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If things had worked out differently, Apocalypse Now would have been directed by George Lucas in 1970, guerrilla-style in Vietnam itself, while the conflict was still raging. Rightly, no studio would finance such an exploit, for fear that Charlie might dislodge the film-maker's lower intestines with a well-aimed bazooka shell. Francis Ford Coppola's vision was far greater, far more artistic and far more bonkers. As he later raved during a Cannes press conference, his film wasn't about Vietnam, "It is Vietnam!" It was expected to be a 14-week shoot in the Philippines, beginning in the spring of 1976, but logistics, weather and general disasters conspired against the film. Worse, Coppola fired his leading man, Harvey Keitel, after two weeks, replacing him with Martin Sheen, who was then nursing private demons of his own, namely booze. When Sheen arrived, he found chaos. Coppola was writing the movie as he went along and firing personnel, people were coming down with varioustropical diseases and the helicopters used in the combat sequences were constantly recalled by President Marcos to fight his own war against anti-government rebels. As for the crew, they worked hard – and boy, did they party hard. Doug Claybourne was brought in as production assistant. As a Vietnam vet, he was one of maybe two or three people working on the movie who had actually been involved in the war. "At the hotel where the crew were based, it was party heaven. We'd have a hundred beers lined up around the swimming pool. There were people diving off the roofs, it was crazy." Then a typhoon hit, and the whole production was temporarily shut down. Join Independent Minds For exclusive articles, events and an advertising-free read for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent With an Independent Minds subscription for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent Without the ads – for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month After a month regrouping at his base in San Francisco to rethink his battle plan, Coppola returned to the jungle. Some of the crew mutinied and didn't go with him. Sheen did, somewhat reluctantly. "I don't know if I'm going to live through this," he told friends. Work now began on the sequences revolving around Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz, the Green Beret general who goes Awol and is hunted down by his own side. During shooting on the set of Kurtz's compound, a shocking discovery was made. One morning, Sheen's wife took the co-producer Gray Frederickson to the temple set, which was strewn with garbage and smelt terrible. "You've got to clean this up," she demanded. "It's a health risk. I won't allow Marty to work here." So Frederickson went to see the production designer, Dean Tavoularis. "They're complaining about you, there are dead rats in there." Looking not very bothered, Tavoularis said, "That's intentional, it gives it real atmosphere." There was a prop guy standing close by who muttered, "Wait till he hears about the dead bodies." Frederickson cried, "What!" Rumours had been flying around about dead bodies on the set but Frederickson discounted them as ludicrous. Then he was taken to the prop store, located behind a tent where everyone ate dinner, and inside was a row of cadavers all laid out. "You guys are nuts, where did these come from. We've got to get rid of this immediately." "No, no, they'll be very authentic, we'll have them upside down in the tress." Frederickson was livid: "You can't do that!" They'd got the stiffs from a guy who supplied bodies to medical schools for autopsies. It turned out he was a grave robber. "The police showed up on our set and took all of our passports," says Frederickson. "They didn't know we hadn't killed these people because the bodies were unidentified. I was pretty damn worried for a few days. But they got to the truth and put the guy in jail." Later, a huge truck showed up and soldiers started loading the bodies inside. "Where do we take these," one of them asked. "I don't know? The cemetery?" Frederickson answered. Turned out they couldn't because nobody was going to foot the bill to bury them. "Oh, don't worry," they said. "We'll dump them somewhere." And they drove away. "I don't know what they did with them," says Frederickson. "So for the scenes in the movie we had extras hanging from trees, not dead bodies." When Brando arrived, he shocked everybody – he was enormous, maybe 300 pounds. "You couldn't see around him," says Frederickson. This gave Coppola palpitations, as he had envisioned Kurtz as a lean and hungry warrior. Also, what the hell was he going to wear? There was no Green Beret uniform on earth big enough! Worse, Brando hadn't learnt his lines or done any preparation whatsoever for the role. "Francis had to literally start from scratch with him," says Doug Claybourne. "He had to bring him up to speed on what the thing was about and who the character was." According to his co-star Dennis Hopper, the production was shut down for a week while Coppola read Brando the script out loud. "Nine-hundred people, the cast and crew, just sat and waited!" One day, suddenly, Brando shaved all his hair off and arrived at the idea of improvising his scenes and letting Coppola's camera capture whatever came out of his mouth. Self-conscious about his killer-whale appearance, Brando also stipulated that he dress in black and for the most part be filmed in shadow. Coppola agreed to steer his camera away from his enormous belly. Brando wanted nothing to do with Hopper, due to his drink-and-drugs lifestyle; for their scenes together, they had to be filmed separately on alternate nights. Hopper was in a bad way according to George Hickenlooper, who directed the documentary Hearts of Darkness about the making of Apocalypse Now. "Dennis recounted the story to me that Francis came to him and said, 'What can I do to help you play this role?' Dennis said, 'About an ounce of cocaine.' So he was being supplied by the film production drugs that he could use while he was shooting." Hopper's performance as a crazed photojournalist is, well, crazed. "That's the way he was, on and off camera," says Frederickson. "But he was fun and everybody loved him. There wasn't an edge to his craziness at all. Actually, he's a lot more serious and less friendly now that he's not so crazy." For some of the crew he was also taking his method acting a little bit too far. "Dennis was known at that time for never taking a shower," says Claybourne. "You didn't want to stand too close to him." Catastrophes plagued the production. Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack. Coppola convinced himself he was to blame and one evening had an epileptic seizure. "We had access to too much money and little by little we went insane," he later confessed. Hopper said, "Ask anybody who was out there, we all felt like we fought the war." Coppola had more to lose than most. Some of the money being squandered was his own, several million in fact, and he faced financial ruin if the film couldn't be completed. No surprise that he suffered a nervous breakdown, declaring on three separate occasions that he intended to commit suicide. Apocalypse Now opened in 1979 and is today regarded as a masterpiece. Claybourne recalls helping organise press screenings in New York. "I had all the actors together at the theatre but I couldn't find Dennis. I had to go back to the hotel and I found him in his room, stark naked with his cowboy hat and his cowboy boots on. I said, 'Dennis, it's time to go to the screening, man.'" Years later, when Hickenlooper made his documentary, most of the stars and crew were happy to talk about the movie, except Brando. Hickenlooper tracked him down to the set of a movie and made his move. "'Mr Brando, we're making a documentary on Apocalypse Now, would you be prepared to do an on-camera interview?'" Brando turned round and stared like death into Hickenlooper's face. "Why are you making a film about that fat fuck, he owes me $2m." Obviously, Brando was having issues with his royalty checks from Coppola. "You tell that fat fuck that if he pays me the two million, you can film me taking a shit." With that, the trailer door slammed shut. Hickenlooper never got his interview. Robert Sellers is the author of 'Bad Boy Drive: The Wild Life and Fast Times of Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson', published by Preface Publishing |
Shoes that can teach you how to dance. Gloves that bring strength to a stroke victim’s weakened hand. A dress that can double as a video screen. Call these wearables, the future of the growing world of computer-human interaction. The science is in its infancy, but, as processors become smaller and more powerful, we will stop carrying them and start wearing them, a la Google Glass, Fitbit and the Apple Watch. At Georgia Tech, students and faculty members are imagining a world of interactive computing, and designers are making those fancies into realities. The shoes, the gloves, the dress and other devices will be demonstrated and discussed Friday and Saturday during Georgia Tech’s Wearable Technology Symposium. Representatives from Intel, Samsung, Clothing Plus, User Insight, InReality, Formation Design and others will be in attendance. Georgia Tech industry partner Sparkfun will lead a workshop that challenges participants to complete a wearable garment prototype in under six hours. Among the presenters will be Tech graduate Emily Keen, 25, who devoted her master’s thesis in Industrial Design to creating the Smart Ballet Shoe, which provides “tactile” feedback to the dancer, indicating proper balance, alignment and weight distribution. A dancer who trained at the Atlanta Ballet Center for Dance Education, Keen also developed Ballet Hero, a device that helps teachers demonstrate movements by breaking them into “key frames.” The teacher wears a garment fitted with conductive thread and LED lights, which helps simplify complex sequences in the same way that the popular video game Guitar Hero simplifies guitar solos. Ph.D. candidate James Hallam will demonstrate his own device, a set of “haptic” gloves that help victims rehabilitate arms weakened by lateral damage. Stroke typically affects one side of the body but not the other. Using haptic or tactile feedback, the gloves prompt the weakened hand to copy the strong hand on a series of exercises. Hallam will demonstrate a prototype and, he said, “I’m working on getting gloves suitable for an early trial.” Many of the devices employ “soft circuit” technology, using conductive nylon thread wrapped in microns-thick stainless steel. The results are clothes that can plug into a power source, but — once unplugged — are indeed hand-washable. |
Thanks for stopping by! If you missed our project on Kickstarter, please visit our website at CustomSLR.com. Again thank you for everyone's interest and support. Join us on Facebook or Twitter to stay up to date with our latest news and updates. Best regards, Custom SLR Team Hello Kickstarters! We are thrilled to introduce the Custom SLR ProDot, a textured, press-on dot that easily adheres to the camera shutter button, which instantly makes the shutter more responsive and helps reduce camera shake and finger fatigue when capturing photos. Photographers are constantly in search of more precision and control from their DSLR’s shutter release, and the ProDot’s textured surface and raised button-padding will allow for a more ergonomic feel and an instant improvement to the most critical engagement point of the camera, its shutter button. But the uses for the ProDot don’t stop there! Any push-button experience can find heightened control with the addition of this remarkably-simple and convenient accessory. The ProDot’s no-slip grip and finger cushioning will enhance the user experience for consumer electronic devices and video game enthusiasts, as well as users of computer mice, who will find RSI relief with less forceful clicks. The Custom SLR ProDot will be available in low-profile black, high-visibility red, and clear color face. We are so grateful for your continued support, and look forward to bringing the ProDot to market. Spread the word, help us get “kickstarted,” and Feel the Difference™ with the ProDot! Thank you, Custom SLR Team www.customslr.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/customslr Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/customslr NEW: iPhone + iPad Friendly What is the ProDot compatible with? The ProDot fits most digital and film cameras that have a round shutter button. In addition, we have found it works well on computer mouses and other push-button devices that have a smooth surface. How does it attach to the camera shutter button? The ProDot attaches to most surfaces with a special 3M adhesive that is easy to apply. We have found that we can apply/re-apply the ProDot to several devices before the adhesive starts to lose its stickiness. The adhesive does not leave behind residue. When will I receive the ProDots? We hope to ship rewards out in the second half of December 2012. Updates will be provided on the current status of the production. They will ship from San Francisco, CA so shipping times may vary. Why the funding? The $3,500.00 funding goal is to help cover molding fees and R&D including helping us explore future applications and uses of the ProDot. Production will be done in China at a company that makes products like the IBM Trackpoints. Who designed the ProDot? The ProDot is designed by Ben Wong, who has also designed the revolutionary C-Loop strap mount, universal M-Plate and ergonomic Split Strap Technology. Patent Pending? Patents have been filed. Where do I learn more about Custom SLR? You can learn more about Custom SLR and our other products at our main website, www.customslr.com. Special Thanks Dvcal.com, Missing Cloud, Ltd., Ahrens Design Group |
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc has developed a prototype for a new mirror technology that could cut by half the cost of building a solar thermal plant, the company’s green energy czar said on Friday. Bill Weihl said that if development and testing go well, he could see the product being ready in one to three years. “Things have progressed,” Weihl said in an interview. “We have an internal prototype.” Google has been looking at unusual materials for the mirror’s reflective surface and the substrate on which the mirror is mounted. In solar thermal technology, the sun’s energy is used to heat a substance that produces steam to run a turbine. Mirrors focus the sun’s rays on the heated substance. The Internet search engine company, which has been investing in companies and doing research of its own to produce affordable renewable energy, wants to cut the cost of making heliostats, the fields of mirrors that track the sun. “There is a decent chance that in a small number of years, we could have a 2-X reduction in cost,” he said. Global companies are increasingly investing in green technology as the world grapples with global warming and governments strive to implement regulations that could limit greenhouse gas emissions. Google has invested in two solar thermal companies, eSolar and BrightSource, with which it has discussed the new mirror technology, Weihl said. He said the technology was not at a stage where it could be tested externally, but he added that both eSolar and BrightSource were interested in it. “If it works, it would absolutely be something they would use,” he said. |
You might be signed up for Lovely-Faces.com’s dating services and not even know it. Website creators Paolo Cirio and Alessandro Ludovico took information from 250,000 Facebook users and used it to create their project which uses facial recognition technology to categorize users into the kinds of people they look like they would be. Problem is they didn’t ask permission first from the profile owners, but they claim since it’s part of a “social experiment” it should be fine. The site’s not really a dating site. On Face to Facebook, the minds behind Lovely-Faces.com explain that the website was created to prove how virtual identity is increasingly unstable when you consider how easy identity theft is online and how companies can easily take advantage of this information, with or without Facebook’s permission. On the Theory section of the website, they elaborate: And it’ll eventually mutate, from a plausible translation of real identities into virtual management, to something just for fun, with no assumed guarantee of trust, crumbling the whole market evaluation hysteria that surrounds the crowded, and much hyped, online social platforms. Facebook isn’t pleased with this use of their data, even though Lovely-Faces.com promises that they will remove anyone who wants their picture taken off the site. “Scraping people’s information violates our terms,” Facebook’s director of policy communications Barry Schnitt said to Wired. “We have taken, and will continue to take, aggressive legal action against organizations that violate these terms. We’re investigating this site and will take appropriate action.” More on TIME.com: U.S. Surveillance, Chinese Espionage and My Impending Lockout from Faceboook Two Minute Video: Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego Get Social on Facebook Airlines To Keep Users Connected on Facebook In Flight |
Cuba wants to pay off its Soviet-era debt in rum. The cash-strapped island nation has offered to pay back $270 million in debt to the Czech Republic using rum and pharmaceuticals instead of money. The Czech finance ministry said negotiations over how the old debt will be paid are still in the "early stages," and stressed that it would like at least part of the debt to be paid in cash. "The Cuban side has offered a list of commodities, including medications and several brands of rum, to settle part of the debt," said ministry spokeswoman Katerina Vaidisova. The Czech Republic imported $17 million worth of rum in 2015. If Cuba's full debt was settled with the spirit, the supply would last the country an estimated 15 years. Vaidisova said the two parties were still debating exactly how much Cuba owes. That's because most of the debt is counted in Soviet rubles and must be converted into an existing currency. It's also not clear exactly what the Czech government would do with the rum. Most pharmaceuticals can not be used as payment because of stringent European Union regulations. Cuban officials were not immediately available to comment. Communist countries often used commodities as a form of payment during the Soviet era. Cuba regularly exchanged its sugar for Soviet fuel, for example. Flying to Cuba: What you need to know Cuba accumulated huge external debts during the Cold War. It defaulted on much of it in the 1980s. The U.S. reestablished formal diplomatic relations with Cuba last year, but the country is still cut off of most international financing. It's also excluded from the IMF and the World Bank, having withdrawn from the organizations in the 1960s. It will have to settle its debts -- or at least reach an agreement on them -- before being readmitted into the institutions. The Paris Club, an informal group of rich creditor countries, said last year that Cuba owed its members more than $11 billion. Several members of the club, including the U.K., Australia, Canada and France, agreed last year to restructure portions of their Cuban debt and wave some payments. In exchange, Cuba agreed to pay them $2.6 billion over the next 18 years. Russia has written off 90%, or $32 billion, of Cuba's debt. |
Baseball never lacks for intriguing story lines. There is always a player breaking out and there is always a player declining. There are Cinderella teams and disappointing collapses. In this sport, you can always find something new and exciting to watch. But this post isn’t about those expectation defying feats. On the contrary, this post is about the predictable and reliable greatness of a guy named Miguel Cabrera and the absurdity dwelling beneath it. Prior to the start of the season, our Depth Chart projections spit out a 2016 projected slash line of .310/.393/.524 for Cabrera, which amounted to a .387 wOBA. After a disappointing 0-for-5 game yesterday, Cabrera currently sits at .301/.379/.538 with a .383 wOBA. It’s not a perfect match for his projected line, but it’s damn close. His overall production is down from when he was a Triple Crown and MVP winner, but that’s to be expected for a 33-year-old. He’s still a stellar hitter putting up impressive numbers that are well in-line with what we expect to see from the future Hall of Famer. But underneath his cumulative numbers are a couple of jarring splits. First, Cabrera entered play on Thursday with the largest platoon split among qualified hitters in baseball. 2016 Top-Five Largest Platoon Splits Hitter wOBA vs. LHP wOBA vs. RHP Difference Miguel Cabrera .237 .442 .205 Jayson Werth .475 .272 .203 Stephen Piscotty .511 .319 .192 Lorenzo Cain .465 .282 .183 Marcell Ozuna .534 .360 .174 Note: Qualified hitters only Stats current through the start of play on Thursday But look closely and you’ll notice there’s something particularly absurd about Cabrera’s platoon split. All five of the hitters listed on that leaderboard are right-handed hitters and they are all demonstrating the expected split of hitting lefties better… all of them except for Cabrera, that is. Miggy not only has the largest platoon split in baseball at the moment, but it’s a reverse platoon split. So far this season, he is crushing same-side pitchers but has been utterly worthless against left-handed ones. One of my favorite things about Miguel Cabrera’s career is that he’s provided remarkably similar value at the plate over his career regardless of the handedness of the pitcher as evidenced by his career splits: 155 wRC+ vs. LHP, 152 wRC+ vs. RHP. But this year, well, take a look for yourself. Platoon splits take a notoriously long time to stabilize. In fact, it wasn’t until this season that Cabrera’s career platoon splits hit the stabilization threshold for right-handed hitters — 2,000+ plate appearances against lefties and righties. As a result, the fact that Miguel Cabrera has struggled mightily in 83 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers this season — while striking and notable — isn’t necessarily all that meaningful. But this isn’t the only atypical split for Cabrera right now. In addition to sporting the largest platoon split, he also has one of the biggest home/road splits. 2016 Top Five Largest Home/Road Splits Name Road wOBA Home wOBA wOBA difference Matt Duffy .204 .379 .175 Martin Prado .422 .250 .172 Maikel Franco .380 .216 .164 Miguel Cabrera .316 .477 .161 DJ LeMahieu .294 .447 .153 Note: Qualified hitters only Stats current through the start of play on Thursday Although hitting better at home than on the road isn’t quite as absurd as an extreme reverse platoon split, it’s still well beyond the norm for Cabrera. Throughout his career, he’s been a consistent hitter across all situations but, as you can see in the chart below, that hasn’t been the case this season: If you’re like me, the first thing you might be thinking is that these two bizarre splits are related. Perhaps the majority of Cabrera’s at-bats against lefties have come on the road and this is just a different way of visualizing the same aberration in his current statistical profile. That sure sounds like an excellent theory, but it’s not what’s happening here. As it turns out, 36.5% of his plate appearances at home have come against left-handed pitchers compared to just 18.6% on the road. 2016 Miguel Cabrera’s Splits by wRC+ Home Away Total vs. LHP 47 32 41 vs. RHP 297 109 182 Total 205 97 – Cabrera has been consistently awful against lefties whether at home or on the road. Against righties, he’s been out of this world incredible at home and merely average on the road. So what we’re seeing here is two distinct splits in which Cabrera is underperforming. Are there any conclusions to draw from this or is it just a statistical oddity? An easy and appropriate answer to that question is “It’s just a statistical oddity.” But that doesn’t mean there aren’t trends present here which merit some attention going forward. For starters, as his difficulties against left-handed pitching might lead you to believe, Cabrera has struggled mightily against one of lefties’ primary weapons against right-handed hitters: the changeup. By our Pitch Type Linear Weights, there is no pitch against which Cabrera has done more damage over his career than the changeup. His 2.30 wCH/C indicates that he has produced 2.3 runs above average per 100 changeups he’s seen. This year, however, he’s put up a dismal -3.29 wCH/C. According to Brooks Baseball, his 2016 results against the changeup have been worse than they have against any other pitch. This is a triviality at this point in the season, but it still raises an eyebrow. As a hitter ages, there will come a time when his pitch recognition will slip. Is this the first hint of that occurring for Cabrera? Or will he soon return to crushing changeups and make this bizarre platoon split vanish? As for the home/road split, I have no compelling explanation. I looked to see whether or not he’s played the majority of his road games in pitcher-friendly parks, but found no compelling evidence beyond one note that the only road stadium in which he’s played two series so far this season is the Royals’ spacious Kauffman Stadium. I have no reason at this time not to expect this split to stabilize as the season wears on. Miguel Cabrera is among the top-10 hitters in the American League by wRC+, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. But where there has typically existed through-and-through consistency, there are little hints of flaws appearing for Cabrera if you look too closely. Maybe they’ll fade away or maybe they’re early signs of the deterioration brought on by aging that will inevitably come for Cabrera as it comes for each and everyone of us. As long as he’s still producing overall, however, there’s little to actually worry about here. Reverse platoon splits aren’t a sustainable oddity and Cabrera’s stat lines are all but certain to even out sooner or later. Of course, the hope is that this evening out will occur by his production against lefties and on the road rising to meet his production against righties and at home, not vice versa. |
Welcome back to another monthly update. I’m sure many of you have watched the 24 hours of Le Mans over the weekend. What an exciting race that was, and good news for us as, although they did set a new fastest lap time in qualification, they did not break the record for the most number of laps driven in the race, so we can continue as Studio 397 for another year! We are heavy in development currently in all areas and look forward to bringing you several updates over the next few months and beyond. Starting on August 1st we will open registration for the rFactor 2 round of the World’s Fastest Gamer competition by McLaren. The winner of that competition will be offered one of the best jobs in esports: that of an official simulator driver in the Formula 1 team. In four rounds people will battle to set the fastest time on different configurations of Silverstone and Zandvoort and compete head to head in weekly races for championship points. These races will all be done in a soon-to-be-announced McLaren GT car. UI We have been getting a lot of questions on our new UI lately, which is taking us a bit longer than we anticipated. We’ve already shown you various new screenshots, so we thought this month might be a good time to explain a little bit more about its technical background. For some of you all these terms might be a bit too technical. They are all modern web technologies that allow us to create an interface that is flexible and accessible from all kinds of locations. A few months ago we already explained the UI is built with HTML. We have chosen to embed a modern browser to render it, and the actual connection with the local game is done via a REST based interface. This interface allows you to control all aspects of the game, and because this technology will both be added to the client and dedicated server, it means we have vastly extended the ways in which you can write all kinds of tools on top of that. Just as an example, this enables you to create live timing pages that can be used as an overlay for broadcasting. You might have seen this a couple of weeks ago when VEC broadcast their 24h race in DX11. There are many other possible applications though, such as remotely connecting to the garage of a team mate and making improvements to his setup while he is still driving. Content We have converted most of our content to DX11 by now, but there are still a few items left. Alongside this roadmap update, we will release two updated pieces of content tomorrow. The São Paulo track, which has seen various texture updates and the Formula 2, which had both texture and physics updates, details of which can be found in the changelog below. In terms of new content, we mentioned the McLaren GT car earlier and cannot wait to show you more updates on it, content which is aligned is important to us, and over the next couple of months we hope you will be pleasantly surprised! Additionally, we are working hard on bringing Zandvoort to you in all its glory and of course are close to releasing a fantastic car for racing the Radical SR3. Radical Paint Competition It’s paint time! That’s right, get your team’s or personal livery in the official release of the Radical SR3. We will add the top 20 designs into the game as part of the release of the Radical SR3. We have created a special “paint version” of the car, which is available in the workshop. If you subscribe to it, it will automatically be downloaded and installed. Included with the car is a template, which can be found in the “Templates” folder of your rFactor 2 install. You can use any paint program that can load PSD (Photoshop) files. We advise you to first make a copy of the file before you start painting. When you have created your paint, save it as a DDS file. The folder you should use for that can be seen in the showroom if you’ve loaded the car there. You might need to hit “CREATE DIR” to create the folder the first time, and if you’ve updated the paint while the game was still loaded, hit “RELOAD” to refresh the folder. If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask in our forum or on Discord! For the record, you cannot yet drive the car, you can only look at it in the showroom (click on “TUNING” on the car screen). Talking about which, we spared no expense and built you a brand new showroom. We hope you like it! Guidelines No alcohol, tobacco or illegal products Any paint job you make is yours and not taken from someone else You will need to transfer rights to us for the paint to use in the game You guarantee it does not infringe on any copyrights of third parties, so no logos that you do not have permission to use How to enter Please read the guidelines above, then email us on radicalpaints@studio-397.com with 3 images from the showroom, a download link to your PSD and the driver and team name you want to use for your car. The deadline for submission is midnight GMT 27th June 2017! Miscellaneous We know with DX11 that many of you cannot use plugins that render to the screen, and we are currently reviewing the best way to add this capability in a future-proof and rock solid way. Our current method of giving plugins access to the screen can cause issues with the stability of our platform as a whole. As a final note we are proud to announce that we’ve signed a license agreement with MoTec and will add official support for their tools to our simulation. More details about this will be released in the upcoming months. In the mean time, enjoy the summer! Changelog Build (DX11) Fixed: VR trackside cameras. Fixed: VR Showroom is now rendering properly. Fixed VR Monitor and replay working in-game. Fixed: Multi-monitor selection now available. Fixed: Minor issues with UI font. Fixed: AI way-points now show in Dev Mode. Fixed: Zoom and out of focus elements in track-side cameras when in multi-view mode. (Triple screen) Fixed: Focus on UI elements in Viewer.exe Fixed: Real Road rendering issues. Added: Brand New High resolution “Hangar” style showroom to better showcase cars. Added: VR Improvements to the Post processing effects by disabling the Depth-of-Field. Updated: Minor performance and video memory improvements. Updated: Showroom post process preset. Updated: The graphics engine now renders ambient shadows while in the showroom. Formula Two |
Death Blow: Almost two years ago, President Obama's solicitor general told the Supreme Court that without the individual mandate, ObamaCare would fail. But after winning that victory, the administration itself has effectively killed the mandate. In his oral arguments before the court, Donald Verrilli made it abundantly clear that, without the individual mandate, ObamaCare would "make matters worse, not better." As he told the justices, the "guaranteed issue" and "community rating" regulations at the heart of ObamaCare won't work if you let the young and healthy choose not to buy insurance. States that tried it, he explained, found these regulations to be "highly counterproductive," noting that insurance rates in New Jersey doubled, causing its market to collapse. He also noted that after Kentucky tried these reforms, "virtually every insurer left the market." It turns out that if healthy people can wait until after they get sick to buy insurance, and get it guaranteed at a subsidized rate, most will do so, resulting in an insurance premium "death spiral." ObamaCare was supposed to avoid this mainly through the mandate and the tax penalty on those who went uninsured. But after the cancellation fiasco last year, Obama added a one-year expansion to the mandate's "hardship exemption," to include anyone who'd had policies canceled. Then, just last week, Obama quietly extended this massive loophole for two more years, as the Wall Street Journal discovered. So for the next three years, people can claim an exemption if they've had their previous plan canceled and "consider the other plans available unaffordable." They just need a copy of the cancellation notice. But insurance refuseniks can also get an exemption if they claim "another hardship in obtaining health insurance." For that, they only need documentation "if possible." The exemption standards were ridiculously loose to begin with. Someone claiming to have "experienced domestic violence" is automatically exempt, without submitting any documentation whatsoever. Another easy out: Just fail to pay a utility bill until a shut-off notice arrives. Send that in and — poof! — hardship exemption. Democrats also neutered the IRS's ability to collect the penalty — to avoid political blowback — giving the uninsured little incentive to pay. The latest extension puts the final nail in the mandate coffin, since now only a fool would pay the penalty. And so, as Verrilli warned, ObamaCare will "make matters worse, not better." Time to start over, Mr. President. |
However Nasser Judeh, Jordan's information minister, said the findings were "baseless and untrue," state media reported. Judeh said that groups involved in attacks were attempting to defame Jordan by providing "fabricated information which could reach human rights organisations." Under the CIA rendition program, suspects were flown from one country to another, usually in secrecy, without the benefit of open legal proceedings. US officials have acknowledged flying around 150 suspects from one country to another, but say they received diplomatic assurances from foreign authorities torture would not be used on the detainees. 'Abusive interrogation' "We've documented more than a dozen cases in which prisoners were sent to Jordan for torture" Joanne Mariner, Human Rights Watch The group said Jordan commonly tortured suspects by given them extended beatings on the soles of their feet. The group said Jordan commonly tortured suspects by given them extended beatings on the soles of their feet. "The Bush administration claims that it has not transferred people to foreign custody for abusive interrogation,'' said Joanne Mariner, terrorism and counterterrorism director at Human Rights Watch. "But we've documented more than a dozen cases in which prisoners were sent to Jordan for torture." It said at least five Yemenis, three Algerians, two Saudis, a Mauritanian, a Syrian, a Tunisian, and one or more Chechens from Russia were rendered to Jordan. Five of the men who had been sent to Jordan are now in US custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it added. Inquiry urged One part of the report details a note written by a rendered prisoner - reportedly since transferred to the Guantanamo Bay - while in Jordanian custody in late 2002 which refers to his ill treatment. Ali al-Hajj al-Sharqawi wrote that GID interrogators beat him "in a way that does not know any limits". "They threatened me with electricity, with snakes and dogs ... [They said] we'll make you see death ... They threatened to rape me," it said. The group urged the US government to discontinue the CIA's rendition program and urged Jordan to open an inquiry into its intelligence department's alleged use of torture and ill-treatment. Human Rights Watch said its report was based on first hand information from former Jordanian prisoners who had been detained with the non-Jordanian terrorism suspects. |
Engineers at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, have the ultimate iPhone app. But it’s not something you will find in the App Store. With a few taps on the screen, I can send a replica of Nasa’s Curiosity rover trundling - at a slow walking pace - across the rocky terrain of JPL’s outdoor test area, known as Mars Yard. I find myself treating the experience like a video game: starting out cautiously with a few gentle turns, before commanding the car-sized rover to cross some sizable boulders. Mobility test engineer Daniel Fuller calls ‘game over’ when I manage to ground one of the vehicle’s six wheels on a particularly large lump of stone. Thankfully the real rover, some 200 million kilometers (125 million miles) away on the Red Planet, is in safer hands. And the way it’s driven is rather different. “It’s a common misconception that we’re just ‘joysticking’ it or we’re driving and sending these commands and we’re suffering a 15 minute delay,” says Fuller, who divides his time between the rover control room and Mars yard. “We actually plan an entire day – or a sol as it’s called on Mars.” Each of these daily missions is overseen by people like Sanjeev Gupta from Imperial College London. When I meet him, the geologist and senior member of the JPL science team is living on Mars time. “During the Mars night we prepare the sequences the rover has to do,” he explains. “Then we uplink those commands and, when the rover wakes up, it carries out those tasks. But a Mars day is 40 minutes longer than an Earth day so you get progressively out of synch, so the time I arrive at work changes by an hour every day.” And that’s not all. “We don’t get a signal direct from the rover to Earth,” says Gupta. “It has to go through communications satellites - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and Odyssey - and these obviously have different times [when they’re overhead].” “Generally you’re moving an hour forward each day but suddenly, like tomorrow, I’m going to step back two hours. I’m progressively getting used to it but the first three weeks were awful,” he groans, “I was permanently exhausted.” Unexpected plans During the Martian night, dozens of scientists, including Gupta, anaylse the images and data coming back from the Red Planet and discuss what they want to do next. They hold a series of meetings to prioritise time on the instruments, choose which images to capture and where the rover’s going to move. “It’s quite complicated because you have to work out how much power each instrument is going to use and how much heating time they require,” Gupta says. “Because they’re so many instruments, everybody wants to have a go – so one instrument might get five minutes, another ten minutes.” Once the arguments are had and decisions reached, the drivers get to work, coding the next day’s instructions. And this is way more complicated than programming one of those ‘80s-era Big Trak robot toys. Curiosity is the fourth rover (since the 1996 Pathfinder mission) Nasa has run on Mars in recent years, and the procedures have got better with every mission. Armed with 3D images from its navigation cameras, the drivers work through the Martian night to map out the best, smoothest, route to the next destination. They factor in any stops along the way, to take pictures or operate an instrument, and run a simulation of the journey to double-check they have got it right. The aim is that when a new day dawns on Mars, the drivers are ready to go. Once either the Odyssey or MRO satellite is in the right place, they send a command to wake up the rover and upload its commands for the day. A bit like emailing a ‘to do’ list. Gupta admits that the whole process is more time consuming than he first imagined. “Things that I can do in an hour on Earth, take days on Mars. Usually on Earth I work by myself, here we’ve got a team of 200 scientists so we have to work out these interactions and protocols.” Once it’s started moving, Curiosity also has the ability to think for itself using data from its hazard avoidance cameras and built-in safely protocols. This autonomy should prevent it grounding on a rock or falling over an unexpected cliff but also adds to the pressure on the drivers and scientists planning each sol’s activities. This is where the rovers in Mars Yard come in handy. This dusty outdoor arena at the back of the lab is around the size of a couple of tennis courts. Strewn with boulders, mounds of sand and even a cliff face, it’s home to two full-scale mock-ups of Curiosity. Although the real thing was tested extensively before launch, these rovers are still in use everyday by drivers trying to choreograph movement on Mars. “We do have a pretty good idea how it’s going to perform,” Fuller confirms. “But these give us a chance, in flight, to modify and fine tune and to get as much bang for our buck as possible.” Specially, they allow engineers to test movements, software and work on any glitches that develop on the real thing. The first rover is an identical copy of Curiosity; it’s even loaded with the exact same software. The second – and the one (for obvious reasons) they let me control – is not fitted with the same onboard computers, earning it the nickname Scarecrow, because it doesn’t have a “brain”. Although it’s the same size as Curiosity, Scarecrow is lighter, to simulate the effects of moving around in the lower gravity of Mars. Scarecrow is little more than an impressively large remote controlled car. Scroll the tumblers to set distance and angle of movement on the iPhone app, hit go and it reacts instantly, there’s even a stop button if things start going awry. Thanks to the efforts of its drivers and the engineering team behind them, Curiosity has covered (at the time of writing) more than 300m (1,000ft), including a single push of 42m (138ft), its biggest roll to date since landing on Mars two months ago. Despite being millions of miles away, it’s considerably further than I achieve before grounding Scarecrow. “That’s the most fun a reporter has ever had with our rover,” says Fuller. I’m not sure he is paying me a compliment. If you would like to comment on this article or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter. |
Tuesday, November 26, 2013 The Medina (Ohio) Gazette Online reports The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday revoked the law license of a Wadsworth attorney convicted last month of trafficking in a dangerous drug. Harry E. Jackson, 65, of 5534 State Road, is spending four years at Lorain Correctional Institution in Grafton on a charge of aggravated drug trafficking and two counts of complicity in aggravated drug trafficking involving bath salts. The charges are second- and fourth-degree felonies. Jackson, who was convicted after pleading guilty to the charges in Summit County Common Pleas Court, owns The Odd Corner — a tobacco supplies store at 360 E. Exchange St., Akron. Undercover police reported they bought bath salts from a store clerk there on March 23, 2012. At the time of his conviction, Jackson was not practicing law and his law license is listed as inactive on several online directories of lawyers. In addition to prison time, Jackson was fined $25,000 and his driver’s license was suspended for five years at his Oct. 11 sentencing hearing before visiting Judge Judy Hunter. Jackson had three codefendants — Daniel I. Dearment, Dannielle L. Hileman and Eugene B. Hoover — and all have been convicted. The investigation was completed by University of Akron police in conjunction with city police. Jackson’s attorney, Kirk Migdal, is appealing the conviction. Wikipedia has information about bath salts. The order of interim suspension (not revocation, as reported above) is linked here. (Mike Frisch) https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2013/11/the-medina-ohio-gazette-online-reports-the-ohio-supreme-court-on-thursday-revoked-the-law-license-of-a-wadsworth-attorney.html |
