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A hacker named Guccifer has stolen three years of e-mails and photos from six e-mail accounts belonging to Bushes or friends of Bushes, the Smoking Gun is reporting. The trove includes some very private discussions of funeral and eulogy preparations for the ailing George H. W. Bush, which is awful, and we won’t repeat them here, because that’s beneath us. That being said, there is also a photo of a painting that George W. Bush made of himself taking a shower, which we will now discuss in depth. First of all, in this writer’s amateur opinion, it’s not bad! Bear in mind, Bush appears to have picked up painting fairly recently — the hobby was first reported in Joe Hagan’s profile of the Bushes in New York last October. Hagan reported that Bush had been focusing mainly on “portraits of dogs and arid Texas landscapes.” Apparently, those very boring-sounding subjects got a little boring. More impressive than the painting’s aesthetic quality is the soul-searching introspection evident in the scene. Bush, slightly hunched, is standing out of the water, staring off into the corner of the shower, as if contemplating past sins that can never be washed away, no matter how much soap you use and how hard you scrub. His disembodied face appears in the shaving mirror, looking back at Bush through an impossible angle, like a haunting apparition. You can’t hide from yourself, the face is saying. You can’t hide from God. |
== 10:15 p.m. == According to WFAA, a shopper at the register tried to reach for his wallet when he accidentally pulled the trigger on his handgun. The bullet grazed the man's leg, hit the floor and sent shrapnel flying towards the two children, according to the station. The man had a concealed handgun license, WFAA reports, but is expected to be charged with injury to a child. == 10:05 p.m. == NBC-5 is reporting the victims were children, hit with shrapnel in what may have been an accidental shooting. The kids seem to be OK though—one was standing outside the store with an ice pack on his face. == 9:55 p.m. == Police confirm two people were wounded, and a suspect is under arrest in custody. == 9:40 p.m. == Ambulances rushed to a Walmart in the 9300 block of Forest Lane after a shooting inside the store about 9:30 p.m. A dispatcher tells me one person — possibly two — was hurt, but didn't have any other details. No deaths reported. WFAA is reporting on their homepage that a suspect was arrested nearby. |
That is why the prospect of advancing in soccer’s pecking order is tantalizing to many fans of lower-division clubs. It is also why, instead of changing the American soccer landscape from the top, Crowley is proposing to do it from the bottom. “People say, ‘It’s cute, you’re doing this thing with soccer,’” he said. “It’s like when you’re working on a start-up and that’s cute until you pose a threat to Google or Facebook and then they take you seriously. I understand the journey, the improbable rise of that. I feel like we’re doing the improbable rise again.” Unlike with his tech start-ups, Crowley said, he could find no place to learn how to build a soccer club from the ground up. So he has begun writing his own instruction manual of sorts, publishing several online manifestoes in the hope they will encourage others to start teams in the N.P.S.L. His approach has been described as “open-source soccer.” In his online treatises, he has published all of Stockade F.C.’s financial data, down to the costs of game programs and staples. According to Crowley’s figures, the team’s expenses for 2016, its inaugural season, were $136,127 and revenue was $99,328, for a loss of $36,799 (minus $12,000 in excess merchandise inventory). In these online essays, Crowley has been open about strategies that have worked, and others that have failed. He has offered tips: Jerseys are reusable from one season to the next if the sponsor remains the same. It is better to start summer games at 5 p.m. instead of 2 p.m., so fans don’t have to run for shade and players’ feet won’t blister. And if you cannot serve alcohol at a high school stadium, arrange for a beer tent across the street. |
Too many startups do this thing where they build their reputation with all these great technical blog posts and fascinating public talks, and then they become a Real Company and suddenly decide they’re too cool to be open and transparent. Maybe the lawyers get to them, or maybe all the cool ninja rockstars become managers. In any case, I think that’s stupid. I don’t want GitHub to be one of those companies. I think the scaling problems we face — both technical and human — as we near five million users and 250 employees are super interesting to talk about and learn from. A lot of my talks like How GitHub Uses GitHub to Build GitHub and posts like How GitHub Works are nifty, but they represent a snapshot of the company when we were 30-75 employees. We’re 217 today, and things inevitably changed to grow the company to that scale. This talk is a retrospective: it takes a closer look at specific things that we’ve said over the last few years, and then details the adjustments that were made as we’ve grown. Slides Video Check out QCon’s website, which has a tidy little video with integrated slide show baked in. We’re basically living in the future these days. |
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon located in Arizona, USA. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters).What is a Canyon?A canyon is a type of erosional valley with extremely steep sides, frequently forming vertical or nearly vertical cliff faces.The Grand Canyon is believed to have formed about 2 billion years ago with igneous and metamorphic rocks. Then, layer upon layer of sedimentary rocks were laid on top of these basement rocks. The Kaibab Limestone, the uppermost layer of rock at Grand Canyon, was formed at the bottom of the ocean. Uplift of the Colorado Plateau was a key step in the eventual formation of Grand Canyon. The action of plate tectonics lifted the rocks high and flat, creating a plateau through which the Colorado River could cut down. The Colorado River has been carving away rock for the past five to six million years. Geologists call the process of canyon formation downcutting. Downcutting occurs as a river carves out a canyon or valley, cutting down into the earth and eroding away rock.Grand Canyon is one the "Seven Natural Wonders of the World" and receives close to 5 million visitors each year.The above pictures are captured from the Mather Point View in the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. |
A Hindu UKIP member has suffered racist abuse for calling Britain a “Christian country”. But rather than defending him from racial slurs, left wing Twitter users joined in by mocking him further. Anish Patel, an active UKIP member and practising Hindu took to the social networking platform to defend Britain’s Christian heritage, rounding off with offering to drive anyone who was “offended by Christmas” to the airport. His comments came just days after the matter of Britain’s Christian heritage was raised at Prime Minister’s Questions by Conservative MP Fiona Bruce, who told Theresa May: “Many Christians are now worried, even fearful about mentioning their faith in public.” May, the daughter of a vicar, agreed saying: “We’re now into Advent, and we have a very strong tradition in this country of religious tolerance and freedom of speech. Our Christian heritage is something we can all be proud of.” But Mrs. May’s attitude was not shared by Twitter users, who rounded on Patel. He was called a “coconut” — a racial epithet hurled at people of immigrant backgrounds who have successfully integrated — and was told to “stick to Gujurati festivals only”, even bring called a “kutta”, a derogatory slang word meaning “dog”. Meanwhile, leftist Twitter users were trolling Patel by claiming to be “offended” by Christmas in order to get a lift to the airport. Indy100, an offshoot of the Independent, also joined in the ‘joke’ by reporting the mockery and ignoring the racism hurled at Patel. Patel told Breitbart London: “I’m proud to be a small part of Britain’s only truly patriotic political party, that believes in standing up for our western culture & heritage, build on Christianity. “The left are utterly incapable of comprehending the fact that someone for an immigrant background has actually bothered to assimilate. “And the greatest irony of all, was that once I temporarily put my account on private, I received well over 200 follow requests with 24 hours”. |
Image copyright EPA Image caption At present other Top Gear live dates will run as scheduled, the BBC said Top Gear Live shows due to have been held in Norway next week have been postponed, the BBC has said. All four performances will be rescheduled, with dates later this year to be confirmed within the next fortnight. The announcement comes as an investigation continues into Jeremy Clarkson's suspension following a "fracas" with a producer on the show. At present, all other Top Gear Live dates will run as scheduled. The BBC said it apologised for the inconvenience and would "endeavour to contact all ticket holders directly to inform them of the change of dates". The Top Gear host was suspended on 10 March following an alleged altercation with producer Oisin Tymon. A report over the incident is due to be handed to BBC director general Tony Hall this week. He will consider the evidence before a decision on "any further steps" is taken, the BBC had said last week. It is understood the postponement of the Norway shows has been announced because organisers wanted to give fans enough notice to cancel travel and accommodation plans and because work to prepare the venue would have needed to start well in advance of the shows. The four performances were due to take place on Friday 27 March and Saturday 28 March. Meanwhile, Clarkson has said comments criticising the BBC he made at a charity event in London were meant as a joke. The presenter gave an expletive-filled description of the corporation's bosses at the event on Thursday. An online petition for the Top Gear host to be reinstated has to date received more than one million signatures. Global audience Top Gear is one of the BBC's most popular and profitable TV shows, with an estimated global audience of 350 million. Its success is largely attributed to Clarkson, who has appeared on the show since 1988. Last May the presenter was given what he called his "final warning" by bosses at the BBC after claims he used a racist word during filming. He and his co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond had been due to renegotiate their contracts with the BBC next month. The group have separate contracts to promote Top Gear across the world with the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, which are reported to expire in September. |
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani said ‘‘there’s no perfect way’’ for the president-elect to deal with his billions in business assets, but on Sunday encouraged Trump to put his money in a blind trust ‘‘for the good of the country.’’ No matter what Trump does, Giuliani said, ‘‘there will be a wall’’ between Trump’s decisions as president and his financial interests. Trump says he’s worth $8 billion, although Forbes magazine says that’s closer to $3.7 billion. His empire is made up of more than 500 companies around the globe, including more than 250 bearing his name, according to ABC News. Critics say that makes him susceptible to conflicts of interest. Advertisement ‘‘For the good of the country, and the fact you don’t want a question coming up every time there’s a decision made, he should basically take himself out of it, and just be a passive participant in the sense that he has no decision-making, no involvement,’’ Giuliani said on ABC’s ‘‘This Week.’’ Get Today in Politics in your inbox: A digest of the top political stories from the Globe, sent to your inbox Monday-Friday. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here ‘‘And those decisions get made separate from him, which is the way it’s done for most cabinet offices.’’ On the campaign trail Trump said that, if elected, he would turn over his business interests to his children. But Jake Tapper grilled Giuliani on CNN’s ‘‘State of the Union,’’ saying that wasn’t enough separation, especially because Trump’s children were still advising him on political matters. ‘‘It’s kind of unrealistic to say that you’re going to take the business away,’’ Giuliani responded. ‘‘You’ll have to fashion something that is very comfortable, very fair. ... Even if he turns it over to an independent trustee, there’s no perfect way to do this.’’ Advertisement Giuliani said Trump’s wealth may be the biggest deterrent to any conflicts of interest. ‘‘This man didn’t want to run for president to try to get rich, he’s rich already,’’ Giuliani said. On Sunday, Giuliani also touched on Trump’s immigration plan. In December, after the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attacks, Trump called for ‘‘a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.’’ But Giuliani said Trump’s stance had softened during the campaign. For most countries, Giuliani said, ‘‘it wouldn’t be a ban, it would be extreme vetting.’’ Advertisement Giuliani said Muslims would be allowed into the United States if their home countries let immigration officials thoroughly examine the migrants. The former New York mayor told Tapper that there are six countries — Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen — where ‘‘we have to be very careful.’’ Giuliani said that with Pakistan and Egypt ‘‘we could probably do some pretty good vetting. Yemen is a lot more volatile.’’ Syrian refugees would face the toughest hurdles, Giuliani said, because they are difficult to vet and could be terrorist operatives. ‘‘The problem with the Syrian refugees is not just that you can’t vet them. . . . The problem is also that (ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) has said that he’s going to put terrorist operatives among the refugees,’’ Giuliani said. ‘‘We would be foolish to allow these people to come into the United States. We are being warned that he is going to send people here to attack us.’’ Giuliani is the vice-chair of Trump’s transition team. His name has been floated as a possible candidate for attorney general. He said an independent counsel should be appointed if the president-elect decides to prosecute Hillary Clinton — a promise Trump had made during the campaign. |
Charles Darwin, the 19th-century naturalist who laid the foundations for evolutionary theory, received nearly 4,000 write-in votes in Athens-Clarke County in balloting for the 10th Congressional District seat retained Tuesday by five-year incumbent Republican Rep. Paul Broun. A spot check Thursday of some of the other counties in the east Georgia congressional district revealed a smattering of votes for Darwin, although it wasn't always clear, based on information provided by elections offices in those counties, whether those votes were cast in the 10th District race. And because the long-dead Darwin was not a properly certified write-in candidate, some counties won't be tallying votes for him, whether in the congressional race or other contests. A campaign asking voters to write-in Darwin's name in the 10th Congressional District, which includes half of Athens-Clarke County, began after Broun, speaking at a sportsmen's banquet at a Hartwell church, called evolution and other areas of science "lies straight from the pit of hell." Jim Leebens-Mack, the University of Georgia plant biologist who started a "Darwin for Congress" Facebook page in the wake of Broun's remarks, said the number of Darwin votes cast in the race were "in the ballpark, a little bit more" than he had expected. The Darwin votes, Leebens-Mack added, made it "clear to me, and I hope everybody, that Paul Broun is vulnerable" in terms of continued re-election to Congress. Broun was first elected in a special 2007 election, and won re-election in 2008, 2010 and again on Tuesday in a newly drawn 10th District, reconfigured as part of congressional reapportionment. "The campaign for 2014 started yesterday," Leebens-Mack said Thursday, adding that the next step will be identifying potential candidates for the next congressional election. In a Thursday interview, Leebens-Mack pointed out that in addition to the write-in votes cast for Darwin, the 10th District contest attracted a large number of other write-in ballots. "Votes" were cast in the race for "Anyone but Broun," "Anyone else" and various permutations of that sentiment, with "Big Bird" and "Bill Nye, The Science Guy" also earning ballots. The only legitimate write-in candidate in the race, little-known Brian Russell Brown of Augusta, who has mounted write-in campaigns for other high-level offices in recent years, received a large number of votes in Athens, claiming more than 200 ballots. In addition to the write-in votes cast for Darwin in the 10th Congressional District race, a handful of votes for the long-dead British scientist were cast in other races on Athens-Clarke County ballots. Votes for Darwin were tallied in both statewide Public Service Commission races, and for all of the state legislative offices on the ballot, including uncontested seats. "I can't ever remember seeing a (write-in ballot) report that long," said Athens-Clarke County Elections Supervisor Gail Schrader after releasing the full list of write-in numbers to local media Thursday morning. Broun received 16,980 votes in Athens-Clarke County, and garnered 209,917 votes across the district. The congressman's press secretary did not return calls to her office and to her cellphone Thursday afternoon, nor had she responded to an email request for comment. |
T-Mobile earlier this month rolled out an entirely new set of service plans that it says are contract-free as a way to lure carrier-wary users to its network. But Bob Ferguson, the Attorney General for Washington State, where T-Mobile is based, is telling the “Un-Carrier” to check itself before it proverbially wrecks itself, calling T-Mobile’s advertising of the new plans “deceptive” and ordering the carrier to change how it gets its message out. Currently, customers can get T-Mobile’s cellular and data service itself without a contract, but if they want to buy a phone to use that contract -- like the brand-new iPhone 5 -- they’ll have to pay the full retail price of the device up front or agree to a payment plan for the hardware. That payment would be in addition to their monthly bill. At question is what would happen when a user decides to stop using T-Mobile for their service; as it stands now, a user would still be on the hook for the monthly payments unless they paid the balance of the equipment’s purchase price -- a figure that could be far higher than a standard early termination fee. “My office identified that T-Mobile was failing to disclose a critical component of their new plan to consumers, and we acted quickly to stop this practice and protect consumers across the country from harm,” Ferguson said in a statement issued on Thursday evening via the Attorney General’s website. To their credit, Ferguson says that T-Mobile worked with the AG’s office and signed an AOD, or Assurance of Discontinuance document, that was filed with the courts today. In it, T-Mobile promises to not “Misrepresent consumers' obligations under its contracts, including those contracts that have not restrictions or limitations” and not to “fail to adequately disclose that customers who terminate their T-Mobile wireless service before their device is paid off will have to pay the balance due on the phone at the time of cancellation." Moreover, anyone who bought T-Mobile’s service and equipment between March 26th and April 25th can get a full refund for their telephone equipment and cancel their service plans without being required to pay the remaining balance, provided the user adheres to T-Mobile’s terms of service and returns the gear in proper shape. The statement also notes that T-Mobile will be contacting those customers itself to advise them of the agreement. In addition, T-Mobile has promised to: Not misrepresent customers’ true obligations under the terms of its contracts for the sale of service or equipment; Make clear the consequences of cancelling T-Mobile service, including restrictions or limitations on cancellation; fees and costs; and early termination fees; More clearly state in all advertisements the true cost of telephone equipment, including the requirement the customer carry a wireless service agreement for the life of the 24-month financing plan; Instruct representatives to fully disclose obligations under the terms of its contracts, including developing a “Frequently Asked Questions” page; and Train customer service representatives to comply with the settlement within 21 days of signing. And, finally, the AG’s office says the AOD requires T-Mobile to pay the attorneys’ fees and costs in the amount of $26,046.40. The AG’s site, though, did not mention if T-Mobile would be allowed to pay the fees in monthly installments, and a T-Mobile representative wasn’t immediately available to comment. |
So, I made the fox walk sign from the Zootopia poster... ❮❮ Newer Download | Full View Older ❯❯ Submission © 2016 hyena69 Main Gallery 8 submissions So, I made the fox walk sign from the Zootopia poster... - by hyena69 Submission information: Posted: Category: Photography Theme: All Species: Vulpine (Other) Gender: Any Favorites: 195 Comments: 30 Views: 8281 Image Specifications: Resolution: 1280x1054 Photo information: Camera: NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3100 Date and Time: 2016:01:23 13:32:22 Aperture: f/5.0 ISO Speed: 400 Focal length: 35 mm Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode Exposure: 10/400 (0.025 sec) Metering Mode: Pattern Keywords: Zootopia Fox Why? reasons. mostly fox-related reasons. makes a nice light though! as you may be able to tell, I'm looking forward to this Film! its what I'm guessing is life size at about 25CM across and uses 101 white LEDs. If anyone else wants to make one for whatever reason just ask and I can post the design files I made for it, its mostly Printed but the black part is just a drilled ABS sheet. EDIT:- all files needed to make this can now be found here http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1298643 |
AIFF Media Team NEW DELHI: Indian colts continued their winning run with a 2-1 victory over hosts Nepal in their second group stage encounter of the SAFF U-15 Championships today (August 23, 2017) at the ANFA Complex, Satdobato in Lalitpur, Nepal. Vikram and Ravi scored on either side of half-time to notch up the win while Roshan scored the lone goal for the hosts. India looked to dominate from the word go with Lalrokima’s header striking the crossbar in the 4th minute of play. Ravi hit it over the bar from his free kick while Givson’s effort went straight to the keeper’s hands as the boys piled on the pressure. The breakthrough arrived in the 26th minute when Vikram struck beautifully to end the deadlock. India could have scored more but they were unlucky to find the back of the net Bekey’s shot being saved and Lalrokima’s header once again finding the cross bar. Just when it seemed India would run away with the game, Nepal earned a penalty in the 40th minute. Roshan’s shot was saved by goalkeeper Jongte but the Nepali skipper scored from the rebound to restore parity as the teams headed level into half-time. India could have got back their lead right at the start of the first half but Bekey made shot wide from inside the box. A scrappy passage of play ensued before Ravi scored off Givson’s free kick to give India back the lead in the 65th minute. Thoiba could have put the game to bed but he unluckily headed it wide within the 6-yard box. Aenam and Ricky S both saw their efforts being saved as India pressed on for the third goal. Nepal tried to hit back on the counter but Jongte was on hand to pull off a good save in the 89th minute. With that went all hopes of Nepal tying the contest as India held on to secure victory and become group toppers. Group B toppers India U-15 next face Group A runners-up Bhutan U-15 in the second semi-final on August 25. Posted on : Wednesday August 23, 2017 |
