BBC brewpubs — purchased the brewery and began leasing the BBC name in order to distribute BBC products. When the production brewery's current owners purchased the facility in 2005, they discussed changing the name and brand but ultimately decided to keep the arrangement, CEO Ted Mitzlaff said. "We should have changed it when we bought it, truthfully, but we were kind of wading into uncharted territory," Mitzlaff said. "No one in our investment group really knew much about the brewing industry." The idea has remained in the owners' minds, and over the past two years, they've worked with ad agency Doe-Anderson to develop a new name and brand. Dearner said the company hopes to introduce the changes, along with the remodeled taproom, in May. The change means the company will stop distributing the Heritage Collection — featuring the Nut Brown Ale, American Pale Ale and Dark Star Porter, which are recipes owned by BBC. But they'll add other recipes that highlight the company's skill. The Goodwood name derives from the company's desire to be the country's premier wood aging brewery, with every product touching wood either through barrel-aging or adding wood chips in the fermentation process, Dearner said. Buy Photo Outside the space at the former BBC at Clay and Main which will be the home of the new Goodwood Brewery. April 6, 2015 (Photo: Alton Strupp/The Courier-Journal) "The big demand is our barrel-aged product," Mitzlaff said, including the Bourbon Barrel Stout. "Everybody's got pale ale. We have wonderful products, but the real difference is our superior barrel-aged programs." Once introduced, the Goodwood beers will be sold at the brewery's taproom and through distributors to restaurants and liquor stores, Dearner said. The taproom, located at 636 E. Main St., will be closed shortly for the remodeling, which includes adding seating space, building a new cooler, redoing the bar and changing the atmosphere, Dearner said. "It's not going to feel like your grandpa's basement," he said. "We're going to do our best to make it into a really cool space to hangout in." Dearner and Mitzlaff said the idea of changing their brand is scary, but it will help the company continue efforts to better its beer. In the past two years, the company has also purchased new equipment, stepped up quality control and started searching for a second production facility. "We've never made better beer than we are today," Dearner said. NEWSLETTERS Get the Dining newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong The latest on Louisville dining, recipes, the city's celebrity chefs and more! Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-866-2211. Delivery: Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Dining Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters GOODWOOD BREWING COMPANY The Bluegrass Brewing Company production brewery, at 636 E. Main St., will soon re-brand as the Goodwood Brewing Company. Follow the company's changes at www.facebook.com/BBCBEERPIMP. Read or Share this story: http://cjky.it/1FxLKCT |
The MPAA wants to stop pirates from colonizing the Internet’s newest frontiers. The Motion Picture Association of America has reached an agreement with Donuts, the largest operator of new domain-name extensions — including .movie and .theater — under which the trade group will be able to notify the registry operator of “large-scale pirate websites” in the generic top-level domains. Donuts said it will require clear evidence of pervasive copyright infringement and that the MPAA has first attempted to contact the third-party registrar and hosting provider for resolution. The domain-name company, after reviewing each case, may put the offending domain on hold or suspend it. Since Donuts opened .movie registrations in mid-2015, 907 names have been registered in the top-level domain, according to the company. Lionsgate is among studios that have used .movie for the “Hunger Games” franchise, at TheHungerGames.movie, as well as for “Dirty Grandpa” and the upcoming fantasy epic “Gods of Egypt.” In addition to .movie and .theater, Donuts’ 185 active top-level domains include .academy, .business, .company, .email, .media. .watch, .services and .technology. The company claims more than 1.3 million names have been registered in its domains. Related Charles Rivkin on Netflix Joining the MPAA -- Will Amazon Be Next? Disruptor Netflix Joins Big Studios at the Table With MPAA Membership, Analysts Say The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the not-for-profit org that coordinates IP addresses and domain names, began approving new generic top-level domains in the spring of 2013. The goal was to expand the Web’s name spaces beyond traditional TLDs like .com and .net — but the move also concerned intellectual property holders worried about cyber-squatters snapping up new domain names. “This is a groundbreaking partnership and one we’re proud to undertake,” Donuts co-founder and executive VP Jon Nevett said. “Donuts, as the operator of .movie, .theater, .company and almost 200 other domain extensions, is committed to a healthy domain-name environment, and this is another step toward a safe and secure namespace.” MPAA chairman Chris Dodd added that the agreement “demonstrates that the tech community and content creators can work together on voluntary initiatives to help ensure vibrant, legal digital marketplaces that benefit all members of the online ecosystem.” Bellevue, Wash.-based Donuts, founded in 2010, has raised more than $100 million in funding. Another registry, Australia-based Motion Picture Domain Registry, operates the .film top-level domain. MPDR says .film registrants must be members of an approved movie association, body or union. MPAA has long combated online piracy businesses, seeking to snuff out copyright-infringing outfits around the globe. In November, a Popcorn Time offshoot shut down after a legal victory by MPAA, which has assumed ownership of the popcorntime.io domain name. The trade group also owns Hotfile.com, which now redirects to the trade group’s WhereToWatch.com guide to legit online video, after the MPAA forced the file-sharing site to cease operations in late 2013. |
The Blazers just kept on winning as the line of Colin Smith, Tim Bozon and JC Lipon combined for 10 points in a 6-3 win over the Kootenay Ice. The Blazers improved to 12-0-0-1 on the season winning all five games on the Central Division road trip and their 10th consecutive game. The Ice opened the scoring in this game as Colin Shirley took a pass from Jaedon Descheneau and scored 3:53 into the game for a 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-0 for a while before the Blazers evened it up at 14:49. Colin Smith finished off a rush as Tim Bozon gave it to JC Lipon and Smith put home his ninth of the season to knot it at 1-1. The Blazers outshot the Ice 9-6 in the period. Descheneau gave the Ice a 2-1 lead on a turnover in the Blazers zone only 2:15 into the period. The Blazers again tied it, this time on a 5-on-3 power play. Colin Smith took the puck and skated around before finding an open JC Lipon who snapped home his 12th goal of the season to make it 2-2 midway through two periods. The Ice took the lead for a third time as Brock Montgomery found a loose puck on the power play for his eighth goal of the season. It only took the Blazers 49 seconds to tie it up as Colin Smith gave Tim Bozon a breakaway and he made a terrific move to beat goaltender Mackenzie Skapski. The game remained tied at 3-3 through two periods. After playing five games in seven nights and seven games in eleven nights overall, the Blazers found the energy in the third period to seal the deal. Sam Grist gave the Blazers their first lead of the game 25 seconds into the period on a point shot. Bozon extended that lead to 5-3 at 10:40 of the period with a power play marker and JC Lipon iced it with his WHL leading 13th goal and 31st point with a shorthanded empty net goal for a 6-3 victory. Defensemen Sam Grist and Tyler Hansen were terrific on the backend as they were a combined +7 on the night. At the moment, JC Lipon (31), Colin Smith (29), Tim Bozon (21) and Brendan Ranford (21) sit one, two, three and four in the WHL scoring race. The Blazers finished the game 2-for-3 on the power play and the Kootenay Ice were 1-for-6. The Blazers outshot the Ice 29-25 in the game. Cole Cheveldave made 22 saves to improve his record to 8-0-0-0 on the season. The Blazers return home tonight and will have the week off before playing home games on Friday, October 26th versus the Brandon Wheat Kings and Saturday, October 27th versus the Victoria Royals. Game Summary GAME HIGHLIGHTS |
If you happen to have been in Ohio or West Virginia, you might have noticed a peculiar buzz in the air recently. After seventeen years quietly developing under the soil, three species of periodical cicadas emerged this summer across a swath of land south of Lake Erie. Also known as seventeen-year locusts, the periodical cicadas appear in coordinated bursts every thirteen or seventeen years—always a prime number. After a frenzy of mating, adults deposit their eggs on tree limbs and die. Their entire above-ground life lasts less a month: half of one percent of the time they spend underground. Meanwhile, their nymphs hatch, fall to the ground, and burrow down into the earth, where they’ll spend the next seventeen years feeding on tree roots. Cicadas aren’t actually locusts, but their large size and occasional superabundance has earned them the nickname. In the eastern and central United States, it’s hard to avoid noticing their emergence. For a few weeks, the mating drone of the male cicadas is heavy and continuous, palpable in the hot summer air. During an emergence that took place when I was ten years old, I obsessively searched tree trunks for shed skins—hollow casts, exquisitely detailed—and stored them in my old jewelry boxes. The vast, mostly invisible rhythm of their lives fascinated me. They had been waiting patiently underground for longer than I’d been alive. Periodical cicadas are remarkable not only for their long development times, but also for their incredible synchronicity. This presents a sort of evolutionary puzzle for biologists, since not all cicadas are periodical—most species emerge in staggered batches year by year. What makes these few species coordinate across entire geographic regions? And what’s with the prime numbers? * * * To understand the value of coordination, consider the effects of cicadas on the rest of the ecosystem. Some of these effects are pretty bizarre: Their calls interrupt the calls of certain frog species. Tree trunks grow more slowly in emergence years, when huge numbers of larvae arrive in the soil all at once, and some trees have even developed specialized defenses against cicada eggs. More importantly, periodical cicadas are a great source of food for many wild predators. Local abundance of some rodents increases by 50% in cicada emergence years—in fact, rodents may even be able to anticipate the availability of cicadas before they emerge. In the years following cicada emergence, songbird populations increase. Even fish-eating seabirds get in on the action: In 1924, an observer in coastal Massachusetts noticed gulls and terns snatching cicadas out of the air. A wide variety of species respond to cicada pulses by increasing their productivity. To withstand the onslaught of predation, cicadas play a numbers game. To withstand this onslaught of predation, cicadas play a numbers game. If they were to emerge in equal, predictable numbers every year, predator populations might be able to eat an entire year’s crop of cicadas. However, since cicadas emerge all at once after years of absence, predators are swamped with more food than they can possibly consume. This process, called satiation, increases the chance that cicadas will escape being eaten for long enough to survive and reproduce. Similar patterns exist in other prized food resources. Acorn-bearing trees, for instance, produce large crops in some years and no crops in others, making it more likely that predators will leave stored acorns behind to grow into trees. The reason for the prime-numbered gestation periods is a little more complicated. It comes from a phenomenon known as the Allee Effect: the smaller a population gets, the less likely its members are to find one another and reproduce. If two different species with different development times emerge and mate with one another, the theory suggests, they create hybrid offspring with a development time somewhere in the middle. These offspring emerge in off-years, which means they have trouble finding other cicadas to mate with. Prime-numbered cycles minimize this problem by making it less likely that different species will emerge at the same time. A recent study used mathematical models to show that, over time, as hybridization drives other cycles into extinction, prime-numbered life cycles are the only ones left standing. * * * Evolution has produced a formidable survival strategy in periodical cicadas, but it has also backed them into a corner. A species that only appears every seventeen years doesn’t have much flexibility to respond to changes in environmental conditions. Cicada emergence depends on soil temperature, meaning that warming climates could push back emergence dates. If soils warm too early, cicadas might emerge before their food resources. The speed of urban development outpaces cicada time, and it’s hard to tell how many larvae are lost due to deforestation, forest fragmentation, and the creation of paved surfaces. In a few weeks, the cicadas will have disappeared, to the relief of many. In the meantime, if you’re lucky enough to be in the midst of a cicada emergence, enjoy this strange and wonderful example of evolution in action. Who, after all, knows what the next seventeen years will bring? |