For many little boys, the notion of growing up big and strong like Superman is dangled in front of them like a rare gem by parents who are eager for finicky tots to eat their vegetables. “Eat your vegetables,” they say. “You want to be big and strong like Superman, don’t you?" But Paul Darnell, a 2005 Virginia Tech graduate in human nutrition, foods, and exercise actually did grow up to be Superman — or at least his stunt double. Darnell appears this summer in the Warner Bros. “Man of Steel” movie as the stuntman for Henry Cavill, who has the starring role. Darnell has come a long way since his first part — a straight-to-DVD production entitled “Evilution” in which he played a free-running zombie — and has gone on to appear in major blockbusters such as the “Twilight” series as Robert Pattinson’s high-flying vampire double and “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” when he was Adam Sandler’s Krav Maga counterpart. He was also in “Captain America: The First Avenger.” While Stunt Double 101 isn’t a course of study in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, studying nutrition and exercise certainly seem like practical options for a superhero in-training. As an alumnus of the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, and a former member of Virginia Tech’s gymnastics team, Darnell laid a solid foundation for a career of flying, leaping, and otherwise performing physically preternatural tasks on-screen — movements that require knowing how his body works and how to feed it to perform optimally when the cameras roll. Darnell recently spoke to Virginia Tech about his career and his path toward becoming a stunt man. Q: How did you make the transition to stunt man and how did your degree in human nutrition, foods, and exercise help you along that path? A: After graduating from Virginia Tech I packed my bags and moved to California. My education helped me get a job at a physical therapy clinic so I could pay the bills while training and trying to land stunt jobs. I was on the gymnastics club team at Virginia Tech, which is an open-gym style, so I was able to train for all sorts of flips and tricks that a stunt man would need to know. Going to college before I started pursuing stunts really gave me the preparation I needed to become a successful stunt man. Q: Superman is one of the most iconic comic book characters of all-time – what was it like when you were asked to be the Man of Steel’s stunt double? Did you do any special training for it? Was it intimidating the first time you put on that costume? A: Every little boy looks up to Superman and I was no different. I remember pretending to be Superman in my parents’ backyard with a towel wrapped around my neck. So to put on THE actual superman costume, it was fulfilling one of those lifelong dreams. I was able to become the superhero I dreamt of as a kid. Quite a surreal feeling. Superman has the physique of a bodybuilder, so in order to look like him I started training and eating like a bodybuilder. I did intense isolated muscle group trainings with my trainer starting at 4:30 a.m. Monday–Friday. Q: How do you appear to fly on film? A: Most of the film is shot on green screen, which allows the editors to create amazing backgrounds and very realistic effects. There were different techniques used which included green screen and wires to make Superman fly. Q: When Robert Pattinson won an MTV Movie Award for best stunt from the "Twilight" series he gave a shout-out to you for your good work. What was he like to work with? What about Henry Cavill? A: Robert Pattinson is a genuine nice, good-hearted, deep-thinking, individual who I really enjoyed working with. I was honored to have him mention me during the MTV Movie Awards. Henry Cavill is also a truly amazing person. A man’s man. Henry is pretty much a stunt man in the fact that he is super down-to-earth, very strong, and extremely athletic. Working with Henry is just like hanging out with one of the guys. Q: What scenes can we look for in "Man of Steel" and know that it’s you? A: Henry did all of his own stunts in the film. I would rehearse and set up the stunts and Henry would come in and knock them out on film. The few scenes I am in while wearing the suit are so quick it would be very hard to spot me in the suit. I also make a cameo in the beginning of the film as a guard who Russell Crowe takes out. Q: What is the hardest stunt you ever did? How long did it take to shoot it? A: That has to be when I jumped from one moving truck to another while doing a running gainer off the end of one of the trucks in “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” It required one day of rehearsal and one day of shooting. My legs were so sore from the rehearsal that when it came time to shoot the next day I could barely walk. But it’s amazing what you can make your body do when they yell “Action!”. Q: You have a lot of photos on your blog about food that you eat. Why is that important to you? A: I eat a plant-based diet. Lots of fruits and veggies! I avoid most sweets. I’m just not that into them. Some people have computers or other pieces of equipment they use at work; my body is my tool so I try to keep it clean and healthy. Q: You live out the Virginia Tech motto of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) in a very interesting way — by conducting freerunning classes for kids. What are they and why do you do them? A: Freerunning — which is an athletic and artistic way of expressing yourself while running, jumping, and interacting with your surroundings in a fluid style — is my passion. It has changed my life and given me everything I have today. I created a gym, along with two friends who shared my vision, to spread our love of freerunning. It has changed our lives for the better and hope that we can instill in children what we have learned and that anything is possible. Written by Amy Loeffler. |
Story highlights Sam the stuffed toy dog makes his way to the edge of space Gear sent up with him is found, but Sam is missing (CNN) "Have you seen this dog Sam?" "It was last seen flying across Lancashire," reads a missing dog poster showing a white cuddly toy puppy named Sam taking a selfie against a spectacular view of Earth. People in Lancashire, northwest England, are anxiously awaiting his return. Sam is not an ordinary stuffed dog. He was enlisted as an astronaut by children at Morecambe Bay Primary School for a science project. Launched attached to a helium balloon, with tracking equipment and documented by GoPro cameras, he was the first toy-dog astronaut sent on a mission to reach the edge of space. But after his mission, Sam was nowhere to be found. "All the children are obviously upset, and my two daughters really want him to be found," said Emma Lotty Connolley, whose daughters attend Morecambe Bay Primary School. Sam launches from Morecambe Bay Primary School. To help find Sam, Connolley started a Facebook page to spread the word. After less than 12 hours, the group had been joined by more than 900 people and the hashtag #findsam went wild on social media. According to flight data, Sam rose at a rate of 20 feet (6 meters) per second, and reached an altitude of over 15 miles (25 kilometers) above the Earth before the balloon popped. Sam has not been seen since, although his equipment was recovered. Read More |
When British Pakinstani parents Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed murdered their daughter Shafilea after the 17-year-old had resisted an arranged marriage, the subject of honor-based violence moved to the international fore. Like Shafilea, who was suffocated with a plastic bag in her home and in view of her sister, an estimated 5,000 women are killed annually worldwide for behaviors deemed by their families and communities to be “shameful” or “dishonorable.” In a chilling limited edition cover by Leo Burnett Change, the branch of the agency devoted to social change, the February issue of women’s magazine Cosmopolitan U.K. alludes to the death of Shafilea Ahmed with an underwater image shot by photographer Erin Mulvehill. Bound in plastic, the image graphically recalls the horror of honor killings, becoming an urgent plea for awareness and action. The cover works in conjunction with a 7-second film as a campaign for Karma Nirvana, a non-profit aimed directly at aiding victims and survivors of this type of violence. The video, which has been released online, depicts the removal of the plastic from the face of the woman, becoming a symbol of hope and freedom for women around the world. Cosmopolitan has partnered with Karma Nirvana and Henry Jackson Society to commemorate the life of Shafilea Ahmed with the first annual Day of Memory for Britain’s Lost Women on July 14, the day that would be Ahmed’s 29th birthday had she lived. via AdWeek |
How does one do this? Jeepers, it’s complicated. Basically, he noted the number of words tweeted on Twitter, county by county, then the frequency of various swearwords. He drew upon work by a researcher in geographic information science who’d collected 8.9 billion tweeted words, coded by location. According to Strong Language, a blog about swearing, the results then were "smoothed using spatial autocorrection analysis, with Getis-Ord z-scores mapped to identify clusters." What does this mean? How the hell should I know? Oops. Minnesota appears less potty-mouthed than other states, according to maps in which red denotes high use of profanity and blue means low -- defying the notion of "blue" language. Southerners, for example. Lawsy mercy, how they talk (or tweet). They outpace almost everyone when it comes to using the word that rhymes with witch, plus the word that also means manure, as well as damn and hell. "Crap" is most used in northern Utah, and vast stretches of western Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee. But the heartland takes a back seat when it comes to using the F-word, which stretches up and down the coasts, making a U.S. map look like a vise grip of profanity. And ponder the band along the border with Mexico and, of all places, Maine for high use of the maternal variation. Minnesota’s cuss of choice? The Arrowhead records high use of the word that calls to mind a donkey ... and an excavation. State residents prefer "darn" to "damn." In fact, along with a small pocket in Mississippi, the Plains states say "darn" more than the rest of the country. What to make of this? Remember, these data are drawn from Twitter, and it’s difficult to know how many Minnesotans use the dang thing. Still, Professor Harold Hill warned in "The Music Man" about certain words creeping into a boy’s conversation, "words like ’swell’ and ’so’s your old man.’ " Maybe we’ve got trouble -- or perhaps just too much spatial autocorrection analysis. Sheesh. |
Detroit Hosts Its First Preseason Game As They Take on The New York Jets. Football is back in Detroit baby! The Lions host their preseason opener against the Jets in what should be another showcase for the backups. Fans saw a solid win over the Colts on Sunday last week, something that was rare to see during the regular season in 2016. Some good news as well coming into Saturday’s game? It might be another comfortable one. The Jets beat the Titans in their first game 7-3, in a boring shootout that nobody wanted to watch. The Jets are still trying to figure out who their quarterback should be and with their best wide receiver Quincy Enunwa out for the season, the offense looks to be a big question mark for the AFC East team. The Jets defense did produce eight sacks and 10 pass deflections against Tennessee, so their defense could help them win some games this season. Let’s look into the three biggest storylines heading into Saturday’s game. Can A’Shawn Robinson Lead The Defensive Line? The biggest blow to the Detroit Lions so far this season has been losing starting defensive end Kerry Hyder for the season due to an Achilles tear. Detroit can two two things to address this issue. First, find a replacement in free agency or via trade. It could help beef up the line that desperately needs a replacement. Next, they could stick with their younger players. It can be a cheaper option and they may find a diamond in the rough. In either instance, Detroit needs A’Shawn Robinson to step up. With Ziggy Ansah most likely missing the preseason, this is Robinson’s defensive line and he needs to step up this season. Haloti Ngata is on his way out after the 2017 season, so Robinson will be the number one defensive tackle and he needs to start playing like one. Is @Lions defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson ready to take a big step forward in his second season in the NFL? pic.twitter.com/aIN1zKsGD0 — Pro Football Focus (@PFF) August 16, 2017 Sure his first matchup of the season was against the Colts, a team with a weak offensive line, but it was still a good showing for the sophomore. He may have had zero tackles or sacks, but getting two pass deflections on 17 snaps and creating pressure that leads to a sack or incompletion is still positive. The Jets offensive line isn’t much better, but they held the Titans to two sacks, so expect it to be a tad bit more challenging for Robinson and company. Is Kenny Golladay For Real? The hype train for Golladay was in full steam on Sunday. Golladay debuted with the second team and he made a name for himself. He went up against fellow rookie cornerback Quincy Wilson and he made him look like a rookie cornerback in the NFL. Golladay finished the game with three catches for 53 yards and two touchdowns. Kenny Golladay's caught 2 throws he had non business getting … HYPE TRAIN — Erik Schlitt (@erikschlitt) August 13, 2017 Golladay has risen up the depth chart after the performance, taking first team reps on Wednesday. With Golladay taking first team reps, that moves Golden Tate to the slot, something fans wanted to see as it could mean more touches and scores for Tate. The Jets allowed 151 yards through the air last week, while Detroit put up 240 on the Colts. The Jets had 10 pass deflections as well, making the job for Detroit even tougher. The real test for Golladay would be to keep him with the first team and see how he can do against starting cornerbacks. While the Jets secondary isn’t the best in the league it can still be a good learning point for the rookie. http://gty.im/832901226 Greg Robinson Looks To Be The Answer At Left Tackle Coming into the 2017 season, Detroit brought in TJ Lang at right guard, and Rick Wagner at right tackle. The offensive line was a brick wall. That is until Taylor Decker got hurt. Since then Detroit has been looking for a replacement for Decker, signing two former Alabama tackles, Cyrus Kouandjio and trading for former first round pick Greg Robinson. During camp, it was a battle between the two to see who would take over as the starter. After the first game of the preseason, Robinson seemed to pull away. A look at how Greg Robinson performed in the first half tonight pic.twitter.com/HeH7uOGPui — Pro Football Focus (@PFF) August 13, 2017 Again, the Colts don’t have an impressive defensive line, but it is still noteworthy that the left tackle position might be in better hands than what was first expected. The Jets have a better defensive line than the Colts, so this can be a true test for Robinson and for him to prove that he isn’t a one hit wonder. Prediction This game comes down to how well the offensive line can contain the pass rush. Detroit’s quarterback situation is more comfortable than the Jets and with a better-skilled receiving core, Detroit instantly has the advantage on offense. If the line can block well enough for all three quarterbacks, Detroit can win this game easily. The defense for Detroit shouldn’t have too much of a problem as well. The Jets could only run for 56 yards on 31 carries. While the defensive line for Detroit is weak with Hyder down, they shouldn’t have too much of an issue with the Jets backfield. Finally, the quarterback situation in New York after one week gives Christian Hackenberg the lead, going 18/25 for 127 yards. Now Hackenberg played against backups and third strings, so take what he did lightly, but the Titans depth at the defensiveback positions aren’t as good as Detroit’s. Overall, this should be another solid win for Detroit as they impress the home crowd. Detroit wins 28 to 10. Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @BKnappBlogs, find me on Reddit at /u/sportsguy4life and share your thoughts on the Detroit Lions subreddit. |
By BosNewsLife Africa ServiceKHARTOUM, SUDAN ( BosNewsLife )-- Two South Sudanese pastors jailed in Sudan's capital Khartoum and could face the death penalty as part of a wider crackdown on evangelical Christians, trial observers say.The trial of Yat Michael and Peter Yen (also named as David Yein Reith), who are held in the Omdurman prison, began May 19, BosNewsLife learned.Christians say both men were detained during separate visits to Khartoum from their homes in South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011."On May 4, they were each charged with a series of offences, two of which—undermining the constitutional system and waging war against the state—carry potential sentences of the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted," said advocacy group Open Doors, which has closely followed the trial.Michael was reportedly taken into custody on December 21 after preaching the Sunday morning sermon for the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) Khartoum Bahri congregation.After the service, several men who identified themselves as officers from the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) took him away without further explanation, Christians said. The next day, security forces were seen going to Michael’s temporary home where they took some of his clothes and personal belongings.They reportedly told his wife that he was being held in relation to an ongoing investigation, without providing more details.Michael and his wife had gone to Khartoum to seek medical attention for their child. He had been asked to preach at a church during their visit, sources said.The church in Khartoum where Michael preached has suffered pressure from government authorities over land rights, resulting in most of the church being destroyed in December of last year, rights activists said.Yen was detained January 11 after delivering a letter to the Religious Affairs Office in Khartoum asking about his colleague Michael’s arrest in December, according to Christians familiar with the situation.Both men belong to the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church.Their lawyer said charges against them would be dropped, but Christians cautioned that the involvement of the NISS may produce a different outcome.Nahmia Shaloka, a Sudanese lawyer who fled the country because of his human rights activities and now lives in the United States, said in published remarks that the NISS legal counsel will try to create a connection between Michael’s speech at the church and the charges filed against them."For me, there is no evidence," Shaloka said. "So far the whole thing is to give their [the NISS] action legal justification. The NISS claims to have evidence, and this will be clear at the hearing on May 19."Rights group Amnesty International has said that the NISS is an agency that is essentially above the law.While South Sudan has a largely Christian population, Sudan is predominantly Muslim. However, thousands of Southern Sudanese who fled to the north during the long civil war choose to remain. However several Churches trying to meet their needs have come under pressure in recent months.Sudan's Minister of Religion, Shalil Abdullah, has said that the authorities would not issue permits for the construction of new churches as part of wider policy that involves promoting Islamic values. |
Against this awesome diversity of cabbages, the deletion of one gene in Jansson’s cabbage seems almost puny in comparison. Yet CRISPR has been hyped as a world-changing innovation because it allows scientists to easily edit the genomes of nearly any species in the world: plant, animal, or even human. And CRISPR could be an opportunity to reintroduce genetic engineering to the world—to get beyond poisoned names like “GMO” and Monsanto.” To make products that exciting and novel and cooler. Way cooler than slower growing cabbage anyway. In the early days of genetic engineering, big-ag companies focused on traits that could help farmers, either by reducing pesticides or by making weedkillers easier to use. This makes sense as farmers are the direct consumers of ag-company products, but it didn’t make a difference to you buying vegetables in the supermarket. “What’s missing in the first round of food biotechnology are traits focused on the consumer,” says Jason Kelly, CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks, a biotech company that engineers yeast to make flavors and fragrances. And so GMO corn and soybean slipped without much excitement into the food system. With CRISPR, scientists can now genetically engineer foods with much more ease. “I think you’ll start to see more consumer facing traits because you’ll see more traits worked into plants, period,” says Kelly. CRISPR could make all sorts of fruits and vegetables more nutritious and delicious—things you might actually notice and look for. Maybe even create awesome new varieties that become as trendy as kale. That’s the best-case scenario for public excitement about CRISPR food anyways, though the early test cases are not looking so revolutionary. The constraint, for now, is how poorly scientists understand of the genetics of most plants. So there’s DuPont Pioneer, the first big-ag company to license CRISPR technology, which has announced its first CRISPR-edited crop will be waxy corn, expected within five years. You probably have never eaten waxy corn, at least not in recognizable corn form anyway. The variety produces a lot of starch, which is used to thicken food as well as for making textiles, glues, and paper. Again, this makes business sense for DuPont Pioneer. It already breeds waxy corn by eliminating a specific gene through traditional breeding, and CRISPR makes it a lot easier. “We know the gene well, we know the variants of waxy well,” says Neal Gutterson, DuPont Pioneer’s vice president of R&D, on why the company chose waxy corn as its first CRISPR product. For you and me though, the benefits of CRISPR-edited waxy corn are pretty much invisible. On the other hand, Yinong Yang, a biologist at Penn State, is using CRISPR to create a mushroom that doesn’t turn brown at the slightest touch. The project was actually the suggestion of David Carroll, president of Giorgio Fresh Mushrooms, a big mushroom grower. Yang successfully knocked out a browning gene using CRISPR, and that mushroom ended up being the test case for the United States Department of Agriculture’s policy on regulating CRISPR-edited crops. (The USDA decided these crops, where genes are deleted and no foreign DNA is added, do not fall under its regulation.) |
Thursday, September 17, 2009 Maine Man Detained Outside Local CrossFit Gym, Charges Still Unclear By Melissa Urban Chief Correspondent, The CrossFit 603 WORD CHICO, CA (AP) – A Maine man found wandering outside a local CrossFit gym was held for questioning after alleged “mischievous conduct” involving a California Highway Patrol vehicle, although the police admit they are still not sure what charges technically apply. According to a the California Highway Patrol (CHP), on Tuesday, September 6, 2009, Dallas Hartwig (a resident of Brunswick, ME) was taken in for questioning for allegedly disturbing the peace and endangering the welfare of a police cruiser. Mr. Hartwig was accused of repeatedly jumping on the roof of the vehicle, causing a public commotion and damaging state property. One witness (who wished to remain anonymous) described the event. “There was this guy just, like, stalking this cruiser. It was weird, he kept walking up to it, bouncing up and down and then sprinting around the parking lot.” She described the suspect as a white male, 6’ 4” tall, with dark hair, wearing a light blue t-shirt and black board shorts. “He was just hanging out looking sketchy, and then he suddenly just, like, JUMPED on the car. Just jumped right up on the roof. From the ground. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Police immediately reclaimed their cruiser and detained Hartwig for questioning. However, further inspection of the vehicle showed no damage whatsoever, weakening the department’s case. A CHP officer who asked not to be named added, “Uh, we’re not really sure what he did was illegal. Truth be told, we don’t know what the heck to charge him with. There’s always ‘criminal mischief’… but that’s just something we made up to use when we can’t think of anything better.” The officer goes on to say, “I’ve seen the video… it was pretty cool, actually. I wonder if I we can swing by my house on the way to the station so he can show my kids. They’d love it.” Hartwig was released without being charged after several hours of questioning and a lesson in box jumping for members of the CHP Ball-Busters, the department’s co-ed recreational basketball team. Upon his release, Hartwig refused to comment, saying only, “I’m coming for you, Boz.” Later in the week, a suspect matching Hartwig’s description was recorded jumping on a Sacramento city cruiser, leading the CHP to put out an all-points bulletin for his arrest. A CHP representative stated, “The guy’s got ups, that’s for sure, but he’s got half the force running around the parking lot trying to jump on their cars. It’s like Jackass, only with tasers and guns. Loaded guns. Someone’s gonna get hurt.” Melissa Byers The CrossFit 603 WORD |
Burlington residents and visitors will soon be able to save money on parking. The Public Works Commission voted to cut back enforcement hours downtown. The old hours were 8 a.m. To 10 p.m., and the new hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Public Works Director Chapin Spencer says the money the city will lose is nominal. "We have budgeted accordingly in this year's budget to accommodate these small shifts," he said. City officials say the reason they enforce is to create turnover, and that when there isn't a high parking demand, there isn't a need to enforce. “We shoot for an 85-percent occupancy,” said Spencer. “In the early mornings and late evenings, we're not seeing that occupancy.” The commission also voted to change all 15-minute meters in the downtown area to 30-minute meters. Changes will go into effect in December. Meters in the Queen City bring in about 2-million dollars each year. |
By George Fox – @GeorgeJFox On a cold morning in Roseville, resident Nick Taylor, 24, drove up to his girlfriend’s house and ran inside to pick her up with her two-year-old son. He left his car running in the driveway. Instead of returning to a warm vehicle, he got a costly reminder in the form of a $128 ticket on the windshield from Roseville for leaving a vehicle unattended. “I was there for maybe seven or eight minutes before I noticed the ticket,” said Taylor, adding that he was dropping off diapers. He ranted about it on Facebook, blaming the dip*** police for not just knocking on the door and telling him to turn off his car, and his post drew thousands of shares and angry comments, many of them on his side. Police stand by the ticket. “I encourage our officers to write this ticket,” said Roseville Police Chief James Berlin, citing car theft as public safety concern. “All it takes is someone to hop in this car and take off. Then there’s a chase often at a high rate of speed and all that could have been prevented,” Chief Berlin added, saying a remote starter includes safeguards against theft. The Facebook post scolding Roseville Police Department for what he thought was a waste of resources has stirred a debate about the use of police time and the risks to the community. Taylor posted a photo of the ticket with a stinging comment toward the officer involved. “Let’s all take a moment to thank officer dips**t K. Keary for wasting the taxpayer’s money and giving me a ticket for warming up my car in my own damn driveway.” Now he says he regrets personally slamming officer Keary. Taylor explains, “I was upset. I appreciate what they do, but don’t they have better things to do?” Even though it’s easy to change what he wrote on Facebook, he doesn’t want to because it’s getting so much attention — most of it positive. Taylor said lawyers have offered to represent him after seeing the trending post. Did the cops have an ax to grind with him? “No history whatsoever,” said Taylor about any past run-ins with Roseville PD. He said he plans to fight the ticket, although after what he wrote about local cops, it’s hard to believe a judge would cast a kind eye on his plea. Save |
What is the project? Take a Subaru WRX 2004 and put a Honda Civic 1992 SI body "on top of it". I've done this project from January to April 2010 with a budget of 5500$ CAD.StartCost: 1950$ CADSubaru up and runningWhy the body swap and not the mechanical swap? For the geometry and the strength of the Subaru chassis. All the measurement was done to respect a tolerance up to 1/16 everywhere.New rocker panel and door jam. This is stronger than the original one, there is a 1x1 (1/8) square tube inside and an angle bar 2x1 (1/8) to complete the box of the rocker panel.The reinforcement was necessary since the Honda is weaker than the Subaru. I made it with 2x1 (1/8) steel tubes. *This was the most discussed thing about this build. With more than 15 years of experience in bodywork and Ive done a lot of wrecked car over the year, I can still tell you the same thing as when it was build, its very strong. If you dont believe me, go find the number about how much pressure is needed to bent a 2x1 (1/8) tube. Im not here to convince you but if you can read facts, you should have no problem about it.The original wheels of the Subaru were too bent to be repaired. I buy these for 200$ with new tires.I was looking to use the Honda interior, the time needed to do it was not worth it.Front fender work. The Subaru have a wheelbase shorter than the Civic, exactly 1.9 inch.Orignal Subaru.I was looking to NOT install the scoop but all the piping will be a nightmare and Ill never remove the reinforcement beam bumper to install a FMIC. *Talk about safety, people remove these and after say to me that my 2x1 (1/8) interior reinforcement is not enough go figure!I decide not to pay for the paint shop because I don't care about the small imperfection. The paint is urethane with a flattening agent.Video, sorry about the music, its too loud; I wasnt the one who mixed it so put your volume down.I have done 4600 km with the car and sold it in July 2010.Yannick |
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Oct. 6, 2014, 4:03 PM GMT / Updated Oct. 6, 2014, 3:55 PM GMT By most measures, the U.S. economy has come a long way since the depths of the recession in 2010 – GDP is way up, unemployment is way down. But at the local level the story is much more uneven with some communities seeing big improvements while others see much less change. And those different stories are the most evident along America’s rural/urban divide. Urban counties, particularly those along the East and West coasts (along the I-5 and I-95 interstate corridors), have not only seen a drop in unemployment, they have seen growth in their labor force numbers, those actually looking for work. In rural counties unemployment rates are down, but that has a lot to do with fewer people in the job market. It’s an example of how national economic figures and trends don’t match necessarily individual economic realities and how Americans who live a short distance from one another can live in very different economic worlds. There is a political element to this split as well. Big, urban areas largely vote Democratic. Rural communities tend to lean Republican. Voters in those different communities are not just perceiving different economies, they are experiencing them. To get a sense of the different unemployment pictures, we used Bureau of Labor Statistics county unemployment data from July of 2010 and compared them to July of 2014 (the latest month available), breaking down the data using the community types from the American Communities Project at the American University School of Public Affairs. The divides were stark. All of the 15 county types in the ACP has seen a decline in their unemployment rate in that time, but some of those types – most of them rural – had also seen sizable declines in their labor force. At the same time urban, suburban and exurban counties had mostly seen big increases in their labor forces to go along with the big declines in their unemployment rates. See the numbers here Why does that matter? Because the unemployment rate is figured off the number of people actively looking for work. The Big Cities, Urban Suburbs and Exurbs counties, based along the coasts in and major metro areas around the country, have not only seen big declines in their unemployment rates. They have also seen big increases in their workforces. Their unemployment rates are, in some ways, better than they appear when you compare them to 2010. People are joining the labor force in those counties and even with those people putting pressure on the job market, the unemployment rate is falling. Meanwhile, in places like Rural Middle America, the African American South and Working Class Country, the unemployment rate is falling but so is the number of people in the workforce. This group of people leaving the job market is often described as “discouraged workers” and if you add those workforce declines to the unemployed the unemployment rate would look very different. In some places the unemployment rate would be relatively unchanged or even higher. In other words, the economic situation in those places is not nearly as rosy at it appears. You can see where all these counties are based on this map. Big Cities, Urban Suburbs and Exurbs are pink, dark orange and yellow. Rural Middle America, the African American South and Working Class Country are royal blue, light green and dark blue. The numbers are important to understand because the economic discussion often centers on national figures. National numbers that show unemployment is down and workforce participation is up aren’t wrong, but they miss a lot of subtleties you see in the chart above, and those difference exist even within states. Consider Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, part of east coast metroplex, has seen a 4.3-point drop in its unemployment rate, even as the workforce has grown by almost 14,000 people. That means job growth there has been substantial enough to put a lot of people back to work even as the employee pool has grown. On the other side of the state in Fayette County, the unemployment rate has dropped by 3.5 points, but there are also 4,100 fewer people looking for work than there were in July 2010 – and about 1,500 fewer people employed in the county overall. That unemployment drop looks a lot less impressive when you remove those people from the workforce. On the West coast, King County, home of Seattle has seen its unemployment rate drop by 3.6 percentage points since 2010, even as the county’s workforce has added 50,000 people. East of there, sparsely populated Lincoln County has seen a 2.6-point drop in unemployment, but in part that’s because its workforce has declined by about 600 people – there were 400 fewer people employed in county in July 2014 than there were in July 2010. This phenomenon is not confined the coasts. Look at the big metro centers across the country and you’ll see the same thing around the country in places from the Twin Cities to Nashville to Dallas. Of course, the employment picture doesn’t measure everything. There are issues like pay and cost of living and consumer debt, but as a broad economic measure it’s telling. And the urban/rural split on the recovery is something to keep in mind going into November and beyond. It shows how complicated any discussion of “the economy” can be in a big, complicated country. |
Leave this field empty if you're human: Remember that last blog post where I shared my Paleo Whipped Buttercream recipe with you guys? Well, today I’m sharing the cute Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes I baked to lather that Paleo Whipped Buttercream recipe on. Ahhh, yes, SO GOOD. And aren’t they just darling? I could stare at these Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes all day. Maybe not even eat them…just stare. (Yeah right, like I have that kind of self control. HA!) These adorable Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes are super easy to bake, but wanna know what the best part of them is? They take less than an hour to create! And see, that’s truly perfect, because when one is craving a treat, one doesn’t have the kind of patience that can wait much longer than that. At least not me…and maybe you’re kind of the same way? Especially if you’re a millennial. Hey, I am one too, so no judgement! I personally know how it is to want things right here, right now, with as little effort as possible. Haha. Doesn’t that sound about right? Funny individuals we are, aren’t we? My Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes will require a bit of effort, but not too much, nothing we can’t handle, y’all! Especially when you have the right motivation…like say, bringing your tastebuds a gift. Because that’s how these feel in your mouth, like a sweet reward. These would make for a wonderful party treat for when you’re having a fun event at you’re home or when you’re responsible to bring goodies to one. But they would also make for a fun weekend recipe you can bake with people you love. If you have kids, they’d be great to make with them. However, if you don’t have kids, this Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes recipe is super fun to make for your a night with your girl friends! Just add some bubbly and you’ll have the perfect combo for a girl’s night in! Speaking of bubbly, I am so excited for this weekend, because my husband and his business partner have a meeting this coming Monday in Arizona, and so we are heading to Scottsdale this Saturday (tomorrow!) to enjoy the weekend before they do business. I especially love tagging along on my hubby’s business trips, because it means that his business partner’s fiancee will be around to hang out with me while the boys are busy. We both get to drink a little (see why the bubbly reminded me of this?), taste new flavors, see new places and chat away. This will be my fourth time to Scottsdale, and just like the other times, it’s a quick three-day trip. Yet, every time we go, we get to see new parts of it. Which is so great! This time it’s going to be extra special, because there is talk of going to the Final Four National Semifinals. And I’ve never experienced that before! Sports, great fan energy and a few spirited beverages…yup, definitely up my alley! If we end up going to the game, I’ll be sure to share Insta stories on my Instagram account (follow me if you haven’t yet!), and other Scottsdale videos while I’m at it. The weather forecast says that Scottsdale will be nothing but sunny. And so, OF COURSE I am stoked. Boise has been a little all over the place lately, and guys, I am not having it. Yesterday, for example, it freaking snowed! Out of nowhere! Seriously, Boise? It’s Spring already, and tomorrow is April. APRIL. Why do you have to do this to us so late in the game, huh? I think I speak for all of us in Boise here when I say: you’re like a hormonal teenager. We never know what we’re gonna get with you. So Scottsdale sunshine, here we come, we know we can count on you! If I weren’t going out of town this weekend you know what I would do? Bake these cute Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes. Because who doesn’t need a fresh, tasty and healthy Paleo treat to brighten up their weekend? Since it’s Spring and strawberries are in season (and as far as I’ve noticed, they are going on mega sale at the grocery store), pick up a few of those at the grocery store and use them to decorate your cupcakes! Strawberries, cream, vanilla…a little bubbly. I think it sounds like a pretty sweet plan! Hope you love these treats as much as my husband and I did. Have an awesome and fun filled weekend! XO Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes Save Print Prep time 20 mins Cook time 30 mins Total time 50 mins This delicious Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes recipe is easy to make and very healthy! The perfect gluten free and dairy free dessert for any kind of party! Author: Mariel Lewis Recipe type: Dessert Cuisine: American Serves: 10 regular sized muffins Ingredients 1 cup cashew flour 1 tablespoon coconut flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon sea salt 3 large eggs 4 tablespoons organic honey 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 batch Paleo Whipped Buttercream (to top) 1 cup mixed berries (to top) Instructions Make your Paleo Whipped Buttercream frosting ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to decorate muffins. Line 5 jumbo silicone muffin liners on a baking sheet and set aside. If you don’t want to make jumbo muffins, line 10 regular sized muffin liners. If you don’t want to use silicone liners, use paper liners, but place paper liners in a muffin pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit degrees. Add cashew flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt to a mixing bowl, and whisk until well combined. Set aside. On a separate mixing bowl, whisk eggs, honey, coconut oil and vanilla extract until well combined. Transfer wet mixture into dry mixture and mix until incorporated. Pour muffin batter into silicone muffin liners; divide batter into 5 jumbo liners or into 10 regular liners. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. If baking regular-sized muffins, check doneness at minute 25. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Get your Paleo Whipped Buttercream out of the fridge, and add it to a piping bag. Pipe the frosting on the muffins to decorate, and add berries on top. Serve and enjoy! Notes Note 1: Muffins last fresh in refrigerator for about 1 week. Note 2: You may be left with some extra Paleo Whipped Buttercream, if so, lucky you! Save it for later and add it to other yummy Paleo treats (or to black coffee, if so inclined)! Nutrition Information Serving size: 1 regular sized muffin -- Calories: 347 Fat: 25 g. Carbohydrates: 27 g. Sodium: 194 g. Fiber: 2 g. Protein: 6 g. 3.5.3226 PIN ME! Other Paleo muffin recipes you’ll love: |
BP's "top kill" plan for fixing the Gulf of Mexico oil spill involves enormous ships, a mile of undersea piping, and a 30,000-hp mud pump. How does it work? Let's find out. UPDATE: Live footage of the process! The above graphic is a few weeks old — drilling on the two relief wells shown began on May 2 and isn't expected to be finished until August — but it gives the best sense of the scale and scope of the project. Judging by the latest version of this image, released on Monday (it provides the same basic information but doesn't look as cool), there hasn't been a lot of progress on the secondary wells. According to a recent press release, BP's efforts to cap the well's many leak points have centered around a failed component called a blow-out preventer, or BOP. The BOP's failure — the name gives a hint as to what it was supposed to do — is directly related to the spill, and extensive testing to determine how and why it failed is currently underway. All told, the site is host to several undersea operations, more than 2000 people, 16 ships, and 16 remote-operated vehicles. This is what it looks like: What's it all mean? The testing involves pumping drilling fluids into the BOP to measure pressures and validate flow paths, the better to understand the size and severity of the primary leak. That information will then be used to determine whether or not something called a "top-kill" can be implemented. Advertisement The top kill is a pretty amazing thing. It was devised over the past month by BP, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Energy Department, and the Minerals Management Service. It centers around the Helix Q4000 surface platform and encompasses three ships full of mud, one of which is the 381-foot HOS Centerline, one of the largest supply ships in the world. The process is somewhat involved, but it comes down to this: The Centerline uses 30,000-hp pump to shove between 40 to 50 barrels of mud per minute over to the Q4000, which then diverts it down to the leaking BOP through a mile-long pipe. The mud is stuffed into the well at such a rate that it overcomes the gushing oil, forcing the leak to taper and the well to become static. A concrete cap is then applied, sealing the leak permanently. The whole mess is also known as "outrunning the well" and could take up to two days. It may start this week. Advertisement Will it work? Probably, but there's no guarantee. Top-killing has been used to cap wells in the past, but never at this depth. As the Washington Post reports, The danger is that the top kill could worsen the situation. The powerful injection of mud might destabilize the blowout preventer, or punch a bigger hole in the sharp kink in the riser just a few feet above the blowout preventer. If the mud doesn't beat back the spill, that could mean a mess of mud mixed with a larger flow of oil and gas. Greg McCormack, director of the Petroleum Extension Service at the University of Texas at Austin, said he's cautiously optimistic that the top kill will work, saying: "There's always a trade-off between making it better and making it worse. This probably has the least amount of risk of making it worse." Advertisement If the top kill doesn't work, the backup plan involves a mechanical cap known as a lower marine riser package, or LMRP, seen above. First, robotic submarines sever the top of the damaged BOP, increasing oil flow into the Gulf by as much as 15 percent. The LMRP is a sealing device with a very large grommet that is lowered onto the well and connected to a riser leading to a drillship. The drillship then captures most — the key word here is most — of the oil and gas flowing from the well. There are other options, but this is the most practical. If the top kill doesn't work, the LMRP could be implemented within a few days. Advertisement Updated maps of the 54,000-square-mile spill — including cool stuff like sheen spreading, types of visible slicks, and so on — can be found here. The world's craziest gulf-spill infographic can be found here. A piece of the Gulf the size of Jamaica is covered in oil, people, and the leak hasn't stopped. Wow. Here's hoping they fix it soon. Advertisement UPDATE: Live footage of the spill!The feed below occasionally drops behind chronologically; for a jerkier but more to-the-moment feed, head over to Gizmodo. For a more in-depth look at the top-kill process, go here. Click to view [BP, Deepwater Horizon Response, Washington Post] |