This year has seen some random -- and downright nutty -- food heists. Stealing enormous amounts of edibles is a strange crime, especially since rarely are the thefts committed to feed starving people or to make significant political statements. What sort of greedy, soulless riffraff steals pilfers foodstuffs? Since none of these crimes have been solved, that question remains unanswered...for now. In the meantime, here are the five weirdest food heists of 2012 -- and what would have made them even weirder. See also: - Five things you need to know about Mormons - Domino's next ad campaign?: Thief steals pizza & wings from delivery man, doesn't take money! - Open exactly one month, Skew skids to a close after employees allegedly steal from owner Continue Reading 5. Syrup siphoning. In September the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers reported $30 million worth of missing maple syrup after a routine inventory came up with empty barrels. Canadian cops busted exporter S.K. Export Inc. and seized 600 barrels of the golden goop. The company's owner claimed he'd gotten the syrup from his regular suppliers, and since there is apparently no CSI-style lab testing available for maple syrup, the great syrup caper has not been resolved. This heist would've been weirder if: The thieves had also ripped off $60 million worth of waffle: Leggo my f*ckin' Eggo, man! 4. Garlic got gone. In the warmth of June, Austrian police stopped three reeking, overstuffed vans about to cross the border to Hungary and found them crammed with garlic. The cops quickly charged the five Romanian men in the vans with suspicion of receiving stolen goods, then ascertained that the pungent cargo had originated in Spain and was worth $37,500. (I wonder if they parked the vans in the regular impound lot, or ran them through eight professional-grade car washes first, because there ain't no little tree in the universe that will cover up that stank.) This heist would've been weirder if: The thieves stole all that garlic with the intention of ending the Twilight saga early by murdering all its fans. 3. Deez missing nuts. In October employees from freight brokerage firm F.C. Bloxom and Co. in Seattle contacted authorities to report that 80,000 pounds of walnuts -- worth $300,000 -- had not reached their intended destination in Miami. This disappearing walnut incident echoed a similar nut loss days earlier, when 40,000 pounds of walnuts left California but didn't make it to their destination in Texas. The police seem to think that the twin nut heists are connected, since both involved a fake delivery driver who managed to jack the nuts and disappear in a white semi truck. This heist would've been weirder if: The thief/thieves hand painted the semi brown and named it "The Nutwagon" -- then led police on a high speed chase. 2. Chocolate melts away. Right before Thanksgiving eighteen tons of chocolate bars disappeared from a factory in Bludenz, Austria, destined for delivery to the Czech Republic. The 33 pallets loaded with chocolate indeed left the factory, but it was determined that the paperwork for both the truck and the driver were forgeries. The heist was discovered after the first truck left -- and the actual then delivery truck showed up to pick up the chocolate (awkward.) The chocolate has yet to be recovered. This heist would've been weirder if: The same thieves who carted off the nuts would meet up with these guys, and they could all make a bunch of Christmas candy. 1. Doggie-style disappearance. On December 2 a small business in Atlanta was pillaged of $35,000 worth of dog food. The 20,000 pounds of "Pet Chef Express" dog food -- in 800 twenty-pound bags -- was hauled off after the industrious robbers reportedly cut a hole in the fence of the adjoining property, climbed through the warehouse window, and used a forklift to move the heavy pallets of doggie chow and load it on to a vehicle. This pack of thieves obviously had some kibbles & wits. There were no cameras or alarms protecting the property, something the business owners no doubt regretted on December 3. This heist would've been weirder if: The missing dog food was discovered the next day en route to orphanages in Montana -- or Arby's restaurants. |
Technological advancements in the last six years means that an unmanned re-entry to the Pike River mine is possible, Prime Minister Bill English says. Photo: Supplied Mr English said the government is committed to exploring the possibility of an unmanned re-entry to the Pike River mine. "We all recognise the technology has improved significantly in the last six years so there's an opportunity to get a better look than you would get from the cameras coming down through the shaft or from the robots - I mean even that technology's improved a lot," he said. Mr English said the government would provide the families with as much information as possible without an "unsafe" entry and risking the lives of more people. "You either come out safely, or you come out dead". But he is refusing to engage in any talk about post election deals, including over re-entry to the Pike River mine. NZ First leader Winston Peters has reiterated his statement a manned re-entry into the mine would be a bottom line if National needs his party's support to form a government after the September election. "Well, we're not doing coalition negotiations five months out from an election, we've go to deal with the concerns of the families right now," Mr English said. The police had told him all the video will again be made available to the families by the end of the week, he said. "It is important that all the families have the opportunity to sit down, see the whole lot, decide if there's anything there they think is relevant." Families insist they have never seen the footage Families of some of the men killed in the Pike River disaster insist they've never seen newly-leaked video footage from a robot inside the mine. The footage - initially released by Newshub and also obtained by RNZ - was taken about three months after the November 2010 explosions. Mr English, has rejected claims of a cover-up, saying the families had been shown parts of the footage six years ago. He said all of the video was then passed on to the Pike River Royal Commission. But a spokesperson for the families, Bernie Monk, said none of them or their lawyers ever saw that section of the tape. "I've been in contact with all the other lawyers, and I've got Colin, my brother-in-law who is one of the lawyers, with me at the moment, and that is not true, we did not see this... "I am saying that to the country." Mr Monk said that part of the video proved the mine had been safe to enter. Families now wary of other undisclosed evidence The lawyer who acted for the Pike River families during the Royal Commission said the newly-leaked video footage would have been important for the commission and families to see six years ago. Richard Raymond told Morning Report he had not seen the footage and he has spoken to others who are confident it was not shown to the families. He said all robotic video footage was offered at the time to be shown to the families by the police, but the families were advised that the footage did not show anything new that had not already been shown in selected extracts. "On that basis it wasn't viewed because they trusted the judgement of others that it didn't show anything significant." He said the families were now even more wary because a number of other pieces of evidence were also not disclosed in 2011. "With this relevant extract popping up six years later, it makes the families very wary, very cautious, and obviously sceptical about the quality and extent of what has been disclosed previously." Mr Raymond said the experts should have had the opportunity to consider the information in the videos in 2011. He said while it is uncertain where the footage was taken from, it would have been important for the commission to see. "The integrity of the tunnel, at 1.9kms is an electrical substation, a lot of equipment, bits of machinery were in the drift, which of course the commission would have been interested in seeing. So any good footage which helped with that would have been of assistance." Previously unseen footage 'significant' for families Sonya Rockhouse's son Benjamin died in the explosions and another son, Daniel, was one of just two survivors. She told Morning Report the footage was "significant" and it was not something they would forget seeing. "What irks me the most is that that footage had to be leaked to us. This is important stuff that we should have seen at the time. "Who knows what difference it might have made, I'm not sure. But for us, it clearly shows the damage that we were told [was there], simply isn't there." She said police needed to give the familes all the video footage they have. Journalist Rebecca Macfie wrote the definitive account of the disaster, Tragedy at Pike River Mine. She said the key issue highlighted by the video was the lack of transparency by the police. Two key pieces of evidence were leaked to the families and the police have not been open about their process, she said. "I think we're at risk of getting bogged down in the detail of what this particilar video shows. It's the patterns of disclosure... and the big broader context in which the families are left to interpret everything that happens." She said there was no excuse for all of the footage not being handed over to the families. |
The Volkswagen Beetle Dune is now on sale, priced from £21,300 in coupé guise and £24,255 in convertible form. Read our review of the Volkswagen Beetle Dune At launch the Dune is available with two engines: a 103bhp 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol and a 148bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel. Gearbox choices include a six-speed manual as standard and an optional six or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. Originally unveiled as a concept at the 2014 Detroit motor show, the Beetle Dune receives more rugged-looking styling, an increased ride height and larger wheels and tyres than standard versions of the second-generation modern-day Beetle, all in a bid to give it similar appeal to Volkswagen’s dedicated off-road models. Read our first drive of the VW Beetle Dune prototype Yet despite the off-roader-inspired design touches, the new model will be sold exclusively with front-wheel drive. This is due to the lack of a four-wheel drive option for the Beetle, which is produced at Volkswagen’s Puebla plant in Mexico. Among the styling changes is a reworked front bumper featuring a prominent trapezoidal-shaped central air duct, a silver plastic bash plate and an additional air duct below the leading edge of the bonnet, as well as revised indicator units and round foglights set within black plastic elements either side. Farther back, the Beetle Dune receives black plastic cladding within the wheel houses, a feature which serves to increase the width of the body by 14mm. There are also more prominent sills, decals along the lower sections of the doors and rear wing panel and new 18in wheels shod with 235/45 tyres. |
So I drank some Kool Aid recently, and I'd like to offer y'all at least one cup! As a semi-nerd, with experience in translating meanings across dissimilar cultures, I've got a strong new understanding of why WayTools doesn't "just ship." Why "good enough" really is not as good as what I'll call "a vanishingly fluid disappearing act!" I was surprised to learn a week ago that I was invited to joined the ranks of TREG. Now, I remember well the "what's he got that I haven't got" feeling whenever I heard one of those announcements, so "I feel your pain." The TextBlade arrived late Saturday morning. I got to spend an hour with it, then another hour later in the day. Two primary things happened in those two hours. I began to get acquainted with the typing experience on the TB. AND I got ahead of myself, got several things tangled up and couldn't get it to work anymore. Thought I'd broken it for sure. When I approach a new keyboard I immediately try to impress myself with how fast I can type. "Now is the time for all good people..." Apparently, I accomplish this by flailing both hands at the keyboard with great abandon, fingers flying all over and kind of slapping at the keys. I've always been impressed. Until Saturday. The garbage coming out of my fingers was appalling. It took a little bit for me to discover that holding my hands still and letting my fingers just float a tiny bit got really pretty good results. Sunday afternoon, while Southern California was drowning and Central Florida was in danger of being blown away by January tornados, Mark Knighton offered me much (delightful KoolAid)! I really did enjoy it all, and I saved some for you! First, he untangled my efforts from the night before that caused me some anxiety. He got the TB not work. The first problem was caused by Apple's unannounced change of procedures for BlueTooth in iOS 10.2. As I understand it, when BluT is turned on, the iPhone scans for peripherals, but then it stops and no longer goes looking. So the peripheral needs to be already hunting when BT is turned on. I think. Or, honestly, I may still have it backward. And when I got to fiddling with Jumps, I didn't realize that each change means that something like 50 kernels need to be re-written into firm memory. Since I didn't know that, I interrupted one of those writes, probably by thinking it had frozen and I should reboot by dis-and re-connecting it; and I created what looked like permanent damage. But the TB has several layers of safety, including a basic kernel for each module that writes nearly instantaneously to protect for interruptions. Saved my bacon. Now sitting at my local Subway store alternating bites and bytes. (Sorry!) Walking over here, I found myself thinking there could still be some out there who think this is a mirage or a scam. It. Is. Not. Write me at lexbaer@gmail.com and tell me what I could do to put your mind at rest about that. I also gained an understanding and appreciation of the enormity of the task of creating this bitty thing. It takes a lot of machine discrimination to make the proper difference between - a ideal keystroke and the more typical keystrokes that a gazillion different humans will make. They maybe are - struck off center - struck with fingernail instead of the pad of the finger - struck from an angle - bridge two different keys with the desired key getting the stronger numeric capacitance score - bridge two keys with both keys getting very similar intensity of capacitance readings. This latter condition is one that has required developing a process for machine learning/AI discrimination to develop the rule that says, "This particular 'human' really wanted an i in this location instead of the k that he also pressed." And I am convinced that this level of problem is something that is reasonable to have been discovered only after the first full production run. I am also convinced that Mark is not working for perfection, but that he is rightly **very **concerned about hurdles. There are so many elements that make this way more than a keyboard. Maneuvering around a body of text or between apps or between machines without taking your hands away from the keyboard is incredibly productive and worth every bit of the price. But if a poor typist starts poking at it and getting spurious results, it won't take very long before the TB gets tossed in the "gadjunk" drawer and the content of " word of mouth" turns rapidly sour. I was interested in the moments that Mark spent singing dbk's praises. What has helped is the amazing depth of his ability to find many ways of mishandling this thing. (Wait, what did that sound like? It really was supposed to be a compliment.) Now at (a large) Starbucks, and no one has even noticed me, uh it, yet. But the other night at Pepper's the waitress stopped dead in her tracks and said, "That is SO COOL!" And the TextBlade was all she really wanted for a tip. LOL! Over these 5 days, I've come to recognize the (slight) misshapeness of my hands. My pinkies curl in a little bit, like 2 parentheses. I discovered this by continually typing ' when I want p. As others have noted, it's different on an old fashioned keyboard. I could just slam my pinkie out there and I'd know if I'd hit the near side of the p or just the far side of the ' key. So I find myself leaving my hands anchored and sliding the TB forward or back by 1/8" or so. IMHO, making this thing so even idiots (pardon the judgment) get what they want from the keyboard will make the difference between "it's kinda finicky" and "this is so freaking cool!" And it may be even more important for the partial nerds who are impaired by their assumptions that they can dive into anything, so they start poking around and at worst brick it. So writing code to fence out those who have not yet perfected their adaptation is, I think, necessary. And yes, I think it is more like grinding off the misalignment of concrete slabs on a sidewalk so people don't trip, and not like "Warning! Coffee is hot!" I also think Mark feels the pressure that an input device has a greater requirement for flawlessness than, say AirPods. If the wireless audio is sloppy, get annoyed and put it in your pocket. But I can picture an MD pounding his fists on the table and yelling, "I've got to get these notes typed so the Emergency Room will know what to do with Mr. Jones!" (Ok maybe that's KoolAid, but you get the idea.) Maybe I've gone long enough for now. I shouldn't have sat in the corner at Starbucks. Hang in there. Though you are probably right now more frustrated than I am, now that I have my hands on it, the waiting time seems to have flown swift as a dream dies at the opening day. |
LOS ANGELES—Long lines snaked out of marijuana dispensaries in Nevada on Saturday, as the western US state became the latest to legalize recreational pot. Nevada joins Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska as states where recreational marijuana sales are permitted. While pot is legal in several other states, it is governed by complicated local laws and still illegal according to federal law. ADVERTISEMENT Legal marijuana sales are sure to be a boon to the economy of Nevada’s largest city, Las Vegas, bolstering its reputation as an “anything goes” party town for millions of visitors from around the world. “I’ll bet the state makes a cool million $ this weekend,” tweeted Democratic state Senator Tick Segerblom, a longtime advocate for legalization of marijuana. “This is a game-changer for Las Vegas and tourism here as far as I’m concerned,” he told the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, adding, “Amsterdam on steroids.” Destiny Diaz was in line for nearly three hours at the Jardin Premium Cannabis dispensary in Las Vegas, waiting for the law to go into effect at midnight on Saturday. “It’s a great day and something people have been waiting a long time for,” she told the Sun. “We weren’t going to miss this. Under Nevada’s new law, adults 21 and older can purchase up to one ounce (28 grams) of marijuana or up to one-eighth ounce of marijuana concentrates per day. Las Vegas police posted a list of dos and don’ts in the newly marijuana-friendly state. “Know the law! Here’s a few things to remember,” it said, pointing out that it is illegal to smoke or consume pot in public, to drive while high, or to give or sell it to those under age 21. /ra RELATED STORIES ADVERTISEMENT Duterte favors medical marijuana use Canada unveils legislation to legalize marijuana Asian clout grows in Nevada; Filipinos are largest group Read Next LATEST STORIES MOST READ |
ISLAMABAD: The legal team representing the convicted murderer of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer outnumbered the police presence at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday. At least 90 lawyers came to court to defend Mumtaz Qadri, while over 300 of his supporters gathered outside court premises to egg him on. The men were carrying placards and shouting slogans in favour of the slain governor’s assassin. Take a look: Govt lawyers not ready to prosecute Mumtaz Qadri This was still a marked decrease from the last time. When the case was heard in 2011, at least 3,000 of his supporters gathered outside the courts. Inside court premises, defence lawyers assembled under the leadership of Khawaja Mohammad Sharif, former chief justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC). Another former LHC judge, Mian Nazeer Akhtar, was also part of Qadri’s panel. A security official deployed at the IHC told Dawn that three reserves consisting of 20 policemen each had been deployed inside and outside the IHC building. In addition, lawyers sympathetic to Qadri were standing in groups in different parts of the IHC building, discussing the possible outcome of the case as well as establishment of military courts to try terrorism suspects. The focus of attention, however, was Advocate Yasir Shakeel. A lookalike of IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, Shakeel was the one who had kissed Mumtaz Qadri when he appeared before an anti-terrorism court in 2011. After Justice Siddiqui was appointed IHC judge, a photograph of Shakeel kissing Qadri was circulated on the social media and portrayed as a Pakistani judge kissing a convicted terrorist. Lawyer who kissed Qadri remains centre of attention Advocate Shakeel is also an office-bearer of the Namoos-i-Risalat Forum, which urges lawyers to appear in court to show support for Qadri. During the hearing, federal government counsel Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon demanded that the court take action against a private television channel that had aired programmes against Justice Siddiqui on the basis of the fake photo. The bench, however, remarked that it was for them to decide what action might be taken. Justice Siddiqui, who is a member of the bench hearing the case, said that the channel in question had tendered an apology and the issue should not be dragged on. Nadeem Shah, a Rawalpindi-based lawyer, said that many lawyers could not join them because the date for the hearing of the appeal was fixed quite suddenly. Had there been sufficient time, the number of lawyers would have been much larger, he said. Rao Abdul Rahim, another member of the Namoos-i-Risalat Forum, said that Qadri was not a terrorist and the lawyers present had voluntarily gathered to support him. During Tuesday’s proceedings, the small courtroom was packed with the lawyers. The odd one out among them was a staunch Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) activist. But when asked, he told Dawn: “I am here to campaign for the upcoming IHC bar elections.” Advocate Ubaid Shah, another Qadri supporter, said it was his good fortune to be appearing in this case. After the proceedings, most of the lawyers gathered in the cafeteria. They were drawing parallels between Ghazi Ilam Din and Mumtaz Qadri. Ilam Din had killed a book publisher named Mahashay Rajpal for publishing a book that supposedly offended Muslim religious values. In addition to Qadri sympathisers, there were some lawyers sympathetic towards the aggrieved Taseer family who were criticising Qadri for appealing his conviction. “If Qadri was like Ghazi Ilam Din Shaheed, he would’ve welcomed hanging,” said young lawyer Chaudhry Mohammad Waqas. Published in Dawn January 28th, 2015 On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play |
At the medical center here, though, the focus is on getting better, not getting votes. Arts therapy patients have all suffered a traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder. Organizers say the monthlong program helps them cope with haunting memories, disabilities and the future. “A lot of this population has trouble verbalizing what they have been through,” Ms. Walker said. The focus at first is on painting masks, each treated as a blank slate that helps a patient explore wounds and identity. Masks line walls and a paint-spattered table in the bright therapy room. Some are fractured, others macabre, a few peaceful. “I was kind of lost,” Chris Stowe, a retired Marine who studied oil painting and learned how to play the ukulele in the program, said in a telephone interview. After deployments including Iraq and Afghanistan, he suffered night terrors and insomnia, he said. “I found this wonderful thing that is art.” Rusty Noesner, a former member of the Navy SEALs, was injured in Afghanistan. “You are going 100 miles per hour, and after serving you are slamming on the brakes,” he said by telephone. “The artistic process gives you a pause to start thinking about how you should be living your life now.” Walter M. Greenhalgh, a Navy captain who is director of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, which hosts the program at Walter Reed, said the patients are often surprised by how much it helps them in “externalizing those inner demons.” |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption North Lincolnshire chaplain discusses steel job losses Tata Steel has announced nearly 1,200 job losses at its plants in Scunthorpe and Lanarkshire. Nine hundred jobs will be lost at the firm's plant in Scunthorpe. The remaining 270 jobs will go in Scotland. They are the latest in a series of job losses across the UK steel sector, following news that administrators have been appointed to parts of Caparo Industries' steel operations. The industry blames cheap Chinese imports for a collapse in steel prices. Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will raise the issue with China's president during his UK state visit. The jobs going at Tata Steel are in part of a division that the company failed to sell earlier this year. Buffeted by collapsing prices and the strong pound, Indian-owned Tata has decided to cut back its UK operations. Tata's steel plant in Scunthorpe, which employs 4,000 people, is one of the largest in the UK. But two mills in Lanarkshire are also affected raising concerns about the future of the industry in Scotland. Shipbuilding history The plants under threat are the Dalzell plate rolling works in Motherwell, which opened in 1872, and Clydebridge, in Cambuslang, which has been operating since 1887. [The prime minister] needs to tell the Chinese premier what action he's going to take to stop Chinese steel damaging the future of a vital foundation industry in the UK Roy Rickhuss, General secretary of Community The plants became two of the giants of Scottish industry, with Clydebridge providing steel plates which were formed into many of the most famous ships built on the River Clyde. Steel industry crisis: Latest updates The industry was at the heart of many Lanarkshire communities and Motherwell Football Club still use the nickname "the Steelmen" in tribute to the workers who supported them. Analysis: Anthony Reuben, business reporter It's been a tough few weeks for the UK manufacturing sector. Manufacturing accounts for about 10% of the output of the UK economy. But most of the big headlines have been about one sector: steel, with Thailand's SSI closing down in Redcar and India's Tata shedding jobs. The industry in the UK blames this on relatively high electricity prices in the UK for such energy-intensive businesses, compounded by the extra cost of climate change policies. It says that the government's policies to compensate steel companies for such extra costs have been coming in too slowly. There are allegations that the Chinese steel industry has been selling steel in the UK at unrealistically low prices. Also, the European Union is unusually strict about state aid to iron and steel companies. So it is a particularly difficult time for the UK steel sector, which is having an even harder time than manufacturing as a whole. What's going on in UK manufacturing? Could the government save UK steel? UK steel: What's going wrong? John Park, assistant general secretary of trade union Community, said: "Our immediate thoughts are with the workers and their families who will be affected by this announcement. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption About 900 jobs are expected to go at Tata's Scunthorpe steel plant "Community representatives will be looking to sit down with the company, to understand the detail and to look at all alternatives that save jobs and uphold our principle of no compulsory redundancies. We will also be putting in place advice and support for our members who are affected. "The government should hang its head in shame at today's news. The cruel irony of the prime minister welcoming the Chinese premier as UK steel jobs are cut, partly due to Chinese steel dumping, will not be lost on the UK's steelworkers and their communities." He added: "We have been saying for years that more government action is needed to support UK steel as a vital foundation industry. We have made clear that the situation is urgent. Despite these warnings, the government has been too slow to respond." Tata Steel job losses 'will kill Scunthorpe' Business Secretary Sajid Javid told the House of Commons there was "no straightforward solution to the complex global challenges facing the steel industry". But he added the government had "no intention of standing by". "Today was an important opportunity to bring the key players together and we now have a framework of action," he said. The business secretary said the government had already promised £80m to help those affected by steel plant closures and had set up a task force to look at how to help the UK steel industry and its workers. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Lone demonstrator Neil Dawson protesting outside the Tata Steel processing plant at Scunthorpe "We are taking steps to ensure there is a future for the UK's steel industry," he said. But he pointed out there was a global steel surplus which was pushing prices down, adding there there were limits to what the government could do in response and that no government could dictate the price of steel or foreign exchange rates. He said the government was committed to major infrastructure projects and he was "determined that the UK steel industry should play its role in its delivery". In the 1970s, more than 200,000 people were employed in the UK steel sector, but the number now stands at just 30,000. Unions say that one in six of those jobs is now under threat. The collapse into administration of parts of steel processing firm Caparo on Monday followed the closure last month of the SSI steel plant at Redcar, with the loss of about 2,200 jobs. The industry has blamed a flood of cheap steel being dumped on the global market by Chinese manufacturers. Government attacked Mr Cameron said: "The British government is doing everything that we can, and every issue that we can take up, we will." But Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of Community, said: "We have had a succession of ministers, and now the prime minister, saying that they will 'raise' the issue of Chinese steel dumping, which we know is impacting on the UK steel industry and the global steel price. "The prime minister needs to do more than 'raise' the issue. He needs to tell the Chinese premier what action he's going to take to stop Chinese steel damaging the future of a vital foundation industry in the UK." Caparo administrators PwC said workers would be paid and briefed on developments, adding: "It is business as usual while the administrators' review gets under way." |
