text stringlengths 0 100k |
|---|
Supreme Court nominee had 4 chances to vote against gun rights, and he took them all. Hand guns for sale in Mesa, Ariz. (Photo: Handout) The usual gaggle of anti-gun suspects has come out of the woodwork to attack the “gun lobby” for its opposition to any action on behalf of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. Coupled with their typical protestations that their attacks on Second Amendment advocates are not attacks on the Second Amendment itself, their words are laden with half-truths and selectively culled “facts.” But the truth is simple. Second Amendment issues have come before Garland, at least four times. He voted anti-gun every time. In 2007, Garland was one of four judges on the District of Columbia Circuit who voted for the full court to rehear a pro-gun holding of a three-judge panel overturning Washington’s draconian gun ban in District of Columbia v. Heller. And, yes, although Garland was joined by A. Raymond Randolph, appointed by George H.W. Bush, Garland’s vote was not merely a matter of intellectual curiosity. A comparable case, Seegars v. Gonzales, was decided differently two years earlier by an anti-gun panel of the same court. That time, Garland voted against a rehearing by the full court. In 2000, Garland voted to allow the FBI to retain background check records well beyond the immediate destruction required by the Brady Law. I drafted the original version of the Smith Amendment that prohibits the FBI from keeping such records and taxing gun transactions that require a background check, which was in effect at the time. And, as the draftsman, I can tell you that Garland’s position was contrary to statutory law. Finally, in 2012, Garland voted to allow prosecution (with a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence) of automatic firearms offenses without the prosecutor having to prove the accused knew the weapon was automatic, known as a showing of mens rea or a guilty mind, a requirement common in criminal law. We know that with his anti-gun record, Garland would be the “swing vote” on the Supreme Court with respect to the 5-to-4 Heller decision and the subsequent McDonald decision that extended it. These cases recognized that the Second Amendment applied to individuals and to states. We also know that Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer have called for reconsideration of Heller — both from the bench in the McDonald dissent and, in the case of Kagan, in a public speech. Whatever the unanimous Supreme Court rejection of a Massachusetts court ruling that upheld the state's stun gun ban meant, it surely does not mean that these four justices have suddenly reversed their narrow reading of the Second Amendment. If Garland were perfectly consistent with our views on every other issue, the possibility that the Supreme Court would fundamentally rip the Second Amendment from the Constitution would be enough to justify our position. POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media Some argue that it is somehow either a matter of precedent or a matter of “decorum” to give Garland a hearing or at least a vote, a point made last week by the conservative former senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. But in an era where the court has turned itself into a super legislature, the Senate clearly has not only the right but also the obligation to block any nominee who would further that usurpation of power. I was general counsel to the Senate Steering Committee — the Senate’s conservative Republican caucus — during the Bork nomination. I can tell you that both Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas were crucified by the Senate. With the balance of the court at stake, Senate Democrats would have done anything they thought would be helpful (and politically doable) to stop either of the nominees. Finally, the argument has been made recently that, on the D.C. Circuit, Garland and John Roberts voted together on 85% of the 34 cases they shared. I’m not sure that conservatives are thrilled about the prospect of another “John Roberts” on the court. Setting that aside, the fact is that a substantial majority of lower court cases revolve around narrow questions of fact and law. Because the Supreme Court largely selects its docket, the percentage is lower with them. But even with the Supreme Court, 66% of the cases were decided by a 9-0 decision in the 2013-14 term (40% in 2014-15), and only about 15% of the outcomes were 5-4 (26% in 2014-15). Put another way: Because not all 5-4 splits are strictly ideological, one or more conservatives voted with one or more liberals in more than 85% of Supreme Court decisions in 2013-14. Yet, despite the fact that all liberal and conservative justices agree (unanimously) up to two-thirds of the time, it is the blockbuster cases where the difference between Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia matters. So, yes, the gun lobby will continue to support the Second Amendment and oppose the Garland nomination. And, yes, Democrats in tight Senate races in pro-gun states might want to keep this in mind. Michael Hammond, general counsel of Gun Owners of America, is the former executive director of the Senate Steering Committee. In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns, go to the Opinion front page and follow us on Twitter: @USATOpinion. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/26I7Kca |
A week ago, Lance Cpl. Cody S. Schoenfelder invited his parents to see him at his new job in Washington. The 19-year-old Marine took his South Dakotan parents to the U.S. Capitol and showed them the Marine Barracks complex on Capitol Hill, where he stood sentry. On Friday evening, authorities say, Schoenfelder shot himself in the head at the barracks buildings in Southeast Washington, where the Marine commandant lives. He died Saturday in what D.C. police say is being investigated as an accident. Two D.C. police officials said Schoenfelder was shot inside a guard shack and there was a second Marine with him at the time. Investigators are exploring the possibility that a gun accidentally discharged as the Marines were playing the game “Trust,” in which one points a weapon at the other, according to those two officials and a third person in law enforcement, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The Marine’s parents, Nick and Gena Schoenfelder, are waiting for his body to be returned to Huron — a city of 12,000 in South Dakota’s glacial lake and prairie region — where he will be buried. Gena Schoenfelder, 48, said they are awaiting delivery of a report and had not heard details of how the shooting occurred. “Ever since he was 9 years old, all he talked about was joining the military,” said Nick Schoenfelder, 51. “It was because of 9/11, I thought. He was just a good Midwestern farmboy who wanted to serve his country.” The D.C. police and Marines released few details of the shooting. It occurred about 6:30 p.m. in the 19th-century barracks complex known as 8th and I, for the streets that intersect at its main entrance. Police said the shooting happened near the 1000 block of Seventh Street SE, near a gated entrance to the grounds. Capt. John Norton, a spokesman for Marine Barracks Washington, would not comment on the number of people in the guard shack at the time of the shooting, nor would he discuss whether investigators are looking into the “Trust” game, which has led to deaths and headlines across the country. As part of the game, one Marine pretends to load a magazine into a weapon, points it at another’s head and says, “Do you trust me?” according to accounts in the Marine Corps Times. After getting an answer, the Marine holding the gun either pulls the trigger or lowers the weapon. Either way, there should not be any bullets fired. The Times paper has reported on service members convicted of manslaughter and court- martialed after accidental shootings. If Schoenfelder was killed while playing “Trust,” police say, something went terribly awry for him to have shot himself. Nick Schoenfelder said his son graduated from high school early so he could more quickly join the service. He went to boot camp in San Diego and was assigned to Marine Barracks Washington. “We were very proud of him,” his father said. In addition to his parents, the Marine is survived by his sisters, Gracie, 13, and Katie, 15. Nick Schoenfelder said his son appeared upbeat during their recent visit — their first to the nation’s capital — and was in line for a posting at Camp David. A statement from the Marines says that the lance corporal had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terror Service Medal. Nick Schoenfelder described the family as devastated — “We are trying to survive ourselves,” he said — their grief compounded by an apparently missed opportunity to have his son’s organs donated. He said that somehow an organ donor request did not get to the hospital, possibly because his son wasn’t carrying his wallet and driver’s license while on guard duty or the items were overlooked. “It’s a terrible tragedy for us,” said Nick Schoenfelder, who is pressing for answers. “But it could’ve given so many people life. So many good things could have come out of this disaster.” The Marine spokesman said he had no information on Cody Schoenfelder’s donor card. MedStar Washington Hospital Center released a statement saying it is “sorry for the Schoenfelder family’s loss. We are reviewing the situation.” |
KL Rahul and MS Dhoni made key contributions with the bat as India notched up a convincing 93-run win over Sri Lanka in the 1st T20I at Cuttack's Barabati Stadium. Rahul smashed 61 off 48 balls, while Dhoni remained unbeaten on 39 to help the hosts post a challenging 180/3. Dhoni, in flashes, was at his devastating best during his 22-ball knock. In the 14th over of the India's innings, the wicketkeeper-batsman's brute force was on show as he muscled a full ball from Akila Dananjaya straight down the ground. The bullet shot nearly got non-striker Rahul, who was left with his back on the floor after trying to avoid contact with the ball. "He almost killed me as soon as he came into bat," Rahul said after the match. MS Dhoni's bullet that got Rahul, almost! https://t.co/0a9AbTdkuL — Kiran Kumar (@YeahhMeee) December 21, 2017 The 36-year-old ended India's innings with a trademark six. #Dhoni and Last Ball Six. Some love stories never end ?? BOOM - #MSD's Last ball six https://t.co/g1NO9HxC6A — Viv (@LocalChokra) December 21, 2017 Dhoni (39) and Manish Pandey (32) set up India's big win with their unbeaten 68-run stand for the fourth wicket. Dhoni and Pandey finished off the innings with a flurry of fours and sixes as India got 66 runs in the last five overs. Dhoni hit 4 fours and a six during his blitz while Pandey also hit the bowlers to all parts of the ground during his 18-ball stay. Dhoni also set three other records during the series opener against Thisara Perera's men. Dhoni (39 not out + 4 dismissals) became the first Indian wicketkeeper to post 35 or more runs and effect four dismissals in the same T20I, joining South Africa's Quinton de Kock (twice) and Pakistan's Kamran Akmal. Dhoni is the first wicketkeeper to effect four dismissals in T20Is involving India and Sri Lanka. Dhoni (201 dismissals in 272 matches) has become the second wicketkeeper after Kamran Akmal (207 in 211 matches) to complete 200 dismissals or more in T20 cricket. Captain Rohit Sharma applauded Dhoni, who was promoted up the order, during the post-match presentation. "MSD (Dhoni), he's just class. No. 4 really paid off. He's played so many games for us, won so many games for us and moving forward, we feel making him bat at No. 4 is ideal," Rohit said. (With inputs from PTI) |
James Stavridis, dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and David Harris, provost and senior vice president, informed The Fletcher School’s community on Tuesday morning that Anthony Scaramucci (LA ’86) had resigned from his position on the Board of Advisors. “We thank Mr. Scaramucci for his past service to Tufts and wish him well,” they wrote in an email. This news was the culmination of several weeks of back-and-forth between Scaramucci and members of the Fletcher community, which all began when Carter Banker, a second-year Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) student, started a petition to have him removed from the Fletcher Board of Advisors. Scaramucci had been on the Fletcher Board of Advisors since June 2016. Scaramucci’s resignation followed the publication of a public letter to The Fletcher School students and faculty that he posted online on Monday night. Scaramucci told the Daily in an email that he chose to resign after the university cancelled his scheduled Nov. 27 appearance, following his threat of suing second-year MALD student Camilo Caballero and The Tufts Daily for “defamatory” op-eds. “Once the University made the decision to cancel my appearance I felt it was the diplomatic thing to do. I enjoyed my 35 year relationship with the University and I am looking forward to the new challenges ahead,” Scaramucci told the Daily in an email. Banker said that, although she considered this a win, she was disappointed by the way the events unfolded, specifically regarding Scaramucci’s threat to sue Caballero and the Daily for defamation. “It got really nasty at the end,” Banker said. “As the person who started the petition, that was really never my intention — for it to go in that direction. That was frustrating and disappointing to me.” Banker added that she did not think Scaramucci completely understood why she and other community members were upset. She noted that in his open letter, Scaramucci was trying to address multiple people and that in the process, the narratives all became entangled. “I honestly think that him coming to have a conversation — which would have happened if he hadn’t threatened to sue people — could have been very helpful for his understanding,” she said. Not all students supported Banker’s petition to remove Scaramucci, as evidenced by first-year MALD student Alex Henrie’s Nov. 20 op-ed. Banker said Fletcher School Executive Associate Dean Gerard Sheehan sent her a message Tuesday morning congratulating her for her tenacity throughout the entire process. Fletcher Professor of International Politics Daniel Drezner, who has been engaged in a Twitter feud with Scaramucci over the past few days, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that Scaramucci has not fulfilled his duties as a member of the Board of Advisors. “A Fletcher administrator and Scaramucci confirmed to me that since being appointed, he has neither attended an advisory board meeting nor given a single dollar to the school,” Drezner wrote. Advisors are supposed to provide advice to the deans, philanthropically support the university and serve as ambassadors of the university, Board of Advisors Program Director Jonathan Kaplan said at a Nov. 16 conversation between students and administrators regarding the petition to remove Scaramucci. ACLU Responds to Scaramucci On the same day as Scaramucci’s resignation, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts responded to his threats of legal action by sending a letter to Samuel J. Lieberman, the lawyer retained by Scaramucci. The response was sent on behalf of Caballero, whom the ACLU of Massachusetts has taken on as a client. In the letter, Legal Director Matthew Segal and Senior Attorney Ruth Bourquin argue that claims of defamation made by Scaramucci and Lieberman are without merit and the legal threats should cease. The letter argues that Caballero’s op-eds are overwhelmingly made up of opinions backed up by true facts, which prevents his statements from qualifying as defamation because they do not include false assertions of facts. Instead, the lawyers say that the op-eds contain “rhetorical flourishes” that are clearly expressions of opinion. “Mr. Scaramucci himself is no stranger to rhetorical flourishes. For example, following news reports about your letter, some have criticized Mr. Scaramucci for threatening to sue a school newspaper and graduate student at his alma mater. In response, Mr. Scaramucci has reportedly called such criticism ‘baby-ish,’” the letter reads. “We view this remark as rhetoric expressing your client’s constitutionally-protected opinions about his critics. We do not interpret Mr. Scaramucci’s statement as an assertion that his critics are, in fact, infants.” Additionally, the letter says that Scaramucci qualifies as a public figure. The letter notes that, according to legal precedent, this designation would require proof of “actual malice,” or that Caballero either knowingly published false statements or published them with reckless disregard for the facts. In their letter, the ACLU of Massachusetts’ lawyers defended the right to express Caballero’s critical point of view. “By using wealth and power to try to silence freedom of the press, your client is proving the very point that Mr. Caballero was making in urging Mr. Scaramucci’s removal from the Board of Advisors,” the letter reads. Banker wished Scaramucci well but said she had one question left unanswered. “I would want to know why he wanted to be on the Fletcher board and why he held on for so long. What does it mean to him? Do you see it as prestigious?” she said. “That’s one of many things about this man that baffles me.” |
In Part 1 of this HowTo, we showed you how to create a simple product listing, and make all the product details easily editable using MagicEdit. Now that you have the listings done, let's add the PayPal checkout portion. Adding in the PayPal Form The "Add to Cart" button actually lives inside a form, but the only part of the form you see is the actual button. Add the following code inside the repeated region (from Part 1) where you want the "Add to Cart" button to appear. Make sure to put the email address associated with your PayPal account in the value for the business hidden field. <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" class="paypalForm"> <p class="noJS">Enable JavaScript to place orders!</p> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="yourPayPalEmail@yourdomain.com" /> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart" /> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="undefined_quantity" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Title" /> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="111" /> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD" /> <input type="image" style="display:none" disabled name="submit" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_cart_SM.gif" alt="Add to Cart" /> <img alt="" border="0" width="1" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" /> </form> NOTE: Since we will use some JavaScript to populate the PayPal form, we're disabling and hiding the input, and displaying a message to enable JavaScript to place orders. This helps prevent issues in the rare case when a visitor does not have JavaScript enabled. Adding the JavaScript Now that all of the information we need is actually part of the page, we just need a little bit of scripting to populate the form and take care of some housecleaning. We'll also add a few span elements and classes to the HTML so the script can identify various details about the product. Here is our finished HTML. <magicrepeat me_name="product"> <div class="product"> <img magicedit me_name="productImage" src="i/product.png" /> <h2 class="productTitle"><magicedit me_plain me_name="productTitle">Product Title</magicedit></h2> <magicedit me_name="productDescription"><p>This is a product description.</p></magicedit> <p>Item Number: <span class="itemNumber"><magicedit me_plain me_name="productSku">12345</magicedit></span></p> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" class="paypalForm"> <p class="noJS">Enable JavaScript to place orders!</p> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="yourPayPalEmail@yourdomain.com" /> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart" /> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="undefined_quantity" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Title" /> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="111" /> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD" /> <input type="image" disabled style="display:none" name="submit" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_cart_SM.gif" alt="Add to Cart" /> <img alt="" border="0" width="1" height="1" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" /> </form> <magicrepeat me_repeat="yes" me_name="productOptions"> <div> <label> <input class="pricingOption" name="option" type="radio" value="1" /> <span class="optionName"><magicedit me_plain me_name="productOption">Option</magicedit></span>: $<span class="productPrice optionPrice"><magicedit me_plain me_name="optionPrice">10</magicedit></span> </label> </div> </magicrepeat> </div> </magicrepeat> The JavaScript file is available in the Downloads section below, so to finish things off add the following lines to your page once you have uploaded the cart.js file to your site. If you are already loading jQuery, just leave the first line out, but make sure you add the cart.js script after your jQuery script. <script type="text/javascript" src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.5.1/jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/cart.js"></script> Testing it all Out That's about it! After a couple of edits to test products with options and without, here is what we end up with. Clicking the "Add to Cart" button now takes the site visitor over to their PayPal shopping cart, where they can update quantities and check out (click the image to view it larger). You may also want to display a "View Cart" button somewhere on the page. To do this, just put the following form where you want the "View Cart" button to show up. Usually this is at the top and/or bottom of the page, not inside the repeated product itself. Make sure you replace "yourPayPalEmail@yourdomain.com" with your real email address. <form target="paypal" method="post" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr"> <input type="hidden" value="yourPayPalEmail@yourdomain.com" name="business" /> <input type="hidden" value="_cart" name="cmd" /> <input type="hidden" value="1" name="display" /> <input type="image" name="submit" alt="View Cart" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_viewcart_SM.gif" border="0" /> <img alt="" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" height="1" width="1" border="0" /> </form> |
Welcome to the RantCrush Top 5, where we take you through the top five controversial and crazy stories in the world of law and policy each day. So who is ranting and who is raving today? Check it out below: #TryBeatingMeLightly: Pakistani Women Fight Back In Pakistan, a 163-page bill was proposed by the Council of Islamic Ideology allowing men to “lightly” beat their wives. Crazy, I know. A man is permitted, according to the bill, to beat his wife if she speaks too loudly or turns down intercourse. Of course, Pakistani women everywhere aren’t going to stand for this. As a result, photographer Fahhad Rajper’s photo project “TryBeatingMeLightly” is trending on social media. Rush Limbaugh Talks Gorilla Limbaugh recently said: “If we were the original apes, then how come Harambe is still an ape, and how come he didn’t become one of us?” Let’s face it Rush, no one takes you seriously. It’s unfortunate that an endangered animal had to die to demonstrate how much of an idiot you are. Islamophobin: It’s the cure you can chew! The Council on American-Islamic Relations just released a spoof video for a Islamophobia cure and it’s freaking hilarious. CAIR tackles the very serious issues of violence and discrimination against Muslims and hopes to combat the effects of Islamophobia. Maybe laughter IS the best medicine. Sims 4 Jumps Aboard the Pride Train The newest version of Sims 4 will now allow any character of any gender to choose any hairstyle and clothing. Previously, characters were restricted to the clothing and hair of their assigned gender. As LGBT rights become more open in the real world, why shouldn’t they be just as accepted in the virtual one? Proud of @TheSims for removing gender barriers in Sims 4 👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/QhfSRIhRi8 — Tazreen Tasnim (@tazreentasnim) June 2, 2016 Zip it, Pagliano! The latest news in Clinton’s scandal finds her IT staffer tight-lipped and not taking any questions. Bryan Pagliano has decided to plead the Fifth and avoid self-incrimination at a deposition next week. The deposition is part of a Freedom of Information suit filed by the conservative group Judicial Watch related to Hillary Clinton’s private email server. In the meantime, a lot of rumors are floating around about why Pagliano is not testifying. |