'The workout that changed my body': Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco shows off her figure in SELF magazine Kaley Cuoco shares her tips for a better life. The Big Bang Theory star's secrets to health and happiness include horseback riding and spinning - and eating lots of oatmeal. Kaley appears on the cover of the January issue of SELF magazine and revealed simple, no nonsense fitness tips in an informative interview. Scroll down for video Golden girl: Kaley Cuoco secrets to looking fabulous and healthy include lots of horseback riding and spinning classes, and oatmeal for breakfast 'I start the day with oatmeal with vanilla almond milk,' Kaley, 27, tells SELF . 'If I don't, I'm dying by noon and eating everything in sight. 'On-set, I avoid crap and pack soup and salad. I cook pork chops or turkey tacos for dinner.' One of her favourite workouts is horseback riding in spite of the fact that she almost lost her foot when a horse threw her and trampled her in 2010. 'I took my first riding lesson at 15, and I've ridden almost every day since,' Kaley says, adding: 'Two years ago, I fell off my horse and crushed my leg. Splurge: Kaley has a healthy appetite when it comes to food, so that's why she works out so hard at the gym 'Before surgery, I had to sign a contract saying it was OK if they had to amputate! When I awoke with my leg, I was so happy. 'I was back on the horse while the cast was still on. I have four horses, and they are my everything. I was determined not to lose that. I am a little more careful now.' For a more powerful recharge, Kaley takes spinning classes, saying that it 'changed my body. My legs are severely toned, and you get an ab workout.' She even adds two-pound weights when she spins sometimes, adding, 'It gets at the back part of my arm that I hate.' Cover girl: Kaley looks fabulously toned on the January cover of SELF which hits newsstands nationwide on December 25 Kaley co-stars on the CBS show with Mayim Bialik and Melissa Ranch and says they've all become the best of friends. 'Because of that, I'm not so quick to judge other women, and now I have these amazing new girlfriends,' she says. The actress has learned that it's ok to let go of your emotions sometimes. Banging blonde: Kaley will reprise her role as outgoing neighbor Penny in the seventh season of Big Bang Theory set to air next year on CBS Back in the saddle: Kaley hasn't let a 2010 riding accident stop her from enjoying her sport; she was seen atop her horse in November 'I cry all the time,' Kaley says. 'I love to laugh too. It's important to create an environment for yourself where you feel what you need to and don't hold it in. 'Today, I'm comfortable enough in my own skin that I can laugh or cry when I need to, and it feels so good.' Kaley's cover issue of SELF hits newsstands nationwide on December 25. VIDEO Kaley Cuoco tells SELF how she gets fit... |
Stellan Skarsgard also has joined the cast as the voice of Moomin Papa and will executive produce the project. Academy Award-winning Swedish actress Alicia Vikander is set to lead the voice cast of upcoming stop-motion animation film Moomins and the Winter Wonderland, set for global release in December. "Growing up, Moomins was my favorite childhood book, and now I can be part of the Moomins family," Vikander said in a statement. "I'll be playing both the roles of Little My and Sorry-oo. I am so excited to be part of the Moomins feature Moomins and the Winter Wonderland.” Stellan Skarsgard also has joined the cast as the voice of Moominpapa and will executive produce. The Moomins were created by the Finnish writer Tove Jansson in a series of books and comic strips, originally published in Swedish in the 1940s. The iconic fairy tale characters — a carefree family of white, roundish creatures with large snouts that make them resemble lovable hippopotamuses — are a staple of kids culture around the world, thanks to translations of the original books and comic strips, along with television and film adaptations, and even a theme park called Moomin World in Naantali, Finland. Finish film company Filmkompaniet and Polish animation studio Animoon are co-producing the new project. Los Angeles-based production, distribution and IP management company Global Genesis Group is handling international distribution and sales. Based on Jansson's original books, with a screenplay from Małgorzata Więckowicz-Zyla, Piotr Szczepanowicz and Ira Carpelan, Moomins and the Winter Wonderland will be created from existing, vintage footage from original stop-motion Moomins productions co-produced by Jupiter Film and Film Polski in the 1980s. The footage will be in 4K quality. The producers say their vision for the restoration and development of the film is to bring the Moomins to a contemporary world audience, whilst staying true to the magic of Jansson's original stories. Moomins and the Winter Wonderland follows Filmkompaniet's 2010 film Moomins and the Comet Chase (voiced by Alexander Skarsgard, Mads Mikkelsen, Stellan Skarsgard, Max von Sydow and Peter Stormare), which was released in 3D and distributed in over 80 countries, including the U.S., U.K., France, Japan, China, Brazil and Australia. Tom Carpelan from Filmkompaniet, the Finnish executive producer of the film, said: "It is a privilege and very exciting to work with a property of such dignity, richness and complexity as the Moomin values represent. This world full of friendly humor, adventurous curiosity and everyday life philosophy has so much to offer audiences of any age.” Rick Romano, president of Global Genesis Group, added: "We are extremely excited that Alicia Vikander chose to be a part of building out the Moomins brand in the U.S. and further building it internationally and making it an even bigger global phenomenon. Moomins and the Winter Wonderland is another addition to the fun, beloved franchise, and Ms. Vikander and the rest of the amazing cast will help us introduce the world to these great characters and their stories.” |
YOUR STORIES By Krassimira Twigg BBC News Twenty years ago, on 17 April, Poland's communists agreed to hold elections and to allow the Solidarity movement to take part. The first democratic elections in the Soviet bloc resulted in the eventual collapse of the communist regime - but for most of the 1980s, Solidarity had been an illegal organisation whose members faced a constant risk of arrest. Natalia Borysewicz and her sister acted as couriers for her father For their children, these were years in which the excitement of a secret and forbidden life could easily turn to heartache. Natalia Borysewicz, now in her thirties, was given important jobs by her father, a miner and Solidarity member at the brown coal mine near their home in Belchatow. "He was using us kids as couriers to smuggle underground literature. We didn't fully understand what we were doing, but it was very exciting. We knew we shouldn't mention to anybody what was discussed at home. "Although we were heavily indoctrinated at school, our parents educated us at home and so we ended up with two versions of education." Filip Sikorski was another child whose family was involved with the workers rights' movement. His father, an engineer, introduced Solidarity to his computer institute in Warsaw, and sometimes travelled from place to place, distributing illegal literature. Filip remembers how proud he was when his father would ask him to help carry the materials to the train station. "His rucksack was full of magazines and forbidden books, like Orwell's 1984. I had to keep quiet about it. We were always afraid that the doorbell might ring one morning and it would be the police." Martial law For Natalia, the excitement came to a sudden end on 13 December 1981, when the Polish government introduced martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition. Thousands of people were arrested. Natalia now works for a bank in London Her father spent eight months in prison without charge or any indication of when he would be released. "I remember very well how our life was with dad in prison. It was very tough for my mum. They say 'poor men', but I say 'poor women', as it was the women who had to deal with everything." Natalia remembers that her father maintained his sense of humour even in prison. On one of her visits he gave her a badge he had made for her to wear, which read: "I am the daughter of a political prisoner." After he was released, the authorities offered the family the opportunity to emigrate. "We visited a couple of foreign embassies to make enquiries," Natalia says. "To my disappointment my parents decided to stay. My dad thought it would be cowardly to leave the country, so this was his sacrifice." Life went back to normal for the family, although Natalia's father withdrew from the political movement. "He was more of a veteran, my dad. He didn't want to be the guy at the front. Anyway, towards the end of the 1980s, being a member of Solidarity wasn't much of a heroic thing anymore, it became easier and more mainstream." Radical change The speed of the developments in 1989 took everybody by surprise. February saw round table talks between the communist government and the opposition, which led to the first democratic elections in the Soviet bloc and an overwhelming victory for Solidarity. Filip (centre) celebrates Poland's Yes vote in the 2003 EU referendum "What followed was a radical change," says Natalia. " Young people like me benefited hugely. The change opened the world for us. Look at us now, I work for a bank in London, and my sister works for a big international company in Poland." Natalia is proud her father was part of those momentous events and she thinks that if it hadn't been for Solidarity, Poland wouldn't be where it is now. "We are an enterprising nation and we started flourishing. We are confident now. We are citizens of Europe." The events filled people with excitement - and worry. The Red Army was still present in the country and the memories of what happened in Czechoslovakia in 1968 (when Soviet tanks crushed resistance) were all too vivid. Poles will tell you two things with pride - that they started the 1989 revolutions, and that instead of receiving international aid, they are now strong enough to donate it BBC diplomatic editor, Brian Hanrahan How Poland became an aid donor For Filip, the turning point was when in August 1989 Tadeusz Mazowiecki was appointed the first non-communist prime minister in the history of post-war Poland. "It was an unforgettable moment: all our dreams and hopes came true. Finally, the people of Poland were in charge of our country." Filip now works for an international company and regularly travels on business to other European countries. He is delighted that Poland is now a member of Nato and the EU. But while the majority welcomed the changes, others felt disappointed. The transition from a planned to market economy meant that some companies went bankrupt and jobs were hard to find. Gone was the sense of security enjoyed under communism. "Communism is like living in jail - you are provided for, you don't have to worry about food, but you have no freedom," says Filip. A new beginning Natalia is proud of her father's contribution to democracy in Poland Natalia's father is 67 years old now. He won a presidential award for his contribution to Polish democracy. "From time to time he puts on a suit and goes to meetings. He is very proud of his contribution. He jokes that he even wears his medal in bed." But this recognition came with a bitter aftertaste. When his personal file was declassified, he discovered that close friends he had trusted had betrayed him. Filip's father is now 72. He runs his own IT business, employing more than 60 people. The collapse of communism gave him the opportunity for a fresh start in his fifties. "There's no stopping him now. He is doing very well and is not even thinking about retirement. He says that communism stole 40 years of his life and he now has to make up for it." Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version |
I have three lovely little girls who range in age from 3 to 8. All three go to school, participate in organized, after-school activities, enjoy birthday parties and play dates, and have a cadre of friends. And everywhere they go, they're being smothered with junk. Yoni Freedhoff Last week my 3-year-old's pre-school had a "color war." An email sent to parents explained that there would be a fruit snack and "a treat of course." It's not so much the treat that's the problem, it's the "of course." As many defenders of pushing junk food on kids will tell you, "one treat isn't going to kill them," but it's the societal "of course" attitude that might—as if 3-year-olds wouldn't be thrilled to pieces to just play all day and enjoy some fruit on its own. Last week also saw Valentine's Day. Raise your hand if your child's backpack haul of candy and chocolate was more reminiscent of Halloween than the Hallmark holiday of love. When I was a kid we gave out cheesy little cards with Disney characters—when did candy take over? And birthdays? I can't imagine a birthday party without cake, but when did it become the practice to have in-school junk food to celebrate? And it's not just the kids' birthdays either. When my 5-year-old's undeniably lovely teacher had her own birthday roll around, she brought junk for the kids too. To be fair, I can at least see where junk food and holidays and birthdays come together, but I truly scratched my head when my 8-year-old joined a reading club, went to the opening meeting excited to talk about books, and came home to tell us about the candy they were given to commemorate the event. For us anyhow, it never seems to end. Saturday skating lessons often include lollipops, kids' grab bags from community races regularly contain chocolates, loot bags from friends parties might as well be renamed candy bags, libraries host events with names like "Donuts and Dads," bending a blade of grass with soccer shoes leads to sugar-sweetened sport drinks on the field and often ice cream or popsicles when the final whistle blows, and so on and so forth. And don't even get me started on juice. No doubt too, each and every time I speak up, there's someone out there telling me I shouldn't be so frustrated, as it's just "one" lollipop, it's just "one" ice cream sandwich, it's just "one" chocolate bar. If only it were just "one." My conservative estimate is that my children, no doubt with the best of intentions, are being offered an average of at least 600 sugar-spiked calories of junk each and every week–junk that we had never intended on giving them in the first place, and in many cases, couldn't decline if we wanted to, since we wouldn't have been present at its offering. Assuming a conservative 70 percent of that junk's calories are coming from sugar, that's 26.25 teaspoons of added sugar a week or more than 14 pounds of the white stuff a year. It's never just "one." Somewhere along the line, we've normalized the constant provision of junk food to children. It seems no matter how small the ship or short the journey, sugar pretty much christens each and every voyage on which our children set sail. There's simply no occasion too small to not warrant a junk food accompaniment. But for me, the strangest part of all is the outcry that occurs if and when I point it out. My experiences have taught me that junk food as part of children's' activities has become so normalized that my questioning this sugary status quo genuinely offends people's sensitivities and sometimes even generates frank anger. Despite incredible medical advances over the course of the past 60 years, I would argue that the world is a less healthy place than it once was. Cooking has become a lost art, unstructured active play is on the endangered species list, and candy, which certainly has always understandably enjoyed a coveted place in children's hearts, has somehow become the normalized cornerstone of their culture. People other than their parents giving children junk food shouldn't be considered "normal," and until that attitude changes, I guess I'll just have to keep pointing out how crazy our new normal has become. What's the craziest candy or junk food tie-in you've seen with your children? Hungry for more? Write to eatandrun@usnews.com with your questions, concerns, and feedback. Yoni Freedhoff, MD, is an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa, where he's the founder and medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute—dedicated to non-surgical weight management since 2004. Dr. Freedhoff sounds off daily on his award-winning blog, Weighty Matters, and you can follow him on Twitter @YoniFreedhoff. Dr. Freedhoff's latest book Why Diets Fail and How to Make Yours Work will be published by Random House's Crown/Harmony in 2014. |