Get the biggest Everton FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Roberto Martinez admits that hearing Everton fans sing about the return of the School of Science at Goodison Park this season brings a big smile to his face. And the Catalan purist insists that “how Everton win” football matches will always be more important to him than the accumulation of points. Everton fans have quickly embraced Martinez’s possession-based, passing from the back style of play at Goodison. And some see links with the club’s glorious past. Banners have celebrated the re-opening of the School of Science and a popular terrace chant has proclaimed the return of the Blues’ once cherished tag. “We know how to control the ball, we know how to break teams down, we know how to use dynamic play with our counter-attacks, and the words School of Science bring a big smile to everyone’s face,” Martinez told the ECHO this week. “It’s a sense of pride, and a sense of naturality if you like. We want to win, don’t get me wrong, but how we win is more important.” Martinez’s words echo the sentiments of legendary Everton boss Harry Catterick, who produced two title-winning teams in the 1960s and 70s – including the 1969/70 champions of the stylish Ball-Harvey-Kendall midfield axis. Catterick once said: “Let’s have this skilful football. We are trying to produce it. If in producing this highly skilled stuff we win a championship, we will be delighted, but we are not going to run away from skilful football for heavy grounds or anything else.” His teams, in turn, were a flashback to the great Everton sides of the 20s and 30s led by Dixie Dean. Famous English goalscorer Steve Bloomer was the man credited with first referring to Everton as a “scientific” football team. “We owe a great deal to Everton,” he said. “No matter where they play, and no matter whether they are well or badly placed in the table in the league table, they always manage to serve football of the highest scientific order. “Everton always worship at the shrine of craft and science and never do they forget the standard of play they set out to achieve.” Martinez admits he has enjoyed studying Everton’s history and reputation for “beautiful football” – and believes his own football philosophies have found a perfect fit at Goodison Park. “That was a feeling which developed in a quiet place,” he said “watching Everton and being fascinated by Will Cuff stories, watching Howard Kendall’s teams of the 80s. I thought ‘that is me’ as a footballer. “I’m very much of those beliefs. “To be able to connect with the fans and to connect with the club in that manner is very important because that reflects on the team. “And I think that as a team we have shown this season that we are developing into a team that can play in different ways. “There’s a real sense of something special brewing at the football club and in the dressing room and we need to make sure that next season we get the rewards from this first campaign.” More Everton FC news: Martinez prepared to play waiting game in order to get Lukaku on permanent deal Watch: Tim Howard shows off his tattoos and torso for Peta Martinez warns expectant fans not to depend on Barkley to 'win the World Cup for England' |
New Delhi: Upset over the Prime Minister not announcing a date for the implementation of the One Rank One Pension scheme, two war veterans who were on a relay hunger strike for the past 64 days are now on an indefinite fast unto death and say they won't relent until the government gives in to their demands. “My entire family is standing with me. I am blessed to have their support. Even my granddaughter rang me up from United States yesterday and told me, ‘Nana (maternal grandfather)...we saw you on TV and we are proud of you.’” Colonel (retired) Pushpender Singh told Firstpost. The veteran was commissioned into 3 Grenadiers and served in Sikkim along the China border, at the peak of terrorist activity in Punjab and then the international border in Jammu and Kashmir. Singh, who retired in October 1998, spent a major portion of his career in the army with the intelligence unit, which he said was tougher than fighting along the border. “Our protest is not about money. It is the fight for our dignity. Look at the way the government is treating us. On 14 August, Delhi Police officials tried to evict us without serving any prior notice as if we, who always stood firm against enemies, are a security threat. It is really unfortunate for the nation that its veterans are forced to stage hunger strike to make the deaf hear,” he added. Singh hails from Rohtak in Haryana and presently lives in Greater Noida. He receives a pension of Rs 55,000, which will go up to around Rs 65,000 once OROP is implemented. The former colonel wasn’t very receptive to the request made by former Chief of Army Staff General VP Malik, who has been appointed as a mediator on the issue, to call off the fast onto death. “I am sorry, I cannot call off the strike until we get OROP as per its definition. Sacrificing for the nation is our duty, but at the same time having access to social justice is our constitutional right. Our fight is for 25 lakh ex-servicemen, 6.45 lakh widows of war heroes and 15 lakh serving servicemen. The government should immediately implement OROP. We want to tell Mr Prime Minister, ‘Enough of the promises, implement it now’,” Singh said. Havaldar Major Singh, the second veteran on hunger strike is a resident of Jalandhar in Punjab and joined the army as a jawan in December 1975. After serving in various border areas, he retired as havaldar from 3 Sikh Light Infantry in September 1991. “OROP is our right and we will take it at any cost. I will not relent until the government implements it. I will sacrifice my life to wake the government up. Except my mother, my death will not affect my family as I am unmarried. She will cry a bit but this life will cost the government dearer,” he said. “I joined the Indian Army when I was in class 8 at the age of 16,” the veteran said. “I was so inspired by my uncle who was a serving officer in the Army that I ran away from home and went to Meerut to join armed forces. I used to carry food for soldiers at the border.” Veterans who are part of the protest in Delhi are particularly incensed by the government’s delay in implementing the scheme. “The advisors of the prime minister who have made up their mind that they won’t let it happen and the words of a former defence secretary that ‘OROP over my dead body’ cement our allegation. But we also want to state our resolve that we will take it at any cost. We are soldiers and we know how to deal with our enemies,” Wing Commander (retired) CK Sharma, who is the treasurer of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), said. IESM is spearheading the agitation by the former defence personnel. “OROP is not pay, it is rightful compensation for services already rendered,” he told Firstpost. Other veterans who have come to Jantar Mantar to express their solidarity with the fasting ex-servicemen questioned whether the government wanted the armed forces to “maintain an edge” to make the nation strong. “The Third Pay Commission changed and brought military salaries in line with civil services. It set us down the road to the current fight over OROP. The biggest argument against OROP (the notion that every pension eligible soldier who retires in a particular rank should get the same pension irrespective of when he retires) is: What happens if other uniformed services like BSF, CRPF, SSB and so on also demand the same right?” Wing Commander (retired) KS Parihar said. “This is a facile question because unlike bureaucrats and paramilitary forces who all serve till 60 years of age, most military soldiers retire at the age of 35-37, while officers below brigadier or equivalent do so at 54. The nation retires soldiers early to keep the Army young and fit. They must be compensated adequately,” he said. Parihar, a Shaurya Chakra awardee, said the Sixth Pay Commission has granted civil bureaucrats a sort of OROP by “backdoor” under a “non-functional upgrade (NFU)”. “This is a sort of pay promotion allowing officers of All-India Group ‘A’ services to draw higher pay than their rank under certain conditions. Almost all civil servants benefit from this, while defence services officers do not,” he said. According to him, serious disparities seem to have crept into other field allowances as well. For example, Army special forces soldiers get an extra amount to the tune of Rs 8,00 to Rs 1,200 per month as allowance, while Cobra comandoes of the paramilitary forces earn an extra Rs 7,200-11,000 per month. “Compared to the bureaucracy, police and paramilitary forces, defence forces keep their career pyramid much steeper to ensure professional standards. Only 0.8% defence officers make it to the rank of major general after 28 years of service compared to a much higher rate of civil servants who are eligible to become joint secretaries (an equivalent rank) at 19 years of service,” he explained. Parihar claimed other democracies keep their soldiers “better”. “In salaries and special allowances, US soldiers have a 15-20 percent edge over other government employees, British 10 percent, Japanese 12-29 percent and French soldiers 15 percent. In pensions, while Indian soldiers get 50 percent of their last pay drawn, American soldiers get 50-75 percent, Australian 76.5 percent, Japanese 70 percent and French soldiers 75 percent. The United Kingdom has embraced OROP. Our two biggest strategic challenges – Pakistan and China – have always given priveleges to their military,” he said. Major General Satbir Singh (retired), who is spearheading the IESM campaign, says the government does not want to adhere to the OROP definition, which was given by a Committee of Secretaries headed by the Cabinet Secretary and accepted by two successive governments and the Supreme Court, so that its implementation can be avoided on technical grounds. “The Modi government has sanctioned money for OROP but it does not want to give it. Mind you, sanctioning and releasing the amount are two different things,” he alleged. Asked about the technical problem behind the non-implementation, he said, “The only problem is the intention. If the prime minister, who is the executive head of the country, really wants, who has the courage to deny his order?” “I am sure the government will implement it just before assembly elections in Bihar to gather political mileage. I warn the NDA government at the Centre that we will campaign against it and make it bite the dust in the upcoming polls in Bihar if it fails to implement OROP without waiting,” the veteran said. Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button. |
The Planetary Society & Bill Nye plan to launch LightSail, a new spacecraft designed to propel through space on beams of sunlight. (Planetary Society) In the above video, famous astrophysicist and O.G. science advocate Carl Sagan shows off a fantastic little prototype: A solar sail, one that could theoretically allow a spacecraft to travel using nothing more than the physical force of sunbeams. Forty years later, The Planetary Society -- a group he founded -- is making his dream a reality. The LightSail solar satellite uses "sunlight for propulsion" and will have its first test flight in May 2015. (The Planetary Society) The LightSail launches on May 20th with Bill Nye The Science Guy at the metaphorical helm, having taken up the late Sagan's old position as head of The Planetary Society. Here's some more info from a previous post on our blog: LightSail is like something out of a science fiction novel. The silvery material unfolds into a space-age version of a fabric sail. Then the sun pushes it forward, using the natural momentum of its photons. The force is small, but continuous. "With a chemical rocket, there's a big boom, a phwooosh, the ground shakes, but then nine minutes later you're done and you're coasting all the way to Pluto," Nye said. "With these kind of sails, the propulsion doesn't just stop. It's on day and night -- except wait, there's no night!" The Mylar sail is being tested as a propulsion source for CubeSat, a tiny spacecraft used for low-cost space experiments. May's test won't push the LightSail-hosting CubeSat out of Earth's gravity, but The Planetary Society hopes to test the mechanisms that would allow a more robust launch to send a solar-powered craft out into space. If the sail deploys correctly, they can move on to funding a full mission. Want more science? Give these a click: Bill Nye and The Planetary Society to launch a satellite that will ‘sail on sunbeams’ Bill Nye explains holograms with emoji in honor of Star Wars Day This Monday, Neil deGrasse Tyson brings science to late-night TV. How’d he manage that? |
By DR. TIFFANY CHAO and DR. SHARI BARNETT: The March 2011 earthquake that triggered plant explosions and a meltdown in a Japanese nuclear power plant caused a chain reaction in the psyche of the workers at this plant, making them more vulnerable to emotional stress from perceived discrimination shortly after the disaster, according to a new study. Researchers behind the study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, administered a questionnaire to two sets of power plant workers in May and June of 2011. One group was from the Daiichi plant, where the major meltdown occurred, while the other was from the Daini nuclear power plant, which exhibited some damage but remained mostly intact. Since the power plants had been criticized for their response efforts in the wake of the disaster, the researchers included questions designed to assess whether subjects had been the targets of discrimination or slurs from others. The study found that while there was no difference between the number of acts of discrimination experienced by the two groups, the barbs seemed to be especially hurtful to workers who had staffed the doomed Daiichi plant. Ten percent more workers from this plant reported that they experienced psychological as well as post-traumatic stress response, compared with stress then reported by the Daini workers. Reported psychological stress symptoms included feelings of nervousness, hopelessness, restlessness and worthlessness, as well as depression. "This is the first study to our knowledge to explore discrimination as a factor in post-disaster mental health," lead study author Dr. Jun Shigemura of the department of psychiatry at National Defense Medical College in Saitama, Japan, wrote in the study. Psychiatrists agree that the perception of discrimination after the meltdown clearly played an important role in the development of post-traumatic stress response in the workers. "This study leads us to the conclusion that discrimination of survivors of life-threatening situations such as the meltdowns in Japan is very important in PTSD," says Dr. Gene Beresin, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. Other doctors acknowledge that the workers were affected not only by the disaster, but by their collective experiences that followed. "It would not be surprising that both experience at the disaster, as well as discrimination, will have a psychological impact on the disaster workers," says Dr. Bennett L. Leventhal, deputy director of the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in Orangeburg, N.Y. "However, it is also possible that a number of other factors will play equally, if not more, critical roles in affecting the response to the disaster experience." Indeed, discrimination is just one kind of continuing stress being experienced by the workers. "On top of being exposed to significant trauma by experiencing a huge earthquake, witnessing an explosion, and losing colleagues and family, the residents in Fukushima are currently living under the fear of the unknown effects of radiation in the air and grounds that their children play in," says Dr. Mai Uchida, a fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Nevertheless, Uchida points out that despite the workers' reports of discrimination, the country as a whole has still been supportive overall. "In Japan, every single governmental employee received a 10 percent reduction in their salaries this year so that the government can use that money for helping the recovery of disaster areas," Uchida says. "I cannot see any other country pass this arrangement without a riot from people who were not affected by the disaster. "The value of harmony, fairness and helping each other in Japan has been incredibly impressive during this disaster recovery time." |
Tankers! It's time we reintroduce some heavy hitters! A suite of great heavy tanks is featured this weekend, most from tier VII, and an opportunity to win a whole lot of Credits in a heavy-centric mission. And of course, even if you don't decide to roll out in a heavy tank, you can take advantage of our other weekend bonuses. Event Begins: Friday, December 13 at 03:30 PST (06:30 EST) Event Ends: Monday, December 16 at 03:00 PST (06:00 EST) XP for the First Win in Every Vehicle 50% Gold and Credit Discount on Crew Training Up to 30% Credit Discount and 1.2x Credit Income Bonus on the Following Vehicles: 50% Gold Discount on the Following Premium Vehicle: V T14 Mission: "Heavy Hitters" Restrictions: Random battles only Heavy tanks only (Premium types included) Repeatable Condition: Deal 5,000 damage in one battle Reward: 50,000 |
This is deeply weird. For hundreds of miles, the central-Florida interstate has been lined with trailer parks and parched ranch lands. Switching to the two lanes of Highway 301 sends me along the broken-down main street of a town called Oxford, which is lined with single-story, mostly vacant redbrick houses, barbecue joints, and auto-repair shops, a reminder of the days when Florida was actually a part of the Deep South. Then, a right turn and authentic redneck suddenly gives way to invented oasis: 33 lush, manicured golf courses. Pods of new half-million-dollar houses, clustered behind security gates. Man-made lakes and streams gently burbling. This is the Villages, a 26,000-acre, three-county development with 68,000 residents, sprawling its way to a population of 100,000 in the next ten years. Calling the Villages a retirement community demeans the genius of the concept. This is nothing like the slabs-of-concrete condo towers and shuffleboard courts off I-95 around Fort Lauderdale or Miami where thousands of New Yorkers, like my grandparents, fled the Northeast winters after turning 65. The Villages is a dreamland for the active, well-off elderly, created by a Florida real-estate magnate who is also a powerful Republican fund-raiser. The Villages’ town square is a brilliant piece of nostalgia, an idealized small-town midwestern crossroads circa 1954. There’s an old-timey movie house, prefaded copper roofing on the expensive boutiques, and fake historical markers on buildings like Skip’s General Store. Thousands of residents are strolling toward the central weathered-wood bandstand waving small American flags. Yet just when the atmosphere starts to seem oppressively cloying, I notice that many of the old folks gabbing beneath the palm trees are good and drunk. It’s the daily happy hour, and the open-air bars lining one side of the square are jam-packed. The Villages is Celebration crossed with Geezer Spring Break. Now the wholesome, pleasantly toasted crowd is roaring: America’s Mayor has just climbed onstage. Rudy Giuliani peels off his navy suit jacket and rolls up his shirtsleeves, grinning so wide that every one of his suspiciously white teeth is visible. Six years of nearly nonstop speechifying, selling either his own book or George W. Bush, have made Giuliani a masterful campaigner. He still has that odd lisp, and his accent is irreducibly New York, so that the name of today’s state comes out Florider. But Giuliani is relaxed, confident, able to quickly incorporate whatever the moment may offer to the narrative of his own greatness. I see a New York Yankee hat! he says, to cheers. And I see a Brooklyn Dodger hat! So I’m gonna tell you why I’m such a determined person and I fight so hard for what I believe in. You know why? Because I was born in Brooklyn. But I was born about one mile from Ebbets Fieldand I was a Yankee fan. I was a Yankee fan in Brooklyn! Laughter, applause. My father put me in a pin-striped uniform and sent me out to play with all the other kids in Brooklyn. Oh-ho! So I had to fight my way just to get to the candy store. The next 45 minutes wander from gushy Ronald Reagan tributes to complicated plans for a 2,000-mile immigrant-repelling border fence to a discourse on the infallibility of the Founding Fathers. Central to it all, though, is Rudy the resolute, the lonely man tough enough to stick selflessly by his convictions, even when they’re unpopular, until he’s ultimately proved right. And the proof is his glorious success as mayor of the most dangerous, most corrupt, most Democratic city in the land. Every candidate promises you lots of things, he says. The most important thing is, can somebody deliver? Can they get something done? Well, here’s what I have to offer: I know how to get things done. I did it in the place where it was really hard to do! Nobody, nobody really got anything done in New York about crime, about welfare, about the condition of the streets, about our economy, about bringing jobs to New York! Not only did nobody get anything done for a long time, most people had given up, and they didn’t think anything could be done! This is a disorienting notionbut the condescending attitude is completely familiar to any New Yorker. The city in the nineties was far from perfect. But were we really living in the hellhole of depravity and despair that Giuliani describes without ever realizing it? And was he the man who single-handedly tamed 8 million misbehaving New Yorkers, delivering us from an economic and physical nightmare? They sure think so out here in the real America: The chants of Roo-dee! Roo-dee! are drowning out Giuliani’s final words, and women are elbowing one another in pursuit of his autograph. |