In early 1988, many Democrats looked to Governor Bill Clinton William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonInviting Kim Jong Un to Washington Howard Schultz must run as a Democrat for chance in 2020 Trump says he never told McCabe his wife was 'a loser' MORE of Arkansas as a future national leader. He was seen to represent a departure from the instinctual liberals — like Walter Mondale and Edward Kennedy — who were then leading figures in the party, supposed by their partisans to embody its New Deal soul. At that year's Democratic National Convention, Clinton was given an important speaking platform, the same slot as an obscure Illinois state senator took in 2004, and rode straight to the U.S. Senate and later the White House. Clinton's 1988 convention speech was uncharacteristically boring, and widely judged as too long. ADVERTISEMENT After the Presidential election, losing Democrats turned their attention to Governor Mario Cuomo of New York, who had backing from liberals but who also — as an Italian-American from Queens — was positioned to bring back so-called white ethnics who had deserted the party as "Reagan Democrats." In 1990, I attended a meeting hosted by Governor Cuomo in Buffalo, and though he was seated just across a large conference table, I never got within eight feet of him. He entered and exited the room surrounded by at least 20 reporters and photographers. This was a year and a half before the next New Hampshire primary, and it was hard to dispute his status as Presidential front runner. During the Reagan era, I'd become acquainted with a lawyer named David Williams, a Seattle native who married a woman from Quebec, and practiced law in Montréal. In those days, his office was down the hall from where colleagues of mine worked, and I would see David from time to time when visiting the city. After Governor Cuomo announced in December,1991 that he would not run for President, the media started writing more about Bill Clinton, with a few stray mentions of his wife's name. Reading his newspaper in Montréal, David Williams recognized this name. It matched that of an American lawyer with whom he had collaborated for a number of years, on various cases whose particulars straddled the U.S.-Canada border. By telephone, he'd spoken countless times with a woman in Arkansas named Clinton, and they had exchanged considerable correspondence. Still, the name was hardly unusual, and the woman he knew had never mentioned a connection to her state's governor. He doubted it was the same person. Weeks after Governor Cuomo's announcement, the Canadian government organized a business conference in Cincinnati, for which David Williams was an invited speaker. The night before the conference, I had dinner with him and some other people, at a restaurant which faced Cincinnati from the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. It was there that I would first hear of 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. David told us of reading about the Governor of Arkansas, and of noting that his wife's name matched that of his associate, whose firm had a longstanding relationship with David's firm in Montréal. In those days, the world wide web was virtually unknown, so David consulted a printed directory of lawyers. Among all the lawyers in Little Rock, Arkansas, he discovered, there was only one named Hillary Clinton, and she worked for the same firm David had dealt with all along. More than a quarter century later, Mrs. Clinton is an experienced player in the political world of Washington and the world. Yet her modesty, and her devotion to the ideal of achievement without the need for name dropping, recall another, lesser-known side of Washington: the meritocratic culture of its vast civil service. It was amidst this culture — under appreciated by me at the time, as by most Americans — that I grew up, in suburban Washington, during the last decade of the great postwar expansion. I remember it as an earnest and studious culture that valued high academic achievement, and the accumulation of specialized knowledge. My father and mother both worked in civil service jobs, as did many of their friends, and the parents of my friends. Some patrician families were part of this world, but It was largely the realm — in my parents' day, at least — of smart and sometimes awkward strivers. Many had faced job discrimination in the private sector, including upwardly mobile African-Americans, and Depression-era Jewish kids with a cheap and very fine education from The City College of New York. Hillary Clinton surely fits in with what remains of this culture, where personality counts for less than brains, assiduousness, and the mastery of legal codes and empirical data. During the middle of the last century, most adult Washingtonians were migrants from somewhere else, and they understood the local meritocratic culture as something of an outlier. My parents impressed on my brother and me that it would often be who you know, rather than what you know, which would propel you in life. Today, 'who you know' has become commodified and monetized on social media platforms, as popular culture has devalued the idea of deep preparation and the mastery of specialized knowledge. Personal qualities and a great elevator pitch have never been more esteemed. It's refreshing to see a Presidential candidate who fits in with the stalwart and substantive culture of the Washington civil service, and personifies a traditional, competence-based middle class spirit which can endure anywhere. Whether it will help her get elected is an altogether different matter. Orlowek, a native Washingtonian living in Chicago, is a consultant in international business development. The views of Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill |
The flame last Tuesday was immense, rising some 200 meters (650 feet) into the air out of the natural gas pipeline named Brotherhood in eastern Ukraine. What caused the explosion remains a mystery. But it showed with shocking immediacy just how vulnerable Europe's energy supply has become as a result of the unrest in Ukraine. A day before the explosion, Russian energy giant Gazprom had announced that it would only continue supplying Ukraine if the country paid for deliveries in advance. Because about half of Russian gas headed for Western Europe flows through Ukraine, European leaders now have a crucial topic to discuss at their summit this week in Brussels: Will deliveries to EU member states be affected? At the same time, EU leaders are also wrangling over how to secure Europe's long-term natural gas supply. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is determined to demand more solidarity from his European partners. Others too have taken up his proposal to create a so-called energy union to reduce Europe's dependence on Gazprom. But as so often happens in the EU, when it comes time to discuss the details, national interests diverge and friendships dissolve, particularly when money enters the picture. Tusk envisions the creation of a kind of purchasing syndicate that would negotiate with Russia. Poland is furious that it has to pay considerably more for natural gas than major German buyers. But German Minister of the Economy Sigmar Gabriel is skeptical. "There are good reasons why those are decisions made by the private economy," he said earlier this month at a meeting of EU energy ministers. Thus far, German suppliers like E.on or Wintershall have gotten along well with the Russians. They have long-term gas-supply contracts of up to 20 years with Russia, guaranteeing them lower prices. Unlawful Contracts? According to industry insiders, these old contracts are getting in the way of EU solidarity. A high-ranking E.on manager says that many such deals explicitly prohibit customers from re-selling the natural gas abroad. That means that the European Commission's plan calling for Western European countries to deliver gas to Eastern European countries in case of emergency is not currently workable. The EU executive is convinced that such clauses are against EU law. European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia has launched an investigation into Gazprom, partially as a result of the deals, and European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger is likewise skeptical. It would, he says, "be unlawful if the contracts stated that the gas can only be used in Germany." The financing of the planned energy union has also been a source of conflict. According to Commission calculations, about 200 billion would need to be invested by 2020 in order to upgrade pipelines and power lines so that a European single energy market could be created. The EU has only made 5.8 billion available thus far. EU member-states haven't even been able to agree on what measures must be taken before next winter. In the current version of the final summit communiqué, which is already being negotiated, there is only talk of strengthening "existing emergency and solidarity mechanisms," like natural gas storage. The Poles, on the other hand, are asking for concrete details, like who must deliver gas at what price and at which volume. The tone is getting sharper. "It's impossible," a Polish diplomat complains, "that we can't agree on something substantial in a crisis like this one." |
The human brain, our most advanced organ, is an intricate and complex network of connections. Largely enigmatic, it’s our own personal machine that can extract patterns from overwhelming amounts of data. At Emotiv, we are pushing the frontier of gaining insights into the brain. Join us on this journey to unleash the power of the human mind. What is the Emotiv Insight? Emotiv Insight is a sleek, 5 channel, wireless headset that reads your brainwaves and a mobile app that translates those signals into meaningful data everyone can understand. Emotiv Insight Mobile App (Android/iOS) Emotiv Insight Mobile App (Android/iOS) We’ve leveraged our knowledge and experience to create the next generation Brainwear™ that tracks and monitors your brain activity and gives you insight into how your brain is changing in real time. Emotiv Insight allows you to optimize your brain fitness & performance, measure and monitor your own or your family’s cognitive health & wellbeing, and develop amazing new applications. The Emotiv Insight offers an inexpensive, uncomplicated way to regularly measure brain performance and is completely safe for children, adults of all ages, and those with medical conditions. Based on community feedback, we recently added the Emotiv Insight in a new Stealth color option and additional reward tiers to give Kickstarter backers the chance to get your hands on these first, before general release. A huge thanks to our incredible design team, 4Design, for the outstanding job in creating these photorealistic renders of what this Stealth version might look like, and for working around the clock to make this possible. What color will you choose? Here's how it works Our brains are made up of a hundred billion nerve cells called neurons. When neurons interact through a chemical reaction, they naturally emit a measurable, electrical impulse. Electroencephalography or EEG is the process of observing brainwaves through these pulses. Emotiv Insight measures your brainwaves and translates it into meaningful data to help you make the most of your cognitive performance. The Brainwear can measure, track and help you improve your Attention, Focus, Engagement, Interest, Excitement, Affinity, Relaxation and reduce Stress levels. With the free mobile app (Android/iOS) available with the Emotiv Insight, you'll get a much better idea of your daily productivity profile. When you're paying attention, the time of day and how long you can pay attention for, your interest levels, your bursts of focus. How well you can relax, your stress levels. Research has shown that when you are made aware of all of these indicators, people are better informed and empowered to make decisions to optimize and improve their cognitive fitness and performance. In addition, the brainwear can understand and decipher basic mental commands. It can detect commands such as push, pull, levitate, rotate and even commands that are harder to visualize such as disappear. It also detects facial expressions such as blinks, winks, frown, surprise, clench and smile. The team behind it |
EPA asserted authority to move forward without new laws from Congress at hearing where contrarian views were on display The Obama administration asserted its authority to move forward on its climate change action plan on Wednesday – with or without new laws from Congress. In the first airing of Obama's climate plan, a hearing of the House of Representatives was told the Environmental Protection Agency and other government agencies were already authorised to bring in new measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "We are not doing anything at the EPA and in the climate plan that goes outside the boundaries of what Congress has said is our mission and our authority," EPA administrator Gina McCarthy told a hearing of the house sub-committee on energy and power. McCarthy is expected to reveal a core pillar of that climate plan this week when the EPA proposes new standards for future coal plants. About a dozen members of the House energy committee deny the science behind climate change, and those contrarian views were on full display on Wednesday. The energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, a former MIT scientist, spent much of his testimony delivering a primer on climate science to doubtful Republicans. It did not appear to have any immediate effect, and the Republican climate contrarianism – and by extension resistance to action on climate – indicated the battles ahead for McCarthy and Obama as they move ahead on the plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Republicans in the last Congress voted 53 times to block climate action, and held up McCarthy's nomination for months. In light of that, the EPA administrator was told in Wednesday's hearing that Obama's climate plan exhibited disregard for Congress. However, McCarthy told the hearing: "Many of the programmes that we run are programmes that Congress specifically directed us to run." Obama moved to bypass Republicans in Congress to act on climate change in a speech last June directing the federal government to use its existing authority to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17% and protect Americans from future climate change. McCarthy will reveal the first concrete phase of those measures later this week by introducing proposals to regulate carbon pollution from new power plants. She told the hearing the EPA will introduce proposals for existing coal plants, responsible for about 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, by June of next year. She also said the federal government was moving to reduce methane from natural gas drilling and other industries, which are a fast rising source of emissions. The success of Obama's climate plan will, in the end, hinge on those new standards – as McCarthy herself implicitly acknowledged. "It is by far the largest industry sector in terms of its generation of greenhouse gases," she said. Countering Republican charges that Obama's plan would destroy jobs, she went on: "there are opportunities to reduce greenhouse gases that will position us in the energy future." She also said the Obama plan retained a place for coal generation in an effort to counter Republican charges of a war on coal. Despite the outreach efforts, however, the hearing soon reverted to familiar battle lines, with Democrats reaffirming the science behind climate change and the urgent need for action, and Republicans firmly in denial. "It's an appalling record," said California Democrat Henry Waxman, co-author of the last, unsuccessful climate bill. "You are either climate deniers because you don't think anything needs to be done … or you are ignoring the warning of scientists." Republicans meanwhile accused Obama of trying to hide his climate agenda. Republicans charged Obama officials of ducking the hearing – despite the presence of two cabinet-level officials on Wednesday. "Are you trying to hide something? Are you embarrassed by it, or you just don't care to respond to Congress?" said Texas Republican Joe Barton. "If the Obama administration has this great climate change programme, you should be able to answer in detail and in glowing terms," he said. Others disputed scientific findings on global temperature rise, Arctic sea ice, human drivers of climate change, and even whether Obama's plan would be effective in curbing greenhouse gas emissions. McCarthy admitted the EPA on its own could not deliver all of the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions needed to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. "Can the EPA alone solve the problem of climate change? No, we cannot," McCarthy said. "We are working within our authority to do what we can." |
c. 1900–1918 depicts an armoured knight. An advertising poster for a Dutch insurance company from1900–1918 depicts an armoured knight. Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss. An entity which provides insurance is known as an insurer, insurance company, insurance carrier or underwriter. A person or entity who buys insurance is known as an insured or as a policyholder. The insurance transaction involves the insured assuming a guaranteed and known relatively small loss in the form of payment to the insurer in exchange for the insurer's promise to compensate the insured in the event of a covered loss. The loss may or may not be financial, but it must be reducible to financial terms, and usually involves something in which the insured has an insurable interest established by ownership, possession, or pre-existing relationship. The insured receives a contract, called the insurance policy, which details the conditions and circumstances under which the insurer will compensate the insured. The amount of money charged by the insurer to the insured for the coverage set forth in the insurance policy is called the premium. If the insured experiences a loss which is potentially covered by the insurance policy, the insured submits a claim to the insurer for processing by a claims adjuster. The insurer may hedge its own risk by taking out reinsurance, whereby another insurance company agrees to carry some of the risk, especially if the primary insurer deems the risk too large for it to carry. History [ edit ] Early methods [ edit ] Governors of the Wine Merchant's Guild by Merchants have sought methods to minimize risks since early times. Pictured,by Ferdinand Bol , c. 1680. Methods for transferring or distributing risk were practiced by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, respectively.[1] Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel's capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practiced by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the lender's guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen, or lost at sea. Circa 800 BC, the inhabitants of Rhodes created the 'general average'. This allowed groups of merchants to pay to insure their goods being shipped together. The collected premiums would be used to reimburse any merchant whose goods were jettisoned during transport, whether due to storm or sinkage.[2] Separate insurance contracts (i.e., insurance policies not bundled with loans or other kinds of contracts) were invented in Genoa in the 14th century, as were insurance pools backed by pledges of landed estates. The first known insurance contract dates from Genoa in 1347, and in the next century maritime insurance developed widely and premiums were intuitively varied with risks.[3] These new insurance contracts allowed insurance to be separated from investment, a separation of roles that first proved useful in marine insurance. Modern insurance [ edit ] Insurance became far more sophisticated in Enlightenment era Europe, and specialized varieties developed. Property insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London, which in 1666 devoured more than 13,000 houses. The devastating effects of the fire converted the development of insurance "from a matter of convenience into one of urgency, a change of opinion reflected in Sir Christopher Wren's inclusion of a site for 'the Insurance Office' in his new plan for London in 1667."[4] A number of attempted fire insurance schemes came to nothing, but in 1681, economist Nicholas Barbon and eleven associates established the first fire insurance company, the "Insurance Office for Houses," at the back of the Royal Exchange to insure brick and frame homes. Initially, 5,000 homes were insured by his Insurance Office.[5] At the same time, the first insurance schemes for the underwriting of business ventures became available. By the end of the seventeenth century, London's growing importance as a center for trade was increasing demand for marine insurance. In the late 1680s, Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house, which became the meeting place for parties in the shipping industry wishing to insure cargoes and ships, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. These informal beginnings led to the establishment of the insurance market Lloyd's of London and several related shipping and insurance businesses.[6] The first life insurance policies were taken out in the early 18th century. The first company to offer life insurance was the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, founded in London in 1706 by William Talbot and Sir Thomas Allen.[7][8] Edward Rowe Mores established the Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorship in 1762. It was the world's first mutual insurer and it pioneered age based premiums based on mortality rate laying "the framework for scientific insurance practice and development" and "the basis of modern life assurance upon which all life assurance schemes were subsequently based."[9] In the late 19th century "accident insurance" began to become available.[10] The first company to offer accident insurance was the Railway Passengers Assurance Company, formed in 1848 in England to insure against the rising number of fatalities on the nascent railway system. By the late 19th century governments began to initiate national insurance programs against sickness and old age. Germany built on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as in the 1840s. In the 1880s Chancellor Otto von Bismarck introduced old age pensions, accident insurance and medical care that formed the basis for Germany's welfare state.[11][12] In Britain more extensive legislation was introduced by the Liberal government in the 1911 National Insurance Act. This gave the British working classes the first contributory system of insurance against illness and unemployment.[13] This system was greatly expanded after the Second World War under the influence of the Beveridge Report, to form the first modern welfare state.[11][14] Principles [ edit ] Insurance involves pooling funds from many insured entities (known as exposures) to pay for the losses that some may incur. The insured entities are therefore protected from risk for a fee, with the fee being dependent upon the frequency and severity of the event occurring. In order to be an insurable risk, the risk insured against must meet certain characteristics. Insurance as a financial intermediary is a commercial enterprise and a major part of the financial services industry, but individual entities can also self-insure through saving money for possible future losses.[15] Insurability [ edit ] Risk which can be insured by private companies typically shares seven common characteristics:[16] Large number of similar exposure units: Since insurance operates through pooling resources, the majority of insurance policies are provided for individual members of large classes, allowing insurers to benefit from the law of large numbers in which predicted losses are similar to the actual losses. Exceptions include Lloyd's of London, which is famous for insuring the life or health of actors, sports figures, and other famous individuals. However, all exposures will have particular differences, which may lead to different premium rates. Definite loss: The loss takes place at a known time, in a known place, and from a known cause. The classic example is death of an insured person on a life insurance policy. Fire, automobile accidents, and worker injuries may all easily meet this criterion. Other types of losses may only be definite in theory. Occupational disease, for instance, may involve prolonged exposure to injurious conditions where no specific time, place, or cause is identifiable. Ideally, the time, place, and cause of a loss should be clear enough that a reasonable person, with sufficient information, could objectively verify all three elements. Accidental loss: The event that constitutes the trigger of a claim should be fortuitous, or at least outside the control of the beneficiary of the insurance. The loss should be pure, in the sense that it results from an event for which there is only the opportunity for cost. Events that contain speculative elements such as ordinary business risks or even purchasing a lottery ticket are generally not considered insurable. Large loss: The size of the loss must be meaningful from the perspective of the insured. Insurance premiums need to cover both the expected cost of losses, plus the cost of issuing and administering the policy, adjusting losses, and supplying the capital needed to reasonably assure that the insurer will be able to pay claims. For small losses, these latter costs may be several times the size of the expected cost of losses. There is hardly any point in paying such costs unless the protection offered has real value to a buyer. Affordable premium: If the likelihood of an insured event is so high, or the cost of the event so large, that the resulting premium is large relative to the amount of protection offered, then it is not likely that the insurance will be purchased, even if on offer. Furthermore, as the accounting profession formally recognizes in financial accounting standards, the premium cannot be so large that there is not a reasonable chance of a significant loss to the insurer. If there is no such chance of loss, then the transaction may have the form of insurance, but not the substance (see the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board pronouncement number 113: "Accounting and Reporting for Reinsurance of Short-Duration and Long-Duration Contracts"). Calculable loss: There are two elements that must be at least estimable, if not formally calculable: the probability of loss, and the attendant cost. Probability of loss is generally an empirical exercise, while cost has more to do with the ability of a reasonable person in possession of a copy of the insurance policy and a proof of loss associated with a claim presented under that policy to make a reasonably definite and objective evaluation of the amount of the loss recoverable as a result of the claim. Limited risk of catastrophically large losses: Insurable losses are ideally independent and non-catastrophic, meaning that the losses do not happen all at once and individual losses are not severe enough to bankrupt the insurer; insurers may prefer to limit their exposure to a loss from a single event to some small portion of their capital base. Capital constrains insurers' ability to sell earthquake insurance as well as wind insurance in hurricane zones. In the United States, flood risk is insured by the federal government. In commercial fire insurance, it is possible to find single properties whose total exposed value is well in excess of any individual insurer's capital constraint. Such properties are generally shared among several insurers, or are insured by a single insurer who syndicates the risk into the reinsurance market. Legal [ edit ] When a company insures an individual entity, there are basic legal requirements and regulations. Several commonly cited legal principles of insurance include:[17] Indemnity – the insurance company indemnifies, or compensates, the insured in the case of certain losses only up to the insured's interest. Benefit insurance – as it is stated in the study books of The Chartered Insurance Institute, the insurance company does not have the right of recovery from the party who caused the injury and is to compensate the Insured regardless of the fact that Insured had already sued the negligent party for the damages (for example, personal accident insurance) Insurable interest – the insured typically must directly suffer from the loss. Insurable interest must exist whether property insurance or insurance on a person is involved. The concept requires that the insured have a "stake" in the loss or damage to the life or property insured. What that "stake" is will be determined by the kind of insurance involved and the nature of the property ownership or relationship between the persons. The requirement of an insurable interest is what distinguishes insurance from gambling. Utmost good faith – (Uberrima fides) the insured and the insurer are bound by a good faith bond of honesty and fairness. Material facts must be disclosed. Contribution – insurers which have similar obligations to the insured contribute in the indemnification, according to some method. Subrogation – the insurance company acquires legal rights to pursue recoveries on behalf of the insured; for example, the insurer may sue those liable for the insured's loss. The Insurers can waive their subrogation rights by using the special clauses. Causa proxima, or proximate cause – the cause of loss (the peril) must be covered under the insuring agreement of the policy, and the dominant cause must not be excluded Mitigation – In case of any loss or casualty, the asset owner must attempt to keep loss to a minimum, as if the asset was not insured. Indemnification [ edit ] To "indemnify" means to make whole again, or to be reinstated to the position that one was in, to the extent possible, prior to the happening of a specified event or peril. Accordingly, life insurance is generally not considered to be indemnity insurance, but rather "contingent" insurance (i.e., a claim arises on the occurrence of a specified event). There are generally three types of insurance contracts that seek to indemnify an insured: A "reimbursement" policy A "pay on behalf" or "on behalf of policy"[18] An "indemnification" policy From an insured's standpoint, the result is usually the same: the insurer pays the loss and claims expenses. If the Insured has a "reimbursement" policy, the insured can be required to pay for a loss and then be "reimbursed" by the insurance carrier for the loss and out of pocket costs including, with the permission of the insurer, claim expenses.[18][19] Under a "pay on behalf" policy, the insurance carrier would defend and pay a claim on behalf of the insured who would not be out of pocket for anything. Most modern liability insurance is written on the basis of "pay on behalf" language which enables the insurance carrier to manage and control the claim. Under an "indemnification" policy, the insurance carrier can generally either "reimburse" or "pay on behalf of", whichever is more beneficial to it and the insured in the claim handling process. An entity seeking to transfer risk (an individual, corporation, or association of any type, etc.) becomes the 'insured' party once risk is assumed by an 'insurer', the insuring party, by means of a contract, called an insurance policy. Generally, an insurance contract includes, at a minimum, the following elements: identification of participating parties (the insurer, the insured, the beneficiaries), the premium, the period of coverage, the particular loss event covered, the amount of coverage (i.e., the amount to be paid to the insured or beneficiary in the event of a loss), and exclusions (events not covered). An insured is thus said to be "indemnified" against the loss covered in the policy. When insured parties experience a loss for a specified peril, the coverage entitles the policyholder to make a claim against the insurer for the covered amount of loss as specified by the policy. The fee paid by the insured to the insurer for assuming the risk is called the premium. Insurance premiums from many insureds are used to fund accounts reserved for later payment of claims – in theory for a relatively few claimants – and for overhead costs. So long as an insurer maintains adequate funds set aside for anticipated losses (called reserves), the remaining margin is an insurer's profit. Social effects [ edit ] Insurance can have various effects on society through the way that it changes who bears the cost of losses and damage. On one hand it can increase fraud; on the other it can help societies and individuals prepare for catastrophes and mitigate the effects of catastrophes on both households and societies. Insurance can influence the probability of losses through moral hazard, insurance fraud, and preventive steps by the insurance company. Insurance scholars have typically used moral hazard to refer to the increased loss due to unintentional carelessness and insurance fraud to refer to increased risk due to intentional carelessness or indifference.[20] Insurers attempt to address carelessness through inspections, policy provisions requiring certain types of maintenance, and possible discounts for loss mitigation efforts. While in theory insurers could encourage investment in loss reduction, some commentators have argued that in practice insurers had historically not aggressively pursued loss control measures—particularly to prevent disaster losses such as hurricanes—because of concerns over rate reductions and legal battles. However, since about 1996 insurers have begun to take a more active role in loss mitigation, such as through building codes.[21] Methods of insurance [ edit ] According to the study books of The Chartered Insurance Institute, there are variant methods of insurance as follows: Co-insurance – risks shared between insurers Dual insurance – having two or more policies with overlapping coverage of a risk (both the individual policies would not pay separately – under a concept named contribution, they would contribute together to make up the policyholder's losses. However, in case of contingency insurances such as life insurance, dual payment is allowed) Self-insurance – situations where risk is not transferred to insurance companies and solely retained by the entities or individuals themselves Reinsurance – situations when the insurer passes some part of or all risks to another Insurer, called the reinsurer Insurers' business model [ edit ] Accidents will happen (William H. Watson, 1922) is a slapstick silent film about the methods and mishaps of an insurance broker. Collection (William H. Watson, 1922) is a slapstick silent film about the methods and mishaps of an insurance broker. Collection EYE Film Institute Netherlands Underwriting and investing [ edit ] The business model is to collect more in premium and investment income than is paid out in losses, and to also offer a competitive price which consumers will accept. Profit can be reduced to a simple equation: Profit = earned premium + investment income – incurred loss – underwriting expenses. Insurers make money in two ways: Through underwriting, the process by which insurers select the risks to insure and decide how much in premiums to charge for accepting those risks By investing the premiums they collect from insured parties The most complicated aspect of the insurance business is the actuarial science of ratemaking (price-setting) of policies, which uses statistics and probability to approximate the rate of future claims based on a given risk. After producing rates, the insurer will use discretion to reject or accept risks through the underwriting process. At the most basic level, initial ratemaking involves looking at the frequency and severity of insured perils and the expected average payout resulting from these perils. Thereafter an insurance company will collect historical loss data, bring the loss data to present value, and compare these prior losses to the premium collected in order to assess rate adequacy.[22] Loss ratios and expense loads are also used. Rating for different risk characteristics involves at the most basic level comparing the losses with "loss relativities"—a policy with twice as many losses would therefore be charged twice as much. More complex multivariate analyses are sometimes used when multiple characteristics are involved and a univariate analysis could produce confounded results. Other statistical methods may be used in assessing the probability of future losses. Upon termination of a given policy, the amount of premium collected minus the amount paid out in claims is the insurer's underwriting profit on that policy. Underwriting performance is measured by something called the "combined ratio", which is the ratio of expenses/losses to premiums.[23] A combined ratio of less than 100% indicates an underwriting profit, while anything over 100 indicates an underwriting loss. A company with a combined ratio over 100% may nevertheless remain profitable due to investment earnings. Insurance companies earn investment profits on "float". Float, or available reserve, is the amount of money on hand at any given moment that an insurer has collected in insurance premiums but has not paid out in claims. Insurers start investing insurance premiums as soon as they are collected and continue to earn interest or other income on them until claims are paid out. The Association of British Insurers (gathering 400 insurance companies and 94% of UK insurance services) has almost 20% of the investments in the London Stock Exchange.[24] In the United States, the underwriting loss of property and casualty insurance companies was $142.3 billion in the five years ending 2003. But overall profit for the same period was $68.4 billion, as the result of float. Some insurance industry insiders, most notably Hank Greenberg, do not believe that it is forever possible to sustain a profit from float without an underwriting profit as well, but this opinion is not universally held. Naturally, the float method is difficult to carry out in an economically depressed period. Bear markets do cause insurers to shift away from investments and to toughen up their underwriting standards, so a poor economy generally means high insurance premiums. This tendency to swing between profitable and unprofitable periods over time is commonly known as the underwriting, or insurance, cycle.[25] Claims [ edit ] Claims and loss handling is the materialized utility of insurance; it is the actual "product" paid for. Claims may be filed by insureds directly with the insurer or through brokers or agents. The insurer may require that the claim be filed on its own proprietary forms, or may accept claims on a standard industry form, such as those produced by ACORD. Insurance company claims departments employ a large number of claims adjusters supported by a staff of records management and data entry clerks. Incoming claims are classified based on severity and are assigned to adjusters whose settlement authority varies with their knowledge and experience. The adjuster undertakes an investigation of each claim, usually in close cooperation with the insured, determines if coverage is available under the terms of the insurance contract, and if so, the reasonable monetary value of the claim, and authorizes payment. The policyholder may hire their own public adjuster to negotiate the settlement with the insurance company on their behalf. For policies that are complicated, where claims may be complex, the insured may take out a separate insurance policy add-on, called loss recovery insurance, which covers the cost of a public adjuster in the case of a claim. Adjusting liability insurance claims is particularly difficult because there is a third party involved, the plaintiff, who is under no contractual obligation to cooperate with the insurer and may in fact regard the insurer as a deep pocket. The adjuster must obtain legal counsel for the insured (either inside "house" counsel or outside "panel" counsel), monitor litigation that may take years to complete, and appear in person or over the telephone with settlement authority at a mandatory settlement conference when requested by the judge. If a claims adjuster suspects under-insurance, the condition of average may come into play to limit the insurance company's exposure. In managing the claims handling function, insurers seek to balance the elements of customer satisfaction, administrative handling expenses, and claims overpayment leakages. As part of this balancing act, fraudulent insurance practices are a major business risk that must be managed and overcome. Disputes between insurers and insureds over the validity of claims or claims handling practices occasionally escalate into litigation (see insurance bad faith). Marketing [ edit ] Insurers will often use insurance agents to initially market or underwrite their customers. Agents can be captive, meaning they write only for one company, or independent, meaning that they can issue policies from several companies. The existence and success of companies using insurance agents is likely due to improved and personalized service. Companies also use Broking firms, Banks and other corporate entities (like Self Help Groups, Microfinance Institutions, NGOs, etc.) to market their products.[26] Types [ edit ] Any risk that can be quantified can potentially be insured. Specific kinds of risk that may give rise to claims are known as perils. An insurance policy will set out in detail which perils are covered by the policy and which are not. Below are non-exhaustive lists of the many different types of insurance that exist. A single policy that may cover risks in one or more of the categories set out below. For example, vehicle insurance would typically cover both the property risk (theft or damage to the vehicle) and the liability risk (legal claims arising from an accident). A home insurance policy in the United States typically includes coverage for damage to the home and the owner's belongings, certain legal claims against the owner, and even a small amount of coverage for medical expenses of guests who are injured on the owner's property. Business insurance can take a number of different forms, such as the various kinds of professional liability insurance, also called professional indemnity (PI), which are discussed below under that name; and the business owner's policy (BOP), which packages into one policy many of the kinds of coverage that a business owner needs, in a way analogous to how homeowners' insurance packages the coverages that a homeowner needs.[27] Auto insurance [ edit ] A wrecked vehicle in Copenhagen Auto insurance protects the policyholder against financial loss in the event of an incident involving a vehicle they own, such as in a traffic collision. Coverage typically includes: Property coverage, for damage to or theft of the car Liability coverage, for the legal responsibility to others for bodily injury or property damage Medical coverage, for the cost of treating injuries, rehabilitation and sometimes lost wages and funeral expenses Gap insurance [ edit ] Gap insurance covers the excess amount on your auto loan in an instance where your insurance company does not cover the entire loan. Depending on the company's specific policies it might or might not cover the deductible as well. This coverage is marketed for those who put low down payments, have high interest rates on their loans, and those with 60-month or longer terms. Gap insurance is typically offered by a finance company when the vehicle owner purchases their vehicle, but many auto insurance companies offer this coverage to consumers as well. Health insurance [ edit ] Health insurance policies cover the cost of medical treatments. Dental insurance, like medical insurance, protects policyholders for dental costs. In most developed countries, all citizens receive some health coverage from their governments, paid for by taxation. In most countries, health insurance is often part of an employer's benefits. Income protection insurance [ edit ] Disability insurance policies provide financial support in the event of the policyholder becoming unable to work because of disabling illness or injury. It provides monthly support to help pay such obligations as mortgage loans and credit cards. Short-term and long-term disability policies are available to individuals, but considering the expense, long-term policies are generally obtained only by those with at least six-figure incomes, such as doctors, lawyers, etc. Short-term disability insurance covers a person for a period typically up to six months, paying a stipend each month to cover medical bills and other necessities. Long-term disability insurance covers an individual's expenses for the long term, up until such time as they are considered permanently disabled and thereafter Insurance companies will often try to encourage the person back into employment in preference to and before declaring them unable to work at all and therefore totally disabled. Disability overhead insurance allows business owners to cover the overhead expenses of their business while they are unable to work. Total permanent disability insurance provides benefits when a person is permanently disabled and can no longer work in their profession, often taken as an adjunct to life insurance. Workers' compensation insurance replaces all or part of a worker's wages lost and accompanying medical expenses incurred because of a job-related injury. Casualty insurance [ edit ] Casualty insurance insures against accidents, not necessarily tied to any specific property. It is a broad spectrum of insurance that a number of other types of insurance could be classified, such as auto, workers compensation, and some liability insurances. Crime insurance is a form of casualty insurance that covers the policyholder against losses arising from the criminal acts of third parties. For example, a company can obtain crime insurance to cover losses arising from theft or embezzlement. Terrorism insurance provides protection against any loss or damage caused by terrorist activities. In the United States in the wake of 9/11, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act 2002 (TRIA) set up a federal program providing a transparent system of shared public and private compensation for insured losses resulting from acts of terrorism. The program was extended until the end of 2014 by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act 2007 (TRIPRA). Kidnap and ransom insurance is designed to protect individuals and corporations operating in high-risk areas around the world against the perils of kidnap, extortion, wrongful detention and hijacking. Political risk insurance is a form of casualty insurance that can be taken out by businesses with operations in countries in which there is a risk that revolution or other political conditions could result in a loss. Life insurance [ edit ] Life insurance provides a monetary benefit to a decedent's family or other designated beneficiary, and may specifically provide for income to an insured person's family, burial, funeral and other final expenses. Life insurance policies often allow the option of having the proceeds paid to the beneficiary either in a lump sum cash payment or an annuity. In most states, a person cannot purchase a policy on another person without their knowledge. Annuities provide a stream of payments and are generally classified as insurance because they are issued by insurance companies, are regulated as insurance, and require the same kinds of actuarial and investment management expertise that life insurance requires. Annuities and pensions that pay a benefit for life are sometimes regarded as insurance against the possibility that a retiree will outlive his or her financial resources. In that sense, they are the complement of life insurance and, from an underwriting perspective, are the mirror image of life insurance. Certain life insurance contracts accumulate cash values, which may be taken by the insured if the policy is surrendered or which may be borrowed against. Some policies, such as annuities and endowment policies, are financial instruments to accumulate or liquidate wealth when it is needed. In many countries, such as the United States and the UK, the tax law provides that the interest on this cash value is not taxable under certain circumstances. This leads to widespread use of life insurance as a tax-efficient method of saving as well as protection in the event of early death. In the United States, the tax on interest income on life insurance policies and annuities is generally deferred. However, in some cases the benefit derived from tax deferral may be offset by a low return. This depends upon the insuring company, the type of policy and other variables (mortality, market return, etc.). Moreover, other income tax saving vehicles (e.g., IRAs, 401(k) plans, Roth IRAs) may be better alternatives for value accumulation. Burial insurance [ edit ] Burial insurance is a very old type of life insurance which is paid out upon death to cover final expenses, such as the cost of a funeral. The Greeks and Romans introduced burial insurance c. 600 CE when they organized guilds called "benevolent societies" which cared for the surviving families and paid funeral expenses of members upon death. Guilds in the Middle Ages served a similar purpose, as did friendly societies during Victorian times. Property [ edit ] Property insurance provides protection against risks to property, such as fire, theft or weather damage. This may include specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, inland marine insurance or boiler insurance. The term property insurance may, like casualty insurance, be used as a broad category of various subtypes of insurance, some of which are listed below: Aviation insurance protects aircraft hulls and spares, and associated liability risks, such as passenger and third-party liability. Airports may also appear under this subcategory, including air traffic control and refuelling operations for international airports through to smaller domestic exposures. Boiler insurance (also known as boiler and machinery insurance, or equipment breakdown insurance) insures against accidental physical damage to boilers, equipment or machinery. Builder's risk insurance insures against the risk of physical loss or damage to property during construction. Builder's risk insurance is typically written on an "all risk" basis covering damage arising from any cause (including the negligence of the insured) not otherwise expressly excluded. Builder's risk insurance is coverage that protects a person's or organization's insurable interest in materials, fixtures or equipment being used in the construction or renovation of a building or structure should those items sustain physical loss or damage from an insured peril. [28] Crop insurance may be purchased by farmers to reduce or manage various risks associated with growing crops. Such risks include crop loss or damage caused by weather, hail, drought, frost damage, insects, or disease. [29] Index based crop insurance uses models of how climate extremes affect crop production to define certain climate triggers that if surpassed have high probabilities of causing substantial crop loss. When harvest losses occur associated with exceeding the climate trigger threshold, the index-insured farmer is entitled to a compensation payment [30] . Index based crop insurance uses models of how climate extremes affect crop production to define certain climate triggers that if surpassed have high probabilities of causing substantial crop loss. When harvest losses occur associated with exceeding the climate trigger threshold, the index-insured farmer is entitled to a compensation payment . Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property. Most ordinary home insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage. Earthquake insurance policies generally feature a high deductible. Rates depend on location and hence the likelihood of an earthquake, as well as the construction of the home. Fidelity bond is a form of casualty insurance that covers policyholders for losses incurred as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. It usually insures a business for losses caused by the dishonest acts of its employees. Flood insurance protects against property loss due to flooding. Many U.S. insurers do not provide flood insurance in some parts of the country. In response to this, the federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program which serves as the insurer of last resort. Home insurance, also commonly called hazard insurance or homeowners insurance (often abbreviated in the real estate industry as HOI), provides coverage for damage or destruction of the policyholder's home. In some geographical areas, the policy may exclude certain types of risks, such as flood or earthquake, that require additional coverage. Maintenance-related issues are typically the homeowner's responsibility. The policy may include inventory, or this can be bought as a separate policy, especially for people who rent housing. In some countries, insurers offer a package which may include liability and legal responsibility for injuries and property damage caused by members of the household, including pets. [31] Landlord insurance covers residential and commercial properties which are rented to others. Most homeowners' insurance covers only owner-occupied homes. Marine insurance and marine cargo insurance cover the loss or damage of vessels at sea or on inland waterways, and of cargo in transit, regardless of the method of transit. When the owner of the cargo and the carrier are separate corporations, marine cargo insurance typically compensates the owner of cargo for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier or the carrier's insurance. Many marine insurance underwriters will include "time element" coverage in such policies, which extends the indemnity to cover loss of profit and other business expenses attributable to the delay caused by a covered loss. Supplemental natural disaster insurance covers specified expenses after a natural disaster renders the policyholder's home uninhabitable. Periodic payments are made directly to the insured until the home is rebuilt or a specified time period has elapsed. Surety bond insurance is a three-party insurance guaranteeing the performance of the principal. Volcano insurance is a specialized insurance protecting against damage arising specifically from volcanic eruptions. Windstorm insurance is an insurance covering the damage that can be caused by wind events such as hurricanes. Liability [ edit ] Liability insurance is a very broad superset that covers legal claims against the insured. Many types of insurance include an aspect of liability coverage. For example, a homeowner's insurance policy will normally include liability coverage which protects the insured in the event of a claim brought by someone who slips and falls on the property; automobile insurance also includes an aspect of liability insurance that indemnifies against the harm that a crashing car can cause to others' lives, health, or property. The protection offered by a liability insurance policy is twofold: a legal defense in the event of a lawsuit commenced against the policyholder and indemnification (payment on behalf of the insured) with respect to a settlement or court verdict. Liability policies typically cover only the negligence of the insured, and will not apply to results of wilful or intentional acts by the insured. Public liability insurance or general liability insurance covers a business or organization against claims should its operations injure a member of the public or damage their property in some way. Directors and officers liability insurance (D&O) protects an organization (usually a corporation) from costs associated with litigation resulting from errors made by directors and officers for which they are liable. Environmental liability or environmental impairment insurance protects the insured from bodily injury, property damage and cleanup costs as a result of the dispersal, release or escape of pollutants. Errors and omissions insurance (E&O) is business liability insurance for professionals such as insurance agents, real estate agents and brokers, architects, third-party administrators (TPAs) and other business professionals. Prize indemnity insurance protects the insured from giving away a large prize at a specific event. Examples would include offering prizes to contestants who can make a half-court shot at a basketball game, or a hole-in-one at a golf tournament. Professional liability insurance, also called professional indemnity insurance (PI), protects insured professionals such as architectural corporations and medical practitioners against potential negligence claims made by their patients/clients. Professional liability insurance may take on different names depending on the profession. For example, professional liability insurance in reference to the medical profession may be called medical malpractice insurance. Often a commercial insured's liability insurance program consists of several layers. The first layer of insurance generally consists of primary insurance, which provides first dollar indemnity for judgments and settlements up to the limits of liability of the primary policy. Generally, primary insurance is subject to a deductible and obligates the insured to defend the insured against lawsuits, which is normally accomplished by assigning counsel to defend the insured. In many instances, a commercial insured may elect to self-insure. Above the primary insurance or self-insured retention, the insured may have one or more layers of excess insurance to provide coverage additional limits of indemnity protection. There are a variety of types of excess insurance, including "stand-alone" excess policies (policies that contain their own terms, conditions, and exclusions), "follow form" excess insurance (policies that follow the terms of the underlying policy except as specifically provided), and "umbrella" insurance policies (excess insurance that in some circumstances could provide coverage that is broader than the underlying insurance).[32] Credit [ edit ] Credit insurance repays some or all of a loan when the borrower is insolvent. Mortgage insurance insures the lender against default by the borrower. Mortgage insurance is a form of credit insurance, although the name "credit insurance" more often is used to refer to policies that cover other kinds of debt. Many credit cards offer payment protection plans which are a form of credit insurance. Trade credit insurance is business insurance over the accounts receivable of the insured. The policy pays the policy holder for covered accounts receivable if the debtor defaults on payment. Collateral protection insurance (CPI) insures property (primarily vehicles) held as collateral for loans made by lending institutions. Other types [ edit ] All-risk insurance is an insurance that covers a wide range of incidents and perils, except those noted in the policy. All-risk insurance is different from peril-specific insurance that cover losses from only those perils listed in the policy.[33] In car insurance, all-risk policy includes also the damages caused by the own driver. High-value horses may be insured under a bloodstock policy Insurance financing vehicles [ edit ] Fraternal insurance is provided on a cooperative basis by fraternal benefit societies or other social organizations. [35] No-fault insurance is a type of insurance policy (typically automobile insurance) where insureds are indemnified by their own insurer regardless of fault in the incident. Protected self-insurance is an alternative risk financing mechanism in which an organization retains the mathematically calculated cost of risk within the organization and transfers the catastrophic risk with specific and aggregate limits to an insurer so the maximum total cost of the program is known. A properly designed and underwritten Protected Self-Insurance Program reduces and stabilizes the cost of insurance and provides valuable risk management information. Retrospectively rated insurance is a method of establishing a premium on large commercial accounts. The final premium is based on the insured's actual loss experience during the policy term, sometimes subject to a minimum and maximum premium, with the final premium determined by a formula. Under this plan, the current year's premium is based partially (or wholly) on the current year's losses, although the premium adjustments may take months or years beyond the current year's expiration date. The rating formula is guaranteed in the insurance contract. Formula: retrospective premium = converted loss + basic premium × tax multiplier. Numerous variations of this formula have been developed and are in use. Formal self-insurance is the deliberate decision to pay for otherwise insurable losses out of one's own money. [ citation needed ] This can be done on a formal basis by establishing a separate fund into which funds are deposited on a periodic basis, or by simply forgoing the purchase of available insurance and paying out-of-pocket. Self-insurance is usually used to pay for high-frequency, low-severity losses. Such losses, if covered by conventional insurance, mean having to pay a premium that includes loadings for the company's general expenses, cost of putting the policy on the books, acquisition expenses, premium taxes, and contingencies. While this is true for all insurance, for small, frequent losses the transaction costs may exceed the benefit of volatility reduction that insurance otherwise affords. [ citation needed ] This can be done on a formal basis by establishing a separate fund into which funds are deposited on a periodic basis, or by simply forgoing the purchase of available insurance and paying out-of-pocket. Self-insurance is usually used to pay for high-frequency, low-severity losses. Such losses, if covered by conventional insurance, mean having to pay a premium that includes loadings for the company's general expenses, cost of putting the policy on the books, acquisition expenses, premium taxes, and contingencies. While this is true for all insurance, for small, frequent losses the transaction costs may exceed the benefit of volatility reduction that insurance otherwise affords. Reinsurance is a type of insurance purchased by insurance companies or self-insured employers to protect against unexpected losses. Financial reinsurance is a form of reinsurance that is primarily used for capital management rather than to transfer insurance risk. Social insurance can be many things to many people in many countries. But a summary of its essence is that it is a collection of insurance coverages (including components of life insurance, disability income insurance, unemployment insurance, health insurance, and others), plus retirement savings, that requires participation by all citizens. By forcing everyone in society to be a policyholder and pay premiums, it ensures that everyone can become a claimant when or if he/she needs to. Along the way this inevitably becomes related to other concepts such as the justice system and the welfare state. This is a large, complicated topic that engenders tremendous debate, which can be further studied in the following articles (and others): National Insurance Social safety net Social security Social Security debate (United States) Social Security (United States) Social welfare provision Stop-loss insurance provides protection against catastrophic or unpredictable losses. It is purchased by organizations who do not want to assume 100% of the liability for losses arising from the plans. Under a stop-loss policy, the insurance company becomes liable for losses that exceed certain limits called deductibles. Closed community and governmental self-insurance [ edit ] Some communities prefer to create virtual insurance amongst themselves by other means than contractual risk transfer, which assigns explicit numerical values to risk. A number of religious groups, including the Amish and some Muslim groups, depend on support provided by their communities when disasters strike. The risk presented by any given person is assumed collectively by the community who all bear the cost of rebuilding lost property and supporting people whose needs are suddenly greater after a loss of some kind. In supportive communities where others can be trusted to follow community leaders, this tacit form of insurance can work. In this manner the community can even out the extreme differences in insurability that exist among its members. Some further justification is also provided by invoking the moral hazard of explicit insurance contracts. In the United Kingdom, The Crown (which, for practical purposes, meant the civil service) did not insure property such as government buildings. If a government building was damaged, the cost of repair would be met from public funds because, in the long run, this was cheaper than paying insurance premiums. Since many UK government buildings have been sold to property companies, and rented back, this arrangement is now less common and may have disappeared altogether. In the United States, the most prevalent form of self-insurance is governmental risk management pools. They are self-funded cooperatives, operating as carriers of coverage for the majority of governmental entities today, such as county governments, municipalities, and school districts. Rather than these entities independently self-insure and risk bankruptcy from a large judgment or catastrophic loss, such governmental entities form a risk pool. Such pools begin their operations by capitalization through member deposits or bond issuance. Coverage (such as general liability, auto liability, professional liability, workers compensation, and property) is offered by the pool to its members, similar to coverage offered by insurance companies. However, self-insured pools offer members lower rates (due to not needing insurance brokers), increased benefits (such as loss prevention services) and subject matter expertise. Of approximately 91,000 distinct governmental entities operating in the United States, 75,000 are members of self-insured pools in various lines of coverage, forming approximately 500 pools. Although a relatively small corner of the insurance market, the annual contributions (self-insured premiums) to such pools have been estimated up to 17 billion dollars annually.[36] Insurance companies [ edit ] Certificate issued by Republic Fire Insurance Co. of New York c. 1860 Insurance companies may sell any combination of insurance types, but are often classified into three groups:[37] Life insurance companies, which sell life insurance, annuities and pensions products and bear similarities to asset management businesses [37] Non-life or property/casualty insurance companies, which sell other types of insurance. Health insurers, which sometimes sell life insurance or employee benefits as well General insurance companies can be further divided into these sub categories. Standard lines Excess lines In most countries, life and non-life insurers are subject to different regulatory regimes and different tax and accounting rules. The main reason for the distinction between the two types of company is that life, annuity, and pension business is very long-term in nature – coverage for life assurance or a pension can cover risks over many decades. By contrast, non-life insurance cover usually covers a shorter period, such as one year. Mutual versus proprietary [ edit ] Insurance companies are generally classified as either mutual or proprietary companies.[38] Mutual companies are owned by the policyholders, while shareholders (who may or may not own policies) own proprietary insurance companies. Demutualization of mutual insurers to form stock companies, as well as the formation of a hybrid known as a mutual holding company, became common in some countries, such as the United States, in the late 20th century. However, not all states permit mutual holding companies. Reinsurance companies [ edit ] Reinsurance companies are insurance companies that sell policies to other insurance companies, allowing them to reduce their risks and protect themselves from very large losses. The reinsurance market is dominated by a few very large companies, with huge reserves. A reinsurer may also be a direct writer of insurance risks as well. Captive insurance Companies [ edit ] Captive insurance companies may be defined as limited-purpose insurance companies established with the specific objective of financing risks emanating from their parent group or groups. This definition can sometimes be extended to include some of the risks of the parent company's customers. In short, it is an in-house self-insurance vehicle. Captives may take the form of a "pure" entity (which is a 100% subsidiary of the self-insured parent company); of a "mutual" captive (which insures the collective risks of members of an industry); and of an "association" captive (which self-insures individual risks of the members of a professional, commercial or industrial association). Captives represent commercial, economic and tax advantages to their sponsors because of the reductions in costs they help create and for the ease of insurance risk management and the flexibility for cash flows they generate. Additionally, they may provide coverage of risks which is neither available nor offered in the traditional insurance market at reasonable prices. The types of risk that a captive can underwrite for their parents include property damage, public and product liability, professional indemnity, employee benefits, employers' liability, motor and medical aid expenses. The captive's exposure to such risks may be limited by the use of reinsurance. Captives are becoming an increasingly important component of the risk management and risk financing strategy of their parent. This can be understood against the following background: Heavy and increasing premium costs in almost every line of coverage Difficulties in insuring certain types of fortuitous risk Differential coverage standards in various parts of the world Rating structures which reflect market trends rather than individual loss experience Insufficient credit for deductibles or loss control efforts Other forms [ edit ] Other possible forms for an insurance company include reciprocals, in which policyholders reciprocate in sharing risks, and Lloyd's organizations. Admitted versus non-admitted [ edit ] Admitted insurance companies are those in the United States that have been admitted or licensed by the state licensing agency. The insurance they sell is called admitted insurance. Non-admitted companies have not been approved by the state licensing agency, but are allowed to sell insurance under special circumstances when they meet an insurance need that admitted companies cannot or will not meet.[39] Insurance consultants [ edit ] There are also companies known as "insurance consultants". Like a mortgage broker, these companies are paid a fee by the customer to shop around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies. Similar to an insurance consultant, an 'insurance broker' also shops around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies. However, with insurance brokers, the fee is usually paid in the form of commission from the insurer that is selected rather than directly from the client. Neither insurance consultants nor insurance brokers are insurance companies and no risks are transferred to them in insurance transactions. Third party administrators are companies that perform underwriting and sometimes claims handling services for insurance companies. These companies often have special expertise that the insurance companies do not have. Financial stability and rating [ edit ] The financial stability and strength of an insurance company should be a major consideration when buying an insurance contract. An insurance premium paid currently provides coverage for losses that might arise many years in the future. For that reason, the viability of the insurance carrier is very important. In recent years, a number of insurance companies have become insolvent, leaving their policyholders with no coverage (or coverage only from a government-backed insurance pool or other arrangement with less attractive payouts for losses). A number of independent rating agencies provide information and rate the financial viability of insurance companies. Insurance companies are rated by various agencies such as A. M. Best. The ratings include the company's financial strength, which measures its ability to pay claims. It also rates financial instruments issued by the insurance company, such as bonds, notes, and securitization products. Across the world [ edit ] Life insurance premiums written in 2005 Non-life insurance premiums written in 2005 Global insurance premiums grew by 2.7% in inflation-adjusted terms in 2010 to $4.3 trillion, climbing above pre-crisis levels. The return to growth and record premiums generated during the year followed two years of decline in real terms. Life insurance premiums increased by 3.2% in 2010 and non-life premiums by 2.1%. While industrialised countries saw an increase in premiums of around 1.4%, insurance markets in emerging economies saw rapid expansion with 11% growth in premium income. The global insurance industry was sufficiently capitalised to withstand the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 and most insurance companies restored their capital to pre-crisis levels by the end of 2010. With the continuation of the gradual recovery of the global economy, it is likely the insurance industry will continue to see growth in premium income both in industrialised countries and emerging markets in 2011. Advanced economies account for the bulk of global insurance. With premium income of $1.62 trillion, Europe was the most important region in 2010, followed by North America $1.409 trillion and Asia $1.161 trillion. Europe has however seen a decline in premium income during the year in contrast to the growth seen in North America and Asia. The top four countries generated more than a half of premiums. The United States and Japan alone accounted for 40% of world insurance, much higher than their 7% share of the global population. Emerging economies accounted for over 85% of the world's population but only around 15% of premiums. Their markets are however growing at a quicker pace.[40] The country expected to have the biggest impact on the insurance share distribution across the world is China. According to Sam Radwan of ENHANCE International LLC, low premium penetration (insurance premium as a % of GDP), an ageing population and the largest car market in terms of new sales, premium growth has averaged 15–20% in the past five years, and China is expected to be the largest insurance market in the next decade or two.[41] Regulatory differences [ edit ] In the United States, insurance is regulated by the states under the McCarran-Ferguson Act, with "periodic proposals for federal intervention", and a nonprofit coalition of state insurance agencies called the National Association of Insurance Commissioners works to harmonize the country's different laws and regulations.[42] The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) also works to harmonize the different state laws.[43] In the European Union, the Third Non-Life Directive and the Third Life Directive, both passed in 1992 and effective 1994, created a single insurance market in Europe and allowed insurance companies to offer insurance anywhere in the EU (subject to permission from authority in the head office) and allowed insurance consumers to purchase insurance from any insurer in the EU.[44] As far as insurance in the United Kingdom, the Financial Services Authority took over insurance regulation from the General Insurance Standards Council in 2005;[45] laws passed include the Insurance Companies Act 1973 and another in 1982,[46] and reforms to warranty and other aspects under discussion as of 2012 .[47] The insurance industry in China was nationalized in 1949 and thereafter offered by only a single state-owned company, the People's Insurance Company of China, which was eventually suspended as demand declined in a communist environment. In 1978, market reforms led to an increase in the market and by 1995 a comprehensive Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China[48] was passed, followed in 1998 by the formation of China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), which has broad regulatory authority over the insurance market of China.[49] In India IRDA is insurance regulatory authority. As per the section 4 of IRDA Act 1999, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), which was constituted by an act of parliament. National Insurance Academy, Pune is apex insurance capacity builder institute promoted with support from Ministry of Finance and by LIC, Life & General Insurance companies. In 2017, within the framework of the joint project of the Bank of Russia and Yandex, a special check mark (a green circle with a tick and ‘Реестр ЦБ РФ’ (Unified state register of insurance entities) text box) appeared in the search for Yandex system, informing the consumer that the company's financial services are offered on the marked website, which has the status of an insurance company, a broker or a mutual insurance association.[50] Controversies [ edit ] Does not reduce the risk [ edit ] Insurance is just a risk transfer mechanism wherein the financial burden which may arise due to some fortuitous event is transferred to a bigger entity called an Insurance Company by way of paying premiums. This only reduces the financial burden and not the actual chances of happening of an event. Insurance is a risk for both the insurance company and the insured. The insurance company understands the risk involved and will perform a risk assessment when writing the policy. As a result, the premiums may go up if they determine that the policyholder will file a claim. If a person is financially stable and plans for life's unexpected events, they may be able to go without insurance. However, they must have enough to cover a total and complete loss of employment and of their possessions. Some states will accept a surety bond, a government bond, or even making a cash deposit with the state.[citation needed] Insurance insulates too much [ edit ] An insurance company may inadvertently find that its insureds may not be as risk-averse as they might otherwise be (since, by definition, the insured has transferred the risk to the insurer), a concept known as moral hazard. This 'insulates' many from the true costs of living with risk, negating measures that can mitigate or adapt to risk and leading some to describe insurance schemes as potentially maladaptive.[51] To reduce their own financial exposure, insurance companies have contractual clauses that mitigate their obligation to provide coverage if the insured engages in behavior that grossly magnifies their risk of loss or liability.[citation needed] For example, life insurance companies may require higher premiums or deny coverage altogether to people who work in hazardous occupations or engage in dangerous sports. Liability insurance providers do not provide coverage for liability arising from intentional torts committed by or at the direction of the insured. Even if a provider desired to provide such coverage, it is against the public policy of most countries to allow such insurance to exist, and thus it is usually illegal.[citation needed] Complexity of insurance policy contracts [ edit ] Insurance policies can be complex and some policyholders may not understand all the fees and coverages included in a policy. As a result, people may buy policies on unfavorable terms. In response to these issues, many countries have enacted detailed statutory and regulatory regimes governing every aspect of the insurance business, including minimum standards for policies and the ways in which they may be advertised and sold. For example, most insurance policies in the English language today have been carefully drafted in plain English; the industry learned the hard way that many courts will not enforce policies against insureds when the judges themselves cannot understand what the policies are saying. Typically, courts construe ambiguities in insurance policies against the insurance company and in favor of coverage under the policy. Many institutional insurance purchasers buy insurance through an insurance broker. While on the surface it appears the broker represents the buyer (not the insurance company), and typically counsels the buyer on appropriate coverage and policy limitations, in the vast majority of cases a broker's compensation comes in the form of a commission as a percentage of the insurance premium, creating a conflict of interest in that the broker's financial interest is tilted towards encouraging an insured to purchase more insurance than might be necessary at a higher price. A broker generally holds contracts with many insurers, thereby allowing the broker to "shop" the market for the best rates and coverage possible. Insurance may also be purchased through an agent. A tied agent, working exclusively with one insurer, represents the insurance company from whom the policyholder buys (while a free agent sells policies of various insurance companies). Just as there is a potential conflict of interest with a broker, an agent has a different type of conflict. Because agents work directly for the insurance company, if there is a claim the agent may advise the client to the benefit of the insurance company. Agents generally cannot offer as broad a range of selection compared to an insurance broker. An independent insurance consultant advises insureds on a fee-for-service retainer, similar to an attorney, and thus offers completely independent advice, free of the financial conflict of interest of brokers or agents. However, such a consultant must still work through brokers or agents in order to secure coverage for their clients. Limited consumer benefits [ edit ] In the United States, economists and consumer advocates generally consider insurance to be worthwhile for low-probability, catastrophic losses, but not for high-probability, small losses. Because of this, consumers are advised to select high deductibles and to not insure losses which would not cause a disruption in their life. However, consumers have shown a tendency to prefer low deductibles and to prefer to insure relatively high-probability, small losses over low-probability, perhaps due to not understanding or ignoring the low-probability risk. This is associated with reduced purchasing of insurance against low-probability losses, and may result in increased inefficiencies from moral hazard.[52] Redlining [ edit ] Redlining is the practice of denying insurance coverage in specific geographic areas, supposedly because of a high likelihood of loss, while the alleged motivation is unlawful discrimination. Racial profiling or redlining has a long history in the property insurance industry in the United States. From a review of industry underwriting and marketing materials, court documents, and research by government agencies, industry and community groups, and academics, it is clear that race has long affected and continues to affect the policies and practices of the insurance industry.[53] In July 2007, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report presenting the results of a study concerning credit-based insurance scores in automobile insurance. The study found that these scores are effective predictors of risk. It also showed that African-Americans and Hispanics are substantially overrepresented in the lowest credit scores, and substantially underrepresented in the highest, while Caucasians and Asians are more evenly spread across the scores. The credit scores were also found to predict risk within each of the ethnic groups, leading the FTC to conclude that the scoring models are not solely proxies for redlining. The FTC indicated little data was available to evaluate benefit of insurance scores to consumers.[54] The report was disputed by representatives of the Consumer Federation of America, the National Fair Housing Alliance, the National Consumer Law Center, and the Center for Economic Justice, for relying on data provided by the insurance industry.[55] All states have provisions in their rate regulation laws or in their fair trade practice acts that prohibit unfair discrimination, often called redlining, in setting rates and making insurance available.[56] In determining premiums and premium rate structures, insurers consider quantifiable factors, including location, credit scores, gender, occupation, marital status, and education level. However, the use of such factors is often considered to be unfair or unlawfully discriminatory, and the reaction against this practice has in some instances led to political disputes about the ways in which insurers determine premiums and regulatory intervention to limit the factors used. An insurance underwriter's job is to evaluate a given risk as to the likelihood that a loss will occur. Any factor that causes a greater likelihood of loss should theoretically be charged a higher rate. This basic principle of insurance must be followed if insurance companies are to remain solvent.[citation needed] Thus, "discrimination" against (i.e., negative differential treatment of) potential insureds in the risk evaluation and premium-setting process is a necessary by-product of the fundamentals of insurance underwriting. For instance, insurers charge older people significantly higher premiums than they charge younger people for term life insurance. Older people are thus treated differently from younger people (i.e., a distinction is made, discrimination occurs). The rationale for the differential treatment goes to the heart of the risk a life insurer takes: Old people are likely to die sooner than young people, so the risk of loss (the insured's death) is greater in any given period of time and therefore the risk premium must be higher to cover the greater risk. However, treating insureds differently when there is no actuarially sound reason for doing so is unlawful discrimination. Insurance patents [ edit ] New assurance products can now be protected from copying with a business method patent in the United States. A recent example of a new insurance product that is patented is Usage Based auto insurance. Early versions were independently invented and patented by a major US auto insurance company, Progressive Auto Insurance (U.S. Patent 5,797,134) and a Spanish independent inventor, Salvador Minguijon Perez (EP 0700009 ). Many independent inventors are in favor of patenting new insurance products since it gives them protection from big companies when they bring their new insurance products to market. Independent inventors account for 70% of the new U.S. patent applications in this area. Many insurance executives are opposed to patenting insurance products because it creates a new risk for them. The Hartford insurance company, for example, recently had to pay $80 million to an independent inventor, Bancorp Services, in order to settle a patent infringement and theft of trade secret lawsuit for a type of corporate owned life insurance product invented and patented by Bancorp. There are currently about 150 new patent applications on insurance inventions filed per year in the United States. The rate at which patents have been issued has steadily risen from 15 in 2002 to 44 in 2006.[57] The first insurance patent to be granted was [58] including another example of an application posted was US2009005522 "risk assessment company". It was posted on March 6, 2009. This patent application describes a method for increasing the ease of changing insurance companies.[59] Insurance on demand [ edit ] Insurance on demand (also IoD) is an insurance service that provides clients with insurance protection when they need, i.e. only episodic rather than on 24/7 basis as typically provided by traditional insurers (e.g. clients can purchase an insurance for one single flight rather than a longer-lasting travel insurance plan). Insurance industry and rent-seeking [ edit ] Certain insurance products and practices have been described as rent-seeking by critics.[citation needed] That is, some insurance products or practices are useful primarily because of legal benefits, such as reducing taxes, as opposed to providing protection against risks of adverse events. Under United States tax law, for example, most owners of variable annuities and variable life insurance can invest their premium payments in the stock market and defer or eliminate paying any taxes on their investments until withdrawals are made. Sometimes this tax deferral is the only reason people use these products.[citation needed] Another example is the legal infrastructure which allows life insurance to be held in an irrevocable trust which is used to pay an estate tax while the proceeds themselves are immune from the estate tax. Religious concerns [ edit ] Muslim scholars have varying opinions about life insurance. Life insurance policies that earn interest (or guaranteed bonus/NAV) are generally considered to be a form of riba[60] (usury) and some consider even policies that do not earn interest to be a form of gharar (speculation). Some argue that gharar is not present due to the actuarial science behind the underwriting.[61] Jewish rabbinical scholars also have expressed reservations regarding insurance as an avoidance of God's will but most find it acceptable in moderation.[62] Some Christians believe insurance represents a lack of faith[63][64] and there is a long history of resistance to commercial insurance in Anabaptist communities (Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, Brethren in Christ) but many participate in community-based self-insurance programs that spread risk within their communities.[65][66][67] See also [ edit ] Country-specific articles: Notes [ edit ] Bibliography [ edit ] |
A small island has emerged off the southern coast of Pakistan after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the country. Reuters reports that "a crowd of bewildered people [gathered] on the shore to witness the rare phenomenon." [UPDATE 19:00 EDT] Nidhi Subbaraman of NBC asked some experts: Seismologists suspect the island is a temporary formation resulting from a "mud volcano," a jet of mud, sand and water that gushed to the surface as the [earthquake] churned and pressurized that slurry under the ocean floor. The official death toll from the quake is 328 (and rising), and many of the buildings in the impoverished area of the Baluchistan province have caved in. Pakistani TV Geo News, citing Pakistan's deputy inspector general, reported that the 20-to-40-feet-high and 100-feet-wide island arose out of the Arabian Sea about 350 feet off the coast of Gwadar. The epicenter of the quake was about 320 miles to the northeast. Twitter Here's where Gwadar is located: |
The air is thick with pot talk in Canadian political circles these days, but the rhetoric is so extreme – ranging from "pot kills" to "pot cures cancer" – that it's sometimes hard to get a grip on what needs to be done. There are actually three distinct public-policy questions that need to be addressed: Is smoking marijuana safe and, if not, what should we do about it? Should smoking (or possessing) marijuana be a criminal offence? Should marijuana be used as medicine? Smoking is not healthy, regardless of what you smoke. But like other so-called recreational drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol, the risk is minimal with casual use. What matters is dose and frequency. Story continues below advertisement A lot of Canadians smoke pot – about one-in-three over the age of 15 – but the vast majority do so in moderation. Marijuana is not addictive – in the common sense of the term, where stopping will cause withdrawal symptoms – but frequent users can become dependent, which is clearly not healthy. But there are a lot more alcoholics than there are stoners. Public-health authorities need to be pragmatic – to focus on harm reduction. That means warning people about the risks of marijuana smoking and especially about related activities, like the dangers of driving a motor vehicle or operating heavy machinery while stoned. As with tobacco and alcohol, particular attention needs to be paid to young people and their developing brains. Excessive drug use, including marijuana, can impact learning and, in rare instances, be a trigger for more serious mental illness. What the public needs from health authorities is non-judgmental information, not Reefer Madness hysteria. There is no question that, currently, marijuana use has a significant social and economic cost, most of it due to the crimininalization of cannabis. Nearly 80,000 Canadians a year are charged with marijuana-related offences, most of them for simple possession. It costs about $500-million a year to enforce our archaic marijuana laws, money that could obviously be spent better elsewhere. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement Having a criminal record is a lot worse for a person's health than smoking the occasional joint. Talking openly about marijuana use – and misuse – would certainly be easier if possession of small quantities of the drug was no longer a criminal offence, or if its use was decriminalized altogether. But would decriminalization/legalization incite more people to smoke marijuana? Perhaps, but the experience from other jurisdictions shows the increase would be marginal. Examining the issue through a public-health lens, it is not logical to allow (and regulate and tax) the use of drugs like tobacco and alcohol, and not do so with a drug that is no more harmful. The penalties for possession/use of marijuana are clearly out of whack with social norms. The thorniest public-policy issue is so-called "medical" marijuana. About 40,000 Canadians now have a permit to purchase and use medical marijuana. These "patients" smoke about four grams of pot a day, on average. There is a lot of anecdote and zeal about treating conditions – from cataracts to epilepsy – with marijuana. But the harsh reality is there is not a lot of good scientific evidence that pot works systematically. Story continues below advertisement The active ingredient in marijuana, THC, has potential. But there is no other drug that is delivered by smoking. We don't have patients who need pain relief smoke opium. We deliver opiates in controlled amounts with pills and injections. Of course, prescription drugs are not the be-all and end-all; they don't always work and they have side effects. A lot of Canadians also use so-called natural health products. The evidence for their benefit is often scant. The problem with "medical" marijuana is that is in a strange regulatory netherworld – it is neither a prescription drug nor a natural health product. Rather, we have a regulatory regime that requires physicians to approve access to marijuana (they don't actually prescribe) and the patient then orders it from a licensed supplier. The physician is a gatekeeper and there is no intermediary like the pharmacist (or liquor store clerk) as there is with every other drug, prescription or otherwise. Under previous rules, patients were allowed to grow their own pot, which was stranger still. Again, we don't have patients grow their own opium poppies. Story continues below advertisement Physicians should not be policing marijuana use, not any more than they police alcohol or tobacco use. To involve them gives marijuana a status it does not deserve. Again, the obvious public-policy solution is decriminalization. Without the threat of legal action hanging over their heads, people could self-medicate with marijuana, just as they now do with Aspirin, St. John's wort and grandma's chicken soup. Prohibition doesn't work, especially for a drug that is widely used and has broad public tolerance. The marijuana policies we have in Canada are an asinine mishmash of repression and wishful thinking, and they need some serious revamping. |