Collinder 399 and its surroundings. Brocchi's Cluster (also known as Collinder 399, Cr 399 or Al Sufi's Cluster) is a random grouping of stars located in the constellation Vulpecula near the border with Sagitta. The members of the star cluster form an asterism which has given rise to its name as the Coathanger. History [ edit ] It was first described by the Persian astronomer Al Sufi in his Book of Fixed Stars in 964. In the 17th century, it was independently rediscovered by the Italian astronomer G. B. Hodierna. In the 1920s, Dalmero Francis Brocchi, an amateur astronomer and chart maker for the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), created a map of this object for use in calibrating photometers. In 1931, Swedish astronomer Per Collinder listed it in his catalogue of open clusters.[1] Status [ edit ] The status of this group as a star cluster has changed in recent years. The group was considered to be a cluster for most of the 20th century. Looking at a variety of criteria, however, a study in 1970 concluded that only 6 of the brightest stars formed an actual cluster. Several independent studies since 1998 have now determined that this object is not a true cluster at all, but rather just a chance alignment of stars. These recent studies have generally based their findings on improved measurements of parallax and proper motion provided by the Hipparcos satellite which were first published in 1997.[2] The "Coathanger" [ edit ] How to find the Coathanger asterism: about 8 degrees NW of the W end of the arrow-shaped Sagitta constellation. The Coathanger (Cr 399), brighter stars are labelled with their primary identification and magnitudes. The asterism is made up of 10 stars ranging from 5th to 7th magnitude which form the conspicuous "coathanger", a straight line of 6 stars with a "hook" of 4 stars on the south side. An additional 30 or so fainter stars are sometimes considered to be associated as well. Under a dark sky, the Coathanger can be seen with the naked eye as an unresolved patch of light; binoculars or a telescope at very low power are usually needed in order to view the "coathanger" asterism. It is best found by slowly sweeping across the Milky Way along an imaginary line from the bright star Altair toward the even brighter star Vega. About one third of the way toward Vega, the Coathanger should be spotted easily against a darker region of the Milky Way. The asterism is best seen in July–August and north of 20° north latitude it is displayed upside down (as in the picture top right of this page) when it is at its highest point. South of this latitude it is shown upright as the 'hanger' is south of the line of 6 stars. The asterism and its immediate surroundings are a useful gauge for determining the faintest stars visible in a small telescope as there are a wide range of stellar magnitudes within the cluster easily viewed in one small location of the sky. The following is a list of the 10 stars commonly included as members of the Coathanger, organized by right ascension. They vary widely in distance, with only HD 182422, HD 183261, and 7 Vul being possibly remotely near each other. At 7 Vul and HD 183261's closest possible distance to each other (1100 light-years), they would be further than 6 light-years apart from one another. At the closest possible distance of all three (1180 light-years), HD 182422 and HD 183261 would be separated by almost 20 light-years, and HD 182422 and 7 Vul would be separated by more than 25. For comparison, the Sun and the closest known star, Proxima Centauri, are slightly more than 4 light-years apart. Catalogue data [ edit ] Name: Collinder 399 Right Ascension: 19 h 25 m 24 s 25 24 Declination: +20°11′00″ Magnitude: 3.6 m (visual) (visual) Diameter: ~60' Magnitude of Brightest Star: 5.19m (visual) |
Yuri Kochiyama (河内山 百合子, Kōchiyama Yuriko, May 19, 1921 – June 1, 2014) was an American activist. Influenced by her Japanese American family's internment and her association with Malcolm X, she advocated for many causes, including Black separatism, the anti-war movement, Maoist revolution, reparations for Japanese-American internees, and the rights of people imprisoned by the U.S. government for violent offenses whom she considered to be "political prisoners". On May 19, 2016, which would have been her 95th birthday, she was featured on the U.S. Google Doodle, sparking controversy over her past statements expressing admiration for figures such as Osama bin Laden. Early life and education [ edit ] Mary Yuriko Nakahara was born on May 19, 1921, in San Pedro, California, to Japanese immigrants Seiichi Nakahara, a fish merchant entrepreneur, and Tsuyako (Sawaguchi) Nakahara, a college-educated homemaker and piano teacher. She had a twin brother, Peter, and an older brother, Arthur. Her family was relatively affluent and she grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood. In her youth she attended a Presbyterian church and taught Sunday school. Kochiyama attended San Pedro High School, where she served as the first female student body officer, wrote for the school newspaper, and played on the tennis team. She graduated from high school in 1939. She attended Compton Junior College, where she studied English, journalism, and art. Kochiyama graduated from Compton in 1941.[1] Her life changed on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese Empire bombed Pearl Harbor. Soon after she returned home from church, FBI agents arrested her father as a potential threat to national security. He was in poor health, having just come out of hospital. The FBI were suspicious of photographs of Japanese naval ships found in the family home and his friendship with prominent Japanese, including Ambassador Kichisaburō Nomura.[3] Nakahara's six-week detention aggravated his health problems, and by the time he was released on January 20, 1942, he had become too sick to speak. Her father died the day after his release.[1] Soon after the death of her father, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which forced out approximately 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry from the Pacific coast and interned them at various camps across the United States. Yuri, her mother, and her brother were "evacuated" to a converted horse stable at the Santa Anita Assembly Center for several months and then moved again to the War Relocation Authority internment camp at Jerome, Arkansas, where they lived for the next three years. While interned, she met her future husband, Bill Kochiyama, a Nisei soldier fighting for the United States. The couple married in 1946.[1] They moved to New York in 1948, had six children, and lived in public housing for the next twelve years. In 1960, Kochiyama and her husband moved their family to Harlem and joined the Harlem Parents Committee and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Activist life [ edit ] Kochiyama met the African-American activist Malcolm X, at the time a prominent member of the Nation of Islam,[5] in October 1963 during a protest against the arrest of about 600 minority construction workers in Brooklyn, who had been protesting for jobs.[5][6] Kochiyama joined his pan-Africanist Organization of Afro-American Unity. She was present at his assassination on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights, New York City, and held him in her arms as he lay dying[7]—a famous photo appeared in Life capturing that moment.[8] Kochiyama also had close relationships with many other revolutionary nationalist leaders including Robert F. Williams who gave Kochiyama her first copy of Chairman Mao's Little Red Book.[9] Kochiyama became a mentor to the radical end of the Asian American movement that grew during and after the Vietnam War protests. As organizers of East Coast Japanese Americans for Redress and Reparations, Yuri and Bill advocated for reparations and a government apology for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and spearheaded the campaign to bring the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to New York.[1] Additionally, Kochiyama founded the Day or Remembrance Committee in New York City to commemorate the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized Executive Order 9066, which caused the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act in 1988 which, among other things, awarded $20,000 to each Japanese American internment survivor. Kochiyama used this victory to advocate for reparations for African Americans.[1] In later years, Kochiyama was active in opposing profiling of and bigotry against Muslims, Middle Easterners, and South Asians in the United States, a phenomenon she viewed as similar to the experience of Japanese Americans during World War II. In 1971, Kochiyama secretly converted to Sunni Islam, and began travelling to the Sankore mosque in Greenhaven prison, Stormville, New York, to study and worship with Imam Rasul Suleiman. Kochiyama also taught English to immigrant students and volunteered at soup kitchens and homeless shelters in New York City.[12] Kochiyama spoke at over 100 high schools and colleges in at least 15 states and Canada, including Harvard, Radcliffe, Yale, Princeton, Spelman, Temple, UMass/Amherst, New York University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and San Francisco State University.[citation needed] In Debbie Allen's television series Cool Women (2001), Kochiyama stated, "The legacy I would like to leave is that people try to build bridges and not walls."[13] Advocacy [ edit ] Kochiyama has been described as a woman of "complicated political beliefs" and at times "contradictory views" who managed to combine support for both racial integration and separation.[14] Dylan Matthews has described some of her work as "clearly, deeply admirable", but cautioned that she sometimes admired "truly loathsome figures, because she thought they were effective at combating American empire", such as Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh.[15] Kochiyama supported the Peruvian Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path which has been widely condemned for its violent terrorism and brutality against civilians.[15][17][18] She joined a delegation to Peru, organized by the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party, to gather support for Abimael Guzmán, the imprisoned leader of the Shining Path. Kochiyama stated "[t]he more I read, the more I came to completely support the revolution in Peru."[15] Kochiyama in the mid-1960s joined the Revolutionary Action Movement, a black nationalist organization dedicated to urban guerrilla warfare which was one of the first organizations in the black liberation movement to attempt to construct an ideology based on a synthesis of the thought of Malcolm X, Marx, Lenin, and Mao Zedong. In 1968 she was one of the few non-blacks invited to join the Republic of New Africa which advocated the establishment of a separate black nation in the Southern United States. Kochiyama joined, and subsequently sided with, an RNA faction which felt that the need to build a separate black nation was even more important than the struggle for civil rights in Northern cities.[20] After Kochiyama became a "citizen" of the RNA she decided to drop her "slave name" Mary and used only the name Yuri.[21] Kochiyama founded and sustained the David Wong Support Committee, which after a fourteen-year battle succeeded in exonerating Wong of the murder of a fellow inmate. Kochiyama wrote letters to, fundraised for, and visited Wong in prison. Kochiyama supported people she saw as political prisoners and victims of FBI oppression.[23] She worked on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an African-American activist sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. She was a friend and supporter of Assata Shakur, an African-American activist and member of the former Black Liberation Army (BLA), who had been convicted of several crimes including the first-degree murder of a New Jersey State Trooper before escaping from U.S. prison and receiving asylum in Cuba. She stated that to her Shakur was like "the female Malcolm [X] or the female Mumia [Abu-Jamal]." She also supported Marilyn Buck, a feminist poet, who was imprisoned for her participation in Shakur's 1979 prison escape, the 1981 Brink's robbery and the 1983 U.S. Senate bombing. In 1977, Kochiyama joined a group of Puerto Ricans who took over the Statue of Liberty to draw attention to the movement for Puerto Rican independence. Kochiyama and other activists demanded the release of four Puerto Rican nationalists convicted of attempted murder—Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, and Irving Flores Rodríguez—who in 1954 had opened fire in the House of Representatives, injuring five congressmen. The nationalists occupied the statue for nine hours before giving up peacefully when the police moved in. President Carter pardoned the attempted assassins in 1979. Kochiyama also supported Yū Kikumura, an alleged member of the Japanese Red Army, who was arrested in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in 1986 when he was found carrying a bomb in his luggage and subsequently convicted of planning to bomb a US Navy recruitment office in the Veteran's Administration building. Kochiyama felt Kikumura's 30-year sentence was motivated by his political activism. Controversial statements [ edit ] In response to the United States' actions following the 2001 September 11 attacks, Kochiyama stated that "the goal of the war [on terror] is more than just getting oil and fuel. The United States is intent on taking over the world" and "it's important we all understand that the main terrorist and the main enemy of the world's people is the U.S. government." Interviewed in 2003, she said, "I consider Osama bin Laden as one of the people that I admire. To me, he is in the category of Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, Fidel Castro ... I thank Islam for bin Laden. America's greed, aggressiveness, and self-righteous arrogance must be stopped. War and weaponry must be abolished."[15][27] Honors [ edit ] In 2005, Kochiyama was one of 1,000 women collectively nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize through the "1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005" project.[6][28] In 2010, she received an honorary doctorate from California State University, East Bay.[12] On June 6, 2014, the White House honored Kochiyama on its website for dedicating "her life to the pursuit of social justice, not only for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, but all communities of color."[29] In 2014, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center curated "Folk Hero: Remembering Yuri Kochiyama Through Grassroots Art", a digital exhibition it characterized as a "tribute".[30][31] On May 19, 2016, the U.S. Google Doodle honored the 95th anniversary of Kochiyama's birthday,[32] prompting both praise[33][34] and criticism[15][35][36] of Kochiyama and Google, with Senator Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) calling for a public apology from the company.[37] Media [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ] |