This will be an ongoing, educational web series done in stop motion and various other animation styles that focuses on teaching LGBTQ history. Each episode is currently about 5 minutes long. The target audience is early to mid-20s. It will cover topics ranging from Stonewall to the decriminalization of homosexuality in the US to people of interest/ importance (Alan Turing, RuPaul, Billie Jean King, etc) to anything in between. It is meant to be an intro to LGBTQ history of sorts and is meant to inspire independent study. Discussion of each episode's topic will be encouraged and suggestions for future topics or topics to cover in more detail will be welcome and considered. LGBTQueerstory mascot Bufford the Hairless Cat My main goal with this project is to show the positive ways the LGBTQ community has impacted the world and to show young LGBTQ persons the triumphs and struggles that led us to where we are now, hopefully inspiring the next generation to keep up the fight for equality. That is it in a nutshell. Quinten aka Miss Celie Boos dressed as Leigh Bowery The money I am trying to raise now is to cover bare bones costs for the theme song, desperately needed lighting, voice actors, CLAY! (I am going thru massive amounts of clay), wood, better audio equipment, ball and socket armature parts (basically reusable puppet skeletons), acme punched animation paper, moldmaking whatnots, other miscellaneous puppet and set making materials, animation and fabrication help, and to cover part of the rental costs for the animtion space I am using. So far this has all been funded out of my own pocket. Camera, tripod, laptop, editing software, frame capture software, staging, and the beginnings of materials for some of the puppets and stages I have already purchased on my own. With a starting cast of six characters, some requiring multiple puppets to be built, and three sets at present, I am in need of materials. That's why I am asking for help now. With your help, I can make this with higher quality materials and give you a better production value. The Cast Main Character List Above are the main characters that make up the LGBTQueerstory cast. We have Lysa, Garon, Bombala "BB", Trace, Quinten, and Sidney. Each character is representative of one of the colors and characteristics assigned to the rainbow/ freedom flag. Each is also named to correspond with the individual LGBTQ group with which she or he identifies including a straight character. Full bio cards for each character are available at the $50 and above contribution level. Don't forget to check the updates section. I will be posting sketches of each cast member there in the coming days. |
Issue 31 of the Ironwatch magazine is now available for your reading pleasure! Please select any of the below links to view the Ironwatch Issue 31 pdf. Dropbox Link Scribd Link Google Docs Link (Please note that due to Google’s image compression, the colors may look off on Google Docs) Please submit any comments, criticisms, ideas, or inquiries about how you too can help contribute either here in the comments below, or at the following link to the Mantic Forums “Ironwatch Issue 31 Feedback” discussion: Ironwatch Issue 31 Feedback Discussion For those of you who might have missed it, we now offer on-demand printing again! Issue 31 Hard Copy Table of Contents: Iron Forge 4 See the amazing array of top tier paintjobs from our team of professional-quality painters. The Mantic Calendar 14 Learn what Mantic related events and tournaments are upcoming in your area. Advertisements 56 Our section where you can advertise your local Mantic game group or store for free! Printouts 58 Check here for the cards for Mechzone and the Dreadball Ice Pack Kings of War, Dungeon Saga, and Dwarf King’s Hold: The Hero of Hedekaruna, by Davyd P. Nash 20 Lead your troops to victory in this Choose-you-own-Adventure story Teach Them to Fear the Elves Again, by Jason Moorman 32 Follow Jason as he recounts his force’s clashes in a recent tournament The Bloodstone of Cerillion, by Jonathan Peace 48 Check here to find out how to pre-order a copy of Mantic’s first Kings of War novel Warpath, Project Pandora, Dreadball, and Deadzone: The Dreadball Ice Pack, by Rob Taylor 40 This article introduces new MVPs, rules, and cards for use with frozen icy Dreadball pitches Mechzone, by Jon Peletis 48 Use your Striders, Iron Ancestors, and Stuntbots in a mechanical free-for-all with these rules Mars Attacks: Tips on Painting Bel, by Boston Miniatures 53 Boston Miniatures gives us their tips on how to paint the Mars Attacks Human hero Beloss Bel Advertisements |
The May issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Shonen Ace magazine is announcing on Tuesday that an anime adaptation of Takeru Kasukabe's Ore no Nōnai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Come o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru (My Mental Multiple-Choice Power Is Completely Ruining My School Romantic Comedy) light novel series is in the works. The story centers around Kanade Amakusa, a boy cursed with the mental power of "absolute multiple-choice" — a multiple-choice quiz will suddenly appear in his mind, and the choice he makes will become his reality. For example, he would have to choose between going nude from the waist up or the waist down in school. While in school, he is given another choice: 1) A beautiful girl will fall before him or 2) he will fall from the rooftop in female clothes. He chooses option 1, and a blonde girl named Chocolat falls before him. Kasukabe launched the light novel series in 2012 with art by Yukiwo, and The Sneaker Bunko label published the third volume last October. Ituki Sayaka is adapting the story into manga on Famitsu Comic Clear website. [Via IEE802.11] Update: Punctuation fixed. Thanks, Juhachi |
The concept of “cultural exception” (or exemption) was introduced by France in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations in 1993. The idea is that culture should be treated differently from other commercial products, and that cultural goods and services should be left out of international treaties and agreements. The goal is to protect and promote domestic artists and other elements of domestic culture, which in practice translates into protectionist measures limiting the diffusion of foreign artistic work (via quotas, e.g. French television channels) or into subventions to the cultural sector, e.g. cinema. The EP adopted a resolution asking for cultural and audiovisual services, including online ones, to be excluded from the TTIP negotiating mandate on 23 May 2013. On 14 June 2013 the Council agreed that audiovisual services would not be covered in the mandate, but this could be subject to revision. The EU has a legal obligation under the 2005 UNESCO Convention (which the US has not signed) to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions, a principle also enshrined in the EU Treaties (art. 167 TFEU). Moreover, in relation to trade agreements, individual member states have a veto in areas related to culture and the audiovisual sector if an agreement threatens “cultural and linguistic diversity” (art. 207 TFEU). According to the Commission, the negotiations on the TTIP will not interfere with the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS), which contains measures to promote European audiovisual content both for broadcasting services and video-on-demand services. They will not interfere either with other instruments such as: “public subsidies, financing obligations for broadcasters, taxes on film tickets, co-production agreements, linguistic policy measures, the functioning of channels invested with a public service remit, the existence of stockholding caps in channels and networks, intellectual property rights or specific social-security systems” (Commissioner Vassiliou’s speech of 17 May 2013). The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’s seventh round of negotiations is expected to take place in Washington in September 2014 (further information on the Commission’s TTIP website). See also: Overviews Trading culture for TTIP? / Deutsche Welle, 15 July 2014. TTIP has so far kept its distance from the cultural sector. These five FAQs explain why. The Cultural Exception vs TTIP/ Federation of European Film Directors, July 2013. newsletter pp 1-2. Gives the timeline of events and summarises positions. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Negotiations / Congressional Research Service, February 2014 (“Audiovisual services” p. 16). The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) / House of Commons Library Standard Note: SN/EP/6688 19.2. 2014. (“Potential sticking points and controversies” p. 5) These two notes summarise the controversy over the inclusion of cultural exceptions. Analysis The Return of the Cultural Exception and its Impact on International Agreements/ Marlen Bartsch in Global Media Journal Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2014. This essay examines the influence of the French concept of the “cultural exception” on European media policy and international agreements. After briefly reviewing the historical background of the cultural exception in France, the essay describes how demands for the cultural exception and those for diversity affect inter-/transnational agreements within the European Union and around the world. Special focus is placed on the current EU/US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) negotiations that nearly failed because of France’s insistence that media and culture be exempted. A comparative analysis of audio-visual services in selected US and Japanese regional trade agreements: lessons for the European Union / Bregt Natens, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies and the Institute for International Law (KU Leuven), April 2014. This paper defines the scope of the cultural exception, the audio-visual services sector and how it relates to the cultural exception. It addresses some relevant issues in EU trade policy and how a Regional Trade Agreement may restrict regulatory autonomy in the audio-visual services sector. It then analyses the American and Japanese offensive successes and the counterparties’ defensive attainments in their respective RTAs with Canada and Korea, and Switzerland and India. In between Curious Economics and l’exception culturelle: Implications of TAFTA | TTIP for the Cultural Sector / Future Challenges, February 2014. This article reviews the culture and trade debate and explains the economic characteristics of cultural products, sometimes called “curious economics” because it is difficult to express the intangible value of cultural products in monetary terms. Recent Evolution of The European Union’s Audiovisual Policy/ Harvey B. Feigenbaum, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University. Paper prepared for the International Conference on Public Policy, Grenoble, France, June 26-28, 2013. “When it comes to audiovisual policy and the regulation of the media, the conflict among the EU’s member-states is not so much structural as ideological. The conflicts over regulatory policy reflect the economic policy philosophies that to varying degrees divide Europe: neoliberalism versus dirigisme.” Audio-visual Services: International Trade and Cultural Policy? / Gillian Doyle, Asian Development Bank Institute Working Paper 355, January 2012. This study reviews the main forces driving patterns of trade in the audiovisual sector and identifies key issues that may potentially impact on trade liberalization and open markets. It also considers how open markets can be reconciled with cultural objectives which are an intrinsic aspect of the audiovisual sector. EU institutions EP EP resolution of 23 May 2014 on EU trade and investment negotiations with the United States of America Rapporteur: Vital Moreira. MEPs asked for cultural and audiovisual services, including online ones, to be excluded from the negotiating mandate, in order to protect the cultural and linguistic diversity of EU countries (381 votes to 191, with 17 abstentions). See also: EP Press release EU/US trade talks: keep Parliament on board, MEPs warn 23.5.2014. European Commission TTIP and Culture/ DG Trade (July 2014). “The TTIP negotiating mandate the EU Member States gave the European Commission expressly excluded the opening of the European audiovisual sector to competition from US firms. This means the Commission is not allowed to negotiate commitments in the sector and that TTIP will clearly exclude audiovisual services from any provisions granting access to EU markets.” European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht Speech at CDU Wirtschaftsrat Economic Conference, 3.7.2014: “It is out of the question that TTIP will affect Germany’s rich cultural diversity or policies. Neither public support for theatres, operas, film production, or public radio and television, nor Germany’s system of fixed prices for books will be subject of negotiation in TTIP. These issues are simply not being discussed at all in TTIP.” Remarks on the TTIP at Plenary debate of the European Parliament on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership/ Strasbourg, 22.5.13: “The EU and the Member State measures in support of their audio-visual sector can be maintained and will not be subject to negotiations. The EU and the Member States will retain the policy space to promote cultural diversity, for example, through subsidies, tax incentives etc. This will of course also include the development of new instruments to finance cultural works. This applies, in particular, to cinema and public broadcasting. […]We believe that a full-scale exclusion of audiovisual services from EU commitments in the TTIP negotiations is neither necessary nor justified.” President of the Commission José Manuel Barroso European Official Takes On the French / New York Times 16.6.13 “The European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, speaking in an interview ahead of a meeting Monday with President Obama and other leaders of the Group of 8 industrial nations, offered strikingly robust criticism of efforts in France to limit the scope of a trade pact.” Le Président Barroso rassure les cinéastes européens sur la protection de la culture dans les négociations avec les Etats-Unis. Memo/13/537. European Commission. 11/06/2013. Council Foreign Affairs-Trade Council Meeting of 14 June 2013 EU-US Trade relations: “The Council agreed that audiovisual services will not be covered in the mandate, but that the Commission will have the opportunity to make recommendations on additional negotiating mandates.” p. 6 of press release. Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council Meeting of 20-21 May 2013 Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement: “A number of member states reiterated their total opposition to the inclusion of audiovisual sector into the TTIP negotiations, recalling that this was crucial for cultural diversity and in particular for the European film industry and creative sector.” p.22 of press release. National views Kultur in Gefahr / Deutsche Welle 14 July 2014. Cultural sector workers in Germany feel culture in Europe is threatened by the trade negotiations between Europe and the USA. La France, fer de lance de l’exception culturelle face au marché libre? / Aurélie Filippetti, French Culture Minister Le Monde 13.6.2013. Letter in which she reaffirms France’s position on the cultural exception and warns against “letting culture go to the blind laws of the market”. The cultural exception: France is not alone! / French Department of Culture, 14 May 2013 “In the letter [to the Irish EU presidency and to the European Commission], 14 European states, representing the vast majority of the EU’s population, unequivocally demand, through their culture ministers, that “the EU’s constantly-reaffirmed position – which, both at the World Trade Organization and in bilateral negotiations, has always excluded audiovisual services from any commitment to trade liberalization – should be fully maintained. (…) It is a complete policy of the EU and its member states and it would be compromised if the exclusion we demand were not guaranteed. (…) More broadly, the same is true for our ability to choose and enact our legislation and regulation in the face of technological and economic changes.” US warns EU against exempting film industry from trade talks/ Peter Spiegel, Financial Times 11 June 2013. The US government has warned Brussels that EU efforts to placate French demands to exempt its film industry from high-profile transatlantic trade talks could unleash a torrent of demands in Washington for similar reciprocal carve-outs that would imperil a comprehensive deal. Stakeholder views Audiovisual sector EU/US Trade negotiations : The European film is at stake / Europa Distribution, May 2013 “If the cultural exception is gone, then all measures which support European film on the European level and in the Member states have to be scrapped because the liberalisation of the trade with goods and services means that all market participants have to be treated in the same way. Any kind of quotas are not allowed, all the subsidies have to be available for both parties – or none of them.” The cultural exception is non-negotiable! / Petition of European Filmmakers, 2013 The signatories call upon European heads of States to support the exclusion of audiovisual and film services from the EU-US trade negotiations. A thin Red Line / Federation of European Film Directors, July 2013 “As discussions on the wording of red lines overshadowed the initial issue of quotas and subsidies, the real question finally came to the surface: What happens to our audiovisual works online? What space will Europe have to make its own policy regarding online operators? What was really at stake was more than the current legislation on investment in and promotion of independent European works, but also how the audiovisual sector can be equipped to straddle the transition to the digital economy and an online market place which today is completely dominated by American giants such as Google, Amazon, Apple iTunes.” Trade Barriers to Exports of U.S. Filmed Entertainment / Motion Picture Association of America October 2010 “MPAA member companies, as firms with major European operating entities, welcome the European Union’s goal of creating a single market to foster European economic and political unity. However, there are concerns that the harmonization process does not always fully take into account the concerns of non-European producers and distributors of audiovisual entertainment.” pp 36-41 NGOs EU-US trade talks: Parliament TTIP-toes around IPR & culture IP integrity / IPtegrity 23 May 2014 “The European Parliament has today established its position on the EU-US Trade agreement. In the post-ACTA environment, its stance on copyright is waivering, as is the issue of transparency in the negotiations. But, unlike ACTA, TTIP is a broadly-scoped agreement, and the copyright industries are the subject of a quite different controversy – the so-called cultural exception. Moreover, another telecoms issue appears to have been entirely ignored.” Statistics European Audiovisual Observatory Focus series. The FOCUS presents the latest trends on all the major film markets around the world regarding film production and distribution as well as admissions. Focus 2012 and Focus 2014: World film market trends are both available at EPRS Library at S 32.20.18 EUR 12/14. See also: Box office down in the European Union in 2013 but first quarter of 2014 shows promise, 9 May 2014 UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) Measuring cultural diversity: due to the complex nature of subject, the diversity of cultural expressions requires a wide range of statistical indicators. As it stands, very few countries regularly collect data on culture, and for those that do, most of the statistics cannot be compared internationally. There are few standards to identify or monitor the wealth of cultural expressions and practices found across the globe.The UIS aims to provide countries with the frameworks, tools and indicators needed to monitor the diversity of cultural expressions. International Flows Of Selected Cultural Goods And Services, 1994-2003: Defining and capturing the flows of global cultural trade / UIS, 2005 Further reading Free trade and cultural diversity in international law/ Shi, Jingxia Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2013 available in the EPRS library at S 20.12.20.24 SHI 13. The Future of the Culture and Trade Debate: A Legal Outlook / Neuwirth, Rostam Josef, Journal of World Trade, Vol. 47 – Issue 2, March 2013, 29 p. European film policies in EU and international law : culture and trade – marriage or misalliance?/ Herold, Anna, Groningen: Europa Law Publishing, 2010. Available in the EPRS Library at S 32.20.18 CEE HER 10 Diversité culturelle et droit international du commerce / La Documentation Française, 2009. Available in EPRS Library at S 20.12.20.24 RIC 09. Free trade and culture : a study of relevant WTO rules and constraints on national cultural policy measures / Peter van den Bossche. Amsterdam: Boekmanstudies, 2007. Available in EPRS Library at S 20.12.20.24 BOS 07 Cultural diversity and the WTO : David versus Goliath? / Wouters, Jan ; De Meester, Bart , Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies Working papers, WP5, 10/2007. The cultural industries in international trade law : insights from the NAFTA, the WTO and the EU/ Neuwirth, Rostam Josef. Florence, European University Institute, 2005. Can protectionism ever be respectable? A Skeptic’s Case for the Cultural Exception, with Special Reference to French Movies / Jacques Delacroix and Julien Bornon in The Independent Review 9: 3, Winter 2005 pp. 353–374. The French audiovisual policy impact and compatibility with trade negotiations/ Cocq, Emmanuel ; Messerlin, Patrick A., Hamburgisches Welt-Wirtschafts-Archiv (HWWA) Report 233, 2003. |
When Mosul's Cops Return, Will They Seek Reconciliation Or Revenge? Enlarge this image toggle caption Alice Fordham/NPR Alice Fordham/NPR To find Mosul's cops, you drive to a gray dot of a village in an endless desert. The village, Mahana, was retaken from the Islamic State a few months ago and for now it's the police base for cops who left Mosul when ISIS took over more than two years ago. Iraq's army and its allies are now battling their way through rural areas toward the larger prize of retaking Mosul. Helicopters buzz back and forth from the front lines. Every breath is bitter with smoke from oil wells set alight by ISIS. Inside the police base, the mood is upbeat. The police are helping the army with logistics. Presiding over a bank of radios and several battlefield maps is police Gen. Abdulkareem al-Jubouri. "Yesterday, they liberated my village," he says of the tiny hamlet where his mother and sisters lived for more than two years under ISIS rule. "I feel great happiness today," he says. "First, because we liberate our areas and our people from ISIS, everyone is happy, not just me. The officers, the recruits, everyone is happy. Today I went to my parents — such a great happiness." He went with the army and several of his men on a mission to figure out how to hold the village. But he did have time to hug his mother. "She was crying," he says. Enlarge this image toggle caption Alice Fordham/NPR Alice Fordham/NPR Gen. Jubouri is optimistic. He believes the police, with their knowledge of the area, should be the holding force when and if ISIS is expelled from Mosul. But the Mosul police have a reputation to overcome. Before ISIS took Mosul in June 2014, people in the city complained that the police were corrupt and infiltrated by al-Qaida. The police chief, Gen. Wathiq al-Hamdani, is pretty blunt. "Some of them, they have a relationship with the terrorists, and some of the police who stayed in Mosul now, they work with ISIS," he says. He says this refers to about 20 percent of the force. But now, he says, the police have had training from the U.S.-led coalition outside Mosul, and they're ready to go back and help rebuild the place. But even if the police at the training base aren't allied with the extremists, there could still be problems like discipline and a desire for revenge. For many police, the battle against ISIS is personal. They lost friends and family, and their desire to settle scores could override their training. A young police corporal, Muhannad Ahmed, is also from the village now retaken from ISIS, and says his relatives there are like people who died and were given life again. He talks about what he'll do if he encounters anyone linked to ISIS. "I'm going to go and slaughter them all," he says. "I won't leave anyone in their family. I will erase them from the face of the earth. The brother or father of anyone who is with ISIS." In training, he was taught to hand over suspected ISIS fighters to be dealt with by the courts. But as the setting sun shines golden on his youthful face, he says, "We feel we have to kill them." |
