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Discover how to Overcome Shyness, Increase Proactivity, and become a Good Conversationalist Get this amazing book today and read it on your PC, Mac, smart phone, tablet or Kindle device. You’re about to discover proven strategies on how to overcome shyness, increase proactivity and become a good conversationalist for the rest of your life! Tens of millions of people suffer from shyness, they lack in proactivity, and do not know how to converse, even good looking, hip people like the guy on the cover, that's me James Morrison, the author of this book. I've been told by multiple people I'm good looking and hip. The truth is I was dying on the inside. I struggled tremendously in my social life, personal relationships and even financially all because I was afraid of approaching or talking with people I didn't know but one day I decided I had enough. I had reached my breaking point and decided I had to change these limiting behaviors or I would never be happy. People with these disorders tend to feel that they are alone, like they are the only person out there that have these feelings, I know I thought that for the longest time. The fact is that all people experience shyness, lack in proactivity, and do not know how to converse at some point in life but the difference between people who overcome it and the people who don’t is quite simple. The people that do overcome it just make a decision to not let these feelings control their lives. Even though it has been a long road for me I feel I have had a major break through. I'm now engaged, captain of the soccer team and I've made major changes in my life everyday to overcome my shyness and lack of proactivity, now I want to share with the world how I'm taking actions to change my life. You Must Take Action if You Want to Change. It really is just that simple, make the decision to change and then ask yourself how you can change. You see, we have a remarkable computer in-between our ears and that’s the human brain. It’s kind of like a super Google search engine; if you ask it a question it will find ways to answer that question. The trick is to ask your brain the right questions like “How do I overcome shyness, lack of proactivity and conversing skills because I know other people are overcome these conditions?” A wrong question to ask your brain would be, “How come I don’t like being around people?” If you ask your brain this type of question then your brain will give you an answer like “people are bad and they always judge you.” You see, whatever question we ask our brain it will come up with an answer or logic that fits the question. Through much research and personal trials I have found that this is one critical step in changing these limiting beliefs that create shyness, low proactivity and poor conversing skills in others and that most if not all the negative thoughts we have are simply NOT TRUE! You can find these and other proven strategies on overcoming your shyness, low proactivity and poor conversing skills in my book. Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Learn... -Change how you think and you will change your life. -Practice what you fear and fear will cease to exist. -The science behind your low proactivity, shyness & bad conversationalist skills -Use your physiology to change your emotions. -And much more…. Download your copy today! Take action today and finally overcome your shyness, low proactivity and poor conversing skills forever! Download this book today! Tags: Shyness, proactivity, Phobia, Cure, proactivity Workbook, Breakthrough, How Normal Behaviors Became a Sickness, Shyness Solution. Overcoming Shyness, Lack of Proactivity, Conversationalist, Conversation |
It’s hockey time again, folks. With the preseason winding down, the SQ NHL experts put their heads together to come up with lists for the best fantasy producers for each position. SQ writer Michael Vilardo and myself have added analysis for each pick on the lists, honorable mentions, and rookie choices as well. We project the following players will score you the most points and push you to victory in your leagues, taking into account standard fantasy scoring (goals, assists, power play points, plus-minus, shots, and PIM for skaters; wins, goals against average, save percentage, and shutouts for goalies). In the events of ties, we used extra fantasy categories (ATOI, SHP, etc.) and keeper upside to separate contenders. Forwards (Top 15): 1. Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins) By far the best player in the league, his points per game average over the past two seasons of 1.6 in 56 games played is unrivaled. Last year, by comparison, the Art Ross Trophy winner Martin St. Louis had a 1.25 point per game average. With the Penguins being so deep offensively, expect another huge year from Crosby, who at 26 is entering the prime of his career. Obviously injuries have been a major issue as of late for Sid the Kid, but the risk of health is more than worth it with such a bonfide superstar. 2. Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) In 2011-2012, with fellow superstar Crosby injured for majority of the season, Malkin took over the league as the best player, winning MVP and the league’s scoring title with 109 points. Last year, Malkin found himself with some injury troubles and never really got going. Great players always bounce back, and some may argue he is the most talented player in the league. Look for big production, especially as the Russian prepares for a homecoming with the 2014 Sochi games. With Crosby being the number one center, Malkin gets advantageous matchups with weaker defensive pairings from opponents, a liberty very few superstars in the league get to take advantage of. - 3. Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning) Clearly the top pure sniper in the game, nobody has more goals over the past two NHL seasons than Stamkos (89). In 2011-2012, he ran away with the goal-scoring lead with an astounding 60, and last season in a lockout-shortened run he finished second to league MVP Alex Ovechkin. As Stamkos continues to round out his game and become a better all-around player, his prime will be a scoring showcase not seen since the late 80s. Look for Stamkos to lead the league in goals and make a strong run at the two superstar Penguins for the best player in the league. - 4. Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals) Strongly criticized for poor playoff performances, we don’t care when it comes to fantasy as he has continued to produce. Last year, due to Crosby being injured and no other player emerging from the pack, Ovechkin picked up the MVP and another Richard title as leading goal scorer in the league. As the focal point of a strong perennial playoff team, he will always put up numbers and continue to be one of the best players in the league. An added chip to the shoulder this year will have a motivated Ovechkin most likely due for just as big of a year. - 5. John Tavares (New York Islanders) A strong MVP candidacy followed Tavares in his breakout season. The former 1st overall selection has always been a pure scorer ever since his junior hockey days in the OHL , but in the past two seasons he has put up nearly a point a game. Look for an even bigger year this year, as he has turned the abysmal Islanders into a playoff team. Now, with more of a supporting cast, Johnny T. should be able to break that 100-point barrier for the first time in his career. - 6. Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks) The Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP should be due for a big season. Entering the year at age 24, he is still very young with many good years ahead of him. Playing alongside fellow star Jonathan Toews, they form a dynamic duo that will continue to put up points and make the defending champs strong candidates to repeat. Look for his goal scoring to continue to develop. Always a keen playmaker, star performances — highlighted by his hattrick to clinch the series victory over the LA Kings — show that he is becoming more of a threat on his own as he matures. - 7. Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers) Last season did not go as planned for the Flyers or newly named captain Giroux, who struggled a bit as the team had a plethora of injuries and problems. This season should be different. Flanked by fellow French-Canadian dangler Vincent Lecavalier, Giroux should bounce back to his supreme 2011-2012 form. At his best, he plays with an edge, which for fantasy league makes him great with his high number of PIM and points. - 8. Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks) The captain of the Stanley Cup Champions has been a perennial producer. As one of the best two-way players in the league, he combines a high plus-minus total with a good amount of points. Expect Quenneville to play him and Kane together for the majority of the season, which should have him scoring at a higher pace than in previous years. - 9. Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit Red Wings) The Swedish skill star is always going to put up points, and, as Detroit yet again made the playoffs (much to peoples’ surprise), he and Russian star Pavel Datsyuk put up top level numbers. Another very talented two-way player, Zetterberg should have another solid season. He plays in all situations, which makes his ice time a great bonus for picking up extra points and plus-minus. - 10. Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks) The 2010-2011 NHL MVP is looking to reemerge as a top-level talent in the game. The Ducks have a great club with a lot of talents entering the primes of their careers. With one of the deadliest shots and two of the silkiest hands in the game, if Perry gets off to the right start he could once again contend for 90+ points in a season. - 11. Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay Lightning) Last year’s lockout-shortened season saw St. Louis walk away as the league’s leading scorer, much to the surprise of all at the ripe old age of 37. Now 38, it will be hard to continue this type of production for long, but he has clearly proven doubters wrong his whole career. With young star Stamkos leading the way, look for St. Louis to continue to pick up points. - 12. Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings) Nastiest hands in the league, bar none, Pavel Datsyuk will continue to be the Russian Assassin until the day he retires. He quietly goes about his business, and in full seasons regularly puts up 70 points. He is rarely injured, so he is about as sure of a bet as anyone in the league where consistency is concerned. - 13. Rick Nash (New York Rangers) Finally out of cellar-dwellers’ Columbus, Nash is now in a big market on a team with big expectations. He will be expected to carry a lot of the offensive load, even on a team with lots of veteran talent. A natural goal scorer, 30 goals should be expected, but look for a run closer to 40 or 50 this season. - 14. Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes) Great leader and player, in his second full season with his brother Jordan by his side, look for him to be a top player in the Eastern Conference and put up a nice 60-point season. Not afraid to mix it up and fight as well, he picks up some great PIM numbers for a point producer. - 15. Phil Kessel (Toronto Maple Leafs) Turning into the top scorer that many scouts projected for him as a teenager, he is removing the shadow and burden of costing the Leafs Tyler Seguin and the number two overall pick in the 2010 draft. Kessel, with continued development and asserting himself as a true star, should look to hit the 50-goal mark soon. - Honorable Mentions: Anze Kopitar, Nazem Kadri, Ryan Getzlaf Top Rookie Picks (For Keeper Leagues): Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin, Max Domi - [Analysis provided by Michael Vilardo] - - Defensemen (Top 15): - - |
Parties Parties, dually represented by the Parties, dually represented by the European Union Signatories Non-parties The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place between 1973 and 1982. The convention was opened for signature on 10 December 1982 and entered into force on 16 November 1994 upon deposition of the 60th instrument of ratification.[1] The convention has been ratified by 168 parties, which includes 167 states (164 United Nations member states plus the UN Observer state Palestine, as well as the Cook Islands and Niue) and the European Union.[2] An additional 14 UN member states have signed, but not ratified the convention. Subsequently, the "Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea" was signed in 1994, amending the original Convention. The agreement has been ratified by 150 parties (all of which are parties to the Convention), which includes 149 states (146 United Nations member states plus the UN Observer state Palestine, as well as the Cook Islands and Niue) and the European Union.[3] An additional three UN member states have signed, but not ratified the agreement. As per Article 4 of the Agreement, following adoption of the Agreement any state which ratifies the convention also becomes a party to the Agreement. Additionally, only states which are parties to the Convention can ratify the Agreement. List of parties [ edit ] States with a dagger ( ) are landlocked states. Signatories [ edit ] An additional 14 UN member states have signed the Convention but have not ratified it. One UN member state has signed the Agreement but has not ratified it. Other states [ edit ] There are 15 United Nations member and observer states which have neither signed nor acceded either the Convention or the Agreement: United States position [ edit ] Although the United States helped shape the Convention and its subsequent revisions,[5] and though it signed the 1994 Agreement on Implementation, it has not signed the Convention as it objected to Part XI of the Convention.[6][7] In 1983 President Ronald Reagan, through Proclamation No. 5030, claimed a 200-mile exclusive economic zone. In December 1988 President Reagan, through Proclamation No. 5928, extended U.S. territorial waters from three nautical miles to twelve nautical miles for national security purposes. However a legal opinion from the Justice Department questioned the President's constitutional authority to extend sovereignty as Congress has the power to make laws concerning the territory belonging to the United States under the U.S. Constitution. In any event, Congress needs to make laws defining if the extended waters, including oil and mineral rights, are under State or Federal control.[8][9] On 16 July 2012, the U.S. Senate had 34 Republican Senators who indicated their intention to vote against ratification of the Treaty if it came to a vote. Since at least 2/3 of the 100 member Senate (at least 67 Senators) are required to ratify a treaty, consideration of the treaty was deferred again.[10] Some American commentators, including former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, have warned that ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty might create a precedent with regard to resources of outer space.[11] |
New Delhi: “Blood and water cannot flow together," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday as he chaired a review meeting of the 56-year-old Indus Water Treaty during which it was decided that India will “exploit to the maximum" the water of Pakistan-controlled rivers, including Jhelum, as per the water-sharing pact. Held amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan, the meeting also decided to set up an inter- ministerial task force to go into the details and working of the treaty with a “sense of urgency", senior government sources said. Attended by national security advisor Ajit Doval, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar, the water resources secretary, and senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, the meeting also noted that the meeting of Indus Water Commission can “only take place in atmosphere free of terror". The Commission has held 112 meetings so far. “Prime Minister Modi’s message at the meeting was that ‘rakt aur paani ek saath nahin beh sakta’ (blood and water cannot flow together)," sources said. Apart from deciding to exploit to the maximum the capacity of three of the rivers that are under Pakistan’s control—Indus, Chenab and Jhelum—in the areas of hydro power, irrigation and storage, the meeting also agreed to review the “unilateral suspension" of the Tulbul navigation project in 1987. The sources asserted that the decision to maximise the water resources for irrigation will address the “pre-existing" sentiment of people of Jammu & Kashmir, who have complained in the past about the treaty not being fair to them. The meeting came as India weighed its options to hit back at Pakistan in the aftermath of the 18 September Uri attack that left 18 soldiers dead, triggering demands that the Modi government scrap the water distribution pact to mount pressure on Islamabad. Under the treaty, which was signed by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayub Khan in September 1960, water of six rivers— Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum—were to be shared between the two countries. Pakistan has been complaining about not receiving enough water and gone for international arbitration on at least two separate occasions. |
Catchy title huh? One Finger Death Punch Xbox Live 80 msp Anyone who’s been following the podcast will know that a couple of weeks back we featured the game “One Finger Death Punch” as our indie game of the week in our “We called the dog…” section, well I’ve been playing it and let me tell you it’s every bit as fast, furious and fun as we had hoped. Duck! Behind an incredibly simple premise hides a game that is amazingly well crafted. Using only two buttons, you must face off hordes of enemies. From your standard one hit kill henchman to the tricky boss sections every punch, kick, slash, slam and throw is as satisfying as the last this is due largely to the dedication of “Silver Dollar Games” team to recreate classic moves from a selection of martial arts schools. It’s going to take all of your guitar hero hones skills to get out of this one You may only be a stick man fending off waves of similar dimensionaly challenged fighters but when the combat flows and the combos roll you will feel just like Bruce Lee in his prime pulling off an array of special moves and killer finishing moves as the hapless enemy ninjas fall at your feet. There is no way to move your character except by attacking and you must time your attacks to perfection if you want to get through the levels in one piece. Most of these levels come in the form of “Mob Stages” where you are tasked with taking down a set number of enemies and your ranking comes from how many times you mistime an attack (tip: you don’t want to do this as you are going to get bitch slapped for your troubles). These brawling stages are broken up however by the introduction of special stages like; timed battles, boss stages and the incredibly satisfying and visceral weapons stages my favourite of which features a familiar looking (and sounding) beam sword capable of slicing and cauterizing all in one….. it’s lethal and hella good fun. Finish Him! This title truly is a Kung-Fu masterpiece and is for me the most satisfying martial arts games going. Anyway the game is available on Xbox live for the paltry sum of 80 Microsoft Pacmen so what are you waiting for go buy it and have fun. Tougher enemies always wear crowns …. obviously -eremenko Advertisements |