VENICE, Calif. — After leading the league in rushing attempts (314) and rushing yards (1,607), Eagles running back LeSean McCoy is spending his offseason focusing on remaining durable to play in all 16 games. “I want to be more explosive and in better shape,” McCoy told FOXSports.com on Thursday. “I want to take over more games in the fourth quarter; whether if it’s in the air or on the ground, it’s about being productive and effective at all times. “I do a lot of one-on-one things: one-legged squats, one-legged hops, one-legged jumps. Those kinds of things will help me be more explosive.” Article continues below ... McCoy, who was speaking at the Call of Duty: Ghosts Celebrity Grudge Match, also believes the signing of scatback Darren Sproles will benefit him and the entire offense immensely. Sproles was acquired in a trade via the Saints in March and immediately signed to a two-year extension. “Signing Sproles helps me out as a running back,” McCoy said. “I can go in a game even more fresh because I’m getting less carries and less attempts. I had 366 touches (in 2013), which is a lot. I think me having less attempts can help me be more productive and more deadly. Being fresh in the fourth quarter, things that you don’t think matter really do make a big difference. “Now defenses have another guy that they have to prepare for. They have to watch out for so many different things, and it’s hard. They only get a week to prepare for us.” While the Eagles added a very diverse playmaker in Sproles, they made a stunning move, releasing Pro Bowl wide receiver DeSean Jackson. Despite coming off a year in which Jackson played every regular season game and posted career highs, the team reportedly shopped him around and later abruptly cut him. Since then, he has inked a three-year deal with the Redskins. “I heard the rumors, but I was surprised for sure,” McCoy said. “I mean, he’s probably one of our biggest playmakers that we had. He can make plays at any given time. He can control the game. He’s probably the biggest deep threat in the NFL. To lose a guy like that is definitely tough. He’ll definitely be missed. Obviously every move is made for a reason. “The guys upstairs made the decision for a reason. When you do things like that, you have backup plans in your mind. You don’t let one of the top wide receivers go and then not have anything to back it up. I’m sure coach (Chip) Kelly and (general manager) Howie (Roseman), they’ll be able to take care of it.” After Kelly’s rookie season as a head coach in the league, players are living by his philosophies, even in the offseason. The Eagles sneaked up on plenty of teams last season. They ended up winning the NFC East and made a playoff appearance. The team, according to McCoy, is all in on Kelly. “He really lets you be yourself,” McCoy said. “The biggest thing I like about him is he’s always trying to find ways to make us better, whether it’s recovery, the training loads. He’ll do whatever it takes to make the athlete better. That’s what I love about him. He’s always trying to make us better.” |
Wilkerson. The writers original wanted to keep the family's surname a mystery but it was already revealed on the show. The last name of the family has been revealed only twice in the show, in Pilot (2000), where wears the name tag "Wilkerson" on his school uniform (it can be seen best in the scene where he is talking with his family on the phone). Also, though unaired, it appears in a joke from the original pilot script. In that script, was walking to school when a neighborhood kid came running up shouting, "Malcolm, Malcolm, Malcolm. I was talking to my parents last night - I was listening to them talk, and what's your last name?" "Wilkerson, why?" Malcolm replied. "Oh. Who are the Pariahs?" said the other kid. The joke was eventually cut. A special feature on the season 1 DVD stated also that their surname was Wilkerson. A trailer on the UK channel Sky One in early 2006 advised viewers to spend time with The Simpsons (1989) and "The Wilkersons," advertising Sunday night new episodes of both series. Another trailer was released to advertise the last episodes, of 24 (2001) and Malcolm in the Middle: it claimed "Say Goodbye to the Wilkersons." In Graduation (2006), when Malcolm is being introduced for his graduation speech, his last name is not heard due to feedback from the microphone. Just before Malcolm gives his graduation speech, Francis drops his employee ID on the ground and it clearly shows his name as "Francis Nolastname", a nod to the fact that the family surname has barely been mentioned. In S5E22, Reese is seen wearing his army uniform in the airplane as he stands up and is given a parachute. His name tag says Jetson, but this was the fake name he used to get into the army. Reese is referenced as Jetson in the following episode S6E1. Edit (Coming Soon) |
NEW YORK/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Experts on microcephaly, the birth defect that has sparked alarm in the current Zika virus outbreak, say they are struck by the severity of a small number of cases they have reviewed from Brazil. Rosana Vieira Alves bathes her 4-month-old daughter Luana Vieira, who was born with microcephaly, at their home in Olinda, Brazil, February 4, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino Consultations among doctors in Brazil and the United States have increased in the last two weeks, and some of the leading authorities on the condition are finding patterns of unusual devastation in scans of the newborns’ malformed brains. While it’s not known how representative the scans are, the early observations of these doctors point to a tough road ahead for the babies, their families and their communities and heighten the concern surrounding Zika, which is suspected of causing microcephaly. “We are in the process of very rapid information gathering on what has been seen,” said Dr. William Dobyns, a geneticist at Seattle Children’s Hospital. “The condition that I’ve been able to review, very preliminarily, is more severe than simple microcephaly.” The Zika virus is transmitted by mosquito, causing mild symptoms in about 20 percent of cases, and most people experience no illness at all. But a spike in reported microcephaly cases among babies in areas of Brazil with Zika outbreaks has triggered an international effort to determine whether the virus causes the condition. The suspected association moved the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday to declare an international health emergency. Dobyns has spent 30 years researching and treating microcephaly, a condition defined by abnormally small heads in newborns that can lead to developmental disabilities, from mild to severe. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sought out his expertise in understanding the unfolding epidemic. With a small group of geneticists and other microcephaly specialists, he recently reviewed scans of a handful of babies sent by a colleague in Brazil. All the experts were struck by the scale of malformations, he said. “These children have a very severe form of microcephaly,” Dobyns said. “The brain is not just small, it’s small with malformations of the cerebral cortex and calcifications. It has the appearance of a very severe, destructive injury to the brain.” Particularly alarming, Dobyns said, is the presence in the Brazilian cases of excess spinal fluid between the brain and skull of the babies. “If the brain is growing and then suddenly shrinks, then you’ll see fluid between the brain and skull,” he said. “It has a pattern that suggests that the brain has actually decreased in size.” Dr. Leonardo Vedolin, a neuroradiologist and researcher at the Moinhos de Vento hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil, shared with Dobyns scans of two more microcephalic babies this week. The doctors belong to a brain defects study group that convenes via video conference each month. The group is now focussed on Zika. Neither Vedolin nor Brazil’s Health Ministry were able to provide a breakdown on the severity of confirmed microcephaly cases. In general, Vedolin said, 5 percent of microcephaly cases are severe. But the proportion appears greater among the cases in Brazil, he said. THE CASELOAD Public health officials in Brazil are investigating more than 4,000 cases of suspected microcephaly, and have confirmed more than 400. Prior to the Zika outbreak, Brazil saw on average 163 cases annually of microcephaly over the past five years, according to WHO. In 17 of the new cases, the presence of Zika was identified in the mother or the baby. A study of 35 Brazilian babies born with microcephaly during the Zika outbreak reported by the CDC Jan. 29 added strength to the suspected connection. The mothers of all 35 infants had lived in or visited Zika virus-affected areas during pregnancy, the report said. Twenty-five infants had severe microcephaly, and 17 had at least one neurologic abnormality. Dr. Frank Esper, an infectious disease expert from Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, said he expects a steady wave of studies on Zika and microcephaly that will provide a much clearer picture over the first half of 2016. By the broadest definition, about 2.3 percent of all babies are microcephalic, Dobyns said. Some cases are so mild they involve no complications at all. About one tenth of one percent of the cases are so severe that lifelong care is required, he said. There are many known causes, including a wide range of genetic disorders such as Down syndrome, as well as oxygen deprivation to the fetus, cytomegalovirus and severe fetal alcohol syndrome. Lifespan in severe cases can be months or as long as 10 years, depending on proximity to good medical care, Dobyns said. Dr. Dawn Nolt, a member of the American Association of Pediatrics’ (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases, and other doctors, said more severely affected children often require treatment for epileptic seizures, as well as physical, respiratory and speech therapy. They may need help with everyday activities, such as eating or walking. “It’s crucial to go to a care centre with good neurology and genetics teams that can evaluate the child comprehensively,” said Dr. Ghayda Mirzaa, a pediatric neurologist and colleague of Dobyns at Seattle Children’s. Slideshow (5 Images) Doctors in Recife, Brazil are sending mothers with afflicted babies for therapy to help stimulate eyesight, hearing and motor skills to minimize retardation in mental and physical development. There are a handful of centres of microcephaly research and treatment in the U.S., including Dobyns’ hospital in Seattle. The consultations of physicians like Dobyns in the Brazil cases is informal at this point but could form the basis for an organised exchange of expertise that will inform the ongoing care of the children of the epidemic. “We need to get the message out that this is real, and coming, without getting everybody to panic,” Dobyns said. “There will be a steep curve of new information coming in.” |
An intrepid mattress-store-monitoring reader notes that the Mattress 1 One (yeah, that’s how the company spells it out) in the northernmost spot of the strip center at S. Shepherd and W. Alabama across from CVS has closed down. Desperate mattress seekers need not worry, though: Plenty more outlets are available to pick up the slack. A note taped to the front door of the spot at 3101 S. Shepherd Dr., which despite the prominently placed Kensinger Donnelly FOR LEASE signs on the space insists that the location is only “closed for renovation,” directs would-be customers to the chain’s nearest still-open store: a full 3 blocks north on Shepherd, just south of Westheimer. If that location doesn’t work for you, the Texas-and-Florida mattress chain lists a total of 16 Mattress 1 One locations within a 5-mile radius — though that includes the still-listed Shepherd-and-Alabama spot. And don’t forget competitor Mattress Firm, which has 18 locations of its own within that same area. Photos: Margo Mattrose |
A grass fire at Wellington's historic cricket ground, the Basin Reserve, caused traffic jams through the central city. By 1.50pm, the flames running up by the Basin's outer fence had been put out and two fire crews were dousing flame-retardant foam on the plants to dampen down the fire. With the four lanes at the north-east corner of the road system reduced to two, Sunday traffic had backed up past The Terrace tunnel and onto the motorway. The fire broke out on one of the grounds' banks shortly after 1.30pm, Fire Service senior station officer Simon Johnson said. RACHEL SIMMERS Flames move along the grass bank at the Basin Reserve. "There would have been a lot of smoke and a lot of flames. We were getting multiple calls about it. You could see it from the traffic cameras monitoring the tunnel." The cause of the fire was not yet known, but nothing suspicious had been found. "We'll try and find out, but it's difficult to say." The fire crews hoped by 2.30pm the job would be complete and they could reopen the closed lanes. |
The guys and gals at Entertainment Weekly sure do love their CBMs, and the latest cover for their mag features a new image of The Dark Knight himself, with Bane standing menacingly in the background.. “We want this to be the most exciting film, the most emotionally engaging and enjoyable blockbuster that an audience can see this summer,” “I’m very happy with it. I know it’s the film I wanted to make. It does all the things I really hoped for. I look what everyone has done in the film and I think they’ve done a very good job — and I think I’ve done a good job not obscuring it.” The mag features interviews with the cast and more than likely a few brand new stills too. Here are a few quotes from director Christopher Nolan, who says he is "very happy" with the Batman threequel..For more be sure to pick up the issue when it hits news stands this Friday, and head on over to the website (link below) for some insight from Christian Bale. |
UKIE has explained the benefit of tax breaks for the UK games industry for consumers and players of games. CEO Jo Twist said that it will not only incentivise more UK-made games on the market, but raise awareness of the types of games being made in Britain. Shizuo Kambayashi/AP "What hopefully it will mean is that there are more UK-made games on the market," she told Digital Spy. "We already have some great UK success stories like GTA and the LEGO games, which are made on our doorstep, which not a lot of people realise, particularly young people." Having tax breaks will mean less risk for companies investing in the UK, hopefully leading to more studios, employment and games that better reflect British culture. "We've already got a massive diversity of games on different platforms, but hopefully we'll have more that reflects a sense of British identity, which is really important," Twist explained. UKIE "We know these kinds of games - as with other kinds of cultural products like TV and film - they have a global reach, and they are liked by global audiences. "We shouldn't be shy of that, and it will give people the confidence to do that, to take that risk potentially. It'll also give investors the confidence in the industry, that we also need." Starting April 1, 2014, developers and publishers can put their projects through a cultural test to determine eligibility for tax breaks, which scores games on their setting, characters and where it was made. While based on the film industry's test, it's been adjusted to take into account the "modern and unique nature of the games industry", from downloadable content to one-person independent developers. "We've really made some fundamental changes to the cultural test; it even recognised undetermined location or species, which is really important when you're talking about games," said Twist. "Even if a game is set in a fantasy world, then you can still get points." Tax breaks for the games industry were approved by the EU last month, after originally being announced during the Budget in 2012. The BAFTA Games Awards recognises UK-made games, with Grand Theft Auto 5 winning this year's Best British Game award. |
Blink and you’ll still see it. Google’s strategy to spin the European Court of Justice’s right to be forgotten ruling as ‘unworkable’ is in full swing. The ruling, made in late May, requires Google to process requests by private individuals to de-index outdated or irrelevant personal information when a search is made for their name. The data is only de-indexed from European Google search results, not Google.com. And refers specifically to private individuals — those with a public profile would be exempt on the grounds of public interest. Google says it’s had about 70,000 requests for data to be de-indexed so far. Google started de-indexing links at the end of last month to comply with the law. But this week it’s clear that the advertising giant is outsourcing a public campaign of ‘censorship outrage’ to the media organizations whose business models entirely align with its own. Earlier this week BBC journalist Robert Peston published an emotionally charged blog post entitled Why has Google cast me into oblivion?, which questioned “why has Google killed this example of my journalism?”. Provocative language, no? This alarmist reaction was of course inevitable. Google has barely had to lift a finger to find a sympathetic mouthpiece from media outlets that also rely on people finding information on their sites to drive their own digital businesses. Still, there is evidently more than a little behind the scenes string-pulling going on. For starters Google has been emailing news websites to flag up when it’s removed a link to their content in its search results — to give them the required nudge to get to work on a piece attacking the ruling as censorship. (Google declined to specify how many notification emails it has sent out when I asked.) There doesn’t appear to be a legal requirement in the ruling that Google informs publishers it’s de-indexing a particular search. And Google has previously made no bones about making big changes to its search ranking algorithm that affect all sorts of sites without giving them the individual courtesy of dropping an email to flag up the change. But it’s one thing Google pulling the levers of its own business for its own economic interests. The right to be forgotten ruling is a change thrown on an unwilling Mountain View by European judges and legislators that forces it in a pro-privacy direction that does not align with its ad-driven, individual data-harvesting business model — so it’s not going gently into this goodnight. Oh no. So far Google’s spin strategy has been spectacularly successful. By publishing stories about the removed links, the media is neatly turning a right to be forgotten on its head — shining the spotlight back on private individuals who may have been seeking to de-emphasize outdated or irrelevant information about them. This week the ruling has become digital theatre, and Google gets to laugh at the European data privacy farce it has so easily been able to engineer. As Andrew Orlowski points out in The Register, Mountain View could just bounce requests from individuals to national data protection watchdogs in the EU — and appeal each decision if the watchdog sided with the requester. But that process would be time-consuming. Much quicker for the company to generate a big spike of negative PR about ‘what an unworkable mess’ the law is by making what appear to be ham-fisted decisions in cases where there is some public interest angle that can be used to fuel accusations of censorship. Of course I am not party to Google’s decision-making in individual de-indexing cases, but the results so far speak for themselves. (And the company has consistently declined to comment in detail on its specific decision-making process.) Yesterday Reuters noted that Google had reversed a decision to de-index certain search results that had been earlier flagged up by the Guardian. Writing about the six de-indexed Guardian articles (some of which have presumably now been restored) the newspaper’s James Ball dubbed the ruling a “challenge to press freedom” and argued it “has created a stopwatch on free expression”. After Google reversed some of those de-indexing decisions, a Guardian spokeswoman told Reuters: “Their current approach appears to be an overly broad interpretation. If the purpose of the judgment is not to enable censorship of publishers by the back door, then we’d encourage Google to be transparent about the criteria it is using to make these decisions, and how publishers can challenge them.” ‘Overly broad interpretation’ nails Google’s strategy here, in my view. Pay out enough rope, and let the public hanging commence. Google will only say its process is “evolving” at this stage. Which is a neat way to side-step any criticism for bad and/or intentionally manipulative decisions that forward its agenda of trying to get the law overturned. When I asked Google for comment it provided the same statement it’s trotted out previously this week — namely: “We have recently started taking action on the removals requests we’ve received after the European Court of Justice decision. This is a new and evolving process for us. We’ll continue to listen to feedback and will also work with data protection authorities and others as we comply with the ruling.” The Peston instance is a great example of how negative, fear-mongering PR about the ‘censorship’ of important public information has been manufactured by the way Google has responded to the ruling. Peston’s post identified a 2007 blog as the target for de-indexing. The post was apparently about Stan O’Neal, the former boss of the investment bank Merrill Lynch, being forced out after the bank suffered what Peston described as “colossal losses on reckless investments it had made”. Now investment bankers rival journalists for the public’s most hated individuals in these post-financial crisis times — so enter stage right a perfect pantomime villain to tread the boards on Google’s behalf drawing angry boo-hiiiissssses in the direction of the right to be forgotten ruling. Who’s going to support a law that looks like it’s helping bankers whitewash past acts? The problem is, it wasn’t actually O’Neal who requested the removal of the Peston blog post. And the post is not actually removed when you search for O’Neal’s name, so there’s no ‘bankerwashing’ going on there. Peston has since updated his story to note this fact. His update states that the article’s de-indexing was in fact requested by an individual who had left a comment on the original post. And that a search for O’Neal’s name still brings up Peston’s post. So, in other words, the article is only de-indexed if you’re searching for the unknown name of an individual commenter… Talk about misdirection. Of course it’s also true that the broad-brush nature of the ruling has enabled Google to put on this digital pantomime and spin the impact of the ruling to emphasis risks to media freedoms and mobilize news outlets to lobby public opinion on its behalf. So there’s perhaps an argument to say that the court could be more specific in setting parameters for how it expects Google to weigh requests. What’s clear is that this week’s Google farce is de-emphasising exactly the people the ruling aims to protect: private (not public) individuals who have outdated and irrelevant information appended to a search for their name that might in fact be making it harder for them to move their lives on from some past event; or find a new job after being made redundant; or avoid having their digital footprint bundled up with the reputation of someone or something else; or whose private home address has been published online without their permission. The right to a private life of average individuals is exactly the thing Google wants you to forget. Early data put out by Forget.me, a service set up to help people who want to submit right to be forgotten requests, on the kinds of reasons people have for asking Google to remove a link in a search result suggests privacy is a key motivator for those wanting something about them to be de-indexed. ‘Invasion of privacy’ and ‘defamation & insult’ were the two categories that made up nearly half of the requests people were submitting via its service. The top three privacy-related reasons were: disclosure of home address; negative opinions; and redundancy. The top defamation reason was ‘extraneous matters’ — aka people whose name has been erroneously attached to matters that are completely extraneous to them. For the media to rush to brand this complex privacy ruling — which seeks to give some protection to private individuals — as ‘unfettered censorship’ is irresponsible but unsurprising. There are huge and growing complexities attached to massive data retention impinging on the rights of private individuals. So let’s not pretend this stuff is simplistic. Especially when a self-interested entity is behind the scenes pulling the strings. [Image by Edmond Wells via Flickr] |