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The organization is receiving the award for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons. We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time. Some states are modernizing their nuclear arsenals, and there is a real danger that more countries will try to procure nuclear weapons, as exemplified by North Korea. Nuclear weapons pose a constant threat to humanity and all life on earth. Through binding international agreements, the international community has previously adopted prohibitions against land mines, cluster munitions and biological and chemical weapons. Nuclear weapons are even more destructive, but have not yet been made the object of a similar international legal prohibition. Through its work, ICAN has helped to fill this legal gap. An important argument in the rationale for prohibiting nuclear weapons is the unacceptable human suffering that a nuclear war will cause. ICAN is a coalition of non-governmental organizations from around 100 different countries around the globe. The coalition has been a driving force in prevailing upon the world’s nations to pledge to cooperate with all relevant stakeholders in efforts to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons. To date, 127 states have made such a commitment, known as the Humanitarian Pledge. Furthermore, ICAN has been the leading civil society actor in the endeavour to achieve a prohibition of nuclear weapons under international law. On 7 July 2017, 122 of the UN member states adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. As soon as the treaty has been ratified by 50 states, the ban on nuclear weapons will enter into force and will be binding under international law for all the countries that are party to the treaty. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is aware that an international legal prohibition will not in itself eliminate a single nuclear weapon, and that so far neither the states that already have nuclear weapons nor their closest allies support the nuclear weapon ban treaty. The Committee wishes to emphasize that the next steps towards attaining a world free of nuclear weapons must involve the nuclear-armed states. This year’s Peace Prize is therefore also a call upon these states to initiate serious negotiations with a view to the gradual, balanced and carefully monitored elimination of the almost 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Five of the states that currently have nuclear weapons – the USA, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China – have already committed to this objective through their accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1970. The Non-Proliferation Treaty will remain the primary international legal instrument for promoting nuclear disarmament and preventing the further spread of such weapons. It is now 71 years since the UN General Assembly, in its very first resolution, advocated the importance of nuclear disarmament and a nuclear weapon-free world. With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to pay tribute to ICAN for giving new momentum to the efforts to achieve this goal. The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has a solid grounding in Alfred Nobel’s will. The will specifies three different criteria for awarding the Peace Prize: the promotion of fraternity between nations, the advancement of disarmament and arms control and the holding and promotion of peace congresses. ICAN works vigorously to achieve nuclear disarmament. ICAN and a majority of UN member states have contributed to fraternity between nations by supporting the Humanitarian Pledge. And through its inspiring and innovative support for the UN negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons, ICAN has played a major part in bringing about what in our day and age is equivalent to an international peace congress. It is the firm conviction of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that ICAN, more than anyone else, has in the past year given the efforts to achieve a world without nuclear weapons a new direction and new vigour. Oslo, 6 October 2017 (Edited number of states having adopted the Humanitarian Pledge. 19 October 2017) |
From the time it was announced that Strikeforce had a pay cable partner in Showtime and a potential broadcast partner in CBS, it was clear that their roster needed some depth. Even with some notable talent like Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, and the "on-again, off-again" Cung Le, the organization needed guys that were going to be able to headline events and interest mainstream fans in buying tickets, watching, and engaging in the product. Gilbert Melendez against Josh Thomson and Bobby Southworth against Renato Sobral were nice and all, but that wasn't going to get CBS excited. Even with the explosion of Gina Carano and the inking of Fedor Emelianenko, there was still work to be done with filling out the cards between the events featuring their linchpin stars. But with the financial juggernaut of the UFC having locked down nearly every free agent worth signing, while retaining all of their top talents, Strikeforce was in a tough spot with a busy 2010 calendar on the horizon. Then, they got busy. Culminating with Monday's inking of UFC/PRIDE veteran Dan Henderson and Thursday night's signing of heavyweight prospect Bobby Lashley, Scott Coker has been delivering a ton of early Christmas presents to Strikeforce fans. For those of you looking to fill out your roster cards, I hope you've been writing in pencil as there have been a lot of additions of late. Bobby Lashley News broke late Thursday night that former WWE talent and current TNA star Bobby Lashley had inked a long-discussed deal with Strikeforce. A standout collegiate wrestler, Lashley joined WWE in 2004 and left in 2008. He decided to move into MMA and made his debut in Dec. 2008. Lashley is 4-0 in his young career with his last victory coming over Bob Sapp this past June. He's got personality, a killer look, and should be groomed as a heavyweight menace in 2010. Keep in mind that he's still quite inexperienced and expecting Brock Lesnar-esque results is a bit much. But with the wrestling audience now fully transfixed in MMA, this is a smart long-term sign by Strikeforce. He's expected to debut at the Strikeforce event in Sunrise, Florida, on Jan. 30. Dan Henderson A 12-year veteran, Henderson became a free agent after his highlight reel KO of Michael Bisping at UFC 100 this summer. Part of a PR battle with the UFC due to his supposed Tito Ortiz-like pay demands, Henderson apparently grew tired of waiting and inked a four-fight, 16-month contract and, according to him, will debut at an unannounced CBS event scheduled for the spring. I guess the UFC banning Henderson's Clinch Gear brand in the past months didn't help, eh? Is he a major draw at this point? No, but he's now easily one of the top fighters they have and provides legitimate talent to put in against everyone from Jake Shields at 185 to Gegard Mousasi at 205 and even Fedor at heavyweight. He's a valuable asset to the promotion but is soft-spoken and unfortunately, Strikeforce can't use any of his UFC/PRIDE footage to help sell him. Regardless, this was a great sign. KJ Noons Make no mistake, the signing of Noons is to eventually pair him with rival Nick Diaz, whom he defeated back in Nov. 2007 via first-round TKO to become the first EliteXC lightweight champion. What followed was an altercation involving Noons' father and the Diaz brothers during the post-fight interviews making a rematch a definite. However, it never came to fruition and Noons decided to focus on boxing for nearly the past 18 months. It's been a long time since he's been in the cage (Jun. '08), but the 27-year-old is looking to add to a 7-2 record with seven T/KOs—well worth the gamble for Coker. The promotion for "Diaz vs. Noons" II should be great. King Mo At 28 years old, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal brings persona and flair into the ring—something you usually don't see with former NCAA wrestling champions. Lawal has a long wrestling history and is 5-0 in his young career with four victories coming via T/KO. He's a versatile fighter for Coker, as he can fight at either light heavyweight or heavyweight and will face Mike Whitehead at the Dec. 19 event as a heavyweight. He's not ready for Fedor, but if he can beat Whitehead without suffering too many injuries, how about a tilt with Brett Rogers at the next CBS show? Melvin Manhoef The 33-year-old Manhoef is a kickboxing veteran (37-8, 27 KOs) and experienced in MMA (23-6-1, 22 T/KOs). He's lost two of his last three but one was to current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi. He only fought once in 2009, a first-round submission loss to Paulo Filho in July. When he debuts, don't expect to see him in there for long. His last eight fights didn't go past the first round and he's never been past the second in his MMA career. Expect a match against Robbie Lawler in '10 as it was originally discussed for the Dec. 19 event. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Matt Lindland The 30-year-old Souza debuts at the Dec. 19 show against Matt Lindland in the debut for both in Strikeforce. Souza is 10-2-1 and is coming off a no-contest against Jason "Mayhem" Miller in May for Dream—where he's spent his last five fights. Another quick finisher (just one career fight past the first round), the BJJ black belt Souza is a submission machine. Enter Lindland, the MMA veteran who is looking for redemption after being violently KO'd by Vitor Belfort at Affliction's last event in January. The 39-year-old doesn't have many fights left, but is still 21-6 and has fought some names (Belfort, Fedor, Rampage Jackson). He's worth a gamble for Strikeforce but could be out after one fight if he loses badly. Jason "Mayhem" Miller What list would be complete without the inclusion of "Mayhem"? The MTV crossover star that took Jake Shields to the limit at the CBS November show, can talk a great game and is a colorful character for a promotion that needs it. While a rematch with Shields could be in the cards based on their recent Twitter war, I'd like to see a three-rounder with another opponent to really gauge where Miller's game is. He's still a valuable hand for Coker and could increase in value in '10. He can sell fights—go use him! Roger Bowling An early November signing, Bowling is a top young welterweight who will debut in February or March at a challengers event. At 6-0, he hasn't even seen the second round and has four wins by T/KO and two by submission. He's a great addition to what's become a staple in the challengers series: A low-pressure, but important set of events in smaller venues that helps establish the next group of young fighters looking to make it to the big card. This helps push the idea that the main Strikeforce/CBS events are an achievement so when they make it, they have accomplished something. And then, there's Roger Huerta. The former Sports Illustrated cover boy became a free agent following a split decision loss to Gray Maynard in September that finished out his UFC contract. Since deciding and then un-deciding to focus on Hollywood, Huerta has lost two in a row but at one point, was a highly regarded 155 after six straight wins in the octagon. At 20-3-1 and just 26 years old, there is plenty of time in Huerta's future if he's willing to commit full-time to MMA, which sounds like it's in his plan. Because of his inactivity the past two years (just two fights), he doesn't have the same wear and tear and would be a great addition to the Strikeforce roster. Like Henderson, he's not a guy that will make a huge difference at the box office but with his versatility and the right fights, Huerta could live up to his SI fame with some money matches against Melendez, Thomson and others if he went up in weight. The key for Strikeforce is to keep going and cut guys that aren't worth the effort in favor of strengthening the roster with shrewd, yet aggressive signings like Henderson. I also think they should be a bit more upfront in securing former TUF fighters that the UFC doesn't retain. They have instant recognition from 13 weeks on TV so why not give them a one-fight deal on a challengers show and see what they've got? "UFC vs. Strikeforce" might not be the inter-promotional war that WWE and WCW was back in the late '90s, but Strikeforce can continue to make a nice name for themselves in 2010 if they are smart about tinkering with their roster. There have been plenty of groups before them that have crashed and burned due to bad decisions, but I don't think this is going to be one of them. Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio and Mauro Ronallo's The Fight Show . Follow him on Twitter. |
An animal welfare organisation is seeking the owners of a 25-year-old cat that apparently made an incredible journey from Australia to Northern Ireland. The ginger cat was found by Cat Protection in County Armagh last week. He was taken to a vet, who found that he had been fitted with a microchip in Australia. The data showed that the apparent stowaway had also been registered as a stray in London – and that he was born in 1989 making him 25 years old. The average life expectancy for cats is up to 15 years. His name according to the microchip is Tigger, but the Cat Protection workers have renamed him Ozzie. “Ozzie has a microchip which shows he came from Australia but owners never registered their details,” a post on the Armagh Cats Protection Facebook page revealed. “He turned up as a stray at a London vet clinic in 2004. Now he is with us after he was found in Laurelvale!!” Cat Protection now hopes to find the original owner. “We are desperate to unravel the rest of this cat's past and hopefully reunite him with his owners,” Gillian McMullen, Cat Protection coordinator, told to the Belfast Telegraph. "We have been in touch with the Australian Animal Register and have our fingers and paws crossed on word from them on this cat." |
goatpig Legendary Offline Activity: 2128 Merit: 1111 Armory Developer ModeratorLegendaryActivity: 2128Merit: 1111Armory Developer FRAGMENTED BACKUPS VULNERABILITY!! IF YOU USE THEM, READ THIS!! September 22, 2017, 05:03:40 PM Last edit: September 23, 2017, 03:11:22 AM by goatpig Merited by malevolent (5) #1 Fragmented backups in Armory use a broken implementation of Shamir's Secret Sharing (SSS). All users of fragmented backups need to treat the wallets backed up in this fashion compromised and migrate all funds to a fresh wallet. 1) The story A couple days ago I was warned by Gregory Maxwell that the implementation for Shamir's Secret Sharing Armory uses is broken. After reviewing the code in question, I've concluded the implementation of SSS introduces a vulnerability in fragmented backups that requires not only an immediate fix but also a community wide warning to alert all fragmented backup users. These users need to sweep all funds from these wallets. All version starting 0.96.3 will have the vulnerability fix. 2) A high level look at SSS SSS is a scheme that takes a secret and outputs a set of N fragments. M of these fragments are sufficient to reconstruct the secret. In order to do so, you first constructs a polynomial f of degree M over a finite field, in which M-1 of the coefficients are random values, and the last one is the secret itself. You then compute N points of f. Each point, which is a pair (x, f(x)), constitutes a fragment. To reveal the secret, you need to reconstruct the polynomial, which you do by interpolating M points together. I will not go into the details of the interpolation, but one element here is crucial: The effect of a partial interpolation is to narrow down the possible candidates for valid coefficients. In other words, the more points on the curve you interpolate, the clearer a picture of the curve you get. The curve is constructed around your secret, a more refined interpolation results in an ever increasing leak of information, to the point where you can brute force the secret. This property of the interpolation is counteracted by the use of a finite field. Since all points generated with the polynomial belong to the underlying finite field, the cyclic nature of finite fields widens the range of possible solutions that would yield your particular polynomial from a partial interpolation (by making them infinite), in such a way that you simply cannot brute force your way out of the interpolating at least M points. A simple way to demonstrate that property is as follows: Consider the equation: Code: 8 = 5 + x It's obvious that x is 3, and that this is the only solution. Now add this variation to the equation: Code: 8 = (5 + x) mod 11 Suddenly x can be 3, 14, 25, 36... and so on. There is now an infinite amount of solutions for x, due to the introduction of the modulo operation. This is essentially the effect the finite field has on the interpolation equations. 3) The vulnerability The whole point of the previous section was to demonstrate how SSS is constructed to prevent partial information leaking. One of the requirements to insure that property is that all of the polynomial coefficients but the secret are chosen at random. This is precisely what Armory's implementation breaks, by rolling deterministic and chained coefficients, where the first coefficient is deterministically derived from the secret, and the subsequent ones are derived successively from one another. If you look at it in the context of the previous paragraph, where SSS was crafted to deny any alley to gather information about coefficients short of M fragments, the newly introduced deterministic relationship between all coefficents provides a path that potentially dumbs down the security of SSS to that of the hash function used to generate the coefficients. This can ultimately lead to a subset of fragments leaking information about coefficients where none should be. 4) In the code Code wise, there were 2 instances of this implementation, both of which are faulty. a) The first version It did 2 things wrong, one more aggravating than the other: The coefficients were not picked at random, instead they were derived as hashes of the secret, in a fashion that boils down to this: Code: coefficient_0 = hash(secret) coefficient_(n+1) = hash(coefficient_n) The fragments themselves were constructed as the following points on the curve: Code: fragment_n = (coefficient_n, f(coefficient_n)) There are 2 important issues with this setup. First of all, the coefficients are not selected at random, therefor it breaks SSS security assumptions. Next, and most aggravating, the coefficients were provided as is on the fragments, since you need to provide the pair (x, f(x)), and x in this case were the actual coefficients. Note that since the coefficients were derived from each other, the second mistake is twice as aggravating, as anyone with fragment n would have coefficient n and could derive all coefficients n+1. The second mistake was caught and fixed eventually. I was not involved with anything regarding cryptography and security in Armory at the time, therefor I have no recollection of the event. I expect there was a write up of the issue and people were told to cycle wallets, but I can't remember any of it. You can look at the code in its original form here: https://github.com/etotheipi/BitcoinArmory/commit/80e373a#diff-27fe88d2c6032fecb93912a17d72081bR1615 b) The second version The second version only made sure points were generated using the [1...N] sequence for x instead of coefficient themselves. At this point fragmented backups where no longer as broken but the code still did not implement SSS correctly. Notably the assumption that no amount of fragments less than M can leak any data about the secret is not true with that faulty implementation. One way to look at it is that this implementation introduces a deterministic relationship between the coefficients in a way that it can effectively reduce the security of the system to that of a single pass of HMAC512 provided an amount L of fragments, with L < M. Here is the commit for the second version: https://github.com/etotheipi/BitcoinArmory/commit/0824b632600116bd6395cec939fa6fd398efeb19#diff-27fe88d2c6032fecb93912a17d72081bR1915 5) Affected versions Fragmented backups were introduced in version 0.88 (04/18/2013) and the first fix was deployed in version 0.90 (11/26/2013). The final fix was introduced in v0.96.3 (9/21/2017) 6) The fix The coefficients were made deterministic in order to present deterministic fragments to the user when fragmenting a wallet over a given scheme. In other words, fragmenting wallet W over a M-of-N scheme would always yield the save fragment values for the same fragment index. This introduces scenarios where any amount of fragments can be recomputed from the private wallet root without invalidating fragments still in the wild. The fix was to randomize the coefficients at the cost of the deterministic characteristic of the fragments. The choice was fairly simple: a) The deterministic attribute gained by bastardizing SSS is worthless in the face of how it damages its security properties. b) Even if a change to SSS is designed so that it does not so obviously erode its security properties, this is still an act of rolling a custom cryptographic function, which commands a level of review and security analysis that will most likely not be performed at the adequate level. c) There are no scenarios I can think of in which the feature of determinism in fragments is actually necessary and central to this type of backups. Introducing it at the cost of security is therefor doubly unacceptable. Backups are supposed to be forever afterall, lacing solid crypto with any kind of bootlegged algorithm does not stand to reason. Therefor, it is without hesitation that the faulty feature was undone, and the faulty code removed from the repo so as to prevent unaware users from copying it into their own projects. The changes can be seen here: https://github.com/goatpig/BitcoinArmory/commit/94d2a7556d25cf788da639d81a7162694982f6b7 https://github.com/goatpig/BitcoinArmory/commit/7bd9887891ac88e2e49954ef034bedef88f23eaf 7) GUI changes Since the fragments are not deterministic anymore, they are now generated with a unique set ID which is reflected on the backup strings and printed backups. Fragments are only useful within a their own set. Another way to put it is that you cannot mix and match fragments from different sets. This is the only difference between the pre and post fix implementation. The fixed version is compatible with fragments generated from the deterministic version. You will still be able to restore from these with version 0.96.3+ 8 ) Recommendations It is hard to say exactly how effectively this custom take on SSS breaks security at the fragment level. How fewer fragments would it take to reproduce a secret than intended? Honestly, I don't know, but while the first implementation was effectively breaking all security assumptions of SSS, the second version is SSS at least theoretically. I don't expect an attacker can snatch a single fragment and reveal the secret the next minute with minimal code. This vulnerability reduces the overall complexity of the problem that of a hash function, it doesn't outright bypass all complexity. Since we're talking 32 byte integers, breaking the scheme isn't trivial, but it has certainly been weakened to a state that is difficult to precisely assess. Therefor, to remain on the conservative side, my recommendation is as follows: If you created a fragment backup of your wallet, consider that wallet compromised. Create a new wallet and sweep the funds from the compromised wallet to the new one . You can redo your fragmented backup scheme on the new wallet provided you use Armory 0.96.3 and newer. If you do not use fragmented backups, you have nothing to do. 9) Notes Special thanks to Gregory Maxwell for finding the vulnerability and helping with the review of the fix. TLDR:Fragmented backups in Armory use a broken implementation of Shamir's Secret Sharing (SSS). All users of fragmented backups need to treat the wallets backed up in this fashion compromised and migrate all funds to a fresh wallet.A couple days ago I was warned by Gregory Maxwell that the implementation for Shamir's Secret Sharing Armory uses is broken. After reviewing the code in question, I've concluded the implementation of SSS introduces a vulnerability in fragmented backups that requires not only an immediate fix but also a community wide warning to alert all fragmented backup users.These users need to sweep all funds from these wallets. All version starting 0.96.3 will have the vulnerability fix.SSS is a scheme that takes a secret and outputs a set of N fragments. M of these fragments are sufficient to reconstruct the secret.In order to do so, you first constructs a polynomial f of degree M over a finite field, in which M-1 of the coefficients are random values, and the last one is the secret itself. You then compute N points of f. Each point, which is a pair (x, f(x)), constitutes a fragment.To reveal the secret, you need to reconstruct the polynomial, which you do by interpolating M points together.I will not go into the details of the interpolation, but one element here is crucial: The effect of a partial interpolation is to narrow down the possible candidates for valid coefficients. In other words, the more points on the curve you interpolate, the clearer a picture of the curve you get. The curve is constructed around your secret, a more refined interpolation results in an ever increasing leak of information, to the point where you can brute force the secret.This property of the interpolation is counteracted by the use of a finite field. Since all points generated with the polynomial belong to the underlying finite field, the cyclic nature of finite fields widens the range of possible solutions that would yield your particular polynomial from a partial interpolation (by making them infinite), in such a way that you simply cannot brute force your way out of the interpolating at least M points.A simple way to demonstrate that property is as follows:Consider the equation:It's obvious that x is 3, and that this is the only solution. Now add this variation to the equation:Suddenly x can be 3, 14, 25, 36... and so on. There is now an infinite amount of solutions for x, due to the introduction of the modulo operation. This is essentially the effect the finite field has on the interpolation equations.The whole point of the previous section was to demonstrate how SSS is constructed to prevent partial information leaking. One of the requirements to insure that property is that all of the polynomial coefficients but the secret are chosen at random.This is precisely what Armory's implementation breaks, by rolling deterministic and chained coefficients, where the first coefficient is deterministically derived from the secret, and the subsequent ones are derived successively from one another.If you look at it in the context of the previous paragraph, where SSS was crafted to deny any alley to gather information about coefficients short of M fragments, the newly introduced deterministic relationship between all coefficents provides a path that potentially dumbs down the security of SSS to that of the hash function used to generate the coefficients.This can ultimately lead to a subset of fragments leaking information about coefficients where none should be.Code wise, there were 2 instances of this implementation, both of which are faulty.It did 2 things wrong, one more aggravating than the other:The coefficients were not picked at random, instead they were derived as hashes of the secret, in a fashion that boils down to this:The