Finding The Ideal Training Split One of my favorite lines is, "I can pass by the weight room, smell the iron inside, and instantly begin to grow." Simply, some people tend to thrive on very little exercise, while others seem to be incapable of making gains no matter how hard, long and frequently they train. This was referred to as one's "tolerance to exercise," a term coined by Arthur Jones years ago. One’s “tolerance” is high if more exercise is needed, and low if less is needed. There are many variables that can affect your exercise tolerance. Of course, “genetics” ranks highest on the list below, and you’ll notice several such factors. Others, on the other hand, are able to be manipulated in various ways. Red vs White Fiber Ratio Tolerance To Pain Level Of "Psych" Amount Of Rest Since Last Workout Perceived Exertion Amount Of Eccentric Stress (Which Causes Connective Tissue Microtrauma) Incentive Level Strength-To-Weight Ratio Time Of Last Meal (Energy) Type Of Foods Eaten At Last Meal (Glycemic Index) Use Of Ergogenic Techniques Or Substances Musculoskeletal Leverage Factors Motor Unit Recruitment Capabilities Skill Level At Exercise Being Performed (If Such Is Required; e.g., Cleans) Equipment Quality and Design Environmental Factors (e.g., Heat, Cold, etc.) Size Of Muscle Being Exercised Various Intra- and Extracellular Biochemical Factors How close you are to your maximum potential in size or strength All these factors, and perhaps several more as yet undreamed of, will variably affect how frequently you should train each body part and how best to split your routine. Several years ago, after chatting with Arthur and reading some of his thinking on the topic, I began charting other lifters' reps at 80 percent max. I found that guys who were so-called "fast" gainers were only able to do 4-6 reps at 80 percent, while lifters who seemingly never made great gains were able to rep out at around 15-20 reps with 80 percent of their max. Apparently, so-called "fast gainers" have rather poor anaerobic strength endurance. This is explainable in part by the fact that they're probably mostly white muscle fiber, which has fast twitch/low oxidative capabilities. Conversely, slow gainers are probably mostly red muscle fiber (slow twitch/high oxidative) and therefore may possess greater ability for rapid during-set recovery. The problem is, however, that each muscle group's tolerance to exercise probably differs. Each exercise you do for each body part can - and often does - possess an entirely individual rep ability at 80 percent max. To discern your specific tolerance level for each body part, follow these simple instructions: Determine your approximate one rep maximum (1RM) for each exercise. Load 80 percent on the bar (machine) and rep out with it for one all-out effort to see how many reps you can do. Apply this information to the table below to determine each body part's exercise tolerance. Take into account ALL of the factors listed above that can affect your exercise tolerance. Critically evaluate whether your predicted exercise tolerance levels stand up to what you know from experience to be true. Remember, "low tolerance" means that you probably make easy gains for that body part, and "high tolerance" means that you’re probably a hard gainer for that body part. Here is an example of what I've found in regards to exercise tolerances for fast gainers, average gainers and slow gainers. Perhaps you'll find these figures and estimations to be pretty close estimates. But perhaps you won't. One thing is clear, you must look! Your continued progress toward your maximum potential may well depend on it! Reps Standard Tolerance Ability Performed Deviation Level To With 80% Max From Mean Make Gains _________________________________________________________________________ 4 or less -3 Very Very Low Fast Gainer (20-25% of total population) 4-6 -2 Very Low 6-10 -1 Low 10-13 Mean Average Average Gainer (50-60% of total population) 13-17 +1 High 17-21 +2 Very High 21-more +3 Very Very High Slow Gainer (20-25% of total population) ________________________________________________________________________ Slow Gainers (usually predominantly red muscle fiber): Days Of Recovery Required For Each Body Part Before Training It Again "Light Day" "Medium Day" "Heavy Day" ________________________________________________________________________ Large Muscle Groups: Upper Legs 3 Days Rest 4 Days Rest 5 Days Rest Lower Back Medium Size Muscle Groups: Chest 2 Days Rest 3 Days Rest 4 Days Rest Upper Back Biceps Triceps Shoulders Smaller Muscle Groups: Midsection 1 Day Rest 2 Days Rest 3 Days Rest Calfs Forearms Slow gainers often benefit most from 10 or more sets of 15-20 reps _________________________________________________________________________ Average Gainers (usually a mix of red and white muscle fiber): Days Of Recovery Required For Each Body Part Before Training It Again "Light Day" "Medium Day" "Heavy Day" _________________________________________________________________________ Upper Legs 4 Days Rest 5 Days Rest 6 Days Rest Lower Back Chest 3 Days Rest 4 Days Rest 5 Days Rest Upper Back Biceps Triceps Shoulders Midsection 2 Days Rest 3 Days Rest 4 Days Rest Calfs Forearms Average gainers often benefit most from 5-8 sets of 10-12 reps ________________________________________________________________________ Fast Gainers (usually predominantly white muscle fiber): Days Of Recovery Required For Each Body Part Before Training It Again "Light Day" "Medium Day" "Heavy Day" ________________________________________________________________________ Upper Legs 5 Days Rest 6 Days Rest 7 Days Rest Lower Back Chest 4 Days Rest 5 Days Rest 6 Days Rest Upper Back Biceps Triceps Shoulders Midsection 3 Day Rest 4 Days Rest 5 Days Rest Calfs Forearms Fast gainers often benefit most from 3-5 sets of 4-8 reps done explosively ________________________________________________________________________ By critically evaluating your individual muscles' tolerance to exercise, you can more easily "fine tune" your training regimen to provide maximum gains in the shortest possible time. But don't forget the other factors that may affect your recovery rate. Look at the list again (above). How have you accounted for each of these variable's effect on your progress? Have you raised or lowered your reps and sets accordingly? Have you increased or decreased the frequency of your workouts commensurably? Training intensity? Have you taken into account your ratio of white versus red fiber, and adjusted your exercise load and movement speed accordingly? Why Can’t You Just Copy The Pros? Why is it that most newcomers to bodybuilding, and even most intermediate level bodybuilders, can’t make continued gains using a split they copied from one of the pros? It’s quite simple, really. First of all, you must be truthful with yourself in answering some basic questions. Are you as fastidious as the pro you seek to emulate in all that you do? Your supplement schedule? Your diet? Have you as much time "in the trench" as the pro? How long have you been forcing your body to adapt to stress? Most pros have forced adaptations to their muscles and other bodily systems that have taken years to accomplish. As your body changes over time, your susceptibility to further change does as well. New forms of stress force different adaptive processes to occur, and each adaptation requires that different stressors and training schedules be devised in order to take your body one more step closer to its maximum potential. So, as you change your body, your body demands different scheduling for further adaptation to take place. It isn’t simply a matter of piling on more pig iron to satisfy the progressive overload principle. It’s more complicated than that. One of the biggest mistakes all bodybuilders tend to make is that they do not build their programs with this important fact in mind. As you change, so must your training because your body’s “tolerance” to that level or type of stress has changed. And, how you split your training can be an important source of new adaptive stress to which you have not yet adapted. Most bodybuilders are not “hard gainers” or “fast gainers” in all body parts. Further, as you get closer to your maximum potential -- where all professional bodybuilders are -- you may become a hard gainer, whereas earlier in your career your gains seemed to come easy. Or, maybe you’ve remained an easy gainer but have yet to discover the type of stress your body now requires to force continued growth. Through experimentation, I assure you that finding your own level of "tolerance" (body part per body part) will make a big difference. Where to begin? Here are a few examples of how you can split your training program. Adjust them at will. |
Today’s guest post is from Fungi Fun Guy, Michael Judd, author of Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist. Michael’s book is a unique how-to manual for the budding gardener and experienced green thumb alike, full of creative and easy-to-follow designs that guide you to having your yard and eating it, too. Back Yard Fungi I often hear, “My yard is so shady that I can’t grow anything.” To which I get my big cheesy grin going and say, “Oh yeah you can! Mushrooms love shade!” Growing mushrooms outdoors is much easier than you may think. Primarily, I grow three types of mushrooms: shiitake, oyster, and wine cap. These types are easy to grow, tasty, and versatile. I grow shiitake and oyster mushrooms on logs, and the wine cap mushroom, also known as King Stropharia or Garden Giant, I grow on wood chips. All three of these have a wide temperature range for growing as long as there is moisture—make that moisture, moisture, moisture! If you retain nothing else from this project, simply remember: moisture = mushrooms. Log Culture – The Nitty Gritty Many types of trees can be used for growing edible mushrooms. In general, you should use hardwoods like maple, poplar, willow, birch, and beech, while avoiding species such as black locust, black walnut, and most evergreens. Our land here in Maryland is rich in tulip poplar and hard maple, perfect for oyster and shiitake, respectively. Oak is the king wood for shiitake, with its thick, protective bark and strong, long-lasting wood. A good oak log can produce beautiful shiitakes for up to eight years, whereas a softer wood like poplar may produce for only three to four years. Now, you might be thinking, “How is cutting down trees to grow mushrooms ecological?” Our forests have lamentably been chopped down multiple times since the New World began, and the resulting regrowth is usually a cluster of crowded saplings. A practice of sustainable forestry is the thinning of small-diameter trees to allow the larger, more mature trees to grow and to let in more sunlight that helps regenerate the forest floor. These saplings are the perfect size for mushroom log cultivation. Simply grabbing some old firewood off the pile to grow your mushrooms won’t work, since the wood already has its own funky fungi going on. Mushroom wood needs to be fresh and from healthy trees. I cut my wood at winter’s end before sap rise, which in Maryland is around the end of February/early March. Trees or branches approximately six inches in diameter are best. A larger diameter is fine if you have the brawn; however, smaller diameters are not recommended, as the wood will dry out too easily. Once downed, I mark and cut the logs at about 40 inches in length, which makes a manageable size to move around. I then leave the logs where they are, slightly lifted off the ground, or move them where it is moist, leaving them for about three weeks. This period allows the tree’s natural anti-fungal properties to die off and the temperature to warm up for inoculation in late March or early April. Note: if you have healthy wood that was downed during the winter, it is usable as long as you inoculate in the early Spring. Ninja Move: Put spore-inoculated bar oil from Fungi Perfecti in your chainsaw so that as you cut wood, you seed the stumps and surrounding debris. Throw some sawdust back on the stump to help keep in the moisture. Fungi-Growing Medium Fungi, the mushroom body, is made up of thread-like cells that weave together to make a network. When ready to fruit and release spores (seed), up pops the edible shoots we love so much. If you have ever kicked aside the leaf litter in a forest and seen the white webbing, then you’ve seen fungi. We call these threads “mycelium.” For mushroom cultivation, we want specific fungi mycelium (i.e., shiitake and oyster strains). The mycelium growth is started on sawdust, straw, grain, or little wooden plugs. When inoculated with mycelium these mediums are called “spawn.” Think of them as kindling to get the mycelium going. For beginning ease, I suggest purchasing spawn with mycelium on them from one of the many fine mushroom supply outfits; ideally, one close to your weather range. I am a big fan of Field & Forest. Their claim is: “Proud to be part of this rotting world.” Their website and online catalog are a perfect package of how-to’s and materials for beginners. There are numerous spawn options, but for small-scale use, I prefer the plug spawn. Plug spawn are little birch dowels that arrive covered in the mycelium variety you choose. These spawn will be inserted into the logs. Notes A log roughly 6 inches in diameter by 40 inches long will take between 30-40 plug spawn. 