The head of the euro group of euro zone finance ministers, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, warned on Monday that the euro zone was in danger of breaking apart. Leaders must use "all means at their disposal" to save the currency union, he urged. "We have arrived at a decisive point," Juncker told German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. "The world is talking about whether the euro zone will still exist in a few months." "There is no time to lose," Juncker added. "We must now make abundantly clear with all available means that we are firmly determined to guarantee the financial stability of the currency union." Juncker also said the euro countries, together with the temporary bailout fund EFSF and the European Central Bank, were preparing to purchase government bonds of struggling euro-zone member countries. "It still has to be decided what we're exactly going to do when," he said. This depends on "the developments in the next few days and on how fast we have to react." Flurry of Leaders' Statements Juncker's remarks echoed strongly-worded comments from EU leaders and ECB President Mario Draghi, who pledged action to protect the euro after the crisis was exacerbated last week with a sharp rise in Spanish borrowing costs to unsustainable levels above seven percent. Draghi said on Thursday that he would do whatever was necessary to protect the euro zone from collapse, which triggered speculation over a new bond-buying program by the ECB. Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande issued a statement on Friday saying they will "do everything" to defend the euro zone. Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti made the same pledge after a phone conversation on Saturday. The statements were a sign that last week's events in financial markets had rattled EU leaders. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, the planned bond-buying operation by the ECB and EFSF will work as follows: The bailout fund will purchase bonds directly from the government in so-called primary market purchases that central banks are forbidden to undertake. The ECB will buy government bonds from banks or investment funds in the so-called secondary market in order to push down market interest rates. The aim of the operation is to double the EU's firepower in the fight against the debt crisis. Swipe at Germany's Rösler Juncker praised Draghi, saying: "When Draghi speaks and the markets react it suits me very well." The ECB president wasn't saying things the government leaders weren't thinking themselves, he added. But the "ECB's credibility is higher." He said Germany was partly to blame for the escalating crisis. The country was affording itself "the luxury to conduct domestic policy regarding euro issues," he alleged. In an indirect criticism of German Economy Minister Philipp Rösler, who said last week that a Greek exit had lost its "horrors," Juncker said "chit chat" about a Greek exit wasn't helpful. He said Greece had a duty to deliver on the reform pledges it made in return for international aid. But its exit from the euro zone would not solve the bloc's problems. "On the contrary. The reputation of the euro countries around the world would be significantly damaged, and there would be enormous consequential damage," he said. Greek Coalition Drafting Added Austerity Measures In Athens, there were reports that government coalition leaders were close to finding additional savings worth 11.5 billion ($14.1 billion) for 2013 and 2014 to satisfy Greece's lenders. Officals from the troika of EU, ECB and International Monetary Fund are visiting Athens to evaluate the country's progress in complying with the terms of its latest bailout. Meanwhile, former British prime minister Tony Blair urged Germany on Monday to accept a mutualization of European debt to save the euro. The efforts made so far to rescue the currency weren't enough, Blair wrote in a guest commentary published in Bild newspaper. "Giving up the euro now would be a disaster, not just politically, but economically," wrote Blair. He said it wasn't surprising that Germans were reluctant to fund bailout packages, accept higher inflation and accept liability for the debts of countries that had failed to implement necessary reforms. But Germany now had to agree "to a form of collectivization of debt," he added. Debtor nations in turn would have to agree to reform themselves through precise and credible programs with an exact timetable. In a further sign of how concerned officials are about the crisis, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble on Monday will meet his US counterpart Timothy Geithner on the North Sea island of Sylt, where Schäuble is vacationing. Geither is also scheduled to travel on to Frankfurt for talks with Draghi. |
Porsche, a luxury sports car company within the Volkswagen group, says it has no plans to manufacture autonomous or driverless cars, or bring such capabilities to its existing lineup of cars. Porsche Chief Executive Oliver Blume made his company's stand very clear on the emerging trend with car makers. He said that Porsche continues to believe that control of a car should be left at the wheel. "One wants to drive a Porsche by oneself," Blume said in an interview with Westfalen-Blatt published on Monday (via Reuters). "An iPhone belongs in your pocket, not on the road," he added, saying Porsche hasn't and doesn't need to partner with any technology company for bringing any autonomous capabilities to its cars. Porsche's decision drives the company away from rivals such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz that are interested in autonomous driving. Porsche, however, isn't steering away from technology. The company says that it is working on methods to bring hybrid and fully electric models to the public. The company says that its plug-in hybrid 911 with a range of 50km will hit the market on as soon as 2018. It will be interesting to see how the automobile space changes in the coming years. Google has been heavily investing in its self-driving cars. Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicted in 2014 to see autonomous cars everywhere in five years. Some of its current cars already offer such capability. Apple is rumoured to be working on an electric car as well. |
Hillary Clinton celebrated her primary victory in her home state of New York and seemed ready to shift into general election mode on Tuesday night. Soon after CBS News projected Clinton won, she expressed confidence that she would win the Democratic nomination and recalled that this month last year she launched her campaign on Roosevelt Island. "Tonight, a little less than a year later, the race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch and victory is in sight," Clinton told a crowd of supporters in Manhattan. Delegates are awarded proportionally in New York, where 247 are up for grabs. Clinton said she was deeply grateful for the support Democrats showed her once again in New York. Voters elected previously elected her twice to the U.S. Senate in 2000 and 2006. "New Yorkers, you've always had my back, and I've always tried to have yours," she said. "Because of you, this campaign is the only one -- Democratic or Republican -- to win more than 10 million votes." The former secretary of state also addressed voters who support her rival Bernie Sanders, who returned to Vermont Tuesday night after his loss. Sanders has maintained he plans to go all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this July. "To all the people who supported Senator Sanders, I believe there is much more that unites us than divides us," she said. Clinton then appeared to take swipes at not only Sanders but also other presidential candidates. "Under the bright lights of New York, we have seen that it's not enough to diagnose problems. You have to actually explain how you're going to solve the problems," she said. She talked about how she would work to create jobs, raise wages, reduce inequality and improve access to quality education. "Let's take on the challenge of systemic racism, invest in communities of color and finally pass comprehensive immigration reform," Clinton said. "America is great, and we can do great things if we do them together." Toward the end of her victory speech, she pointed out a woman in the audience whose mother was the principal at Sandy Hook elementary school and died in the 2012 shooting. Clinton began to choke up a little and said that the woman, Erica Lafferty Smegielski, has "made it her mission to advocate for common-sense gun safety reform," which is an issue Clinton argues she's on the right side of compared to Sanders. With 85 percent of the vote in, Clinton is leading Sanders 57 percent to 43 percent. |
Nintendo has gone mobile. The maker of Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, which has long resisted any suggestions that it put its games on smartphones and tablets, said today that it would team with DeNA, one of Japan's leading mobile game companies, to create games using its popular franchises for mobile devices. The two companies will enter into a capital alliance that will see Nintendo acquire 10 percent of DeNA's outstanding stock for about 22 billion yen and DeNA acquire 1.24 percent of Nintendo's stock for approximately the same amount. "Nintendo has decided to utilize smart devices aggressively," said Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata in a joint presentation with DeNA earlier today. "Now that smart devices have grown to become the window for so many people to personally connect with society, it would be a waste not to use these devices." "We are challenging ourselves to redefine what 'Nintendo platforms' mean," Iwata said. Iwata did not specify which games or franchises might be headed to smart devices. A Super Mario endless runner? Zelda Crush Saga? Nintendo's chief didn't say, but he did rule out a specific category of games: Nintendo will not, as so many publishers have, simply port its existing classic game software to phones. "There are significant differences in the controls, strengths and weaknesses between the controllers for dedicated game systems and the touchscreens of smart devices," he said. "We have no intention at all to port existing game titles for dedicated game platforms to smart devices because if we cannot provide our consumers with the best possible play experiences, it would just ruin the value of Nintendo's IP." Although Iwata, in the presentation, pointed out the current weakness of Nintendo's sales of dedicated game devices like Wii U and 3DS, he said the company remains committed to producing game hardware. To that end, he announced that Nintendo has a "dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept under the development codename 'NX'" that it will discuss next year. Nintendo and DeNA will also partner to create a customer membership program that will span all devices, to replace the company's Club Nintendo customer loyalty program that it wound down earlier this year. "I believe teaming up with Nintendo is the best possible strategy to achieve growth in DeNA's core business of mobile gaming," said DeNA president and CEO Isao Moriyasu. "I grew up playing Nintendo games, and I’m already excited that I will soon be able to play Nintendo IP games on smart devices." |
Boston city officials are considering ending their yearslong deal of sending millions of dollars in parking meter fares to the MBTA’s problem-plagued “money room,” where a recent audit revealed a slew of embarrassing security lapses, ranging from duct-taped doors to broken vault locks. The city, which estimates it will send up to $7 million in meter fares to be counted at the T’s Charlestown-based cash operations facility next fiscal year, has been searching for “alternative locations” for several months, Bonnie McGilpin, a spokeswoman for ?Mayor Martin J. Walsh, said yesterday. McGilpin did not ?address why the city is considering other cash-counting operations, nor did she make Walsh available. But she indicated that it wasn’t related to any security concerns, ?including those raised by a T-commissioned consultant and first reported this week by the Herald. “We are confident that our meter revenue is transported, counted and deposited in a timely and accurate and secure manner,” McGilpin said in an email, adding that the city regularly weighs the receipts to estimate them and compares that against bank deposits. City officials estimate they’ve used the T’s money room for roughly 15 years. “Over the past several months, the City of Boston has been engaged in looking at alternative locations for this money,” McGilpin said, “but ?nothing is finalized at ?this time.” The facility — where workers handle nearly $200 million in cash each year, including from Boston and Cambridge — is suffering from a range of severe security lapses that could cost roughly $500,000 to shore up, according to a consultant. Beyond faulty equipment — such as a door with a duct-taped handle leading to the facility’s vault — auditors also pointed to inventory problems, including one small vault that contained anywhere from 500 to 1,000 copies of keys used to open fare boxes, plus 3,000 more in another box. Cambridge City Manager Richard C. Rossi said he was a “little bit alarmed” by the audit and plans to ask the T for more details and for a meeting with interim General Manager Brian Shortsleeve. He said the city has for years done “spot-check” audits on the roughly $4 million to $5 million it sends in meter fares with no issues. “It opens your eyes,” he said of the audit’s findings, “so you want to think about things differently. … This is a little bit of a ?surprise.” |
"William Smith Never saw a coccolith But using macrofossil data He ordered all the English strata" An anonymous clerihew dedicated to W. Smith William Smith, born March 23, 1769, introduced in his "Strata - Identified by organized Fossils" (1816) the "principle of faunal succession" into stratigraphy. Geological maps before Smith mapped and catalogued rocks based only on the inorganic properties, like chemical composition or colour. This classification was very restricted and confusing. Smith discovered and applied a classification scheme that can identify sedimentary rocks of the same age with almost no doubt. "Fossils have been long studied as great curiosities, collected with great pains, treasured with great care and at a great expense, and shown and admired with as much pleasure as a child's hobby-horse is shown and admired by himself and his playfellows, because it is pretty; and this has been done by thousands who have never paid the least regard to that wonderful order and regularity with which nature has disposed of these singular productions, and assigned to each class its peculiar stratum." William Smith (1796) Using this principle he compiled one of the first "true" geological maps in history, useful also to track the - at the time of the Industrial Revolution - much valuable coal seams. Map.1. "A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales...." by William Smith (image in public domain). The colours are based on the colours of the mapped rocks, coal appropriately shown in black. However Smith uses the characteristic assemblages of fossils to further subdivide similar looking rocks - providing a valuable tool to show the stratigraphic order of the underground. Bibliography: WINCHESTER, W. (2001): The Map that Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology. New York: Harper Collins: 352 |
Confidential From:brentbbi@webtv.net To: john.podesta@gmail.com Date: 2016-01-10 13:17 Subject: Confidential I had a multi-email exchange with someone in the media this morning---a name you would know---who is telling me that there are people close to the Clintons who says WJC's sex life could be damaging to her. I responded that I totally disagree with that, that WJC's presidency and his personal appeal are huge assets and that I do not believe people who are the closest to the Clintons believe what this person in the media is hearing from somebody. I never ask journalists about their sources. I know you would be among them. I also know that for some times there were people purportedly close to the Clintons pushing the line that the less WJC the better. Which again I have always strongly disagreed with and still do. My point in this note is that whoever is peddling this crap from somewhere within the Clinton camp is having the effect of encouraging the media to give the issue more prominence. They are hurting both Clintons. I always stay out of intra-staff stuff like this, both Clinton's would be well advised to advise the people in their orbit to shut the hell up about this. Even if I thought Bill Clinton was a liability I would never in a million years write it, or say it to the media, but I think he is a huge asset and I also think some of the people they pay do not perform a service to them. Sent from my iPad |
Hold up, where did July go? We’ve barely had our fill of thirst-quenching cucumber beers and fresh herbal beers, and we’re already seeing pumpkin beers and Oktoberfests sneak onto shelves. Time flies, especially when you’re drinking beer. As we flip the calendar page to August, here’s where we’d like to soak up the last true summer month. The Jailhouse Craft Beer Bar, Buena Vista, Colorado: Open just a few weeks, the new 10-tap bar debuted with an impressive line-up of beers from Casey Brewing & Blending, Cannonball Creek, Comrade, Melvin, La Cumbre, Perennial, Almanac, Oakshire, and Victory, as well as a small can and bottle list and a few wines. The bar features an original stone wall and beams from when the building was a stable-turned-jail in the late 1800s (spooky!), plus two shady patios, the back version of which hosts food trucks during the bar’s business hours. Village Pourhouse Summer Beer Olympics, New York City: Finally show off all those college drinking game skills that people keep telling you are “inappropriate when you’re in your 30s” at Village Pourhouse’s Summer Beer Olympics on August 13. You’ll compete against other teams in contests such as flip cup, beer pong, drunk Jenga and more; winner gets bragging rights and free open bar for an hour. Participant tickets cost $90 and include a three-hour open bar, appetizers and entrance to the tournament (use the promotional code CHAMPION for 1/2 priced tickets); buy them via Village Pourhouse’s website. Trillium and The Parlor Ice Cream Pop-Up, Canton, Massachusetts: The fine folks at Trillium were clearly spying on our dreams when they created this August 6 event: The Parlor Ice Cream Co. stops by the brewery’s Canton taproom and doles out scoops of ice cream made with Trillium beer including the Secret Stairs with roasted barely and cocoa; an Uppercase IPA blend with pineapple swirl; and Dusk Trill Dawn with barley malt, cold brew ganache and coffee from Barrington Coffee Roasters. Get more info on Trillium’s website. Sesh Fest, Denver, Colorado: In our perfect world, all beer festivals are session beer festivals (see our list of the 30 rules of beer festivals for more tips on not getting falling-down drunk at beer festivals). But for a true session beer festival, there are few better options than Denver’s annual Sesh Fest, taking place August 6 at the Highlands Masonic Temple. $30 gets you admission to the fest full of unlimited pours of under-5% brews, plus games and a souvenir tasting glass. Buy tickets through the Sesh Fest website. Monday Night Brewing’s Tie One On Party, Atlanta, Georgia: Monday Night turns five years old and throws a blow-out party on August 6 to celebrate; $35 tickets include a brewery tour, commemorative glass, 12 tasting tickets good for 36 ounces of beer, and a 22-ounce take-home bottle of brand-new Tie 5 On wild IPA. The draft line-up for the event is a greatest hits list for the brewery featuring beers like 2014 Bourbon Barrel Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale, 2015 Tie 4 On Belgian Quad, Blind Pirate Double IPA and many more. Tickets and more info can be found via the event ticketing website. ThirstyBear’s 20th Anniversary Block Party, San Francisco, California: Twenty breweries join San Fran O.G. ThirstyBear for a block party celebrating two decades of brewing; expect live music from bluegrass band The Brothers Comatose as well as beers from 21st Amendment Brewery, Almanac Beer Co., Anchor Brewing, Beach Chalet, Bison Brewery, Cellarmaker Brewing, Drake’s Brewing, Faction Brewing, Fieldwork Brewing, Fort Point Beer, Harmonic Brewing, Headlands Brewing, Local Brewing, Magnolia Brewery, Sierra Nevada, Shmaltz Brewing, Social Kitchen & Brewery, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, Triple Voodoo Brewery and Woods Beer. ThirstyBear will pour a wet-hopped, nitrogen-carbed anniversary ale and will release its vintage barrel-aged Dark Age as well as other beers. All-inclusive general admission tickets are $96 (VIP admission $135) and are available here. The Beer Collective, New Haven, Connecticut: Shooting for a (hopefully) late August opening in downtown New Haven, this coming-soon bar aims to please both beer newbies and seasoned drinkers alike with a menu of beers, ciders and bourbons ranging from the approachable to the esoteric, with a special eye toward the best of the local scene. Also look for a cellar list and a full kitchen turning out small plates, meats, cheese and sandwiches. Keep an eye on its progress via The Beer Collective Facebook page. Half Acre’s The Big North, Chicago, Illinois: Half Acre Brewing Company throws its first real party in its new, larger brewery space on August 20, featuring music from Twin Peaks, plenty of beers and food. General admission tickets are $65 and include all beer, a meal ticket, a take-home coozie and glass. Get more info and purchase tickets here. Spencer Brewery Summer Sales Event, Spencer, Massachusetts: Spencer Brewery at St. Joseph’s Abbey is normally closed to the public due to the cloistered nature of the monks’ lives, but the abbey will open the doors for a special event on August 6. Admission is free and will allow visitors to see where and how the abbey beer is made, purchase beer (an IPA and a German-style pilsner) directly from the monastery, and pick up glassware to take home. See more info on the brewery’s website. The Watering Hole at the Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Spending an afternoon at the zoo with a gaggle of kids likely earns you a beer. At the end of July, the Philadelphia Zoo debuted The Watering Hole, a beer garden located in the heart of the Philadelphia Zoo serving a light food menu, wine as well as Victory beers including Summer Love and Headwaters plus Tröegs Sunshine Pils and Goose Island IPA. Get more info via the Philadelphia Zoo website. Brew at the L.A. Zoo, Los Angeles, California: In other news related to drinking beer near large caged animals, the L.A. Zoo will host its annual Brew at the Zoo on August 6. General admission includes 5-ounce beer samples from your choice of 50 breweries including Firestone Walker, Sierra Nevada, Surf, Kinetic, Great Divide and more. Tickets range from $65-$125 and can be purchased at the zoo’s website. DuClaw’s 20th Anniversary Hopalujah Celebration, Rosedale, Maryland: DuClaw celebrates two decades of brewing with an August 20 party. The highlight will be the release of one-off Hopalujah double IPA straight off the bottling line. Admission is free, and beer tokens cost $5; Hopalujah bottles will be available for purchase. Get more info on DuClaw’s website. Have a beer event you think we should know about? Shoot an email to beer editor Kate Bernot at kate.bernot@draftmag.com. |