For more than 40 years, NOVA has been on a singular mission: to bring science to life for everyone, by creating inspiring, entertaining and educational science specials and programming for television and the internet. With the support and passion of “Viewers Like You,” we’ve aired more than 750 NOVA programs, inspiring a love for the wonder of science in curious minds of all ages - kids and adults. As a result, we’ve also become a trusted resource in classrooms across the world. Science teachers and parents love sharing NOVA with kids to make science real for them. Over the years we’ve taken viewers to every corner of the planet (and universe!) We’ve been honored to receive numerous Emmy® Awards, Peabody Awards, and many other television and education awards for our work. But even more importantly, we hear from hundreds of scientists and teachers who tell us that NOVA is the reason they fell in love with science to begin with. Now we’d like you to join us for our next big experiment: NOVA’s first-ever crowdfunding campaign! Well, we're here for two reasons. Sure, we're here because this special needs funding – at least $200,000 on Kickstarter will be enough to let us really get to work on Beyond the Elements - but, even more importantly, we're also here for the crowd. (That's you!) CROWD. By going on this adventure together, we're excited to get to know all of you better, and to have you as part of the extended NOVA team. We want you to be part of the mission, and to join us in making the show that has inspired generations of kids to see the world in new ways, fall in love with science, and become actual scientists! FUNDING. Working together, we're hoping to raise at least $200,000 on Kickstarter. With your support, we want to create an often-requested special that will work as a follow-up to one of our most-watched and most-beloved specials – Hunting the Elements – which took viewers around the globe to see the incredible properties of the elements in action. Now, we want to take the next step -- and through Kickstarter, we can all work together to make it a reality! Together, we want to pick up where Hunting the Elements left off: with the help of host David Pogue, our new special will take viewers Beyond the Elements to discover the invisible world of molecules. It’s the hidden science that makes up everything in the known universe! WHAT'S IT ABOUT? There are only about 90 naturally occurring elements in the universe—but they can combine in over 100 million ways to make up everything we know—everything we’ve ever encountered, from the air we breathe to the ketchup we put on our burgers. WHAT WILL IT COVER? We think there are some incredible stories that we can tell to bring that invisible world to life, and that's what Beyond the Elements will do. David Pogue will be our host on an adventure around the world, as we go on a quest to unlock the secrets of molecules, both human-made and natural – from poisons to peppers and everything in-between! WHY IT MATTERS: Our goal is for Hunting the Elements and Beyond the Elements to be a perfect "pair" – and together, to provide an exciting, comprehensive introduction to chemistry that can catalyze a positive reaction in curious minds of all ages. (Sorry. Those are the only chemistry puns we'll make.) MORE THAN JUST A SPECIAL: In addition to the broadcast special – which, like all NOVA programs, will be free to the public on PBS and the internet for a period of time, we're also aiming to do a lot more! We'll produce everything from free accompanying classroom materials to free, immersive VR content, that will let you go even deeper – jumping inside the microscopic world of molecules to see them for yourself! The best part? We want you to be there with us every step of the way, so we've made plans to give you an unprecedented behind-the-scenes "pass" to find out everything that goes into making a NOVA special -- and since we're involving you before the special airs on television, we're excited to have your input, suggestions and feedback as part of the creative process! Great question! Here are two answers. You’ll be helping build a better future. The future of our planet, and the human race depends on each generation finding that personal love for and appreciation of science. And now, more than ever, it’s important to reach as many people - and kids - as possible. Why? Take a look at these statistics: (These are real facts! Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4) How can this be happening? Especially when we know that science helps us: These are the things that motivate us every day to create the best science programming possible. Inspiring people - and the future of our country - to love science is essential to our survival. But of course, there are rewards for helping us as well. In order to ensure that as much of your money goes towards making Beyond the Elements as possible, we’re keeping our rewards simple. Backing can get you a few carefully selected goodies, including: Everybody who backs will get periodic updates from NOVA . We’ll take you behind the scenes and let you in on our process as we make Beyond the Elements . At $35 and above: If you’re helping make the special possible, it only makes sense to give you a digital download of Beyond the Elements . At $50 and above: We’re printing up exclusive premium t-shirts just for this campaign. You’ll get to show off your love for science and NOVA to the world. At $100 and above: Rachel Ignotofsky, the New York Times best-selling author and brilliant illustrator behind Women in Science, has made an 11x17” art print just for this campaign! Celebrate all the everyday tools that scientists use to make our world a better place! (Get more details about the art print in this backer update.) Exclusively designed and printed ONLY for this campaign! And because teachers and students are important to us, we’ve set up a clever way that you can impact them very directly - by giving them NOVA! In addition to grabbing great rewards for yourself, you can send copies of Hunting the Elements, Beyond the Elements, and other essential NOVA episodes to the teacher or school of your choice. If you don’t have a teacher or school in mind and still want to help, we’ll find one for you! It’s a great way to support the campaign and show your appreciation to the hard-working teachers who directly inspire our kids every day in the classroom. Paula S. Apsell is the Senior Executive Producer and Director of the WGBH Science Unit. She is a recipient of the Bradford Washburn Award, the Carl Sagan Award, the American Institute of Physics Andrew Gemant Award, and the Planetary Society’s Cosmos Award, among many others. FAVORITE ELEMENT: Gold has two qualities that you might not think go together. It glitters and it’s got substance. In that way, it’s just like NOVA–both entertaining and educational—the gold standard of science programming! David Pogue is a former New York Times tech columnist, the current tech critic at Yahoo Finance, and author of 104 tech books. He’s hosted more than a dozen programs for NOVA, including the Making Stuff Series, NOVA ScienceNOW, and Hunting the Elements. FAVORITE ELEMENT: My favorite element is sodium, because its violent reactivity with water was my introduction (via mad scientist Theo Gray) to the insanely cool world of pure elements that most people will never see! Chris Schmidt is NOVA’s Senior Producer and the Executive Producer for Beyond the Elements. He was Executive Producer, Writer, and Director on many other David Pogue films, including the Making Stuff series and Hunting the Elements. FAVORITE ELEMENT: At the moment, silicon (Si) is my favorite element because I find it to be sadly tragic. It’s right below carbon on the periodic table, and it so wants to be able to do all the things carbon can do. But its bonds aren’t quite as strong or flexible and it can’t keep up with carbon’s social life, moving easily between the air, the water and the earth. Still, it’s got a great work ethic and it does its best. And even though we may never find alien life based on silicon, good old number 14 has given us plenty to be grateful for, like glass and computers! Thanks, silicon! Pamela Rosenstein manages the development of multipart series and specials for NOVA and the WGBH Science Unit. She supervises the development pipeline of projects for foundation and government funding, overseeing concept development, fundraising strategies, proposal development, and stewardship of strategic partnerships. FAVORITE ELEMENT: Helium, because I find it amazing that something produced naturally through radioactive decay can make you squeak. But don’t inhale too much; it is a finite resource, after all. Tim De Chant is NOVA's senior digital editor and the founding editor of NOVA Next, NOVA's digital magazine. He is also in charge of NOVA's social media strategy. FAVORITE ELEMENT: Carbon is my favorite element because it can tell us an incredible amount about the natural world. In tree rings, carbon isotope ratios can also tell us if the conditions in which the tree is growing have changed over its lifetime! Ralph Bouquet is the Education and Outreach Manager at NOVA. Ralph helps make NOVA a valuable resource for educators through the production of digital resources like videos and web games, professional development opportunities, and collaboration with STEM education organizations. FAVORITE ELEMENT: Calcium, because it helps me rationalize my love for cheese. |
Image copyright Justice Center Sudan/MailOnline.com Image caption Khartoum has been facing international condemnation over Meriam Ibrahim's death sentence The husband of a woman sentenced to death in Sudan for abandoning Islam has told the BBC he has not been informed that his wife will be released. Reports on Saturday said a Sudanese official had confirmed that Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth in custody, would be freed in a few days. But the foreign ministry said on Sunday Ms Ibrahim could only be released after a successful judicial appeal. Her death sentence has sparked international outrage. Ms Ibrahim was brought up as an Orthodox Christian, but a judge ruled last month that she should be regarded as Muslim because that had been her father's faith. She refused to renounce her Christianity and now faces hanging for apostasy. 'Rumours' Abdullahi al-Azreg, an under-secretary at the foreign ministry, told the BBC on Saturday that Ms Ibrahim, 27, would be freed because Sudan guaranteed religious freedom and was committed to protecting her. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Daniel Wani said reports of his wife's release were "just like rumours" But the foreign ministry said on Sunday issued a clarification, saying that only the judicial system could rule on the case. "The defence team of the concerned citizen has appealed the verdict ... and if the appeals court rules in her favour, she will be released," the ministry said. Ms Ibrahim's husband, Daniel Wani said he had only heard media reports about his wife's release, which he described as rumours. "No Sudanese or foreign mediator contacted me. Maybe there are contacts between the Sudanese government and foreign sides that I'm not aware of," Mr Wani told Mohammad Osman, the BBC's correspondent in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. "As far as I'm concerned I will wait for the appeal which my lawyer submitted and I hope that my wife will be released." Image caption Protesters in Khartoum called for the right to choose any religion last month Last Wednesday, Ms Ibrahim gave birth to a daughter in her prison cell - the second child from her marriage in 2011 to Daniel Wani, a US citizen. The court had said Ms Ibrahim would be allowed to nurse her baby for two years before the sentence was carried out. The court also annulled her Christian marriage and sentenced her to 100 lashes for adultery because the union was not considered valid under Islamic law. In his interview with the BBC, Mr Wani said he was hoping to continue living in Sudan with his wife and children in the event of her release, but that that might be too difficult. He also expressed his hope that the court would reconsider the verdict about the annulment of their marriage, which he confirmed he had also appealed against. Sudan has a majority Muslim population and Islamic law has been in force there since the 1980s. The ruling has revived a debate over apostasy, with liberal and conservative scholars giving different opinions over whether - and how - the act of abandoning the Islamic faith should be punished. |
No going anywhere: Toulouse snubbed bids for Etienne Capoue from Arsenal and Tottenham (Picture: Getty) North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham both failed with last-minute, deadline day bids for Toulouse midfielder Etienne Capoue according to the player’s agent. The news was hinted at by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in his weekly press conference, after the Frenchman admitted he was close to bringing in a new player only for the deal to collapse at the last minute. And it appears that player was Capoue, with Arsenal and their bitter rivals both known to be long-term admirers of the midfield enforcer. ‘We were close to one more signature,’ admitted Wenger, apparently in reference to Capoue. ‘It was not a money problem – it was more a desire from the other club to keep their player.’ International class: Capoue is an established France international worth around £15million (Picture: Getty) Those comments tally with Capoue’s agent Mino Raiola, who says his client was a target for the Gunners and Tottenham on transfer deadline day but Toulouse refused to do business. Advertisement Advertisement ‘Arsenal, Tottenham and PSG were interested in Capoue,’ said Raiola, who also hinted at the saga continuing when the next transfer window opens in June. ‘Maybe it is one for next summer. The Toulouse president didn’t need to sell during this window. The asking price was a barrier every time.’ Capoue had previously been a target for QPR but it is thought that losing Moussa Sissoko to Newcastle earlier in the window meant the 24-year-old was never for sale. |
Shane Chartres-Abbott murder: Man admits to killing Melbourne vampire gigolo Updated A career criminal has admitted to shooting dead self-described vampire gigolo Shane Chartres-Abbott in Melbourne in 2003 as a favour to an acquaintance. The man is the crown's key witness and cannot be identified because of a number of suppression orders from Victoria's Supreme Court. Mr Chartres-Abbott, a 28-year-old male prostitute who claimed he was a vampire, died after being shot outside his home in Reservoir on June 4, 2003. Warren Shea, Mark Perry and Evangelos Goussis are the three men on trial for his murder. Via videolink, the unnamed witness told the jury he was responsible for the death of Mr Chartres-Abbott. In testimony on Wednesday, the court heard that just a few weeks before the killing, Shea told the unnamed key witness that Mr Chartres-Abbott had raped and maimed Perry's ex-girlfriend. "I was told that he [Chartres-Abbott] made a shocking mess of her, bit hunks out of her,'" the witness told the court. "I was told quite a fair bit about that, and [Chartres-Abbott] raped her and left her for dead." The witness also told the court he was asked by Shea if he knew anyone who "would be interested in... harming Chartres-Abbott". "I definitely said I'd take care of it personally," the witness added. The witness testified that he accepted no payment for the killing, calling it a "favour for a favour". Initially he had the wrong address for Mr Chartres-Abbott, but was eventually given the correct address by a policeman he knew. He wrote the details down on a TAB ticket. The witness gave evidence that the third defendant, Goussis, drove him to Mr Chartres-Abbott's house on the day of the killing. The prosecution alleged the three defendants engaged in joint criminal enterprise because they all intended that the murder be committed. The three defendants have all pleaded not guilty. The key witness will continue his evidence on Thursday. Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, crime, law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, melbourne-3000, vic, australia First posted |
Discuss and share your questions or thoughts about gravel bikes, gear, events and anything else on the Riding Gravel Forum. The Teravail Cannonball 38mm tires are now mounted front and rear on our Raleigh Roker LTD test bike. With a ride or two in on these tires, it is time to give some first impressions on these tubeless ready gravel specific tires. The introductory post on these tires can be found HERE . Now before I get into the ride performance of these tires, lets get some of the details on how these mounted up and a couple of other interesting notes out of the way first.With the tires set to a bit over 40psi, I set out onto the gravel to see if the claims were true. To be honest, these tires felt good, but they did not exhibit any immediately obvious benefits over other gravel tires I have used. In fact, the first thing I thought was how similar they are to Clement MSO’s in profile and in feel. That isn’t a bad thing, by the way, since Clement tires are high on my list when it comes to good gravel road going tires. The obvious trump card Teravail holds here is that the Cannonball is tubeless ready. I will say that they had a great, damped feel, but again- not that far off other tires I’ve tried. So, what about those claims of lower rolling resistance and whatnot. Well, again, I wasn’t blown away by anything I felt right away with these tires. It was interesting to note that in our “coarse gravel” here, I did manage to get rocks to ping around, not unlike any other gravel going tire. That said, it may seem that I have a negative view of the Cannonball. Quite the contrary. It is amongst the best feeling tires I’ve tried, and acts not unlike a Clement MSO in ride performance, and added to that, it is okay to run it tubeless. So, yes- this is a very good gravel tire, it just isn’t as fantastic as the words I was told and read earlier would have me to believe.The Teravail Cannonball tires have lived up to their claims in the weight and width categories, plus their tubeless performance- so far- has been good. Riding them doesn’t set them head and shoulders above all other tires this size for gravel, but the Cannonball has to be in the conversation when it comes to tires to choose, if only because they are tubeless rated. The Cannonball tires are definitely really nice riding and fast feeling treads. Look for a Checkpoint update coming in a couple weeks or so. NOTE: The Teravail Cannonball 38mm tires were purchased by RidingGravel.com for test and review. We were not paid, nor bribed for this review, and we always strive to bring our honest thoughts and opinions throughout. |
Our solar system is a vast place, with lots of mostly empty space between planets. But out there are comets, asteroids and more rocky, frozen objects (including dwarf planets) yet to be discovered in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. NASA's Spirit rover landed on Mars nine years ago today (Jan. 3), kicking off a surface mission that's still operational thanks to the amazing endurance of Spirit's twin Opportunity. Mars is currently host to five active space missions, commanding more attention than any planet apart from Earth. But unmanned probes are also exploring many other solar system bodies, from the sun out to Pluto and beyond. Here's a brief rundown of some of the intrepid spacecraft that are currently sending data home from beyond Earth orbit. (For the sake of brevity, this list does not include the extensitve fleet of satellites currently orbiting Earth, though some notable ones are NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and iconic Hubble Space Telescope.) Sun-studying spacecraft Wind: This NASA probe launched in November 1994 to study the solar wind, the stream of charged particles flowing from the sun. The Wind spacecraft operates from a halo orbit around the sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 (L1), a spot about 900,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth (in the direction of the sun). At sun-Earth L1, the gravitational pulls of the two bodies interact in such a way that a probe can essentially park there. [Gallery: Solar System's Deep-Space Probes] Solar and Heliospheric Observatory: SOHO, a joint effort between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, launched in December 1995 and also orbits around sun-Earth L1. In addition to its sun-studying duties, SOHO has discovered more than 2,300 comets. The total mission cost is about 1 billion euros ($1.32 billion at current exchange rates). Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE): This $107 million NASA spacecraft launched in August 1997 to help researchers better understand and predict space space weather. ACE also orbits sun-Earth L1. Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory: NASA's $550 million sun-studying STEREO mission, which blasted off in October 2006, consists of two spacecraft, known as A and B. Both probes are in a heliocentric orbit, with A zipping around the sun faster than Earth and B lagging somewhat behind. Mercury Messenger: NASA's $446 million Messenger mission (short for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) launched in August 2004 and arrived in orbit around the solar system's innermost planet in March 2011. Messenger has found solid evidence of water ice and carbon-containing organic compounds in the permanentaly shadowed craters near Mercury's poles. Venus Venus Express: This $290 million ESA spacecraft blasted off in November 2005 and began orbiting Earth's hellishly hot "sister planet" in April 2006. Its main goal is to help scientists better understand the evolution of Venus' thick atmosphere. Akatsuki: The $300 million Akatsuki mission, which launched in May 2010, was Japan's second attempt to send a probe to another planet, after 2003's ill-fated Nozomi mission to Mars. Akatsuki has had troubles as well, failing to insert into Venus orbit as planned in December 2010. The probe is now circling the sun, and mission managers plan to take another shot at Venus in November 2015. This image, taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, is the most detailed view of the moon's far side to date. (Image: © NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University) Earth's moon Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: LRO launched on June 18, 2009, and arrived in lunar orbit five days later. The $504 million, car-size NASA spacecraft is studying the lunar surface for scientific and exploration purposes; its observations should help researchers decide where to put a future human colony on the moon, NASA officials say. Artemis: The two ARTEMIS spacecraft — short for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun — completed their unusual journey from Earth orbit to lunar orbit in July 2011. They had originally been part of a five-satellite, $200 million NASA mission called THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms), which launched in February 2007. [10 Coolest Moon Discoveries] Deep space beyond the moon This graphic from the China Lunar Exploration Program shows the progress of China's Chang'e 2 moon probe from its lunar orbit out to the L2 Lagrange point 1.5 million km from Earth. (Image: © CSLEP) Chang'e 2: This well-traveled Chinese spacecraft launched in October 2010 to scout out locations for a future lunar lander, which China is readying for launch in 2013. After completing its mission at the moon in June 2011, Chang'e 2 headed out to sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 to help test China's deep-space tracking and control network. Then, in mid-April of this year, it departed to do a flyby of the near-Earth asteroid Toutatis, accomplishing the feat on Dec. 13. Several other spacecraft are also parked at sun-Earth L2, including the European Space Agency's Herschel and Planck space observatories. NASA's prolific Spitzer Space Telescope, meanwhile, is in an Earth-trailing orbit around the sun, and the agency's Deep Impact probe is headed toward a possible 2020 rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid called 2002 GT. Deep Impact launched in January 2005 and slammed an impactor into Comet Tempel 1 on July 4 of that year. In November 2010, it accomplished a flyby of Comet Hartley 2. Deep Impact has traveled more than 4.2 billion miles (6.75 billion km) in space thus far. Mars Mars Odyssey: This venerable NASA orbiter launched in April 2001 and arrived at the Red Planet six months later to look for signs of past and present water activity. The $297 million spacecraft also serves as a communications relay between NASA's Mars rovers and their controllers on Earth. Mars Express: This 150 million-euro ($198 million) ESA probe's main objective is to look for subsurface water from orbit. It launched in June 2003 and arrived at Mars in December of that year. Mars Express also aimed to put a lander, called Beagle 2, on the Martian surface, but this aspect of the mission failed. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: NASA's $720 million MRO spacecraft launched in August 2005 and achieved Mars orbit in March 2006. Since then, it has been mapping the Red Planet's surface with unprecedented precision. In addition to their scientific value, MRO's observations have helped NASA decide where to land surface missions on the Red Planet. MRO is also the chief communications link between Mars surface craft and Earth. During its 84 and 85 day (sol) on Mars, Curiosity snapped this newest mosaic self-portrait. (Image: © NASA / JPL-Caltech) Opportunity Rover: This golf-cart-size robot launched in July 2003 and landed in January 2004, three weeks after its twin, Spirit. Spirit and Opportunity were tasked with three-month missions to search for signs of past water activity on Mars; both found plenty of such evidence and kept on roving. Spirit stopped communicating with Earth in March 2010, but Opportunity is still going strong. NASA has spent about $900 million on the rovers' mission to date. Curiosity Rover: The $2.5 billion Curiosity rover dwarfs Spirit and Opportunity; it's the size of a small car and weighs a ton. Curiosity launched in November 2011 and pulled off a dramatic sky-crane landing on Aug. 5, 2012. Its main mission is to determine if its Gale Crater landing site has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. [Latest Photos from the Curiosity Rover] Asteroid belt and environs Dawn: NASA's $466 million Dawn spacecraft launched in September 2007 and arrived at the protoplanet Vesta — the second-largest denizen of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter — in July 2011. Dawn departed Vesta in September 2012 to head to the belt's biggest body, Ceres. It should reach the dwarf planet in February 2015. Rosetta: This ambitious ESA mission, which costs about 1 billion euros ($1.32 billion), aims to orbit and drop a lander on the comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta launched in March 2004, executed flybys of two different asteroids in 2008 and 2010 and is set to meet up with the comet in mid-2014 near the orbit of Jupiter, about 420 million miles (675 million km) from Earth. Jupiter Juno: This $1.1 billion NASA spacecraft launched in August 2011 and is slated to arrive at Jupiter in August 2016. Over the course of one Earth year, Juno will study the gas giant's atmosphere, internal structure and magnetic field from orbit. Juno is the first solar-powered spacecraft ever to venture as far as Jupiter. NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this image of Saturn on Oct. 17, 2012, while in the planet's shadow. Cassini's cameras were turned toward Saturn and the sun so that the planet and rings are backlit. (Image: © NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute) Saturn Cassini: The $3.2 billion Cassini-Huygens mission, a joint effort involving NASA, ESA, and the Italian Space Agency, launched in October 1997 and achieved Saturn orbit in July 2004. The Cassini spacecraft has been studying Saturn, its rings and the planet's many moons ever since. In January 2005, the probe also delivered the Huygens lander to the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Pluto New Horizons: This super-speedy NASA spacecraft launched in January 2006 and is set to fly by the Pluto system in July 2015, giving researchers their first-ever up-close look at the dwarf planet. After that, the $700 million probe may also fly by one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune's orbit. Solar system's edge Voyager 1 and 2: NASA's twin Voyager probes launched in 1977 to study Saturn, Jupiter and their moons. The pair made many discoveries about these far-flung bodies, then checked out Uranus and Neptune and kept on flying. Both spacecraft are now studying the unique conditions at the edge of the solar system, knocking on the door of interstellar space. Voyager 1 — the most distant manmade object ever launched — is currently about 11 billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth, while Voyager 2 is 9 billion miles (15 billion km) from home. NASA has spent about $1 billion on the mission to date. Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. |
Content aware scale video tutorial 26/12/2013 pastepotato Dec 25th, 2013 64,626 Never 64,626Never Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up , it unlocks many cool features! rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 4.12 KB Feel free to message me on youtube or tumblr if you have any questions! http://vicariouspotato.tumblr.com/ask http://www.youtube.com/user/VicariousPotato Content aware scale video tutorial Tools needed: •Your video editing software of choice (and some knowledge on how to use it, I can't really help you here sorry!) •Neil Cicierega's content aware scale script http://neilblr.com/post/42948042669 •photoshop cs5/6, make sure you have quicktime installed too or you won't be able to import video into Photoshop •Some patience, these videos take a little while to make, but once you get the hang of it you'll be shitting them out in no time, also the patience to read this WALL OF TEXT. Lets get started shall we? If the video I'm using is longer than about 15 seconds, I cut the video i'm using into 15 second chunks in premiere and save them. Next I convert the video frames to layers in Photoshop (File->Import-> Video Frames to Layers) You have to work with roughly 15 second chunks of video because Photoshop has a 500 frame import limit, if the video you're working with is 30fps then 30*15= 450, the chunks could be a bit longer with 24fps video, but just use 15 second chunks. You COULD bypass the frame limit by importing multiple video chunks into the one photoshop document I guess, but fuck that, photoshop has a 2gb file size limit, I wouldn't even try it. Now, before you go running the content aware scale script, save yourself some time by copying a few layers of the video into a new document and try playing around with them using the content aware scale tool (Shift+Ctrl+Alt+C is the shortcut on Windows), scale them around a bit and take note of the scale width and height up at the top, that will be what you'll want to put into the script tool later for the desired effect, there's also a button that looks like a little man called "Protect skin tones", try playing with that too! It's good to find the effect you want before you commit 15 minutes of your time to running the script and then finding out it looks like shite. Anyway, back to the actual video part! By this stage you should have the script installed, you'll find it under File->Scripts->Animated Content Aware Scale. Now, to get the same constant effect, move the Starting width and height sliders to wherever you want them to be, and set the ending height to the same number, for all of my videos I use the first Algorithm; "Content aware scale -> scale" If you want to squish your subject gradually, it's best to do this if your video is under the 500 frame limit/15 or so seconds, because you will have to break up the effect over the several chunks of video and I cannot into math/it's a massive pain in the arse so you can figure that out for yourself. Basically just set the starting height and width to 100 and just change the ending height and width to whatever you want for a gradual squishing effect, or the same if you want to scale it bigger (script lets you scale up to 300%) Depending on the resolution and your computer it can take 5-10 minutes or so to do one chunk of video. Then I render the finished thing as a video File-> Export-> Render Video I usually use H.264, make sure your framerate and resolution match the source video! Finally I throw all the video into premiere, sync it up with the original audio (might need to adjust each piece on the timeline if you fucked up the framerate I think, otherwise the audio might be longer than the video) And then I export it and laugh at my own work. Please note that adding 500 frames into photoshop all at once and then running the script may make your computer stand up, find some pants, put them on and shit in them if it's not very powerful, I have a pretty nice pc with an i5 2500k and 8gigs of ram and I still get the low memory warning from Windows, so try not to run too much shit in the background when you're messing around with it. Hopefully this tutorial was somewhat useful, I'm sorry if it was kinda long winded and shite. Once again, feel free to message me on youtube or tumblr if you have any questions! (This is the most I have typed all year, my wrists hurt) RAW Paste Data Feel free to message me on youtube or tumblr if you have any questions! http://vicariouspotato.tumblr.com/ask http://www.youtube.com/user/VicariousPotato Content aware scale video tutorial Tools needed: •Your video editing software of choice (and some knowledge on how to use it, I can't really help you here sorry!) •Neil Cicierega's content aware scale script http://neilblr.com/post/42948042669 •photoshop cs5/6, make sure you have quicktime installed too or you won't be able to import video into Photoshop •Some patience, these videos take a little while to make, but once you get the hang of it you'll be shitting them out in no time, also the patience to read this WALL OF TEXT. Lets get started shall we? If the video I'm using is longer than about 15 seconds, I cut the video i'm using into 15 second chunks in premiere and save them. Next I convert the video frames to layers in Photoshop (File->Import-> Video Frames to Layers) You have to work with roughly 15 second chunks of video because Photoshop has a 500 frame import limit, if the video you're working with is 30fps then 30*15= 450, the chunks could be a bit longer with 24fps video, but just use 15 second chunks. You COULD bypass the frame limit by importing multiple video chunks into the one photoshop document I guess, but fuck that, photoshop has a 2gb file size limit, I wouldn't even try it. Now, before you go running the content aware scale script, save yourself some time by copying a few layers of the video into a new document and try playing around with them using the content aware scale tool (Shift+Ctrl+Alt+C is the shortcut on Windows), scale them around a bit and take note of the scale width and height up at the top, that will be what you'll want to put into the script tool later for the desired effect, there's also a button that looks like a little man called "Protect skin tones", try playing with that too! It's good to find the effect you want before you commit 15 minutes of your time to running the script and then finding out it looks like shite. Anyway, back to the actual video part! By this stage you should have the script installed, you'll find it under File->Scripts->Animated Content Aware Scale. Now, to get the same constant effect, move the Starting width and height sliders to wherever you want them to be, and set the ending height to the same number, for all of my videos I use the first Algorithm; "Content aware scale -> scale" If you want to squish your subject gradually, it's best to do this if your video is under the 500 frame limit/15 or so seconds, because you will have to break up the effect over the several chunks of video and I cannot into math/it's a massive pain in the arse so you can figure that out for yourself. Basically just set the starting height and width to 100 and just change the ending height and width to whatever you want for a gradual squishing effect, or the same if you want to scale it bigger (script lets you scale up to 300%) Depending on the resolution and your computer it can take 5-10 minutes or so to do one chunk of video. Then I render the finished thing as a video File-> Export-> Render Video I usually use H.264, make sure your framerate and resolution match the source video! Finally I throw all the video into premiere, sync it up with the original audio (might need to adjust each piece on the timeline if you fucked up the framerate I think, otherwise the audio might be longer than the video) And then I export it and laugh at my own work. Please note that adding 500 frames into photoshop all at once and then running the script may make your computer stand up, find some pants, put them on and shit in them if it's not very powerful, I have a pretty nice pc with an i5 2500k and 8gigs of ram and I still get the low memory warning from Windows, so try not to run too much shit in the background when you're messing around with it. Hopefully this tutorial was somewhat useful, I'm sorry if it was kinda long winded and shite. Once again, feel free to message me on youtube or tumblr if you have any questions! (This is the most I have typed all year, my wrists hurt) |
20TH CENTURY MATHEMATICS - TURING Alan Turing (1912-1954) The British mathematician Alan Turing is perhaps most famous for his war-time work at the British code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park where his work led to the breaking of the German enigma code (according to some, shortening the Second World War at a stroke, and potentially saving thousands of lives). But he was also responsible for making Gödel’s already devastating incompleteness theorem even more bleak and discouraging, and it is mainly on this - and the development of computer science that his work gave rise to - that Turing’s mathematical legacy rests. Despite attending an expensive private school which strongly emphasized the classics rather than the sciences, Turing showed early signs of the genius which was to become more prominent later, solving advanced problems as a teenager without having even studied elementary calculus, and immersing himself in the complex mathematics of Albert Einstein's work. He became a confirmed atheist after the death of his close friend and fellow Cambridge student Christopher Morcom, and throughout his life he was an accomplished and committed long-distance runner. In the years following the publication of Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, Turing desperately wanted to clarify and simplify Gödel’s rather abstract and abstruse theorem, and to make it more concrete. But his solution - which was published in 1936 and which, he later claimed, had come to him in a vision - effectively involved the invention of something that has come to shape the entire modern world, the computer. Representation of a Turing Machine During the 1930s, Turing recast incompleteness in terms of computers (or, more specifically, a theoretical device that manipulates symbols, known as a Turing machine), replacing Gödel's universal arithmetic-based formal language with this formal and simple device. He first proved that such a machine would be capable of performing any conceivable mathematical computation if it were representable as an algorithm. He then went on to show that, even for such a logical machine, essentially driven by arithmetic, there would always be some problems they would never be able to solve, and that a machine fed such a problem would never stop trying to solve it, but would never succeed (known as the “halting problem”). In the process, he also proved that there was no way of telling beforehand which problems were the unprovable ones, thus providing a negative proof to the so-called Entscheidungsproblem or “decision problem“, posed by David Hilbert in 1928. This was a further slap in the face for a mathematics community still reeling from Gödel’s crushing incompleteness theorem. After the war, Turing continued the work he had begun, and worked on the development of early computers such as ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) and the Manchester Mark 1. Although the computer he developed was a very basic and limited machine by modern standards, Turing clearly saw its potential, and dreamed that one day computers would be more than machines, capable of learning, thinking and communicating. He was the first to develop ideas for a chess-playing computer program, and saw mastery in the game as one of the goals that designers of intelligent machines should strive for. Turing test Indeed, he was the first to address the problem of artificial intelligence, and proposed an experiment now known as the Turing Test in an attempt to define a standard for a machine to be called "intelligent". By this test, a computer could be said to "think" if it could fool a human interrogator into thinking that the conversation was with a human. This showed remarkable foresight at a time long before the Internet, when the only available computers were the size of a room and less powerful than a modern pocket calculator. Turing’s personal philosophy was to be free from hypocrisy, compromise and deceit. He was, for example, a homosexual at a time when it was both illegal and even dangerous, yet he never hid it nor made it an issue. Unlike Gödel (who strongly believed in the power of intuition, and who was convinced that the human mind was capable of going beyond the limitations of the systems he described), Turing clearly felt a certain affinity with computers and, to some extent, he saw them as embodying this admirable absence of lies or hypocrisy. After the war, he was kept under surveillance as a potential security risk by the authorities and eventually, in 1952, he was arrested, charged and found guilty of engaging in a homosexual act. As a result, he was chemically castrated by an injection of the female hormone estrogen, which caused him to grow breasts and also affected his mind. In 1954, Turing was found dead, having committed suicide with cyanide. |