About Higher Resolution Video - http://youtu.be/0Ju66BqaUr4?hd=1 "There are a lot of shooters out there that focus on fast-paced arcade gameplay. People who want a more realistic and deliberate experience are left out by mainstream developers. Ground Branch is for those people." - John Sonedecker, Founder BlackFoot Studios, LLC Ground Branch fills the void between unrealistic run-and-gun action shooters like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, etc. and complex war simulations like ARMA, VBS, and Operation Flashpoint. It is the only spiritual successor to Ghost Recon (2001), Rainbow Six (1998), SWAT 4 (2005), and UT Infiltration (2004) to date. If this Kickstarter does not reach its goal, we may never see another game of the true squad-based tactical shooter genre. Ground Branch is already a playable pre-alpha running on fully licensed Unreal Engine 3. The Kickstarter goal is the money needed to finish the game and have it on your PC/Mac by summer 2013. There will be full multiplayer (objective-based TvT, PvP) and core single player/co-operation gameplay (e.g. terrorist hunt against bots) from the start. An intricate full-scale SP/Co-Op campaign and advanced AI will be added (Free to KS minimum reward backers and up) after release. Unlike big publishers, Blackfoot Studios is an independent developer who actually cares about their product and their fans. The team consists of former Red Storm and Valve employees with dozens of AAA titles under their belt. These guys left well-paid jobs and turned starving indie to do what they love for the people they love. They mean what they say, answer all questions honestly, listen to feedback, and don't push any PR bullsh1t. Concept Art for an Oil Platform Assault Map THE GAME Ground Branch is a team based Tactical shooter specializing in co-op and online multiplayer (LAN play included) gameplay, cut from the same cloth as the original Ghost Recon. It is being developed by former Red Storm Entertainment and Valve Software employees, in conjunction with United States Special Operations Veterans, determined to offer a unique and immersive experience to disenfranchised gamers that have been marketed to under the promise of “authenticity”, only to find themselves stuck with so many similar arena shooters. In Ground Branch, players will take on the role of CIA Paramilitary Operators of the Special Activities Division. The Special Activities Division carries out deniable covert operations on foreign soil and often goes into a situation before anyone else, before Army Special Forces, before the SEALs. Players will learn to respect the lethality and versatility of firearms as death can come quick and health does not regenerate. You are then encouraged to join a team, in order to test your strategies and abilities against other groups or clans. Map design is non-linear, featuring randomized objectives and spawns, so that no two rounds feel identical. As an Operator, your actions and animations – such as reloading or weapon switching – will be just as smooth and deliberate as it is in real-life. To succeed in battle, you will be required to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the available weapon platforms, and to be able to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. Weapons behave as they should and are not artificially balanced. Once players have perfected their loadouts, they can save and name their customized settings for later use. Ground Branch is about player choices and realistic consequences. Your skill and ingenuity will be what allows you to succeed. Update #15: Who Wil Go? "Send Me" Update #14: New In-Game Video on Level Design Update #13: LAST WEEK Update #12: WE ARE ADDING SP/CO-OP FREE TO BACKERS Update #11: NEW Main Video Update #10: DRM Free Update Update #9: Reward Chart Added Update #8: New In-Game Video on Sound Design Update #7: New In-Game Video With Commentary Update #6: Main Page Update and Mac Version! Update #5: Update to Collector's Edition Update #4: New Promo Video Update #3: SWEET SOUNDS Update #2: A big THANK YOU Update #1: 2 New Reward Tiers Added Choices: This is just one of the many approach paths players can choose from WHAT MAKES GROUND BRANCH DIFFERENT REVIVING A GENRE: We are not creating an arcade game; nor are we competing with titles that model "War", like Armed Assault. The closest two working examples of what we are trying to accomplish are the Unreal Tournament modification, Infiltration (INF), and the early Ghost Recon titles (think of our game as sort of the marriage of those two, if that explains it in a sentence). We are creating a tactical shooter that focuses on the realistic aspects of player combat and movement. Those mechanics mean more to us than pure scale (ArmA). We are not creating an arcade game; nor are we competing with titles that model "War", like Armed Assault. The closest two working examples of what we are trying to accomplish are the Unreal Tournament modification, Infiltration (INF), and the early Ghost Recon titles (think of our game as sort of the marriage of those two, if that explains it in a sentence). We are creating a tactical shooter that focuses on the realistic aspects of player combat and movement. Those mechanics mean more to us than pure scale (ArmA). IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO ALL CONTENT (NO KILLSTREAKS, UNLOCKS OR LEVELING): You will have access to all of the weapons and gear, right off the bat. No DLC / Content restrictions, ever. The reward for playing our game, is a genuine sense of accomplishment. DEVELOPERS THAT ACTUALLY CARE: Every penny will go towards finishing the title; we are not using this money to setup offices. The game is designed with consideration in regards to just about everything we've seen (and dislike) in other games, and we always take the time the listen to the concerns of our community. Every penny will go towards finishing the title; we are not using this money to setup offices. The game is designed with consideration in regards to just about everything we've seen (and dislike) in other games, and we always take the time the listen to the concerns of our community. FUNCTIONAL REALISTIC DETAILS: Weapons and ballistics (including feet per second, bullet drop and simulated wind) are accurately represented. Certain rounds are capable of penetrating various materials, and fragmentation grenades actually produce physical shrapnel, rather than relying upon a generic "kill radius" circular deadzone that most titles use. These dynamic elements add a level of strategy to the game, not found in other titles. Weapons and ballistics (including feet per second, bullet drop and simulated wind) are accurately represented. Certain rounds are capable of penetrating various materials, and fragmentation grenades actually produce physical shrapnel, rather than relying upon a generic "kill radius" circular deadzone that most titles use. These dynamic elements add a level of strategy to the game, not found in other titles. GEAR AND WEAPON CUSTOMIZATION: This is not merely cosmetic -- your choices have a direct effect in game. Some examples include: Varying Levels of Body Armor (provides protection, but has more weight and bulk); Weapon Suppressors (provide reduced shot noise but make weapons more unwieldy in close quarters, and reduce the speed and penetrative capabilities of the projectile). These different effects are all based on real-life properties without any artificial balancing. Players also get to completely customize the look and function of their characters, right down to the number (and type) of pouches and the amount of ammunition they want to carry. The only "limitation" is that teams will be assigned a camo pattern by the server admin, on a per-map basis. No Unlocks: All weapons and accessories are available at start TACTICAL REALISM (A DEPENDABLE SET OF RULES): We have a group of actual combat operators assisting us with nailing the design. No bunny-hopping tactics, dolphin-diving headshots or dual-wielding arcade gameplay. There is no "Hip Fire", and you can cancel a reload cycle at any time to switch to your secondary weapon. Movement is restricted by real-world limitations and things like gear weight and fatigue are taken into consideration. We have a group of actual combat operators assisting us with nailing the design. No bunny-hopping tactics, dolphin-diving headshots or dual-wielding arcade gameplay. There is no "Hip Fire", and you can cancel a reload cycle at any time to switch to your secondary weapon. Movement is restricted by real-world limitations and things like gear weight and fatigue are taken into consideration. METHODICAL GAMEPLAY: Players must work and train together, learn to identify friendlies from tangos, communicate over VoIP, and adapt to unexpected scenarios (grenade physics are a blessing and a curse), and learn to respect their opponents. Training maps and exercises will be provided to address many of the scenarios players will face in the combat maps. Players must work and train together, learn to identify friendlies from tangos, communicate over VoIP, and adapt to unexpected scenarios (grenade physics are a blessing and a curse), and learn to respect their opponents. Training maps and exercises will be provided to address many of the scenarios players will face in the combat maps. NO ARTIFICIAL BALANCING: Weapons and gear are implemented, indiscriminately, and their respected real-world pros and cons will be modeled (see our NORG section). For example: while a M249 LMG provides an "unfair" advantage to a M4 in terms of amount of ammunition and pure firepower, it is extremely heavy and unwieldy, making it unfavorable to use in CQB, and inaccurate while standing and moving. We have a saying "Bring the right tool for the job": we are focused on the effects of the weapons platforms on the player (Is their view restricted? Is it difficult to carry?). Weapons and gear are implemented, indiscriminately, and their respected real-world pros and cons will be modeled (see our NORG section). For example: while a M249 LMG provides an "unfair" advantage to a M4 in terms of amount of ammunition and pure firepower, it is extremely heavy and unwieldy, making it unfavorable to use in CQB, and inaccurate while standing and moving. We have a saying "Bring the right tool for the job": we are focused on the effects of the weapons platforms on the player (Is their view restricted? Is it difficult to carry?). NO SERVER-SIDE "CLASS" RESTRICTIONS": Players won't be fighting over the "Sniper Slot", and teamkilling / griefing someone over a weapon. Clans are encouraged to create their own squads, with the correct roles for the right situation. We are not imposing limits in respects to gear. Design your Operator's field kit from scratch NON-LINEAR GAME DESIGN: No scripted "monster closets" or on-rails shooting. Maps have open designs and include plenty of explorable terrain, as well as structures/buildings with multiple entry points and routes. We are even working on game types that will randomly block or allow access to certain routes, so that no two back-to-back rounds are identical. The matches will be as dynamic as your strategies allow. REALISTIC HEALTH SYSTEM: No regenerating health here. Our system allows a player to bandage a non-life-threatening wound. However, you will not be able to regain health at any time in a match -- only stop it from getting worse. Respawns will depend on the game mode and server settings. No regenerating health here. Our system allows a player to bandage a non-life-threatening wound. However, you will not be able to regain health at any time in a match -- only stop it from getting worse. Respawns will depend on the game mode and server settings. WOUNDING SYSTEM: Not everyone comes out clean. Depending on what kind of projectile hits you, the speed of it, your body armor coverage, or the location of impact in your body (vitals, non-vital areas), your player will be effected. Wounds modify in-game abilities by various degrees. Adverse effects like stumbling if shot while running, staggering and limping when wounded, directly effect your combat effectiveness in game. Not everyone comes out clean. Depending on what kind of projectile hits you, the speed of it, your body armor coverage, or the location of impact in your body (vitals, non-vital areas), your player will be effected. Wounds modify in-game abilities by various degrees. Adverse effects like stumbling if shot while running, staggering and limping when wounded, directly effect your combat effectiveness in game. MORE THAN DEATHMATCH: Not everyone cares for basic deathmatch, and needs a bit of strategy to have fun. Good News: Our main gametype is a variation of "Assault" , where one team defends and protects a series of objectives, while the other attacks and attempts to gain ground. This gametype is included to provide a challenge to players, by forcing them to come up with dynamic strategies against a dynamic opponent. Not everyone cares for basic deathmatch, and needs a bit of strategy to have fun. Good News: , where one team defends and protects a series of objectives, while the other attacks and attempts to gain ground. This gametype is included to provide a challenge to players, by forcing them to come up with dynamic strategies against a dynamic opponent. SERVER TOOLS: Players will be able to host servers however and wherever they want. Admins will have control over camo patterns, gear availability, allowed weaponry, and basically every other setting we can think of or support. We miss this amount of player customization, and we support it. Period. Players will be able to host servers however and wherever they want. Admins will have control over camo patterns, gear availability, allowed weaponry, and basically every other setting we can think of or support. We miss this amount of player customization, and we support it. Period. MOD SUPPORT: As far as we're concerned: modding is the lifeblood of PC gaming. Full modding support will be available very soon after launch. We are committed to supporting the mod community to the best of our abilities, for the lifetime of the product, and look forward to the content our community will create. We will not only support it in the sense that the engine is capable of it, but we will go out of our way to provide various asset libraries, and we will showcase quality mods on our website. As far as we're concerned: modding is the lifeblood of PC gaming. Full modding support will be available very soon after launch. We are committed to supporting the mod community to the best of our abilities, for the lifetime of the product, and look forward to the content our community will create. We will not only support it in the sense that the engine is capable of it, but we will go out of our way to provide various asset libraries, and we will showcase quality mods on our website. THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND THE GAME: We are a FULL licensee of EPIC Games Unreal Engine 3 and utilize the the most up-to-date builds. We have also licensed Speedtree from IDV,Inc. and a licensed AI solution is planned. Team of Ground Branch Operatives navigating an urban environment My name is John Sonedecker and I am the Founder of BlackFoot Studios. Being an original member of Red Storm Entertainment was a true pleasure and honor for me. We had some incredible developers, and we made some great games, for which I am very proud of. Those 'Classic' realistic tactical games are my personal favorites, and I have always loved making them, just as much as I loved playing them. This genre is my motivation; my driving force in this industry. Since leaving Red Storm in 2002, I have dreamt of one day revisiting that classic style of gameplay that is so close to my heart. Today is that day. I founded BlackFoot Studios in 2004 to be a contract for hire group and have consistently been able to do so ever since. We have done work with various start-ups and established studios to create some truly unique gaming experiences. I have even been tasked with reviewing initial design pitches for a large publisher for possible 'greenlighting' as well. My gaming credits cover over 15 titles with most being in the Classic Tactical Shooter genre. Along the way, I also spent time working for the US Special Operations Command at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, Ft. Bragg. I was part of starting a cell that utilizes cutting edge gaming technology for Special Operations training and mission rehearsal applications. These experiences help me to bring a truly unique perspective and insight into developing the resurgence of the Classic Tactical Squad-Based Shooter. No Class Limitations: Define your own role within your team WHY USE KICKSTARTER Ground Branch started as an idea in 2007. We spent 2 years searching for publishers and investors with no success. People either didn't believe that this particular genre was still viable for enough sales or wanted it to be the next 'Blockbuster Hollywood Experience'. This would have been a complete compromise of our vision, and was more out of interest in the brand name. In the end, it came down to dollars over design. Unfortunately, our financial realities won out over sheer will and heart to move the game along. This has been a very tough road to go down and ultimately led us to the conclusion that it was a vicious cycle of stop/start development that we simply could no longer sustain but no matter what we would not let the project die. Using our own savings and income we've managed to build a solid pre-alpha build as a proof of concept with the foundation for most of the systems that make the game unique in place. Now is the time that we need proper financial resources to complete this project. One philosophy of BlackFoot Studios is that when looking for people to give you funding support, you yourself must have obligated a significant investment as well. John has put in his personal savings and, with others, countless hours of hard work. We are dedicated to completing this project on greatly reduced salaries; any financial rewards will come from the sales of the game. Like you, the backer, our main goal is to simply have a game that we can play for ourselves and that others enjoy. The money will go directly to the development of Ground Branch so that we can provide the PC/Mac gaming communities with a game that fills a sorely missed genre. Ground Branch Operatives using proper Overwatch tactics APPROACH TO REALISTIC GAME DESIGN Natural Order of Realistic Gameplay is basically a series of common sense, realistic, rule sets for gameplay issues, such as mobility and weapon balance. It is a philosophy of game design that guides us by using principals from the real world. It is not a simulation of all things (you're never going to need to eat, or go to the bathroom), but taking the core mechanics the real-world gives you and making those the foundation of the game design. However, there are technical, resource and playability limitations that limit the depth that you can go. No one wants to field strip and clean a weapon in game and that is not what NORG is about. It is about not imposing artificial limitations on players, and therefore, forcing them into an artificial outcome. One quick example: if you find yourself trying to navigate through a doorway, while aiming a long rifle, your weapon will clang against the door frame and make movement awkward and dangerous (potentially getting the player killed because of the mistake). The solution? Bring the right tool for the job: shorter weapons are designed for a reason (CQB). Conversely, you wouldn't want to take a short weapon (like an MP5 or other SMG) into an environment with longer engagement ranges (wooded areas or open areas). CQB Breach and Clear in urban environments HOW WILL THE MONEY BE USED It is very important to us is that the funds generated here go towards making the actual game and that we present an accurate goal that will allow us to make a quality product. Animation: We have been fortunate enough to be able to generate quite a few animations to this point (including our unique motion capture sessions with an actual Special Forces Operator), but are still in need of many more to complete our feature list. And while what we have is nice, they still lack polish and the necessary touch that professional animators can provide. We refuse to ship a game where anyone familiar with the subject matter is offended by an incorrect animation or procedure. We are committed to authentic weapon handling. Content Creation: A Level Designer and 3D Artist position will be added to the team. For everything else, we will be using a few individuals that we have worked with in the past to supplement our content needs. These are professionals here in the U.S. that routinely contract with game studios. Sound Design: This is one of the hardest things for independent developers focusing on realistic titles to do; not to mention, an indie studio focusing on firearms. Proper sound requires professional talent and our sound designers understand our structure and unique needs. If we exceed our goals on KS, we will record a sound library of unique sound material (individualized gun sounds, down to the shell casing and the material it falls upon) which will be accessible for our modding community, for use in implementing community-made weapons. Other studios throw around the word "authentic", much to our chagrin -- we're actually serious about it. As it stands, we've already recorded an obscene amount of highly-detailed source sounds for some of the weapons we have now; down to the accurate safety toggles and bolt releases. We've recorded magazine surface impacts for six different surface types (concrete, gravel, woodland, grass, wood, carpet) with the appropriate magazines and magazine build types (polymer versus steel). Most games have one or two sounds for all of those conditions; and we're still not satisfied with our list. Source sounds matter -- we want to prove it. Programming: We have contracted the 3 person team at Digital Confectioners as our main programming 'go to' partners to add to our small but experienced team. DC is headed by veteran programmer James Tan. James has many years of experience with Unreal Engine 3 on both the C++ engine side as well as extensive knowledge of getting the most out of Unrealscript. He has also been tapped by EPIC Games,Inc. to write official documentation on Unreal Engine 3, for their Unreal Developer Network. These are some of the most knowledgeable and gifted Unreal developers out there. We are confident in their skills and believe the game can be finished in an extremely reasonable amount of time with their help. License Fees: There are a few license support fees that we will need to take care of, but this is not a large amount. This is not for engine licensing as we have taken care of that our self already. Support Reserve: We firmly believe in supporting our product. We have planned ahead so not to put ourselves in a position where we use all of the development funds, and then have no money to be able to support the game, post-release, while we wait for sales revenue to start coming in. We have no intention on developing annual sequels, and we dislike the current DLC 'schemes'; we come from the philosophy that a product can be sold, enjoyed and supported by the community and the developers for multiple years. We want to develop significant expansions, to extend and supplement the life of the core product. BlackFoot Studios is also an active supporter of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and plan to donate 10% of the first week's profits (not Kickstarter funds) from the sale of Ground Branch. We have the utmost respect for those that go into harm's way and this is a small way that we may give back. http://www.specialops.org/ Some people may wonder why there are no physical rewards for the $15 and $25 tiers. Simply because we feel that it would cost too much to actually produce and fulfill the rewards at those dollar amounts. Simple honest answer. It would be very difficult to have manufactured, package and ship something physical at those price points while still retaining money for development of the game.... which is really why we are all here! Digital Copy of Game: A CD-Key for Ground Branch, once it is available on Steam. Art Book: Expertly crafted and professionally designed, digital art book, showcasing some of the concept and development images from Ground Branch. A few interesting tales and facts will be woven in throughout, for those of you wondering what it takes to create a modern game. Digital version available in PDF format and formatted for printing (in the event that you want a hard copy for when Skynet goes live, and declares war on humanity). Tactics Field Manual: Our Special Operations Contributor team is building a detailed manual that will show the player basic methods of staying alive and winning in combat that directly relate to the game. This Field Manual will also include detailed information about each weapon, ideas and guidance on possible character/weapon customization, Intelligence on each map in the game and some unique and colorful stories only one of these individuals could provide. Digital version available in PDF format and formatted for printing. Soundtrack: The entire original professionally mastered musical score for Ground Branch, composed by Jeffrey Hyatt. Available in both (DRM-Free) 320CBR MP3 and FLAC Lossless Audio. Collector's Edition: Includes both PC/Mac Game Disc (DVD) and Digital Copy (Separate Keys), Soundtrack CD and Digital Copy (saves you the trouble of ripping!), 11x17 frameable print, Printed and Digital copy of Art Book, Printed and Digital copy of Tactics Field Manual along with a Ground Branch unit patch. Launch Party BBQ: We haven't decided where this event will take place, but we will provide the food and the experience. Many of our devout forum-goers have often teased about this, but now, it is a very real possibility. On the eve of our retail launch, we will be celebrating by roasting meat and exchanging stories over dinner. This will be an invite-only event for our die-hard fans and the development team. BlackFoot Studios proudly supports the Kick It Forward initiative. http://kickingitforward.org |