Diego Romero, CTV Edmonton A new entertainment destination will be available to Edmontonians late August. Cineplex Entertainment’s The Rec Room will be a two-storey, 60,000 square feet space adjacent to the already existing Cineplex theaters at South Edmonton Common. It will include live entertainment at an auditorium-style space, arcade games and attractions, bars and restaurants. The 14,000 square foot games section will be called The Yard, and it features axe throwing, virtual reality experiences, car simulators, bowling lanes, pool tables, ping pong, and air hockey. The state-of-the-art auditorium called The Hall is set to feature musical acts and comedians. This will be the first The Rec Room to open in Canada, but there are plans to build 10-15 more, with locations in Toronto and Calgary to come next year. The Rec Room will create approximately 200 jobs, 10 per cent of which will be full-time. |
Online speech must travel through several "upstream" providers before reaching its audience. Each of these links in the chain may itself rely on its own upstream providers -- for example, smaller ISPs may simply connect users to larger ISPs, or hosting platforms may host their services on servers leased from a commercial datacenter. When at first they don’t succeed, censors try again upstream. The Internet’s strength lies partially in the fact that no single entity provides all the services necessary for the network to operate. The downside of this decentralization is that there are multiple intermediary points between any two users at which a third party may attempt to cut off speech. If the party seeking censorship meets resistance at any given link, they may simply move further up the chain and try again. The further away from the user a service provider is located on the chain, the less incentive that provider has to push back against censorship of the user’s speech. And even if an upstream provider wanted to defend its users, the cost of doing a fair use analysis or defending a lawsuit is frequently more than they are charging any customer. As a result, upstream providers will often take the cheaper option of removing content or banning users. Unfortunately, upstream censorship can silence not only the targeted user but also hundreds or even thousands of uninvolved websites and users. To comply with a takedown request, a web hosting service may be forced to disconnect an entire website because it is not technically capable of removing specific content or web pages. It gets worse if the requester moves upstream to the hosting service’s ISP, which could shut down the hosting service’s entire connection and take hundreds of "innocent bystander" websites offline in the process. Users whose speech is stifled by one upstream provider can sometimes switch to a different service after being censored. This solution is not only time- and resource-consuming, however, but probably only temporary as censorship-seeking parties chase them from one provider to the next. Users should look for a chain of providers that is committed to scrutinizing censorship requests, notifying and working with users to assess the situation, and defending customers when a request is illegitimate. Examples of Targeting Upstream Providers Unhappy that its global law enforcement guide had been published online by Cryptome.org, Microsoft sent a DMCA takedown notice to Network Solutions, Cryptome’s DNS and hosting provider. Even though Cryptome’s act was likely a protected fair use, Network Solutions asked Cryptome to remove the guide. When Cryptome refused, Network Solutions pulled the plug on the entire Cryptome website -- full of legal content -- because Network Solutions was not technically capable of targeting and removing the single document. The site was not restored until wide outcry in the blogosphere forced Microsoft to retract its takedown request. When the Chamber of Commerce sought to silence a parody website created by activist group The Yes Men, it sent a DMCA takedown notice to the Yes Men’s hosting service’s upstream ISP, Hurricane Electric. When the hosting service May First/People Link resisted Hurricane Electric’s demands to remove the parody site, Hurricane Electric shut down MayFirst/PeopleLink’s connection entirely, temporarily taking offline hundreds of "innocent bystander" websites as collateral damage. The Cleanfeed filtering of child pornography sites in the United Kingdom also affects all downstream ISPs that use the British Telecom network. Status: active. |
Pin 0 Shares (ANTIWAR) The US has announced its intention of permanently deploying a company of Grey Eagle drones capable of firing Hellfire Missiles, to South Korea, along the border with North Korea. Officials are saying they’ll provide “surveillance” capabilities. Yet the fact that they chose to send a missile-capable drone suggests surveillance isn’t the primary goal of this deployment. The Trump Administration has already shown an interest in escalating the use of drones to attack targets in places that are not directly part of current US military operations. While the US throwing more military forces at the Korean Peninsula is nothing new, deploying forces that are seen as being usable in something short of a full-scale military operation seems particularly risky, as it risks the chance that the overflights could blunder the US into a precipitous escalation with North Korea. This is doubly true because drones being used for their stated purpose, surveillance, could be misinterpreted by North Korean Air Defense as an imminent US attack with Hellfire Missiles, and could produce a retaliatory response from North Korea’s substantial missile program. It’s not too hard to imagine a number of ways in which this deployment could destabilize the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and with the Trump Administration openly eschewing any negotiations with North Korea as proposed by China recently, it only adds to the sense the US is seeking a “military solution.” By Jason Ditz / Republished with permission / AntiWar.com / Report a typo Pin 0 Shares |
Amina el-Filali, a moon-faced Moroccan peasant girl, seemed destined for an obscure life in this dreary little farming village 50 miles south of Tangier. But that was before she was lured into sexual relations at age 15 by a 23-year-old unemployed laborer who took her into a shed next to the eucalyptus grove behind her house. That was before she was ushered into an early wedding, with the man who took her virginity, by a traditional Muslim family eager to salvage its honor. And that was before she swallowed rat poison to commit suicide rather than endure what she told her mother was an unbearable marriage. Since Amina took her life shortly before lunch March 10, she has become a national cause, an icon for women’s groups, human rights organizations, progressive politicians and millions of Western-oriented Moroccans who have demanded changing a law that permits marriage at such a young age. The law under attack is based on Islamic jurisprudence and tradition. As a result, the demands for change present a particularly unwelcome challenge to Morocco’s new Islamist government, which was elected in November on a promise to make Morocco more Islamic — not less. The quandary faced by Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane and his Justice and Development Party, Morocco’s main Islamist group, has high stakes for Morocco, which depends heavily on European tourism and thus on its reputation abroad. But it is emblematic of tensions emerging in places such as Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, where Islamic groups rising to positions of power in the aftermath of the Arab Spring are beginning to confront pressures pitting principles imported from the West against their Islamic traditions. “Little girls raped in their village — it happens all the time,” said Khadija Ryadi, head of the Moroccan Human Rights Association in Rabat, the capital, about 100 miles south of here. “But it was important this time, because everyone is waiting to see what the reaction of an Islamic government will be.” The demands for change have arisen only eight years after a landmark modernization of the country’s family code, spearheaded by King Mohammed VI. That effort was widely hailed — by the United States, the United Nations, European governments and human rights groups — as a triumph for the then-newly crowned king and an example for the rest of the Arab world. The family code, or mudawana, set 18 as the legal age for marriage for both sexes. But it also provided for exceptions to be decided by judges on the basis of special legal and social circumstances. In practice, the provision robbed the age limit of much of its meaning; the Justice Ministry estimates the number of such exceptions at about 35,000 a year. Now the uproar set off by Amina’s case has led to an effervescent Internet reaction in Morocco, with loose allegations of rape and demands for immediate change, including a Facebook site named “We are all Amina” and a deluge of tweets repeating the slogan. Anti-rape demonstrations have been staged in the largest cities, attended mainly by women. The U.N. office in Morocco declared that marriage laws should be modernized, and the left-wing Socialist Union of Popular Forces party has petitioned for a parliamentary investigation mandated to recommend amendments. The parents’ account Amina grew up in a cinder-block home, one of a few dozen scattered around the dirt lanes of Karmida. Her father, Lahsin el-Filali, 48, a farmhand who makes about $6 a day, took a second wife when Amina was 10. The family remained united, and she was close to her mother, Zohra, 44. Although she was behind several grades, Amina attended a local school and, according to her mother, dreamed of becoming an engineer. Amina went to the shed by the eucalyptus grove only because the laborer, a neighbor named Mustapha el-Hallaq, forced her to, the mother said. “She was never his girlfriend,” she said. “If she went with him, it was because he would accost her on the way home from school. He would take her to the grove, and that’s where it happened.” The parents discussed their daughter’s relationship with Hallaq in a lengthy interview at the family’s home, over heavily sugared mint tea, fried eggs and several loaves of bread. Amina’s father described Hallaq as a local tough and said he had complained to the police about Hallaq’s advances toward Amina. When she revealed the sexual relations, he and Amina’s mother said, she told them that Hallaq had forced himself on her. “Rape” was the word they used. Nevertheless, the parents met with Hallaq’s parents, and together they decided to go to a judge and ask for authorization for the young couple to marry, what Zohra described as a “compromise” between the families. Both sets of parents knew that in Moroccan tradition, particularly in the countryside, a later marriage to another man would have been impossible once it became known Amina was no longer a virgin. In addition, Hallaq was to pay a bride’s price of $625. According to Moroccan tradition, the amount was specified in the marriage contract. But Amina’s father said it was never paid. “I did not want the marriage,” said the father, sitting with his first wife across the table and his second, seven years younger than Zohra and the mother of a boisterous 5-year-old daughter, a little to his left. “But Zohra said it was necessary for the honor of our family.” Informed of the marriage plans, Amina instinctively resisted and then resigned herself, he said. “She said at first that she didn’t love him,” he said, “but then, as the procedure with the judges went on, she said, ‘Okay, he’ll be my husband.’ ” The couple were formally married Dec. 12, and Amina moved in with Hallaq’s family nearby. Zohra said her daughter visited frequently and soon began to express her misery, citing beatings from Hallaq and unkind treatment from his family. “I don’t know for sure what was happening, because she was at his house and I was at my house,” the mother said. “But she used to come here and complain that he was beating her. I told her that if that was so, she should go to the police and lodge a formal complaint. But she never did. She was afraid of him.” (Hallaq was unable to provide his version of events; his mother said he was gone from Karmida. But he told a Moroccan journalist recently that the affair began with a phone call from Amina. He said that all the sexual relations were consensual and that he agreed to the marriage out of regard for Amina. As for the suicide, he said, his bride often seemed sick after her visits home, where, he said, her father would beat her.) Even on the day Amina went to the market to buy rat poison, the mother said, witnesses saw Hallaq beating her along the way. She bought the poison and took it home in the late morning. She began vomiting after lunch and died in the hospital that afternoon, the parents said. On the walls of their living room, decorated in gaudy plastic, hung studio photographs of Amina’s two elder sisters, Fatiha and Hamida, both beaming in their wedding dresses. Asked why Amina’s photo was not also displayed, the mother reached into a plastic bag and pulled out an ID-style head shot showing Amina with a strict Muslim covering over her hair and forehead. Another photo in the sack showed Hallaq on the day he married Amina, decked out in new clothes with a stylish scarf around his neck and standing alone in front of an idealized seaside scene painted on the wall. The government’s stance The Islamist government’s justice and liberties minister, Mustafa Ramid, and its family affairs minister, Bassima Hakkaoui, declined to be interviewed about Amina’s case. Earlier, however, Hakkaoui said a change in the early-marriage provisions, contained in Article 475 of the penal code, was not on her agenda. “Article 475 is unlikely to be abrogated from one day to the next under pressure from international public opinion,” she told Moroccan journalists. “Sometimes marriage of the raped woman to her rapist does not bring real harm.” Hisham Mellati, Ramid’s penal-law attache, said a police investigation, citing neighbors, showed that Amina and Hallaq had been sweethearts for months, stealing off frequently to the shelter of the eucalyptus trees. Mellati, fingering through a thick file at the Justice Ministry in Rabat, said that, on the basis of the investigation and Amina’s testimony, judges concluded that the sexual relations were consensual and that Amina was a willing partner in the marriage. Much of the agitation surrounding Amina’s case, including its description as a rape, is thus ill-founded, he said. According to Morocco’s penal law, Mellati said, rape with the use of violence is automatically prosecuted and is punishable by prison. Even if the sexual relations between a young girl and an older man are consensual, he said, there can be a crime classified as “leading a minor astray,” which is roughly parallel to statutory rape. But the degree to which Amina was pressured into the sexual relations was unclear, he said. In any case, if there is no violence, judges can grant permission for early marriage despite the family code, he said, provided the families petition the court and follow a procedure that takes several months. In Amina’s case, he added, there were five sessions, including one in which the judge sat alone with Amina to ensure she was not being pressured to accept the marriage. “The law was strictly followed,” Mellati said. The Justice Ministry has for some time been studying an overhaul of the entire penal code, which dates to 1962, Mellati said. When it comes time to consider Article 475, it will be judged according to the same criteria as other laws and amended “if Moroccan society wants it,” he added. In the meantime, he said, a police investigation is looking into what pushed Amina to commit suicide. It has as yet reached no conclusion. Although the wave of protests has been directed at the Islamist government, Morocco’s monarch, regarded as a descendant of the prophet Muhammad, has retained the right to intervene. His role as ultimate arbiter of religious values gives him the power. Moreover, the controversy is tied to the family code, which was his signature initiative. A new constitution, issued last year after demonstrations tied to the Arab Spring, was welcomed as an advance toward democracy because it committed the king to name a government from the party with the most votes. This put Islamists into the government, but the king kept defense, security and national religious affairs in his hands. So far, in public at least, he has kept silent on Amina. |
For An Intelligence Agency, The NSA Doesn't Seem To Have Much Idea What's Going On Inside Its Own Walls from the inside-of-a-panopticon-is-the-least-secure-area dept Better late than never, the NSA seems like it's finally getting around to fixing the problems on the inside of the agency. So sharp is the fear of threats from within that last year the NSA planned to launch at least 4,000 probes of potentially suspicious or abnormal staff activity after scrutinizing trillions of employee keystrokes at work. The anomalous behavior that sent up red flags could include staffers downloading multiple documents or accessing classified databases they do not normally use for their work, said two people familiar with the software used to monitor employee activity. Contractors like Snowden, an NSA spokeswoman said, were not included in the plans to reinvestigate 4,000 security clearances. “Periodic re-investigations are conducted as one due-diligence component of our multifaceted insider threat program.” I am completely croggled by the fact that the NSA apparently had absolutely no contingency plans for this sort of thing. Somebody's putting in some overtime! In addition to sifting through the vast amount of data collected in its many quasi-legal (and some completely illegal ) programs, the agency has also had to wade through "trillions" of logged employee keystrokes. (The haystacks are coming from inside the house!)This investigation has chewed up a lot of money with very little in the way of results, suffering from "critical delays" and (go figure) a lack of cohesive implementation. Meanwhile, a sysadmin headed to Hong Kong with an NSA-to-go kit. Not that a more expeditious rollout of the investigations would have mattered.The agency claims these investigations aren't in place to root out offenders (although it's certainly welcome to do so), but to "reduce the potential" of an insider compromise.Well, whatever's been put into place so far has failed dramatically, and what's being pursued doesn't look very promising. The agency claims the first rollout was stunted by resources being diverted towards mitigating the fallout from Bradley Manning's leaks. Now, as the agency tries to reignite the investigative process, Snowden (and several media entities) are standing behind it, periodically blowing out the flame.The NSA still seems to have no idea whatSnowden took and that lack of knowledge has forced it to play nothing but defense since the leaks began. The internal vetting process seems to be about as "efficient" as the external process , albeit for very different reasons. An agency that can't search its own email doesn't have a chance against an individual with access and determination.And then there's this aspect of the whole debacle, as pointed out by Bruce Schneier It doesn't, and that's a very worrying issue for a. At this point, the NSA can't close the barn doors fast enough and every assertion it makes about the limits, oversight or "trustworthiness" of its programs is usually undermined within a few days by yet another leak. Something aimed at nothing more than a "reduction" in leaky insiders just isn't going to be good enough. On the other hand, the public is benefiting from the NSA's pain -- it's now more informed about the agency's activities than it's been for the previous half-decade -- and the cumulative effects of the leak-and-denial cycle have forced the NSA to actually participate in a national discussion and make tentative steps towards transparency Filed Under: clearance, employees, insider threats, nsa, top secret |