fragments themselves were constructed as the following points on the curve:There are 2 important issues with this setup. First of all, the coefficients are not selected at random, therefor it breaks SSS security assumptions.Next, and most aggravating, the coefficients were provided as is on the fragments, since you need to provide the pair (x, f(x)), and x in this case were the actual coefficients.Note that since the coefficients were derived from each other, the second mistake is twice as aggravating, as anyone with fragment n would have coefficient n and could derive all coefficients n+1.The second mistake was caught and fixed eventually. I was not involved with anything regarding cryptography and security in Armory at the time, therefor I have no recollection of the event. I expect there was a write up of the issue and people were told to cycle wallets, but I can't remember any of it.You can look at the code in its original form here:The second version only made sure points were generated using the [1...N] sequence for x instead of coefficient themselves. At this point fragmented backups where no longer as broken but the code still did not implement SSS correctly.Notably the assumption that no amount of fragments less than M can leak any data about the secret is not true with that faulty implementation.One way to look at it is that this implementation introduces a deterministic relationship between the coefficients in a way that it can effectively reduce the security of the system to that of a single pass of HMAC512 provided an amount L of fragments, with L < M.Here is the commit for the second version:Fragmented backups were introduced in version 0.88 (04/18/2013) and the first fix was deployed in version 0.90 (11/26/2013).The final fix was introduced in v0.96.3 (9/21/2017)The coefficients were made deterministic in order to present deterministic fragments to the user when fragmenting a wallet over a given scheme. In other words, fragmenting wallet W over a M-of-N scheme would always yield the save fragment values for the same fragment index.This introduces scenarios where any amount of fragments can be recomputed from the private wallet root without invalidating fragments still in the wild.The fix was to randomize the coefficients at the cost of the deterministic characteristic of the fragments. The choice was fairly simple:a) The deterministic attribute gained by bastardizing SSS is worthless in the face of how it damages its security properties.b) Even if a change to SSS is designed so that it does not so obviously erode its security properties, this is still an act of rolling a custom cryptographic function, which commands a level of review and security analysis that will most likely not be performed at the adequate level.c) There are no scenarios I can think of in which the feature of determinism in fragments is actually necessary and central to this type of backups. Introducing it at the cost of security is therefor doubly unacceptable. Backups are supposed to be forever afterall, lacing solid crypto with any kind of bootlegged algorithm does not stand to reason.Therefor, it is without hesitation that the faulty feature was undone, and the faulty code removed from the repo so as to prevent unaware users from copying it into their own projects.The changes can be seen here:Since the fragments are not deterministic anymore, they are now generated with a unique set ID which is reflected on the backup strings and printed backups. Fragments are only useful within a their own set. Another way to put it is that you cannot mix and match fragments from different sets. This is the only difference between the pre and post fix implementation.The fixed version is compatible with fragments generated from the deterministic version. You will still be able to restore from these with version 0.96.3+It is hard to say exactly how effectively this custom take on SSS breaks security at the fragment level. How fewer fragments would it take to reproduce a secret than intended? Honestly, I don't know, but while the first implementation was effectively breaking all security assumptions of SSS, the second version is SSS at least theoretically.I don't expect an attacker can snatch a single fragment and reveal the secret the next minute with minimal code. This vulnerability reduces the overall complexity of the problem that of a hash function, it doesn't outright bypass all complexity.Since we're talking 32 byte integers, breaking the scheme isn't trivial, but it has certainly been weakened to a state that is difficult to precisely assess. Therefor, to remain on the conservative side, my recommendation is as follows:If you created a fragment backup of your wallet,. You can redo your fragmented backup scheme on the new wallet provided you use Armory 0.96.3 and newer.If you do not use fragmented backups, you have nothing to do.Special thanks to Gregory Maxwell for finding the vulnerability and helping with the review of the fix. https://btcarmory.com Your Bitcoin transactions The Ultimate Bitcoin mixer made truly anonymous. with an advanced technology. Mix coins Advertised sites are not endorsed by the Bitcoin Forum. They may be unsafe, untrustworthy, or illegal in your jurisdiction. Advertise here. gangtraet Offline Activity: 158 Merit: 100 Full MemberActivity: 158Merit: 100 Re: FRAGMENTED BACKUPS VULNERABILITY!! IF YOU USE THEM, READ THIS!! September 25, 2017, 09:11:54 AM #2 two things should be random in SSS. The coefficients of the polynomial. And the x-values where the polynomial is evaluated. Non-random x values is probably relatively benign, since all information about the polynomial is in the f(x) values. Wikipedia does not even mention that the x values should be random. Pseudo-random coefficients is certainly a bad idea. And printing the coefficients of the polynomial by using them as x-values is a horrendous mistake, I can hardly believe that it has been done! Is there any way I can see on my 3-of-5 backup if it was made before or after that update was made? I am of course going to move my funds, but doing so before a new 3-of-5 backup is in place is also a risk. EDIT: Could not spell 'pseudo' There arethings should be random in SSS. The coefficients of the polynomial. And the x-values where the polynomial is evaluated.Non-random x values is probably relatively benign, since all information about the polynomial is in the f(x) values. Wikipedia does not even mention that the x values should be random.Pseudo-random coefficients is certainly a bad idea. And printing the coefficients of the polynomial by using them as x-values is a horrendous mistake, I can hardly believe that it has been done!Is there any way I can see on my 3-of-5 backup if it was made before or after that update was made? I am of course going to move my funds, but doing so before a new 3-of-5 backup is in place is also a risk.EDIT: Could not spell 'pseudo' gangtraet Offline Activity: 158 Merit: 100 Full MemberActivity: 158Merit: 100 Re: FRAGMENTED BACKUPS VULNERABILITY!! IF YOU USE THEM, READ THIS!! September 25, 2017, 01:35:09 PM #3 Quote from: gangtraet on September 25, 2017, 09:11:54 AM And printing the coefficients of the polynomial by using them as x-values is a horrendous mistake, I can hardly believe that it has been done! This is even worse than I first thought. In an N-of-M backup, each of the M sheets encodes a linear equation (linear in the unknown coefficients, not in x). Together, they can be solved to find the N coefficients of a polynomial. It requires N equations to find the N unknowns, this is where the most of the security comes from. In addition, you want to avoid leaking information that could potentially reduce the search space for the unknowns, hence the random x values. But if each sheet reveals a coefficient, then there are TWO equations on each sheet! (y = c_0 + c_1 * x + c_2 * x^2 + ... and c_i = x) Thus you only need N/2 sheets to recover the key !!!. The seed can be recovered from a single sheet of what was supposed to be a 2-of-M backup, or from two sheets of a 3-of-M or 4-of-M backup, etc etc. At least only the oldest Armory backups have this awful flaw. The newer ones potentially leak some information that makes finding the key a little less impossible if you already have N-1 sheets. NB: This is of course assuming that I have not misunderstood goatpig's undoubtedly slightly simplified explanation of the flawed algorithm. This is even worse than I first thought. In an N-of-M backup, each of the M sheets encodes a linear equation (linear in the unknown coefficients, not in x). Together, they can be solved to find the N coefficients of a polynomial. It requires N equations to find the N unknowns, this is where the most of the security comes from. In addition, you want to avoid leaking information that could potentially reduce the search space for the unknowns, hence the random x values.But if each sheet reveals a coefficient, then there are TWO equations on each sheet! (y = c_0 + c_1 * x + c_2 * x^2 + ... and c_i = x). The seed can be recovered from a single sheet of what was supposed to be a 2-of-M backup, or from two sheets of a 3-of-M or 4-of-M backup, etc etc.At least only the oldest Armory backups have this awful flaw. The newer onesleak some information that makes finding the key a little less impossible if you already have N-1 sheets.NB: This is of course assuming that I have not misunderstood goatpig's undoubtedly slightly simplified explanation of the flawed algorithm. goatpig Legendary Offline Activity: 2128 Merit: 1111 Armory Developer ModeratorLegendaryActivity: 2128Merit: 1111Armory Developer Re: FRAGMENTED BACKUPS VULNERABILITY!! IF YOU USE THEM, READ THIS!! September 25, 2017, 02:50:05 PM #4 Quote from: gangtraet on September 25, 2017, 09:11:54 AM Non-random x values is probably relatively benign, since all information about the polynomial is in the f(x) values. You can choose any x as long as the coefficients are random. I don't quite see how randomizing x achieves anything, as you have to provide entire points (x, f(x)) as fragments, therefor x is public information. Maybe you were trying to say that the x values should be chosen at random, instead of say, as part of a sequence? I don't think that's relevant at all for SSS, since all operation are performed on a finite field. Quote Is there any way I can see on my 3-of-5 backup if it was made before or after that update was made? I am of course going to move my funds, but doing so before a new 3-of-5 backup is in place is also a risk. The coefficients are 32bytes, therefor your backup would have 5 lines (1 header line + 4 * (16bytes of data + 2bytes of checksum) lines) per fragment. If the fragment only has 1 header and 2 data lines, it's using implicit [1,...,N] for x. Quote Thus you only need N/2 sheets to recover the key !!!. The seed can be recovered from a single sheet of what was supposed to be a 2-of-M backup, or from two sheets of a 3-of-M or 4-of-M backup, etc etc. Shocked It's far worse than that. Look at how the coefficients are constructed, they're hashes of the previous coefficient. Whatever fragment the attacker gets access to, he will be able to compute all following coefficients just by hashing x once. Read this again and look at the code again. In the first scheme, anyone with access to a fragment that carries the first coefficient can compute *ALL* all of the coefficients. The single point he has with the fragment is then enough to reveal the secret. This is slightly worsened by the fact that since there are more fragments than coefficients, certain coefficients reoccur on several fragments. Now people being people, when they distribute fragments they tend keep the first few for themselves, by happenstance. If the coefficients were distributed in order with fragments, this very human yet entirely irrelevant quirk would actually save these users from total disaster. Again, the order of coefficients matter since they are derived consecutively from one another You can choose any x as long as the coefficients are random. I don't quite see how randomizing x achieves anything, as you have to provide entire points (x, f(x)) as fragments, therefor x is public information. Maybe you were trying to say that the x values should be chosen at random, instead of say, as part of a sequence? I don't think that's relevant at all for SSS, since all operation are performed on a finite field.The coefficients are 32bytes, therefor your backup would have 5 lines (1 header line + 4 * (16bytes of data + 2bytes of checksum) lines) per fragment. If the fragment only has 1 header and 2 data lines, it's using implicit [1,...,N] for x.It's far worse than that. Look at how the coefficients are constructed, they're hashes of the previous coefficient. Whatever fragment the attacker gets access to, he will be able to compute all following coefficients just by hashing x once.Read this again and look at the code again. In the first scheme, anyone with access to a fragment that carries the first coefficient can computeall of the coefficients. The single point he has with the fragment is then enough to reveal the secret.This is slightly worsened by the fact that since there are more fragments than coefficients, certain coefficients reoccur on several fragments. Now people being people, when they distribute fragments they tend keep the first few for themselves, by happenstance. If the coefficients were distributed in order with fragments, this very human yet entirely irrelevant quirk would actually save these users from total disaster. Again, the order of coefficients matter since they are derived consecutively from one another https://btcarmory.com gangtraet Offline Activity: 158 Merit: 100 Full MemberActivity: 158Merit: 100 Re: FRAGMENTED BACKUPS VULNERABILITY!! IF YOU USE THEM, READ THIS!! September 25, 2017, 03:43:03 PM #5 Quote from: goatpig on September 25, 2017, 02:50:05 PM You can choose any x as long as the coefficients are random. I don't quite see how randomizing x achieves anything, as you have to provide entire points (x, f(x)) as fragments, therefor x is public information. Maybe you were trying to say that the x values should be chosen at random, instead of say, as part of a sequence? I don't think that's relevant at all for SSS, since all operation are performed on a finite field. I had misunderstood your post. My bad. Quote The coefficients are 32bytes, therefor your backup would have 5 lines (1 header line + 4 * (16bytes of data + 2bytes of checksum) lines) per fragment. If the fragment only has 1 header and 2 data lines, it's using implicit [1,...,N] for x. Mine has a header line, and two data lines. I am not completely pwned then, but only has a slightly reduced security. Ah, well. Quote It's far worse than that. Look at how the coefficients are constructed, they're hashes of the previous coefficient. Whatever fragment the attacker gets access to, he will be able to compute all following coefficients just by hashing x once. Oh my god! It must be one of the worst security f*ckups in a bitcoin wallet! I had misunderstood your post. My bad.Mine has a header line, and two data lines. I am not completely pwned then, but only has a slightly reduced security. Ah, well.Oh my god! It must be one of the worst security f*ckups in a bitcoin wallet! goatpig Legendary Offline Activity: 2128 Merit: 1111 Armory Developer ModeratorLegendaryActivity: 2128Merit: 1111Armory Developer Re: FRAGMENTED BACKUPS VULNERABILITY!! IF YOU USE THEM, READ THIS!! September 26, 2017, 05:08:12 AM #12 Quote from: BitUsher on September 26, 2017, 04:05:46 AM Quote from: achow101 on September 26, 2017, 12:58:01 AM The SSS implementation in Armory is completely unrelated to that. It also predates that by a few years. Since Greg Has concerns about every SSS version he has come across - https://np.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/72dfy1/armory_wallet_fragmented_backups_may_be/dnho2w6/ I think we should be highly skeptical about entropy wallets until more peer review is done as well. Since Greg Has concerns about every SSS version he has come across -I think we should be highly skeptical about entropy wallets until more peer review is done as well. I think you're reading too much into gmax's words. His general concern with SSS implementations is that they are basically all done over prime fields, which the easier implementation, but introduces side channel attacks cause it relies on bignum operations. A GF(256) implementation would be in constant time, but that's harder to pull and therefor brings in question whether it's worth the effort at all, considering multisig covers a lot of what SSS does. I argued that SSS still has an edge over multisig scripts (plausible deniability), therefor I'll consider implementing SSS over GF(256) for the new wallets. I think you're reading too much into gmax's words. His general concern with SSS implementations is that they are basically all done over prime fields, which the easier implementation, but introduces side channel attacks cause it relies on bignum operations.A GF(256) implementation would be in constant time, but that's harder to pull and therefor brings in question whether it's worth the effort at all, considering multisig covers a lot of what SSS does. I argued that SSS still has an edge over multisig scripts (plausible deniability), therefor I'll consider implementing SSS over GF(256) for the new wallets. https://btcarmory.com goatpig Legendary Offline Activity: 2128 Merit: 1111 Armory Developer ModeratorLegendaryActivity: 2128Merit: 1111Armory Developer Re: FRAGMENTED BACKUPS VULNERABILITY!! IF YOU USE THEM, READ THIS!! September 26, 2017, 05:48:03 PM #17 Quote from: Ppppp on September 26, 2017, 05:32:37 PM In case I am 100% sure that the fragments have not been compromised (sealed envelopes, under the custody of people whom I trust), would it be possible to : - install Armory 0.96.3 on a fresh machine, - restore the current wallet here (originally generated with Armory 0.93.3) - print new "secure" fragments of the same wallet, - destroy the old fragments and the machine ? You should cycle the wallets if you're going to bother printing new fragments. Better safe that sorry. Who knows where sha256 will be 30 years from now. Quote Would Armory 0.93.3 be able to restore a newly printed wallet in case of need ? The restoration code is the same, but the fragment IDs are not deterministic anymore, so it's possible the GUI will refuse to proceed further with newly generated fragments until you comment out that check from the Python code. In other words, it can work if you're willing to deal with a little Python. You should cycle the wallets if you're going to bother printing new fragments. Better safe that sorry. Who knows where sha256 will be 30 years from now.The restoration code is the same, but the fragment IDs are not deterministic anymore, so it's possible the GUI will refuse to proceed further with newly generated fragments until you comment out that check from the Python code. In other words, it can work if you're willing to deal with a little Python. https://btcarmory.com gangtraet Offline Activity: 158 Merit: 100 Full MemberActivity: 158Merit: 100 Re: FRAGMENTED BACKUPS VULNERABILITY!! IF YOU USE THEM, READ THIS!! September 28, 2017, 07:25:16 AM #19 Quote from: goatpig on September 26, 2017, 05:08:12 AM I think you're reading too much into gmax's words. His general concern with SSS implementations is that they are basically all done over prime fields, which the easier implementation, but introduces side channel attacks cause it relies on bignum operations. I doubt that side-channel attacks are at all relevant for paper backups. That normally requires statistical data on the timing or the amount of power it takes to do the operation. It might be a worry that a compromized computer can gain information from a hardware wallet through side channels, but not when restoring a wallet. My guess is that the main problem with SSS is that it is one of the few cryptographic operations that are simple enough that people implement it themselves, instead of getting it from a peer-reviewed and well-debugged library. Quote A GF(256) implementation would be in constant time, but that's harder to pull and therefor brings in question whether it's worth the effort at all, considering multisig covers a lot of what SSS does. I argued that SSS still has an edge over multisig scripts (plausible deniability), therefor I'll consider implementing SSS over GF(256) for the new wallets. SSS does not just have a plausible deniability edge over multisig scripts (I am sure it does, although I cannot see how). It solves a different problem: that of safely keeping backups. Multisig of course gives the same security to your backup, but it also makes spending from the wallet on a day-to-day basis significantly more cumbersome. And in times with high pressure on the blockchain, it also adds to the fee. I doubt that side-channel attacks are at all relevant for paper backups. That normally requires statistical data on the timing or the amount of power it takes to do the operation. It might be a worry that a compromized computer can gain information from a hardware wallet through side channels, but not when restoring a wallet.My guess is that the main problem with SSS is that it is one of the few cryptographic operations that are simple enough that people implement it themselves, instead of getting it from a peer-reviewed and well-debugged library.SSS does not just have a plausible deniability edge over multisig scripts (I am sure it does, although I cannot see how). It solves a different problem: that of safely keeping backups. Multisig of course gives the same security to your backup, but it also makes spending from the wallet on a day-to-day basis significantly more cumbersome. And in times with high pressure on the blockchain, it also adds to the fee. |
JERUSALEM — The Israeli authorities announced Monday that five Palestinian members of the militant group Hamas had confessed to fatally shooting an Israeli couple in front of their four children last week, as the intensifying violence that that attack touched off stretched into a fifth day, with Israeli forces fatally shooting two Palestinian teenagers — one 13. “We will act with a very harsh hand against terror and also against incitement,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a televised statement praising the arrest of the Hamas members. “We will not give any rioter or any inciter immunity in any place, and so there are no limitations of the actions of the defense forces.” Both Mr. Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority convened emergency meetings Monday night to discuss the deteriorating security situation. Neither the Israeli crackdown nor the Palestinian uprising showed signs of abating: The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported some 500 injuries in recent days as clashes raged. Pathways through the West Bank and East Jerusalem were cut off by new Israeli roadblocks, as well as by burning tires and stones hurled by Palestinian youths. Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, reported that Mr. Abbas told members of his military council and leaders of his security apparatuses to be wary of Israeli efforts to inflame the situation and drag the region into a new cycle of violence. Earlier, Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said on Voice of Palestine radio, “Israel is continuing with its escalation based on the rule saying what cannot be taken by force will be achieved with more force.” |
Fox Humans are a weird bunch. Granted, all humans are around 99.9% genetically identical. Most of us have a few limbs, a face and plenty of shared behaviours and customs, but in that little 0.1% there are plenty of little quirks, oddities and differences too, some of which are super rare. You might have lived your whole life with a weird feature or ability that you thought everyone had. Some of these are as mundane as being left handed - something only 10% of the population share - but plenty of rare quirks are much weirder and more wonderful than that. Some are evolutionary throwbacks, some are peculiarities of our big, complex brains and some are just straight up superpowers. If you have any of these, you could genuinely be one in a million (although you knew that already, right?). Most or just cool party tricks to mildly entertain your friends, but there are some that could indicate something interesting, or even worrying, about your genetic makeup. One harmless mutation, for example, offers us a glimpse into your evolutionary past, but something as innocent as tickling, could well land you in a psychiatrist's office. So, are you actually a secret mutant? |