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE allegedly wanted to fire unattractive female employees at one of his golf resorts, according to a 2012 lawsuit. ADVERTISEMENT A sworn declaration from Hayley Strozier, the former director of catering at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., alleged that Trump pressured the management to fire unattractive hostesses and replace them with more attractive employees."I had witnessed Donald Trump tell managers many times while he was visiting the club that restaurant hostesses were 'not pretty enough' and that they should be fired and replaced with more attractive women,” she said, as reported first by the Los Angeles Times Strozier added that the management would often adjust the schedule “so that the most attractive women were scheduled to work when Mr. Trump was scheduled to be at the club."The restaurant manager at the time, Sue Kwiatkowski told the court Trump specifically instructed her to hire "good looking hostesses."“Donald Trump always wanted good looking women working at the club. I know this because one time he took me aside and said, ‘I want you to get some good looking hostesses here. People like to see good looking people when they come in.’”According to the LA Times, "the bulk of the lawsuit was settled in 2013" with nearly half a million dollars going to plaintiffs. There was no admission of guilt on behalf of the club or the Trump Organization.A lawyer for the Trump Organization called the allegations “meritless.” The newly released documents come in the wake of widespread criticism of the GOP nominee's comments about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. Trump was put on the defensive during Monday night's presidential debate, after Democratic rival Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE brought up his past comments about Machado. Trump's barbs could be a problem, as polls show he is losing support among women to Clinton. Trump is also trailing Clinton among Hispanic voters, so the controversy surrounding Machado, who is from Venezuela, could be doubly damaging. Trump blasted her in 1996 for gaining weight after she won the pageant, allegedly calling her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping." |
A coroner has ruled out foul play in the case of missing prison boss David Prideaux, finding he died from either a medical problem or accident while deer hunting in the Victorian high country. Mr Prideaux, general manager of maximum-security Barwon Prison, went missing while on a hunting trip with his brother-in-law near Mount Buller on June 5, 2011. An extensive search of the area over the five following days failed to find any trace of the father of two, who was 50 at the time. Police investigated speculation his disappearance was related to the 2010 bashing murder of gangland boss Carl Williams, who was an inmate at Barwon, and three alleged sightings of the prison boss. But deputy state coroner Iain West said he agreed with the view of police, who believe Mr Prideaux died as a result of "a major medical event of serious accident that caused him to be incapable of movement or communication". |
The Ultrinos are mutating... The March issue of Empire - onsale on January 29 - is a good-vs-evil affair, proudly sporting Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on newsstands and experiencing a full-on Ultron takeover on subscriber covers. Today, Empire; tomorrow, the galaxy... Click below for a closer look at them both. Our cover stars headline the most comprehensive Avengers: Age Of Ultron coverage to be found anywhere in the nine realms (well, the Midgard part of them, anyway). We’ve been down to Shepperton Studios to talk to Joss Whedon and his Avengers, watch the movie come together and piece together the puzzle of how to surpass the most successful superhero movie of all time. Trust us, you won’t want to miss this. You know that thing of no actor admitting to playing a bad guy? Turns out it goes for directors, too. “I’ve been working on a lot of Ultron scenes,” Whedon grinned when we caught up with him, “so I’m very anti-Avengers right now. You can’t write someone if you don’t love them and I’ve come to the conclusion that Ultron is right. The Avengers need to die.” While we’re pretty sure he's joking, the odds look stacked against Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and the post Cap 2 remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. as James Spader’s Ultron spins off its Stark-designed axis and unleashes total A.I.geddon on the MCU. Check out the army of flying robots (Ultrinos?) gathering like a swarm of killer, robot mozzies behind them. There is literally no spray for that. Then there’s Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) to complicate matters. They’re on the left end of the Avengers assembly looking suitably enigmatic. For clues as to their motivation and likely allegiance, head here for a gander at the latest trailer. Avengers: Age Of Ultron roars into UK cinemas on April 24. Empire, meanwhile, roars onto newsstands on Thursday. To make sure you don't miss out on subscribers' covers like this, be sure to subscribe - 12 issues for £25 - right here, right now. |
Overview (4) Born November 21, 1965 in Sudan Birth Name Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi Nickname Sid Height 5' 11¾" (1.82 m) Mini Bio (1) Spouse (1) Trade Mark (1) His beard Trivia (22) Has one son with Nana Visitor : Django El Tahir El Siddig (born September 16, 1996). Trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) in London, England. Originally credited as "Siddig El Fadil", he changed his professional name to "Alexander Siddig" because (as reported by him at Star Trek conventions) nobody could pronounce "El Fadil". One of his uncles (his father's brother) was the Sudanese prime minister. Another one (his mother's brother) is Malcolm McDowell He was at one time considered for the role of Benjamin Sisko, the station commander of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993). However, he was apparently considered too young. The role eventually went to Avery Brooks . However, the producers were impressed enough with Siddig and offered him the role of Dr. Julian Bashir. Has appeared in two films set in the Middle East: Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and Syriana (2005). In both films, he played a character named Nasir. His Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) character, Dr. Julian Bashir, has been seen as having similar high moral values as the real-life Middle Eastern Doctor Bashar, featured in Time magazine (2003). Best known by the public (and by many sci-fi fans) for his role as Dr. Julian Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993). He co-starred with his real-life uncle Malcolm McDowell in the film Doomsday (2008). Attended Collectormania 7 at Milton Keynes and... the premiere of Kingdom of Heaven (2005) in London, England. [May 2005] Appeared as a guest at the Ultra Blaze Sci-fi Convention in Ipswich, England on January 31, 2009. Acting protégé of Avery Brooks Was one of the fan-favourites to play Prince Doran in Game of Thrones (2011). Although he joined the Game of Thrones cast only in 2014, fans have been suggesting his name from as early as 2012, for the role of Doran. Grew up in London. Although he is of Sudanese descent and his character in Syriana (2005) speaks it almost exclusively, he does not speak any Arabic in real life. He had been a popular choice to play Batman villain Ra's Al Ghul long before he was cast in the role on Gotham (2014 - ). He is the first actor to play Batman villain Ra's Al Ghul who is also of Middle Eastern descent. Personal Quotes (7) I aspire to be a director...I think it stems from wanting to be a conductor, another desire of mine from my childhood, though I was not interested in music, not at all. I just wanted to control that orchestra. There was a point where I was just going to call myself "uh" because people would walk up to me in the street and say "Hey you're, uh..." That would just make it a lot easier for them. And I could just say "Yes, I am!". I blame Ridley Scott really, because he was the person who went "I love 'Star Trek' and I'd love it if you were in my movie [ Kingdom of Heaven (2005)]" and people like Oliver Stone went "I hated 'Star Trek' and I don't want you in Alexander (2004)!". I was really lucky there. [on the Arabic people] We're a pretty passionate lot, but we're also incredibly zipped up. We're very sort of guarded, especially in public, and dignity and sense of honour and duty are terribly important. [on his role on Cairo Time (2009)] It was a real treasure, a treat, to find a character, a role, that wasn't intent on trying to blow up the White House or hijack an airplane. [on Clash of the Titans (2010)] That was possibly the lamest movie I've ever been in. I mean, you know, there's some times when you do duds, and I must've been rubbish, because I think there was all of one minute more of performance that I may have done that didn't end up in the movie. So 50% of my performance was cut and...yeah, there's not much you can say about that. |
Land and Space Journal Sentinel business reporter Tom Daykin talks about commercial real estate and development. SHARE By of the Mandel Group Inc. has completed its financing for its delayed DoMUS apartment developmen t in the Historic Third Ward, and will begin construction immediately, the firm announced Monday. The 132-unit, six-story apartment community is to be completed by spring of 2017. It will be at 401 E. Erie St., on what is now a parking lot overlooking the Milwaukee River. Mandel Group is in discussions with a personal training studio to occupy 4,000 square feet of the ground floor. The city is providing $295,000 to pay for 50% of the costs of repairing a dockwall on the project site. Property taxes from the $30 million development will pay back those funds. Mandel initially planned to begin construction in the summer of 2014 after the Historic Third Ward Architectural Review Board approved the plan. |
The teenage son of an NFL player who was pulled from his dying mother's womb after she was murdered by a hitman hired by his athlete father is celebrating his 18th birthday. Chancellor Lee Adams is the son of ex Carolina Panthers star Rae Carruth and Cherica Adams. He was born 10 weeks prematurely via an emergency C-section after his mother was gunned down in a drive-by shooting orchestrated by Carruth because he did not want to pay child support in November 1999. Adams died a month after the shooting and Carruth has been in jail for her murder since 2000. Adams survived. The teenager suffers cerebral palsy and brain damage as a result of his traumatic, premature birth. Chancellor Lee Adams (above with his maternal grandmother Saundra Adams) turned 18 on November 16. He is the disabled son of Rae Carruth and Cherica Adams who was born 10 weeks prematurely in 1999 after his mother was shot four times by a hit man He has been raised by his maternal grandmother Saundra Adams. On November 16, Chancellor celebrated his milestone birthday with a party at a pumpkin patch in Charlotte, North Carolina. His father has another year in jail before he will be released. On November 16, 1999, Adams, who was 29 weeks pregnant, was driving in her own car after going to see a movie with Carruth who was in a separate vehicle in front of her. A separate car containing three other men pulled up near her and inside was William Watkins who fired four shots at the pregnant woman from the backseat. During their trial, Williams told how Carruth ordered the killing and watched in his rear view mirror as Adams 'drowned' on her own blood. She was able to call 911 herself and was taken to hospital where her son was removed from her womb the night of the shooting. In her 911 call, she told the operator: 'I was following my baby’s daddy, Rae Carruth, the football player. He slowed down and a car pulled up beside me. 'He just left. I think he did it. I don’t know what to think.' A month later, she died. Chancellor remained under doctors' care at the time but was later released to live with his grandmother. He can walk, talk and is able to feed himself. Astonishingly, his grandmother has forgiven Carruth and his co-conspirators and plans to take Chancellor to meet him when he is released from prison next year. 'We've talked about it a lot,' she told The Charlotte Observer this week. Chancellor's mother Cherica Adams (left in the early stages of her pregnancy) was killed when she was eight-months-pregnant. She was shot four times by a gunman who had been hired by Carruth (right during his 2000 trial) because he did not want to pay child support. The pair were not a couple at the time Chancellor was born 10 weeks early via an emergency C-section the night his mother was shot. She died several weeks later and he remained in the hospital under the care of neonatal doctors for weeks Carruth (left in his mugshot) orchestrated the killing. Cherica was a 24-year-old realtor when she fell pregnant with the Panthers' star's baby Carruth was earning $40,000 per game when he played for the Panthers (above in 1997) but he did not want to pay child support The pair have met once before. In 2000, before he was convicted, Chancellor's grandmother took him to the jail where Carruth was being held to introduce him to his father. She claims that once the former athlete realized the media was not allowed to film or photograph the meeting, he lost interest. Despite earning $40,000-a-game for the Panthers, Carruth did not want to see his son born so that he would not be bound to pay child support. He and Cherica, an estate agent, had been lovers but were not in a long-term relationship at the time. On November 16, the pair went in separate cars to watch The Bone Collector at a movie theater in Charlotte. Afterwards, Cherica got back in her car and followed Carruth in his. Suddenly, he stopped and another vehicle pulled up alongside her. Video courtesy of WSOCTV Chancellor suffers brain damage and cerebral palsy but is a happy teenager The 18-year-old has been raised by his grandmother and still wants to have a relationship with his father She was shot several times and was taken to hospital. There, doctors removed Chancellor and placed him in the neo-natal unit. The next day, Cherica slipped into a coma. Before her death, doctors placed her son in a blanket on her chest for five minutes. They later turned off the life support that was keeping her alive. Carruth has always denied being involved in the killing. He fled after her death and was found 500 miles away hiding in the trunk of his car. In 2000, he was jailed for 18 years for masterminding her killing. Watkins was sentenced to 40 years for pulling the trigger. The other two men involved - Michael Kennedy and Stanley Abraham - have both served their sentences and been released. Carruth has tried to appeal his conviction from jail but has been unsuccessful. He is now 43. |
What does it mean to raise children in a “Christian way?” For generations, it’s been assumed that factors such as going to church, being baptized, reading scripture, praying, and other religious traits were prominent signs of Christian parenting while not doing these things were considered “secular.” The religious practices of parents and their children certainly reflect various values and beliefs, but at the core of parenting, both secular and faith-based parents have deeply shared similarities, and regardless of spiritual beliefs, the biggest parallel of both is their ability to love. Nothing is more Christ-like than being loving. Despite Christendom’s tendency to assume otherwise, Christian parents don’t have the market cornered on love and secular parents don’t have the market cornered on sin. So when it comes to parenting, we all need to have grace and patience with each other, because parenting is one of the most challenging, mysterious, unpredictable, wonderful, rewarding, and crazy things a person will ever have to do. Being responsible for a human being—maybe even being responsible for more than one—is a frightening task. We’re supposed to feed them, clothe them, teach them, and help them survive within a vast world filled with all sorts of wonderful good and horrendous evil. And while we’re trying to accomplish this impossible task, we’re told as parents that there’s a billion wrongs ways to parent and only a handful of right ones. To make matters worse, Christian Culture routinely promotes rhetoric that reinforces the idea that Christians have a sacred duty to “raise their children up in the way of the Lord,” with each individual pastor, church, and community having their own distinct opinionated ideals of what this looks like—adding to the already stressful burden of just trying to keep our kids alive past breakfast. So what exactly is ‘Christian Parenting?’ Essentially, it’s simply emulating Jesus—being kind, caring, encouraging, sacrificial, empowering, uplifting, hopeful, and loving. The amazing thing is that some of the most “Christian” parents are non-Christians. They may have never attended church, read the Bible, prayed, or even considered themselves spiritual, but by being a loving parent they are participating in a Divine act—they are being Christ-like. For too long the term ‘Christian Parenting’ has come to represent many things other than Christ. It’s meant staying away from bad words, bad habits, bad relationships, bad entertainment, bad education, bad politics, bad theology, bad media, and “badness” in general. It’s meant looking a certain way, supporting a particular political party, defending a singular social cause, entering a distinct socio-economic status, practicing various traditions, believing specific doctrines, maintaining a certain religious etiquette, and identifying with numerous attributes that have little to do with being Christ-like. Christian parenting is not about going to church, memorizing bible verses, or labeling yourself as a ‘Christian,’ because you can do all of those things and still be missing love. In fact, you can do all of that and be downright mean, hurtful, hateful, destructive, manipulative, and abusive. If you want to truly be a Christian parent, be a loving parent. Regardless of the unlimited parenting techniques, styles, and methods used, this is what children will remember most: Was I loved? And as our children grow up, this is what we’ll ask ourselves over and over again: Did I love my children and family to the best of my ability? Was I loving? So before we overanalyze how to best help our children sleep, eat, learn, socially engage, mature, and generally get through life, let’s first make sure we love them. Because we can get so distracted by the other stuff that it can cause us to forget to simply show them—and tell them—that they’re loved. When love isn’t the focus of our existence, the pressures of being the perfect parent—or spouse—can change us to be motivated and inspired by factors such as power, fame, success, and wealth—things that can corrupt, weaken, and even completely eliminate love. And there will be times when we don’t feel loving, or loved, or anywhere close to what we think is that blissful state of being. When that’s the case—and as a parent this might seem like 99% of our day—we must simply be present and bravely commit to existing as a parent, even when we want to give up. Sometimes, this is our most heroic act of love—not giving up. This is why Christian parenting should be about Jesus, because Jesus is love. Christian parenting isn’t a church, a denomination, a particular style, brand, book, or trend—but rather it’s love incarnate. And what is love incarnate to a child? It should be their parent. So as parents, we often most become like Christ when we daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute choose to love our children. A more apt term for ‘Christian Parenting’ is ‘Christ-like Parenting.’ And if we look at the people around us, regardless of their race, religion, or creed, we can typically spot Christ-like parents despite whether or not they identify themselves as “Christian.” Because Christ-like parenting is simply love-based parenting. It may sound cliché to talk about love being the foundation of parenting, but it’s amazing how often we avoid talking about it, laugh it off, or even completely forget about love. And it’s amazing how precious it is within a family when it manifests itself. It should also be somewhat comforting to know that Mary and Joseph would’ve failed parenting if judged by today’s Westernized standards: They couldn’t keep Jesus safe. They couldn’t keep Jesus away from hanging out with prostitutes, corrupt politicians, thieves, and the worst of the social outcasts. They couldn’t talk Jesus into staying local and finding a good job. They couldn’t prevent Jesus from causing all sorts of scandals, conflicts, and anxiety. They couldn’t protect Jesus from a dangerous life that ultimately led to an premature death—one of the worst deaths imaginable as a parent. But Jesus was loved, and in turn Jesus loved the world. This is our charge as parents: to love—to love our kids, to love our neighbors, and to be loving to everyone. And just like Mary and Joseph, things won’t turn out how we expect. Our children may not be “successful,” they may not fulfill all of the hopes and dreams we have for them, they may make mistakes and do terrible things, but God calls us to love them nonetheless. Despite anything and everything, we are called to love—just as God loves us. Image: Pixabay |