History suggests that Republicans are heading for midterm losses in Congress. Thanks to the disastrous and unpopular leadership of Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans, those losses could be a lot bigger than previously thought. For the past couple of months, Democrats have been winning big at the local level, spurred on by voter enthusiasm and outrage against not just Donald Trump but the entire Republican Party leadership. And these wins are not likely to stop any time soon. On Wednesday, a new poll from Quinnipiac University was released, which suggests that Republicans are in serious trouble. Much media coverage has so far been devoted to how bad Trump’s personal numbers are, with his approval rating down to 36. He is also underwater with non-college educated white voters. There is also the amusing — or alarming — list of words people associate with Trump. The top three are “idiot,” “incompetent,” and “liar,” with “unqualified,” “ignorant,” “asshole,” and “stupid,” also appearing in the top 15. While these are indeed terrible numbers for Trump, there is an arguably more interesting number buried in the Quinnipiac poll: the generic congressional ballot. When respondents were asked which party they would prefer to control the House of Representatives, Democrats led by a whopping 16 points: 54 to 38. As Kyle Kondik notes in Rasmussen Reports, it is the routine, historical pattern for the president’s party to suffer losses in midterm elections. Republicans lost 26 House seats under Ronald Reagan in 1982, and 30 seats under George W. Bush in 2006. Democrats lost 54 seats under Bill Clinton in 1992, and 63 seats under Barack Obama in 2010. Rasmussen/Kyle Kondik To put these numbers in perspective, Democrats averaged just an 11-point lead in the generic congressional ballot in 2006, when they won control of not just the House but the Senate as well. A lot can change over the next year and a half, but if this 16-point lead sets the tone for the 2018 midterms, Democrats are poised for a truly colossal victory. And if Republicans keep hiding from constituents, stonewalling an independent investigation of Russia, and trying to ram through a repeal of health care to cut taxes for the rich, their numbers are unlikely to improve. The American people are starting to see that the Republican Party has nothing to offer but lies, regression, and corruption. And polling shows they are ready to vote accordingly. |
Investigators on Monday arrested a homeless man in connection with a fire that destroyed a building Friday at an Islamic center in Houston, Texas. Houston Fire Department arson investigators said Darryl Ferguson, who is homeless and allegedly has a criminal record, admitted to setting the fire to the family center of the Quba Islamic Institute, according to television station KPRC. As he was being arrested, a reporter from the station asked Ferguson whether he started the fire to stay warm. Ferguson replied: “Yes.” “The investigators worked very hard since the fire and I expressed my concern to the imam of the Islamic center and wanted him to feel rest-assured that we were working hard to find the individual who set the fire,” Chief Arson Investigator Ruben Hernandez told KPRC. “I believe obviously it could have been an accident,” Ahsan Zahid, one of the imams at the center, told the news station. “If that’s what it turns out to be, we’ll be happier than if it was a hate crime.” Zahid added that members of the center have received direct threats online since the fire. The family center of the institute was declared a complete loss after the Friday fire. Correction: This post has been updated to show it was the suspect, not investigators, who said the fire was set to stay warm. |
Full contest (II) The results of the second round of the full contest are now available. You can watch the replays of all the games on PuntTV. Results A total of 60 teams took part in the second round. The following maps were used with a selection of extension combinations always including futures. For each of the 6 map and extension combinations, we assigned groups of 16 teams (each group playing 16 times in order to allow every team to play in every position). Team Points Score Frictionless Bananas 96 7708649 Unagi 90 5414581 All your lambda are belong to us 86 6727070 A Storm Of Minds 85 4495018 DiamondPrincess 83 3361761 Sampou 82 4430524 Adlersprung 81 8199220 Begot 79 3565795 Wile E. 74 3342106 GennAI 74 2575571 The $ound of .\ 72 1778739 Olympia 70 2279084 hayatox 68 2831088 jabber.ru 68 2056021 FromRedmondWithLove 66 1531965 trup16 64 3994150 The Blind Hen 61 4028370 TBD 61 1843234 Popes who died violently 60 1529801 Piggybank Software 59 4181789 AIM Tech 59 3634896 punteros 59 3098733 Lambding Snakes vs Coding Monkeys 59 1477094 udfew 59 505953 JODY HiGHROLLERS 58 400268 Love and Lies 56 1036131 BargeHauler 54 3104709 code-o-matic 54 1855570 flash 52 2152706 HHP 50 2851596 Turing Machinists 50 1925260 kstm.org 50 1200699 Frog 49 1644530 fixstars 48 3993161 SpiritRaccoons 47 910190 zeta 46 49354 CDT 44 635011 O Caml, My Caml 44 90952 ALAMBDA 42 704356 Eger a Marson 41 1841227 alexf 39 1343185 powder 39 769143 SoyuzMultfilm 39 54435 DONT TOUCH MY LAMBDAS 38 1384310 uguu.org 37 696681 ?!? 37 473659 cw 37 282901 301 35 741631 Dark Integers 34 1136383 cashto 31 72562 Lambada Calculus 28 461641 perpertuum mobile 28 235891 Sirius Cybernetics Corporation 27 779609 negainoido 26 1649867 SKI 24 129514 RagingMushrooms 21 15860 peeingbananas 21 -185638 THIRTEEN 17 1111694 NCPLUG 14 2976 Udon 12 0 The median number of points is 50. Any team with fewer points is now eliminated. The results of round 3, including the winners, will be announced at ICFP on Tuesday. Patched punter contest (unofficial) A number of teams have asked for more details on why their punters have been failing. In some cases this has helped them to identify small patches to make them work with our test framework. Examples of such patches include the word “Maybe” and the line “fflush(stdout);”. Some teams have asked if we can try out their patched punters. If you can provide us with a small patch and build instructions that we can follow easily then we will be happy to run your patched punters in a special round in which we will also pit them against the eventual winners of the full contest. As we are quite busy just now, the actual evaluation may happen after the ICFP conference. |
Visit http://www.TheRopeIt.com/ to buy yours today!The Ropeit™ is specifically designed for golfers to practice and improve their game, in a limited area.Practice your swing and improve your game within the comfort of your backyard. An incredible practice aid, the Ropeit utilizes a real golf ball and allows you to visualize flight path of the ball beyond 20 yards!Ropeit is convenient, affordable, effective but most importantly fun! A golfer can easily see when they are hitting a slice or hook by the visual feedback and feel of the ball off the club face. The ball flies straight and the shot feels pure when the ball is struck well. Golfers of any skill level will benefit from golf practice at home with the Rope It. Try it and you will be amazed by just how addicting it is. Show less |
Honda haven't given up on introducing a major power unit upgrade at the Canadian Grand Prix next weekend, but admit it will be tight to deliver it on time. The Japanese manufacturer, supplier to McLaren, hopes to introduce a major upgrade for the Montreal race, but F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa has admitted it could be delayed, although he insists he isn't giving up on their original schedule. "I don't give up and we are trying very hard [to be ready] but until Thursday, I can't decide," Hasegawa is quoted by Autosport. McLaren have yet to score a single point this season and is the only team yet to do so, with racing director Eric Boullier admitting that is purely down to a lack of engine performance, and is therefore pushing for Honda's upgrade to be ready. However Hasegawa says it will only be introduced if they can prove it will deliver a big step forward. "We have [already seen] some performance [from the upgrade], but if it is very small, it's not worth changing engine for the next one. "We haven't started working on the settings. If we are not confident enough to set up that specification, it will cause some driveability issues, so the settings are also important." It's believed the upgrade is centered around the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) which is where Honda lacks in performance compared to its rivals. |
What was Polybius, and did it ever exist? (Photo: albund/shutterstock.com) In a suburban arcade near Portland, Oregon, in 1981, a dull, digital glow bounced off the faces of teenagers who clutched joysticks, immersed in the game. Tiny lines and dots danced or exploded with high-pitched beeps across them all, but one game cabinet, Polybius, drew the longest lines. Gamers who tried it couldn’t stop playing, and began acting oddly: they were nauseous, stressed, had horrific nightmares. Others had seizures or attempted suicide, many felt unable to control their own thoughts. It was only later that they recalled how Polybius was serviced more often than other games. Men in black suits opened the machine every week, recorded its data, and left, with no interest in its coins. Soon after it appeared, the mysterious arcade game vanished without warning—taken by the men in black suits, leaving no record of its existence. That’s the story, at least. This legend is one of the big unsolved mysteries of the gaming world, though most concede that the game never existed. It’s since become an urban legend on gaming and conspiracy websites and the internet horror wiki Creepypasta, and like all good stories, it is kept alive by its fans. It’s uncertain just how far back the Polybius tale goes, but the earliest known discussion of it is thought to be from 1998, when a mysterious description appeared on the vintage gaming website coinop.org. The current entry for Polybius states that the game “had a very limited release, one or two backwater arcades in a suburb of Portland,” and according to rumors it was “developed by some kind of weird military tech offshoot group” and “used some kind of proprietary behavior modification algorithms developed for the CIA.” The 1998 post was shared with others in 2000 on a precursor to internet forums called Usenet, and seemingly sparked further lore about the game; by 2003 it appeared in a list of urban legends in GamePro magazine. In coinop.org’s comment section in 2006, someone by the name of Steven Roach added to the story: it was created by a company he and a few other naive programmers began, called Sinneslöschen, he explained. They were hired by a separate “South American company” to do the work, he claimed; they were merely in over their heads with their advanced, accidentally dangerous graphics. The possible title shot from Polybius, as featured on the website . (Photo: Courtesy coinop.org) In response, coinop.org amended its entry in 2009 with a rebuttal, saying “Steven Roach is full of himself, and knows nothing about this game.” The response claimed staff was planning to sort it all out by flying to the Ukraine; “Stay tuned.” As with most legends, the details are evasive. No one even has a copy of the original Polybius game file (which are often found and shared by vintage game lovers), so no one can agree on what the game was actually like: was it a puzzle game, or a shooter game? What kind of graphics did it use? Atari’s Tempest, the arcade game that Polybius is compared to. (Photo: frankieleon/CC BY 2.0) Polybius, or at least the simulations fans have made of the legendary game, was disorienting and confusing. In it colorful geometric shapes bend and fold from a center portal like some sort of digital acid trip. If you’re prone to seizures, the simulation may actually trigger them. According to legend, the intense combination of vector and raster graphics in Polybius—which was supposed to be impossible, at least back in 1981—made the mind susceptible to subliminal messages from the U.S. government. While details about the game are ambiguous, its story has roots in truth. Just a few decades before Polybius supposedly terrorized Oregon gamers, the government really was secretly testing unwitting subjects. MKUltra, an unethical government-led experimental program of the 1950s involving LSD, was uncovered in 1975 by the Church Committee of U.S. Congress and an investigation of the CIA, whose predecessor controlled the program. The Senate Report into Project MKULTRA. (Photo: US Government/Public Domain Many of MKUltra’s subjects did not know they were part of the tests—all designed to explore brainwashing and confession techniques. Despite an attempted cover up, a cache of 20,000 documents were revealed in 1977, and more information was declassified in 2001—showing over 185 researchers and 80 institutions participating in experiments with mind control, resulting in terrible effects on the research subjects. Reports of injuries from video games actually happened too, though from entirely different (and real) arcade games. A newspaper from the Portland area at the time reports that a 12-year-old boy named Brian Mauro got sick after drinking coca-cola and playing Asteroids for 28 hours (an arcade representative said they were “massaging his hands” to keep the kid going.) Another boy at the same arcade on the same day experienced a seizure from Atari’s game Tempest—a puzzle game with fast-paced, disorienting graphics that Polybius is frequently compared to. Even the government-video game connection is real; the army and the marines have and still use video games to train soldiers. What’s more, shady arcade owners sometimes dabbled in illegal gambling, so the FBI may have actually been walking around arcades and checking machines for evidence. 1980s arcarde games on display in New Jersey. (Photo: Rob DiCaterino/CC BY 2.0) Combine all of that with the existence of the short-lived 1985 game Polly Play, an eight-game arcade cabinet that was recalled (possibly, according to Skeptoid, for copyright concerns), and you have a pretty solid foundation for a massive urban legend. The name Polybius could have been a misconstrued version of Polly Play, or an intentional reference to the cyphering system of a Greek historian named Polybius, born around 200 BCE. Polybius itself may not exist, but that hasn’t stopped its story from capturing the imaginations of gamers, writers and artists. The Last Starfighter, a 1984 movie in which a man in black recruits a teen for his epic video game skills, might have been influenced by (or influenced) the legend. A 2006 Simpsons episode called “Please Homer, Don’t Hammer ‘Em” shows Bart next to a Polybius cabinet, with “Property of the U.S. Government” stamped on the front. A series called Doomsday Arcade by Escapist Magazine is based on it. Blister Declassified, a three-part series that was supposedly focused on Polybius was canceled before the third installment could be released. There’s even a T-shirt, and in 2015 a Kickstarter campaign for a Polybius documentary was in the works, but it unfortunately didn’t get the necessary funding. Polybius never seems to completely go away. Some online members of the Vintage Arcade Preservation Society claim to own it; one lists the serial number as “666”. Photos of unknown origin of its screen and cabinet bounce around the internet as “proof” that it exists, and every now and then a supposed sighting of the cabinet shows up. A bar in Brooklyn called Barcade created a Polybius cabinet for Halloween in 2012, and it was so convincing that an Instagram post of it attracted believers and instigators; user broyomofo wrote a comment saying: “…please tell me that you didn’t activate that machine and it was simply a gag decoration for some sort of party,” and added that they’d played the original game, suffered a seizure, and “became addicted to the point that I kept playing and, for reasons I can’t remember, I attempted to commit suicide.” Bye-bye Polybius. See you next Halloween! #barcade #brooklyn #polybius A photo posted by Barcade ® (@barcade) on Nov 1, 2012 at 3:54pm PDT A few days ago, a Craigslist ad in Los Angeles advertised a Polybius cabinet for sale—this time, though, the culprit was a prop house for Sony Pictures, which made the cabinets for a movie that was never made. The cabinet has an engraved plaque labeling it “Property of the U.S. Government.” In an email, Andreas Kratky, who is listing the prop, told me that the “Polybius machine was dressed up to resemble all aspects of the myth….They clearly took care to satisfy the nerdism of the gamer community regarding the myth of the game.” Since posting, the listing has gotten multiple emails commenting on its worth and rarity. “The post has become something like a crystallization point for the imaginations about the game,” Kratky adds. While many believe it to be an urban legend or hoax, the story of Polybus still has people searching for the one thing that keeps it just out of arm’s reach from fact: hard evidence. It is likely they’ll keep looking for years to come. |
'People with severe substance use disorders are unable to modify their behaviour': Nadine Ezard, clinical director at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital alcohol and drug service. Credit:Daniel Munoz "By taking away those supports from young people who are already in a cycle of drug dependence, you're going to push them further to the brink. The easiest job they're going to get is drug dealing." Announcing the trial in Bankstown on Tuesday, the Social Services Minister, Christian Porter, said the policy was "focused entirely on helping job seekers overcome drug problems" and was "not about penalising or stigmatising people who have a barrier to employment which is as serious as drug abuse". Under the two-year trial - a policy which was first unveiled in the May budget - 5000 new recipients of Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance will be drug tested for illicit substances such as ice, ecstasy and marijuana across three locations. Beginning as early as January, about 1750 people will be tested at a Centrelink centre or nearby facility in Canterbury-Bankstown over the two-year trial period. Senator Nick Xenophon is key to the legislation passing. Credit:Andrew Meares Canterbury-Bankstown was chosen due to its high growth in welfare recipients - more than 5600 people began Newstart or Youth Allowance payments in the area last year - and an increased in ice-related hospitalisations in the area. The trial is accompanied by strict income management measures. People who test positive to two drug tests will have 80 per cent of their welfare payment redirected to a cashless welfare card, which quarantines the money for use on essential goods and services such as groceries. The Human Services Minister, Alan Tudge, said income management was a "proven and effective tool to help welfare recipients manage their money" and would limit the amount of money available to fund drug-using. As part of the trial, the government has committed $10 million to fund treatment services for those jobseekers who test positive across the three sites. However, for the trials to take place, the government will need to find support on the Senate crossbench to pass the legislation after Labor and the Greens declared their opposition. Senator Nick Xenophon - who commands three votes - said his party was working constructively with the government on the proposal but expressed concern about some details. "We haven't got a closed mind to this but we want to make sure there are clear costings and outcomes and it's about helping people rather than punching people," Senator Xenophon said in a press conference. He said he would prefer to see rehabilitation as a first step after a positive drug test - rather than the immediate enforcement of a cashless welfare card - and did not want the measure to be a "ticking the box exercise". Nadine Ezard, clinical director at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital alcohol and drug service, said the policy had been formulated without the advice of addiction medicine specialists and was unsupported by clinical evidence. "This is the key question: can the government point to a single piece of evidence – here or overseas – that shows the likelihood of this approach succeeding? They can't because it doesn't exist," Ms Ezard said. "There's been no clinical input in putting this policy together despite its potential impact on the health and well-being of people with substance use issues. "By definition, people with severe substance use disorders are unable to modify their behaviour, even in the face of known negative consequences." Yvonne Bonomo, director of the department of addiction medicine at Melbourne's St Vincent's Hospital, said the trial was an expensive way of directing people towards addiction treatment. Loading "In 2015, the New Zealand government spent $1 million testing 8000 people, with only 22 testing positive – it was not a cost-effective use of precious resources," she said. |