Nick Puñal closed his office door, hung up his Atlanta United flag, turned on a video camera and began to softly sing a self-penned chant about the MLS expansion team: “We, are Atlanta. United wherever we go. Unite and conquer…” Unlike most of the videos posted by supporters who are trying to create new game-day song, Puñal didn’t create his anywhere close to metro Atlanta. He’s not even remotely close to the club footprint established by the TV deal with Fox Sports South. Puñal, and his office, are more than 9,000 miles and 16 hours away in Sydney, Australia. G’day, indeed. Though Puñal, 44, can’t be counted as a holder of one of the more than 27,000 season-tickets sold for Atlanta United’s inaugural season, he can lay claim to being the team’s most unique and far-flung supporter. “The more I look into the way Atlanta United FC have been doing things so well, such as establishing and nurturing the Academy, engaging with the fans, the attention to detail in every aspect, not to mention the new incredible stadium, it was not hard to make the decision,” he said in an email. Puñal started an Atlanta United supporter’s club in Sydney. It has just a handful of members, but they will be gathered at Cheers Sports Bar on March 6 (our March 5), lifting a glass of Australian “Little Creatures” beer, and watching on TV the team’s opening game against New York Red Bulls at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium. Puñal became a fan for two reasons. After finishing university in his native England, he lived in Atlanta for a few months in the summer of 1995 as part of an international program. He resided in a Georgia State dorm, worked the Log Flume at Six Flags, and became a lifelong fan of the Braves, going to his first game that July 4 against the Dodgers. They were the only sports team in North America that he followed as his life took him to Australia, where he works for the New South Wales government. Though he loves soccer, he wasn’t a fan of MLS until November, when Atlanta United unveiled its primary jersey in a party at The Tabernacle. The black and red stripes called to Puñal because the look reminded him of one of his first favorite team, AFC Bournemouth, which plays in England’s Premier League. To explain, Puñal isn’t just a fan of teams. He is a FAN. He had already started a supporters club for AFC Bournemouth (over four years ago), and one for another one of his favorites, Spanish club RCD Espanyol (almost 10 years ago), so he decided to start another for Atlanta United. He just needed a springboard to start the grassroots effort. He turned to yet another team that wears red and black. “I thought what better platform in attempting to get the new Sydney ATLUTD Supporters Club off the ground than using the amazing Falcons’ run in the NFC / NFL?” he wrote. He organized a viewing party at Cheers, where he met some Atlantans who were visiting Sydney. One of them, Alberto Polanco, gave Puñal his Atlanta United Founders’ Club flag. “All I can say is this flag is going to get used a lot during our inaugural MLS season (and beyond!),” Puñal wrote. He plans to complement the flag with a Braves baseball cap and a red-and-black AFC Bournemouth shirt. He has also started supporters clubs accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Though he would love to attend an Atlanta United game, the cost is prohibitive. So, because he is friends with the management of Cheers Bar, he will try to watch as many games as possible at the bar. Sunday games are tough because they are the Monday workday in Australia. He said Saturday games will work well in his attempts to grow the Atlanta United supporters club. Puñal is still learning the intricacies of MLS and sports in the U.S. He called the MLS SuperDraft “a new experience” and didn’t know that the league is divided into two conferences, Eastern, home of Atlanta United, and Western. When explained during a Skype call that the conferences and playoffs are similar to the leagues in Major League Baseball, he instantly grasped the structure, predicting that Atlanta United will be one of the six teams to make the Eastern Conference playoffs. “Getting people that work and think with each other, play for each other, fight for each other on the pitch will be crucial for the success of the team,” he said. “They’ve already achieved success even through its the first year, getting the team there and creating the buzz it has.” Australia isn’t the only home of far-flung Atlanta United supporters. The team also has at least two followers, Gaspar Canavase and Martin Eliceche, in Argentina, who use the Twitter handle @ ArgtlantaUtd. “We are fans because we love to see the MLS and their style, and Atlanta has an Argentinian coach in Tata Martino and other South American players such as (Miguel) Almirón, (Yamil) Asad, (Hector) Villalba, (Leandro) Pires, etc.,” they wrote in an email. “The board shows great style and work with the signings and a very nice communications area on social media. Also, we like Arthur Blank’s style with (the) Atlanta Falcons. We think they will be a such great team.” |
Get the biggest what's on stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email A spectacular Star Wars-themed lift is thrilling shoppers at the Fenwick department store in Newcastle. Customers wanting to travel between floors in the famous Northumberland Street store are faced with a life-size Captain Phasma in the lift. The female Stormtrooper, who is set to appear in the upcoming film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, immediately points a gun at anyone entering the enclosure but stands at ease as soon as she realises it’s only harmless shoppers. The character, who wears distinctive chrome armour, finally puts the weapon away before the video loop repeats again. The eye-catching moving images have been installed at Fenwick to celebrate the December release of the much-awaited film, The Force Awakens. And it has wowed fans, especially youngsters, many of whom took the chance to travel up and down and back up (to the toy department..) in the store several times. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Brother and sister Todd and Jessica Wilcox were among those to try out the lift alongside their parents Helen and Michael. Todd, nine, is a big fan of the Star Wars series and has already bought tickets for the new instalment. He said: “It’s brilliant - I think the lift looks great with the new Star Wars character. I’ve seen every single Star Wars film and I can’t wait to see the next one.” Four-year-old Leon Milligan, of Walkergate, Newcastle, was there with his mum Nancy, 45. She said: “Leon loves Star Wars, he’s got Stormtrooper T-shirts and we have bought other things for him as well. He wanted to go inside the lift to see what it was like. I think it’s fantastic, you don’t get to see something like this when you are out shopping.” Paula and Mark Grainger took their seven-year-old son Jack to the store and were amazed to see the video. Jack said: “The lift is amazing, it’s really cool. I have seen five of the Star Wars films and I enjoyed them. What they’ve done with the lift is fantastic.” Fenwick has also set up a large Star Wars section in the toy department, with a variety of merchandise for sale. A life-size Stormtrooper and a Lego Darth Vader are among the displays. |
Nearly 500 suspects, including the former head of the air force and pilots, entered a court outside Ankara on Tuesday in one of the main trials against those accused of leading last year's failed coup attempt. In all, 486 suspects face charges including murder, membership of a terrorist organization, attempting to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, trying to overthrow parliament and damaging public property, according to state-run media Anatolia Agency. If convicted, most of the accused face life sentences in solitary confinement with no possibility of parole. The "number one" defendant is Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, the leader of the Islamic movement that Turkish authorities blame for the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Gulen, who has lived in exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, denies giving any orders for his followers to carry out the coup. Coup headquarters Of the suspects, 461 are currently in prison, 18 have been released under supervision and seven are fugitives. Many of the suspects in the trial also face charges in other coup-related trials. Video on CNN Turk showed about 40 of the defendants being brought to the court outside Ankara built especially for the coup trials, each suspect handcuffed and accompanied by two gendarme police and flanked by an armed solider. People in the crowd held signs reading, "We want the death penalty for traitors" as the defendants were brought to the court house. Crowds held signs and yelled outside the heavily guarded prison complex in Sincan demanding the death penalty for the suspects. The death penalty has been banned in Turkey since 2004, but Erdogan has said he supports bringing it back. The suspects are accused of running the coup from Akinci air base, the alleged coup headquarters from where F-16 jets flew low over Ankara sending out sonic booms before later bombing parliament and other government buildings. The air base was also bombed by the Turkish air force as it put down the coup attempt. Coup perpetrators' identities unclear Chief of the General Staff General Hulusi Akar and other commanders were held hostage at the base during the coup, which killed nearly 250 people. Another key figure in the trial is former air force chief Akin Ozturk, who also faces charges in other coup related trials. He has denied the coup charges. The trial also brings charges against so-called "civilian imams," shadowy non-military figures alleged to be key coordinators between Gulen and the putschists. The chief "civilian imam" is alleged to be theology academic Adil Oksuz, who was arrested at Akinci air base once the coup bid collapsed. Oksuz was released shortly after the coup by an alleged Gulenist judge, who himself has since been arrested, and is now one of Turkey's most wanted fugitives. Another "civilian imam" on trial is businessman Kemal Batmaz, said to be Oksuz's assistant. The trial is expected to last 29 days. Watch video 26:00 Share One Year On: Erdogan Under Pressure? Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/2gUyz One Year On: Erdogan Under Pressure? Many questions surrounding coup Erdogan's critics accuse the president of enabling the Gulen - one of his former allies - to infiltrate key state institutions before the two began to clash in 2013 in an open power struggle. Read the background the Erdogan-Gulen alliance and power struggle Much remains mysterious about how failed coup attempt unfolded. One likely scenario is that Gulenist officers carried out the coup, which was then joined by anti-government officers and soldiers believing they were simply following orders. Under this scenario, non-Gulenist officers would not have known that the coup was led by Gulenists. Traditional secular-nationalists within the military had always been weary of the Gulen movement, due to previous bogus coup trials against officers led by Gulenist prosecutors with the support of Erdogan to weaken the military. However, Turkish authorities have yet to present any evidence Gulen gave a direct order. EU intelligence and many Turkey analysts have suggested suspected Gulenist officers were prompted to carry out the coup a month before a High Military Council meeting that was expected to dismiss many Gulenist officers. It also remains unclear at what point intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, Erdogan and other senior figures learned about the coup. Some analysts and the opposition have suggested Erdogan allowed a "controlled coup" that could be put down in order to later strengthen his authoritarian rule through a second "palace coup" implemented through a state of emergency. More than 50,000 people have been arrested and at least 120,000 more dismissed from their jobs under a state of emergency in effect since the coup attempt. Only a small fraction of those arrested had a direct role in the coup attempt. The mass purges have raised concerns over human rights and the rule of law. |
WHEN the draft of an executive order by Donald Trump saying he would cut America’s contribution to the UN by 40% was leaked in January, alarm bells began clanging not just at the organisation’s headquarters in New York but in chanceries all over the world. America pays for a good quarter of the body’s costs and even more for its 16 peacekeeping missions that strive to mitigate some of the bloodiest conflicts on earth. Could he mean what he said? On March 16th, when the White House unveiled its budget for 2018, the answer was a defiant yes. The State Department, which channels America’s contributions to the UN and its own foreign-aid agency, was told to chop $10.1bn from its budget, a cut of 28%. For sure, this is but the start of months of bargaining between the White House and Congress. Several prominent Republicans, as well as an array of Democrats, said they would oppose cuts on such a scale. Moreover, what was dubbed the “skinny budget” was short on detail. Some saw it as theatre—“A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again”, as Mr Trump described it—that was not intended to be enacted as drafted. But even if the cuts were to be halved in size during negotiations, they would still punch a big hole in the UN’s pocket. And no one now bets that Mr Trump does not mean what he says about pulling back from the world. Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. Some programmes are to be protected. Security aid to Israel, worth $3.1bn a year, will be kept “at an all-time high”. Pledges to Gavi, previously known as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (better known as PEPFAR) and anti-malaria schemes will be fulfilled. But funds for climate-change programmes will cease (see article). And within the State Department’s remit, “the US would not contribute more than 25% for UN peacekeeping costs”. At last count, it was paying around 28%. It is unclear how America’s foreign commitments, particularly to the UN, will change. Countries’ payments to the organisation are of two sorts: “assessed contributions”, calculated according to GDP, adjusted every three years and then written in stone; and a web of “voluntary” agreements, negotiated by each country, usually yearly, for funding the gamut of UN agencies, such as the World Food Programme, the High Commission for Refugees and the UN Children’s Fund. Contributions to the general UN budget, which includes the secretariat in New York and its worldwide offices (see chart), and a clutch of activities under its direct control, are “assessed” by formula and compulsorily handed over. The assessment for the American contribution to the UN’s general budget and programmes under its umbrella in 2016 was 22% of their total cost. America would breach its treaty obligation to the UN if it refused to pay up. A senior official under Barack Obama puts the mandatory cost of American contributions to international organisations (including outside the UN arena) in 2015 at more than $4.2bn, and voluntary ones at $5-6bn. So even if the State Department were to slash non-UN activities, by closing embassies, say, it would have to pare its voluntary contributions to a range of UN agencies to the bone. Mr Trump could reduce or end America’s contributions to UN peacekeeping missions at fairly short notice, though his proposed overall drop from 28% to 25% would let most continue. The five biggest are in the Central African Republic, Congo, Mali, Sudan’s Darfur region and South Sudan. The mandate for the Congo mission comes up for renewal next month. “Everything is on the table,” says Peter Yeo, a former State Department officer who helped negotiate America’s payment of arrears when Bill Clinton was president and now heads the Better World Campaign, which urges America to support the UN. “The action,” he adds with tentative optimism, “is now moving to the Hill,” where Mr Trump’s slash-and-burn proposals may, he hopes, be moderated. A more detailed budget is not likely for another two months. “So far the figures just don’t add up,” says an official at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has distributed nearly $37bn in aid since 2000. The idea, popular in Mr Trump’s circle, that private charities can fill the void is false, she adds, noting that many of her foundation’s projects depend on partnerships with the state. The UN organisations most reliant on American generosity are humanitarian, such as the food programme (35% paid for by America) and the refugee agency (38%), which help millions of starving and displaced people. If these, along with the peacekeepers, were to be gutted, the risks of famine and war would soar. In the long run that might well cost America more, if it eventually felt obliged to pick up the pieces. Mr Gates argues relentlessly that aid and development help Americans by enhancing global stability. So, recently, did 120 generals in a letter to Mr Trump. Back in Turtle Bay António Guterres, the UN’s secretary-general since the start of the year, has been careful not to pick a fight with the American president. Mr Guterres and the envoys of just about all governments represented at the UN are pinning some hope on Nikki Haley, Mr Trump’s ambassador there. According to a UN insider, “she has been trying to reassure everyone in the UN that all these statements from the Trump camp are just noise.” In the past week that will have got much harder. Mr Guterres, who has a reputation as a consensus-builder, has quietly let it be known that he will embark on a cost-cutting and streamlining campaign of his own. Britain, France and America have tended to work together in the Security Council, often in opposition to the other two veto-wielders, China and Russia. Now the British and French are hoping desperately to bind Mr Trump back with them into the UN system, fearing he may cosy up to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, or by default let China make the running. “That would mark a really dangerous shift in power dynamics at the UN,” says the former Obama official. “Everything so far with this administration has been so haphazard. It’s all so hard to predict.” Congress may persuade Mr Trump to see merit in some aspects of the UN. But that, right now, seems like a losing battle. |
[Stride]-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down. [AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a face down card from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit attacks, you may pay the cost. If you do, for each face up card named "Genesis Dragon, Flageolet Messiah" in your G zone, choose up to two locked cards, and unlock them. If one or more cards were unlocked with this effect, choose any number of locked cards, and those cards cannot be unlocked during that fighter's next end phase. If three or more cards were unlocked with this effect, this unit gets [Critical]+1 until end of that battle. |
Update: Overclockers UK has announced that due to the success of its partnership with GAME stores in Basingstoke and Manchester, it will be rolling out its high-end gaming PCs and components to eight more locations around the country. Already prospective buyers can pop into Stockton’s Teeside Shopping Park to see what the GAME/OCUK team up has to offer, as well as Newcastle’s Metro Centre, but today will see the Glasgow Grovenor Shopping Centre get its own OCUK stand. Over the next few days, Cardiff and Gloucester will also join in and Saturday the 9th will see Porstmouth and Bournemouth stores come on board as well. Original Story: Overclockers UK and GAME have formed a new partnership to bring PC gaming hardware to stores across the UK. This new deal will see OCUK’s own pre-built systems on display in GAME stores, along with other bits of PC hardware for those looking to build a new PC, make an upgrade or grab a new peripheral or two. You’ll be able to use your in-store GAME credit to buy new hardware and trade in old products to put money towards another purchase, just as you would with physical games and consoles. Over the next few weeks, the partnership will increase further, so that GAME customers can use their GAME Wallet funds to shop on the OCUK website and in early 2016, GAME’s catalogue of digital games will also be made available on the Overclockers UK website. Overclockers UK’s Executive Director, Steve Ling, hopes that this will bring PC gaming to a wider audience: “The combination of Overclockers UK’s expertise and the retail estate of GAME is the ultimate way to introduce and demonstrate gaming hardware to a wider audience. By working with GAME we can give customers somewhere to experience PC gaming on the high street outside of our Newcastle-Under-Lyme store”. Here is the full list of stores you will find Overclockers UK products appear in: Basingstoke. Bournemouth Castle Point. Cardiff. Chester. Glasgow- Braehead. Gloucester. Metro Centre- Gateshead. Portsmouth. Teeside Park. Manchester- Trafford Centre. Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE. KitGuru Says: We don’t tend to see many mainstream stores stocking PC hardware here in the UK, so this will be a nice change of pace. I’m sure many will also appreciate the ability to use reward points or trade in old games/consoles for discount towards PC gear. What do you guys think of this? |
Why should we trust you? That's the feeling among activists who met with two high-level federal officials this week in California to discuss the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP), a new version of the government's immigration enforcement partnership with local police. Advertisement Roughly two dozen advocates attended a question-and-answer session in Los Angeles on Wednesday with Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security, and Sarah Saldaña, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The enforcement program — announced by the Obama administration in November as part of a sweeping array of immigration policy reforms — was a major topic of conversation, according to some of those in attendance. Depending on how PEP takes shape, it could influence how deportations are carried out for years to come. "Right now, our overall approach is skepticism," one of the attendees, Reshma Shamasunder, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, told Fusion. "I think we need to see in practice how it's going to work." Advertisement The new program replaces Secure Communities, an effort launched in 2008 to track down and deport "criminal aliens" by sending fingerprint data gathered by local law enforcement to the federal government. Under that program, federal immigration officials could ask local police to detain a person suspected of entering the country illegally or overstaying a visa. Those requests, known as "detainers," would ask local authorities to hold a suspect for an additional 48 hours beyond the person's scheduled release, in order to provide immigration officials time to take custody. Within some immigrant communities, Secure Communities earned a reputation as a rapid-fire deportation engine that didn't differentiate between low-level criminals and serious offenders. The program developed such a toxic brand in California that lawmakers passed the Trust Act in 2013, a law that limited cooperation between local police and federal immigration officials. Officials in several major jurisdictions — such as Cook County, Illinois, and Miami-Dade County, Florida — have also instituted policies that limit participation in the program. Advertisement Hence, the reboot. In a November 20 memo announcing the end of Secure Communities, Homeland Security Sec. Jeh Johnson said the program had "attracted a great deal of criticism" and was "widely misunderstood." He discontinued it and replaced it with PEP, which is still in the process of being implemented. Under the new program, the federal government will no longer request that a suspected undocumented immigrant be detained for an additional 48 hours by local law enforcement, the memo states. Instead, federal officials will ask to be notified of the person's pending release from custody. Requests to detain an individual may still be issued under "special circumstances," according to the memo. In addition, federal immigration officials will only ask for a notification if the person in custody has been convicted of a high-priority crime — felonies and some misdemeanors, as defined by DHS— or if the person poses a threat to national security. Under Secure Communities, a person charged with a crime, but not convicted, could be held in a jail cell for immigration agents. Advertisement People who have only been convicted of crimes related to entering the country illegally will not fall under the PEP priorities for a notification, according to the memo. Whether a felony conviction for re-entering the country after a deportation would be considered a priority is unclear. A spokesperson for DHS declined to clarify the intent of the memo. DHS officials have been meeting with law enforcement leaders and advocacy groups across the country to explain the roll out of the new program, according to a spokesperson for the department. Advertisement “Our objective is to implement this new approach in a way that supports community policing and public safety, working with state and local law enforcement to take custody of dangerous individuals and convicted criminals before they are released into the community," the spokesperson said in an email. One statement by DHS’s Mayorkas stood out to advocates in attendance at the meeting in Los Angeles on Wednesday. He confirmed that the Trust Act would trump PEP if the two policies came into conflict, according to five people at the gathering. A spokesperson for DHS did not clarify whether it would take precedence over the California law. The acknowledgement is significant, since the two policies diverge when it comes to misdemeanor offenders, according to Jennie Pasquarella, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. Advertisement PEP asks local officials to notify federal authorities of the pending release date for people who have been convicted of three or more misdemeanors or a "significant" misdemeanor, which range from crimes involving domestic violence to driving under the influence. In contrast, California's law generally protects people convicted of misdemeanor charges, unless the crime could have been charged as a felony, Pasquarella said. California advocates tend to view the Trust Act as a minimum level of protection for immigrants, so the informal news that the federal government will honor the law is welcome, but not a major victory. Advertisement Connecticut passed a version of the Trust Act in 2013 and several major cities — including San Francisco, Boston and Philadelphia — have laws or policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration officials. But even in states with laws limiting cooperation with federal officials, some fear the new government program could be much like its predecessor, Secure Communities — an initiative sold as a safety measure that ultimately made residents fearful of authorities. "They're going to have to earn back the trust by actually implementing policies consistent with the way they describe them," said Chris Newman, legal director with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "The jury's still out on that." Advertisement Ted Hesson was formerly the immigration editor at Fusion, covering the issue from Washington, D.C. He also writes about drug laws and (occasionally) baseball. On the side: guitars, urban biking, and fiction. |