250 plugs run about $20. There are shiitake and oyster varieties that fruit at different temperature ranges, offering extended harvest throughout the growing season (early spring to late fall). Spawn can be ordered a month or so in advance and kept refrigerated. You can also collect your own spores from local fruiting varieties (which has the benefit of being a more resilient strain). I highly recommend reading Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets. I consider this to be the bible on mushroom cultivation and use. Setting Up the “Shroom Zone” Before the big bucks start to roll in from your mushroom sales, a bare bones work area is needed. Come late March/early April, I set up my super low-tech inoculation area outside the garage. It’s comprised of a few straw bales laying flat, a strong electric drill, a hammer, an old camping stove, and a nasty old fondue pot. Material List • Hardwood logs (6 inches by 40 inches) • 5/16″ wood drill bit • Electric drill • Straw bales as work bench or other low surface to work on • Hammer • Camping stove or other outdoor heating source • Wax (cheese or bees) • A small bristle brush, small paint brush, or wax dauber • Spawn • Good beer • Optional: metal label tags Drilling Diamonds Once you have your shroom zone set up and first brew poured, it’s time to arm yourself with a drill. The logs are going to be drilled in a diamond pattern for the plug spawn. Start the first row two inches from the log’s end. Space the holes every six inches. The depth of the hole is important. Ideally, the plug will be inserted to a depth just below the bark, almost flush, but not sticking out, about 1 inch deep. Field & Forest sell ninja drill bits that have stoppers on them for the correct depth, but I have used a piece of tape or a pen mark on the bit to eyeball the depth. It’s good to drill a few holes and check the depths by tapping in the spawn to see how it fits. Soon, you’ll get the feel for it. Use caution not to drill too deep, as that leaves a dry air pocket. Once you have your first row done, rotate the log two inches and begin the next row, starting between the first two holes of the previous row, approximately five inches down. Continue rotating the log two inches for every new row and offsetting the holes to create a diamond pattern. The inches here are approximate, so don’t get worked up, just pull on the brew for balance. Drilling this many holes is a bit overkill, but it’s necessary to make sure that our chosen fungi is the one that colonizes and out-competes any other funky airborne fungi. Whacking in spawn plugs is fun. Those skills you built up playing the fair game Whack a Mole are about to pay off. As fun as whacking stuff may be, we need to be careful not to damage the bark. The bark on your log is the skin that keeps the moisture in, so handle it gently. Oaks, with their thick bar, are favored in this process; poplars, with thin and brittle bark, not so much. Some folks recommend using rubber mallets, but I find workshop participants tossing them aside in favor of the metal hammers. Now, armed with your hammer and a bag of spawn, let’s get to it. Keep in mind that the bag of spawn is sensitive to drying out and should be protected from sun and wind while working. About the time I’m ready to start whacking in spawn, I set up my hybrid wax-melting station. This station uses an old Coleman two-burner propane gas stove. I set this up about 20 feet from the drilling and whacking stations, as the wax smoke can get thick and the wax will inevitably drip. I’ve seen set-ups in the garage with a plug-in burner and tarp underfoot, but that somehow loses the outdoor mystique. Both approaches work. For a pot, I use an old fondue pot, but really any pot will do. Some more legit folks might recommend using a double boiler and putting water in the bottom of the first pot or even just placing a metal bowl in a pot with water in the bottom as a makeshift double boiler. I use a cheese wax that I get in big chunks cheaply from Field & Forest, and it seems to last forever. Start off with a fist-sized chunk. I crank the heat to medium high and watch until the wax melts clear and starts to fine bubble. Then, turn the heat to low, around 300 degrees. You want the wax to be as hot as possible without catching on fire. I judge the heat by the smoke; a thin smoke is good, while a thick one is getting close to the flash point. Often during workshops, where I have a small army of first-time drillers and whackers, I forget to turn the wax down and it catches on fire. It’s no huge blaze, but you cannot salvage the wax once it’s caught fire. I carefully take it off the burner, dump it on the gravel drive, and start again. The flash point is easier to control with a double boiler set up. The trick is to have the wax as hot as possible to ensure a good seal that traps moisture and keeps critters out; otherwise, the wax can dry and peel off. Once your wax is hot, use a small bristle brush, a steel baster, or wax daubers (which are a dollar a pop from Field & Forest) to dab the wax over each spawn. If you have, or plan to have, multiple types of mushrooms, it is a good idea to label the logs with aluminum tags nailed into the log’s end. Put the type, variety, and date. It will help to track what does well, to make recommendations to others and be sure you are harvesting the right fungi. A Shady Place for Some Shady Characters The next stage in the fungi journey is one of the most critical: the spawn run. This is when the mycelium jumps off the spawn into the log and begins to colonize it. This can take anywhere from six to eighteen months. Be patient and have faith. Place the logs flat during the spawn run, just off the ground an inch or two. Moisture during this time is key. The logs want to be placed in a shady place that imitates a forest setting, out of the wind, and, ideally, close to the house and watering source. If you have a naturally moist, shady area around your house, that is a good spot. My new favorite place to stash logs is under the deck, where water falls through and the house blocks the wind. The fungi love it! Another good spot is underneath evergreens that are porous and allow enough water to fall through. You can create your own shade with a 60-80 percent shade cloth draped over straw bales with logs laid in between. Keep your logs moist; water like your garden. If there has been no rain, they need the equivalent of about one inch of water a week. You can either hose and the area around them down once a week, or set up a sprinkler and run it for 15-20 minutes. Once the logs fruit, lean them up to view and easily harvest the mushrooms. Harvest & Use When the logs fruit, usually after a warm spring or fall rain, simply cut the mushrooms off at the base, being careful to not pull off chunks of the bark. Then, the sky’s the limit for enjoying and preserving them. You will be amazed at the abundance a log produces at once. If you can get past sautéing them in butter and garlic or making creamy mushroom soup, then they are easy to dry and store. My personal favorite preservation is shiitake vodka! But for you teetotalers, a mushroom-infused olive oil with peppercorns and hot peppers is a tasty treat and great gift. A Word About Mushroom Safety You may be wondering if is safe to eat any ol’ mushroom that grows out of the log. The answer is an emphatic “Hell No!!” If your spawn variety has not successfully run and colonized the log, it’s possible that another airborne fungi has set up shop. Only harvest the type that you inoculated the log with and have a picture of what that is. If you inoculate a shiitake, only harvest a shiitake. Oysters and shiitake are easy to identify. The beauty of growing your own mushrooms versus hunting for them is that you know exactly what is supposed to pop out. *** Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist is a how-to manual for the budding gardener and experienced green thumb alike, full of creative and easy-to-follow designs that guide you to having your yard and eating it, too. With the help of more than 200 beautiful color photos and drawings, permaculture designer and avid grower Michael Judd takes the reader on a step-by-step process to transform a sea of grass into a flourishing edible landscape that pleases the eye as well as the taste buds. With personality and humor, he translates the complexities of permaculture design into simple self-build projects, providing full details on the evolving design process, material identification, and costs. Chapters cover: Herb Spirals Food Forests Raised-Bed Gardens Earthen Ovens Uncommon Fruits Hugelkultur Outdoor Mushroom Cultivation, and more . . Distributed by Chelsea Green. For sale at ecologiadesign.com Reprinted with permission from Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist by Michael Judd © 2013. Published by Ecologia. Photography courtesy of Ecologia. |
The US Supreme Court had outlawed the warrantless use of GPS trackers so the FBI complied by shutting down all its devices but now is apparently having trouble actually retrieving the hardware. Because the GPS units are turned off. And the FBI has no idea where they are unless they're on. The Court ruled in U.S. v. Jones that the Federal Bureau use of unwarranted vehicle-based GPS tracking units was illegal on the grounds that the practice violated the 4th Amendment—specifically that the act represented a search and constituted trespassing. The FBI complied and nixed its 3,000 currently active GPS tracking devices but that's where the problem lies. Advertisement Turns out the FBI can't locate the devices unless they're active. The Agency so determined to retrieve its toys that it has petitioned the court to briefly turn the devices back on for the sole purpose of finding and retrieving the hardware. I bet they wish they'd just bothered with those warrants now. Either way, if you happen to have something that looks like this fall off your car, kindly contact your nearest FBI field office. [WSJ via Techdirt ] top art: the AP |
Looking inspirational quotes for kids and students? Here are some of our favorite quotes for kids about learning and life. When we think about how kids and students communicate, we often think about how they speak to adults and their peers. This post is focused on how young people speak to themselves, their internal dialogue. Kids need to be equipped with positive self-talk just as much as anybody else. Of course, everyone has different obstacles and a different situation, but there are still many themes that young people face. For example, some universal challenges that all students and kids face are: Looking for acceptance from their peers Looking for acceptance from their parents Low self-esteem Fear of judgment from others Lack of patience towards one’s goals Not using social media in a productive way Pressure from school, state tests, college pressure and pressure from society as a whole to be successful While children build their identity, question the world around them and identify their strengths – how they talk to themselves is a major factor when it comes to determining the life they will lead. This is just one of the many reasons all students should read these inspirational quotes for kids. Looking for the right words to say to keep your students motivated at the beginning of the school year? With children incorporating many of their parent’s values, beliefs, favorite phrases and so on, let’s make sure they get their healthy dose of motivational quotes as well! These motivational quotes for kids are for children of all ages. Enjoy! Inspirational quotes for kids of all ages about success, life, and happiness 1.) “Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.” – John Wooden Sometimes we make things more complicated than they really are. Sometimes we focus on all the wrong things. Focus on what you can do, right now, where you are. 2.) “We all can dance when we find music we love.” – Giles Andreae Anyone can dance! Anyone can move their body to a rhythm that makes them feel good. Focus on feeling good and the dance will come naturally. As they say, ‘dance like no one is watching’. In regard to being successful, just like finding the right songs, YOU must find YOUR THING! Explore. Learn. Discover. Then when you find YOUR THING, OWN IT! 3.) “The more you give away the happier you become.” We’ve been fooled into thinking that receiving makes us happy. Try giving more and see how you feel. 4.) “I think I can. I know I can.” Everything that you do or don’t do comes down to confidence. Always believe in yourself even when it’s not easy. Actually, the BEST time to believe in yourself EVEN MORE, is when it’s NOT easy! 5.) “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” – Epictetus Life is hard for everyone. Everyone gets hurt. Everyone gets betrayed. Everyone feels a loss. The focus should be on: how will you respond to it? How will this make you a better person? Where is the high road in this situation? 6.) “Being kind is never wasted.” How people treat you is THEIR path, how you treat people is YOURS. Walk a path that will make you better and make you proud! 7.) “When you know better you do better.” – Maya Angelou Learn to be the best version of yourself, learn how to handle tough situations, learn how to tell whether a friend is good for you or not. And learn how to focus on the positive in your life, learn how to believe in yourself. Learn how to imagine a life better than your current situation. Learn to love yourself. 8.) “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt To get started all you need is you. Focus on what you can do right now in this moment. Things don’t need to be perfect for you to get started. Start now! 9.) “You always pass failure on the way to success.” – Mickey Rooney When you avoid failure YOU ALSO avoid success. Don’t be afraid to fail. Instead, spend your time NOT focusing on failure, but on surrounding yourself with people who will support your setbacks. Know that failure is a part of your process. Failure is natural. Failure is not permanent. 10.) “Make each day your masterpiece.” – John Wooden Every living moment do your best. The rewards will be amazing. It’s just that simple. Positive quotes for kids about life and dreams 11.) “Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.” – Pamela Vaull Starr Don’t be afraid to use your imagination. You might seem like life is full of tests, questions, grades, parents, and pressure, but still dream. Dare to use your imagination. Be bold. Be creative. 