Wikimedia Commons Berlin is reportedly on high alert after a bunch of inner city crows have begun attacking humans. The Berlin Morgenpost has the story, and—quite frankly—it's terrifying. Check out the first paragraph: Thorsten Alsleben (40) was on the phone when he felt a thud on the back of the head. "I was on the short walk from your front door to the car," he recalls. As he stood on the sidewalk at the corner of Metz Strasbourg in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, rubbing the back of the head and could not believe it. "Two crows were sitting on a tree behind me and looked at me." Then suddenly another blow. The large dark gray birds attacked him. Locals have noticed an increasing number of attacks, which scientists say are linked to the fact that March to June is the birds' breeding season. "It was like Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds' - scary," Alsleben said, pointing out the obvious. (h/t The Local) |
Along with the shoe, the cave, designated Areni-1, has yielded evidence of an ancient winemaking operation, and caches of what may be the oldest known intentionally dried fruits: apricots, grapes, prunes. The scientists, financed by the National Geographic Society and other institutions, also found skulls of three adolescents (“subadults,” in archaeology-speak) in ceramic vessels, suggesting ritualistic or religious practice; one skull, Dr. Areshian said, even contained desiccated brain tissue older than the shoe, about 6,000 years old. “It’s sort of a Pompeii moment, except without the burning,” said Mitchell Rothman, an anthropologist and Chalcolithic expert at Widener University who is not involved in the expedition. “The shoe is really cool, and it’s certainly something that highlights the unbelievable kinds of discoveries at this site. The larger importance, though, is where the site itself becomes significant. You have the transition really into the modern world, the precursor to the kings and queens and bureaucrats and pretty much the whole nine yards.” Photo Previously, the oldest known leather shoe belonged to Ötzi the Iceman, a mummy found 19 years ago in the Alps near the Italian-Austrian border. His shoes, about 300 years younger than the Armenian shoe, had bearskin soles, deerskin panels, tree-bark netting and grass socks. Footwear even older than the leather shoe includes examples found in Missouri and Oregon, made mostly from plant fibers. The Armenian shoe discovery, published Wednesday in PLoS One, an online journal, was made beneath one of several cave chambers, when an Armenian doctoral student, Diana Zardaryan, noticed a small pit of weeds. Reaching down, she touched two sheep horns, then an upside-down broken bowl. Under that was what felt like “an ear of a cow,” she said. “But when I took it out, I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s a shoe.’ To find a shoe has always been my dream.” Because the cave was also used by later civilizations, most recently by 14th-century Mongols, “my assumption was the shoe would be 600 to 700 years old,” Dr. Areshian said, adding that “a Mongol shoe would have been really great.” When separate laboratories dated the leather to 3653 to 3627 B.C., he said, “we just couldn’t believe that a shoe could be so ancient.” Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. The shoe was not tossed devil-may-care, but was, for unclear reasons, placed deliberately in the pit, which was carefully lined with yellow clay. While scientists say the shoe was stuffed with grass, acting like a shoe tree to hold its shape, it had been worn. “You can see the imprints of the big toe,” said another team leader, Ron Pinhasi, an archaeologist at University College Cork in Ireland, who said the shoe resembled old Irish pampooties, rawhide slippers. “As the person was wearing and lacing it, some of the eyelets had been torn and repaired.” Dr. Pinhasi said the cave, discovered in 1997, appeared to be mainly used by “high-status people, people who had power,” for storing the Chalcolithic community’s harvest and ritual objects. But some people lived up front, probably caretakers providing, Dr. Areshian said, the Chalcolithic equivalent of valet parking. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Many tools found were of obsidian, whose closest source was a 60-mile trek away. (Perhaps why they needed shoes, Dr. Areshian suggested.) “It’s an embarrassment of riches because the preservation is so remarkable,” said Adam T. Smith, an anthropologist at the University of Chicago who has visited the cave. He said that distinguishing Chalcolithic objects from later civilizations’ artifacts in the cave had been complicated, and that “we’re still not entirely clear what the chronology is” of every discovery. “The shoe,” he said, “is in a sense just the tip of the iceberg.” (He probably meant to say wingtip.) |
Medical Marijuana: Valuable Medicine: at 4500 Years- the Best Record Dr. Phil Leveque, Physician, Pharmacologist, Toxicologist; is an instrumental aspect of Oregon's evolving medical marijuana laws. Courtesy: syracuse.com (MOLALLA, Ore.) - Anybody who reads my postings must know that I am a strong advocate of the above title. I get a ton of bitches and complaints, and usually conclude critiques are talking about Heroin or Oxycontin which are real killers- not marijuana. Alternatively, because both are smoked, I think they are confusing Marijuana with tobacco which kills about 400,000 U.S. citizens per year. For the entire world it must be in the millions. Marijuana, whether used for medicine or recreation, has never killed anyone. The worst side effect of Marijuana is falling asleep in front of the refrigerator looking for food. To me the one of the most important advocates has been 'Granny' Storm Crow who must have expended hundreds of thousands of hours finding and reporting the Medical Journal references for Dr. Tod’s list. There are maybe as many as 10,000 Medical Journal references. Among the strongest advocates of Marijuana as medicine is Dr. Tod Mikuriya, who by interviewing thousands of patients reported it is effective for about 200 widely different diseases. Many have scorned this reciting, “they just want to get high (euphoria)”. This euphoria IS a beneficial side effect. Click here to read Tod Mikuriya’s list: Medical Marijuana Use & Miracle Medicine For Dozens Of Diseases. The next most useful reference is Wikipedia but it is too laborious to discover what you may be seeking. My own articles on Salem-News.com Staff Page will be easily found! Marijuana/Cannabis is medically effective for more diseases than any other medicine. In fact, it is more effective and better than at least 50 other medicines. As a Physician/Pharmacologist I predict it will soon be considered the drug of choice for many of these conditions. Obviously the big drug companies are fighting this like cornered wildcats because they cannot “corner the market”, but several of the major drug companies such as Merck, Parke-Davis and Ely Lilly DID have many cannabis-based medical preparations before it was Federally outlawed in 1938. This did not stop people from using their effective, safe medicine. My longest patient-users have been using 55 years. The average is about is about 25 years and I have interviewed and successfully treated at least 5000 patients. Other doctors, especially in California have had as many as 20,000 Marijuana patients. The legalization of Marijuana as medicine by 14 states has increased the number of legal users by hundreds of thousands, and thousands are getting their permits everyday. The majority of these patients have been illegally using it for many years. They just want to become legal and avoid the illogical fear of arrest by scotch drunk cops. I searched 'Marijuana is Good Medicine'. I found 1000 postings. None will help you. YES, MARIJUANA IS SPECTACULARLY GOOD MEDICINE!!! If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it. Watch for more streaming video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King Dr. Phil Leveque. Click on this link for other articles and video segments about PTSD and medical marijuana on Salem-News.com: Dr. Leveque INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES |
Australian Institute of Marine Science says the government report on the Barrier Reef focuses on positive conclusions Australia’s marine research agency has warned that the government has downplayed the declining health of the Great Barrier Reef and there is “clear potential for conflicts of interest” in development decisions. The Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims) said assessments of the Great Barrier Reef’s condition, compiled by the federal and Queensland governments, effectively buried the bad news of the reef’s decline. John Gunn, chief executive of Aims, said that while the federal and state governments should be praised for putting together comprehensive reviews of the reef, the assessments lacked international scientific findings on reef systems. Furthermore, Gunn said: “Almost all of the ‘bad news’ regarding status and trend is contained somewhere within the chapters of the document, however the summaries of chapters tend to either downplay or leave the bad news until the end of the sections. “For example, the statement that ‘at the scale of the GBR [Great Barrier Reef] region, most of its habitats and species are assessed to be in good to very good condition’ may be technically correct, but as most of its key habitats and vulnerable species (corals, seagrasses, seabirds, dolphins, dugong, turtles) are in very poor to poor condition and declining in the southern GBR, it would seem appropriate to lead with this point.” Gunn warned that while the need to monitor the reef’s health was “greater now than ever”, the system for assessing the environmental impact of industrial development near the reef was flawed. Developers, such as those building ports or dredging the seabed, commission consultants to assess the potential impact of work. This report is then handed to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, which is responsible for safeguarding the health of the reef. “While this mechanism allows for adequate resourcing of that scientific work, it does not guarantee independence,” Gunn said. “There is a clear potential for conflicts of interest since the oversight and quality control of the work is carried out by the developer, whose interests in controlling development costs could conflict with the authority’s interests in minimising environmental and social impacts. “A more effective mechanism to ensure independence, which has been successfully applied by GBRMPA in the past, would be for the authority, or some other independent agency, to commission and oversee the work, while still requiring the developer to pay the costs.” Gunn raised his concerns to a Senate committee investigating how the federal and Queensland governments have managed the Great Barrier Reef. The federal government has cut funding for the GBRMPA and is in the process of delegating environmental approvals for nationally important sites such as the reef to the states. Aims has conducted research that shows that coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef has halved in the past 30 years. Pollution, cyclones and a plague of coral-eating starfish have been blamed for the decline. The development of ports to ship resources such as coal has also been cited as a concern, with critics claiming that dredged sediment, pollution and potential shipping accidents would hasten the reef’s decline. Meanwhile, warming oceans could cause a large amount of coral to bleach and even die off. Peter Mumby, president of the Australian Coral Reef Society, said the reef would be "pretty ugly” by 2050, with fewer fish and seaweed replacing coral. "The reef is in the worst state it's ever been in since records began,” he told the committee. “There is so much scope to improve governance." Unesco’s World Heritage Committee is due to decide next year whether to list the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”. In an assessment handed down in June, Unesco said it was “premature” to hand responsibility for the reef to the Queensland government and that it was concerned about a plan to dump dredged sediment within the reef’s marine park. The dredging project would displace 5m tonnes of seabed in order to expand the Abbot Point port, near Bowen. The federal government has approved the plan, although a site within the marine park has yet to be selected. A Western Australian study released last week showed that disease in corals doubled when it was subjected to dredged sediment, raising further fears over the Abbot Point plan. However, a spokesman for Greg Hunt, the environment minister, said the Abbot Point dredging was approved “subject to some of the strictest environmental standards in Australian history”. He added: “The disposal of sediment will occur over 40km away from significant coral reefs to ensure that those coral reefs are not exposed to the high sediment and turbidity levels that occurred in the marine waters of Western Australia.” In its submission to the Senate committee, the Minerals Council of Australia said it was committed to the protection of the Great Barrier Reef. “There should be no automatic presumption of incompatibility of specific economic activities with the listed values of the GBR,” it stated. “Instead, the compatibility of particular developments/activities should be considered on a case by case basis, based on sound science and a robust risk-based approach.” |
“Edge of Tomorrow” might be one of Tom Cruise’s better films in recent memory but will audiences show up to see it? Warner Bros., the film’s distributor, hopes so, despite the worrisome lack of buzz as the sci-fi movie nears its June 6 opening. Director Doug Liman makes his first big foray into a visual effects-heavy tentpole, while Emily Blunt delivers her action debut in the futuristic thriller, which follows Maj. William Cage (Cruise), an untrained solider who finds himself reliving the same day again and again in the hopes of sorting out a way to successfully defeat the alien race that has taken Earth hostage. But Warners will have to move fast to ramp up advertising and communicate to audiences that they’re in for an action-packed ride. “Nobody really knows what this film is,” said Doug Creutz, senior media and entertainment analyst for Cowen & Co. “There isn’t a huge amount of action competition and there’s room for a film like this this summer, and yet there’s no buzz.” This week, pre-release tracking numbers dropped $5 million from last week, suggesting that “Edge of Tomorrow’s” opening weekend debut would be in the $25 million range, a dismal opening for any studio tentpole. The pricey pic, co-financed by Village Roadshow, cost between $175 and $200 million, meaning that in order to turn a profit, the film will have to make at least double that worldwide. Related 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' Director Details Filming of Tom Cruise's Big Stunts Gavin O'Connor in Talks to Direct 'Fast' at Warner Bros. (EXCLUSIVE) Based on a Japanese military-centric science fiction graphic novel entitled “All You Need is Kill,” the studio made the switch to the title “Edge of Tomorrow” nearly a year after the project was announced, in part because “there was a lot of negative chatter about having a movie with the word ‘kill’ in the title,” Sue Kroll, Warner Bros. president, worldwide marketing and international distribution, told Variety. The studio introduced the new title at San Diego Comic-Con 2013. Kroll admits that “The Fault in Our Stars,“ Fox’s $12 million adaptation of the bestselling novel which shares the release date with “Edge of Tomorrow,” is a “social phenomenon,” but emphasizes that “Edge” still has plenty of potential. The studio is sending Cruise to three different premieres–Paris, London and New York–in one day (May 28), tying in with the film’s tagline, “Live. Die. Repeat.” “We will definitely be biting our nails for the next few weeks,” Kroll said, addressing the challenges of marketing an original title in a summer packed with sequels. “We’ve been in this situation before and we know it’s going to be tough, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.” According to Kroll, 80 percent of the paid media for the film has yet to be released. With several television season finales and both the NHL and NBA playoffs in full swing, she is confident that the studio’s message can get through and strongly emphasizes that pre-release tracking is just one factor. “I think it is absolutely irresponsible and disrespectful and destructive; a lot of movies have had this kind of tracking at the outset,” Kroll said, listing “Inception” and “Gravity,” (which grossed an impressive $716 million and $825 million worldwide, respectively) as having been in similar situations. “I don’t think people have made up their mind about the film,” she added. While “The Fault in Our Stars” will play strongly to under-25 women, “Tomorrow” could be effective counterprogramming as it is largely targeted toward an older crowd, at least in the U.S. where Cruise’s appeal seems to be waning. Warners is running twice the typical amount of test screenings both domestically and internationally, spread over three rounds. Creating a “worldwide sensibility,” according to Kroll, the studio is maintaining the same marketing message in both domestic and overseas materials. Although some early critics have positioned the film as a repetitive “Groundhog Day”-esque picture, there’s a shrewd subtext that could attract audiences looking for an action film that travels beyond the typical alien invasion theme. The film will open the weekend of May 30, a week before the U.S., in more than 30 countries including the U.K. and Brazil. Throughout Asia, Cruise is still a “huge success,” said Kroll, and the studio will lean on his star power in the lead-up to release. In fact, Cruise has become more of an international star than a domestic one over the past few years — his recent action pics “Oblivion” and “Jack Reacher,” were both domestic disappointments, and made well over half their respective $286 million and $218 million worldwide grosses from the international box office. Moviegoers right now are focused more on upcoming titles “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Transformers: Age of Extinction” and “Maleficent,” according to Phil Contrino, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “This film isn’t shaping up to be a massive hit, but it could also be a little too early for a movie like this,” he said about “Edge of Tomorrow.” Although there’s currently not a lot of buzz around the release, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Rentrak, believes the film will pick up speed closer to opening day. “It makes sense that Warner’s would not want to dilute the waters with their own film,” he said, pointing out that the studio is focusing right now on rolling out the monstrous “Godzilla,” which targets a similar audience. With a $196 million worldwide opening weekend and the largest domestic opening day of 2014 ($38.5 million), “Godzilla” is also helping to sell “Edge of Tomorrow.” The studio created a newly-enhanced IMAX trailer which it dropped in front of “Godzilla.” “It’s tough out there,” said Kroll, “Now it’s time to go to work.” |