Over the second week of September, Vulfpeck took over New York City. Their four-night streak opened at Central Park’s SummerStage, where the quartet welcomed famed drummer and musical icon Bernard Purdie for a guest-filled variety show. The theme continued throughout a three-night stand at Brooklyn Bowl, before the funk pack headed across seas for a night in Dublin, and three more nights at Brooklyn Bowl in London – marking them as the first band to play three consecutive sold-out shows at both Brooklyn Bowl locations, all in the matter of ten days. For keyboardist Woody Goss, the NYC domination would not have been complete without a proper fix of his own favorite activity. In addition to playing music, the Ann Arbor-based musician has a unique interest in birdwatching. When the band travels, Woody spends his free-time waking up early to catch rare species of birds in their natural habitat. So, L4LM’s own Kendall Deflin decided to join Woody for one of these 7am adventures in the midst of his New York craziness. Enjoy this short clip of the four-hour adventure, courtesy of Jerry Media: We then followed up with Woody after his European stint, and talked at length about what this year has had in store. Live For Live Music: We met back in April at Fool’s Paradise in St. Augustine, FL. Since then, you’ve gone on to play Bonnaroo, Tipitina’s, Red Rocks, Lockn’, North Coast Music Festival, Central Park SummerStage, and now you’re on your way to three sold-out nights at London’s Brooklyn Bowl. Tell us what the last six months have been like for you. Woody Goss: I’m just so grateful. I never expected to be able to do anything like this, really. L4LM: Compared to the intimacy of a small venue, how did you feel playing these large-scale events and festivals? WG: It’s really tough making so much more money, especially when it comes with the baggage of hordes of adoring fans, many of them serious musicians themselves so you can’t just ignore their opinions. Seriously though, I love playing to any audience that is engaged. Playing to a large audience is just a really powerful and rare experience that I am very grateful for. And our audiences are simply the best, as you yourself have experienced. Everyone is so happy to be there connecting over something so light and joyful. As far as acoustics, I think indoors packs more of a punch for funk music. That’s why the Chili Peppers only perform in meeting rooms at public libraries. L4LM: Vulfpeck has just experienced a huge transitional period in the band’s career, gaining a place on the map for many. Was there a particular moment when you noticed this? WG: When one day I discovered Cory Henry playing organ on YouTube and had an existential crisis in front of my band, and then a few weeks later I was sitting across from him playing organ on stage [at Fool’s Paradise] and had to try and hold it together while we traded fours. That was also the moment I quit music. L4LM: For you, what has the highlight been so far? WG: Meeting the Ween guys. Meeting Stephen Colbert. I guess being in the same room as people that I’ve looked up to creatively for so long, and knowing that I’m finally better than them. L4LM: What kind of pressure did you experience as a band, going from an Internet/ YouTube sensation to one of the most anticipated sets of the summer? WG: Transitioning from the internet to real life is really challenging. Sometimes I don’t do it until well into the afternoon. Basically, all we had to do was construct a live show, which we did completely on stage by playing live shows. Everyone kind of found their role, except for me. So I just play music, but Joe already took that role so I just kind of do his role but not as well. L4LM: Vulfpeck wouldn’t be Vulfpeck without Woody Goss originals, like “Fugue State”, “The Birdwatcher”, “Mean Girls”, and “My First Car”. You are clearly an instrumental character of the team, but you are perhaps the least theatrical on stage. Your subtle greatness doesn’t go unnoticed, however, as fans still flock to your ivory tastebuds on the regular. How would you describe your role in the band? WG: Thanks for noticing my subtle greatness, Kendall, you will be rewarded for your loyalty. My greatest gift as a musician might be my ability to be quiet. I mean this when making music, and also when a group of people is coming up with ideas. I’ve seen a lot of musicians and artists have trouble working in groups because they always need to feel like their voice is being heard. That’s how a lot of bands break up. If you feel like being a minion is the right move in one group, it may be wise to have another outlet where you can call the shots. That’s why I’m also in politics. L4LM: We all are patiently awaiting the new album. Can you tell us about the songwriting and recording process? WG: The recording process is really special. I have a great boss; Jack [Stratton] has a comfort fetish, and that works out for me, because I love to be comfortable. It’s kind of how James Brown didn’t treat his band. When I’m recording a Vulfpeck session, I know that I will have: a good night’s rest, a filling breakfast*, no idea what song I’m playing that day, a great deal of laughter, a great deal of dancing in my seat, at least one melt down about how talented my coworkers are, and plenty of leisure time after we finish recording. If we’re in Ann Arbor, I get to contemplate the hummingbirds in the backyard of Tyler Duncan Studios. *The breakfast deserves special mention, because Joe [Dart] and Theo [Katzman] were really meant to be chefs, but strayed from their spirit path and somehow got wrapped up in the music racket.. it’s so sad to see Joe Dart perfectly poach eggs for us all and then go and be an utter disappointment on electric bass that he is. L4LM: What’s next for Woody Goss? WG: I’m going to spend the next few weeks in Uganda to try and save my friend’s burrito store. It’s located in a small village on the fringes of a forest that is home to a couple of the five remaining chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are our closest relatives, our strongest surviving link to the web of life, so it makes sense that we destroy them and thus severe our final emotional ties to this planet and live in a platinum synchronistic paradise on Mars. Ecoburrito uses local ingredients, employs local people, and gives all profits to local conservation efforts to try and protect our local hairy cousins. I think it is a beautiful dream! And apparently the guacamole is unbeatable. L4LM: If you were traveling to space, what album would you bring to share with the aliens? Why? WG: I’m SO glad you asked. The Voyager 1 space craft, launched in 1977, is now close to 12 billion miles from Earth. In about 40,000 years, it will pass by a star in the Giraffe constellation at a distance of 10 trillion miles, which I guess is close enough to include a playlist onboard for the aliens to intercept and hear our tunes. The DJ committee was headed by Carl Sagan, of course. You can check out their selections online, just search the Voyager Gold Record. There’s definitely a bias towards Western Classical music, with multiple Beethoven and Bach pieces, while Chuck Berry had the only song with a back beat that made the cut (and even Carl had to fight for that one). I was happy to see a gamelan selection on there, as well as some folk music from around the world. If it were done today, maybe Clair De Lune would be on there. Apparently they tried to include the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” but EMI wouldn’t allow it. Can’t have aliens listening to the Beatles for free. Among the many items included on the record is an hour-long recording of Ann Druyan’s brain waves, including her thoughts on falling in love. She and Carl Sagan were married four years later. |
New data from Experian Hitwise show a dramatic increase in traffic over the week since the service opened to everyone. Visits to Google Plus increased by 1269% last week. The site received 15 million U.S. visits, up from 1.1 million the week before. Google Plus went from ranking 54th in Hitwise’s Social Networking and Forums category to ranking 8th in just one week. That’s not all the traffic, either. These stats don’t include mobile users or visits from the ubiquitous black Google toolbar. The data still show that Google Plus is disproportionately comprised of “influencers” and “early adopters” compared to other social networks, but the removal of invitations seems to have jump-started visits to the service. According to Paul Allen’s estimates, which have been on track in the past, Google Plus currently has around 43 million users. |
Updated 6:21 pm. - TAMPA, Fla. -- Republicans formally nominated Mitt Romney for president on Tuesday, minting the former Massachusetts governor as the party's official opponent this fall versus President Barack Obama. Romney has been the presumptive Republican presidential nominee since late spring, when his major opponents ended their campaigns for president. But he will be able to shed the "presumptive" qualifier when he formally accepts the nomination during his Thursday night speech. David Goldman / AP Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks as as Mitt Romney is nominated by the state delegates for the Office of the President of the United States at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. Republicans held the roll call of state delegations late Tuesday afternoon, delayed from its initial scheduled vote during Monday's hurricane-canceled session. Convention Secretary Kim Reynolds presided over the vote. "I am truly honored to annouce these votes for a man who happens to be my brother, and whom I love: Mitt Romney, the next president of the United States," said Scott Romney, the brother of Mitt Romney, in leading Michigan's delegation in casting its votes. Shortly thereafter, Republicans nominated Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as their vice presidential candidate by acclimation. Slideshow: The 2012 Republican National Convention There were occasional outburts of cheers for Texas Rep. Ron Paul when some states' delegates voted for the retiring congressman. Some delegates abstained from voting in instances, suggesting their dissenting opinion from Romney. NBC's Chuck Todd has the latest from the Republican National Convention; plus, Andrea Mitchell, John Yang and Luke Russert visit Romney supporters in New Hampshire, Maine and West Virginia. The fanfare on Romney's behalf at the convention hall made the delegate math of the Republican primaries earlier this year almost seem like an afterthought. Romney's battles with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum had seemed, for a time, to threaten to transform the battle for the GOP nomination into a protracted delegate battle. When Romney accepts the nomination, he'll be able to access and spend tens of millions of dollars he has raised in general election funds. This formal distinction will enable the former Massachusetts governor's campaign to spend millions more on organization and television ads heading into the height of the fall campaign. |
Here is one budget secret that George Osborne will not reveal when he stands up before the Commons at 12.30pm on Wednesday. During his day in the sun, when the chancellor must try to sustain the pretence that he has an unshakeable grip on the nation's economic destiny, he will not admit to us that few budgets matter a lot and many budgets don't matter much at all. For every budget of consequence (the Howe deflationary budget of 1981 or the Lawson inflationary budget of 1988), there are several more when the man at the helm does little more than nudge at the tiller and tweak the sails. His first – the self-styled "emergency budget" in June 2010, which committed the coalition to a long period of austerity – was one for the history books. Whatever the ultimate verdict on its economic judgment, that was a political success in persuading many observers to agree with the chancellor's definition of the central challenge. By making deficit-reduction the coalition's lodestar, he lashed the Lib Dems to his mast and placed Labour, which would prefer the emphasis to be on jobs and growth, in a corner from which the opposition has yet to escape. By contrast, the second Osborne budget and the Brown-flavoured mini-budgets that he has offered each autumn were largely forgotten within 24 hours of being delivered. To which category will this Wednesday's performance belong? If we judge it by the arguments that have been semi-publicly raging between the coalition parties, then this is going to be a highly significant budget. Yet, in some ways, the wrangling between the Tories and Lib Dems over taxes has been a distraction. The media naturally tend to focus on differences between the parties rather than agreements, but what the coalition has not fought about in advance of this budget is probably more important than the battles that have been waged. The big non-row has been about the deficit-reduction strategy. About that, there has been virtually no internal debate at all. They plan no deviation from the squeeze that is currently scheduled to last two years into the next parliament. The economy looks a bit stronger than it did at the end of last year. Business confidence appears to be ticking up a little. The interest on UK debt remains at rock bottom lows – so depressed that the Treasury thinks it might even tempt investors to buy 100-year bonds. But unemployment has just hit a 17-year high and levels of joblessness among the young are especially dire. A further tightening, called for by those right-wing Tories who are unimpressed by the speed with which the government is cutting cannot be countenanced when a fragile economy remains so vulnerable to external shocks. A loosening cannot be risked, or so Mr Osborne will argue, because the bond market vigilantes are ready to sink their teeth into any government that shows infirmity of purpose in reducing deficits and international credit rating agencies are breathing down his neck. He has already answered the big macroeconomic question by saying that his deficit strategy is not going to alter. In fiscal terms, it will be a "neutral" budget. By contrast, the political content of this budget will be far from "neutral". The chancellor, who doubles up as the prime minister's senior political strategist, already has at least one eye on the next Tory election campaign. So, too, do the Lib Dems, their unpopularity making them increasingly desperate to show that they are forcing concessions from the Tories. The lead-up to the budget has exposed clashing views between the parties, and within them, about who most deserves help. The easiest bit of the bargaining was winning Tory agreement to Nick Clegg's demand that the coalition moves faster in raising the threshold at which income tax is paid to £10,000. The chancellor has always liked this policy and has even more need to be seen helping people on low incomes if he is to try to sell cuts in the top rate of tax as at all fair. He was initially less sympathetic to the demand that he should soften the impact of the withdrawal of child benefit from households in which at least one earner pays more than basic rate income tax. But since the strongest voice making that demand belonged to the prime minister, the chancellor has had to bend to it. On top of that, Mr Osborne has had his own priorities, among which a very high one was reducing the 50p top rate of tax. Where to find the money to satisfy these rival ambitions has been at the heart of the hard bargaining over this budget. For every sweetener desired by the prime minister, chancellor or Lib Dem leader, a hit had to be taken elsewhere. The mathematics and politics of this budget have been further complicated by the warring instincts within David Cameron, which has led him to make somewhat contradictory demands on his next-door neighbour. The traditional Tory side of the prime minister is instinctively averse to asking for more from the wealthy. That is in conflict with the tactical centrist in David Cameron who is worried about doing anything that entrenches the reputation of the Conservative party as a party of the rich. For weeks now, the budget has been battled over at Quad meetings of Messrs Cameron, Osborne, Clegg and the chancellor's Lib Dem deputy, Danny Alexander. A Quad conference telephone call on Friday afternoon agreed some significant elements of the budget, but it is wrong to suggest that this means everything is done and dusted. I am told that some of the arguments are "going down to the wire" and final decisions will not be made until Monday. That is as late as they can leave it because the numbers have to go to the invigilators at the Office of Budget Responsibility. The Lib Dems are not going to get their mansion tax and probably knew from the start that the Tories were unlikely to be persuadable. George Osborne could see the intellectual case for taxing wealth via property and some Treasury officials were attracted to the simplicity of a tax that would be hard to avoid. The chancellor might have been willing to cut a deal with the Lib Dems, but the prime minister was not. David Cameron feared the reaction of Tory MPs and the Tory core vote, among whom are rather a lot of people living in the size of property that would attract the tax. I am told that during one discussion of the mansion tax, Mr Cameron exclaimed: "Imagine what Labour could do with it." He also had a rather cruder, short-term electoral consideration that has been surprisingly overlooked in all the debate about the pros and cons of a mansion tax. Many of the homes worth £2 million or more are concentrated in London. There is an election for mayor of the capital coming up very soon. David Cameron did not want to do anything that could be said to jeopardise Boris Johnson's chances of beating Ken Livingstone. The first thing that a defeated Boris would do would be to try to get back into the Commons, which is the last place that Mr Cameron wants to see his fellow old Etonian. A beaten Boris will be bad enough for the Tories; a martyred Boris able to blame his defeat on the prime minister and the chancellor would be much worse for them. So the mansion tax was blocked. Usually reliable sources tell me confidently that Mr Clegg has made much more progress in convincing the Conservatives of the merits of what the Lib Dem leader likes to call a "tycoon tax". The Lib Dem leader floated this idea in an interview last weekend and it is probably safe to assume that he would not have gone public with it 10 days before the budget if he did not think he was going to get some sort of win. As things look this weekend, the Tories have agreed to put a legislative cap on how much the wealthy can use allowances and avoidance to escape tax. In exchange, the Lib Dems have signed off on a cut in the top rate to 45p. That represents a very big political gamble on the part of both coalition partners. Reducing the top rate will please a lot of Tories and it won't have escaped Mr Osborne's notice that these are the people who will ultimately select Mr Cameron's successor. It will obviously go down well among the minority who earn enough to pay the top rate. No doubt it will be justified on the grounds that a 50p rate sends a negative signal to entrepreneurs and deters talented people from working in the UK. But the chancellor will struggle to explain why he has made a priority of cutting the top rate to the far greater number of less affluent voters who are suffering the worst squeeze on their living standards in decades. Senior Labour figures, one of whom describes it as "politically mad", are torn between not being able to quite believe that he will really do it and desperately hoping that he does. If this is not to be seen as a budget by the rich for the rich, the chancellor will have to be utterly convincing that he will be asking for more from the affluent in other ways. If he is not, the country will know that when he next says: "We're all in this together", he means everyone except the wealthy. |
The Sunshine City Aquarium, located at the top of a high rise building in the heart of Tokyo, has a very special resident in Haku, a four month old female River Otter. Weighing about 3 pounds (1.36 kg), little Haku, whose name means white, greets visitors for a portion of the day from her backpack-like pouch or while on a leash with a little harness. If that weren't unique enough, Haku is unusual in that her fur has stayed so light. By this time in their growth, a River Otter's fur would have already turned black. It's not hard to see why Haku, with her little face and whiskers, natural curiosity and bursts of energy, charms all who see her. Since she is still too young to join the seven other otters on exhibit at the Aquarium, she serves as a great ambassador for her species as she walks around for visitors to see up close. A Japanese blogger who recently visited Haku in person captured her in these pictures, and you can watch her in action in a video below! Photo Credit:Blogger Beginner ++ Watch as Haku takes a stroll with her keeper around the Aquarium to visit her neighbors. |
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- The most-talked about aspect of Lady Gaga's Beyonce co-starring, Jonas Akerlund-directed music video for "Telephone," which premiered Thursday night, was not the singer's flagrant partial nudity, girl-on-girl kissing or mass-murder sequence in a diner featuring Tyrese Gibson. It was the product placement. At least nine different brands make appearances in the nine-minute music video, from Gaga's own Heartbeats headphones to a "Beats Limited Edition" laptop, from HP Envy to "telephone" partner Virgin Mobile, and from Miracle Whip and Wonder Bread to Diet Coke. Almost instantly, the video lighted up the web with reactions from the likes of the Huffington Post, The Guardian, Jezebel, Rolling Stone and Interview Magazine, which gave a helpful rundown of all the brands -- including fashion and accessories -- that make appearances. But despite the cornucopia of products, only a handful were paid placements, said Gaga's manager, Troy Carter, CEO of Coalition Media Group. Mr. Carter told Ad Age that several of the brands were Gaga's ideas and did not pay to be included. A scene in which Gaga curls her hair with Diet Coke cans was an homage to her mother, who used the exact same grooming technique in the '70s. Another sequence, in which Gaga poisons a whole diner full of patrons, is interspersed with footage of the singer making sandwiches with Wonder Bread and Miracle Whip. Mr. Carter said Gaga wanted to juxtapose the poison sequence with all-American brands, and suggested Wonder Bread for an unpaid placement. Miracle Whip, meanwhile, made a paid appearance to appear in the clip. A Miracle Whip spokeswoman confirmed the brand's paid integration, but didn't comment further. The product shots feature new Miracle Whip packaging, and seem the latest in a series of Gen-Y outreach maneuvers, including a new campaign promising "we will not tone it down." Featured throughout "Telephone" are shots of a Virgin Mobile cellphone, a nod given to the mobile sponsor of Gaga's Monster Ball tour, as well as a Polaroid camera and photo booth as part of Gaga's new role as the camera company's creative director. Several characters are also seen listening to music on Heartbeats by Gaga headphones from Interscope Music and surfing the internet on the "Beats" laptop from Hewlett Packard, all of which were unpaid extensions of Gaga's marketing partnerships. PlentyofFish.com, an online dating site, also makes a surprise appearance, the result of ongoing talks with Gaga's marketing team at Universal Music to find the right project. Plenty of Fish VP Kimberly Kaplan on Friday said the dating site got into the video through an ongoing partnership with Interscope Records. This just the second music-video integration for Plenty of Fish, which still does the bulk of its advertising online. She admitted the brand was "nervous" without creative input, but very pleased with the outcome. Plenty of Fish had seen a 15% increase in search by close of business Friday, but wasn't yet able to quantify an increase in traffic. If 'Thriller' were made today "We have a lot of fun with it now," Mr. Carter said of the "Telephone" video's product placement. "If Michael Jackson was making 'Thriller,' he would do this too. These million-dollar music videos have to have partners to be produced." Dyana Kass, who heads up pop music marketing at Universal Music Group, added, "We were trying to line up brands that were organic. There were natural pieces in there, like being in a kitchen, so those kind of scenes that just made sense for brands. But we always agree creatively, and get sign-off before we walk down the aisle." Mr. Carter would not comment on the nine-minute, Jonas Akerlund-directed video's budget, other than to say, "Lady Gaga plus Beyonce equals an expensive video." The video was shot across three days and took a month and a half to edit. Its premiere airing on E! News, after the network's 11 p.m. ET time slot, attracted 833,000 viewers, a 32% increase from the network's average performance in the time slot. Mr. Carter said E! was selected over MTV and other music networks because "we wanted a network partner that was going to show the video as it was intended to be shown. They gave us 20 minutes of real estate on their network ... and it was pretty much unedited." Online, music-video site Vevo bought a slot on the YouTube home page that referred users to the "Telephone" page on Vevo.com, which crashed the morning of the clip's premiere. The video broke all Vevo single-day traffic records and had already generated close to 4 million views on YouTube in less than 24 hours. As for the "To be continued..." message at the video's end? "Stay tuned," Mr. Carter teased. |
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