Ode to Spot Art print of a painting depicting Data and his cat, Spot Framable Star Trek poster measures 18" x 24" For fans of androids, Star Trek, and cats O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array. And though you are not sentient and do not comprehend, I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend. - "Ode to Spot" a poem by Data from the Star Trek: TNG episode "Schisms" For his entire existence, the android Data questions what makes humans so "human," and tries to find his own humanity despite his lack of natural emotions (and his somewhat mysterious avoidance of contractions in his speech.) His partner in this journey is his cat Spot, for whom he once wrote a poem that put Commander Riker immediately to sleep. Artist Jonathan England created a beautiful and realistic acrylic painting depicting Data and his companion that captures the android's lack of, but search for, human emotions. True fans may recognize Data's chair as the one from his holodeck Sherlock Holmes games. Product Specifications |
Yesterday my partner Albert and I sat down with the people behind Americans Elect. For those that don't know, Americans Elect is an online third party movement. In their words, "Pick A President, Not A Party." Here's how it works (in short): They are going to get on the ballot in all 50 states this fall. They've already gotten on the ballot in many of the states. They have created a website where anyone can choose to run and where candidates can be drafted. Here's the current roster of candidates. Over the summer, they will conduct an online convention and a single candidate will be nominated to run on their ticket. That's basically it. There are a number of cool things about the online service they have built. You answer questions about issues and they build an online profile of you. Then they match you with candidates that share your views. If you want to try that out, go sign up and you will be taken through the questions in a few minutes. It's fun to see where you end up even if you have no intention of voting for a third party candidate. I'm sure a lot of people think this is a nutty idea. But I don't. So many people bitch and moan that they don't like our current system. Yet the do nothing to change it. The people behind Americans Elect have done something about it. That's progress. |
FLINT, MI - Flint officials say the city is in a "very precarious situation" as a growing number of people are refusing to pay for water service. City Administrator Natasha Henderson told city council members Monday, Jan. 25, that the city's water utility could be out of money by the end of the year as Flint's public health emergency drives down collections on water bills. "This is an imminent concern," Henderson said. She added that conservative estimates say the water fund will be out of cash by December. The city is currently in the national spotlight after elevated blood levels were discovered in some Flint children after the city changed its water source from Lake Huron water purchased from the Detroit water system to the Flint River in April 2014, a decision made while the city was being run by a state-appointed emergency manager. State regulators never required that the river water be treated to make it less corrosive, causing lead from plumbing and pipes to leach into the water supply. Even though the city reconnected to the Detroit water system in October, local officials have advised Flint resident not to drink city water unless they are using a lead-clearing filter. The crisis has brought attention from national media organizations, celebrities and investigators. Attorney General Bill Schuette even tweeted earlier this month that residents shouldn't be billed for water that they are unable to drink. But, Henderson said all of the attention continues to have a negative impact on the city's finances, a city that has been managed by a string of governor-appointed emergency managers due to its rocky financial footing. "That has a tremendous impact on the city's ability to be fiscally sustainable," Henderson said. However, the city's financial state seems to draw little sympathy from residents who already pay water rates that are dramatically higher than the city's neighbors and continued to be charged service fees for a product they are being told shouldn't be consumed without filtration. More than 60 people protested in front of city hall on Monday before the meeting. Many of the protestors were disgusted with the fact they are still being billed for water service. The protest culminated with residents tearing up and burning their water bills. "Our water has been messed up for a long time," said 56-year-old Flint resident Angela Hickmon. "We don't know what it has done to our babies. It's very appalling. These emergency managers put us in this predicament, and they need to pay to get us out. They should be the one paying out water bills, not us." Henderson said the city has the authority to issue shut off notices and raise rates, but leaders have chosen not to do so in light of the current water crisis. The city announced in November it would send out 1,800 water shutoff notices, but Henderson said the city hasn't disconnected service for nonpayment since Aug. 7, 2015, -- the day Genesee Circuit Judge Archie Hayman issued an emergency injunction in a lawsuit challenging water shutoffs and how the city's rate increases were calculated. Hayman initially ruled the city must eliminate a 35 percent increase in water and sewer rates enacted by Mayor Dayne Walling in 2011, but eventually said the city could return to its previous rate structure. The dwindling cash flow could also impact the city's sewer service, since it is included on residents' water bills. It has also forced the city to put any capital improvement plans on hold for the water system. Henderson said she and other city leaders have met with Gov. Rick Snyder's office about the financial problems facing the water fund. So far, the state has not offered any assistance. "We have not received any relief from the state on this at all," Henderson said. The Synder administration requested a supplemental appropriation for the current fiscal year that would use $22 million in state money plus some federal money to direct $28 million to address immediate in Flint. It allocates state funding to six department and would enable the state to increase National Guard efforts, increase nurses in schools and replace fixtures in some public places. "Right now we are focused on meeting the immediate needs of Flint residents, getting them water, filters, replacement cartridges and making sure they know that calling 2-1-1 will get them the assistance they need," said Snyder Press Secretary Dave Murray. "Gov. Snyder said he wants to make sure that no one in Flint has their water shut off, and we're aware of potential revenue challenges." More than $17 million of the funding would go to provide emergency bottled water, filters, blood testing and other services. The bill, however, also includes $5 million to aid the city in the loss of revenue from unpaid water bills and new water system infrastructure. The state House passed the bill 106-0 on Jan. 20. It is currently awaiting approval from the Senate. "Time is of the essence and we do need the state to respond," Henderson said. |
Have UBI for those under age 65, and OAS for those above 65. The UBI benefit can be lower, and because OAS+GIS has a clawback system, and low overhead, paying OAS is cheaper than UBI. Reduce the age of eligibility of OAS potentially all the way down to age 18. $2500 for 500 gallons of gasoline per adult. Enough to drive 10k miles at 20mpg. $5/gallon. $1000 for heat and electricity of 900 square foot home per adult. $500 for goods transportation typical of $20k spending on goods (including food) per adult $4000 carbon tax dividend paid to residents including seniors (though reduced amount for seniors is thinkable). Expected to increase personal net income for those earning less than $60k. $4000 NIT grant paid to residents but not seniors. 10% surtax on income up to $40,000 claws this back. $8000 UBI cash grant to citizens who are not seniors. EI and CPP benefits eliminated. (CPP already contributed still pays out as scheduled) Current payroll (EI/CPP) taxes on employment income eliminated, and replaced with a 13% Social safety net (SSN) tax. The 13% tax applies also to income over $50k. All income is treated the same as employment income. Personal income tax rates at federal and provincial level are unchanged except for the removal of the basic personal exemption, and refundable credits including sales and property tax/rent credits. Corporate tax rates may be increased, but corporations receive the privilege of deducting dividend payments as a tax deductible expense. The dividend recipient pays income tax in the (provincial and federeal) jurisdiction of the corporation. Income taxes are payable by foreign investors and non-citizen residents, but they are excluded from paying SSN tax. SSN tax is paid by Canadians on their foreign income. Canadians pay both SSN and income taxes on Canadian income. No change to OAS system. Above benefits except carbon tax applied only to those under 65. OAS system kicks in above age 65. No other income $20000 employment income $20000 capital gains income $40000 investment income including $20k capital gains income $40k to $50k employment income $93077 employment income Households with non working spouse $53077 rental interest and business income Every $10000 income above $ 53077 investment or $ 93077 employment income 38% on income from 0 to $40000 28% on income from $40000 to $44700 35% on income from $44700 to $89401 39% on income from $89401 to $138586 42% on income over $138586 The right amount for (Universal Basic Income) UBI in Canada is $15k per year. This is because that is the amount of maximum benefits for old age security in Canada.For any country, the correct UBI amount is the benefits of the largest significant program it would replace. The higher this UBI amount, generally the more money it saves taxpayers since UBI is more efficient than the programs it replaces, and so the net tax burden of people other than the recipients goes down.The core philosophy of UBI is that every citizen receives the same amount, and is the citizen's fair share of the tax revenue paid as a dividend. But an alternative that achieves universal dignity is to modify the existing OAS system either:OAS is treated exactly like UBI (except for condition that recipient is age 65). $570 per month to citizens over 65. GIS (guaranteed income supplement) is also available to those over 65, and is a top up system like Guaranteed minimum income or NIT. Somewhat complex differences in clawback rates and amounts based on marital status, but for single seniors it is $772/month with 50% surtax/clawback on income. For a senior couple, it is $1025/month at similar clawback rate.For a UBI system for those under 65 to be equivalent, it would be $6950/year. + a GMI of $9000 at 50% clawback surtax rate (GIS component).It's more affordable if the OAS system is kept for those over 65. While I continue to recommend a UBI level of $15k/year because that amount includes a personal development (or childcare) allowance and can further eliminate higher education and entrepreneurship subsidies while significantly boosting outcomes in those fields, and $15k is affordable but $12k/year is more affordable.Guaranteed (topup) income is a scheme where most of the costs are paid for by the poorest workers through high clawbacks from the lowest income levels, provides 0 benefit above a relatively low cutoff level, and still requires tax funding from those receiving no benefitsUBI is funded through relatively small uniform tax hikes that provide net tax advantages (compared to system it replaces) to 80% or 90% of income earners. The highest earners who face a net tax increase also gain the most from the economic stimulus of UBI, and so everyone should expect a rise in after tax income as a result of UBI.GMI is poor policy because the high low income clawbacks create cheating opportunities and discourage work in general, but specifically especially discourage part time and part year work. For this reason, extending OAS+GIS to younger Canadians is not recommended.BUT, if GMI is relatively small, say $4000, and the clawback rate modest, say 10% surtax on income up to $40k. then the disincentives and cheating opportunities are unlikely to influence anyone's lives, andWe collectively need a carbon tax to curb climate change and sea level rise related to global warming. Using carbon tax revenue proceeds to distribute as a dividend allows for an average no net change scenario. Average energy users continuing the same behaviour will receive $4000 and pay $4000 in higher energy costs. A carbon tax and dividend scheme though allows us all to profit from any personal effort we make to cut carbon emissions. Also, since poorer citizens may not drive or have smaller homes to heat and cool, a carbon tax tends to be relatively progressive.Sample breakdown of $4000 carbon tax as it relates to use:Those who use less resources than that would have a cash profit. Those who use more, would be especially incentivized to use part of the $4000 dividend to improve efficiency.A $4000 carbon tax could be worth an equivalent UBI of $2500 to a stay at home entrepreneur, $3000+ to a student, and $3500+ to someone near homelessness.The $8000 in carbon dividend and GMI funding we have found so far is a high benefit to low income people, but very little benefit to middle income people. Those earning over $40k per year get 0 from GMI, and the energy use of $40k income households may not be very different than the energy use of $100k income housholds, and so they'd receive little net benefit from the carbon tax as well.14M of 26.7M tax returns had total income below $40K. The median income (in the under 40k group) would appear to be around $18k.5M returns reported an age amount (indicating they are over 65).This would suggest the net cost of the $4000 GMI amount would be 9M * $2200 = $19.8B.Ontario's costs for social services is $1000 per taxfiler. Another $700 per taxfiler for Police/prisons, children services, and government services. $700 per ontario taxpayer in social, labour, and miscelaneous transfers from the fedral government, with another $300 in equalization payments.While I cannot find the total amount itemized, another significant combined federal and provincial benefit is the sales and property tax and northern resident credits paid at a clawed back rate to citizens. I'd guess it averages $500 per tax filer.The $8000 in GMI and carbon dividend amounts are not enough to eliminate programs, and even if UBI/GMI is a transfer from citizens to citizens, in order to provide value beyond the freedom and dignity of every citizen, program savings need to be made:$1800 from basic personal deduction (federal) can be eliminated. Per adult.$660 from basic personal amount at provincial (ontario) level can be eliminated.$500 sales, property, and other miscelaneous average credits can be eliminated.$1000 as a conservative estimate of the up to $2000 in federal and provincial program savings per taxfiler (discussed in previous section).That is a net cost for an $8000 UBI component of $4040 per 21M eligible Canadians. or $85B. with $19.8B GMI cost, thebefore savings and additional revenueSavings and additional revenue are ( most items discussed here in greater detail. A big item is that 14.5% in payroll taxes is being eliminated, but replaced with an equivalent 13% income tax, and 7.5% increase in employment wages (employers would pass along the payroll taxes that they "secretly" pay into employee's salaries. A 13% tax increase results in equivalent after tax income):$22B from elimination of EI benefits (revenue remains)$30B from income normalization of dividend and capital gains income, and 13% "payroll" taxes applied to non-employment income.$10B from normalization of corporate income and passthrough of their dividend tax credit to shareholder income.$42B from applying 13% "payroll taxes" on incomes above $50K.$6.2B from 11%average tax rate on the 7.5% employment income increase (= 0.24 * 0.075 * 750)$110.2B in savings and revenue means net savings of $5.2B if other provinces are similar enough to Ontario. Miscellaneous savings such as healthcare and crime reductions have not been included. Neither have major tax revenue increases resulting from economic growth resulting from spending most of the $105B in net new personal transfer payments.The examples below use a generality assumption$16000 in cash grants. $1000 expected higher energy related costs if does not drive.No change in taxes paid, other than loss of $3000 in basic exemption and tax credits. $10000 UBI+GMI, and expected $1000 benefit from carbon tax dividend. $8000 additional effective after tax income.Currently pays 0 tax. New taxes $6800 (including 6% provincial). $11000 cash and net carbon benefits. $4200 net additional cash, and $24200 after tax income.Likely a millionaire.currently pays $6300 taxes.Newtaxes about $13600. $8000 UBI benefit. $700 more after tax incomeNo tax changes. $8000 UBI less loss of $2400 in credits. $5600 increased income.Breakeven with old scheme. $5600 extra taxes and $5600 net UBI.Get $16000 additional household income, ignoring change in carbon usage from single household member.Breakeven with old scheme. $5600 extra taxes and $5600 net UBI. Likely assets of such a person $1.9M$1300 extra taxes compared to current system.The projected surplus is conservative as additional savings especially in police and healthcare should materialize, and this is a highly stimulative economic program that will result in tax revenue increases.One option is that for every 1% lowering of the (13%) SSN tax, $10.6B less revenue is collected at 2012 GDP. Lowering this rate is a fairly equal tax cut accross all income levels.Carbon tax revenue will go down as a result of people's choices to avoid and conserve such energy. Economic growth surpluses and other savings will keep the carbon dividend fixed.Elimination of CPP contributions will also put a higher strain on future GIS payments. As compensation though, RRSP contributions now save 15% payroll taxes as well, and so are even more attractive than they are today on incomes above $50k/year. Its conceivable to one day eliminate the OAS system for those over 65, replacing it with the UBI systemSome wage inflation (completely healthy) is expected as a result of UBI scheme. UBI/GMI automatically grants citizens the bargaining power of refusing work, and so improved work conditions are guaranteed. Such wage inflation is inherently economic growth. As is any automation that replaces work whether because it is too expensive or unnecessary.UBI should grow with productivity and wage inflation. Some gains can also go towards tax reduction. While I don't have a fear of UBI being too generous, and it is critically important that it is generous enough to eliminate all other social programs, and the need for them. Others will have concerns about being too generous. An appropriate compromise is to ensure a minimum standard generosity, while distributing further gains to tax payers.no payroll surtaxes, and taxes are after the 7.5% employment income raise. So, all tax rates are effectively 7.5% less on comparable current employment income up to $50k. Employment income above $50k would receive a statutory flat $3750 raise.One alternative use of the surplus would be to move the clawback range for the GMI from 0-40k to 10k-50k or 20k-60k. While it makes the program more expensive, it reduces the marginal tax rate for the lowest income group to 28%. Low wage and part time work is a gateway drug to higher wage full time work, but it has the largest discouraging barriers that include taxes, and also include transportation and other non-deductible unpaid time and monetary expenses that can make accepting a job expensive. This or more generous EITCwould solve the issue.We tax low employment income very regressively. 22% in federal and provincial income taxes + 15% (7.5% is hidden and paid by employer) in payroll taxes on income below $50k. While income taxes rise slightly at 35k, the 15% payroll deductions vanish on income over $50k. One motivation for UBI is to remove the welfare trap disincentives for work: high clawbacks on earned income that trap people in poverty by not seeing rewards for work. Part of my objectives in reforming the tax code to accomodate UBI is to eliminate all of these tax code innequalities that are not justifiable.Raising some taxes is necessary to pay for UBI. Raising taxes on employment income over $50k (flat 13%) is appropriate because its not a net tax hike until a comfortable $93k income, and UBI provides considerable benefits to a non working spouse. Whether conservative or liberal, family/couples can create happiness. UBI achieves this through the tax code without rewarding traditional marriage. A traditional women's issue of spousal independence is achieved. A traditional men's issue of family law reform is possible. UBI promotes family values through cooperation of individuals for advantage rather than trapped interdependence.Raising taxes on investment income is justified in that the investor class is gaining a fantastic safety net from UBI. Investment income is highly variable. The $53077 breakeven (to existing tax code) investment income is reasonably achieved with assets of $1.9M. The same spousal benefit options exist for investors. Income taxes can not be a disincentive to investing because it usually beats the return expectations of keeping money under a mattress. A lower tax rate is offered on Canadian's foreign investment income , and so there is no reason for investor flight either. Furthermore, higher taxes on passive investment income becomes an incentive to engage in active business income pursuits.Raising taxes on business income is justified by UBI being an even more fantastic safety for business/entrepreneurs than it is for investors. UBI can pay a business owner's and key employee/partner salaries while they grow the company. UBI allows pursuing a business idea without obtaining funding permission first, or having the risk, delay and constraint of building up prior savings. Businesses also already enjoy the tax advantage of being able to deduct expenses, and paying tax only on profit. Cars, phones, home offices are tax deductible "perks".14M Canadians currently earning under $40k receiving an average of $7000 UBI cash (higher income Canadians also see benefits from UBI) is a massive stimulus program. Its also a stimulus program that involves no cronyism or contract bids, and no useless projects. Businesses and those who want to work will have significant opportunity to collect Canadian's extra income one person at a time.$100B distributed to Canadians earning below $40k will likely all be respent. Marginal income for low income earners is almost entirely spent. Whereas, wealthy individuals and corporations save significant portions of income... by definition, not spending. If half of the $100B is respent, then half of that respent, and so on, the total economic spending boost will be $200B. Over 10% GDP growth, and 10% tax revenue growth ($25B).UBI is not just a poverty elimination program, its an economic growth program that includes giving everyone the tools to fund their own personal and economic development. |