Anthony’s Fish Grotto, a 69-year tradition on San Diego Bay, lost out to Brigantine Restaurants Tuesday as the San Diego Unified Port District voted for change on a key site on the downtown waterfront. The port board voted 4-2 -- with one member not participating -- to begin negotiations with Brigantine for a new $13 million eating and dining complex on the basis of higher promised rent to the port and an expanded dock-and-dine feature. The two no votes came from Marshall Merrifield and Robert “Dukie” Valderrama, who wanted to include one or both of the two runners-up in further negotiations. But Chairman Dan Malcolm endorsed the staff’s recommendation to go with Brigantine. “On every objective measure, one of the proposals has won the competition,” Malcolm said. “It is better than the other two.” Once Anthony’s lease expires at the end of January 2017, the Brigantine hopes to have the go-ahead to demolish the present restaurant at 1360 N. Harbor Drive, just south of the San Diego Maritime Museum’s Star of India. Tucker Sadler Architects Portside Pier would include a fishnet-like covering of its Ketch brew pub and more space for sailors to dock. Portside Pier would include a fishnet-like covering of its Ketch brew pub and more space for sailors to dock. (Tucker Sadler Architects) Its “Portside Pier,” designed by Tucker Sadler Architects, would include two of its signature restaurants, steak-and-seafood Brigantine on the north and Miguel’s Mexican restaurant with a second-floor viewing deck above on the south; a new concept, “Ketch Grill & Taps,” a fast-casual eatery and craft brew pub; and a coffee and gelato bar. An expanded dock, including space for about 10 vessels, also is planned. The new complex could open by 2018 if not earlier. “We’re elated to have this opportunity,” said Brigantine President and CEO Mike Morton Jr., whose parents opened the first Brigantine on Shelter Island in 1969. “Our goal was to activate the waterfront and give the public more access.” Eduardo Contreras Anthony’s Fish Grotto has been at its present site since 1966 and on the waterfront in different locations since 1946. Anthony’s Fish Grotto has been at its present site since 1966 and on the waterfront in different locations since 1946. (Eduardo Contreras) Craig Ghio, head of Anthony’s, said his family, which has had a restaurant on the downtown waterfront since 1946, has been treated differently from other port tenants that won renewals. He called the port’s review process “baffling” and won the support of Valderrama, who thought loyalty to a long-time port tenant was important. “On July 18, 2016, Anthony’s will celebrate 70 years on the waterfront,” said Ghio, whose grandmother started the restaurant as a 17-seat cafe at the old downtown ferry landing. “You commissioners get to decide, is it going to be a party or a funeral.” In an earlier interview, Ghio said he was considering opening a new restaurant elsewhere but not on port property. His plan for a new Anthony’s on the present site was included in “The Embarcadero” proposal by the Fish Market Restaurants that has an outlet at the G Street Mole’s Tuna Harbor, south of the USS Midway Museum. The third finalist, Sunroad Enterprises, had proposed six restaurants on two levels, called “Embarcadero Landing.” Sunroad Vice President Uri Feldman questioned the financial comparisons port staff prepared, which showed that the Brigantine complex would generate nearly $10.5 million to the port in the first 10 years. That was $2.1 million more than Sunroad and $1.5 million more than Fish Market. “As the only developer here and with relevant experience on the waterfront, we feel we can do the project a couple years quicker,” he added. He predicted it will take at least five years to open a replacement for Anthony’s because of the lengthy environmental review process and possible involvement by the California Coastal Commission. Brigantine plans to spend $1 million more in construction than its competitors’ estimates and pay at least $1.1 million in annual rent, as much as $275,000 more than the other two bidders. While Merrifield scored the Brigantine and Sunroad entries as essentially tied, port staff defended the fairness of the financial comparisons. Anthony’s opened its current restaurant in 1966 along with the now-closed upscale Star of the Sea Room dining establishment. Ghio had hoped to win a new lease by offering an ambitious redevelopment plan. But the port opened up competition earlier this year to see what other concepts might come forward and generate even more income to the agency. Six companies submitted bids and the three finalists were given time to revise their plans in August. The commissioners applauded all three proposals and encouraged the runnersup to propose restaurants elsewhere on the bay. “I think quite frankly all the proposals were very exciting,” said Commissioner Ann Moore. Added Commissioner Bob Nelson, “It’s been a very, highly charged real estate deal,” alluding to widespread public support for Anthony’s. But the high-profile location on San Diego’s so-called “front porch” made the choice among three successful local companies all the more problematic. More change on the waterfront is coming beyond just Anthony’s. The port board approved a framework for a new master plan for the next 50 years. It also is moving forward with redevelopment of Seaport Village, the eastern part of Harbor Island and the Chula Vista bayfront. |
Eiji Ōtsuka, a 59-year-old professor at the International Center for Japanese Studies, reported that he discovered an unused 36-page scenario for an unaired first episode of Osamu Tezuka 's landmark television anime Astro Boy ( Mighty Atom ) . Film historian Mamoru Makino had written the scenario through an invitation and contract with Tezuka, and Makino had been storing the scenario at his home in Tokyo. Makino had been working as a documentary filmmaker at the time. The scenario, titled "Frankenstein," is handwritten on 36 pages of manuscript paper (seen right), with editing and revision notes by Tezuka himself. The episode sees the titular robot hero Astro Boy facing off against Frankenstein, a robot controlled by evildoers. The story treatment opens with the staff in a robot factory conversing, and Tezuka hand-wrote a comment in the treatment: "Wouldn't this opening scene be better without spoken lines between the mechanics?" The scenario remained unused for reasons that remain unclear. The show's first episode ended up being "The Birth of Astro Boy " episode. The 1963 Astro Boy anime adapted Tezuka's manga of the same name, and it became Japan's first half-hour animated series. Tezuka himself helmed the anime's production at his Mushi Production studio. The show pioneered animation techniques and production methods that gave rise to the earliest aesthetics and styles of television anime. Tezuka Productions , France's Caribara Animation, and Monaco's Shibuya Productions are collaborating on an Astro Boy reboot project planned for 26 episodes. Tetsuro Kasahara 's Atom The Beginning prequel manga recently inspired a television anime adaptation in April. Naoki Urasawa 's Pluto spinoff/re-imagining has an anime adaptation in the works. Source: Sankei News |
Then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2001. Not much has changed. (AFP/Getty Images) North Korea's latest nuclear test on Tuesday is putting some strain on its all-important relationship with China, which gives its angry little neighbor absolutely essential support: everything from money to energy to diplomatic cover at the United Nations. But why does China bother to prop up North Korea, anyway? The pariah state is a diplomatic and economic liability, an albatross around China's neck as it tries to shape itself into a responsible global power. There a number of reasons, some of them rational and some not, but China's strategy boils down to these oft-repeated, six little words: No war, no instability, no nukes. It's as much a strategy as it is a mantra, often rendered in the original Chinese: 不战、不乱、无核. And the order matters, listing China's priorities from highest to lowest. The first priority -- no war -- goes back to the Korean War, which cost hundreds of thousands of Chinese lives and almost ended with a unified, pro-American Korea right on China's border: Beijing's nightmare. The second priority -- no instability -- means that Beijing wants to keep North Korea from collapsing, which could cause China all sorts of problems -- streams of Korean refugees, loose nuclear materials (see priority No. 3) and the risk of the war that China so wants to avoid. The third priority -- no nukes -- is clearly last of these three, as China would prefer a stable and nuclear North Korea to an unstable but nuke-free one. But it's still a big priority. An insightful report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies explains why: Although the Chinese do not view North Korea's acquisition of nuclear weapons as an existential threat to China, there are worries that a perception of a growing nuclear threat could lead South Korea, Japan, and even Taiwan to develop nuclear capabilities. North Korea's nuclear programs and demonstrated provocations have already prompted the United States, Japan, and South Korea to strengthen defense coordination and have led Tokyo and Seoul to enhance their missile defense. These developments are judged to have had a harmful impact on China's security environment. So, here it is again: the six words that, in order, explain why China goes to such lengths to prop up North Korea despite the costs. No war, no instability, no nukes. |
Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. POLICYMAKERS must juggle three priorities when offering a public service: coverage, cost and choice. They almost always have to sacrifice at least one of the three. As austerity bites, this equation is going to lead to very tricky decisions. Health is an area where the trilemma clearly applies. Britain's National Health Service offers universal coverage but as a result has to limit patient choice in order to control the costs. The American health system historically gave a high priority to patient choice at the price of ballooning costs and the exclusion of the uninsured from the system. Having increased coverage, the Obama reforms will have to restrict choice if they are to control costs. Over the past 40 years cost has been less of a constraint in all areas of public policy than it might have been. At times of crisis governments without exchange-rate targets have been able to let their currency, rather than the real economy, take the strain. Steady growth has allowed governments to expand the services they offer. Once granted, a service or benefit is hard to remove because recipients campaign for its retention. Pensions are a case in point. Governments have promised generous future benefits without recognising the full cost upfront. The demographic bulge caused by the baby-boomers helped at first: when the promises were made, the ratio of workers to retirees was high. Now that the boomers themselves are retiring, the cost is becoming clear. On the issue of coverage, governments can hardly remove pension rights altogether. So they are having to ration the benefits. Rather than retiring earlier than private-sector employees and having their pensions linked to their final salaries, British public-sector workers are being asked to retire later, have their pensions based on a career average and enjoy less generous inflation-linking. This has provoked unions to call strikes for June 30th. Britain is still in the relatively fortunate position of having an independent monetary policy and the ability to borrow from the markets in its own currency at relatively low rates. But countries in the euro zone are facing more painful options. In a world where cost is the priority, either coverage or choice has to be restricted. One option is to ration cash itself. As Argentina battled to avoid default in 2001, citizens were restricted in the amount of cash they could withdraw from their bank accounts. The corralito, as this measure was known, stayed in place even after default. Iceland introduced capital controls in the wake of its financial crisis, imposing a limit on foreign-exchange transactions of 350,000 kronur (about $3,000) for residents planning to travel abroad. A chaotic Greek default would require capital controls to prevent the assets of the banking system disappearing overnight. An alternative to rationing cash is to ration goods. Decades of prosperity have accustomed consumers to a wide range of choice. Baskin-Robbins once advertised 31 ice-cream flavours, one for every day of the month; now it offers 1,000. Restaurant menus are no longer a set list of choices but the starting point for negotiations between diner and waiter. It is hard to imagine this abundance disappearing. But it can. Countries can create their own currencies but this alone does not help buy goods from abroad. If they cannot balance their trade or borrow money at a reasonable rate, they will be unable to afford all the goods their citizens want. (America, with its reserve currency, is privileged in this respect.) Britain found itself short of dollars after the end of the second world war, once President Harry Truman cancelled the lend-lease programme that provided the country with credit. British politicians decided that the only way to guarantee a minimum standard of living for all citizens was to restrict consumer choice. The wartime rationing regime was tightened so that the country could pursue an export drive. Consumption of meat, sugar and even clothes was restricted, and the rules were not relaxed until the 1950s. This columnist's father recalled the options as “jam or butter on your bread, but not both”. The critical resource in a modern economy is not food, but power. When power is restricted for whatever reason, governments have to decide which users have priority: factories, hospitals, shops or consumers. China has power rationing now, as does Venezuela (a sign of incredible incompetence in an energy-rich country). Developed economies have not experienced this sort of thing on a regular basis since the 1970s. But that could be the outcome if they are forced into default. |
Khizr Khan, who as a Gold Star father of a soldier killed in the Iraq war spoke out against Donald Trump at the DNC, has reportedly deleted a website for his Muslim immigration-focused law firm after Trump dragged out their rivalry on Twitter. Khan, a Pakistani-born lawyer who moved and settled in the US in the 1980s, has been providing legal support in immigration cases. He specializes in the controversial EB-5 visa program for foreign investors. This week, a website of Khan’s firm went offline and remains unavailable. Khan gave no explanation to his website’s disappearance, but some media reports allege it was not accidental. According to Breitbart News, Khan has close ties to Hillary Clinton, the government of Saudi Arabia, and is helping mostly wealthy Muslims to make their way into the US. Khan and his wife Ghazala Khan have been in the spotlight since supporting Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last Friday. In his speech, Khan spoke about his son Humayun Khan, a fallen Gold Star soldier, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Accompanied by his wife, Khan lambasted Trump for his anti-Muslim comments and proposal to bar non-American Muslims from entering the US. Holding up a pocket-sized US Constitution, Khan questioned Trump’s knowledge of it. “Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy,” Khan said. The GOP presidential nominee responded to Khan via his Twitter account, saying that he was “viciously attacked by Mr. Khan.” Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016 Trump also targeted Ghazala Khan in an interview with ABC for standing in silence by her husband’s side. “If you look at his wife, she was standing there,” he said. “She had nothing to say … Maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.” Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our "leaders" to eradicate it! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016 Ghazala answered Trump’s criticism with a moving essay posted by the Washington Post on July 31, in which she said, “I cannot walk into a room with pictures of Humayun … Walking on to the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself.” Trump has since faced a heavy backlash, including from fellow Republicans. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie slammed the comments as “inappropriate.” Senator John McCain of Arizona issued an extensive statement denouncing Trump’s remarks targeting the Khans. “In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States — to say nothing of entering its service,” McCain said. “I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates.” I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016 President Barack Obama also chimed in, supporting the Gold Star parents. Speaking at the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta, he said that families like the Khans “represent the very best of our country.” Obama has also slammed Trump as “unfit to serve” in one of his sharpest denunciations on the billionaire businessman. |
Dallas McCarver Chest Workout Written by Team MD 21 May 2013 Dallas McCarver: Destiny Part Four: Chest Workout & Training Through Tragedy BSN presents the new Behind The Lines video series featuring bodybuilder Dallas McCarver This is the fourth video of a series of videos we shot in April with the young 2012 North American Champion. In this clip, McCarver hits the gym for a chest workout after receiving the news that his grandfather has passed away. In the next few days look for more installments of this series created by ace filmmaker Patrick Rivera of Trick Entertainment. Rivera is one of the premier videographers, editors and producers in the bodybuilding industry and we could not be happier with this outcome of this series. Dallas McCarver, you have seen him In The Trenches. Now see him Behind The Lines. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL DALLAS MCCARVER SERIES DOWNLOAD Comment in No Bull |
“We need more farmers, not fewer.” That was one of the comments made two weeks ago at the Farm Bill Listening Session held by the United States House Agriculture Committee at Farm Fest in Morgan, Minn. I’ve been pondering that statement ever since. I couldn’t agree more with wanting more dairy farmers. Each dairy farm in our area contributes to our strong dairy infrastructure . . . and also to the strong sense of camaraderie and community. The sad reality, though, is that someone who wanted to start his or her own dairy farm today . . . the way my husband and I did 10 years ago . . . could face one nearly insurmountable hurdle — market access. In some locales, there is no room for new milk. Milk processors here in central Minnesota, both cooperative- and privately-owned, are operating at full or near-full capacity. Most are not taking on new patrons; others are very reluctant to do so. It seems the only way a beginning dairy farmer can secure market access is by obtaining it from a dairy farmer exiting the market . . . and even that strategy isn’t a guarantee. Perhaps this is extra troubling for me because of my heritage. My father, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather all struck out on their own, building their own dairy farms from scratch through the acquisition of land, credit, and dairy cows. I personally understand that access to land and credit can be challenges in our current environment, but I never expected market access to become such an obstacle. I guess I should count my lucky stars that we got a patron number when we did. Is market access an issue in your area? The author is a dairy farmer and writer from central Minnesota. She farms with her husband, Glen, and their three children. Sadie grew up on a dairy farm in northern Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in agricultural communications and marketing. She also blogs at Dairy Good Life. |