12.) “No one is perfect – that’s why pencils have erasers.” – Wolfgang Riebe Love yourself, your whole self. You are not here to be perfect, you are here to be you. Be who you are and you will attract the right people around you. 13.) “Never waste a minute thinking of anyone you don’t like.” – Eisenhower People you don’t like or people who don’t like you are not worth your head space. You can only think about 1 thing at a time, so why waste it. Use each moment to love yourself and to become better. 14.) “Only surround yourself with people who will lift you higher.” – Oprah Winfrey Do you have the courage to get rid of the toxic people in your life? We all have them. One of the most important things we can do is surround ourselves with people who believe in us, support us and love us unconditionally. If your friends don’t meet that criterion, then it might be time to find some new friends. 15.) “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” – Dr. Seuss When it seems like everyone is trying to fit in, standing out can be a bit scary. As a kid, I was scared to stand out and be who I really was. I was concerned and caught up with what other people thought of me. When I got past that, my whole life changed for the better and I started doing things, achieving things and experiencing things; I could have only dreamed of. 16.) “Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.” – H. Jackson Brown Anything great that has ever been accomplished, was seen at the time as ‘unrealistic’. Whether it’s flying a plane, creating the light bulb, becoming valedictorian, coming up with a cure for a disease, nothing special is realistic. It’s always born from a new way of thinking. When we settle for realistic, we often settle to be average. You have greatness inside of you. 17.) “There is a voice inside of you, that whispers all day long, I feel this is right for me, or I know that this is wrong.” We all have a conscious, listen to yours. Always ask yourself, “Is this what my best looks like?” That one question alone will change your entire life. 18.) “You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss Your life is completely up to you. Many times when we are going through hard times, it doesn’t feel like that, but it is. As we spoke about before, we can’t control everything that happens to us, but the way we respond is ALWAYS up to us. 19.) “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” –Dr. Seuss You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room to be destined for success. Even if you don’t see yourself as a success right now, if you’re committed to learning – success is just a matter of time. When you think about your goals and dreams, what do you need to learn to make it happen? Commit to the learning process. 20.) “Anything is possible. Anything can be.” – Shel Silverstein Believe it’s possible. Sometimes it’s just that simple. Yet, some people will never truly believe. Have faith. But just because it’s possible, doesn’t mean it will be easy. Know that whatever life you want, the grades you want, the job you want, the reputation you want, friends you want, that it’s possible. Nothing is off limits. Everything is within reach. Anything can be. More inspirational quotes for kids about learning and success 21.) “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” ― Albert Einstein It’s clear that Albert Einstein believes that imagination is the key to real intelligence. Does real intelligence mean we only know facts? Does it mean we are creative? Does it mean we focus on solutions? Is it a mix of all three? Whatever your position is, imagination allows to see what is not there, and therefore be builders of a new and improved reality. 22.) “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ― Madeleine L’Engle Do things get more complicated as we get older? Or do WE BECOME more complicated as we get older? What do you think? Why? 23.) “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ― Margaret Mead In today’s world, we are over-saturated with information. But, how do we know if what we’re reading is true? How do we know that this meme we love is actually stating facts? Kids and students need to be critical thinkers, who can discern between what is real and what is fake clickbait. 24.) “Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts. ” – Albert Einstein 25.) “Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you’ve done before. ” – Bonnie Blair 26.) “Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.” – Jim Rohn 27.) “Nothing is particularly hard if you break it down into small jobs.” – Henry Ford 28.) “When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” – George Washington Carver 29.) “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi 30.) “Be silly, be honest, be kind.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson 31.) The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well. – John D. Rockefeller 32.) “The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you.” ― Bette Midler 33.) “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” ― Roy T. Bennett 34.) “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” ― Robert F. Kennedy 35.) “Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.” ― Dalai Lama XIV 36.) “I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you. ” ― Oprah Winfrey 37.) “Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” ― Joyce Brothers 38.) “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way” ― Martin Luther King Jr. 39.) “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” ― Booker T. Washington 40.) “Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and ablities were used in a way that served others.” ― Marianne Williamson Other inspirational quotes for kids 41.) “I don’t love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.” – Natalie Portman 42.) All students can learn and succeed, but not on the same day in the same way. – William Spady 43.) There is no substitute for hard work. – Thomas Edison 44.) “If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” – Roald Dahl 45.) “We know what we are but know not what we may be.” – Shakespeare 46.) Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it ‘The Present’. – Eleanor Roosevelt 47.) “We grow great by dreams.” – Woodrow Wilson 48.) MOST GREAT LEARNING HAPPENS IN GROUPS. COLLABORATION IS THE STUFF OF GROWTH. – Sir Ken Robinson 49.) “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell 50.) FORGIVENESS DOES NOT CHANGE THE PAST, BUT IT DOES ENLARGE THE FUTURE.- Paul Boese Want more than inspirational quotes for kids? Are you a teacher or an administrator looking for a motivational speaker to come to your Elementary, Middle or High School? Jeff Moore is based out of NYC, but travels the US inspiring students to reach for greatness, choose their friends wisely, and see themselves making a difference in the world. Read more info here! Want more inspirational quotes for kids? What other motivational children quotes would you add? Make sure to share them in the comments below! |
Posted by Kotasoth Edit: Checked the logs. I want to change "mage" to "boomkin" in my previous sentence. at least he's getting logs, but nice try insulting someone from a low level alt.the fact of the matter is that most "warlocks" complaining about their current state are people who rolled destro in 5.4 and are upset that they can't hit 3 buttnos to be top on meters with 3 million chaos bolts.someone mentioned rogues were in a worse spot, so i don't understand what you think you're getting at. he is not in a bad spot, as a warlock. there are classes worse off.at the end of the day, he ain't a trashy player so he's going to be recruited for being decent at what he plays even though he can't hit 1 button to win at top on meters. sorry you can't do the same. ;) |
[This account was written for me by a Brooke Alker Gregory. I am sharing it with her permission, as a reminder to all of us in the Apostolic Churches of how painful and traumatic spiritual abuse by a confessor can be to a soul, and how important it is to speak out and believe survivors.– Mary Pezzulo] “I hate silence when it is time to speak.” That was my patron saint’s only recorded reply when she was beaten for her iconodule beliefs on the orders of Emperor Theophilos, a man who years before she’d publicly spurned for a history-making literary and monastic career. Now, centuries later and under her protection, it’s my time to speak. But I have plenty more than her to say. It is as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. Before we begin, to save everyone some time, note that I’m not interested in being anyone’s idea of a perfect victim—if a victim is what I am; I don’t particularly feel like one. I am angry, and I rarely handle it conveniently or nicely. I have every bit of ill-will toward the guilty party as you assume I do. I don’t particularly care if I ruin someone’s “career” or “position” (which isn’t likely to happen anyway)—the anonymity in my story has nothing to do with protecting anyone but myself. I am neither particularly polite, nor kind, nor innocent. None of this makes what I have to say any less true, and I don’t have the energy or inclination to try to further convince anyone on this point. So. Shall we begin? I was received into the Eastern Orthodox Church at the age of 19. My boyfriend at the time soon followed after me. Two years later I left my hometown for college and quickly found a very nice local parish for myself—the only parish around for quite nearly a hundred miles. However, as occasionally happens in the Orthodox Church, the priest at the parish was not a confessor yet and so my usual habit of frequent confession was interrupted. As a fairly new and fervent convert, this caused me no small amount of spiritual distress. Sometime during 2012, most likely during Lent, though it’s difficult for me to remember, a solution presented itself when I learned that the monastery a few towns over offered confession. I’d been there once before and was impressed by my short visit—the timeless flow of time, vespers in the near-dark, the silence you could taste in the antidoron and trapeza lentils as well as hear beneath the gray-barked trees. I looked forward to going back, and made an appointment as soon as I could, full of joy at the prospect of being absolved after a long stretch without the sacrament. I didn’t tell anyone I was going, spontaneous as my decision was. And so there was no one to warn me what I was getting myself into. Unbeknownst to me, this monastery was and is one of 20 or so satellites of St. Anthony’s Monastery hundreds of miles away in Florence, Arizona, under the guidance of one Elder Ephraim. That June, St. Anthony’s would become even more notorious than it already was after a troubled young novice—a convert—who had left the previous year returned and killed himself on the monastery grounds. After his death, his parents sketched a deeply troubling picture of his novitiate. He was not permitted to see his parents or to leave, not even when his grandmother was terminally ill. His personal correspondence was opened and read by the Elder, and redacted to hide information about the seriousness of his grandmother’s condition. Already tall and slender, he dropped 150 pounds and images from the time show him appearing unhealthily gaunt. His limited correspondence with his family increasingly revealed signs of a dire and untreated mental illness. Before leaving, he claimed that he had been threatened by other monks and the Elder, and that the Elder was a “charlatan.” The monastery has denied these claims, and the claims of his parents that he was brainwashed. Even before this, St. Anthony’s and its affiliated monasteries were connected with rumored strange practices and beliefs. Some of the Elder’s writings contain references to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a deeply Anti-Semitic text fabricated in the early 20 th century as a Jewish world domination manual. Several couples have published their stories online of being ordered by the Elder and those beneath him to live as “brother and sister,” and even to live as monastics in separate monasteries. Others report being told, contrary to Church teaching and canon law, that marriage is inherently sinful and that monasticism is the only sure path to salvation. A common thread in all the various accounts of Elder Ephraim’s monasteries is that unquestioned obedience to the Elder’s will is law for both monks and pilgrims—a general practice in Orthodoxy’s traditional spiritual father paradigm to which even relatively sane writers like Kallistos Ware attest. Orthodoxy’s tradition of spiritual fatherhood can be very beautiful, but more often than not, its insistence on blind obedience and the elder’s sole responsibility for one’s salvation make those seduced by it extremely vulnerable to abuse. Laity have periodically appealed to the hierarchy to reign in the “Ephraimites” and Ephraim’s monasteries, but nothing substantial has been done. I didn’t know any of this when I arrived at the monastery on a dull, gray afternoon in my frumpily modest monastery clothes. I was just happy to be there, to drink in the silence, to be absolved. Cleansed. I made my way to the church, a marble and dark-wood dream of a sanctuary built in the old style with no pews and Christ Pantokrator in His dome, looking sternly down on the whole incense-laden microcosm. I assumed my confession would take place there as it had always done in the various parishes I’d belonged to: the confessor and us both sitting face to face before the iconostasis icon of Christ, not in the dreaded “box” as I smugly referred to the dour Roman confessional. To my confusion, there were still people milling about the sanctuary. And where was the confessor? As if an answer, a volunteer showed me over to a door in the narthex that I had assumed went to a bathroom. “Father will be with you shortly,” she said in a soft, kind voice. “He usually does confession in a question-answer format, but if you don’t want to, that’s okay. I’ll let him know.” Not wanting to impose on his usual routine or cause difficulties, I told her that the usual way would be fine with me. Better, even. It sounded much more thorough. After a few minutes, the door opened and I stepped inside. I found myself in a tiny room no bigger than a closet, with a tiny bench in front of a monk seated on a stool. As I took my seat, I saw that he was surprisingly young with almost no trace of gray in his beard. I also noticed we were so close our knees almost touched. Unconsciously, I sat with my back pressed as hard as I could to the wall behind me. After preliminary introductions, we began. Entirely from memory, he went through a long list of sins which were more or less easy to answer. No thievery, murder, or apostasy to report this time around. From what I can remember the categories were more or less general. Until they weren’t. |