The German government threw Air Berlin a lifeline after the country’s second largest airline filed for bankruptcy due to its biggest shareholder, Etihad Airways, pulling the plug. With the general election looming, the German government quickly stumped up a €150 million ($175 million) loan to at least temporarily safeguard some of the 8,500 jobs at stake and avoid angry Germans being stranded abroad, had the airline grounded its planes. Air Berlin now has enough cash to keep it in the air for the next three months while it tries to find a buyer. A transport ministry spokesman said tens of thousands of holiday-makers are right now in different international destinations and “the return of these travelers to Germany with Air Berlin would otherwise not have been possible [without the loan].” Since taking a 29% stake in 2011, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad has poured an estimated $2 billion into Air Berlin. But the airline has racked up around €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) of losses over the past decade. CEO Thomas Winkelmann on Wednesday blamed the delay in opening the new Berlin international airport for Air Berlin’s failure—it was supposed to open in 2011 and still has no clear opening day. Despite flying around 2 million passengers a month, the airline has been also battered by Europe’s biggest low-cost carriers Ryanair and Easyjet. A restructuring plan last September, which included renting out planes and crew to Lufthansa and slashing jobs, wasn’t enough to turn it around. Lufthansa and Easyjet are now reportedly looking to buy parts of Air Berlin. “Lufthansa has played a canny waiting game over a number of years and is now well placed to cherrypick those parts of Air Berlin’s operation that suit it best without buying the whole loss-making enterprise.” Jonathan Wober from the CAPA Centre for Aviation told Reuters. Aviation expert Heinrich Großbongardt said that Lufthansa stands to profit big-time from the demise of Air Berlin. “Not so much because it’s getting rid of its biggest rival, but because this bankruptcy could strengthen its low-cost subsidiary Eurowings,”Großbongardt told Der Spiegel (link in German) “If Eurowings takes over more planes from Air Berlin, it can grow much quicker.” Ryanair is not happy about Lufthansa’s interest in Air Berlin and the German government’s temporary loan. It immediately filed a formal complaint to the European Commission and German competition regulator accusing the German government and its national carrier of ignoring anti-trust laws and conspiring to carve up the airline between them. |
Get the biggest Arsenal FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Arsene Wenger won't be panicked into the transfer market despite their early setback against West Ham. The Gunners opened their Premier League campaign in disappointing fashion slumping to defeat at home to West Ham. But boss Wenger is unlikely to react by splashing cash on a number of reinforcements despite the lacklustre display at the Emirates. Arsenal are not close to any signings and, despite a flurry of rumours, no directors or senior officials met with Karim Benzema or Real Madrid last week. They remain interested but have been knocked back already, will not pay the price that Real Madrid want for a player who is 28 in December and now it seems they will only do a deal if one becomes available late in the window. Wenger did not tear into his players in the dressing room after the West Ham defeat, but will pick apart the game at the training ground in the next few days. His biggest concern - rather than a nightmare debut for Petr Cech - is the midfield dilemma and getting them all into the team. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now That could mean a tough decision on either Aaron Ramsey or Santi Cazorla at Palace while the performance of Francis Coquelin was a particular disappointment as he lost his discipline and instead tried to play spectacular passes. Wenger has been adamant that he does not need a midfielder and his only thought in terms of the market is if a striker becomes available. |
A PAINTING bearing resemblance to the Hindu deity Hanuman had to be erased from a wall at the Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, following objections from Shiv Sena. The painting, a part of the institute’s ongoing annual cultural fest, Mood Indigo, was deemed “inappropriate” by the Sena, which sought an apology from the event organisers. On Monday, the painting was erased after local Sena workers marched into the campus and demanded its removal. Advertising Among several wall-paintings at the institute’s student activity centre, was one of a man carrying a mountain in one hand and holding a pen instead of a mace in the other. Watch What Else Is making News While organisers of the fest remained tight-lipped about the incident, stall owners at the adjacent food court and visitors said an argument ensued over the painting on Monday morning. Shiv Sena leaders said they got to know about the depiction of the Hindu deity late on Sunday. Local Sena activists went to the IIT campus on Monday morning, following directions from local MLA Sunil Raut and Sena leader Datta Dalvi. “The painting was in bad taste. It hurt the religious sentiments of many people. This is not the way to the portray a Hindu deity like Hanuman. Students should not have portrayed the deity like that,” said Dalvi. Nilesh Salunkhe, the local shakha pramukh of Sena, said they would not allow the event to continue until the controversial painting was removed, adding he met members of the students’ council over the issue. Subsequently, the police bandobast was increased on the campus in the afternoon. “The students were giving us vague answers like the painting was drawn by an artist called from outside and not by students.” “When we asked for the name of the artist, they didn’t reveal it. The matter was resolved after the administration apologised to us and the students’ council gave us a written apology stating that they will not repeat such an act for any community in future,” Salunkhe said. Advertising Student coordinator Akhil Dhoot, who signed the letter of apology, refused to comment, adding it was a “petty issue”. |
According to Geoff Foster of the Wall Street Journal, Chicago White Sox Sox fans are a little smarter than Chicago Cubs fans when it comes to discussing their teams online. The study was made by the automated-proofreading company Grammarly, which concluded that the New York Mets have the dumbest fans in MLB. The study was essentially evaluating the grammar and spelling by fans using comments on each team’s official site. Grammarly used the same methodology for MLB teams. It reviewed 150 reader comments from the news section of each team website—10, 592 total words, on average, per team. Mets fans had the most errors, making 13.9 mistakes per 100 words. It’s quite fitting considering the team’s unofficial slogans in past World Series years—“Ya Gotta Believe” (1973) and “Baseball Like It Oughta Be” (1986)—were littered with typographical errors. Enough about the shitty Mets. Cubs fans averaged 5.2 errors per 100 words, while White Sox fans averaged 4.8 mistakes per 100 words. According to this study, White Sox fans make the third fewest mistakes among all MLB fan bases. Most teams are in the 6-10 percent range, which is good I guess. That’s an A in school! These are the dumbest fan bases according to this study based on mistakes per 100 words. Mets, 13.9/100 Phillies, 13.5/100 Astros, 12.7/100 Royals, 12.4/100 Yankees, 12.1/100 Tigers, 11.7/100 A’s, 10.7/100 Rockies, 10.3/100 Braves, 10.2 erros/100 Too bad that being smart doesn’t equate to seeing your team win titles. The five teams with the best grammar and spelling (Indians, Padres, White Sox, Mariners, Cubs) root for teams that have collectively won four titles in the past 100 years. Of course in Chicago we know the White Sox won the World Series in 2005 and will always bring it up when talking trash with Cubs fans. There was also this discovery. Grammarly also calculated which fans were the most verbose in their comments. This honor goes to the fans of the Kansas City Royals. Between their lengthy rants and rampant All-Star ballot stuffing, one thing has become clear: Royals fans spend too much time on the Internet. So, there you have it White Sox fans. You make less mistakes than Cubs fans on the Internet. Here are the full rankings. Back in April the same study was conducted for NFL fans. That study showed Green Bay Packers fans are slightly smarter than Chicago Bears fans. h/t: Nate |
To The Editor: Here are some "Top Ten" facts (in no particular order of priority) that have been communicated to us by parents, grand-parents, teachers and other concerned citizens about Premier Clark and her government's stand against teachers and public education in this province: 1. The fact that kids are being shamelessly, "cheated", "short-changed", "denied", and “fiscally managed" out of $1000 per student as compared to the national per student funding average. BC is second to last in public education funding per student in Canada. 2. The fact that Premier Clark’s Deputy Ministers have "cashed in" by receiving salary raises of up to 14.4% in 2013/2014 when public sector unions are expected to “accept” and have received 1% to 1.5% raises in their "settlement zone" contracts for the same time period because of the government’s fiscal restraint and "cooperative gains" mandate. 3. The fact that parents and grand-parents of special needs’ students believe that their kids and grand-kids are being "main-streamed" ("warehoused") into classrooms without the resources to provide the individualized support that their children and grand-children require. 4. The fact that teachers have moved from other parts of Canada to what they thought was a "have" province and ended up teaching in a "have-not" province with a public education system that receives "bottom of the barrel" funding. 5. The fact that Premier Clark sends her son to a private school which sends a strong message that private schools must be "better" and "safer" than public schools or that public schools and teachers are "not good enough" for her child. 6. The fact that the Premier Clark and her ministers make teachers out as "trouble-makers", "greedy", "non-compliant", and "non-conformist", because we are insisting on our court-proven and twice awarded constitutional and charter rights to bargain class size and composition. 7. The fact that the government's spin doctors have carefully crafted messages such as, "highest funding ever", "settlement zone", "drain on tax-payers", "protecting against placing the government into budgetary deficits", "BC taxpayers can't afford it", that appeal to fiscal conservatives and make teachers and their demands look like they will "bankrupt" the province if public education funding is increased. 8. The fact that the government justifies its illegal and fiscally punitive actions such as, stripping of specialist teacher and class size and composition language from contracts, inadequate funding levels and downloading of cost item after cost item on local boards, by rolling out high provincial student achievement results, basically justifying their actions and funding levels because teachers are still "managing" to produce more with less. In essence, proving their case that the government must be on the right track because the education "factory" is still producing high quality "widgets" in tougher, integrated classes, with less money per "widget" than anywhere else in Canada. 9. The fact that Premier Clark and her government have cut 25% from our personal income taxes and have cut corporate taxes in this province at the expense of public education, social and health services, and have conditioned the electorate to believe that "taxes are bad" and that "tearing up social contracts is good" and that teachers are "public enemy #1" and will "destroy any potential of BC's economic growth" because they may cause taxes to increase if they continue to win their court cases or successfully negotiate an increase in public education funding. 10. The fact that the Coalition of BC Businesses is now trying to intervene in our court cases because they are trying to "save the BC economy and taxpayers" from an attack by teachers. Are teachers obviously wrong and will destroy any prospect of a healthy BC economy if funding for public education is increased to the national average and class sizes decrease and we have more specialist teachers and our working conditions and kids learning conditions improve and we are treated with respect and are valued? What do you think? Respectfully submitted, Kootenay Columbia Teachers' Union Andrew M. Davidoff, President |
I just finished reading this book, and it was very good, but I'm still not exactly sure what the ending means. I think it was meant to be ambiguous and left up to the reader's interpretation, but what are your opinions? Here are my two theories: 1. I originally thought that the ending was Teddy's... I just finished reading this book, and it was very good, but I'm still not exactly sure what the ending means. I think it was meant to be ambiguous and left up to the reader's interpretation, but what are your opinions? Here are my two theories: 1. I originally thought that the ending was Teddy's awakening after taking the pills for his headache, meaning that pretty much the whole second half of the book was a dream. This seemed unlikely though after I thought about it for a while. 2. The more likely interpretation in my opinion was that Teddy really was Laeddis and had relapsed for the last time back into Teddy, meaning that the white package with the metal was probably a straight jacket or tools they were going to use for the orbital lobotomy. What do you think the ending meant? |
Austrian driver Binder, 24, competes in Formula V8 3.5 full-time in 2016 with Lotus and currently sits fifth in the standings. He has three prior seasons of GP2 racing behind his belt and already made a one-off return appearance in the category this year, replacing the suspended Nobuharu Matsushita at ART for Spielberg. "Hockenheim has always been one of my favourite circuits so I want to thank Trevor Carlin for this great opportunity to race his car in Germany this weekend," Binder said. "I look forward to racing and hope that we can get some good points together. Looking back to my last guest GP2 start in Spielberg, I have unfinished business. "However, all in all my season so far is going well, given the four podiums that I have achieved in Formula V8 3.5. I feel in good shape and just want to make the best of it." Binder will partner local driver Marvin Kirchhofer at Hockenheim, taking over the seat previously held by Canamasas. The Spaniard had been a late confirmation for Carlin before the start of the season, and had scored 14 points to teammate Kirchhofer's 19. |
The cast of TODAY lost it this morning when Sylvia Jeffreys invaded Karl Stefanovic's turf, making a ribald crack while the team commentated on a viral video. The footage, which shows a woman with a feed bucket being swarmed by half a dozen hungry ostriches, was strapped with the caption "hen's party", prompting Jeffreys to mutter something that went unnoticed by all but the jester-in-chief. In true Stefanovic style, Jeffreys had a good giggle at her own gag. () "What was that Sylvia?" Stefanovic said. "Nothing," Jeffreys replied. "No, go on," her future brother-in-law pressed. Happy Friday...The TODAY presenters lost it over Jeffreys' joke. () "I was gonna say, it's not the first time there's been a pecker at a hen's party," Jeffreys said, eliciting looks of mock-shock from Lisa Wilkinson and Tim Gilbert and peals of laughter from Stefanovic. "You know when you say it under your breath…" Wilkinson said. "I heard it," Stefanovic replied. "And now the nation has." © Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019 |
NEW DELHI: Delhi traffic police’s power of impounding autorickshaws and taxis that refuse or misbehave with customers is set to be revoked . On Wednesday, the state government decided to curtail special powers of traffic police conferred on it several years ago. Under rule of 66/192 A, Delhi traffic police had power to seize vehicles in case of overcharging, refusal, driving without PSV (public service vehicle) badges, uniform, misbehaviour by drivers Traffic police officials said they have been opposing this move by the government as it would result in huge problems for commuters as there would be no agency where they can approach in case of overcharging or refusal by autorickshaws.“If it is the decision of the government, it stands, but we have been opposing it due to a number of reasons which were also discussed with the highest authorities,” said Muktesh Chander, special commissioner, traffic.Chander said they will now approach the highest authorities to consider implementation of the order. Traffic police, however, can seize autos and take strict action if the driver does not have his licence, fitness certificate or permit, and other serious traffic violations.“Government has decided to withdraw the special power of Delhi traffic police in cases of minor traffic violation. In case of minor violation—refusal, driving without uniform, PSV badges, traffic police cannot now impound autos and taxis and instead they can only challan the vehicles in these cases,” a senior government official said.The decision was taken in a meeting of the state transport authority chaired by transport secretary and commissioner. “It was a delegated power given to police by Delhi government...and delegated power can be withdrawn or reduced any time,” the official said.For instance, if the driver of an autorickshaw refuses to carry a passenger, traffic police cannot impound his or her vehicle in case passengers complain against the driver.For a long time, auto and taxi unions have been mounting pressure on governments, accusing traffic police of “harassing them over misuse of rule of 66/192 A”.In the last 49-day stint of AAP, Arvind Kejriwal had also advocated reducing power of traffic police under the same rule.Predictably, autorickshaw unions are upbeat about the directive.“After seizing vehicles, traffic police referred challan to court. After depositing challan amount through court, we would go to traffic police's office to get the vehicle released. This resulted in harassment and waste of money and time for us,” said an autorickshaw union member. |
Warren Buffett never had the intention of going to college. By 13, he was managing his own business as a paperboy. He ended up making more than $5,000 (equivalent to more than $71,000 in 2017) delivering newspapers. However, his father urged him to attend the University of Pennsylvania for business. At 16, Buffett enrolled himself in Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to study business. After two years of complaining that he knew more than his professors, he moved on to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and finished his degree. He graduated from the University of Nebraska at 19 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. Buffett wanted to keep his education going, so he applied to Harvard but was rejected. He then researched Columbia University, where he was delighted to find out Benjamin Graham, who would become his mentor, worked. Buffett earned a Master of Science in economics from Columbia in 1951. Then, shortly after graduation from Columbia, he briefly attended the New York Institute of Finance. Buffett became an investment salesman for Buffett-Falk & Company in 1951. He later became a securities analyst and a partner at Buffett Partnership, Ltd. By 1970, he had become the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, where he still leads today. Headquartered in Buffett's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, Berkshire Hathaway operates as one of the world's largest corporate investment firms. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange in two categories. The multinational conglomerate holding company owns Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, Helzberg Diamonds, GEICO, BNSF, FlightSafety International and NetJets, as well as a diverse range of other popular companies. Though Buffett attended various reputable schools, he concedes that higher education is not for everyone and that experience is just as important. Buffett had a knack for business. His entrepreneurial spirit was shining even at age 6 when he purchased packs of Coca-Cola and chewing gum and sold them door to door for a profit. He then went on to deliver newspapers and magazines, which earned him about $175 per month. By age 11, he was investing in stocks. In high school, Buffett began buying pinball machines and making money by placing the machines in popular shops for customers to play. |
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday backed Apple Inc’s request to stop Samsung Electronics selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the United States, giving the iPhone maker a significant win in the global smartphone and tablet patent wars. A visitor looks around behind Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet displayed for customers at a registration desk at South Korean mobile carrier KT's headquarters in Seoul December 9, 2011. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji Samsung’s Galaxy touchscreen tablets, powered by Google’s Android operating system, are considered by many industry experts to be the main rival to the iPad, though they are currently a distant second to Apple’s device. Microsoft and Google are also preparing tablet offerings. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, had previously denied Apple’s bid for an injunction on the tablet and multiple Galaxy smartphones. However, a federal appeals court instructed Koh to reconsider Apple’s request on the tablet. “Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products,” Koh wrote on Tuesday, adding the order should become effective once Apple posts a $2.6 million bond to protect against damages suffered by Samsung if the injunction is later found to have been wrong. Apple has waged an international patent war since 2010 as it seeks to limit the growth of Google’s Android system, the world’s best-selling mobile operating platform. A decisive injunction in one of the U.S. legal cases could strengthen Apple’s hand in negotiating cross-licensing deals, where firms agree to let each other use their patented technologies. Opponents of Apple say the iPhone and iPad maker is using patents too aggressively in its bid to stamp out competition. “The relief being given to Apple here is extraordinary. Preliminary injunctions are rarely asked for and rarely granted,” said Colleen Chien, a professor at Santa Clara Law in Silicon Valley. “That this was a design patent and copying was alleged distinguish this case from plain vanilla utility patent cases. Cases involving these kinds of patents are based more on a counterfeiting theory than a competition theory, so I don’t expect this case to have ramifications for all smartphone disputes, but rather those involving design patents and the kind of product resemblance we had here.” The injunction against Samsung comes less than a week after Apple suffered a serious setback when a federal judge in Chicago dismissed its patent claims against Google’s Motorola Mobility unit. Judge Richard Posner ruled that an injunction barring the sale of Motorola smartphones would harm consumers. LIKELY APPEAL Samsung will likely seek to appeal Koh’s ruling to a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, which has exclusive jurisdiction over intellectual property disputes. “Apple sought a preliminary injunction of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, based on a single design patent that addressed just one aspect of the product’s overall design,” Samsung said in a statement. “Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted.” The South Korean firm said it would take necessary legal steps, and did not expect the ruling to have a significant impact on its business, as it has a broad range of products. It brought out three tablet models last year alone. Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet reiterated a prior statement from the company, saying Samsung’s “blatant copying” is wrong. Apple sold 13.6 million iPads in January-March to control 63 percent of the global tablet market, according to research firm Display Search. Samsung sold 1.6 million tablets, giving it 7.5 percent of the market. The global tablet market is set to nearly double this year to 123.5 million units this year, according to IHS iSuppli. Microsoft last week introduced its own line of tablet computers, making a major strategic shift for the software giant as it struggles to compete with Apple and re-invent its aging Windows franchise, and Google plans to unveil a $199 tablet co-branded with Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc at its developer conference this week, according to a media report. [ID:nL3E8HQ6MB] Samsung, which has various tablet line-ups with different sizes from 7 inches to 10.1 inches, introduced the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in June last year and unveiled an upgraded version, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 II, last month. The company said the U.S. ruling does not affect the updated Tab 10.1 II, and retailers can also clear their existing Tab 10.1 inventories. In Seoul, Samsung shares rose 3 percent in a flat market, rebounding from 4-month lows early this week amid concerns over second-quarter profit growth. The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846. |