A pile of puppies cower under a parked car. The men grab one, but two escape down the street, forcing them to give chase. Five scrappy adult shorthairs – of an indiscriminate breed commonly known as an ‘Indian dog’ – appear from nowhere. Pointed ears pricked with curiosity, they howl as if sounding an alarm throughout the neighbourhood: the ‘catchers’ are here. The catchers’ van travels the tree-lined, mostly residential streets to the next area. On the way, a couple of dogs seem to recognise the vehicle, either by sight or by smell. They bark and take chase. Each time the team catches a dog in one of its giant butterfly nets, the mutt twists and turns and howls, trying to escape. This ritual repeats several times through the day across 50 square kilometres of the south Indian city of Bangalore. The men, a team from the NGO Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), are on a mission: to catch stray dogs, sterilise them and vaccinate them against rabies. They catch ten dogs on this particular day. The dogs are taken to CUPA’s Animal Birth Control centre, where they will be sterilised and have their ears clipped so they can be identified as having undergone the surgery. They will be vaccinated, then returned to their home on the streets. “What people need to understand,” says Vijay Kumar, manager of the CUPA centre, “is that the Animal Birth Control programme is as much about human welfare as it is for dogs.” India alone accounts for 20,847 deaths, more than one-third of the world’s total This is part of an ongoing – and some say uphill – battle to eliminate rabies from India. Around 59,000 people die from rabies every year, according to a 2015 study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. The overwhelming majority are in Asia and Africa: India alone accounts for 20,847 deaths, more than one-third of the world’s total, giving it the highest incidence of rabies globally. Rabies is a vicious killer, a virus transmitted through saliva. Any warm-blooded mammal is susceptible. Dogs can become infected through a bite by a rabid wild animal or fellow canine; in turn, a bite from an infected dog is the most common method of human infection. The rabies virus attacks the nervous system and causes humans who are infected to hallucinate, become aggressive and even fear water. When someone is bitten, it’s crucial to wash the wound immediately and vaccinate them as soon as possible. But this rarely happens in India. Instead, many people end up being improperly treated – for example, not receiving a full course of vaccinations after exposure. Others turn to herbs, spices or local remedies that have no effect. The World Health Organization (WHO) wants to eliminate rabies from the South-East Asia region by the year 2020. It is a goal that India is unlikely to meet, public health experts say. With rabies, the country doesn’t even know the extent of the disease. There is no requirement for doctors to report human infections, and no information on how widespread it might be among animals. In 2014, India’s government said it would set up a national rabies control programme, but at the time of writing it has only launched a pilot project in the northern state of Haryana to advise on managing the problem nationwide. Meanwhile, the government leaves it to the local city authorities to carry out programmes for vaccinating stray dogs on the street. Most deal with the problem by hiring NGOs like CUPA. That leaves rural areas, where rabies strikes hardest, all but ignored. With rabies, the country doesn’t even know the extent of the disease “Rabies will always be in India,” says Dr S N Madhusudana, a professor at Bangalore’s National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences who has studied the disease for three decades. “It will never go away.” Four-year-old Bhuvan sits quietly in his mother’s lap at the clinic. Nearly all of the right side of his neck is an open wound, where a street dog grabbed hold of him and dragged him for four feet before his great-aunt Veena came out of the house screaming. “That’s when the dog grabbed onto my face,” says Veena, her own right cheek imprinted with the faint outline of canine teeth. She later lost consciousness as she and Bhuvan were being driven to their local, rural hospital. A doctor there gave them each a dose of a therapeutic anti-rabies vaccine that will help stimulate their immune systems. It will take up to two weeks for their bodies to produce antibodies, but they also need to attack the virus immediately. That requires another, stronger form of medication only available 150 km further away at an anti-rabies clinic in the nearest city, Bangalore. Veena and Bhuvan travelled immediately, arriving at midnight at Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences. Despite appearances, their wounds aren’t severe. “These dog bites are milder,” says Dr D H Ashwath Narayana, the head of the hospital’s Department of Community Medicine, surveying the torn flesh on Bhuvan’s neck. “I’ve seen far more severe bites.” That morning, Narayana spends hours calling suppliers for two doses of the crucial treatment: rabies immunoglobulin, a concentrated solution of rabies antibodies. Two vials arrive just after noon. Bhuvan is placed on a clinic bed, where an attendant holds him down as he writhes and tries to move away. A medical student begins a series of injections directly into the raw wounds on his neck. The immunoglobulin must penetrate the exact place where the dog bit into the flesh in order to neutralise the virus. As the boy screams in pain for his parents to help, his mother leaves the room, unable to bear her child’s cries. Next, a moaning Veena is injected seven times in the cheek and upper lip. The disease develops when the rabies virus enters a person’s nervous system, but after the bite there is a window of opportunity to prevent that from happening. The rabies immunoglobulin binds to the rabies virus lodged in Veena and Bhuvan’s wounds, preventing it from entering their nerve endings. Meanwhile, the initial anti-rabies vaccine they were given at the local hospital continues its work, prompting their bodies to produce their own antibodies. Four more doses over a month help in that regard. With a full course of treatment, they have a chance that rabies will not develop. “The deeper the wound, the more danger that the virus goes into the nerves,” Narayana says. “In rabies, it is better to overtreat than undertreat.” Rabies immunoglobulin is undergoing a critical shortage worldwide According to WHO, rabies immunoglobulin is undergoing a critical shortage worldwide. It is also prohibitively expensive for many victims in a country where 60% of the population lives on under $2 a day: Veena and Bhuvan paid close to 450 Indian rupees, about $7, for each vial. In India, only three companies produce it, with relatively high manufacturing costs. Two years away from retirement, Dr Madhusudana is still haunted by the death of a 21-year-old student who was once in his care. Like Bhuvan and Veena, the woman lived in a rural village, hours from Bangalore, in the southern state of Karnataka. She had been washing dishes behind her home in May 2013 when she was bitten twice by a street dog. The woman was injected with the rabies vaccine, but her treatment ended there. She never received any immunoglobulin. Without proper treatment, it can take anywhere from a few days to more than a year for rabies to develop. But when symptoms appear, the disease is invariably fatal. Two months after she was bitten, the student developed a fever for which her local doctor gave her sedatives. She lapsed into a coma and was brought to Bangalore, where she was finally diagnosed with rabies and died 17 days later. Rabies manifests in two ways: dumb rabies (also known as paralytic rabies) and furious rabies. The two forms differ in the path the virus takes to reach the brain. In dumb rabies, the virus travels via motor nerves, damaging them in the process and leading to a slow progression from muscle paralysis to coma. This type accounts for 30% of rabies cases with at least 12 people worldwide known to have survived it. Within three or four days, the victim is dead. It’s a pathetic, horrible death – Dr S N Madhusudana ‘Furious’ rabies – so called because of victims’ hyperactivity and agitation – is far more common. Its symptoms appear sooner than those of dumb rabies, as the virus travels from the nerve endings, along the spinal cord and to the brain. Beginning with fever, headache and a tingling feeling at the wound site, victims can become aggressive, start hallucinating and develop a marked fear of water, even shrinking from the sight of a glass filled with it. This is because rabies causes painful muscle spasms in the throat and larynx, and water can trigger the spasms. Death results from blocked airways, seizures or widespread paralysis. “Within three or four days, the victim is dead,” says Madhusudana. “It’s a pathetic, horrible death.” Theoretically, no human should die from rabies in the 21st Century. Rabies is one of the oldest diseases known to man – the earliest records of it stretch back to Ancient Egypt around 2300 BCE – and since the late 19th Century we’ve had painful but effective treatments. French scientist Louis Pasteur formulated the first vaccine in 1885 by injecting the rabies virus into rabbits, killing them, then drying the nerve tissues to weaken the virus. When he injected this into a nine-year-old boy bitten by a rabid dog, the child did not develop the disease. It is another, infamously painful, vaccine developed in 1911 that was synonymous with rabies treatment for years. Called the Semple treatment, the dried and churned brain tissue of live sheep and goats were injected 14 times into the lower abdomen of people exposed to rabies – once for each of the lymph nodes associated with antibody production. Despite severe side-effects such as paralysis, the Semple treatment was used for most of the 20th Century. Today’s rabies vaccines are grown in a lab, using cell cultures (in a process that’s very different to producing immunoglobulin in humans or horses). The virus is inactivated, purified, then administered by injection into the skin or deeper into muscles of the arm. Side-effects are far fewer, but this production is more expensive. Rabies is a zoonotic disease, meaning it developed in animals and jumped to humans. In places like India – with its estimated 30 million stray dogs – dogs account for more than 95% of human transmissions in areas where they live in close contact with people. Young children are particularly vulnerable. About one in 143 Indians are bitten by a dog at some point in their lives, according to the 2015 PLOS study (693 per 100,000 of the population), and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control says around half of the world’s rabies victims are children. About one in 143 Indians are bitten by a dog at some point in their lives The WHO recommends pre-exposure vaccinations for everyone in rabies-endemic countries. India's own Academy of Paediatrics also recommends children are vaccinated, but relatively few are ever immunised. People may not realise the extent of the danger – and the benefit of vaccination – or else cannot afford it. A three-dose anti-rabies vaccine course costs about 100 rupees ($1.57), which is most of a day’s living allowance for many. To truly eliminate rabies from India, animal health is key, yet the extent of rabies infection in the country’s animals remains a mystery. India has only one laboratory for diagnosing rabies in animals, located in Bangalore at the Veterinary College of the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Science University. Dr Shrikrishna Isloor runs the lab, one of four who have access to the core testing site, where animal tissues containing the live virus are handled. They are able to determine whether a specimen is infected with rabies within two hours of receiving a brain sample. It allows them to give crucial information to health professionals about whether treatment is needed. Isloor wants to see more testing centres set up across India, and he has started talking with scientists in other states. According to him, India won’t be able to control the disease without monitoring rabies rates in animals as well as humans. In India, culling dogs is not allowed on humanitarian grounds. A 2001 Indian law details how dogs should be humanely caught, housed, sterilised and released back onto the street. Experts say culling isn’t very effective anyway, considering at least half of the patients with rabies were bitten by pet dogs. So the authorities turn to vaccinating not just the human population, but the dogs as well. If 70% of the dog population were vaccinated, that would be enough to contain the spread of the virus. According to the 2015 PLOS study, by 2010 India had vaccinated just 15% of its dogs. And vaccinations are not enough. The dogs must also be sterilised to make sure new animals – potential reservoirs for the virus – aren’t introduced into the community. At the time of writing, India has no national or state-wide plans in effect to make this happen. Instead, says Dr Abdul Rahman, a Bangalore-based veterinarian who heads the 55-nation Commonwealth Veterinary Association, India is limping along with a “knee-jerk programme of ad hoc projects”. Sterilisation efforts have “not made a dent in controlling rabies”, he says, although he does note that a few cities have been successful, including Jaipur, Chennai and Tirupati. In Bangalore, the city municipal body confirms that there have been no reported rabies cases in dogs for the past four years. But, says Rahman, unless the Animal Birth Control programme is undertaken on a serious note, as has been done in polio control, it won’t change rabies control. So the dog catchers of Bangalore keep at it. They roll out once again, this time aiming to catch dogs they’ve already sterilised and vaccinated once in order to give them the booster shot they need one year later. Once a dog is caught, the vaccine is quickly injected and a worker dabs bright blue paint onto the dog’s forehead, which helps them avoid re-injecting the same dogs. The team from CUPA arrives in a poor neighbourhood, densely crowded with livestock and littered with dead rats and stagnant puddles. Barefoot children chase behind them, giggling ecstatically at the sight of grown men chasing dogs. The 2015 PLOS study was part-funded by the Wellcome Trust, which publishes Mosaic. This is an edited version of an article originally published by Mosaic, and is reproduced under a Creative Commons licence. For more about the issues around this story, visit Mosaic’s website here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Instagram. |
One of Firefox 3's newest (and most revealing) backend features is its built-in usage tracking—it keeps a running tally of how often you visit a web page over a period of time, which informs the Smart Location Bar's suggestions and creates things like smart bookmark lists of "Most Visited" sites. Smarter features informed by your behavior are great, but checking out the raw data can offer a whole lot of insight into where and how you spend your time online. Exactly what site have you visited the most since you installed Firefox 3 and how many times did you go there? Here's how to find out. Advertisement The numbers are in your browser history. In Firefox 3, from the History Menu, choose "Show All History." Then, in the History list, right-click on a column title, and check off "Visit Count." Then you can sort the web pages you've hit since the last time your history got cleared by frequency of visits by just clicking the Visit column title. (My actual numbers are a bit embarrassing and include private URLs, so here's the info from a test installation of Firefox.) If you want to quickly see how often you've visited the site you're currently on, click on its icon to the left of the URL, then the "More Information..." button, which will show you something like this: Advertisement Here's where your reload obsession with Slashot and goodness-knows-what-else stares you in the face, mocking you and your unproductive inadequacy. So? How bad is your Lifehacker addiction? Are we in your top five most-visited sites? Tell us how many times you've visited us since you installed Firefox 3 in the comments. |
Dec 18, 2017- Four Indian men impersonating as traders have fled after they swindled millions of rupees from locals in Pokhara. The swindlers duped the locals to pay money in advance by luring them with the goods at very cheap price, the locals complained. The men had rented a shutter and opened Oxygen Traders in Sirjana Chok and sold various goods including electronic devices, furniture and kitchenware at almost half the market price rate. They had asked locals to make the full payment in advance to book their required products and take the delivery in 15 days. Locals queued up before the shop and paid from Rs 500 to Rs 500,000 hoping to cash in on the offer. It was only when they reached to take the delivery of their products on Monday morning they found out they were swindled by the conmen. The shutter has remained shut with a notice saying the delivery will be delayed by a few days. The four Indian conmen have been named as Mithun Rawan, 53, Rajendra Shetty, Murkhanandam Tewar and Mathu Udiyar, 45, all from Tamil Nadu state in India. Some locals said they had received order from the traders when they booked them for the first time. Police had even arrested the four men on December 6 but had to release them when some 60 customers reached police station three days later and said they were receiving their goods. "We had no written complaint filed against them. When people came and said they were receiving whatever they had ordered, we had no option but to release them," said DSP Khadga Bahadur Khatri. Locals claimed more people had booked for more items following the release of the four men. Most of the locals who booked for their items are from Sirjana Chowk, Jalparoad, Malepatan and other surrounding areas. Police has arrested six staffers for further investigation. Published: 18-12-2017 16:27 |
Last fall, we introduced retail MagicBand on Demand stations in select Walt Disney World Resort merchandise locations. At these stations, you can create and personalize a retail MagicBand in just a matter of minutes. The on-demand MagicBands are offered in a variety of colors, and, once printed, they can be easily linked to your My Disney Experience account. I recently learned new artwork was added to the on-demand stations, so I gathered a handful of my favorite designs to share with you. There are currently three on-demand stations at Walt Disney World Resort – Tomorrowland Light & Power Co. in Magic Kingdom Park, D-Tech on Demand boutique in the Marketplace Co-Op at Disney Springs Marketplace, and Star Wars Launch Bay in Disney’s Hollywood Studios (the latter only offers Star Wars-inspired designs). The “Beauty and the Beast,” Duffy the Disney Bear, and ShellieMay designs are found at both the Magic Kingdom Park and Disney Springs locations. You may also find “Bride” and “Groom” options as seen in the first image of this story. I was happy to see two incredibly cute designs by one of my favorite artists, Jerrod Maruyama. These two options are currently only found at the Marketplace Co-Op location in Disney Springs. Fans of the Haunted Mansion will love these four designs reminiscent of the stretching portraits from the attraction. The Tomorrowland location also has some unique designs available including several current Magic Kingdom Park attractions. Look for additional artwork of classic attractions such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Finally, there are four Pirates of the Caribbean attraction options for guests who visit the Magic Kingdom Park location. Which artwork is your favorite? Please share in the comments below. |
CTV London Fanshawe College says its offer to purchase the Kingsmill's building in downtown London expired on Wednesday. In a statement, Peter Devlin, Fanshawe's president, said "I want to thank all the residents, businesses and community leaders who have expressed their support throughout the process of exploring a bigger, bolder vision for downtown and City councillors and staff for the time they took to consider the plan." The college says it plans to evaluate its options over the next few months to ensure it has the space and capacity needed to meet the needs of its growing student population. The news comes two weeks after city council voted against an additional $10 million in funding for the school to complete its downtown expansion. The funding request was in addition to $20 million already committed by the city for the college's downtown plans. The first phase of Fanshawe's expansion involved bringing 400 students and staff downtown to the school's Centre for Digital and Performance Arts, which opened in January. The planned second phase, which included the purchase of Kingsmill's, would have brought an additional 1,600 students to the city centre. |