On Thursday, Olivia Chow’s mayoral campaign sent out a news release that listed John Tory’s supposed ethical transgressions. On Friday, a slick anti-Tory attack advertisement appeared on YouTube. It neatly parroted Chow’s talking points. But it wasn’t identified as a Chow ad. An anonymous attack ad opposes John Tory. ( YouTube ) Or as anybody else’s ad. An anonymous attack ad opposes John Tory. The 60-second video, uploaded by somebody called “mentelli,” did not identify its creator, even in tiny print. Chow spokesman Jamey Heath acknowledged that the campaign got to watch it before it was released — but said it was made by “someone supportive” of the campaign, not the campaign itself. Article Continued Below “What we’ve said about him isn’t a state secret. So there are people friendly to our campaign who reinforce what we’re saying,” Heath said. U.S. elections are awash in attack ads from outside groups known as super PACs, and the Ontario labour coalition Working Families has mounted expensive blitzes targeting Progressive Conservative leaders, including Tory. Toronto has not yet experienced any such flood. But third-party ads are proliferating in these early days as the campaigns themselves conserve resources for the fall sprint to the finish. For the candidates these ads promote, they are better than campaign-produced ads in important ways. They don’t count against the tight spending limit of $1.3 million per candidate. They allow supporters to effectively circumvent the $2,500 cap for campaign donations by contributing far more in services. And, crucially, they allow the candidates to simultaneously benefit from the attacks while retaining the ability to plausibly deny they have gone negative. The outside ads, most of them online, have so far outnumbered ads from the campaigns proper. Most have either targeted Ford or supported Chow. Satirical anti-Ford signs from an entity called “No Ford Nation” appeared last week in a downtown park. Television director Ron Murphy made a widely shared satirical web ad in which a child offers up excuses pioneered by Ford. An anonymous YouTube account called “TOVideo” posted a professional-looking, Pac-Man-themed pro-Chow video . And in the campaign’s first month, before Chow and Tory registered, TOVideo uploaded a polished ad that criticized “ Rob Ford’s broken promises .” Five days later, another anonymous account, “Fantasterrifical,” popped up to share an artistic attack ad in which damaging Ford quotes were superimposed on city buildings. Article Continued Below Super PACs are often closely connected to the campaigns they are backing, though they are not allowed to communicate with them. It is not clear how directly the people who made the anti-Tory video and pro-Chow Pac-Man video are tied to the Chow campaign. Tory’s campaign believes the anti-Tory ad came from Chow’s camp itself — possibly from Chow operative Warren Kinsella. Kinsella, a renowned hardball player who runs a political consulting firm, would not answer directly when asked if he was involved in any way. “XXXXX did it,” he said, an apparent joke about an incomplete Tory press release . He added: “XXXXX marks the spot! Or, the quote in this case.” U.S. watchdogs have decried the anonymity granted to super PACs, which can launch attacks without saying who is funding them. In Toronto, even the campaigns themselves can advertise anonymously if they choose. A U.S. law passed in 2002 requires candidates to personally declare that they “approve this message.” The Canada Elections Act requires federal campaign ads to say that they are “authorized by the official agent” of the candidate or party. There are no similar disclosure rules governing Ontario mayoral elections. “The Municipal Elections Act is silent with respect to campaign advertisement requirements,” said the city’s elections director, Bonita Pietrangelo. Heath said Chow will record the market value of the anti-Tory video as a campaign donation. Campaigns traditionally release their donor lists shortly before voting day, meaning it will be six months, at least, until the public learns anything about who paid for that message. Read more about: |
Image copyright PA Image caption The government says it wants to "deliver" for people who "play by the rules" Benefit cheats will be subject to credit checks to see if they have any high-value assets, in a bid to clamp down on fraud, ministers have said. The Department for Work and Pensions says the aim is also to recoup more of the £1.2bn the government loses to benefit fraud every year. A No 10 spokesman said getting the welfare budget under control is "key". Credit references can already be checked by officials but are not often used and are dependent on tip-offs. 'Something-for-nothing culture' Prime Minister David Cameron believes calling in bailiffs to confiscate and sell expensive items, such as cars and computers, from cheats will be a strong deterrent to fraudsters. Low-value possessions and essential items are unlikely to be taken. "Getting the welfare budget under control is a key part of our long-term plan for the economy," said the spokesman. "We want to end the something-for-nothing culture and deliver for people who want to work hard and play by the rules." The government launched a scheme this year to encourage benefit claimants to disclose changes in their circumstances to help prevent overpayment, which costs £1.6bn a year. |
processor line used to feature a 17W TDP and Intel had quite a few of them on market. The U line represents the ultra-low power that usually sits around 17W TDP, although there were some exceptions. The Core i7 3687U is currently the market leader followed by Core i5 3437U processors and both of them cost most than what we would like to pay for them. Core i7 3687U officially sells for $356 while Core i5 3437U sets you back a bit more modest $225. Both of them are based on Ivy Bridge dual core and have 17W TDP. In Q3 2013 Intel plans to introduce at least two new U series processors branded as Core i7 4000 parts. At least some of them will feature a 15W TDP. There is no mention of the new brands, but Core i7 and Core i5 are expected to show up with 15W TDP, or 2 W better than the previous generation. Haswell U series also comes with a 25W TDP, a more standard voltage, but traditionally these 25W TDP parts don’t cost as much as 15W or 17W TDP ultra low voltage parts. We expect to see some slightly faster processors than Core i7 3687U based on Haswell U series that will perform better at 15W, as of Q3 2013. |
Well, I’m tired but it would seem that it’s not late in California so I’m a “wide awake tired” 8-} The conference has TV coverage here: http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=144 though it asks for a login to watch. The Heartland Institute coverage is here: http://www.heartland.org/environmentandclimate-news.org/index.html So between them you ought to be able to join the fun, at least vicariously ;-) If anyone knows of a better video link, feel free to post it. Day Two, Science Track 1 & 2 There are 2 science tracks, one public policy track, and one economics track. Being both a science geek and an economist means I want to attend 3 tracks at most times and the other about 1/2 the time… Sigh. Completely overloaded and only getting 1/4 of the “show”. Guess I’ll be joining folks watching the videos later… So, a couple of ‘crib notes’ on the events that I did attend: Willie Soon Had a droll and quite funny presentation on where the warmers have it wrong and our place in the Galaxy. He lampooned the idea of CO2 as being able to move the climate system and portrayed the sun as “King Kong” and the climate system as “Refrigerator Perry”, with CO2 as “Willie Soon” and asked who could move whom? Then pointed out that the warmers think Willie could move Perry if he was eating a lot of hamburgers… A real metaphor for the notion that CO2 is weak, but it’s rate of change is fast so the warmers assert it will dominate. If you can, see his presentations, well worth it. Habibullo Abdussamatov His presentation was titled simply “The Sun Dictates the Climate”. And that does more or less sum it up. A wonderful man with a quick broad smile. Yet he can scowl at the assertion that CO2 matters in a most effective way. I took an instant liking to him. There is much that American and British “climate scientists” can learn from this man. He impressed me as a very “old school” classical scientist. A “Mr. McGuire” type (for those who’ve read my stuff for a while). IMHO, he has the science exactly right. The downside? He is stating flat out that we are headed for a Little Ice Age. The solar changes dictate cooling. The ocean mass delays it for about 40 years. And we’re headed for a lot of cold. There is a 200 year periodic decent of Total Solar Irradiance, that causes a Little Ice Age, and we’re due. The mechanism he asserts is a 250 km decrease in solar radius and that changes solar interior dynamics and processes. A plot of phase and amplitude for both sun spot number and solar radius showed a near perfect match, with the onset of the solar quieting in 1999. Not the type to be bashful about making clear predictions (no wussy “projections” for this man!) he stated flat out the “New Little Ice Age begins in 2014.” Though with various lags from things such as ocean heat content and climate cooling rates, the depth of the NLIA is not reached until 2042 +/- 11 years for the solar minimum and then 2065 +/- 11 years for the temperature minimum. So I’d suggest now might be a good time to go shopping for that place in Florida or Texas… Phoenix is looking better and better too – though wear shades 8-) He asserts that water vapor is the key feedback mechanism, and that as water vapor drops in the cold, we start the positive feedback decent. This has some rather significant implications for food supply too. ( Oil and food would be good investments long term… though farms might well be poor investments as their yields will be dropping, IMHO). His final conclusion ought to be written in Neon Lights in every city of the world: We need to concentrate on economic development to adapt to the coming New Little Ice Age. I could not agree more. Craig Loehle A very good presentation that looked at climate variation and found that natural climate cycles are all that is needed to explain the changes we see. (Though he hedges it with “most” of the 20th century changes…) He recommended a paper by Klyashtorin and Lyubushin 2003 that is described here: http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog/cyclical_climate_changes/ I think… He opened with a statement that he was using Hadley data even though it appeared to have major issues ( I’d call it “cooked”) and pointed out in particular that two datasets are both identified as “HadCRUT 3” yet the 2008 version is different from the 2010 version with significant added warming. Yet no notice to users of the data that it had changed. With that caveat… He finds that 55% of the “warming” in that data from 1970 to 200 can be explained by the natural PDO cycle and that there is a natural climate cycle of 59 years (which is all the more pointed when you think about warmers using a 30 year ‘baseline’ smack dab in the bottom of the cold half cycle, then screaming for 30 years that it’s getting warmer… “Well Duh!” comes to mind). He then mentioned that it was difficult to get published. IMHO, we need a new journal. Perhaps “Proceedings of the ICCC”. There are clearly plenty of folks with Ph.Ds to do the peer review. (The vast bulk of folks presenting have at least Ph.D. after their name, I’m leaving them off just since I don’t feel like typing it 100 times ;-) So I see nothing that stands in the way of simply bypassing the “Pal Review” and “Editor in Your Pocket” system that has been built by the “ClimateGate Crew”. Frankly, I think the ClimateGate Crew have peed on enough folks papers that the bulk of scientists would be happy to flock to a new Journal of Record. Joseph D’Aleo I had to dash between Track 1 and Track 2 to see both Joe and Anthony. They really do need to put those guys together or at least not in competing sessions. I noticed Verity Jones of Digging In The Clay was also dashing between the two. Joe gave a rousing presentation slow roasting the warmers as only he can do. Slides of cooked data, past made colder, recent warmer, bent folded, spindled and mutilated by the warmers. But Joe had both old and new and showed what they were up to. Then, just as some brain candy dessert, he presented some quotes where the warmers were saying explicitly that their motives were biased. All in all, a rousing presentation. I then dashed over to see Anthony. That entailed missing the presentation by S. Fred Singer ( something that bothers me… I really wanted to hear him speak as I love his books, but I wanted to see Anthony on stage just a bit more). Howard Maccabee M.D. and Ph.D I came in part way through this presentation. It was a well done analysis of the impacts of warmer vs colder on public health. No real surprise, cold kills far more than warm. There was the usual data manipulation scandal in that ‘warm deaths’ has all deaths counted, but ‘cold deaths’ excludes some of the major cold related causes as they get counted under “pneumonia” or “respiratory distress” or similar rather than “cold death”. Further, there was pointed out that the proposed taxes and fuel cost increases will exacerbate deaths as folks have less fuel to keep warm. Paradoxically, it will also increase deaths from heat, as folks have less money to keep the A/C running… The good doctor also cited the UK data that show deaths dropped as the world warmed and pointed out that the US Agencies said that didn’t count as the UK was different…. A big point to me was when he pointed out that the projected warming ought to mean 100+ Million ( I think he said 140 Million) AVOIDED deaths as people would not die of the cold. Now tie that in with what Habibullo Abdussamatov said about the NLIA. We’re talking a couple of hundred million deaths from cold… Not Good… Anthony Watts A rousing slide show touring some truly horrid station placement. Folks can see all of them over at http://www.surfacestations.org/ so I won’t do a ‘blow by blow’ of the slides (he had about 60? of them?) One big takeaway I got was that many stations were sited over cement pads and other mineral surfaces that are major heat sinks which then emit heat at night. raising the ‘min’ temps. This would go a very long way toward explaining why when I do a ‘temperature