LONDON — It would be the most shocking election result since, well, since Donald Trump captured the White House. Or Britain voted to leave the European Union. Or the Conservatives won their first outright majority in 23 years. Could Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn really defy near-unanimous predictions of electoral doom and become prime minister? As the polls tighten, and one survey suggests Labour could just squeak into power as the largest party in a minority administration, here's what might happen if Comrade Corbyn were, actually, to move into Downing Street. Friday, June 9 — 3 a.m. Sobell Leisure Centre, Islington It’s official: Theresa May lost her big gamble. The early election she believed would result in a landslide for the Tories and the annihilation of Corbyn’s Labour Party ended in a hung parliament instead. At this point, most politicians would be barking instructions and making complex plans for the coalition talks to come. But Corbyn is not most politicians. Mr. Zen knows he has a big week ahead of him. He is old enough and wise enough to eschew the manic excitement and panic now gripping the entire political class. Ignoring the camera crews camped outside his local leisure center in Islington, where he has just been reelected MP for the eighth time, he heads home to bed. Meanwhile, back at Labour HQ, John McDonnell, his closest friend, shadow chancellor and principal adviser, is barking instructions and making complex plans for the coalition talks to come. Friday, June 9 — 3 p.m. East Finchley Allotment With a sigh, Corbyn switches his phone into silent mode. It has been ringing all morning: Labour advisers seeking instructions, members of the media demanding answers, civil servants delivering dire lamentations — “The pound is down! Chancellor Merkel wants a word …” Every few minutes, McDonnell is on the line, keeping him up-to-date with the negotiations. “I can’t believe you’re not watching the TV, Jeremy,” he says at one point. “May was actually in tears when she resigned.” He sounds happier than Corbyn has ever heard him. Corbyn has retreated to his allotment to get away from the photographers outside his house. He finds peace among his potatoes and neat lines of corn. Besides, according to union rules, if you’re forced to work at the weekend, you’re owed a day off in lieu — and he hasn’t had a break since the campaign began. Donald Trump took the whole of his first weekend off, and the right-wing press didn’t make a fuss over that. And unlike Trump, Corbyn is putting his time away from the fray to good use: He is brooding, planning, plotting. Friday, June 9, — 11:30 p.m. Jeremy Corbyn’s house, Islington McDonnell bangs on the door, waking up Corbyn and his wife, Laura. Corbyn still hasn't switched his phone back on and so it is McDonnell, accompanied by chief adviser Seamus Milne, who breaks the news. As the head of a minority government propped up by an unholy alliance of the Nationalists, Liberal Democrats and a Green MP, Prime Minister Corbyn will have “confidence and supply” — the ability to form a government and pass a budget — but not much more. The media camped out on the doorstep goes into a frenzy; the image of Corbyn opening the door, sleepy-eyed and dressing gown-clad, will grace every U.K. newspaper the following morning. He goes back into the house, as McDonnell happily begins to read a statement on his behalf. Saturday, June 10 — 3 p.m. Buckingham Palace Queen Elizabeth is waiting. She has been for some time now, since returning overnight from Balmoral. For perhaps the only time since her first audience as Queen with Winston Churchill 65 years ago, she feels a little nervous. Corbyn is just so … socialist. Could he really abolish her? An aide enters the room to report that the new prime minister is still “tied up in meetings.” She thinks about passing back a sharp message to the effect that until he kisses her hand, Corbyn won’t actually be prime minister at all, but decides against it. Chancellor Merkel continues to wait. As does the queen. To pass the time, she turns on the television. Diane Abbott is telling an interviewer that the queen can now understand what it was like for pensioners in doctors’ surgeries across the country, who grew used to long waits under the Tories. Saturday, June 10 — 4 p.m. Arsenal Football Club, Emirates Stadium, Highbury The crowd is larger and louder than at Corbyn’s general election rallies and his two leadership campaigns. “Jez We Did! Jez We Did!” they cry. When the great man speaks from the temporary stage set up in front of Arsene Wenger’s dugout, he promises a fat legislative program for his first 100 days in office. Cash will be poured into schools and hospitals, railways will be renationalized, energy companies taxed, banks curtailed and the rich squeezed until their pips squeak. A thousand flowers will bloom in the arts, and ethics will define Britain’s foreign policy. As Corbyn bathes in the ardor of applause, a civil servant discreetly informs him it is time for his calls with foreign leaders; Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and Cuba’s Raúl Castro are first on the list. Chancellor Merkel continues to wait. As does the queen. Sunday, June 11 — 9 a.m. BBC, Broadcasting House Ken Livingstone, the new Brexit secretary, fidgets with his microphone as he prepares to face an inquisition from interviewer Andrew Marr. With Corbyn yet to speak to the media (other than a Q&A with the Islington Gazette largely focused on the closure of a local playgroup), it's now up to Livingstone to explain the extraordinary changes at the top of government. For the first time in decades, trade union leaders and other non-parliamentarians are seated around the cabinet table, replacing moderate MPs who have been swiftly purged. Len McCluskey is business secretary; Tariq Ali goes in at education. Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary Livingstone has now replaced, is threatening to quit the party. No matter. The ministries can be filled with all those unexpected new Labour MPs who owe their seats to Corbyn. Livingstone grins but refuses to concede that inexperience will make them more pliant. Asked to explain his attitude to Europe, he begins: “Well, Andrew, when Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939 …" Monday, June 12 — 9 a.m. Downing Street Theresa and Philip May finally begin packing their bags. Until word came that Corbyn had actually gone through with the dirty deed of kissing the queen's hand, a part of her had believed she might yet find a way stay on as prime minister. Corbyn has kindly phoned to tell her to take all the time she needs — he’ll be staying on at his home in Islington for the foreseeable future. May is touched by his consideration — for about 10 minutes — until switchboard puts through a second call, from Seamus Milne. On reflection, Jeremy would be grateful if she could be gone by the end of the week. No. 10 is to become a People’s Palace, open to the public, shared by all. May gasps — won’t that be a security risk? She thinks back to the late-night briefings she received after Manchester and London Bridge, the pain in the eyes of the children and parents she met, and she shudders. Tuesday, June 13 — 4 p.m. Labour HQ, Victoria Street As he has been for much of his time since taking office, Jeremy Corbyn is in a meeting. It seems there are lots of meetings involved in being prime minister, even more than when he was leader of the opposition. He sips a Cup-A-Soup as Emily Thornberry and Diane Abbott argue in a desultory fashion. What are they even discussing? Every now and then an official dashes in: “The pound has dropped, prime minister;” “Your security briefing, prime minister;” “Chancellor Merkel would still like a word, prime minister …” Every time this happens, Shami Chakrabarti flinches; Seamus Milne frowns. Corbyn has attended only one meeting, reluctantly, at No. 10, where he very politely told an anonymous-looking man with an inscrutable face that he wouldn’t be needing the nuclear codes. Wednesday, June 14 — 12 p.m. House of Commons It is Corbyn’s first Prime Minister’s Questions since coming to office. As ever, the Chamber is packed. The Opposition benches appear particularly cramped, given the dynamics of the minority government. Facing Corbyn is interim Conservative leader Amber Rudd. Despite their numbers, the Tories seem muted. The new Labour MPs are breathless with excitement, although many of the old timers have stayed away, sharpening the imbalance between the two sides. “People of Britain: Things are going to be a little different from now on …” Like the pawns’ move in a game of chess, the opening gambits are familiar. The new prime minister discloses his day, listing meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. But as Rudd lobs him a nasty little question about the deficit, he responds by chucking her queen out of the window: “You know what Amber, I’ve always thought of these sessions as utterly futile. I’m abolishing them.” And with that, he goes off for a cup of tea in Portcullis House. Thursday, June 15 — 6 p.m. College Green, Westminster Laura Kuenssberg shifts on her feet. It is a week since polling day, and Corbyn has finally agreed to give his first broadcast interview, to the BBC. But he is late, very late, and now Seamus Milne is telling the BBC’s political editor they must take the interview live or not at all. Behind Milne, the crowds of well-wishers that have followed Corbyn around all week cast evil eyes at Kuenssberg, even though she is readily agreeing to the request. Corbyn arrives, and as the interview begins, he ignores her greeting, cutting her off as she prepares to ask her first question. Staring down the barrel of the camera lens, he begins: “People of Britain: Things are going to be a little different from now on …” Rosa Prince is the author of "Comrade Corbyn, A Very Unlikely Coup" (Biteback Publishing, February 2016). |
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Fort Lauderdale police arrested nine people caught by Local 10 News cameras looting Fort Lauderdale business despite the dangerous winds and heavy rain from Hurricane Irma. Local 10 cameras showed a group breaking into the Simon's Sportswear at Sunrise Boulevard and Powerline Road. The group of looters broke through the front window and were seen walking in and then walking out with stolen items. They then began looting a Foot Locker and Cash America Pawn store in the same area. Hours later, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department announced that the criminals had been arrested. "Going to prison over a pair of sneakers is a fairly bad life choice," Fort Lauderdale police Chief Rick Maglione said. "Stay home and look after your loved once and be thankful they are all safe." Six adults and three teenagers were arrested. The adult suspects were identified as Kenneth Pinkney, Zara Dumornay, Tyrell Pratt, Teonhki Robinson, Michael Brown and Rossano Henry Jr. They face charges of burglary during a natural disaster. The Broward Sheriff's Office immediately reacted to Local 10's report, posting on Twitter: "ATTENTION LOOTERS; Every incident will be investigated. Evidence collected will be used to pursue charges after the fact." Meanwhile, the Pembroke Pines Police Department issued a stern warning: "Any looters who come to Pembroke Pines will be greeted by our officers. Choose wisely and stay home." South Florida law enforcement officials promised to police the streets to prevent looting, but with unsafe winds pummeling the region, police were discretionary to ensure the safety of officers. Any looters who come to Pembroke Pines will be greeted by our officers. Choose wisely and stay home. https://t.co/9ETgZKgYla — Pembroke Pines PD (@PPinesPD) September 10, 2017 ATTENTION LOOTERS; Every incident will be investigated. Evidence collected will be used to pursue charges after the fact. #HurrcaneIrma — Broward Sheriff (@browardsheriff) September 10, 2017 Copyright 2017 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. |
It's official: Women ARE more equal than men as Harman shake-up gives preferential treatment Employers will be given legal powers to discriminate in favour of women and black job candidates under a controversial equality shake-up. Harriet Harman unveiled plans for firms to choose them ahead of equally-qualified white male applicants without risking being sued. Miss Harman, Labour's deputy leader, hopes to boost the proportion of female and ethnic minority staff, as well as pushing more of them into senior roles. But the Equality Bill, which brings together nine major laws, yesterday prompted grave concern that white men could miss out unfairly on jobs. Business chiefs and opposition MPs reacted furiously to the plans, which have been described as 'socialism in one clause'. They warned it would burden firms struggling to cope with the worst recession in 60 years with more red tape and leave them open to 'costly and damaging' exployment tribunals. Critics also hit out at proposals to force employers to reveal how much they paid men compared with women, saying it could hinder job creation. The Equality Bill also: Gives public bodies a 'duty' to target services, including health and education, at those from working class backgrounds; Bans age discrimination in the provision of goods and service; Strengthens protection for carers, breast-feeding mothers and female members of clubs such as golf clubs; Enables public bodies to award contracts according to a firm's diversity; Orders public bodies to make sure they do not discriminate on grounds of 'sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age and religion or belief'. But the most contentious measure is the plan to allow employers to take 'positive action' to ensure more women and minority candidates are in the workforce. Miss Harman said: 'If you have got two equally qualified candidates, you might actually want to have the woman because she is a woman. 'Now at the moment, if you choose her because she is a woman, you could face a sex discrimination case. 'So this says to employers, if you want to, and want to be able to diversify your workforce, then actually you can choose, if you have got equally-qualified candidates, you can choose the one from the group that is under-represented.' Positive discrimination, where a lesser-qualified candidate is awarded a job just because he or she is from a minority, will remain illegal. The Government released figures showing only one chief constable is from an ethnic minority, only 15 MPs are black or Asian and only 131 - or 11 per cent - of directors in the top 100 firms are female. Warning: Shadow women's minister Theresa May has condemned the "bureaucratic and expensive" plan Miss Harman defended her gender pay audits, which will be in place by 2013, despite stinging criticism from business leaders and the Conservatives. She highlighted a 20 per cent pay gap between men and women, despite the Equal Pay Act being introduced 40 years ago. She also unveiled measures to ensure more Government contracts, worth a total of £175billion, are awarded to firms which have good records on equality. Public bodies, including NHS trusts and councils, would be encouraged to award contracts to companies employing more and ethnic minorities, even if the deal was more expensive. Shadow Minister for Women Theresa May said: 'Too many of the proposals in this Bill will be bureaucratic and expensive without providing real results. 'Labour's proposal for compulsory pay audits without any sanctions for failure will simply waste time and money without making any difference to pay discrimination.' Business leaders said the proposals would be an unwelcome burden. David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: 'Businesses will not use the "positive action" provision. 'It is confusing and lays employers open to costly and damaging claims in tribunals. Employers want to hire the best person for the job and will continue to do so, with or without new legislation.' He added: 'This Bill will discourage job creation and make employers fearful of the recruitment process. We already know that half of small firms struggle to navigate employment law and this will just add to the problem.' |
This article is about the American actor. For the rock band named after him, see Kane Hodder (band) Kane Warren Hodder (born April 8, 1954)[1] is an American actor, stuntman, and author. Hodder is best known for his portrayal of Jason Voorhees (five times) in four films from the Friday the 13th film series: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Jason X and the video game Friday the 13th: The Game. He is also known for his role as Victor Crowley in the Hatchet series.[2] He also played Leatherface during the stunts of Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and Freddy Krueger's clawed glove hand in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. Life and career [ edit ] Hodder was born in Auburn, California in 1954. Early in his career, during an interview he offered to show the interviewer and her cameraman a fire stunt, which went horribly wrong, leaving him with 2nd and 3rd degree burns over much of his upper body. It was because of these burns he was initially selected to portray Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street (see 'To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story' section further down this page), a role that would eventually go to Robert Englund with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. He was the first actor to portray Jason Voorhees more than once, in a total of four consecutive movies from Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood to Jason X. He portrayed horror icon Leatherface through the stunt work of the 1990 film Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and played Freddy Krueger's clawed glove hand at the ending scene of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. He also appeared in an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to promote Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, in costume as Jason. Although he offered to reprise his role as Jason Voorhees in the 2003 film Freddy vs. Jason, director Ronny Yu replaced Hodder with 6'5" Canadian stuntman Ken Kirzinger. The switch created controversy among fans of the series and has been credited to several rumors, including Kirzinger's location in Canada and his height compared to Robert Englund, the actor who portrayed Freddy Krueger, while Yu himself stated that it was New Line Cinema's idea to do so.[3] Though Hodder still expresses resentment over not being chosen, he is still good friends with Kirzinger and Englund.[4] In 2011 Hodder wrote, along with author Michael Aloisi, his autobiography Unmasked: The True Story of the World's Most Prolific Cinematic Killer.[5] This was in 2014 turned into a Webseries, which was released as The Killer & I.[6] Hodder starred in the slasher film Hatchet as main character Victor Crowley, a physically deformed young boy who comes back from the dead to kill the people who invade the swamp he lives in,[7] a similar story in scope to that of Jason Voorhees. The role earned him the Horror Jury Award for Best Actor at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. He reprised this role in Hatchet II, Hatchet III and Victor Crowley .[8] Hodder portrayed Grawesome Crutal in the old-school slasher film, Muck and its sequel Muck: Feast of Saint Patrick.[9] He co-starred with Doug Jones and Michael McShane in the horror comedy film Love in the Time of Monsters.[10] In March 2015, he was part of Adam Green's ArieScope webseries Adam Green's Scary Sleepover.[11] Kane Hodder reprised his role as Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Game. He also reprised his role as Victor Crowley in the upcoming eponymous movie of the same name. Unmasked [ edit ] Hodder co-wrote an autobiography with author Mike Aloisi.[12] The book is about his life and experience in the film industry and was released on October 1, 2011. Unmasked documents the unlikely true story of a boy who was taunted and beaten relentlessly by bullies throughout his childhood. Kane only escaped his tormentors when he moved to a tiny island in the South Pacific where he lived for all of his teen years. After living shirtless in a jungle for a while, he headed back to America where he fell in love with doing stunts-only to have his love burn him, literally. For the first time ever, Kane tells the true story of the burn injury that nearly killed him at the start of his career. The entire story of his recovery, the emotional and physical damage it caused, his fight to break back into the industry that almost killed him, and his rise to become a film actor are told in Kane's own voice.[13] Filmography [ edit ] Stunts [ edit ] Acting [ edit ] Himself [ edit ] To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story (2018)[15][16] Paranormal group [ edit ] Hodder at the 2014 Scarefest As a side project, Kane had been ghost hunting for some time now in his own group called the Hollywood Ghost Hunters. He describes it as a "group of people who normally make a living by trying to scare other people. Everybody in the group has something to do with horror movies." Hodder partnered up with his friend Rick "Stuntman" McCullum, a Hollywood stuntman and actor who doubles for horror film actors like Sid Haig. Rick decided to form a paranormal team, after he and Kane were filming at Mansfield Reformatory for a horror film called Fallen Angels. While there, they decided to spend their break ghost hunting investigating the cells. They had a ghostly experience when they saw a shadow man running down one of the cell blocks. When Kane took off in a full sprint towards it, Rick knew he had his first partner for his team. Shortly after, they took on their third member for the team: R. A. Mihailoff, known for playing the frightening lead role of "Leatherface" in Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. Together the three members make up a paranormal group of members who work in the horror movie industry. On January 7, 2011, Hollywood Ghost Hunters was featured on the "Pico House" episode of Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures. Personal life [ edit ] Hodder is an avid poker player.[citation needed] He has the word "Kill!" tattooed on the back of his bottom lip.[17] He spends time working with children in burn centers,[18] and despite the roles he often plays, Hodder has often been described as a very friendly man who loves to meet his fans.[citation needed] For a long time, Hodder claimed his favorite kill scene in his films was the "sleeping bag against a tree" scene from Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. He now considers the one where he rips a woman's face in half from Hatchet (2006) to be his favorite.[19] Hodder is a noted Juggalo, a fan of the group Insane Clown Posse. To reflect this, he has a custom charm of the group's "hatchetman" logo holding a machete instead of a hatchet, a reference to his role as Jason.[17] Hodder appeared on the December 4, 2012 episode of the TruTV show Hardcore Pawn, in which he had a miniature gold mask made from a piece a fan had made for him. |
This spring, Harvard announced that it had admitted just 1,990 students from its record-high applicant pool of 37,509. That means only 5.3% of those who applied got in, including the 977 students given seats in the early action pool. Together with the 4,292 applicants who were deferred from that group only a minuscule 2.8% got in through regular admission. Those are the lowest numbers ever for the 379-year-old Ivy League institution. Nevertheless, a new survey from a two-year-old test prep startup called LTG Exam, creator of recently-launched Prep4SAT, shows that Harvard is the No. 1 choice among high school seniors. Two thousand seven hundred aspiring college students who use Prep4SAT ranked the schools where they most want to go. Much of the list is comprised of the usual suspects, with Harvard in first place, followed by Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale, which may feel slighted that it’s not neck and neck with its archrival Harvard. But Yale’s student body is smaller, roughly 5,400 undergraduates to Harvard’s 6,400, so it stands to reason that it would have fewer applicants. The next 13 schools are also predictable, including Princeton, University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, New York University and California Institute of Technology, though some of these names upset the conventional wisdom. Many of the schools are in Forbes’ top 25 but others, like UCLA (No. 45), NYU (77), Cal Tech (33), University of Texas, Austin (82), Johns Hopkins (62) and Boston University (91) are not. Then we get to much lower-ranked schools like University of Northern Iowa, a school with 10,380 undergraduates, which is way down at No. 464 on the Forbes list, followed by Florida State, which has 35,528 undergrads and ranks at 211 on the Forbes list. Twenty seven hundred students may not be a large enough sample to pronounce definitively on the most popular schools, but it’s an interesting snapshot nonetheless. Here’s the complete list of 25 schools: 1. Harvard University 2. Stanford University 3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4. Yale University 5. Princeton University 6. University of California Berkeley 7. University of California Los Angeles 8. New York University 9. California Institute of Technology 10. Columbia University 11. Cornell University 12. University of Pennsylvania 13. University of TexasAustin 14. Brown University 15. Duke University 16. Johns Hopkins University 17. Boston University 18. University of Northern Iowa 19. Florida State University 20. University of California San Diego 21. University of Southern California 22. Texas A&M University College Station 23. Georgia Institute of Technology 24. Pennsylvania State University University Park 25. University of Washington Also on Forbes: |
Tonight the New Orleans Pelicans and the Houston Rockets will match up in a game that will showcase the Pelicans new starting lineup with the addition of DeMarcus Cousins. Here are 3 things to look for in this games match-up: Pace: The pace of the game the New Orleans pelicans typically like to play a faster paced game. Will the addition of Boogie Cousins change this. While Cousins as known as one of the premier centers in the league, he is primarily dominate in the low post and thrives in a half-court game. Does Cousins have the cardio to keep with the pace of the game that the Pelicans typically like to run? Houston on the other end likes to push the tempo even more, as they are ranked 4th in the league in pace. Will Houston deliberately run a faster than normal pace hoping to put cousins in an uncomfortable position? Post Defense: With the acquisition of the DeMarcus Cousins alongside Anthony Davis playing together in the front court, does Houston have an answer on the defensive end to deal with this dynamic duo? Both cousins and Davis have very deep skill sets. Both players can put the ball on the floor and pull up and shoot just about anywhere within 20 feet. While cousins is more skilled in the low post where he can play his brand of bully ball, Davis is also a match up nightmare. He can score just about anywhere on the floor and is too dynamic for most 4s & 5s to guard. Both players can shoot the long ball and do a decent job at converting at the free-throw line. 3-Point shooting: Houston will definitely rely on their three point shooting. As James Harden pulls the strings and distributes the ball to open shooters, the Rockets are number one in the league in three point attempts at nearly 40 per game and 11th in the league at 3-point percentage at 36%. The Pelicans are decent defensively, their defense rating (107.3) is ranked 9th in the league but are their perimeter defenders athletic enough to deal with the constant three point bombardment that Houston brings once they stretch the floor? Regardless of how the game plays out, it will be interesting to see the Pelicans new look and how well Davis and Cousins can play together. |
About Me Name: James F. Marino Location: United States Independent Investigative Journalist Targeted For Organized Stalking & An Ongoing FBI COINTELPRO STING OPERATION/SMEAR CAMPAIGN -- This author's been used as a target of MK-Ultra non consensual human experimentation for decades via the NSA's SIGNIT EMF Scanning Network - a covert domestic spy program which uses brain scanners deployed via signals intelligence satellites & HAARP over the horizon radar to remotely scan the brainwaves of any American citizen. This SIGNIT EMF Scanning Network's an outgrowth of Pentagon/CIA MIND and TAMI (MK-Ultra) "mind control" programs, which use EEG Heterodyning technology to synchronize AI computers with the unique EMF brainwave print of each American citizen, thus turning the EM spectrum into an invisible prison. This technology enables the NSA to brand us like heads of cattle. Google: AKWEI VS NSA & PROJECT: SOUL CATCHER by Dr. Robert Duncan to learn more about this Orwellian attack on the American people's Constitutional rights. View my complete profile WWW 9-11 Black Op "Using the signatures of all the wave lengths as well as body/brain resonances and heart beat rhythm, individuals can be tracked anywhere. Everyone has a unique body resonance signature, heart beat signature, and brain wave print. No RFID chip or dipole antenna is needed anymore to do biotelemetry." - Dr. Robert Duncan "Project Soul Catcher" ***The Tremendous Benefits Of Using Energy Medicine To Treat Various Forms Of Drug Addiction Including Crystal Meth - If Anyone You Know Suffers From Drug Addiction And Has Been Unable To Become Drug Free, The Following Information Is A Must Read "The further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it" - George Orwell "Who Is In Control Of Our Mind?" By Karin Pekarcik - An Excellent Article That Gets To The Heart Of The U.S. Military Intelligence Complexes' Electronic Warfare Program & Its Signals Intelligence Based Mind Control Weaponry "On 22nd April 1971, the House Majority Leader Hale Boggs (Democrat, Louisiana) stated in front of the US House Of Representatives: 'I had heard before, as each of you have heard, of various episodes relating to Members of the House and Senate. The episodes are too many, occurring too frequently, to be ignored or disregarded. Today, as we in the Congress undertake to recover and restore the people's liberty, we find that it is ourselves who are under surveillance, ourselves who are prisoners of the power which our silence permitted to come into being. Mr Speaker, 1984 is closer than we think.'" Congressional Record -- House, April 22, 1971, p. 11564 - 11565 The Federal Lawsuit That The U.S. Federal Government Is Desperately Trying To Discredit, Because It Exposes The U.S. National Security Agency's Orwellian Role In Covertly Enslaving The American Citizenry - In 1992, AKWEI VS NSA (Civil Action 92-0449) Was Intentionally Sabotaged By A Corrupt Circuit Court Judge Named Stanley Sporkin, In Order To Prevent Plaintiff, John St. Clair Akwei From Suing The NSA And Exposing Its Signals Intelligence Domestic Spy Program; Including The NSA's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network -- (Stanley Sporkin, Who As A Former General Counsel To The CIA, Has A History Of Using His Position As A Judge To Influence Court Cases That Involve Crimes Committed By Agencies Operating Within The U.S. Military Intelligence Complex -- Including The CIA And NSA - Google: Stanley Sporkin/Hamilton Securities) Father Claims That FBI Brainwashed His Son As Part Of A Terrorist Entrapment Scheme - This Author Has Witnessed The FBI's Brainwashing Of Several Members Of My Own Family, In Order To Cover Up The FBI's Violations Of Our 4Th, 5Th and 6Th Amendment Rights, As Well As FBI/NSA Collusion In Using This Author For Mind Control Experimentation For More Than Thirty Years - The FBI's Agents Are Nothing But Sadistic, Lowlife, Satanic, Murderous Thugs Who Are Covering Up The Fact That The NSA Has Secretly Brain Mapped The American People Who Really Owns Your Automobile? "Some years ago, someone had come up with the idea that the State should hold all Titles to vehicles, mailing a Certificate of Title to the 'owners'. This created a legal fiction that the State owned the vehicles. Drivers were thus driving a State owned vehicle, mandating drivers must have a license to drive a State vehicle, which was false. The State reaped many millions with its drivers license scam, and began issuing heavy fines for not having a State license." - Eustace Mullins "Our founding fathers would surely be turning over in their graves, if they were to witness the treasonous and murderous cesspool that the U.S. federal government has become since the 9/11 false flag operation took place, and how the Patriot Act's overtly Communist ideology has become the de facto rule of law for a dystopian nation whose free society is long gone, and whose once proud name is now simply used to masque the most evil shadow government ever created." - James F. Marino Target Of MK-Ultra "Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the third world." - Henry Kissinger On U.S. Genocidal Policy NSA Whistleblower Russ Tice Accuses The NSA Of Illegally Spying On U.S. Politicians For The Purpose Of Blackmail The FBI's Attempted Murder Of EarthFirst! Activist Judi Bari -- "FBI Bomb School & Other Atrocities" By Judi Bari The FBI's Murder Of Actress Jean Seberg The 13Th Amendment Was Intentionally And Illegally Removed From The United States Constitution - Learn Why Here The Vendetta By Former Santa Barbara District Attorney, Tom Sneddon, To Destroy Pop Star, Michael Jackson - Michael Jackson Was The Target Of A Massive Criminal Conspiracy Used To Steal His Valuable Santa Barbara Property (The Neverland Ranch), Which Is Located In Napa Valley's Prime Wine Making Country - And Who Controls One Of The Largest Wine Makers In California? Robert Mondavi, Who Is Aligned With Church Of Satan Leader, Zionist, Anton LaVey NSA Mind Control Operations Against The American People As Part Of A Global Signals Intelligence Driven/Artificial Intelligence Computer Network Used To Turn The Human Race Into A Race Of Cybernetic Robots, Who Will Be Controlled By A Neural Computer Network's "Hive Mind" - This System Is In Its Final Stages Of Development And Will Be Deployed On The Entire U.S. Population Simultaneously, Since We Have All Been Unwittingly Brain Mapped By The NSA As Part An Orwellian Plan To Create A 21St Century Feudal System A Targeted Individual From California Describes The Organized Stalking Vigilante Harassment That They Are Subjected To 24 Hours A Day - California Is Reported To Have The Largest Number Of Targeted Individuals In The United States, With The State Of New York Having The Second Largest TI Population In America - This Complete Subversion Of State And Local Governments As Well As Our Own Communities, Is Further Proof That The U.S. Federal Government Is Responsible For This Covertly Perpetrated Nationwide Terrorism NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden Describes The Pentagon's Use Of HAARP To Perpetrate Global Assassinations - This Is The Closest That A U.S. Government Whistleblower Has Come To Admitting To The U.S. Military Intelligence Complexes' Orwellian Electronic Warfare Program - The Next Step For Snowden Is To Reveal How These Satellite And Over The Horizon Based Weapons' Systems Can Be Used To Enter Our Minds Via The EMF Spectrum, For The Purpose Of Global Mind Control Georgia Radical Gun Law - House Bill 60 Or The Safety Carry Protection Act, Will Enable Licensed Georgia Gun Owners To Carry Fire Arms Anywhere In The State, Including Schools, Restaurants, Churches Etc. - With Mind Control Weapons Being Covertly Used On The General Population In The United States, The Last Thing Any State Needs Is For Large Groups Of Citizens To Be Able To Carry Loaded Firearms In Public A NY Advertising Executive By The Name Of Suzanne Hart Is Covertly Murdered Through The Use Of Signals Intelligence Electronic Warfare Technology, And As Part Of A Psychological Warfare Operation That Federal Agents Continue To Subject This Author And Target Of MK-Ultra To - I Have Witnessed Thousands Of Situations In Which Such Signals Intelligence Tampering Of Everything From Car Alarms And Motion Sensitive Spotlights To TV Sets And Radios Being Turned On And Off Via Such Remote Means Has Taken Place - And I Am Certain That Suzanne Hart Was Murdered When The Electronic Circuitry Of The Elevator She Was Attempting To Enter, Was Remotely Triggered Via Signals Intelligence Satellite, Which Resulted In Hart Being Crushed To Death "Saucers Of The Illuminati By Jim Keith" - Prior to his death (a likely murder), conspiracy writer Jim Keith had written a number of fascinating books on the New World Order - Keith also believed that the U.S. federal government had used the cover of UFO abductions of American citizens to test some of its more advanced technologies on these people. He also claimed that by the 1940s, the U.S. federal government had developed UFO-like craft using an anti-gravity propulsion system invented by Nikola Tesla in the early 1900s, and that this propulsion system has the capability of allowing these craft to travel to distant planets within our own solar system; and even the ability to travel to other galaxies - In any event this book makes for interesting reading; especially in light of all of the UFO sightings which are witnessed around this planet each year. FBI Entrapment Schemes & Slander Campaigns Have Reached An All Time High In Post 9/11-Patriot Act America, Where The FBI Is In The Business Of Creating Terrorists Through The Use Of Entrapment Schemes, While Fomenting Propaganda Campaigns Against These People, And Completely Circumventing The Constitutional Rule Of Law, In Order To Get Away With These Outrageous Violations Of Our Civil Rights - Has The FBI Created A BOLO (Be On The Lookout For) On You? If You Are The Target Of An Organized Stalking And Electronic Harassment Campaign, You Are Also The Subject Of An FBI BOLO Campaign That May Very Well Contain CGI Fabricated Video Footage And Photographs Of Your Person, Since Today's Artificial Intelligence Computers Can Be Used To Clone Our Images, Through The Use Of Video And Voice Morphing Technologies, And Digitally Recreate Us Rothschild Zionism & Its New World Order Global Warming Hoax - Are Large Parts Of Icebergs Really Separating Due To Global Warming Weather Changes, Or Is The Pentagon Using HAARP As Part Of The Global Warming Hoax, In Order To Cause Fissures Within These Icebergs, Which Result In Their Being Broken Off Into Pieces Which Can Be Hundreds Of Miles Long? Man Writing Book On The NSA Notices That His Manuscript On The NSA Is Being Remotely Deleted From His Hard Drive - Author Luke Harding Was Shocked To Find That A Manuscript He Was Working On Regarding The NSA's Association With Silicon Valley And The American Computer Industry, Began Deleting Itself From His Computer's Hard Drive - With The Creation Of His Book On The NSA, Luke Harding Has Attracted The Interest Of The NSA & Become A Target Of The Agency's Signals Intelligence Satellite Predation "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." - Pascal Satanism And The Surveillance Society "The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists." - J. Edgar Hoover Referring To The New World Order The Case Of Diana Napolis - One Of The More Detailed Lawsuits By A Target Of Government Mind Control Experimentation, Who Was Able To File Suit Against The U.S. Federal Government - Unfortunately, The U.S. Military Intelligence Complex Controls the U.S. Judiciary Through Blackmail & Other Forms Of Intimidation, Which Prevents Plaintiffs In Such Lawsuits Involving This Complexes' Use Of American Citizens For Non Consensual Human Experimentation, From Being Able To Actually Prosecute The Federal Government In A U.S. Courtroom - You Can File The Lawsuit, However, The Courts Will Make Certain That You Cannot Follow Through With It - NSA Whistleblower, John St. Clair Akwei, Also Discovered This In 1992, When He Attempted To File Suit Against The NSA In Federal Court, Only To Have A Corrupt Federal Judge Named Stanley Sporkin Dismiss His Case The FBI's Role In Funding Terrorists One person who survived the Jonestown deaths relates that Hearst's boyfriend Steven Weed had been to the People's Temple compound in Ukiah, and was seen talking to Jim Jones three months prior to the kidnapping of Hearst. Another example of government funding of 'counterculture' political groups involved in terrorism: According to the Associated Press report from January 10, 1976, 'The FBI created and funded a... group called the Secret Army Organization (S.A.O.) in the early 1970s the San Diego Union reports.' The S.A.O., a division of the weather underground was involved in urban guerilla warfare including murder, kidnappings, bombings, and arson, and was, according to AP, a centrally designed and externally financed infrastructure designed for terror and sabotage... These acts were sanctioned by the nation's most powerful and highly respected law enforcement Agency: The FBI.' The San Diego Union reports that the S.A.O. was guided and funded by Howard Berry Godfrey, who 'paid the expenses of the secret army, recruited new members, supplied the explosives, and picked out targets.' Godfrey was a paid FBI informer who had helped to found the S.A.O. on orders of the FBI." - Author Jim Keith "If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. 'The business of journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of the mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools of rich men behind the scenes. We are jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." - Journalist John Swinton "Socially as well as professionally, they cliqued together, forming a sealed fraternity. They ate together at their own special favorite restaurants; they partied almost only among themselves; their families drifted to each other, so that their defense did not always have to be up. In this way they increasingly separated themselves from the ordinary world, and developed a rather skewed view of the world. Their own dedicated double life became the proper norm, and they looked down on the rest of the citizenry." CIA Director William Colby In Reference To The U.S. Intelligence Community As A Target Of MKULTRA This Author Chronicles Nineteen Consecutive Months Of FBI/NSA/DHS Organized Stalking, Psychological Warfare, & Directed Energy Microwave Weapon Attacks, Which We Are Subjected To On A Daily Basis - These So Called Agents Are Nothing But Pathological Murderous Psychopaths, Who Are Covering Up The Fact That The American People Are The Targets Of A Signals Intelligence Driven Domestic Spy Program Which Includes The Illegal Brain Mapping & Fingerprinting Of Their Bodies' Own Unique EMF Signatures - Not Only Is This Covert Program Treasonous, It's Being Used To Both Steal The Electromagnetic Signatures Of Each American Citizen's Body (An EMF DNA Fingerprint), While Branding Each One Of Us Like A Head Of Cattle If You're Not Using The Internal Camera On Your Personal Computer To Teleconference With Someone, Put A Piece Of Scotch Tape Over It To Prevent The FBI From Using This Camera To Spy On Whoever Is Sitting At The Keyboard Of Your Computer - "Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now spying on us. It seems that the FBI, no doubt jealous of the unpunished lawlessness of the NSA, has acquired software that permits it to utilize the tiny cameras in many home computers to observe whoever or whatever may be in front of the computer screen. The FBI doesn’t only look at whoever is using the computer screen; it also captures the words and images on the screen. It seems to have an affinity for monitoring online gaming, even the lawful variety." "We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” - Former CIA Director William Casey The Matrix Deciphered - Psychic Warfare By Dr. Robert Duncan (Former Pentagon/CIA Contractor) Now Speaking Out About The U.S. Military Intelligence Complexes' Classified Mind Control Weapons' Programs - Click On The Logo To Read The Book For Free "The U.S. Military Intelligence Complexes' Use Of A "60 Minutes" Episode, As A Propaganda Piece To Discredit American Citizens Who Are Legitimate Targets Of Covert Government Mind Control Experimentation Programs - Was The Woman Shot To Death In Washington D.C. Several Weeks Ago (After Attempting To Crash Her Car Through The Main Gate At The White House), Also A Target Of EEG Heterodyning Computer To Brain Interface Technology?" Directed Energy Microwave Weaponry & EEG Heterodyning Of The Human Mind - Is Dr. Katherine Albrecht Being Targeted For Murder By Her Detractors In The RFID Industry? Is Albrecht An Unwitting Target Of EEG Heterodyning & Directed Energy Microwave Weaponry? EEG Heterodyning Or EEG Cloning Technology & Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices - What Role Do They Play In The U.S. Military Intelligence Complexes' Signals Intelligence Driven Mind Control Weapons, And This Complexes' Active Denial Weapons System? Dr. John Beard's Trophoblast Theory In Regard To Cancer Being A Vitamin B17 Deficiency In The Body Was Proven As Early As 1902 - However, The Rockfellers' Subversion Of The Medical Community In The United States Was Used To Discredit Dr. Beard's Findings In The Interest Of Stonewalling A Cure For Cancer In Order To Grow A Business Out Of Finding A Bogus Cure For Cancer For The Express Purpose Of Generating Obscene Profits A NY Advertising Executive By The Name Of Suzanne Hart Is Covertly Murdered Through The Use Of Electronic Warfare Technology, And As Part Of A Psychological Warfare Operation That Federal Agents Continue To Subject This Author And Target Of MK-Ultra To Judyth Vary Baker Describes Her Relationship With Lee Harvey Oswald & In Doing So Exposes Fifty Years Of Deception By The Pentagon, FBI & CIA, Whose Lies Which Have Been Used To Conceal Their Own Complicity In The Murder Of President John F. Kennedy, Are Now Unraveling Like A Cheap Piece Of Twine Award Winning Journalist Audrey Hudson's Home Raided By Armed Federal Agents In Predawn Raid, Who Then Seize Documents Hudson Obtained Via The U.S. Freedom Of Information Act, Regarding The Department Of Homeland Security - What's Going On Within Homeland Security That Would Result In Such An Unconstitutional Violation Of Hudson's 4Th Amendment Rights? What Is The Department Of Homeland Security Attempting To Conceal From The American People, That Was In The Documents That Audrey Hudson Obtained By Way Of The U.S. Freedom Of Information Act? And What Was Responsible For The Rapid Departure Of DHS Head, Janet Napolitano, Earlier This Year? Sudden Heart Attacks, Strokes, Aneurysms, And Fast Spreading Cancers - Have A Rash Of Deaths Over The Past Few Years, Regarding Well Known Hollywood Personalities, Been Related To Directed Energy Weapons? And Were The Deaths Of Actress, Brittany Murphy And Her Screenwriter Husband, Simon Monjack, The Result Of Natural Causes? Or Were They Murders Committed Through The Furtive Use Of Directed Energy Weapons? Like The Salk And Sabin Polio Vaccines That A Generation Of American Children Were Sickened By, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Has Financially Backed An Oral Polio Vaccine In India That Has Paralyzed And Crippled Nearly 50,000 Children - Bill Gates Has Also Publicly Stated That Vaccines Can Reduce The Human Population By 15%, Confirming Recent Suspicions That Gates Is Not Only Endorsing The Rothschilds' New World Order Genocidal Policy, But Aiding And Abetting It Former Assistant Housing & Urban Development Secretary Describes How NAFTA Was Really Used As Part Of A Conspiracy To Bankrupt The American Middle Class: "The Decision Was Made - Let's Get All The Debt Up, Let's Move The Jobs Abroad, And Instead Of Reengineering Your Skills, We're Gonna Dumb Down America So The Middle Class Will Disappear" - Catherine Austin Fitts Former Assistant HUD Secretary Under The Bush 41 Administration "Edward Snowden revelations: Can we trust the spying state?" BBC News Was A NY Advertising Executive By The Name Of Suzanne Hart Covertly Murdered Through The Use Of Electronic Warfare Technology, And As Part Of A Psychological Warfare Operation That Federal Agents Continue To Subject This Author (And Target Of MK-Ultra) To? Former Captain Phillip Marshall, Authors A Book Claiming That 9/11 Was Perpetrated By The U.S. Military Intelligence Complex - Marshall And His Young Son & Daughter Are Later Found Shot To Death In What Authorities Claimed Was A Murder/Suicide - However, Allegations Have Since Surfaced That Marshall & His Family Were Murdered In A CIA Black Operation, Making Them The Latest Victims Of The 9-11 False Flag Operation Website Dedicated To The Written Works Of Eustace Mullins - The Greatest Political Historian Of The 20Th Century - If American Youth Were Educated Through The Written Works Of Eustace Mullins, Instead Of The Rothschild/Rockefeller Contaminated Educational System In The United States, The Rothschild Controlled Corporate Government In Washington D.C., The Federal Reserve System, And The IRS Would Have Been Abolished Long Ago, And The United States Would Have Returned To Economic Prosperity - Instead, Most Of America's Youth Remains Completely Unaware Of The House Of Rothschild And Its Collusion With The British Monarchy, To Destroy The United States Of America And Her Citizens, While Returning Us To Our 17Th Century Status As Slaves Of The British Monarchy In Recent Years, Much Of Investigative Journalist, Serge Monast's Research Regarding A Covert U.S. Military Intelligence Operation Known As Project Blue Beam, Has Come To Fruition - We Can Now Understand Why Monast Was Murdered Less Than Two Years After Writing His Expose On This Government False Flag Operation, The Likely Victim Of A Directed Energy Induced Heart Attack - Since Evidence Of Project Blue Beam Is Now All Around Us "The further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it" - George Orwell As of 8/15/13 - As part of the COINTELPRO attack against my person, FBI/NSA psychopaths illegally disable all of the *YouTube videos that this author has embedded on this Website, for the past decade, as further punishment for my exposing the NSA Signals Intelligence EMF fingerprinting of the entire U.S. population - On 8/27/13 the YouTube video links to this Website are restored except for one - The link to the 1981 movie Looker, which documents the use of CGI video morphing technology to animate the image of any person, through the theft of their physical attributes. If you can purchase Looker or rent it at your local library, you will understand why the FBI had it removed from YouTube. *All Of The YouTube Videos That FBI/NSA Psychopaths Have Blocked From Entering My Website Can Be Found At My YouTube