Yorgos Lanthimos’s romantic satire grabs seven nominations from Bifa voters, while Macbeth and 45 Years manage six and the shunned The Danish Girl claws back only one The Lobster on a roll with seven British independent film awards nominations The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos’s film about lonely singletons facing the threat of being turned into an animal if they don’t pair up, has received a lot of love from the British independent film awards (Bifas) nominations. The romantic satire received seven nominations, including best actor for Colin Farrell, best director and best independent British film. It’s Lanthimos’s first film in English and his second Bifa nomination. Dogtooth, his Greek-language film about a family living in self-imposed seclusion, was nominated for best foreign film Bifa in 2010. Other films heading to the awards with multiple nods include Justin Kurzel’s adaptation of Macbeth (six nominations, including best actor for Michael Fassbender), Andrew Haigh’s drama 45 Years (six, with one for Charlotte Rampling in the best actress category) and Alex Garland’s sci-fi thriller Ex Machina (five). Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Lobster - video review Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl, thought to be a potential big-hitter in this year’s awards race, was surprisingly absent from most of the announced categories. Hooper’s biopic, which stars Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe, one of the first people to receive gender reassignment surgery, received only one nomination: best actress for Redmayne’s co-star, Alicia Vikander, who also stars in Ex Machina. Brooklyn, John Crowley’s adaptation of Colm Tóibin’s Booker-longlisted novel, received five nominations. Star Saoirse Ronan grabbed one, as did screenwriter Nick Hornby. Domhnall Gleeson, Ronan’s co-star, was nominated in the best supporting actor category alongside his father, Brendan, who was nominated for Suffragette. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Suffragette - video review That film, a fictionalised account of the Suffragettes’ struggle for enfranchisement, picked up four nominations, including one for Carey Mulligan, who stars as Maud Watts, a downtrodden housewife who is inspired to fight for her right to vote. Mulligan’s co-stars, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne-Marie Duff, were nominated against each other in the best supporting actress category. Asif Kapadia’s critically lauded documentary Amy, about the late singer Amy Winehouse, received five nominations, best British independent film and best director among them. The Bifas will take place in London on Sunday 6 December. Bifas 2015: the full list of nominations Best British independent film 45 Years – Tristan Goligher, Andrew Haigh Amy – James Gay-Rees, Asif Kapadia Ex Machina – Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Alex Garland The Lobster – Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Efthymis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos Macbeth – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Laura Hastings-Smith, Todd Louiso, Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie, Justin Kurzel Best director 45 Years – Andrew Haigh Amy – Asif Kapadia Ex Machina – Alex Garland The Lobster – Yorgos Lanthimos Macbeth – Justin Kurzel Best actress Marion Cotillard – Macbeth Carey Mulligan – Suffragette Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl Best actor Tom Courtenay – 45 Years Colin Farrell – The Lobster Michael Fassbender – Macbeth Tom Hardy – Legend Tom Hiddleston – High-Rise Best supporting actress Helena Bonham Carter – Suffragette Olivia Colman – The Lobster Anne-Marie Duff – Suffragette Sienna Miller – High-Rise Julie Walters – Brooklyn Best supporting actor Luke Evans – High-Rise Brendan Gleeson – Suffragette Domhnall Gleeson – Brooklyn Sean Harris – Macbeth Ben Whishaw – The Lobster Most promising newcomer Agyness Dean – Sunset Song Mia Goth – The Survivalist Abigail Hardingham – Nina Forever Milo Parker – Mr Holmes Bel Powley – A Royal Night Out Best screenplay 45 years – Andrew Haigh Brooklyn – Nick Hornby Ex Machina – Alex Garland High-Rise – Amy Jump The Lobster – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou The Douglas Hickox award (best debut director) The Hallow – Corin Hardy Kajaki: The True Story – Paul Katis Nina Forever – Chris & Ben Blaine Slow West – John Maclean The Survivalist – Stephen Fingleton The Discovery award Aaaaaaaah! – Andrew Starke, Steve Oram Burn Burn Burn – Daniel-Konrad Cooper, Tim Phillips, Charlie Covell, Chanya Button Orion: The Man Who Would Be King – Jeanie Finlay The Return – Oliver Nias Winter – Tilly Wood, Paula Crickard, Heidi Greensmith Best documentary Amy – James Gay-Rees, Asif Kapadia Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance – Judith Dawson, Louise Osmond How to Change the World – Bous De Jong, Al Morrow, Jerry Rothwell Palio – James Gay-Rees, John Hunt, Cosima Spender A Syrian Love Story – Elhum Shakerifar, Sean McAllister Producer of the year Tristan Goligher – 45 Years James Gay-Rees – Amy Paul Katis, Andrew de Lotbiniere – Kajaki: The True Story Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Lee Magiday – The Lobster David A Hughes, David Moores – The Violators Outstanding achievement in craft Adam Arkapaw – cinematography, Macbeth Mark Digby – production design, Ex Machina Chris King – editing, Amy Fiona Weir – casting, Brooklyn Andrew Whitehurst – visual effects, Ex Machina Best British short film Balcony – Tom Kimberly, Ali Mansuri, Toby Fell-Holden Crack – Joseph Taussig, Peter King Edmond – Emilie Jouffroy, Nina Gantz Love is Blind – Lizzie Brown, Dan Hodgson Man o Man – Kamilla Kristiane Hodøl, Simon Cartwright Best international independent film Carol – Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley, Christine Vachon, Phyllis Nagy, Todd Haynes Force Majeure – Erik Hemmendorff, Marie Kjellson, Philippe Bober, Ruben Östlund Girlhood – Bénédicte Couvreur, Céline Sciamma Room – Ed Guiney, David Gross, Emma Donoghue, Lenny Abrahamson Son of Saul – Gábor Sipos, Gábor Rajna, Cara Royer, László Nemes |
The CrossFit Games are the world's premier test to find the Fittest on Earth. Since 2010, the Games have named the world's fittest man, woman, team and masters athletes. This July, CrossFit will expand the search to find and name the world's fittest teenagers. Here's what you need to know: The top 10 worldwide in each teenage division in the Open will be invited to compete at the CrossFit Games. That adds up to a total of 40 athletes across the four divisions (14-15 girls, 14-15 boys, 16-17 girls, 16-17 boys). That adds up to a total of 40 athletes across the four divisions (14-15 girls, 14-15 boys, 16-17 girls, 16-17 boys). There is no additional qualifier. The qualified athletes will go directly from the Open to the Games. The Teenage Competition will be held at the Track at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Stay tuned for more information, including the competition dates, which will be released soon on Games.CrossFit.com. |
So, let’s get this straight. Hillary Clinton admits that unborn children are, in fact, people. She just draws the line at allowing them rights. But illegal immigrants? Sure, they can have rights, no problem. Any special interest group in society? Yes, of course, make sure they all have rights. She would tell you she wants “equal” rights for all. Except those pesky unborn babies who rely on others to be their voice, because they have no ability to speak up for themselves. Clinton believes they are undeserving of constitutional rights, I guess because we all missed the part in the Constitution where our founding fathers slipped in there that we are not guaranteed these rights until we exit the womb even though we are all people. Watch below: TRANSCRIPT Chuck Todd: When or if does an unborn child have constitutional rights? Hillary Clinton: Well under our laws, currently, that is not something that exists. The unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights. Now that doesn’t meant that we don’t do everything we possibly can in the vast majority of instances to, you know, help a mother who is carrying a child and wants to make sure that child will be healthy, to have appropriate medical support. It doesn’t mean that you don’t do everything possible to try to fulfill your obligations, but it does not include sacrificing the woman’s right to make decisions, and I think that’s an important distinction that under Roe v Wade we’ve had enshrined under our Constitution. This is absolute nonsense. First, as indicated above, she admits the unborn is a person, which would make them worthy of protection. Second, what does “doing everything we can to help a mother who wants to make sure that the child will be healthy” have to do with the statement she made about unborn people not having constitutional rights? It’s an empty talking point designed to distract by appealing to emotions. Third, just for good contradictory measure, she mentions doing “everything possible to try to fulfill your obligations.” Wait, what? So, the implication she gives here is that a woman’s obligation is her unborn child. So far she’s admitted that fetuses are people, and that the unborn child is a woman’s responsibility. Any logical conclusion here would be that we shouldn’t be throwing them away on a whim. But then suddenly she invokes Roe v Wade and claims that “fulfilling your obligation” does not include “sacrificing the woman’s right to make decisions.” Well, then what exactly would she be referring to when she mentions doing “everything possible to try to fulfill your obligations?” Politicians are going to dance around talking points to make themselves sound better, I understand this. But to do it at the expense of innocent unborn children and know that it’s dishonest is just despicable. |
Superspy in the sky could soon be patrolling over British cities to search for hidden terror cells A Top-secret US unmanned drone used to locate Al Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in Pakistan and Afghanistan could soon be patrolling over British cities to search for hidden terror cells. The controversial move would allow MI5 and GCHQ, the Government's eavesdropping centre, to step up surveillance operations over the UK. Until now, the £23million Global Hawk aircraft has not been available for foreign sale. However, US policy has been quietly changed and Britain is now negotiating to buy the drones. America is keen to supply them for British patrols after a string of terror plots threatening the US and its citizens. Terror Watch: The £23 million Global Hawk unmanned drone These include the attempt in 2006 to detonate liquid bombs on aircraft flying to American cities from the UK. It is not known how many drones the UK wants from manufacturer Northrop Grumman, but earlier this year a senior Ministry of Defence procurement official visited the Pentagon to begin negotiations. Britain would not need to use the drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan because the US already provides full air coverage in the region. Instead, it is believed they will be used mainly for domestic surveillance. The drones are also being deployed by the US Navy in the Caribbean and off the Florida coast to combat drug smuggling. In Britain, MI5 and GCHQ already use three planes based at RAF Northolt in North-West London to spy on citizens. The three Britten-Norman Islander aircraft are all fitted with sophisticated surveillance equipment. They have been used to track down terror cells and to locate former Afghan veterans who may have returned to Britain to plot terror attacks. The aircraft are able to identify suspects using 'voice-prints' of insurgents with British accents that were picked up by spy planes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan. One stumbling block is that permission from the Civil Aviation Authority would be needed to fly the drones in already congested UK airspace. Although the CAA gave the MoD permission to fly another drone over parts of Wales earlier this month, it is understood to be against regular flights because of safety fears. However, the Global Hawk recently became the first drone to be certified by the American Federal Aviation Authority for use in civilian air corridors with no advance notice. The drone can stay airborne for 30 hours without refuelling. Last night, MoD sources said the Global Hawk was being looked at for possible military use but any decision to buy the drone would depend on funding. |
Violence against the Armenian population in Azerbaijan SSR in the late 1980’s, the fight for Nagorno Karabakh’s independence and reunion with Armenia SSR lead to large-scale war by the early 1990’s. Armenia acted as the guarantor of Nagorno Karabakh‘s security and Armenian armed forces were able to liberate Nagorno Karabakh. In 1994 the cease-fire agreement was signed. But, de jure war was never over. Today, the consequences of unfinished war and ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan are especially evident in border villages. Here, for the last years, the gunshots almost never cease, formulating new rules for living. For over 20 years, villagers have been living like “hostages”, trapped between peace and war. Leaving a border village is like leaving a trench: almost impossible. Photos taken in border villages Chinari and Nerqin Karmiraghbyur in Tavush region, Armenia. |
Sheffield United were restricted to a point at 10-man Oldham. The Latics took the lead when Mike Jones' corner was flicked into the path of Danny Philliskirk who headed in at the back post. Forward Matty Done equalised for the Blades with a crisply struck effort into the top corner. After Oldham lost Jonathan Burn for a second bookable offence, Billy Sharp and Stefan Scougall wasted excellent chances to win the game. Oldham Athletic manager David Dunn told BBC Radio Manchester: Media playback is not supported on this device Dunn on Oldham v Sheffield United "It looked like we had a bit of hunger in us today - all over the pitch, it looked like we wanted to win the game. "Even when we were down to 10 men, I was still very happy with the way they stuck together, the way they kept their discipline and stuck to the game plan. "I don't want to be critical, but I think the referee could have been helped by his assistants. Some of the decisions, both for and against us, I was a little surprise by. But they have a tough job to do and it was a quick game. "We didn't give him much of an option with the sending off - it was probably a second booking." |
Everyone has their own problems they have to deal with. These problems can be very much real and demand some sort of resolution. Other times, these problems are not actual problems, but rather a false idea that we have created in our mind. An imaginary obstacle that seems to have no end, no sign of escape, and no way to get around. We need to be able to recognize these invented problems because over time they can manifest into a real problem. Problems, real or false carry the baggage of stress. A great deal of anxiety can lead to an array of health issues and other tangible problems. The key to identifying these conceptualized problems is detachment. This means to steps outside of yourself and let go of your judgements. Your judgements are not true of you and when you can discard them, you allow healing through objectivity. It is difficult to remove these judgments and false ideas that are preventing us from growth when we are surrounded by so much junk that we can barely move. As I wrote that last sentence I remembered a scene in the Star Wars movies; Luke, Han Solo, the Princess, and Chewy are running for their lives. In the chaos, they jump into a pit full of broken equipment, mountains of scrap metal, and gross smelly water. As the walls begin to literally close in on them, they realize that they are in a trash compactor. There is so much trash that they become trapped in the middle of it. The only way to keep them from being crushed by all of the junk is to shut down the compactor from outside. |
A firearms safety specialist says the tragic death of a two-year-old girl in Auckland should never have happened. Counties Manukau police have charged a 26-year-old man with unlawful possession of a pistol after he was taken into custody in relation to a death at a house in Favona Rd. He will appear in court on Friday. 123rf Pistols must be registered in New Zealand but many other classes of weapons are not individually registered. Police said the youngster died at the property in Mangere on Thursday morning. The oft-quoted figures of around 230,000 licence holders and around one million firearms are an indication of the high rates of gun ownership in New Zealand. READ MORE: * Toddler shot dead in Auckland * Firearm culture in New Zealand 'inclusive' STUFF Police investigate after a child died in Auckland's Mangere Bridge on Thursday. Some say New Zealand firearm policies are too lax and the legislation is easily manipulated. In 2010, around 36,000 pistols were in circulation and 7,800 military style semiautomatics, a higher number of military style weapons since the much cited 1997 Thorp report, although there was a change in the definition of "military style" in recent years. To own a firearm, a lawfully held licence must be obtained but the number of guns held under a single licence is not limited. There is a registration scheme for pistols and military style guns but not for other types, such as commonly held hunting rifles and shotguns. New Zealand's homicide rate and gun-related criminal offending rates point to a downward trend, although police have reported an increase in armed offenders and more military style weapons being recovered. University of Waikato Professor Alexander Gillespie said the vast majority of the firearm licence holders were upstanding and lawful. The problem was the authorities had lost control of the numbers and the figures of 230,000 and around one million were guesstimates, he said. Some categories of weapons, such as pistols and military-style weapons, were registered but there was no register for the remaining weapons. Criminal use or acquisition of firearms was on the radar of the Government select committee, which is accepting submissions until June 8. Weapons are obtained from two sources - either from people who are licensed and unlawfully selling them or people who are stealing them. "The shotguns on the black market are notoriously easy to find. They are at the cheaper end of the market." Police, at a press conference on Thursday, said the firearm was a shotgun but specified in a press release that a sawn-off, or "cut down", shotgun can be classed as a pistol. Overseas, after horrific massacres such as Dunblane and the Port Arthur spree in Tasmania, public outcry and changes to public policy meant certain classes of guns were prohibited. But similar weapon types were still available in New Zealand and the nature of legislation meant tracking ownership accurately was also hard. "There's a culture change out there. "We've lost control of the numbers. The only numbers we are certain of are the import figures. We know what's being imported but other than that we are not really sure what's out there," Gillespie said. Firearm Safety Specialist is a Wellington company offering courses for licensed shooters. Instructor Nicole McKee said there was no reason a tragedy like this should happen. "It's really basic if you don't have a firearm licence you shouldn't have a firearm." In 2010, police supplied figures to a gun policy research group and said the number of licence holders then fluctuated daily between 217,000 and 225,000 as licences were cancelled and expired. The accepted figure for the number of guns in New Zealand also fluctuates because there is no accurate record, from around 900,000 to 1.2 million firearms. For a country with a small population the ownership rate is high. McKee said it was "terribly sad when you hear of tragedies like this." "Part of what people have to do to get a gun licence is to undergo a safety course so they understand how to use and store a gun properly. These courses are free and teach the person to how to be gun safe," she said. "Unlicensed people have a higher possibility of having a tragedy occurring, due to them not knowing the correct way of handling or storing a gun. "If this behaviour continues we will have more tragic incidents like this one." "People have to remember that it's a tool capable of fatal force and that becomes a stronger possibility when people don't understand how to use a gun correctly." |
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