rainbow graph” the summers are not warming but the colder months do and why I see differential trends by month in the dT/dt graphs (as different heating of the ‘pad’ via sun would give differential ‘warming of the mins’ by month). One other bit of ‘eye candy’ was the FLIR slides at sewage treatment plants. For those who are not “well educated in poo” let me point out that treatment plants treat it via oxidation. Releasing one heck of a lot of heat. They are made of lots of concrete and have a load of water and “stuff” releasing a lot of heat. They also raise the humidity, so will cause a lag of temperature drops when you hit the dew point and all that humidity releases energy while forming dew. So, nothing like seeing an egg yolk yellow “facility” on a FLIR (indicating lots of IR radiation and lots of heat) and your thermometer sitting in the middle of it… Ross McKitrick Back to track 1, (and missing a presentation I also wanted to see on short term trends in observations vs climate models in track 2…) Another carefully crafted analysis of models vs reality. There was so much care and such a well done nature to the presentation that I can’t possibly do justice to it. Lets just say that Ross showed in no uncertain terms that the data from several sources agree, but the models fail to match. So it’s the models that are wrong and are the outliers. The models tend to demand a very strongly heating Tropical Troposphere and we just are not getting it. So core assumptions and behaviours of the models are simply and utterly wrong. Models can not be used to prove other models. Gary Sharp? We then got a bonus of a video clip that I think was presented by Gary Sharp. It showed the heat / cold cycling of water in the pacific over decades as El Niño comes and goes. How to put a movie into words? Not well… But you see the warm and cold moving and swirling and you start to see patterns, one is that it drifts north over time. The Punch Lines being that that heat reaches the Arctic going past Alaska about 18 years after generation in the Pacific. So the warming in 2008 melting ice comes from a 1990 hot Pacific. None of the models allow for that time lag and “If you don’t have that in your model, your model is broken”. (as a pretty good paraphrase). In Conclusion I think you can see from these short descriptions just how much is going on here. The number of new insights per day is in some ways stunning. Nagging questions like “Why are only some winter months ‘warming’?” and “Why is Arctic ice reducing when the Arctic air has been cooling for a couple of years?” answered in every session. Even “Should I buy that Florida Condo?” 8-) Well, enough for now. Time to try to sleep… Again… Advertisements |
An Opportunity At the BlogPaws 2015 Conference in Nashville, TN, we were invited to attend a VIP luncheon hosted by PetSafe®. At this luncheon we learned all about PetSafe and the great products that they make including Busy Buddy® Toys, Pet Fountains, Harnesses/Leashes, and so much more! Imagine our surprise when at the end of the luncheon MyDogLikes was surprised with a $500 gift card to use however we wanted (OMGEEEE). My head started spinning, PetSafe makes so many great products, how would we decide? I knew we could review/ giveaway lots of fabulous stuff to our readers, but I thought this was a great opportunity to pay it forward. I contacted Lollypop Farm, the Humane Society of Greater Rochester, and asked them what they needed. Their answer, Busy Buddy Toys for their Behavioral Enrichment Program! Perfect! Behavioral Enrichment? Not really sure what that means? Don’t worry, I didn’t know much about the behavioral enrichment program either which is exactly why I came in to Lollypop Farm to speak with Behavior and Training Manager, Rebecca Lohnes! The Behavioral Enrichment Program at Lollypop Farm was originally developed with the aid of Kelley Bollen, MS, CABC, a graduate of Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Since its inception the program has grown and continues to evolve as staff at Lollypop Farm look for ways to provide rich and varied experiences that help the animals to become more adoptable. Why do shelters need Behavioral Enrichment Programs? There is a misconception out there that dogs that are in shelters are “broken”; someone else’s’ discarded dog with behavioral problems. Unfortunately, this stereotype is sometimes perpetuated based on the behavior that potential adopters see when walking through kennels. Says Lollypop Farm’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Gillian Hargrave: “A dog has less than three seconds to make an impact on someone. Some are really nice dogs, but they are so stressed they can’t present themselves well to prospective adopters.” Unfortunately, this stress typically presents as barking, whining, and throwing of their bodies at the kennel doors. As it was explained to me, these pups are looking for comfort and attention in the only way they know how. Despite the efforts of volunteers and staff, the environment in a shelter is not natural and many animals feel uncomfortable and confused in their kennels. This behavior leads potential adopters to bypass these animals, labeling them as too excitable or difficult to handle. Natural Environment Consider for a moment how rich and varied a dog’s day can be at a home. Between walks, window watching, visitors, and baskets of toys to rummage through, a dog in a home has the opportunity to be him/herself, exploring the environment and all of the things in it when he chooses. Now consider how that compares to the four walls of a kennel. Constraints such as time, staff/volunteers, physical space, behavioral needs, contamination risks, and safety, significantly limit the experiences of a dog. Dogs who are especially sensitive to their environment or who spend a significant amount of time in a shelter can experience cognitive and behavioral changes as a result. What is the answer? The dedicated volunteers and staff at shelters work day in and day out to create an enriching environment for shelter dogs so that they can be happier and more cognitively and physically stimulated while awaiting their forever home. Lollypop Farm, like many other shelters across the country, understands the importance of creating an atmosphere that mimics the natural environment and offers varying intellectual experiences. Instituting behavioral enrichment programs is one of the best ways to ensure happy, healthy, and highly adoptable dogs! As part of the behavioral program all dogs who are up for adoption receive some basic obedience training, regular outdoor time, and daily walks. Recognizing that the shelter environment is not a natural environment, the enrichment program at Lollypop Farm helps to provide varied intellectual experiences. Aspects of Behavioral Enrichment: Scents– Dogs love to sniff and have up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses (compared to about 6 million in humans). Dogs explore their environment with their noses providing lots of mental stimulation for them. In order to provide varied olfactory experiences for pups in the shelter, Lollypop Farm sprays different scents in the kennels everyday! Sounds–Whether the sounds of the neighborhood, the TV, or radio, dogs are sensitive to the noises in their environment. Dogs not only have a larger range of frequencies they can hear, but their ears contain more muscles allowing them to locate sounds better. You probably know someone who leaves the radio or TV on for their dogs during the day (it might even be you). This is something that Lollypop Farm does, playing music/talk radio and more recently experimenting with televisions on carts for pups who like to watch their morning soaps! Action–While physical exercise outdoors is important, puzzles and interactive dog toys can also play an integral role in keeping dogs stimulated. Using lots of variation in treats and helping dogs explore and locate these treats is just one way that Lollypop Farm provides some extra fun for the pups. Paper lunch bags and cardboard boxes/tubes are an easy and inexpensive way to provide some exploratory fun. Heavy duty dog toys, like PetSafe’s Busy Buddy line are also popular because they can be reused and also hold treats inside. As dogs work to get at the goodies inside, they are forced to really stretches those doggy brains! The only drawback is the cost for a lot of shelters. Here comes the FUN part! PetSafe to the Rescue (literally)! Using $250 of my very generous PetSafe gift card, I made a large purchase of Busy Buddy dog toys for Lollypop Farm. Shortly after placing my order, the goodies arrived and I was off to Lollypop Farm! With a box of Busy Buddy Toys in hand, I recruited help from two very happy and sweet doggy volunteers, Dixie (adopted) and Keira Bell (available-and oh so sweet!). It was time to see behavioral enrichment in action! Busy Buddy Dog Toys Busy Buddy Toys are made out of a unique vanilla scented rubber that can stand up to some pretty serious fun! The entire line of Busy Buddy toys come in various sizes for our petite and extra large friends. These toys also come in various “chew strengths” providing options for our dainty friends and power chewers. These two features help pet parents to make good choices for their friends based either on dog size or the power of their chew. We love this feature because it can be customized for your dog and his/her habits. The Busy Buddy Treat Dispensing line combines the yumminess of treats with durable, bouncy, interactive fun! These toys contain a patented Treat Meter® which allows you to customize how easy it is for your pup to get treats out from inside. These toys can be stuffed with all sorts of goodies like hard/frozen treats, kibble, or soft treats like peanut butter or canned food. No worries about the mess-just toss these super versatile toys in the dishwasher! Fun, right?! There is MORE! Remember how I said I only used half of my gift card!? Well, the rest is up for grabs! Do you think your favorite shelter would love PetSafe’s Busy Buddy Toys? How about $250 of Busy Buddy toys? Enter your favorite shelter into a drawing to win $250 of Busy Buddy Dog Toys! The winner will also receive $50 of Busy Buddy toys for their own pup! Want to pick some up for yourself? Check out some of our favorites from Amazon: Tell us about your favorite shelter below! [/su_spacer][/su_spacer] |
Since the day of Alexander Hamilton, the United States has never defaulted on the federal debt. That’s what we budget-watchers always say. It’s a great talking point. One that helps bolster the argument that default should not be an option in Washington’s ongoing debt limit slowdown. There’s just one teensy problem: it isn’t true. As Jason Zweig of the Wall Street Journal recently noted, the United States defaulted on some Treasury bills in 1979. And it paid a steep price for stiffing bondholders. Terry Zivney and Richard Marcus describe the default in The Financial Review (sorry, I can’t find an ungated version): Investors in T-bills maturing April 26, 1979 were told that the U.S. Treasury could not make its payments on maturing securities to individual investors. The Treasury was also late in redeeming T-bills which become due on May 3 and May 10, 1979. The Treasury blamed this delay on an unprecedented volume of participation by small investors, on failure of Congress to act in a timely fashion on the debt ceiling legislation in April, and on an unanticipated failure of word processing equipment used to prepare check schedules. The United States thus defaulted because Treasury’s back office was on the fritz. This default was, of course, temporary. Treasury did pay these T-bills after a short delay. But it balked at paying additional interest to cover the period of delay. According to Zivney and Marcus, it required both legal arm twisting and new legislation before Treasury made all investors whole for that additional interest. Some may quibble about whether this constitutes default. After all, the United States did eventually make its payments. And the disruption applied to only a sliver of its debt – certain T-bills owned by individual investors. But I think it’s unambiguous. A debt default occurs anytime a creditor fails to make a timely interest or principal payment. By that standard, the United States did default. It was small. It was unintentional. But it was indeed a default. And the nation still stands. But that hardly means we should run the experiment again and at larger scale. Zivney and Marcus examined what happened to T-bill interest rates as a result of this small, temporary default. They find a surprisingly large effect. As best they can tell, T-bill interest rates increased about 60 basis points after the first default and remained elevated for at least several months thereafter. A simple way to see that is to look at daily changes in T-bill yields: T-bill rates spiked upwards four times in the months around the default. In November 1978, Henry “Dr. Doom” Kaufman predicted that interest rates would rise. They did. Turn-of-the-year cash management caused rates to fall and then rise as 1978 became 1979. And rates spiked and fell in October 1979 when Paul Volcker announced that the Fed would target monetary aggregates rather than interest rates (the “Saturday night special”). The fourth big move was the day of the first default, when T-bill rates rose almost 0.6 percentage points (i.e., 60 basis points).There’s no indication this increase reversed in the days that followed (the vertical line on the chart is just a marker for the day of default). Indeed, using more sophisticated means, including comparing T-bill rates to interest on commercial paper, the authors conclude that default led to a persistent increase in T-bill rates and, therefore, higher borrowing costs for the federal government. The financial world has changed dramatically in the intervening decades. T-bill rates hover near zero compared to the 9-10 percent range of the late 1970s; that means a temporary delay in payments would be less costly for creditors. Treasury’s IT systems are, one hopes, more reliable that 1970s vintage word processors. And one should take care not to make too much of a single data point. But it’s the only data point we have on a U.S. default. Not surprisingly it shows that even temporary default is a bad idea. P.S. Some observers believe the United States also defaulted in 1933 when it abrogated the gold clause. The United States made its payments on time in dollars, but eliminated the option to take payment in gold. For a quick overview of this and related issues, see this blog post by Catherine Rampell at the New York Times and the associated comments. |
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