McCain said the film fell “hook, line and sinker” for enhanced interrogation's effectiveness. McCain: 'Zero Dark Thirty' wrong The movie “Zero Dark Thirty” suggests the CIA’s harsh interrogation techniques led the U.S. to Osama bin Laden. Sen. John McCain watched the movie Monday night and says it left him sick - because it’s wrong. McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years enduring brutal treatment by his North Vietnamese captors during the Vietnam War, has insisted that the waterboarding of Al Qaeda’s No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, did not provide information that led to the bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. Story Continued Below ( Also on POLITICO: 'Zero Dark Thirty' writer: No pols) Yet the movie, of copy of which McCain said he received Monday, indicates that’s how the United States found bin Laden. The filmmakers fell for it hook, line and sinker, McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday. Last year, McCain asked then-CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and he said the hunt for bin Laden did not begin with fresh information from Mohammed. In fact, the name of bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, came from a detainee held in another country. “Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed, it actually produced false and misleading information,” McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, backed up McCain’s assessment that waterboarding of Mohammed did not produce the tip that led to bin Laden. McCain has said he opposes waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning, and any form of torture tactics. He said they could be used against Americans and that their use damages the nation’s character and reputation. “I do not believe they are necessary to our success in our war against terrorists, as the advocates of these techniques claim they are,” he said. |
Zadie Smith, Michael Chabon, Ann Patchett and Jane Mayer are among the finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards. Thirty finalists in six categories — autobiography, biography, fiction, nonfiction, poetry and criticism — were announced Tuesday by the organization, which was founded in 1974 and is made up of 1,000 literary critics and book review editors around the country. In nonfiction, finalists include Ibram X. Kendi’s “Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America,” which won the 2016 National Book Award for nonfiction, and “Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War” by Viet Thanh Nguyen, who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction last year for his novel, “The Sympathizer.” The Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood will receive the organization’s lifetime achievement award. The John Leonard Prize, for the best first book in any genre, will be awarded to Yaa Gyasi for her debut novel, “Homegoing,” which follows several generations of a family with roots in Ghana. The book critic Michelle Dean, whose work appears in The Guardian, The New Republic and elsewhere, will receive a citation for excellence in reviewing. Winners will be announced on Thursday, March 16, 2017, at 6:30 p.m. at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium, in a free public event. |
TORONTO — While the free agency storm of Feb. 9 is on the horizon, the week leading up has provided little calm. The Lions confirmed that one of the top-ranked free agents will indeed test the market, while Ticats linebacker Erik Harris could be on his way out of town to join an NFL team south of the border. Plus, what’s the latest on negotiations between Chad Owens and the Argos? It’s a busy week and there’s lots on the radar as the next phase of the off-season approaches, and we check in on it all with the latest off-season edition of Checking Down: Jump to team: BC LIONS – One of the CFL’s brightest stars is almost certain to hit free agency now, as the Lions and Andrew Harris revealed Wednesday that the national running back will not be offered a contract extension to stay in BC. Harris ranked second in the CFL in yards from scrimmage in 2015. – Wally Buono isn’t shying away from the pressure, writes the Vancouver Province‘s Ed Willes, as the Lions are in urgent need of a bounceback 2016, led by a new-look offence with Khari Jones back in charge and without Andrew Harris. – The Lions officially revealed their 2016 coaching staff this week, led by the return of Wally Buono to the sidelines and his assistants Mark Washington (defensive coordinator) and Khari Jones (offensive coordinator). – After spending time on the Lions’ practice roster in 2015, international receiver Geraldo Boldewijn has extended his stay with the team through 2016. The 24-year-old Amsterdam native arrived last October as part of the CFL’s annual roster expansion period. EDMONTON ESKIMOS – The Eskimos officially revealed their coaching staff on Monday, including new head coach Jason Maas and defensive coordinator Mike Benevides. – Like other father/son coaching duos in CFL football’s past, new Eskimos defensive line coach Casey Creehan is following the footsteps of his father Dennis, who coached for the Esks in 1985-1986 and then again in 1991. CALGARY STAMPEDERS – While the Stamps continue to rebuild their offensive line, the Calgary Sun‘s Scott Mitchell says Derek Dennis could be a huge part of that unit moving forward. Dennis, Mitchell writes, is the favourite to take over the left side of the Stamps’ O-line, where he’d protect Bo Levi Mitchell’s blindside. – The Stamps have extended the contract of veteran national linebacker Corbin Sharun. The 27-year-old Edmonton native made three special teams tackles in the Western Final and played in two regular season games after joining the Stamps on July 28 last season. SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS – Two-time Grey Cup Champion and CFL All-Star Shea Emry has announced his retirement. An eight-year CFL veteran, Emry will pursue men’s health advocacy and a new outdoor adventure club that aims to enrich the lives of men. – In a recent interview with CFL.ca’s Rod Pedersen, Riders assistant VP of football ops John Murphy talked about the positive development of quarterback Brett Smith and where he stands heading into 2016. – Chris Jones and the Riders continue to fill out their roster with international talent, on Tuesday adding Alabama State University running back Malcolm Cyrus. Cyrus is 23 years old and joins the team after attending the Riders’ recent free agent camp in Montgomery, Ala. WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS – Andrew Harris could be a step closer to returning to his hometown Winnipeg, as Wally Buono confirmed on Tuesday evening that Harris won’t be extended a contract offer. According to MyToba.ca‘s Scott Taylor, Harris and the Bombers would be a perfect fit as the need is there while Harris has expressed in the past his wish to play in his hometown. – Bombers GM Kyle Walters has not been afraid to make big moves on day one of free agency in the past, and according to 3 Down Nation‘s John Hodge that’s highly possible again this season as the team is high on many of the top-ranked pending free agents. – The Bombers have officially announced that former quarterback Buck Pierce will be their quarterbacks coach in 2016, working with newly-hired offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice and overseeing the development of Drew Willy and Matt Nichols. Pierce enters his third season as a coach after last year coaching the Bombers’ running backs. – A week after landing star receiver Weston Dressler, the Bombers continue to get a head start on free agency after signing defensive back Macho Harris. A four-year CFL veteran, Harris played for the Riders from 2012 through 2015 and registered 149 defensive tackles, four interceptions, six sacks and three forced fumbles. HAMILTON TIGER-CATS – With an elite class of free agents set to hit the market on Feb. 9, 3 Down Nation‘s Drew Edwards says Ticats defensive tackle Ted Laurent could be the big domino every team is waiting for to fall. Laurent is a top-ranked free agent by all accounts, including CFL.ca’s Top 30 list where he sits third. – Pending free agent linebacker Erik Harris is heading south to join former teammate Delvin Breaux, according to CFL.ca’s Justin Dunk, as the 25-year-old linebacker has netted a contract with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints. – According to Rick Zamperin of Hamilton’s 900 CHML, Andy Fantuz will have to take a paycut to return to the Ticats next season. The vet is a free agent on Feb. 9 and is coming off one of the least productive seasons of his career. Zamperin also suggested the Ticats may be heading in another direction at kicker/punter when it comes to Justin Medlock. TORONTO ARGONAUTS – Their first season at BMO Field on the horizon, the Argos have announced season ticket pricing and a seating chart heading into 2016. Prices include taxes and include tickets for 11 games, including one pre-season game and one playoff game. – Chad Owens wants to remain an Argo while the Argos could surely use his services, but so far the two sides are far apart in contract negotiations, GM Jim Barker told TSN‘s Mike Hogan. Owens is due to become a free agent on Feb. 9. OTTAWA REDBLACKS – REDBLACKS GM Marcel Desjardins conceded in an interview with TSN 1200 that the team will have some holes to fill on the defensive side of the ball with some of this off-season’s departures, some of which may be filled through signing new talent from south of the border. Justin Capicciotti, Jovon Johnson, Keith Shologan and Brandyn Thompson are all defensive starters set to hit the market on Feb. 9. Desjardins confirmed that Capicciotti will test free agency as there’s some distance between the two sides. – In the same interview, Desjardins said the team will look at free agent quarterbacks this off-season as it searches for a contingency plan at pivot beyond the year 2016. Trevor Harris and Travis Lulay lead the list of free agent quarterbacks this season, while Mitchell Gale or Keith Price could be developmental options. – The REDBLACKS announced three new signings on Wednesday, including the addition of former NFL receiver Armon Binns. Binns played five seasons south of the border, most recently as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad. – Brad Sinopoli is one of eight finalists for the Syl Apps Ontario Athlete of the Year Award for 2015. Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto and former NBA first overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins are among the candidates vying for the honour awarded by the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. MONTREAL ALOUETTES – National receiver Eric Deslauriers announced his retirement on Thursday, ending a nine-year CFL career spent entirely with Montreal. He will remain in the organization after accepting a role as football operations assistant and scout. – Much is quiet in Montreal a week ahead of free agency, but TSN‘s Gary Lawless says what happens with Josh Bourke and Ticats lineman Ted Laurent will set the table for what happens next. – Anwar Stewart has been promoted to defensive line coach for the Alouettes in 2016 following the departure of Keith Willis, who has accepted a position with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. Stewart, a three-time Grey Cup Champion as a player, joined the Als as a coach in 2014 and was recently promoted to defensive end coach. CANADA HANDLES U.S. IN INTERNATIONAL BOWL – Canada’s under-18 national team defeated the U.S. under-18 national team 24-0 on Wednesday February 3, propelling Canada to a two game to one lead over Team USA, at the 2016 International Bowl series at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. |
An Alabama lawmaker known for parading around on a giant gun-shaped barbecue grill has once again taken up his pet project: the surgical castration of sex offenders. “This bill would provide that any person over the age of 21 years who is convicted of certain sex offenses against a child 12 years of age or younger would be surgically castrated before his or her release from the custody of the Department of Corrections,” HB 365 reads. “This bill would require that the cost of the procedure be paid by the adult criminal sex offender.” The point of such a bill is clear. The sexual abuse of a young child is horrific, and who wouldn’t want to prevent a repeated attack? But castration—whether by surgically removing a man’s testicles or chemically diminishing his libido with injections of synthetic female hormone Depo-Provera—has never been proven as an effective means to curb such violent sexual abuse. Despite popular belief, neither forms of castration are guaranteed to cause impotence. Up to 10 percent of surgically castrated men are able to regain sexual function after the procedure. What’s more, sexual abuse experts say a one-cut-fixes-all strategy does nothing to address the underlying disorder that leads an abuser to commit such a heinous crime. Still, at least seven states have some law on the books for the chemical castration of sex offenders, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. “It’s naive to think this is a panacea,” Dr. Fred Berlin, founder of The Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic, told The Washington Post decades ago, a position he has maintained every subsequent time a reporter has called asking for his opinion on the matter. Not only is it wrong to use a medical treatment as punishment, he has said, but there’s no reason to believe it will have the intended effect. And then there’s the problem of wrongful convictions, a thing Alabama knows a bit about. Since 1989, 476 people wrongfully convicted of sexual assault or child sex abuse have been exonerated across the U.S., according to the National Registry of Exonerations, a project run by the University of Michigan. Nine of those have come from Alabama. Antonio Williams spent over four years in an Alabama prison serving a life sentence for the rape of a 7-year-old girl, who was interviewed by investigators after it was discovered she had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. Williams was vindicated in 2011 after the girl told a social worker a different man—not Williams—had raped her, but threatened to hurt her if she said anything. In 2006, 24-year-old Birmingham man Zachary Noah Smith denied, but was ultimately convicted of, sexually molesting his 3-year-old daughter. Six years later, his daughter came forward and told a counselor that no abuse had occurred, but that she had been pressured to lie by her great-grandmother. Smith’s conviction was reversed by a new trial. Convictions can be reversed, surgical castration cannot. Luckily, Hurst’s castration bill is unlikely to see the light of day, as similar bills proposed in previous sessions died in committee. In 2013, Hurst told a local paper, The Anniston Star, “I’ll introduce it every year until it gets passed.” An email requesting comment was not returned and no one answered Hurst’s phone. Hurst was elected to Alabama’s House of Representatives in 1998 as a Democrat (he switched parties in 2010). He is also the owner of a Talladega pawn and gun shop, and has sponsored legislation including a successful “Stand Your Ground” bill in 2006 that codified a gun owner’s right to shoot almost anyone, and a bill that would require public school students to read the Congressional Record (with the prayer) for 15 minutes each day. |
Hey! You got your PSP in my PS3! Sony has just announced plans to transport titles from its PlayStation Portable library to the PlayStation 3but this isn't just going to be an emulator-style port. The games in Sony's new PlayStation Portable Remaster Series are going to get the George Lucas treatment: new content, HD graphics, support for DualShock 3 controllers, and possibly stereoscopic 3D support. But that's not even the coolest aspect of the new program for dual-PS3 and PSP owners. When you fire up a title like Monster Hunter Portable 3rdthe first game released in the Remaster series (Japan only; no international titles have been announced yet)you'll be playing the exact same game no matter which platform you're sitting in front of. By that, we mean that your specific saved game will seamlessly bounce between your PS3 console and your PSP, ensuring that you'll be able to continue your progress in a game whether you're walking down the street or planting yourself at your television. Games in the PlayStation Portable Remaster Series will also work with Sony's Ad Hoc multiplayer service. So, in theory, someone playing a PSP title on a PS3 will still be able to link up with other gamers playing the title on their PSPs via the Internetfor those gamers, the PS3 serves as a kind of wireless access point that tricks the PSP into believing that it's connecting up with someone standing right next to you. In actuality, said opponent can be located anywhere with an Internet connection, provided he or she is also using the PS3/PSP Ad Hoc bridge. Unfortunately, Sony hasn't spilled any details as to which other games in its PSP library might get the remaster treatment. There's also no timeline for when the service might hit the U.S. With the big E3 show but one month away, however, expect chit-chat aroun the Sony's Remaster Series to hit a feverish pace. For more from David, follow him on Twitter @TheDavidMurphy. For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag. |
Burglars make off with cars from S.F. auto dealership San Francisco police are investigating separate stabbings over the weekend in the Mission District and Chinatown that left two men wounded, including one with life-threatening injuries. San Francisco police are investigating separate stabbings over the weekend in the Mission District and Chinatown that left two men wounded, including one with life-threatening injuries. Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Image, Getty Image Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Image, Getty Image Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Burglars make off with cars from S.F. auto dealership 1 / 1 Back to Gallery A group of car thieves made off with seven luxury vehicles after a seemingly well-planned heist from a San Francisco Audi dealership early Wednesday morning, authorities said. Around 12:45 a.m., officers responded to reports of the burglary on the 1500 block of Howard Street, said Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman. Investigators believe the thieves, three men and a woman driving a Lexus sport utility vehicle, pulled up to the gate of the lot and cut the locks to gain entry, Esparza said. One of them then drilled a hole in the lock to a storage area where the keys are kept, scooped up a couple sets of keys along with some tools and drove seven vehicles off the lot in an unknown direction. Police did not release a description of the thieves, and no arrests had been made as of Thursday morning. Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale |
A survey commissioned for the Spinoff’s War for Auckland pop-up site puts the Labour MP well in front of his nearest rival, Vic Crone, just weeks out from voting. But many remain undecided. Phil Goff has established a commanding lead in the Auckland mayoral race with less than four weeks until voting begins. The former Labour leader and Mt Roskill MP recorded 60.3% of decided voters in a new poll conducted by Survey Sampling International and commissioned by The Spinoff in association with Jennings Murphy. His closest challenger at this stage is former Xero executive Victoria Crone, on 15.5%. Crone has almost double the current support of John Palino, who finished second to current mayor Len Brown in the last election. The news is dismal for the other candidate from the right, Mark Thomas, who has the support of only 3.3% of decided voters, trailing even leftwing firebrand Penny Bright, on 4.6%. Even the combined backing for the three leading centre-right candidates – Crone, Palino and Thomas – at 26.7%, remains less than half that of Goff. While the result gives the impression of a coronation, there is a glimmer of hope for Goff’s opponents, with just under 44% of respondents saying they did not know who they would vote for. When accounting for undecideds, Goff’s figure is 31.2%, Crone 8%, Palino 4.1%, Bright 2.4%, Thomas 1.7%, David Hay 1.4% and other candidates 2.9%, while 4.6% answered “no intention of voting”. Goff has faced criticism, including from the deputy mayor Penny Hulse, for a largely vanilla campaign.“You know, Phil’s a good guy,” she told The Spinoff’s Warcast, “I’d just like to see him strap them on and get a bit braver.” With such a comfortable lead over his rivals it is perhaps little wonder that he has adopted a low-risk strategy. Given Goff’s relatively high profile the numbers were “not altogether surprising”, said Simon Wilson, editor-at-large of Metro magazine and a commentator on Auckland local body politics. The frontrunner’s rivals are likely to argue that it is still early days, said Wilson. “Billboards have only been up a week, the campaigns haven’t formally started yet, and there is a lot more to come. But unless any of the candidates get some real cut-through with an idea that gets everybody talking it’s hard to see there being big changes. And of course Crone doesn’t believe there should be big ideas. She believes they need a kind of consolidation period. And Goff’s a bit the same. So we’re not likely to see big cut-through ideas.” The poll result may compound pressure on Mark Thomas to withdraw, said Wilson. “But the reason he is in the race in the first place hasn’t disappeared. He thinks he’s the right guy for it and he doesn’t think the more officially supported candidate from the National Party [Crone] is better than him. As for Palino, he’s got a completely different platform, he’s doing his own thing. I can’t see him stepping away.” Wilson said the size of Goff’s lead could portend a low turnout. “It’s going to be hard to motivate people to vote when they think it’s a foregone conclusion, and the tragedy of that is, apart from the general issue of participation, what the Americans call a big down-ballot vote going on. There are a whole lot of other people to vote for on local board and in council wards, and it would be a shame for all those elections if there aren’t more people voting.” In the 2013 mayoral election, Len Brown won 47.8% of the vote to John Palino’s 31.7%. The turnout in Auckland was just shy of 35%, down from 51% at the previous election. Council priorities While the leading candidates have nailed their colours to the mast of rates control, “reducing rates” ranked third when respondents were asked to select the top priority for a new Auckland Council. The leading issue, selected by 50.7% of people, was housing, followed by public transport on 33%, reducing rates on 29.5% and cutting bureaucracy on 19.2%. Picking up the rear was berms, which 1.2% selected as the top priority, while 3.2% said none of the above. Len Brown’s performance There was a largely grim report card, meanwhile, for Brown, who is standing down after serving two terms as the first mayor of the amalgamated Auckland, and will hope to be remembered more for the Central Rail Link and the Unitary Plan than the sex scandal that threw his mayoralty off course a few days into the second term. Just over 41% of those who answered rated his performance as “fairly bad” or “awful”; 36.7% said “average”; and 21.7% “excellent” or “fairly good”. “I think history will treat him more kindly than this,” said Wilson. “But, poor old Len. He embarrassed himself at the beginning of the second term and hasn’t recovered, and that’s really clear.” Further findings from the poll, including some striking results on the housing crisis, will be published by the Spinoff in coming days. Survey Sampling International (SSI) conducted an online survey among a representative sample of 760 Auckland residents aged 18 and over with quota applied to gender, age and region within Auckland. All respondents were screened to ensure they were New Zealand residents and eligible to vote. The polling period was 17-19 August and the margin of error is +/- 3.6%. SSI is the premier global provider of data solutions and technology for consumer and business-to-business survey research, reaching respondents in 100+ countries offering the widest, most diverse access to audiences around the globe through its own panels, social media, online communities and affiliate partners. SSI has 40 offices in 20 countries and serves more than 3,000 clients worldwide. The War for Auckland is a Spinoff pop-up section devoted to the 2016 Unitary Plan and local elections. To support our journalism, click here. |