Website - See Them Before These New World Order Criminals Sabotage This Website As Well Before You Can Effectively Control The Minds Of A Nation's Citizenry, You Must First Do So With Its Body Politic, Military-Industrial-Intelligence Complex, And Media System - The EEG Heterodyning Of Our Nations' Political, Defense, News Gathering, And Entertainment Personalities Is The First Step In Brainwashing An Entire Population "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Ralph Waldo Emerson What Emerson was referring to in the above quote, was for people to stop following the (mind controlled) hive mind mentality propagated by the House Of Rothschild, and to instead learn to think for themselves and develop their own ideas "The 13Th Tribe" By Jewish Historian, Arthur Koestler, Debunks The Myth That Ashkenazi Jews Are The Descendants Of The Israelites - The Ashkenazis, In Spite Of Their Claims, Are Not Legitimate Jews - They Were Originally From Asia, And Adopted Judaism As Their Religion Hundreds Of Years Ago, Just As The Emperor Constantine Adopted Christianity For The Roman Empire - The Only Legitimate Jews Are The Sephardic Jews From Ethiopia, Who Are The Real Descendants Of The Israelites - Sephardic Jews Are Also Discriminated Against And Treated As Second Class Citizens In Zionist Controlled Israel The following interview with political historian, Eustace Mullins, describes the ties between the Ashkenazi Khazar Zionists (Those who have perverted Sephardic Judaism and falsely claim to be the descendants of the Israelites - For the past three centuries the House Of Rothschild has been the most powerful Zionist organization in the world), and the emergence of the antichrist, which authors Tom Horn and Cris Putnam believe will occur in the near future. The Ashkenazi Khazar Zionists are referred to as the serpent people because of their allegiance to Satan (the Antichrist): Was The Wistar Institute's Elaine Defreitas' Research Program, Regarding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Sabotaged By The U.S. Centers For Disease Control And The National Institutes For Health, Because Dr. Defreitas Was On The Brink Of Discovering That CFS Is A Biological Weapon? CFS Has Many Similarities & A Linking Pathogen To Other Biological Weapons, Including Lyme Disease Was A 1972 Eastern Airlines Plane Crash The Result Of An Accident, Or Was It The Result Of A U.S. Military Intelligence Black Operation That Involved Holographic Imaging Technology, Which This Complex Intended For Later Use As Part Of NASA's Project Blue Beam Program? Camelot Cancer Care Holistic Therapy Center Raided By FBI/DEA Based On The Rumor That The Center Was Using Laetrile (Vitamin B17) As Part Of Its Cancer Treatment Program - The Therapy Center's High Success Rate In Curing Cancer Is In No Doubt Due To Its Use Of Vitamin B17 Therapy - This Serves As Further Proof That The American Medical Association And FDA Use The FBI To Attack Alternative Medical Practitioners Whose Cancer Treatment Protocols Are Far More Successful Than The Deadly But Profitable Cut - Poison - Burn Junk Science Of The AMA And Hospitals Like Sloan Kettering - Google: G. Edward Griffin's World Without Cancer To Read About The Collusion Between The Rockefeller Foundation, The American Medical Association & The FDA, To Ban Vitamin B17 From The United States, After Medical Research Financed By Sloan Kettering Hospital In The 1970's, Showed That Vitamin B17 Is A Much Healthier Treatment Protocol For Curing Cancer, Than The Use Of Such Medical Quackery As Chemotherapy And Radiation Junk Science "Silenced: TWA Flight 800" Is The Only Documentary In Regard To The U.S. Navy's Accidental Downing Of TWA Flight 800, In July Of 1996, That The U.S. Federal Government Has Not Been Able To Influence - This Is Why The Controlled Media Continues To Ignore This Documentary, In Spite Of Its Accuracy Did The FBI Murder An Electronics Genius By The Name Of John Iverson, After Iverson Threatened To Sue The FBI For Illegally Confiscating His Inventions, Claiming Government Privilege? Before You Can Effectively Control The Minds Of A Nation's Citizenry, You Must First Do So With Its Body Politic, Military-Industrial-Intelligence Complex, And Media System - The EEG Heterodyning Of Our Nations' Political, Defense, News Gathering, And Entertainment Personalities Is The First Step In Brainwashing An Entire Population Public Radio's Charitable Trust Con Continues To Be Used To Fleece Millions Of Radio Listeners Out Of Their Money Each Year - A Century Ago, John D. Rockefeller Learned Of The Charitable Trust Concept Through The Carnegie Foundation (Who Developed This Scheme Through The Rothschilds), And Decided That It Made Sense To Take Over Organizations That He Had An Interest In, Through The Use Of Charitable Bequests - These Bequests Required That Certain Criteria Be Met Before These Organizations Would Ever Receive Any Donations From Rockefeller - The Educational System In The United States Was Infiltrated By The Rockefeller Foundation Through The Charitable Trust Scheme NSA Insider Exposes This Sinister Orwellian Organization Operating Under The Guise Of An Intelligence Agency "A number of collateral operations are required in support of a successful psychic warfare program. Chief among these are human resource recruitment (procurement), technology development, field operations command/control, and financial/legal relationships administration. As with psychic training and warfare, the preferred NSA management tools include subterfuge, intimidation, bribery, blackmail, coercion, and (when expedient) outright violence. To the extent the NSA could be said to have any agency wide policy or standard of conduct, it consists of the following: If it moves, enslave it. If it doesn't, steal it. If it resists, kill it. If it's no longer useful, destroy it." *Excerpted From "Citadel Of Evil" By Steven J. Smith In His Expose On The U.S. National Security Agency, Former NSA PSI Warrior Steve Smith Describes The NSA's Torture Of Children Who Are Used As Psychic Warriors For The Agency - Within A Year Of Doing So Smith Would Be Murdered "Exo-Vaticana: Petrus Romanus, Project LUCIFER, and the Vatican's astonishing exo-theological plan for the arrival of an alien savior" - Have Authors Tom Horn And Chris Putnam Really Uncovered Something Astonishing Here, In Predicting That The Vatican Is Presently Preparing For The Coming Of An Alien Savior, Who Will In Reality Be The Antichrist? Or Is Their Research A Spin On The U.S. Military Intelligence Complexes' Operation Blue Beam Bible Rapture Scenario? - In Any Event This Book Is Very Well Researched And Offers An Entirely Different Perspective On The Concept Of UFO Craft And Extraterrestrial Beings "The Russian Woodpecker: experiments in global mind control? - In 1978, various U.S. researchers argued that a signal originating from within the Soviet Union, the so-called Russian Woodpecker, was an experiment in global mind control. Thirty years on, what do we know?" What we know is that the United States is using this signals intelligence mind control technology on the American people, without their knowledge or consent Tom Horn & Chris Putnam Describe Their Research In Regard To Their New Book "Exo-Vaticana" And Their Belief That The Vatican Is Presently Awaiting The Arrival Of An Extraterrestrial Being And False Prophet, Whom Horn And Putnam Claim Is The Antichrist American Politicians & News Journalists Are Being Subjected To EEG Heterodyning, Through The Air Computer To Brain Interface, Non Consensual Experimentation Of Their Persons, Without Even Realizing It The NSA's Clandestine EMF Fingerprinting Of American Citizens, And The Agency's Theft Of Our Biological Property In Which To EMF Fingerprint Us (Which Is Then Used As Part Of An Illegal Signals Intelligence Domestic Spy Program), Will Turn Out To Be The Greatest Scandal In American History Was A NY Advertising Executive By The Name Of Suzanne Hart Covertly Murdered Through The Use Of Electronic Warfare Technology, And As Part Of A Psychological Warfare Operation That Federal Agents Continue To Subject This Author (And Target Of MKULTRA) To? The Creation Of The Federal Reserve Act & The Birth Certificate Were Two Of The Rothschilds' Final Steps In Enslaving The American People, While Making Them Part Of The British Monarchy/Rothschild Owned U.S. Corporation In Washington D.C. The Above Video Is In Reference To A 1913 Conversation Between Rothschild Agent, Colonel Edward Mandel House (Founder Of The Council On Foreign Relations), And President Woodrow Wilson, In Which House Describes Some Of The Plans The Rothschilds Will Be Using To Destroy The United States; Including The Creation Of A Communist Central Bank (The Federal Reserve) And The Implementation Of Birth Certificate And Social Security Programs Which The Rothschilds Will Use To Covertly Enslave American Citizens To The British Monarchy And House Of Rothschild - Their Plan Was As Brilliant As It Was Evil, And Succeeded In Deceiving The American Middle Class, While Stealing Their Country Right Out From Under Them Computer Generated Actors And Newscasters Digitally Recreated From The Images Of Real People, Which Are Then Used To Serve Some Political Agenda - Has The U.S. Military Intelligence Complex Developed A Proprietary Technology Which Uses Super Computers To Digitally Recreate The Image Of Any Person, Whose "Digital Persona" Can Then Be Used For Some Government Political Agenda, Like The 9-11 And Boston Marathon False Flag Operations? The Obama Signing Statement Regarding The National Defense Authorization Act Is The Only Thing Preventing The American People From Being Included As Enemy Combatants Under This Orwellian Legislation - Obama's NDAA Signing Statement Protecting Americans From The NDAA Is The Only Thing Standing Between Americans And An All Out Police State - With More Than Three Years Left In His Term Of Office, And The Imminent Conspiracy To Dissolve The United States While Making It Part Of The North American Union Region Of The House Of Rothschilds' Global Dictatorship, Is The Current Media Attack On Barack Obama Being Fomented By The U.S. Military Intelligence Complex, In Order To Remove Him From The White House, So That His Signing Statement Protecting Americans From The NDAA Can Be Repealed? "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong" - Voltaire Is The Pentagon Using HAARP Weapons To Physically Manipulate The Global Weather Climate As Part Of A Genocidal Policy Secretly Implemented By The Vatican, British Monarchy And House Of Rothschild? Website Of A Targeted Individual Which Does A Credible Job Of Describing This Orwellian Nightmare - This Person Also Describes Family Involvement In The Crimes Being Perpetrated Against Her - All Of The Family Members Of Targets Of MKULTRA Non Consensual Human Experimentation Are Brainwashed And Mind Controlled Via EEG Heterodyning, Via Signals Intelligence Satellite Networks Like The NSA's Echelon Satellite Array - A Primary Focus Of Rothschild Zionism Is To Use Such Mind Control To Furtively Destroy The Nuclear Family, While Making Children Distrust Their Parents, And Instead Pledge Their Loyalty To The Rothschilds' Zionist World Communist Government Mind Control Of The Masses: The EEG Heterodyning Of The Human Brain Via Signals Intelligence Satellite Could Not Be Accomplished Without The Ability For Such Satellites To Locate The Minute Electromagnetic Fields Which Emanate From The Brain - This Is Why Signals Intelligence Satellites Like Those Used For The NSA's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network, Rely On Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDS) To Locate These Frequencies In The Human Brain Kathleen Prisco, Accused Of Murdering Her Husband In 2009, Declared Insane And Incapable Of Standing Trial - In 2009 This Author Wrote The Following Article In Regard To Prisco, Questioning If She May Have Been The Target Of An Organized Stalking Campaign At The Time She's Alleged To Have Murdered Her Husband - I Also Stated That If Prisco Is A TI, She Would Be Declared Incompetent To Stand Trial In Order To Cover Up The Fact That She Is A Target Of Organized Stalking, Which May Have Come Out During Her Testimony - Is Kathleen Prisco A TI? "In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. Gold stands as a protector of property rights." -- Alan Greenspan's belief, prior to heading up the Federal Reserve Many UFO's Are Satellite Projected Holograms Being Used To Condition The Global Population Into Accepting The Existence Of Extraterrestrials - However, Is The Purpose To Expose A Mass Alien Invasion, Or The New World Order's Use Of "Project Blue Beam" In Which To Fabricate An Alien Invasion, In Order To Implement A Global Dictatorship? "All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final" - Hypatia of Alexandria As In The Case Of All Of Its False Flag Operations, The U.S. Federal Government Uses The CIA Controlled Media In This Country To Lie To The American People In Order To Conceal The Federal Government's Role In Such Black Ops - The JFK Assassination Was A False Flag Operation Used To Get Rid Of The Only 20Th Century President Who Wasn't A Controlled Puppet Of The House Of Rothschild, And People Died To Protect The Real Masterminds Of Our 35Th President's Murder - A Congressman By The Name Of Hale Boggs Was Yet Another Victim Of The JFK Cover Up - When Boggs Chose To Expose Collusion By The Nixon White House, CIA and FBI, In Their Attempt To Conceal The Role They Played In Murdering John F. Kennedy, They Orchestrated Boggs' Murder Was A NY Advertising Executive By The Name Of Suzanne Hart Covertly Murdered Through The Use Of Electronic Warfare Technology, And As Part Of A Psychological Warfare Operation That Federal Agents Continue To Subject This Author (And Target Of MKULTRA) To? A week after the Boston Marathon bombings a Google search showed more than 60 million Websites when the term "Boston Marathon Bombing False Flag Operation" was used. Today, this term turns up less than half that number. Is the Intel community using Google to remove these Websites from its search engine? Sedgwick Maine Declares Its Own Food Sovereignty Ordinance While Completely Disregarding The Federal Government's Food Guidelines "There is a food revolution taking hold all over America, whether it is in the form of demanding labeling of GM foods, the right to produce and sell raw milk and other commodities, or – in the case of Sedgwick, Maine – declaring all local food transactions of any kind free and legal. According to the website FoodRenegade.com, Sedgwick is the first city in the U.S. to free itself from the constraints of federal and state food regulation. Published reports say the town has passed an ordinance that gives its citizens the right 'to produce, sell, purchase, and consume local foods of their choosing,' regulations be damned. The ordinance includes raw milk, meats that are slaughtered locally, all produce and just about anything else you might imagine." Under this ordinance, will Sedgwick Maine make it legal to use Vitamin B17 for medicinal purposes within the city's borders? Given B17's proven track record for killing cancer cells, based on the research done by the late Dr. Kanematsu Sugiura for Sloane Kettering in the 1970's (which Sloan Kettering disregarded when it was determined that the hospital could not profit off of Vitamin B17's Laetrile derivative, because it could not patent a natural substance), if Sedgwick decides to allow Vitamin B17 to be used in the treatment of cancer, how long before the FDA attempts to challenge Sedgwick in federal court? Sedgwick, Maine Declares Food Sovereignty Opposing State And Federal Laws 4/18/13 - "Amongst the myriad of electronic tamperings to this Website, I have noticed that in order to reduce the Internet traffic to particular articles that have attracted a great deal of public interest, FBI-NSA operatives will hack my Blogger account and convert the particular posts which are of interest back to a draft, so that they are no longer accessible on this Website or the Internet. This is usually done with posts that have a significant number of page views. When they attempt to access a specific post that has been converted to a draft, the readers are told that the post no longer exists, when in reality, it does exist, yet has been electronically tampered with by these Nazi idealized miscreants. There are well over 3000 posts on this Website, so it's impossible to keep track of them all. Consequently, this enables these agents to prevent a significant number of readers who regularly access this Website from reading many of the specific posts that they have an interest in. Given the chronicity of these electronic tamperings, it is truly remarkable that this Website still has as much Web traffic as it does. Then again, the content of this site is extremely provocative for anyone who is interested in reading about crimes which the federal government in this country continues to commit with complete impunity." - James F. Marino For The Trillions Spent On Cancer Treatments Over The Past 50 Years, The Rockefeller Drug Trust Placed In Charge Of Finding A Cure For Cancer Has Yet To Do So - Is The Cure For Cancer Really So Elusive? Or Are Those Who Claim To Be Constantly Searching For The Cancer Cure Simply Waiting For A More Lucrative Disease To Surface, Which They Can Then Financially Exploit, Before They Proclaim To Have Miraculously Found A Legitimate Cure For Cancer? "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." -Pascal It would appear that after many Wall Street investment bankers make their fortunes raping and pillaging the average investor, their next rape and pillage is in writing tell all books regarding the industry that made them rich, while biting the proverbial hand that once fed them - This former investment banker is one such example New Book Implicates The CIA In The Murder Of John F. Kennedy And His Mistress, Socialite Mary Pinchot Meyer Was John F. Kennedy's Long Time Mistress, Mary Pinchot Meyer, Murdered Because She Attempted To Convince JFK To End The Vietnam War? 1913 Conversation Between Woodrow Wilson And Colonel Mandel House In Which Mandel House Confides In The 28Th U.S. President, In Regard To How The House Of Rothschild Will Use The Federal Reserve Act To Secretly Reduce The American Middle Class To A Nation Of Slaves - A Century Later The Rothschilds Have Realized Their Goal Of Destroying The United States And Her Middle Class Through The Greatest Series Of Deceptions Ever Perpetrated "60 Minutes is a Propaganda Machine - 60 Minutes Japanese Disaster Brainwash" - "The takeaway from this story is that the worst has passed in Japan, and that things are getting better since the earthquake/tsunami combo that hit the island in the spring of 2011. Ask yourself why CBS didn’t do a story on the real problem in Japan . . . radiation from Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdowns. Meltdowns worse than Chernobyl." ""The more corrupt the state the more numerous its laws" - Publius Cornelius Tacitus Civil Rights Attorney William Kunstler Was Despised By The U.S. Federal Government For Independently Investigating The 1993 Attacks On The World Trade Center, As Part Of His Representation Of The Patsies Who Were Set Up To Take The Fall For This False Flag Operation - Kunstler Would Die During The Time He Represented These Defendants - The Question Is Was His Death By Natural Means, Or Was It Caused By A Microwave Energy Weapon Directed At Kunstler's Body To Cause His Illness? If This Is The Case, Then Who Murdered William Kunstler? Was It The FBI, In Seeking To Coverup The Bureau's Role In The 1993 Bombing, Based On The Testimony Of An FBI Informant Named Emad Salem? "FBI/NSA Psychopaths Using Psychotronic Weapons To Torture And Murder American Citizens" - As A Target Of MK-Ultra And FBI/NSA Satellite Predation Since The 1970's Via EEG Heterodyning Technology, I Can Attest To The Fact That The "Details" Described By The Person In The Following Website Are Accurate - These Agents Really Are Murderous Psychopaths Since Former Governor Jesse Ventura Interviewed Targets Of Mind Control Weapons In An Episode Of Conspiracy Theory Called "The Brain Invaders" His TV Show Has Been Sabotaged - Is Ventura Himself Now A Targeted Individual? If So, Is Ventura Being Targeted Because He Is The Only Person Within The Mainstream Media Who Has Tried To Expose The U.S. Military Intelligence Complexes' Nazi Ideals (Via Project Paperclip) And Use Of Electronic Warfare Technology On American Citizens? The Intel community was quick to post comments on the Internet claiming that the Crowley video was a mock version of the Branson video, however, the voices on both videos are completely different, and there appears to be no lip syncing on the Crowley video. There have also been at least 20 other TV reporters and a baseball radio commentator who have all started to speak incoherently while doing live broadcasts. The fact that these two women are speaking nearly identical gibberish proves that migraines (the official explanation) were not the real cause of this phenomenon. Moreover, and as previously stated, there have been at least 20 different TV personalities over the past year who have started speaking such incoherent sentences while doing live TV broadcasts, as the result of their being unwittingly subjected to the remote influence of their own brainwaves via EEG Heterodyning technology. This also serves as further evidence that the media are being subjected to mind control experimentation, while their brainwaves are being synchronized with artificial intelligence computers, via the type of EEG Heterodyning technology that Dr. Robert Duncan refers to in his book "The Matrix Deciphered" - Like the rest of the American people, the men and women within the U.S. Media have now become unwitting targets of this satellite predation. As A Target Of MKULTRA This Author Documents Sixteen Consecutive Months Of FBI/NSA/DHS Organized Stalking, Psychological Warfare, & Directed Energy Microwave Weapon Attacks, Which We Are Subjected To On A Daily Basis - These So Called Agents Are Nothing But Pathological Murderous Psychopaths, Who Are Covering Up The Fact That The American People Are The Targets Of A Domestic Spy Program Which Includes The Illegal Fingerprinting Of Their Bodies' Own Unique EMF Signatures - Not Only Is This Covert Program Treasonous, It's Being Used To Both Steal The Biological Property Of Every U.S. Citizen, While Branding Each One Of Us Like A Head Of Cattle "The Following Is A Documentary On The Terrorist Attacks On 9-11-2001 Which Was In Part Sponsored By 9-11 Activist/Widow Jane Pollicino - Like 9-11 Activist/Widow Beverly Eckert, Pollicino Had Become A Thorn In The Side Of The Conspirators Within This Government Who Perpetrated The 9-11-2001 Terrorist Attacks - And Now, Like Eckert, Pollicino Is Also Dead - Were Both Women Furtively Murdered For Their Outspoken Views And 9-11 Activism? The British Monarchy's Ownership Of Each American Citizen As the direct result of the U.S. Congresses' passage of the Legislative Act of 1871, which created a corporate constitution for the corporate government in Washington D.C., while abrogating the U.S. Constitution which was founded in 1787, each American citizen has since been reduced to the status of personal property (chattel) owned by the British Monarchy. This occurred after the U.S. Corporation defaulted on payments which it owed to the British Monarchy. Instead of dissolving this corporation, the British Monarchy took ownership of it. Since 1933, the birth certificate issued to each American citizen identifies that person as a share of stock which is owned by the U.S. Corporation, which due to its outstanding debt, continues to be owned by the British Monarchy. One should note that 1933 was also the year that the British Monarchy and its House of Rothschild counterfeiting/war profiteering cartel, used the Federal Reserve System and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to orchestrate the theft of the American people's gold coinage under the Gold Confiscation Act of 1933. Since 1933 it has been a crime to use gold as legal tender, and any person who's attempted to reinstate the Constitutional power to coin and regulate the value of U.S. currency to the U.S. Treasury has been murdered, including President John F. Kennedy and Judge Martin V. Mahoney. The electronic warfare technology that has been developed and deployed in secret against the American people during the 20Th Century, under such covert U.S. Military-Intelligence programs as TAMI, MIND, SATAN, and the NSA's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network, all serve as further evidence of the U.S. Corporate Government's intent to clandestinely electronically enslave the American middle class." - James F. Marino How The British Monarchy Came To Rule The United States Of America And Her Citizens, After The U.S. Corporate Government Defaulted On Its Payments To The King Of England The Electronic Enslavement Of Your Brain ""I studied how to crack DES and other encryption technologies but had no real experience in the hacking techniques of the human mind before my ordeal. In secret government laboratories, the encryption keys are changed as frequently as can be cracked by the best decryption machines they have. The human brain can not change its encryption, so once decoded your brain is forever part of the TAMI database and network. The mind has no firewall. Using the signatures of all the waves lengths as well as body/brain resonances and heart beat rhythm, individuals can be tracked anywhere. Everyone has a unique body resonance signature, heart beat signature, and brain wave print. No RFID chip or dipole antenna is needed anymore to do biotelemetry. Another point of reference to RADAR sensitivity can be seen with commercial weather satellite RADAR which can detect birds or even insects." - Dr. Robert Duncan - EEG Heterodyning Expert This Is The Conspiracy Theory Episode Regarding GWEN Radar Towers & Satellite Based Mind Control Weapons That Resulted In The Covert Murder Of Dr. Fred Bell, & A Plot To Sabotage The Conspiracy Theory Program - Is Jesse Ventura Now Being Targeted By The Military Intelligence Complex Because He's The Only Person In The Mainstream Media Who Has Had The Courage To Expose These Mind Control Weapons? Americans Subscribing To TruTV Have Stated That Select Episodes Of Former Governor Jesse Ventura's "Conspiracy Theory" Program (Including His Episode On The U.S. Military Intelligence Complexes' Mind Control Weapons - Entitled "Brain Invaders") Are Mysteriously Being Erased From Their DVR And TIVO Recording Devices - This Author Has Witnessed The Electronic Sabotage Of The Cable TV Programming In Our Home Since 2003, When I Became The Target Of An Organized Stalking Campaign Former Chief Medical Officer Of Finland, Dr. Rauni Kilde States That Mind Control Technology Is Worse Than The Atom Bomb Because It Can Be Used To Remotely Enter People's Brains To Alter Their Behavior ASSANGE- GLASNOST COMES WEST Written by George Raymond - During the Reagan Administration the White House proposed what they referred to as "Glasnost" - an attempt to force the Russian government to become more transparent - Ironically enough, the Reagan Administration was using this Glasnost "smoke and mirrors" campaign to misdirect the American people's attention away from the Reagan Administration's Star Wars Initiative and electronic EMF fingerprinting of American citizens - It's time for the U.S. Federal Government to practice its concept of Glasnost by opening a new Church Committee type investigation into the U.S. Military Intelligence complex The Murders Of Over 100 UFOlogists Through The Use Of Government Black Operations -How Many Of These Men And Women Were Murdered By Directed Energy Microwave Weapons? We Know That Dean Warwick Was Editor's Note: After being prevented from electronically accessing the template portion of this blog by FBI/NSA for more than a year, I am finally allowed to access it again. So much for freedom of speech when the federal government can electronically sabotage your Website when they don't like what you are saying or writing about them. The U.S. Federal Government is run by a Zionist criminal banking cartel that counterfeits its fraudulent currency and launders it through the U.S. Treasury, while using the U.S. Military to foment wars against other countries for the express purpose of profiting from these wars. For centuries, the House of Rothschild has been profiting off of the wars it has intentionally created between a number of countries who had no legitimate reasons to go to war, while instigating the murders of millions of people. “A government big-enough to give you everything you want, is big-enough to take everything that you have.” — President Gerald Ford, Address to Joint Session of Congress, 12 August 1974 "By tradition, Americans are accustomed to referring to themselves as free citizens of a constitutional republic, and not subjects of an all-powerful ruler or state. Today, however, evidence continues to mount that we are no longer a free people and no longer live in a constitutional republic. The increasing size and scope of government at all levels has been a fact of life in the United States for quite some time, but in recent years – especially since the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks – that growth has accelerated dramatically. Under the Obama regime, it has gone exponential." The Zionists Control Over The Federal Reserve System, & Its Use In Destroying The American Middle Class Hey, NSA Gestapo! Remote Neural Monitor This! Dr. Robert Duncan On EEG Heterodyning Technology "The real problem with a small group of people who control these technologies unwatched by the public eye is its potential for great abuse. For example, we can never fully solve any accident or crime and know whether it was an EEG heterodyned crime or a regular one. Princess Diana’s driver could have been EEG heterodyned and made to crash into the barrier. John Hinckley could have been made to believe that only by shooting President Reagan could he get Jody Foster to love him. I met a Colonel in the Air Force who test flew the new exotic airplanes and who was menticized after discovery of all sorts of corruption with Halliburton defense contracts. False memories were implanted in him and he was made to believe he was married and had a kid with some music star for two years. Clearly the capability exists to create Manchurian Candidates like John Hinckley. JFK junior could have been made to misinterpret the horizon or his aircraft instruments to malfunction. All these events could have been assassinations using EEG heterodyning and directed energy weapons but we will never know. How can you have justice when one can not be certain as to whose mind was behind the crime, or even if the jury or judge is being influenced? Clearly the current controls have failed and a major reorganization of the government is justified to regain constitutional controls over these weapon systems in order to restore justice, redistribute the power structure evenly again, and hold accountable high traitors and special interest corruption from side stepping the laws and constitution. The capability for directed microwave weapons and weak magnetic fields for silent assassinations with plausible denial is huge. Microwaves at specific power and waveforms have been shown to be able to cause diabetes through sugar metabolism changes or cancers by breaking a weak hydrogen bond in the DNA. All sorts of medical problems can be created with directed energy weapons besides just frying a person. The days of the CIA hit man have ended and been replaced. Thank Reagan for giving them more power with the huge Star Wars Initiative to fry a person rather than using an incoming missile. It is proving to be the favorite weapon of the corrupt shadow agencies under the Executive branch. I think the leaders have misinterpreted the word 'execute' to mean murder and not operations." - Former Government Scientist Dr. Robert Duncan The NSA's Cover Story: "The National Security Agency (NSA) is a combat support agency within the Department of Defense (DOD) established by presidential directive in 1952. NSA has two separate missions: signals intelligence and communications security. For signals intelligence, NSA manages all U.S. signal collection and processing and produces signals intelligence in accordance with DOD and DCI priorities. For communications security, NSA provides leadership, products, and services to U.S. agencies that need to protect their information and communication systems from foreign exploitation. NSA is headed by a three-star flag officer, who reports to the Secretary of Defense. About 80 percent of the NSA workforce is civilian." Timeline Of School Shootings Worldwide - Proof That Your Children's Schools Are Being Furtively Targeted For Mind Control Experimentation By The Global Military-Industrial-Intelligence Complex - Such Mind Controlled Shootings Are Being Used By The Governments Of All NATO Countries, Including The United States, To Justify The Seizure Of All Legally Owned Handguns And Rifles From Law Abiding Citizens, In Order To Deprive Them Of Being Able To Use A Firearm To Protect Themselves From An Overbearing Emerging Anglo-Zionist World Government, Which Now Threatens The Survival Of The Global Middle Class With All Of The Insider Trading Being Perpetrated By Members Of Congress The American People Should Throw Them All Out Of Government How Could You Cover Up For A Government That Murdered Your Own Father? Media Personality Cokie Boggs Roberts And Her Brother Political Hack, Tom Boggs, Have Become Part Of The Corrupted System Of Government That Their Father, Congressman Hale Boggs, Was Attempting To Expose In The Early 1970's, When He Was Murdered By The Nixon White House - Both Boggs Siblings Are Examples Of How People's Silence Can Be Bought And Rewarded The Political Graveyard - A List Of Politicians Who Were Killed In Plane Crashes Or Other Accidents - One Must Wonder How Many Of These People Were Murdered By The U.S. Intelligence Community? Was Pan AM Flight 103 Used To Traffick Illegal Drugs For The CIA? And Was This The Real Reason For Its Being Blown Up, And The FBI/CIA Coverup Which Surrounded The Downing Of Flight 103? American Politicians & News Journalists Are Being Subjected To Computer To Brain Interface Non Consensual Experimentation Without Even Realizing It John St. Clair Akwei & Dr. Robert Duncan Are Exposing The Greatest Scandal In Human History - The Electronic Enslavement Of The American Middle Class According to Former Government Scientist Dr. Robert Duncan, George Orwell's 1984 arrived in the United States in 1976, when the CIA and Department Of Defense Deployed The Covert Domestic Spy Programs - TAMI, MIND and SATAN, against the American people. Duncan has publicly stated that through these programs, both the Pentagon and CIA have the ability to access the unique brainwave print of any citizen of interest through EEG Heterodyning technology, which is used to synchronize this government's artificial intelligence computers with the brainwaves of any American citizen. Duncan has also stated that EEG Heterodyning technology can be used to clone our thoughts and implant them into another person's mind, as a form of mind control experimentation. In his 1992 civil lawsuit against the NSA, whistleblower John St. Clair Akwei described the NSA's ability to access the EMF fields emanating from the brain of any American citizen, through what Akwei has referred to as the NSA's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network, and its remote neural monitoring technology. Remote Neural Monitoring of our brain waves is done by way of the EEG Heterodyning technology that Dr. Duncan refers to in great detail in his book "The Matrix Deciphered." And one must remember that the NSA's illegal domestic spy operations are overseen by the Pentagon. The covert programs that John Akwei and Dr. Duncan describe are being used to destroy the U.S. Bill Of Rights and the American people's right to privacy and due process of law under the 4Th and 6Th Amendments - Read John St. Clair Akwei's lawsuit against the NSA to learn more about the NSA's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network, and Google "The Matrix Deciphered" by Dr. Duncan, to learn more about the programs TAMI, SATAN and MIND. "NSA personnel can dial up any individual in the country on the Signals lntelligence EMF scanning network and the NSA's computers will then pinpoint and track that person 24 hours-a-day. The NSA can pick out and track anyone in the U.S. NSA agents in remote offices can instantly identify (using~ Remote Neural Monitoring - Or EEG Heterodyning) any individual spotted in public who is in contact with surveillance subject." -- NSA Whistleblower John St. Clair Akwei Electromagnetic Frequency Mind Control Weapons Have Been A Reality Since The Midst Of The 20Th Century And The Earth's Middle Class Population Is The Target Of These Weapons Zionist Jay Rockefeller's Intent To Destroy The Internet Under The Pretense Of Cyber Security - The Rockfellers Are The Top Representatives For The House Of Rothschild In The United States & Fear The Freedom Of Speech That The Internet Provides Americans With "The Illuminati Formula Used to Create An Undetectable Total Mind Controlled Slave by Cisco Wheeler and Fritz Springmeier" - Whether You Believe That Project Monarch Exists Or That Monarch Was A Piece Of CIA Disinformation, The Following Book Makes For Interesting Reading - Especially If You Have Been Targeted For Some Form Of Mind Control Experimentation That The U.S. Intelligence Community Is Attempting To Conceal From The American People - Wireless Computer To Brain Interface Is Being Conducted On The General Population In The United States, Most Of Whom Are Completely Unaware Of This "The 1950s Secret Discovery of the Code of the Brain: U.S. and Soviet Scientists Have Developed the Key to Consciousness for Military Purposes & How The U.S. Government Won the Arms Race to Control Man" Satellite Surveillance Of Your Own Brain By Way Of Remote Means - The National Security Agency Has The Ability To Remotely Track The Unique Set Of EMF Frequencies For Every American Citizen Via Its Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network The Mental Rapist Or FBI Pre Natal Mind Fu*king - How The FBI Manipulates Your Children's Thoughts Over The Internet - A Psychological Profile Of The FBI Agent Eustace Mullins Exposes The Federal Reserve As A Counterfeiter Evidence that John St. Clair Akwei filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency in 1992, and that Judge Stanley Sporkin dismissed the lawsuit claiming that it was frivolous, even though Sporkin knew that Akwei's lawsuit against the NSA implicated the Agency in the creation of a national brain fingerprinting network Americans are the unwitting targets of an NSA implemented national brain fingerprinting network that has been used to destroy our protections to privacy and due process of law under the United States Bill of Rights Yet Another Of The Thousands Of Websites Which Have Been Created To Document The Vigilante Hate Crime Of Organized Stalking & Electronic Harassment, Which Are Being Perpetrated By The U.S. Federal Government Under The Draconian Patriot Act - These Types Of Crimes Have Been Reported By Citizens In All Countries Which Are Members Of NATO Classified Signals Intelligence Satellite Surveillance Technology Is Being Secretly Used By The Global Military Industrial Intelligence Complex To Remotely Track, Torture And Even Murder People - Early On Most Targets Who Became Aware Of This Satellite Monitoring Technology Believed That They Must Be Implanted With A Tracking Chip To Be Placed Under Such Satellite Surveillance - However, Most Targets Of Such Illegal Surveillance And Non Consensual Human Experimentation Now Realize That Their Brain's Own Unique Set Of Bioelectric/Entrainment Frequencies Has Been Catalogued Into A Government Computer Database & And Can Be Used To Instantly Track Them Many UFO's Are Satellite Projected Holograms Being Used To Condition The Global Population In Accepting The Existence Of Extraterrestrials - However, Is The Purpose To Expose A Mass Alien Invasion, Or The New World Order's Use Of "Project Blue Beam" In Which To Fabricate An Alien Invasion, In Order To Implement A Global Dictatorship? Dr. Bob Jacobs Describes His Seeing A UFO Destroy An ICBM In 1964, And The U.S. Federal Government's Coverup Of His Evidence - Jacob's Military Record Was Also Expunged As Part Of This Coverup "The Mother Of All Black Ops" Earns A Wikio's Top Blog Rating "For electronic surveillance purposes, electrical activity in the speech center of the brain can be translated into the subject's verbal thoughts. RNM can send encoded signals to the brain's auditory cortex, thus allowing audio communications direct to the brain (bypassing the ears). NSA operatives can use this covertly to debilitate subjects by simulating auditory hallucinations characteristic of paranoid schizophrenia. Without any contact with the subject, Remote Neural Monitoring can map out electrical activity from the visual cortex of a subject's brain and show images from the subject's brain on a video monitor. NSA operatives see what the surveillance subject's eyes are seeing. Visual memory can also be seen. RNM can send images direct to the visual cortex, bypassing the eyes and optic nerves. NSA operatives can use this surreptitiously to put images into a surveillance subject's brain while they are in REM sleep for brain-programming purposes. With special EMF equipment NSA cryptologists can remotely read evoked potentials (from EEGs). These can be decoded into a person's brain-states and thoughts. The subject is then perfectly monitored from a distance. NSA personnel can dial up any individual in the country on the Signals Intelligence EMF scanning network and the NSA's computers will then pinpoint and track that person 24 hours a day. The NSA can pick out and track anyone in the US." - John St. Clair Akwei Dr. Wernher Von Braun, The Nazi Party & Its Control Of Outer Space Through The Creation Of The National Aeronautical Space Agency (NASA) George Orwell's 1984 arrived in the United States in 1981, when the National Security Agency's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network was secretly deployed to track each American Citizen by way of their brain's own unique set of bioelectric/entrainment frequencies - This EMF Scanning Network has been used to destroy the U.S. Bill Of Rights and the American people's right to privacy and due process of law under the 4Th and 6Th Amendments - Read John St. Clair Akwei's lawsuit against the NSA to learn more about the NSA's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network "NSA personnel can dial up any individual in the country on the Signals lntelligence EMF scanning network and the NSA's computers will then pinpoint and track that person 24 hours-a-day. The NSA can pick out and track anyone in the U.S. NSA agents in remote offices can instantly identify (using~ RNM) any individual spotted in public who is in contact with surveillance subject." -- NSA Whistleblower John St. Clair Akwei The Above Video Contains The Testimony Of Another Target Of Mind Control Experimentation Who Describes The Perpetrators Of These Crimes Seeing Through Her Own Eyes - What John St. Clair Akwei Refers To As Remote Neural Monitoring Of The Brain Former Chief Medical Officer Of Finland, Dr. Rauni Kilde States That Mind Control Technology Is Worse Than The Atom Bomb Because It Can Be Used To Remotely Enter People's Brains To Alter Their Behavior NSA Remote Neural Monitoring Of The American People's Brains And The Concept Of Punishing People For Their Thoughts Has Become A Reality In The United States Evidence that John St. Clair Akwei filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency in 1992, and that Judge Stanley Sporkin dismissed the lawsuit claiming that it was frivolous, even though Sporkin knew that Akwei's lawsuit against the NSA implicated the Agency in the creation of a national brain fingerprinting network "In support of John St. Clair Akwei's information, regarding his 1992 federal lawsuit against the National Security Agency, Internet searches for the following terms reveal that there are numerous people claiming that their thoughts are being remotely read or manipulated as part of this phenomenon" "My Thoughts Are Being Remotely Read - Is The National Security Agency's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network Being Used To Commit These Crimes? "My Thoughts Are Being Broadcast Via Computer To Brain Interface" "My Mind Is Being Controlled" Freedom From Covert Harassment & Surveillance Group Petition To Obama Administration To Open Up A New Church Committee Hearing Into The U.S. Intelligence Community's Non Consensual Human Experimentation Of American Citizens - Sign The Petition Here Lawsuit Accusing The FBI Of Collusion With The U.S. Media As Part Of A False Flag Disinformation Campaign "There needs to be a Congressional Investigation, much like the CHURCH COMMITTEE investigation into the FBI’s COINTELPRO activities that went on from 1957 to 1971, into the activities of the American Stasi. Police, Firemen, Ambulance Drivers, and Neighborhood Watch Groups are using a tactic called ORGANIZED GANG STALKING in the UNREMITTING HARASSMENT of citizens" Family Of Organized Stalking Describes Being Attacked By Directed Energy Weaponry Satellite Surveillance Of Your Own Brain By Way Of Remote Means - The National Security Agency Has The Ability To Remotely Track The Unique Set Of EMF Frequencies For Every American Citizen Via Its Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network Organized Stalking Case In California Woman Calls Police For Help After A Car Accident, And Police Officer Smashes Her Head Into A Wall - Police Brutality In America Is At An All Time High "The surveillance society is a secretive apparatus of intrusion and deception. An enigma within a disinformation perception of reality is at the core all activities of spooks. One of the most pervasive and all reaching agencies is the NSA. The National Security Administration officially is a cryptologic intelligence agency whose primary function is Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID), which produces foreign signals intelligence information, and the Information Assurance Directorate (IAD), which protects U.S. information systems. The General Accounting Office defines the nature of the structure of the NSA" "The NSA's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network is the electronic spy equivalent of the Trojan Horse in Greek mythology, since it can be used to enter your mind without your even knowing it" - James F. Marino "NSA personnel can dial up any individual in the country on the Signals lntelligence EMF scanning network and the NSA's computers will then pinpoint and track that person 24 hours-a-day. The NSA can pick out and track anyone in the U.S. NSA agents