The New England Patriots signed RB James White to a three-year extension on Tuesday, April 18th, retaining the hero of Super Bowl LI through his 28th birthday. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports the extension has $12 million in base salary with $4.69 million guaranteed. There also appears to be $3 million in incentives. #Patriots gave RB James White a 3-year extension worth $12M base, source said. $4.69M guaranteed. $15M is the max. Was to make $690K in ’17. — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 19, 2017 White was entering the final season of his four-year rookie contract and was scheduled to earn $690,000. Based on the guaranteed figure of $4.69 million, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Patriots effectively guaranteed his 2017 salary and found $4 million to pay White in guaranteed. Maybe that remaining $4 million in guarantees represents a million dollars for each year of the deal. It could also represent the single-year average of former Patriots RB Shane Vereen and his contract with the New York Giants; Vereen is a pretty solid comparable for White. It’s also equal to the amount of money the Patriots offered Buffalo Bills restricted free agent RB Mike Gillislee. While the guaranteed money is important and interesting, it seems like the Patriots are paying White roughly $4 million per year on his extended seasons, with a chance for it to increase to $5 million per year. These figures price White as the 10th-to-15th highest paid running back in the league, on average. Is White a top 15 running back in the league? Probably not, but he did finish the 2017 regular and postseason with 883 yards and 9 touchdowns and he showed progress as a runner down the stretch. He was already one of the two or three most dynamic receiving backs in the league. White adds to a crowded and surprisingly expensive running back corps, with Gillislee scheduled to earn $3.2 million per year and Rex Burkhead to earn $3.15 million, the 23rd and 24th most expensive running back contracts in the league. The Eagles (Darren Sproles, Ryan Mathews) and the Jets (Matt Forte, Bilal Powell) are the only other teams with two running backs in the top 25, never mind three running backs at the top of the league. The Patriots are suddenly interested in paying top dollar for a position that has been increasingly shunned around the league. Perhaps the team just has so much cap space they’re willing to pay slightly more for the best players at the position. White must be happy to be on the receiving end of this change in strategy. |
If deeming altered DNA in an animal drug sounds kludgy, well yes. But it’s been that way since the beginning. In the early days of genetic engineering in the 1980s, the Reagan administration decided not to pass a new law regulating the technology. Rather, it divvied up regulatory authority among existing agencies under existing laws: The US Department of Agriculture would oversee genetically modified crops under plant pest rules, the Environmental Protection Agency crops engineered to contain insecticides under pesticide rules, the FDA genetically modified animals under animal drug rules. The whole thing is called the Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology, and it’s been updated twice, most recently this past month. This patchwork is massively confusing, but it’s worked okay. New gene-editing technologies, however, have created problems for these old laws. In the past, genetic modification has involved recombinant DNA, which means taking DNA from one species, like bacteria, putting it into a second, like cotton. Recombinant DNA clearly involves adding something new and man-made into an organism. But TALENs, the technique Recombinetics uses, and CRISPR, an even newer and hyped gene-editing technique, allow scientists to make precise edits and deletions to the genome. The different agencies are now making what seem to be different decisions about how to regulate the products of CRISPR and TALENs. When the comes to plants, the USDA has decided a mushroom with a gene deleted using CRISPR does not fall under its regulatory authority because it contains no new foreign DNA from plant pests. Now, the FDA, has announced it is seeking comment on whether crops that have been edited via techniques like CRISPR pose additional risks compared to traditional breeding. In other words, where the USDA has stepped out, the FDA could now step in. The FDA’s overall approach is risk based. Even with the proposed gene-edited animal rules, the FDA is still looking for input on which kinds of gene editing might pose little or no risk. That could ultimately mean a range of different requirements, says Jay Cormier, an attorney with Hyman, Phelps, & McNamara who previously worked at the FDA. A full animal drug approval process could require data from multiple generations of animals to prove the genetic alteration is safe and stable. The agency could also exercise regulatory discretion for low-risk situations, requiring a lot fewer safety studies. “The guidance documents are written very broadly,” says Cormier, and it is deliberately vague. “The more details they provide the more they box themselves in.” The proposed FDA guidance is now up for public comment. The final guidance, if and when it comes out, will be likely be during the Trump administration, which has expressed no strong opinions about the FDA’s current handling of genome editing. |
There was never any dispute that Rocrast Mack, a 24-year-old serving time on drug charges in a state prison in Alabama, died at the hands of corrections officers in 2010. What wasn’t immediately clear was how and why the inmate sustained a lethal beating. What was known was this: On August 4, 2010, a female corrections officer confronted Mack in his bunk, accused him of inappropriate behavior, and struck him. Mack retaliated, the officer radioed for help, more officers arrived, and Mack was beaten in three separate prison locations over a 40-minute period. He died the next day from his injuries. Guards claimed Mack was fighting them throughout the ordeal and sustained his fatal injuries in a fall. An investigator from Alabama’s State Bureau of Investigation thought the stories didn’t add up and called the FBI, which investigates cases of abuse of authority—or color of law—and other civil rights violations. When Special Agent Susan Hanson opened her case at the Ventress Correctional Facility, it was evident her biggest challenge would be getting to the truth. “The injuries that caused Mack’s death did not match up with the story the corrections officers were telling,” said Hanson, who works in the Dothan Resident Agency, a satellite office of the FBI’s Mobile Division. Meanwhile, witness accounts were suspect, given the questionable reliability of the sources. “You could have 10 different inmates who were in the very same room and they would give you 10 different stories,” she added. What did emerge was a portrait of a corrupt prison environment led by a heavy-handed guard—Lt. Michael Smith. Smith, the main subject in the investigation, held sway over corrections officers and inmates alike. A few guards privately acknowledged that Smith’s history of intimidation could eventually land him in hot water. For Hanson, who conducted hundreds of interviews over nearly three years, the key to cracking the case was to find a sympathetic guard whose conscience carried more weight than his fear of Smith. “It really was working with one of the officers, spending a lot of time with him, and telling him that the story just doesn’t make sense. It cannot have happened that way,” Hanson said. The guard implicated Smith but never broke ranks from the original narrative—that their use of force was justified. To build her case, Hanson and Special Agent William Beersdorf enlisted Mobile’s Evidence Response Team (ERT) to take extensive photographs from witnesses’ vantage points that could support or refute their claims. “That’s where she was able to start separating fact from fiction,” said Beersdorf. Specialists were brought in from the FBI’s Charlotte office to collect exact measurements and chart graphical representations of where each of the assaults occurred. |
Over the past year I’ve been fortunate to have Artisanal Imports as a sponsor of The Brewed Palate. Though I had a deep love of belgian beers before I asked them if they’d like to sponsor my blog, they have successfully opened my eyes to many belgian beers that I would have not sought out on my own. Being that Belgium has been experiencing its own “craft beer revolution” in recent years, some of the beers that I’ve tried are from newer / up and coming breweries. One of which is the BOM Brewery (stands for Belgian Original Malt Bakery and Brewery), a one of a kind brewery that malts (“bakes”) all of its brewing grains. As yeast forward beers, belgian beers offer the beer drinker a unique opportunity to appreciate how much yeast impacts a beer’s flavor etc.. However, BOM brewery’s goal of crafting every aspect of their beers from “bakery to kettle” takes that opportunity to the next level by giving all of the ingredients a chance to stand out in the final product… For this review I’ve chosen BOM Brewery’s two core beers, Triporteur from Heaven and Triporteur from Hell, a belgian golden ale and a belgian dark ale or dubbel. Triporteur from Heaven (6.2% ABV, 28 IBUs) Brewery’s Description: A heavily hopped beer brewed using home-baked malt. Triporteur From Heaven is the modern version of traditional hopped ale. It is a heavenly beer brewed with home-baked BOM malt. The wheat malt in the unfiltered beer can produce a light cloudiness. The taste of Heaven remains evolving in the bottle. Malts: BOM Baked, BOM Wheat, BOM Thorefacto, BOM Coriander Sugars: Belgian dark and white candy sugar. Hops: Early hop: East Kent Golding, Styrian Golding. Late hop: East Kent Golding, Styrian Golding, Cascade. Dry hop (minimum): Cascade, Styrian Golding. Yeast: Top yeast beer, second fermentation in the bottle. True to its name this belgian golden ale poured an attractive gold color with great clarity and a fluffy white foam that stuck around and left a fair amount of lacing on my glass. Its aroma was comprised of rich toasty malt, clove, and lemon and flowed well into the refreshing yet complex flavor profile where rich breadiness was accentuated by lemon and grapefruit hop character. As the beer warmed the lemon flavor intensified and took on a candy like sweetness. Though the beer tasted a bit one note at times, it was this lemon flavor that got me thinking of food pairings. Keeping things light, I would pair this beer with sweet / less pungent cheeses such as brie and goat cheese, greek salad w/ feta, and fresh sea food. Desserts may overtake this beer’s delicate flavors, but I’d risk pairing it with a lemon tart for a great complementary pairing. Rating: 7.5/10 Triporteur from Hell (6.66% ABV, 32 IBUs) Brewery’s Description: Triporteur From Hell is a dark beer brewed with hellish burned and roasted BOM malt. The beer reminds us of chocolate, caramel, recently brewed coffee and freshly baked bread. The wheat malt in the unfiltered beer can cause a slight cloudiness. The taste of Hell keeps evolving in the bottle. Malts: BOM Dark Roasted, BOM Wheat Roast, BOM Seasalt, BOM DRC. Sugar: Belgian dark cane sugar. Hops: Hell is hopped at an early stage with traditional East Kent Golding and Styrian Golding. Yeast: Top yeasting beer, second fermentation in the bottle. After recovering as much beer as possible after the bottle gushed upon my opening it I took my time to fully experience this “hellishly” dark ruby red belgian dark ale. From my first whiff and sip I knew this beer would follow suit by being just as complex (for its style). Richer malt flavors from the speciality malts brought notes of caramel and sweet bread. While the dark candi sugar and yeast contributed both sweet and tart fruity esters such as cherry and raisin) along with a slight spiciness that was left on my palate. At 6.66% this beer was quite drinkable despite its complex flavor profile. For food pairings I’d match bold with bold. Braised meats such as lamb, duck, veal, and poultry; gouda, gruyere, and raw milk cheddar cheeses; and desserts that include semi-sweet and dark chocolate and or dark fruits like cherries, cranberries, and dates. Rating: 8/10 BOM Brewery’s beers are imported by Artisanal Imports’ partner company Authentic Beverage Management. Check out their websites for more information on which beers they import and where you can find them. Cheers! Advertisements |
Athletes have competed as Independent Olympians at the Olympic Games for various reasons, including political transition, international sanctions, suspensions of National Olympic Committees, and compassion. Independent athletes have come from the Republic of Macedonia, East Timor, South Sudan and Curaçao following geopolitical changes in the years before the Olympics, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (present-day Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia) as a result of international sanctions, from India and Kuwait due to the suspensions of their National Olympic Committees, and Russia for mass violations of anti-doping rules. Medals were won by Independent Olympians at the 1992 and 2016 Olympics, both times in shooting. The naming and country code conventions for these independent Olympians have not been consistent. Independent Paralympians have participated at Paralympic Games for the same reasons as Independent Olympians. Precursors [ edit ] Prior to the 1906 Intercalated Games, entry was not restricted to teams nominated by National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Mixed-nationality teams competed in some team events. Participants in individual events are retrospectively credited to their nationality of the time. The 1940 Winter Olympics was reassigned to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in spring 1939. In concert with Nazi German claims on Czechoslovakia, the organisers refused to recognise the Czechoslovakia NOC; however they were prepared to allow its athletes to enter under the Olympic flag.[1] In any event, the Games were cancelled because of World War II.[1] In the Cold War, some athletes who emigrated from Communist European countries were unable to compete at the Olympics, as their original state's NOC neither wanted them on its own team nor gave them permission to transfer nationality. Some applied to compete as individuals in 1952 and 1956, but were refused.[2] When Guyana joined the 1976 Olympic boycott, its sprinter James Gilkes asked the IOC to be allowed to compete as an individual, but was refused.[3][4][5] The IOC first made provisions for athletes to compete under the Olympic flag in time for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Some NOCs, mostly from Western Europe, wished to attend the Games despite their governments' supporting the American-led boycott. The NOCs hesitated to use national symbols without government approval, so the IOC relaxed this requirement: 14 NOCs competed under the Olympic flag, while three, New Zealand, Spain and Portugal, competed under their respective NOCs' flag.[6][7][8] 1992 Winter and Summer Olympics [ edit ] Independent Olympic Participants [ edit ] During the 1992 Summer Olympics, athletes from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Macedonia competed as Independent Olympic Participants. Macedonian athletes could not appear under their own flag because their National Olympic Committee (NOC) had not been formed. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) was under United Nations sanctions which prevented the country from taking part in the Olympics. However, individual Yugoslav athletes were allowed to take part as Independent Olympic Participants. 58 athletes competed as Independent Olympic Participants, winning three medals. Unified Team [ edit ] The former Soviet Union competed under the Olympic flag at the 1992 Winter Olympics and 1992 Summer Olympics as a Unified Team. 2000 Summer Olympics [ edit ] At the 2000 Summer Olympics, four athletes from East Timor competed as Individual Olympic Athletes during the country's transition to independence. 2012 Summer Olympics [ edit ] Four athletes competed as Independent Olympic Athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics. After the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles and subsequent withdrawal of the country's National Olympic Committee, three athletes from the country who qualified for the Games were allowed to compete independently. Several others competed for either Aruba or the Netherlands. The National Olympic Committee for South Sudan was not established between the formation of that state and the 2012 Olympic qualifying. One athlete from South Sudan, Guor Marial, qualified for the Games, and was allowed to compete as an independent. Athletes from Kuwait were originally allowed to compete as Independent Olympic Athletes as well, because their National Olympic Committee (NOC) was suspended. However, the NOC was reinstated allowing the athletes to compete under their own flag. Kuwait competed under the Olympic flag at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics and 2010 Asian Games.[9] 2014 Winter Olympics [ edit ] The Indian Olympic Association was suspended from the IOC in December 2012, due to problems with its electoral process.[10] New elections were scheduled for 9 February 2014, two days after the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics.[11] Therefore, the three Indian athletes who qualified for the Games were scheduled to compete as Independent Olympic Participants.[10] On 8 and 9 February, Shiva Keshavan participated in the luge competition and received 38th place. He would end up being the only athlete to officially participate as an Independent Olympic Participant. On 11 February 2014 the IOC reinstated the Indian Olympic Association after Narayana Ramachandran, the president of the World Squash Federation, was voted in as the new president of the Indian Olympic Association, allowing the two remaining athletes to compete under the Indian flag rather than as independent athletes. This was the first time such a reinstatement of an NOC occurred as an Olympic Games were underway.[12][13] 2016 Summer Olympics [ edit ] Kuwaiti athletes competed as independent, as the Kuwait Olympic Committee was suspended by the International Olympic Committee due to governmental interference.[14][15][16] This was the second suspension in five years; the first suspension resulted in Kuwaiti athletes being forced to compete under the Olympic flag as Athletes from Kuwait for the 2010 Asian Games. Fehaid Al-Deehani became the first Independent Olympic Athlete to win a gold medal. Like with gold medalists of the Unified Team at the 1992 Winter and Summer Olympics, the Olympic Hymn was played in the victory ceremony. Refugees were allowed to compete under the Olympic Flag at the 2016 Summer Olympics, under the label Refugee Olympic Team. Ten athletes from four countries competed for this team.[17] Due to widespread state-controlled doping in Russia, the International Association of Athletic Federations suspended the All-Russia Athletic Federation in November 2015. As a result, no Russian athlete would able to compete internationally, including the 2016 Olympics, until the suspension was lifted. The IAAF announced a path for athletes who train outside the Russia system and could prove themselves to be clean, as well as those who have helped in the fight against doping, to be eligible to compete as neutral athletes at the 2016 Olympics.[18] Two athletes, Darya Klishina and Yuliya Stepanova were initially cleared for competition, as Independent Athletes.[19] Although Yulia Stepanova was cleared by IAAF because of her revelations regarding Russia's systemic doping program, and IOC's recognition of her 'contribution to the protection and promotion of clean athletes,' she was banned by the IOC in line with decision to ban all Russian athletes with previous doping convictions.[20] IOC also rejected the suggestion that 'neutral' athletes could compete outside of national selection.[21] Klishina was subsequently confirmed as competing under Russian colors, their only competitor in athletics at the 2016 Olympics. [22] 2018 Winter Olympics [ edit ] On December 5, 2017, the IOC announced that Russia would be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics over its state-sponsored doping program. Russian athletes were allowed to participate under the Olympic flag as "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) if they were cleared by a panel, which was chaired by Valerie Fourneyron and had representatives from the IOC, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and the Doping Free Sport Unit of the Global Association of International Sports Federations.[23][24][25] See also [ edit ] a b c The athlete's nationality is listed at the time of the competition. References [ edit ] Citations [ edit ] |
A report surfaced the day before the Steelers' Week 5 win over Philadelphia that their outside linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley would rotate snaps with Chris Carter and Jason Worilds, respectively. James Harrison played the entire game. So much for that. We won't know what would have happened had Woodley not injured his hamstring during the game, leaving Worilds in for most of it (he had a sack in Woodley's absence). One thing is for sure, though. After a series or two to get warm, Harrison was the same player he has been during the outstanding stretches of his career. His strength was an asset, helping seal an edge over a very good running team, and he was able to rush to the tackle's outside, appearing to be held as he worked to get around him. No flag. Looks like all things are normal for Harrison and the Steelers' defense, a unit that allowed similar passing numbers in Week 3, but gave up more than twice as many points. Harrison and the defense stepped up and made plays while getting stops throughout the game. Knowing that, it's highly unlikely we'll hear more about taking him off the field. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.