in remote offices can instantly identify (using~ RNM) any individual spotted in public who is in contact with surveillance subject." -- NSA Whistleblower John St. Clair Akwei "The National Security Agency (NSA) is a combat support agency within the Department of Defense (DOD) established by presidential directive in 1952. NSA has two separate missions: signals intelligence and communications security. For signals intelligence, NSA manages all U.S. signal collection and processing and produces signals intelligence in accordance with DOD and DCI priorities. For communications security, NSA provides leadership, products, and services to U.S. agencies that need to protect their information and communication systems from foreign exploitation. NSA is headed by a three-star flag officer, who reports to the Secretary of Defense. About 80 percent of the NSA workforce is civilian." Former Chief Medical Officer Of Finland, Dr. Rauni Kilde States That Mind Control Technology Is Worse Than The Atom Bomb Because It Can Be Used To Remotely Enter People's Brains To Alter Their Behavior A Report Written By Another Targeted Individual By The name Of Robin Webster, Entitled: "Evidence For The Existence Of An Invisible Third Degree" - Those Of Us Who Are Targeted For Non Consensual Human Experimentation & Organized Stalking, Will Find Dr. Webster's Report Of Interest Senator Carl Levin Accuses U.S. Military Of Using Psychological Operations On His Person To Manipulate Him Into Voting For More War Funds Read Murder By Injection Here: Eustace Mullins' Expose On The Rockefeller Controlled Medical Establishment In The United States - "Murder By Injection" Is The Best Book Ever Written On The History Of The American Medical Association & G. Edward Griffin's Book "World Without Cancer" Is The Best Expose Ever Written In Regard To The AMA's Fraudulent War On Cancer & The Absolute Deception That Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital Is When Touted As Being The Mecca Of Cancer Treatment Racial Profiling Victim, Aaron James, Describes The FBI's Attempts To Murder Him Is Dr. Katherine Albrecht Being Targeted For A Covert Assassination Via Directed Energy Weaponry For Her Powerful Lobby Against The RFID Industry? Most Americans Now Rightfully Believe That A Cruise Missile Hit The Pentagon On 9-11-2001, That The FBI Covered This Up By Confiscating The Video Tapes From Surveillance Cameras In The Area & That The U.S. Federal Government Was Behind The 9-11 False Flag Operation UFO Over Jerusalem In 2011 - When Will The U.S. Government Admit To Its Collusion With Extraterrestrial Beings? In His "September Clues" Documentary, Simon Shack Makes A Compelling Arguement That Cruise Missiles Cloaked In The Satellite Deployed Holograms Of Planes Are What Really Struck The WTC Towers & Pentagon On 9-11-2001 The Cover Up Regarding The FBI's Cold Blooded Murders Of Men, Women & Children At The Branch Davidian Church Remains A Travesty "The Deliberate Dumbing Down Of America" By Charlotte Thomas Iserbyt - After Reading This Book You Will See The U.S. System Of Education As Being Nothing More Than A Venue For Brainwashing American Youth In The House Of Rockefeller's Indoctrination Americans Are Being Microwaved Into An Early Grave, While Being Brainwashed Into Aiding And Abetting It Autopsy Fails To Prove The Cause Of Death For Grammy Winner Amy Winehouse Who Was Found Dead In Her London Apartment Last Week - Given The Conspiracy To Murder Celebrities For Their Wealth That's Taking Place In Hollywood, Amy Winehouse's Frequent Drug Use And Erratic Behavior Made Her An Easy Target For A Plausibly Deniable Murder - Especially With A Networth Of $10 Million Dollars - Given The Inconclusive Autopsy Report One Must Now Wonder If The Troubled Singer Really Was Murdered & By What Means? Directed Energy Weaponry Perhaps? The Nixon White House Collusion With The FBI & CIA In The Murders Of Congressmen Hale Boggs And Nick Begich Senior - Both Congressmen Were Incorruptible - After Learning That The FBI Had Secretly Been Wiretapping The U.S. Congress, Congressman Boggs Suggested To The Nixon White House That J. Edgar Hoover Be Forced To Retire While Trying To Convince The U.S. Congress To Either Abolish Or Completely Restructure The FBI, Which Boggs Likened To An Americanized Gestapo - Hoover Also Knew That Nixon Was Going To Be Impeached And That As The House Majority Leader, Boggs Would Have Likely Been The Front Running Candidate To Replace Him - Even Though The FBI Knew The Whereabouts Of Both Men After Their Plane Had Crash Landed, The FBI Let Them Die In The Alaskan Wilderness "FBI destroyed thousands of UFO reports, 1949 memo reveals - Agents routinely destroyed reports containing 'nothing of FBI interest' due to lack of filing space" - While The FBI Was Using The Media To Discredit Any American Who Was Either Abducted By A UFO Or Witnessed One, The FBI Was Completely Immersed In The Phenomenon - Another Example Of The Outrageous Duplicity Of The FBI & Why It Should Be Abolished Jesus Christ - Was Jesus Human Or An Extraterrestrial Member Of The Anunnaki Sent To Earth To Help Colonize This Planet? More Than 2000 Years After His Alleged Death Have We Finally Uncovered The Mystery Behind Who Christ Really Was, And Can We Now Discard All Formalized Religions As Nothing More Than Largely Plagiarized And Significantly Altered Versions Of The Ancient Sumerian Texts? CIA-FBI Collusion In The 1974 Kidnapping Of Publishing Heiress Patricia Hearst Former U.S. Federal Judge Stanley Sporkin, Used By The National Security Agency To Block A Lawsuit Which Proves That The NSA Has Secretly Implemented A National Brain Fingerprinting Program In The United States The Nixon White House - Hoover FBI Conspiracy To Murder Congressmen Hale Boggs & Nick Begich The United States Is A Corporation Controlled By The British Monarchy - See The Following Video To Learn About The Legislative Act Of 1871 The United States Has Been A Corporation Since 1871, And As Such To This Very Day Is Controlled Not By The American People, But Instead The Vatican, The British Monarchy & The Zionist Jews Who Control The House Of Rothschilds' Global Counterfeiting-Money Laundering Operations - This Makes The American People Slaves To This Triumvirate "Why Would The FBI Routinely Electronically Interfere With This Website? Why Is The FBI Presently Conducting A Vicious Smear Campaign Against This Author? Because As A Long-Term Target Of The National Security Agency's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network I Am Documenting The Fact That All Americans Are Brain Fingerprinted By The NSA - The FBI Is Attempting To Conceal The Fact That A National Brain Fingerprinting Program Was Implemented In The United States In 1981, Which Has Since Been Used To Destroy The American People's Inherent Rights To Privacy & Due Process Of Law Under The U.S. Bill Of Rights" - James F. Marino "Facebook is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented. Here we have the world's most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other, their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to U.S. intelligence. The Internet is the greatest spying machine the world has ever seen." - Julian Assange "In reference to Julian Assange's comment regarding Facebook, it is indeed a covert venue for spying on Internet users, however the truly appalling 'spying machine' is the National Security Agency's Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network, since this satellite spy system has been used to brain fingerprint all Americans, any of whom can be instantly tracked by way of their brain's own unique EMF field. A crime that the NSA has been perpetrating against this author and myriad other Americans for decades." - James F. Marino "Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat" -- Jean-Paul Sartre "Three Coins In The Sewer" - How The U.S. Department Of Justice, FBI And IRS Have Conspired To Deny The American Middle Class Its Wealth - An American Tragedy FBI Director Robert Mueller - Terrorist Hunter Or Terrorist? "No government fights fascism to destroy it. When the bourgeoisie sees that power is slipping out of its hands, it brings up fascism to hold onto their privileges." ~ Buenaventura Durruti In Its Clandestine Deployment Of Directed Energy Weapons On American Citizens, The U.S. Military-Intelligence Complex Commits Felonies Regarding Title 18 U.S.C. 2332h - Radiological Dispersal Devices: "It shall be unlawful for any person to use any device intended to endanger human life through the release of radiation." "The NSA, Ft. Meade has in place a vast two-way wireless RNM system which is used to track subjects and non-invasively monitor audio-visual information in their brain. This is all done with no physical contact with the subject. RNM is the ultimate method of surveillance and domestic intelligence. Speech and 3D sound, and subliminal audio can be sent to the auditory cortex of the subject's brain (bypassing the ears) and images can be sent into the visual cortex. RNM can alter a subject's perceptions, moods, and motor control. Speech cortex/auditory cortex link has become the ultimate communications system for the intelligence community. RNM allows for a complete audio-visual brain-to-brain link or brain-to-computer link - NSA Whistleblower John St. Clair Akwei How The CIA Tricked A Womanizing, Alcoholic Texas Congressman Into Doing Its Dirty Work For It In The 1979 Soviet-Afghan War, In Order To Gain Access To Afghanistan's Opium Trade, By Using Women And Children To Fight The Russians - The Afghani Children Didn't Even Get A U.S. Financed Education For Their Acts Of Courage, But Many Likely Ended Up Hooked On Opium! A Courageous American Jew Exposes The State Of Israel's Ties To The House Of Rothschild, Explains Why Israel Should Be Abolished, And Is Then Murdered By Mossad For It When Former FBI Agent Richard Taus Exposed Crimes Committed By The Reagan White House & FBI, He Was Setup By The FBI On Trumped Up Charges & Sentenced To 50 Years In Prison The Role That Winston Churchill Played In Fomenting The Fraudulent Cold War Between The United States And Russia The Rothschilds Declare War On The United States: "That same year (1862) The Times of London publishes a story containing the following statement, 'If that mischievous financial policy, which had its origin in the North American Republic, should become indurated down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off debts and be without a debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous beyond precedent in the history of civilized governments of the world. The brains and the wealth of all countries will go to North America. That government must be destroyed or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe.'”- Source: Eustace Mullins' "Secrets Of The Federal Reserve" "Banking and Currency and the Money Trust" By Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. -- This Was The Book Which Congressman Lindbergh Wrote To Alert The American People To The House Of Rothschilds' Control Over The United States Through Its Communist Central Banks; Warning Americans Not To Allow The Congress To Pass The Aldrich Plan, Which Would Have Allowed For The Creation Of A Communist Central Bank In America. The Aldrich Plan Would Become The Basis For The Treasonous Federal Reserve Act Of 1913, Which Would Give The Rothschilds A New Communist Central Bank In America Called The Federal Reserve Bank - Today, The House Of Rothschild Secretly Controls The Three Branches Of The U.S. Federal Government, The U.S. Treasury & Our Economy Through The Private Corporation Known As The Federal Reserve System - As Punishment For Writing This Book The Rothschilds Had Lindbergh's Grandson Murdered The War On Cancer Fraud Propagated By The Rothschild/Rockefeller/Morgan Drug Trust - A Covert Conspiracy Involving This Triumvirate's Genocidal Policy Anatomy Of A Public Interest Case - Orlikow VS CIA - Gaining Some Insights Into What It Takes To File A Lawsuit Against The U.S. Federal Government, And The Extent To Which An Intel Agency Like The CIA, FBI, Or NSA Will Obstruct Justice In Order To Conceal Their Crimes Former Washington Reporter Helen Thomas Stands By Her Comment That Zionists Control The U.S. Congress, The White House, Wall Street And Hollywood - Helen Thomas Is Correct - She Has Also Been Called An Anti-Semite By Zionist Jews Even Though She Isn't - Helen Thomas Is An Anti-Zionist As Are Most Jews Landmark Ruling In The State Of Tennessee Bans fMRI Technology From The State's Courtrooms - A Brooklyn, NY Judge Has Also Banned fMRI From His Courtroom Actor Randy Quaid Admits That The Vigilante Hate Crime Of Organized Stalking Exists & That He And His Wife Are Targets Of It The National Security Agency's Secretive Implementation Of A National Brain Fingerprinting Program In The United States, Using A Wireless Form Of fMRI Brain Scanning Technology - Something A Former NSA Employee Has Already Confirmed In A Lawsuit Against The NSA "NSA personnel can dial up any individual in the country on the Signals lntelligence EMF scanning network and the NSA's computers will then pinpoint and track that person 24 hours-a-day. The NSA can pick out and track anyone in the U.S. NSA agents in remote offices can instantly identify (using~ RNM) any individual spotted in public who is in contact with surveillance subject." -- NSA Whistleblower John St. Clair Akwei "I think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them. It's pretty hard to believe." - NSA Whistleblower Russ Tice "The Military Intelligence Complex In The United States Has Become A Modern Day Orwellian Nightmare -- Especially The NSA's Satellite Based Signals Intelligence EMF Scanning Network, Which Has Been Used To Secretly Implement A National Brain Fingerprinting Program In the United States - This EMF Scanning Network, Deployed By The NSA's Echelon Spy Satellite Array, Has Become The Real Life Equivalent Of Orwell's Big Brother." - James F. Marino "Some patents, now owned by Raytheon, describe how to make 'nuclear sized explosions without radiation' and describe power beam systems, electromagnetic pulses and over-the-horizon detection systems. A more disturbing use is the system developed for manipulating and disturbing the human mental process using pulsed radio frequency radiation (RFR), and their use as a device for causing negative effects on human health and thinking. The victim, the innocent civilian target is locked on to, and unable to evade the menace by moving around. The beam is administered from space. The Haarp (2c) facility as military technology could be used to broadcast global mind-control, as a system for manipulating and disturbing the human mental process using pulsed radio frequency (RFR). What does all this mean? It means, to begin with, that you will need to come to terms - now, or in a few short years - with the fact that the U.S. Government has the technological capabilities to 'read your mind' 7b and interact with it. With or without your permission." - Electromagnetic Warfare Expert Carol Smith, PhD. The Ultimate Blasphemy -- The Mechanisms Of Covert Mind Reading And Other High Tech Crimes By Paul Baird The Consequences Of Brainwashing By Paul Baird The Rothschilds Declare War On The United States: "That same year (1862) The Times of London publishes a story containing the following statement, 'If that mischievous financial policy, which had its origin in the North American Republic, should become indurated down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off debts and be without a debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous beyond precedent in the history of civilized governments of the world. The brains and the wealth of all countries will go to North America. That government must be destroyed or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe.'”- Source: Eustace Mullins' "Secrets Of The Federal Reserve" "Banking and Currency and the Money Trust" By Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. -- This Was The Book Which Congressman Lindbergh Wrote To Alert The American People To The House Of Rothschilds' Control Over The United States Through Its Communist Central Banks; Warning Americans Not To Allow The Congress To Pass The Aldrich Plan, Which Would Have Allowed For The Creation Of A Communist Central Bank In America. The Aldrich Plan Would Become The Basis For The Treasonous Federal Reserve Act Of 1913, Which Would Give The Rothschilds A New Communist Central Bank In America Called The Federal Reserve Bank - Today, The House Of Rothschild Secretly Controls The Three Branches Of The U.S. Federal Government, The U.S. Treasury & Our Economy Through The Private Corporation Known As The Federal Reserve System - As Punishment For Writing This Book The Rothschilds Had Lindbergh's Grandson Murdered The War On Cancer Fraud Propagated By The Rothschild/Rockefeller/Morgan Drug Trust - A Covert Conspiracy Involving This Triumvirate's Genocidal Policy The FBI/CIA Collusion In The Kidnapping Of Publishing Heiress Patricia Hearst -- One Of The Greatest Scams Ever Pulled Off By U.S. Intelligence "FBI links with Organized Crime are nothing new. The FBI was founded primarily as an internal political repression agency, not a crime fighting organization. A few spectacular arrests of rag tag bank robbers burnished the crime fighting image, but political control has always been the FBI's main role." -Baltimore Sun Blog You Have The Right To Remain Terrified - Of The Police - The House Of Rothschild Is Turning America Into A Cyber Police State The Atlantic Monthly Is One Of The Oldest Magazines In America - For Most Of The Past Century It's Also Been A Useful Tool Of Disinformation For The House Of Rothschild & Its Federal Reserve Communist Central Bank FBI Test Cheating Scandal Explodes As Further Allegations Of Widespread Cheating By FBI Agents On Exams Continues - These Agents Were Too Lazy To Study The Required Course Material, So They All Cheated Is House Of Rothschild Lackey, Senator Jay Rockefeller The Real Driving Force Behind The Internet Kill Switch Bill? If So, He Certainly Has Plenty Of Support In Congress What's The Real Purpose For The Internal Revenue Service? The American People Would Like To Know - The IRS Is Used As A Smokescreen To Make The American People Think That The Money They Pay In A Federal Income Tax Goes To Support The Daily Operations Of The U.S. Federal Government, Instead Of Where This Fiat Currency Really Goes - Straight Back To The Federal Reserve System To Pay Down The Interest On The Principle Which The Federal Reserve Claims The U.S. Treasury Owes It For Borrowing And Laundering The Federal Reserve Notes That The Federal Reserve System Counterfeits & Launders Through The Treasury & U.S. Economy - The Most Successful Financial Scheme In Human History "The Torture Report" By Doctor Les Dove - This Report Was Written By A European Citizen Who Like His American Counterparts, Is Being Targeted For The Vigilante Hate Crime Of Organized Stalking & Non Consensual Human Experimentation - The Torture Report Does An Excellent Job Of Describing What It's Like To Be The Victim Of These Orwellian Crimes - Dr. Dove Describes A Frightening Scenario Regarding The Global Zionist Dictatorship Which Is Gradually Emerging Under The Guise Of A War On Terror - "The Torture Report" Is A Must Read For The Citizens Of This Planet - "The Torture Report" Has Already Been Electronically Tampered With On Many Of The Websites On Which It Was Published, So Read It On This Website While You Still You Can - Alternative Journalist James F. Marino Why Was The FBI Used To Cover Up The Facts Behind The Murder Of Chandra Levy? Actress Jean Seberg Murdered By the FBI's Sociopathic Bureaucrats - Another Example Of The FBI's Deadly COINTELPRO Operations & Why The FBI Is A Cancer On America That Must Be Abolished! "According to several Internet traffic monitoring sites: 9-11 The Mother Of All Black Operations has received nearly 60 million unique readers since this author began publishing the material on this Website back in June of 2006 and now receives more than 21 million page views per day. This in spite of FBI/NSA collusion in which to electronically tamper with this Website, while fomenting one of the most outrageous and vicious attacks on civil liberties and the U.S. Bill of Rights in the history of the United States of America." In Court Documents, An FBI Agent Admits Under Oath That The FBI Has Access To The Type Of Satellite Deployed Electromagnetic Weaponry That A Texas Citizen Reports Being Attacked With By The CIA - The FBI Agent Also Admitted That FBI Agents Are Breaking The Law By Using This Electromagnetic Technology In Which To Remotely Torture American Citizens Via Satellite, While Denying These Citizens Their Inherent Rights Under The United States Constitution; Such Satellite Deployed Predation Is Taking Place Against Millions Of American Citizens As Part Of A Clandestine Government Program To Perform Non Consensual Human Experimentation On The American Population - This Author Is Routinely Targeted By Such Satellite Based Electronic Weaponry As The Direct Result Of The FBI/NSA Criminal Conspiracy In Which To Deny This Author My Inherent Rights As An American Citizen, While This Intel Crime Syndicate Uses My Person For Non Consensual Human Experimentation What Did The Late President John F. Kennedy & The Lindbergh Baby Have In Common? They Were Both Secretly Murdered By Representatives Of The House Of Rothschild The Planned NSA/Google Partnership Combined With The Internet Kill Switch Bill Is A Covert Black Operation In Which To Destroy The Blogosphere & The Alternative Journalist, While Using The Internet As Yet Another Venue For The House Of Rothschilds' Zionist Agenda & Tool Of Disinformation The Rothschilds Declare War On The United States: "That same year (1862) The Times of London publishes a story containing the following statement, 'If that mischievous financial policy, which had its origin in the North American Republic, should become indurated down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off debts and be without a debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous beyond precedent in the history of civilized governments of the world. The brains and the wealth of all countries will go to North America. That government must be destroyed or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe.'”- Source: Eustace Mullins' "Secrets Of The Federal Reserve" "The people in the 20 U.S. States who seek to secede from the U.S. Federal Government understand that the House of Rothschild is using the Federal Reserve System & Internal Revenue Service (both private corporations) in order to impose a covert form of class warfare on the American citizenry, through an unconstitutional federal tax on their wages. What the American people are now witnessing is history in the making. A growing patriotic subset of the American population who have become defiant towards the Rothschilds and their global counterfeiting/ money laundering crime syndicate, and who will no longer tolerate this mass deception. It's as if Americans are reliving our forefathers' breaking away from the British Empire and the House of Rothschild all over again; just as they did in the 1700's when they founded the original Thirteen Colonies and declared their independence from England's King George III. Moreover, this lack of trust for the present leadership in the United States is based on solid evidence which proves that this shadow government is not operating within the Constitutional rule of law and as such no longer serves the will of the American people. So how much longer will Americans tolerate a government which is clearly controlled by another country and financed by the House of Rothschilds' counterfeited currency? In this author's opinion, not much longer." - Alternative Journalist James F. Marino Editor's Notation: "Many of the following hyperlinks are regularly electronically tampered with by the FBI, in efforts to cover up some crime that the U.S. Federal Government or its House of Rothschild leadership attempt to prevent the public from reading about. If you find an article of interest that you cannot access, please try it again at a later time, since this author is now forced to repost many of these articles on a regular basis. For the past four years, the FBI has desperately tried to get this Website deleted. And given the fact that this Blog now has millions of readers who are familiar with the FBI/NSA collusion in which to deny this author my Constitutional rights as an American citizen, the FBI will continue to attack my person while the bureau foments a treasonous attack on the United States Constitution and its Bill of Rights. So much for our 1ST Amendment right to freedom of speech in America - the House of Rothschilds' land of the lies." - James F. Marino A Book So Damaging To The House Of Rothschild & Its Zionist Dogma, That Its Author, Jack Bernstein Was Murdered For Having Written It - "The Life Of An American Jew In Racist Marxist Israel" "If the FBI coerces a person to violate some aspect of the law (including convincing a person to take part in the vigilante hate crime of organized stalking), the FBI can later use such a crime to further coerce this person, or to even prosecute this person if the statue of limitations has not expired. Such coercive tactics by the FBI cost its agents nothing; however the FBI's intimidation tactics can cost the target of such duplicity everything. Thus, allowing oneself to become ensnared in one of the FBI's COINTELPRO derived machinations is akin to making a deal with the devil - Such people need to be freed from these constraints & the FBI and its Draconian operations need to be abolished, since the criminal mindset of the average FBI agent is extremely dangerous to our Constitutional rule of law" - James F. Marino COINTELPRO/Organized Stalking Target Are You Being Used By The NSA As An Unwitting Piece Of Mobile Spyware For Its Signals Intelligence Operations? According To A Lawsuit By A Former NSA Employee, You Could Be Without Even Knowing It Mind Reading & Manipulation Of One's Thoughts Via Specialized Government Satellites Has Been Taking Place Since The 1970's - Who's The Target? You & Your Family! The True Agenda Of The House Of Rothschild & Its Intentions For The American People & The Rest Of The Human Race Actual 1974 Congressional Testimony of Dr. Jose Delgado "We need a program of PSYCHOSURGERY for POLITICAL CONTROL of our society. The purpose is PHYSICAL CONTROL OF THE MIND. Everyone who deviates from the given norm can be SURGICALLY MUTILATED. The individual may think that the most important reality is his own existence, but this is only his personal point of view. This lacks historical perspective. Man does NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must ELECTRICALLY CONTROL THE BRAIN. Some day armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain.'" -- Dr. Jose M.R. Delgado Director of Neuropsychiatry Yale University Medical School Congressional Record, No. 26, Vol. 118 February 24, 1974 (Author of "PHYSICAL CONTROL OF THE MIND" 1969) Dr. Michael Sala's "Exopolitic's" Website - Dr. Sala's Premise Regarding Exopolitics Is That The Earth Is Inhabited By An Advanced Race Of Extra Terrestrial Beings Who Secretly Control The Planet Earth -- For Those Who've Read Dr. Zecharia Sitchin's Startling Research Regarding A Race Of Extra Terrestrial Beings Whom Sitchin Identified As The Annunaki ( Which Literally Translated Means Those Whom From Heaven To Earth Fell)And Whom Sitchin Claims Actually Created The Human Race As Slave Labor, Michael Sala's Research May Hold Particular Interest IGNORING The Organized Stalker Is Key To Neutralizing This Vigilante Hate Crime Orchestrated By The U.S. Intelligence Community - A Sign Of The Complete Breakdown Of The Constitutional Rule Of Law In America President Franklin D. Roosevelt was always a pawn of the House of Rothschild and their global counterfeiting & mon |
Leo the lion, the big cat who stole hearts around the world, has sadly passed away. A representative for Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary in Locust Grove, Georgia, took to Facebook recently to share the devastating news. SEE ALSO: First documented identical twin puppies born in South Africa Leo was a part of a famous trio of unlikely animal friends, known as the BLT. Baloo the bear, Leo the lion and Shere Khan the tiger became best friends after they were rescued as cubs from a drug dealer's house in 2001. The animals had been living in deplorable conditions and were found clinging to each other for comfort. Much to the surprise of rescuers, the group remained inseparable for 15 years, even sharing an enclosure. Sadly, Leo's health began deteriorating this summer and exploratory surgery was planned. "During the procedure, our veterinarians discovered that over 80% of Leo's liver was full of inoperable masses and because of this, the heart wrenching decision was made to let him go," a Noah's Ark official wrote on August 11. Shere Khan and Baloo were given the opportunity to say their final goodbyes to their best buddy. "It is highly likely that Baloo and Shere Khan knew their lion brother was terminally ill long before Leo began displaying outward symptoms," the Noah's Ark spokesperson explained on Facebook. The rescue also held a special celebration of life ceremony in honor of the gentle lion. Leo was buried by the clubhouse where the three "brothers" spent time lounging around and a special lion statue marks his final resting place. These sweet friends will always be in our hearts: Related: Also see these unlikely animal friends: 23 PHOTOS Unlikely animal best friends See Gallery Unlikely animal best friends (Photo by Inti St Clair via Getty Images) (Photo by Mark Newman via Getty Images) (Photo by GK Hart/Vikki Hart via Getty Images) (Photo by Wayne R Bilenduke via Getty Images) (Photo by Dorgie Productions via Getty Images) (Photo by Fuse via Getty Images) (Photo via Alamy) (Photo by Gail Shumway via Getty Images) (Photo by James Balog via Getty Images) Kruger National Park, South Africa. (Photo by Heinrich van den Berg via Getty Images) (Photo by Albert photo via Getty Images) Friends sitting in the sun, Kalahari, South Africa (Photo via Shutterstock) A lamb and a cat playing draughts, watched over by a bantam, at Langford, Somerset. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) Dog Poppy and meerkat Timon in the bath at their home on July 14, 2011 in Dronfield, England. This meerkat and dog have been inseparable ever since four-year-old Timon was sent packing by his meerkat mob. The friendly animal found comfort in the arms of owner John Bent's dog, Poppy, and the unlikely pair have formed a mob of their own - which includes John, his wife, Sally, and their two children. You wouldn't expect a meerkat to be friends with a dog, explained hospice service manager Sally. They tend to stick very much to their own kind. The couple, from Dronfield in Derbyshire, has a collection of exotic critters, which started with a pair of skunks three years ago. Since then their menagerie has grown to include meerkats, raccoons, coatis and kinkajous. However, it is the relationship between six-year-old Chihuahua-Maltese Terrier cross Poppy and Timon, which is most surprising. The are inseparable, said John, who owns a surface coating company. Timon came into the house and instantly struck up a relationship with Poppy, who is just about as small a dog as you can get. Now they do everything together. They go for walks together and play together until they fall asleep on the sofa together. (Photo by Nick Obank / Barcroft Media / Getty Images) Shere Khan the tiger, Leo the lion and Baloo the bear play outside at the Noah Ark Rehabilitation Centre in LOCUST GROVE, GA. Known as the BLT, or Bear, Lion and Tiger, these most unusual and unlikely animal friends are having to go on a diet after being spoilt too much. For not only do Baloo the bear, Leo the Lion, and Shere Khan the tiger have an unnatural bond, they also have a remarkable appetite too. Devouring almost 100 pounds worth of meat and vegetables a week between them, the rescued big beasts had developed something of an obesity problem. Staff at Noah's Ark Animal Rehabilitation Centre in the state of LOCUST GROVE, GA, decided to stop indulging their favoured guests and to put them on a diet after they each gained 100lbs. (Photo by Barcroft USA / Getty Images) KATMAI NATIONAL PARK, AK - UNDATED: ***EXCLUSIVE***A female coastal brown bear and one-year old grey wolf relax together after fishing for salmon at the Hallo Bay estuary in the Katmai National Park, Alaska. In the seemingly most unlikely animal partnership ever this wild brown bear and grey wolf look just like they are fishing buddies. Showing a heartwarming moment when the pair - both wild -decided to forget their differences, the bizarre duo took an end-of-day break together just three feet apart. Both had spent hours trying to land a big catch during the first day of the annual salmon run in the remote Alaskan wilderness at Hallo Bay estuary, Katmai National Park. The pair - a 700lb female bear and one-year-old wolf - were both spotted by photographer Chris Dodds, 42, from Franklin Centre, Canada. He said: 'They were just three feet apart and they didn't seem the slightest bit worried about each other. It was very unusual. They looked just like a pair of fishing buddies and stayed together like that for at least two hours.' (Photo by Christopher Dodds / Barcroft Media / Getty Images) Great Egret standing on the back of an alligator . (Photo by: Universal Education/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Unlikely friends Green parrot dog and cat Venezuela. (Photo via Alamy) (Photo by Les Stocker via Getty Images) (Photo by Ger Bosma via Getty Images) (Photo via Getty Images) (Photo by GYRO PHOTOGRAPHY via Getty Images) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE More from : Mystery surrounds shark found in street puddle In Australia Escaped exotic reptiles take over Arizona city Police catch pig in a blanket running across St. Louis highway |
3934 SHARES Share Tweet Google Whatsapp Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Mail Today in a packed press conference, Dave Green of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) warned that with 10,000 less firefighters under Theresa May’s watch as Home Secretary, “ability to respond is becoming compromised.” Cities such as Greater Manchester and London had seen “huge cuts” the former firefighter explained, adding that nationwide after seven years of cuts the fire and rescue services had lost one in six firefighters. “Our members are very much feeling the strain,” he warned, adding “at some point or another we will be found wanting and that point is very very close. We have consistently said to both the coalition and also the Conservative government that you need to invest in the fire and rescue service. Our members will attend anything they are asked to attend. But we are constrained by our ability, by numbers, by resources.” With the FBU already warning that cuts are already leading to avoidable deaths, investigator David Wibberley has compiled a dossier of evidence of attempted privatisation, cuts and disastrous, expensive experiments in moving certain rescue duties to the private sector, in a special investigation for the FBU, which we publish in full below. It makes grim and worrying reading. Especially for Conservative Party leader Theresa May already under fire for police and border force cuts and under whose remit as Home Secretary from 2010 – 2016 the cuts and hidden creep towards privatising the Fire and Rescue Services detailed below have occurred. Fire Brigades Union National Officer Dave Green told the TLE: “The fire and rescue service has been under attack from the government since 2010 through funding cuts – this much we know. Ten thousand jobs have gone and scores of stations have been closed. Now, there is another threat. Privatisation. The Service is seen as an area ripe for privatisation by those who look to make money out of taking essential services out of public ownership. There is money to be made out of tragedy. “We have already seen the privatisation of certain parts of the service and there is no sign that they are content to stop there. This piecemeal privatisation puts lives at risk. History tells us that Tory governments deliberately run down industries to make them open to unscrupulous privateers, their friends, to pick over the profitable bones of the carcass. The rest is left to rot.” This press conference is dynamite stuff: Dave Green lays out the savage cuts to the Fire Service under this government. pic.twitter.com/phg7hw8BsJ — EL4C (@EL4JC) June 5, 2017 The secret creep towards privatisation of the UK fire service. Special investigation by David Wibberley. It would be unacceptable and emotive for any politician to announce in public plans to privatise the UK fire service. Politicians accept that, despite the sustained government sponsored attacks on firefighters in the media, FBU members are still held in very high regard by the public for the work they do protecting their communities. “entirely untrue” Politicians have no option but to deny any plans for privatisation. In 2010 the then fire minister, Brandon Lewis, responded to claims that the government was considering the privatisation of the fire service, saying they were “entirely untrue”. At the same time, Mr. Lewis was working actively to support the concept of local mutuals and cooperatives in the UK fire service, most notably in Cleveland. The public perception of privatisation is usually of some form of “competitive” bidding process, leading to wholesale sell-offs, such as the Tote to Betfred in 2011, or of public flotations on the stock market, like Royal Mail in 2013 and 2015, or a franchise agreement, such as East Coast trains in 2015. If privatisation is not seen to be taking place in this way, it allows politicians to deny that there any privatisation plans. Any other means to partially privatise a fire service goes overlooked. Before 2002, when Professor Sir George Bain was asked by the government to conduct a wide-ranging review of the UK fire service, privatisation would not have been possible. To attract private investment, operating costs have to be driven down, industry regulations moderated and opposition minimised. Bain’s report, the Independent Review of the Fire Service, led to rapid changes to fire and rescue services, and was the basis of what eventually became the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. Bain’s terms of reference were described in September 2002 as: “… having regard to the changing and developing role of the fire service in the United Kingdom, to inquire into and make recommendations on the future organisation and management of the Fire Service”. first steps of a long journey to privatisation Bain’s report was unpopular with firefighters. A long period of industrial action began in 2002 and continued until 2003 when a new pay and conditions package was agreed. This overhaul of pay and conditions was the first step of a long journey to privatisation. Like any such journey, there is a beginning, but how you get to the end is a matter of choice and interpretation. Politicians point to Cleveland and champion its proposed mutual model, supposedly based on the John Lewis Partnership, giving each employee part-ownership of the company, a share of its annual profits, and a say in how it is run. In theory, it encourages employees to be more invested – literally – in their work, and so heightens productivity and profits. At least, that’s how it is supposed to work at John Lewis. Critics argue that the proposals either pay lip service to the scheme on which they are supposedly based – or are simply a way of making privatisation seem soft and fluffy. this would allow a private fire provider to choose whether to attend flood incidents The limiting of the fire service’s statutory duty to perform certain tasks is another way to make privatisation a more attractive proposition. This may explain the reluctance of the government to include flooding as a statutory duty for the fire service in England and Wales (it is already a statutory duty in Scotland and Northern Ireland). Depending on local contractual arrangements, this would allow a private fire provider to choose whether to attend flood incidents. privatisation by the back door Outsourcing or contracting out some of a fire service’s function is another way to part privatisation by the back door. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 allows for fire and rescue authorities to enter such agreements to secure assistance to discharge their functions. These arrangements can only take place in relation to firefighting if “the person employs firefighters”. The legislation does not state that firefighters have to be public sector workers. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service has done exactly this with the outsourcing of its water rescue capability. In 2012, Specialist Group International (SGI) signed a 12-month pilot contract with Surrey County Council to provide a diving service, rope, confined space and swift-water rescue capability for the fire service. As part of this contract, SGI is to provide fire cover at times of industrial action. Described by the government at the time as “an experiment”, the pilot was extended to 2015 and, at the time of writing, was ongoing. Peter Faulding, managing director of SGI, would not put a figure on the value of the contract, but suggested that the FBU was wrong when it estimated it was worth more than £1m a year. Surrey FBU officials have said that 35 full-time firefighters could be hired for that – at a time when there was a shortage of about 60 in the county. up to 18 fire engines can be unavailable at any one time because of staff shortages Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Authority (CFRA), meanwhile, is using private contractor Serco to provide cover for its chronic shortages of firefighters. CFRA freely admits that up to 18 fire engines can be unavailable at any one time because of staff shortages and is prepared to turn to the private sector to cover this shortfall. This blurring of the public/private sector partnership arrangement was employed to launch what many saw as the privatisation of fire control rooms. at least £469m has been wasted The attempted replacement of the 46 fire and rescue services’ control rooms across England with nine “purpose-built” regional control centres, linked by a new IT system, was a total failure. The Department for Communities and Local Government cut its losses by terminating the contract in December 2010, seven years after it had begun, but at least £469m has been wasted. hurriedly implemented and poorly managed Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, lambasted the scheme saying: “This is yet another example of a government IT project taking on a life of its own, absorbing ever-increasing resources without reaching its objectives. “The rationale and benefits of a regional approach were unclear and badly communicated to locally accountable fire and rescue services, who remained unconvinced. Essential checks and balances in the early stages of the project were ineffective. “It was approved on the basis of unrealistic estimates of costs and under-appreciation of the complexity of the IT involved and the project was hurriedly implemented and poorly managed.” transferring assets into third party ownership Another flawed concept in the patchwork of privatisation is that of transferring assets into third party ownership, a mistake that cost both London and Lincolnshire fire brigades dear. Both transferred the provision and maintenance of their vehicles to a company called AssetCo. Only days after settling a £4m bill from HMRC in relation to unpaid VAT and PAYE, the company was facing a winding up petition orchestrated by its own lawyers for outstanding fees. Part of the resulting business restructure saw AssetCo selling its entire UK fleet for just £2. AssetCo said it left its UK business because the management team believed that operations were “based on a flawed business structure”, which was why shareholders lost so much money. Another transfer of assets that could have gone badly wrong for several brigades involves Cosalt Plc, a non-trading holding company purported to be a market leader in the supply and service of workwear to the emergency services. Several UK fire services had contracts with the company. In the week Cosalt was due to take over management of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s contract for PPE, the company went into administration. Only a last-minute deal put together by joint administrator David Kelly (from PriceWaterhouseCoopers) saved the outsourcing of these assets. PWC sold shares in Ballyclare Limited, the remaining part of Cosalt Plc’s trading business to David Ross, the majority shareholder in Cosalt Plc. An interesting turn of events. The latest privatisation trend is one that was first identified in the USA in the 1980s and is described as “privatisation by attrition”. In America, this was defined as “defunding specific government functions pushing them into the private sector”. “A fully privatised fire service is not something any firefighter wants to see” In today’s Britain, this is couched in the language of austerity, budgetary constraints and modernisation. As the FBU observed in 2016: “The Westminster government intends to cut its funding to the fire and rescue service by 20% during this parliament. In the last parliament they cut it by 30%. Since 2010, 10,000 frontline firefighter jobs have gone – that is one in six.” In 2002 the Bain Report opened the door to privatisation in the UK fire service. It comes in many forms – some can be stand alone, some can be blended into something that, while it doesn’t feel like privatisation, is a definite step towards it. We have travelled a long way down the murky road to privatisation, and the most important question now is which brigade will try to fully privatise first? All efforts to hive off any element of the fire and rescue service must be resisted with vigour. A fully privatised fire and rescue service is not something any firefighter wants to see and they and the public they serve should be doing everything they can to prevent it. David Wibberley @Wibswrites1 David is a writer and freelance investigative journalist based in the north east of England. He contributes to both national and regional publications as well the specialist and trade press. This special investigation was carried out for the Fire Brigades Union and appeared in their magazine The Firefighter. The London Economic asked the Home Office for comment but were referred to the minister. Neither Brandon Lewis the minister of state for policing and the fire service nor the Conservative Party have responded as yet. A short film by the FBU below shows why avoidable deaths are already occurring due to cuts to the service. |
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